Report from 20 May to 4 June 2024
From: New Zealand
The last visit to the sea
Rainbows
18200km flight home
Booking flight home
As described in the last post, car sales are not going so well at the moment. As we don't have any viewing appointments in sight, we drive to Whangarei. It's not too far away, but it's a beautiful area and we have plenty of places where we can park for free. We also wanted to visit friends: Cynthia and Andrew, who we met four months ago, shortly after we bought the car.
As I have decided to fly and Janine has decided to stay, I can book a ticket. After some back and forth, I decided in favour of a flight and booked...
And now?
Do nothing for 3 days
Our first overnight stay in this car was here in Whangarei at one of the DoC campsites. It's right by the sea behind the dunes and has everything we need. We go shopping again and drive to this place we have come to love.
The plan is to simply do nothing for 3 days.
No major cleaning and sorting.
Do not write a post.
No research.
No job applications or sales talks.
We go for walks and lie around on the beach. We cook a cosy meal and enjoy the time. After all, we won't be seeing each other for a long time soon.
At the end of the 3 days, we actually have to leave. But I can't tear myself away from the beach. It's the last time I'll be on the beach for this trip. The last time I'll be by the sea.
I'm sad that it's over.
Rainbow
Unfortunately, the weather was not always suitable for lying on the beach. Sometimes it was cold and rainy, but the sun usually came out again after a while.
We noticed how often we see rainbows here. Especially in this place and at this time of year, there seem to be more rainbows than I have ever seen before.
When I remember rainbows, I was usually happy when I saw a piece of the arch somewhere, and most of the time you could miss it if you didn't happen to look in that direction... But here the rainbows are complete arches. And more luminous than I've ever seen before.
Again and again you could also recognise a second, slightly further out, as you usually see them in Germany too... Once I even easily saw a third arch...
I counted 8 rainbows in one day. We also took a few pictures here.
Meeting with Finn and Pratikscha
We got to know Finn on the South Island, but he has since moved to the North Island. His wife has found a job there. As we haven't met them yet, we wanted to change that. We arranged to go hiking with them. We met in the evening at a cave where there are glow worms. Not the flying beetles we know from home or the flashing ones we saw in the Philippines, but they were really more like worms.
These were widely distributed on the ceiling in the cave and emitted a blue light, which looked a bit like watching the stars.
The hike with the two of them was actually very nice, even if the end was overshadowed by their temperament.
Andrew and Cynthia
We were all the more delighted to be welcomed so warmly by our Kiwi friends again. Cynthia showed off her cooking skills again and as a thank you we helped to tidy up a few things in the garden.
This was Janine's first opportunity to wield a chainsaw and put an end to a few overgrown plants.
Here we started to pack our bags.
The car hadn't been sold yet, but we had made a few appointments with people in the meantime. And we would have to pack our bags sooner or later in any case.
Car sold
And then it happened all of a sudden, but agonisingly slowly...
One of them didn't want to see the car when we got back to Auckland, but before we left Whangarei. He lives and works further north, and he was quite happy for us to be closer to him. So we met up quite spontaneously in the evening for a tour at a petrol station.
He was very interested, but definitely wanted to have another check carried out by a vehicle mechanic. As he was paying for it, we had no objections.
However, he was not very happy with the report he received, and as we did not want to carry out any repairs, the deal did not seem to materialise.
As we had made time for this, we now had to keep up a bit so that we wouldn't be too late for the other appointments in Auckland.
But on our way he kept coming back and asking as if he wanted to buy the car...
At some point we set him a deadline after which we no longer wanted to turn round, and shortly after that he called and wanted the car after all.
So we ended up driving back north to Kerikeri and brought him the car in exchange for a fare.
It was a bit sad to leave the car behind, but above all a relief.
Now we were "only" 300 kilometres from Kerikeri to Auckland, where my flight leaves in a few days.
Hitchhiking
We left our bags in Whangarei before travelling to Kerikeri.
When we set off without the car, it was already quite late and it was getting dark, but luckily we were able to stop a few cars that took us back to Whangarei. We have accommodation here for the night.
The next morning, it was time to pack up our rucksacks and set off. Unfortunately, we realised too late that we had forgotten our prepared food in the fridge.
It was exciting to see who took us there.
One of them told us shortly after boarding that he was a gang member and was travelling to the meeting. A little later, he told us about his children and about his cousin's child, who nobody knows is his...
Our last driver told us how he is committed to preserving the old Maori culture and knowledge and trying to conserve it. He ended up making a diversion to take us to our hotel.
A difficult farewell
Now it was time to say goodbye.
I left the hotel in the morning with my rucksack and took the bus to the airport. We were early enough to check everything in peace and quiet before I handed in my luggage. Then we still had some time before the security check.
And then I left, not knowing when I would see Janine again.
At the security checkpoint, I then divided my hand luggage and all the other things I had in my bag, as well as my jacket and fanny pack, into different boxes to go through the scanner. I then went through the body scanner and was able to collect most of my things on the other side. But I immediately realised that my small rucksack had been automatically sorted out by the computer.
A security officer then explained to me that the computer could not recognise or identify several objects and that she therefore had to have a look inside...
Then she tried for a while to find out what it was, but as the bag was quite full, she probably didn't want to get it all out. Finally she turned the screen round, showed me the picture and asked me. She saw an object similar to a banana, but bigger and not as curved. And something cylindrical, probably made of metal.
What the scanner hadn't recognised was my reserve food combined with half a budget. A cucumber and two small tins of tuna in different sauces.
When I explained to her what it was and how she could get it without unpacking everything, she started to laugh. She hadn't seen it yet, but it would make so much sense. Of course she checked the whole thing, but I was allowed to continue.
Once on the plane, I made myself comfortable. Breakfast was supposed to be served quite quickly, but drinks were distributed first. As I wasn't in the mood for a bad coffee or a tea that was too small, I simply ordered a whisky.
And I stuck with it. Whenever I had the opportunity, I ordered another one. After all, the flight should be worth it. Slightly exhilarated, I was then able to catch up on a few of the films that had come out during our trip but which I hadn't had time to see yet.
When we landed in Doha (Qatar), I watched through the cameras on the outside of the aircraft as the luggage was unloaded, while all the other impatient passengers crowded into the aisle before a door was even opened.
After a few hours my connecting flight left...
It's just that nobody back home knows at this point that I'm arriving, or where I'm arriving.
I'm going to surprise my family by travelling 18200km unannounced and just turning up on their doorstep. Starting in Munich with my sister. Followed by my brother, who I hitchhiked to. I then travelled with him to my parents' house.
Комментарии