One thing I said a lot in the last couple of days but have not put on the blog yet is: Never again use sea freight when air freight is an option!

It has been 9 days since we last traveled the way we intended to on this trip, that is on Rocinante. One of the greatest allures of traveling on a motorcycle is this element of utter independence. If I don’t like it here, I can be somewhere else in a heartbeat. I am starting to feel grounded or trapped. Worse still, we are burning money in towns (doing the things we enjoy for the most part though) hand over fist.

But what probably annoys me the most is that I should have known but did not put 1 and 2 together. Did not realize what the timings and the time off the bike would mean. All I heard when talking to the sea freight people was “9 days from port to port”. Of course I know, and knew then, that that would not be the end of it. Even if no delays occur with the ship, the bike needs to be handed off 2 days before the cut off. But what is only really hitting me now is how uncertain the pick up is.

The ship arrives on Saturday. The shipping company tells me the stevedores may unload my bike on Monday, or maybe Tuesday. Then everyone needs to inconvenience themselves to do a bio security check on such an utterly unimportant piece of freight. Should be done by the end of the week someone told me on the phone today! But alas, I could have known. Every motorcycle traveler around the world hates sea ports. Give someone the key to a gate and they will become a troll eventually …

So all of this is brewing in me, while we actually had a really nice day. The sun came out and what started as a brief shopping trip to get a spot tracker and some maps got a really lovely sightseeing tour.

First stop was the Queen Victoria Market. Wellington neeeeeeds this. Imagine the Kleinmarkthalle and all Wellington markets would combine into this epic food and knick-knack wonderland. Love it. Of cause we also used the opportunity to grab some delicatessen and have a great lunch right there.

Then we did a walk round the southeast CBD recommended in the Lonely Planet. This was a great 1.5 hrs of shopping heavens old and new, cool architecture and tons of street art and street culture. Again, right up our alley.

The highlight of the day was a visit at the Scots’ Church along the way, though. Just peeking in, we got a truly warm welcome and and invitation to look around. The organ was being played inside and the outside noise completely faded away. Such a great break, such a lovely interruption.