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Day 28 – VicRoads

Some homework from our (very nice) base

Some homework from our (very nice) base

Nina got sick for real today, with a decent fever and joint and muscle pains. Oddly enough that made our enforced stay somewhat less annoying than before. Yes – we got one blip of news from the bike today: While the ship is already in Sydney again, the container with our bike has not been touched …

Which gave me enough time for some golden conversations: “Hi, I am temporarily importing my bike, what do I need to do to be legal on the road?” “You have to register your bike” “No, it is already registered, in Germany.” “So it is unregistered!” “I just want to ride here for a month and then leave your lovely Federation again …” “No, you can’t ride that bike” …

10 minutes later, after some back and forth with a supervisor …

“Oh, it seems to be possible as you say, but I am not trained to do this. I will connect you with a senior administrator” “thank you!”

In the end, and lacking an Australian fax number, I had to take another 1 hr tram ride to go to a physical office of VicRoad. At least it took the 4 people who got pulled in over there only about 20 minutes to sort me out. I am now proud owner of a TAC 85 mandatory accident compensation certificate that covers 3rd party injury or personal harm in all of Australia, for mere $157 AUD. Or so I have been told. I will hope that this will not be tested. In the end, I guess only a judge or lawyer could determine if I am actually legal on the road outside of the state of Victoria.

At least we have a very nice and welcoming AirBnB host where we can extend our stay as required. We will probably have to stay until Thursday, with Nina ill and the bike still held in captivity.

Day 27 – low

Thoughts

moneyThe Touratech gear was needed (as much as anything ever is to meet ones level of comfort and security), but it was still a massive hit to our budget. Combined with the painful exchange rates and the fallout of our recent spell of misfortune, we are about $3000 to $4000 over what was in our rough budget.

What to do? We know that we could slum it much harder than we are. But what then? Is that still the trip we want to take? What good is it to have a 12 month trip if 6 month of it are not what you want out of life? On the other hand, what is the alternative? For now, our conversations always come back to one point: We want to have the trip that we want, and if the money we had only takes us to Asia, then so be it. We set our own goal and we are accountable to no one but us if we want to change it. Or if circumstance dictate we have to.

The big ? as well as part of our hope is that we don’t know how the money situation will develop from Timor on-wards. It may all work out fine, or we may have acquired a debt in the “developed world” that we can not pay back. Nothing we can do for now, only to move on.

The day

Still smiling :)

Still smiling 🙂

With the money low and both of us not 100% fit health wise, we decided to have a low key day. First, another round of shopping to get us the paper maps we need for Australia. In the end, I decided on Hema “handy maps”, scaling roughly on a state level. Nina also picked up some obligatory post cards.

The sightseeing part of the day was set aside for a visit to the Melbourne Museum. One of these museums of a bit of everything, we focused on the Geological and the First People exhibition at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre (part of the Museum). While the exhibits in the geological section kept our interest and were cool to look at, it was none the less a very traditional museum experience. Glass boxes and text blocks. Maybe I am a bit spoiled by Te Papa … 🙂

FishiesIn an atrium right behind the entrance they have re-created a small patch of native rain forest, complete with a couple of native fish and bird. I am looking forward to get out and experience some of this first hand sooner rather than later.

The visit ended on a real downer for two of us with a walk through the First People exhibition. It was a bit like reading the latest reports on climate change: All very depressing and the small victories all have a bitter taste. On the chance that I will offend someone: The story that cut deepest for me, coming from a very different remembrance culture of WWII: After all the injustice of colonization and fighting a “just war” against a people led by a mad man and his ideology of “lebensraum”, the returned veterans got land grants further cutting away at “Aboriginal Stations / Reservations” – only the white veterans, of course …

One good thing: New Zealand, I am proud of you. Not all peaches and roses, and hard battles had to be fought, but looking at your competition, you have done mighty well. Ka pai (and keep it up!).

Day 25 – grounded?

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. Continue reading →

Day 23 – Yellow paper, stamp

View to town, not far out

View to town, not far out

The Melbourne winter weather is a lot like German autum … grey, rainy and a bit depressing. We wanted to at least get out a little bit before the rain settles in fully, so we explored St. Kilda a little bit.

I like the very particular mix of this neighborhood: The weathered glory from a 100 years ago, forgotten for a while and now half way through gentrification, with hipsters, hookers and the homeless side by side. We got best feel of the new and coming on the main streets, Acland and Fitzroy St. and the flair of a bygone era down at the waterfront, completed by the the 1911 Lunar Park and the kiosk on the pier.

Photo by Adam.J.W.C. - CC-BY-SA

Photo by Adam.J.W.C. – CC-BY-SA

So we had breakfast at a cake shop in Acland St., a stroll around the suburb and were back at headquarters in time for lunch.

The afternoon was fully dedicated to paperwork for me. Find out what to do, where to go and what to bring. Temporary self managed importation seems to be something no one really knows how to deal with, but I got an address and a promise of help. Brief spoiler: I ended up needing only half the documents I was told to bring, but better than the other way around.

The customs house is out back at the airport, about 1 hr from headquarter with the expensive express buss and 1.5 with normal lines. But first I had to stop in town to find a place to print the bill of landing send to me earlier that day. I lost about 45 minutes until I found out that “copy shops” are professional printers for businesses and what I needed was an internet cafe. That at least gave me a reason to take the express bus.

 

 

The customs proceeding were then relatively painless, except for a small hickup where the local shipping handler did not post the data correctly in the electronic systems (2 calls and a 10 minute wait to fix). It should speak for itself how uncommon a private foreigner is in the customs halls that they even forgot to charge me for any of it. I got my stamp in the carnet, I won’t complain.

All that is missing now for the bike to be released to me is the biosecurity inspection. I am not worried about the success, but I want to make sure this happens as soon as possible. Just to give you a small idea of the complexities involved (and this is just a western port): I payed MCL to put the bike in a box and Mondiale to ship it, who payed AGS World transport to deal with the destination side who pay Patrick for the physical handling of the crate who I now have to broker with for a Ministry of Agriculture inspector to come in at the right place and time to check the bike … and all I have done so far is pay everyone.

I made it back (yes, express bus again) just in time with Tim, who has finished pretty much the same trip as we are planning last year. It is always good to meet fellow travelers.

 

Day 21 – Chores and tears

We spent the day at our friends’ place to get as many things on our new (Nina updated it while I was not looking with more boxes to tick) list of things to do.

I guess the most important thing was to get the shipping of the bike sorted out and payed. After a little exchange to ensure that we do not have to pay a particular service twice, the final number still came out way over the original quote. The two reasons here were: MCL did a great job at packing my bike secure, but with little concern for packing it down. Compared to the crate I have build myself for airlifting the bike to NZ, this one is 33% larger with less gear in it.

The other reason is that the exchange rates of the NZD vs. USD and AUD have plummeted – something that will hurt our funds continuously from here on out. All in all, this lead to an invoice about 15% over the original quote. Not Mondiale’s fault, but painful nonetheless. I’ll post final numbers for shipping once the bike is customs and bio security cleared.


Theme song for a lot of NZ for me

And the tears: Well, this was the last step, we were leaving our new home NZ for real for a while now, leaving behind new and good friends, colleagues and amazing places (side note, saying goodbye and then going to bed is weird). It was a calm and warm goodbye this one though. I cooked for the three of us in the house, something that for me tied the last three years together quite poetically. Me cooking for friends (and getting a lot better at it) is definitively something that will forever be linked to our time in NZ.

P.S.: And just for Brendan – a new Favicon!

Day 19 – Wohoo, the Zoo

Wohoo, both of us ...

Wohoo, both of us …

This will be a very brief one with a couple of pictures. Our plan to go to Waiheke island was abandoned after the weather (and the forecast) changed on us just this morning. Instead, we decided to go to the Zoo a bit later, after we saw our friend Mash one more time as he was passing through around noon.

Auckland Zoo is nice, but nothing out of the ordinary. We were sometime not 100% sure about the well-being of some of the animals, but the staff and setup inspired enough confidence that they care and do their best.

I really enjoyed the NZ sections of the Zoo as well. The enclosures are set up so that one gets a good look at Kereru, Kaka, Kea & co.

Day 17 – stats 101

Today was a real homework day. So many boxes got ticked from our list, even some that were not on it. We are bleeding money for anything but accommodation (a huge thank you again to our Auckland friends for putting up with us).

I have a new phone, a rear tire is lined up in Melbourne, shipping payed, mails send … and most importantly: All data for NZ collated.

Country data #1: New Zealand

Full screen version of the map

  • 3388 km traveled (3223 km of GPS tracked)
  • 14 travel days, 22 days total
  • $22.90 Average cost per night (7x camping, 9x invitation)
  • 174.89 l of standard fuel for $361.78 (5.16 l / 100km)
  • ~$37 for food every day, eating out 1/3 meals
  • ~$2.500 in total, excluding shipping and tattoo

 

Day 16 – 16 in a row

When we started our trip, and this blog back up in earnest, the expectation was that we would write maybe two to three posts a week. Without really pushing for it, we now got a post for every single day of New Zealand, each of them with at least some pictures.

The surface works anywhere, this is me writing this post

The surface works anywhere, this is me writing this post

On average, it takes about an hour every day to write this blog. The process is already sinking in as part of our routine. One of us writes the body of the post itself, so far between 150 and 550 words each. Then we copy the pictures of the day onto the external hard drive, have a quick browse and pick images matching the post. Once we have a place with internet access we copy, resize and upload. Then, Flo gives every picture a title and description and 2-3 go into the post and the rest goes into a gallery. All in all about 1 hr.

The end result has been read by a growing number of people, over 100 by now. Cool – and also mildly scary.

By now, I think we both agree that we like the setup. We keep everyone informed, there is a record for ourselves and we get some great feedback (mostly on facebook, so feel free to use the comment function some more!). So we have all intentions to keep the 1 post per day up for travel days.

very hip, the surface is right at home

very hip, the surface is right at home

Now, whether that is actually achievable in places with less than North Island level of connectivity remains to be seen, but we will try.

You may have noticed that I said travel days. Right now, we are calming down a bit, so until we leave for Melbourne on the 25th, there may actually be some gaps on slow days, or posts more about more general things like this one.

Now, we did do some things today. We failed several attempts at buying a sleeping bag, survived a bus trip across town without a modern smart phone and had a lovely lunch at Federal & Wolfe.

Day 13 – Only the weather is jinxed

The anger and frustration is slowly ebbing away. For the most part, this is due to all the nice people we know and the new ones we encounter along the way. Like Luca and Eugenia, an Italian couple we met twice yesterday for great little encounters.

Or like Ruth and Damien, two more Kiwi bikers, we met on the road and who took no time to offer help and a bed to us as basically strangers. Or Linda and Denis who took our gear with them to Auckland for us. Or all the other people who have offered and are lending help and support. Yes the money hurts, but people like you are what this trip is about for a large part for us.

hmmm, the sea

hmmm, the sea

Other than a lot of talking and processing, planing on scheming via intercom, we mostly cruised along Northland roads, edging slowly south.

First stop today was Baylys Beach, were Rocinante finally dipped her front wheel into salt water. High tide and Flo’s unwillingness to risk damaging the bike so close before shipping kept this stop to a few rounds around Nina for action shots.

We changed coasts again for a little bit more exploration of Whangarei. By coincidence, we ran into the model train ride-out day at the Kiwi North historic village. Wohoo, scaled down steam engines! We kept it brief as well to head into town in time for the mid-day lunch rush at Mokaba, with a view of the marina.

The cabin between the trees is ours

The cabin between the trees is ours

After another loop to the west coast, we ended the day in the east again. Half asleep in wintery hibernation, the hosts at the Sandspit Holiday park gave us an amazing little cabin right at the water’s edge. The day ended on the porch watching the water and the coming tide with some nice cheese, veges and a small Puhoi desert 🙂

The Holiday Park is made up like a little pioneer village with many old objects on display in the windows of the old shops. This is something to roam around and rummage through so many pictures were taken. This is probably the loveliest little Holiday Park we stayed in so far. They even have a cat but it’s running away from Nina, much to her dismay.

Day 12 – stolen

There are no photos of the beautiful morning on the Tapotupotu Bay DOC campsite at Cape Reigna. We also had no breakfast. Instead, our morning was spent running around, first worried, then increasingly angry. Why that?

Serve and protect.

Serve and protect.

The two big Touratech aluminium panniers for Rocinate were gone! Bless Nina, they were mostly empty but for some small stuff we can replace for maybe $50. Did the strong wind take them? Surely not all the way away. At least one would be somewhere, stuck in a bush or washed up on the beach.

As time went on, it became certain. Someone has come by in the middle of the night and taken both of them from right next of our tent. Yes, we could have taken them inside, or lock them back on the bike … but it was starting to rain, and we were tired. And after all, we were at the end of the world, right?

Well, hindsight can be a horrible tormentor. If only we had taken Colin’s warnings about security more seriously … but the show must go on.

Spending an hour trying to get to a phone to get in touch with NZ police was an utter waste of time. They also send us to a police station 100 km out that was closed in the end and the last phone call got me passed to a call center to lodge my case – it all seemed like paint by the numbers to get to a case number for a potential insurance claim and no further. Because of the goose chance, we have also missed our chance to finally ride down Ninety Mile Beach. Sigh.

Back on the bay earlier we also got to see the side of NZ again that we have learned to love and appreciate so much over the last 3 years: People offering help as much as they can, being caring and compassionate. An Auckland couple offered to take our camping gear (which we now can’t carry with us any longer) with them to Auckland for us where we can pick them up in time to ship with the bike.

Will have to cry for rescue by Touratech Australia some more to get a new set in time for Australia.

To have that much breathing space is impressive in NZ bush.

To have that much breathing space is impressive in NZ bush.

Now, it was a really annoying day, but also a deeply moving one. After lunch the mood started to improve again, we had a cute cup of coffee somewhere on the road and weird weather with sun and hard rain alternating in 10 minute intervals. After a brief ferry ride across Hokianga Harbour, we were approaching the highlight of the day: The Kauri coast and Waipua Kauri Forest.

Tane Mahuta is the name of the oldest remaining Kauri tree, and also for a mythical figure / god in Maori mythology. Tane was the one separating earth from sky to create the air, forest and realm of life and men.  In the presence of that giant, I could see how these myths spawned. One way or the other, Tane Mahuta will probably be the oldest living organism I will see in my life. It is estimated to be around 2000 years old.

Did I say anything else important happened today?

Oh yes, more heartwarming hospitality at the Greenhouse Backpacker in Dargaville. See for yourself …