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Anzac Day

Wednesday was Anzac Day here in New Zealand as well as Australia. It was a beautiful day with light winds. As a lot of the shops were closed before 1pm Sam and I used the morning to mount the main sail. It was a good learning exercise for Sam and a big help for me. Helen did some cleaning and sorting and also varnished the rail to secure our new microwave.

In the afternoon we went shopping. We picked up some stationary for Sam for his drawing and note taking. We also visited the Chinese store to pick up fresh vegetables which are much better priced there than the supermarket.

In the evening we were joined by Jack and Jan from Anthem and Jackie and Gary from Inspiration Lady as well as crewman Paul for a typical get together. Unfortunately the Jacksters had had a bit of bad boat day and were out for the count so they couldn’t come. Everyone is on the verge of being ready to go to the islands so the excitement is rising.

Dignity and her crew are ready to go so I’m analysing weather morning and evening.

Yesterday morning saw a possible departure on Saturday morning but there were a lot of uncertainties and hopes that things would improve to make that happen. By the evening the new forecast had quashed all thoughts of a Saturday departure but a Sunday evening departure was beginning to look possible. This morning that possibility has improved. Some of the niggly weather patterns later in the trip have smoothed out. It’s still too far out to be sure on this one as it’s not a classic pattern like the one that appeared a week ago.

We do have a few more purchases to sort out and things to do today so we may try and see if we can stay an extra day here in the marina. If the Sunday weather window remains favourable we’ll leave the country from Auckland.

They just don’t make it easy

Monday was sail day. On reflection I was half regretting the decision to drive up to Whangarei while Sam was on his way so I decided to take my laptop and check in regularly.

I’d woken up at stupid O’Clock, well before my 5:30am alarm call so after checking the internet and having breakfast I was off fairly early. I reached Whangarei at 8am and took the sail into the sailmaker and discussed the problem. They said this was very typical wear for a catamaran and they see it often. I guess the problem we fixed with this new sail (ie, the flat and ineffective top third) now made the sail a typical catamaran sail that would come into contact with the shrouds more and take more wear. We’ve already adapted our behaviour to compensate.

After seeing the sail maker I checked online and at that point there was no news from Sam, Ben or Amy who were all at Newark airport to see Sam off. I picked up propane and headed off to the marina where I ran into the kids and Dan from Division II as well as Bruce and Alene from Migration. I checked online again and this time messages were flowing in. Ben and Amy had been trying to call but couldn’t get a response. I tested my phone, it was working. I’d just missed a chance to chat, it seemed, as I was powering off previously and they’d had to act to resolve a problem thrown up by the airline.

A decade or so ago one could buy one way tickets anywhere and run into few difficulties. This was frequently abused by folks who would end up in a country with insufficient funds to move on. The hosting country would then bear the burden of repatriation. These days the airlines have to shoulder the responsibility and cost (if they don’t) of ensuring folks have the means to travel onwards from their destination. A return ticket to your country of residence is the standard test but not everyone does this. We had difficulties returning to our own boat from the UK but the airline had an escalation process that helped us deal with this.

Anticipating possible problems with Sam we consulted New Zealand Immigration several weeks back to understand what supporting documentation Sam would need to allow him into the country knowing he was leaving on the boat. They gave us some guidance which we followed sending Sam a letter proving he was joining the boat as crew, that we were taking responsibility for him and that the boat was legitimately in the country.

American Airlines, it turns out, have there own policy which is tighter than the destination country and don’t have an escalation process to resolve rare cases. They refused Sam onto the plane unless he had a return ticket or a visa. They refused to accept the documentation provided and refused to escalate to NZ Immigration who, as in our case, would have provided consent.

So the only options were to not travel or buy a return. A refundable return leg was priced at $3,400 and a non-refundable ticker was about $1,300 and the desk clerk gave the impression that the refundable ticket may not be, in all circumstance, refundable. Sam couldn’t cover the cost and Ben could only cover the cheaper ticket so they made the right decision to buy the return ticket and get him on the plane.

It is quite annoying to have gone through all the due diligence this end to ensure Sam would be welcome in the country to have the airline policy to be both more restrictive and have insufficient flexibility to handle this case.

I learned all this while sitting at the Town Marina and chatting with the folks from Migration I learned this was not uncommon and seems to be more and more one of those financial hazards of a cruiser and their crew.

On the upside Sam had had no issues with extra baggage. The duffle bag Helen had ordered to take the microwave and all the other spares ordered turned out to have been perfectly sized. The kids had done a great job packing and weighing as it came in at 50.0lbs. Spot on. Sam was on his way.

By 11am I had our repaired sail and was on my way back down to Auckland thinking through our new problem. $1,300 is a lot of money and almost twice the price of his ticket here. We’ve blown more than 3 times that amount blowing out a sail so this may just end up in the realm of the marine life burning through cash. After all BOAT is well known to stand for Break Out Another Thousand. But we’ve got to try and as ever, it’s best to start sooner rather than later.

Back in Auckland I parked the car near the boat and lugged the sail back to the boat. I made a second trip to get the rest of the stuff from the car. I then set about trying to get the right contact info to start an appeal with American Airlines and to get further information, hopefully some supporting documentation, from NZ Immigration while Helen made a couple of trips to retrieve my phone and to pump the meter.

My call to NZ Immigration was unusually less than helpful with the woman simply spitting out the same information I originally was given. I decided at that point the personal touch would be more effective so as the immigration office was near the car hire depot I decided to return the car then visit the office. At the immigration office they appeared much more sympathetic but the boss, who would be the one to help if anyone could, wouldn’t be in until today.

Back on the boat I pursued looking into the appeal process with American Airlines. We have a non-refundable ticket which we won’t use which we want refunded. After finding someone to talk to by calling the Australian American Airlines call center I was advised to contact their customer relations department. Looking at the AA website the only way to do this is via web form so I lodged my first appeal there.

I then had a beer. I needed it.

Very soon it was time to head over to Pier 21 to meet up with John and Pam from Passages. We hadn’t yet heard from Sam as our remaining worry was his transfer at LA onto the flight to Fiji. His plane was running an hour and a half late but his stop over was just under three hours. He should make it. We also learned he didn’t have to recheck luggage which sometimes happens. As what one airline accepts, another may not it was a relief to know this was not another potential problem or delay. So I took my laptop with us to Passages. At Pier 21 we checked the wrong pier and ran into Gary from Inspiration Lady with the Jacksters who’d all just arrived. Bumping into old friends is the best and it helped lift my spirits after the long day. We’re hoping we can all get together on Wednesday evening but that may not be possible. We’ll see.

We were soon aboard Passages with a beer in hand. I checked online and Sam had relayed a message via one of his friends that he’d reached the gate for his onward flight. There could be no more problems to respond this that evening so I could relax. After our beers we headed over to Squashbucklers, a local hangout for more drinks and something to eat and, of course, more sailors yarns. It was a nice place with a great atmosphere, good beer and food. I needed it.

Now it’s the next morning. Sam should have landed in Fiji and in some ways we don’t care if there are any problems. He’s in the right corner of the world. Whatever happens we can work it out (sing along), we can work it o-out.

Apart from an automated acknowledgement I have no response to my initial appeal from AA. I will make more attempts to contact them once I know to what level NZ Immigration will support us. Another visit to them today is planned after Sam arrives and we’ve polished off the bubbly in the fridge.

The large scale weather patterns don’t call for a departure for Fiji this month. There is one low pressure system heading this way that looked to give us a possible kick up north but there is then several hundred miles of a high pressure ridge (and hence low winds) to subsequently cross. Not encouraging. The next low a week from now which is project to be further south shows more promise. You can be sure I’ll be watching how the forecast develops.

Last Hike in the South

After our previously mentioned lie in we roused ourselved and drove into town to meet the A Cappellas and Inspiration Ladies. We chatted in a small cafe for an hour or so before Ed and Cornelia had to leave for the ferry. We wandered the high street with Jackie and Gary before finalizing our plans for the evening and parting ways.

Helen and I picked up a small lunch before driving a short way south of town to a walk which offered good views of the town from a hill overlooking the area.

From the look out we carried on getting down to the main road east of town. Once we’d made our way back to the car we headed back to our room to read for the afternoon.

At 6pm Gary and Jackie joined us on the balcony of our room. We’d agreed on an takeaway and made our choices from the menu we’d collected earlier. Gary and I went to collect the food leaving Helen and Jackie to sort out where to eat. When we returned we found they’d set up down below in the garden which was a great idea.

Another Canadian couple ended up joining us and we had a good time – it almost felt like times back on the boat.

We don’t have a great deal to do today before our 1:10pm ferry so there will be no rush to leave our room. We’re thinking of staying in the Wellington area tonight to give us a chance to see the city but this is still not set in stone.

Waikawa

Before leaving Blenheim we booked ourselves onto the 1:10pm Thursday ferry to Wellington. The drive from Blenheim to Picton was took a fraction of the time compared to most of our recent travels – mainly because a mere 26km separated the two towns. On the way we decided to look at the Backpacker accommodations in the area from our BBH guide. There were a few rated in the 90%+ range and we picked the Buccaneer Lodge to look at first. For $75 a night it offered us a large en suite room with a balcony overlooking the marina at Waikawa. We didn’t bother looking elsewhere.

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Better still we were able to check in there an then. Having done that we strolled down to the marina wondering if this was where Inspiration Lady was berthed. As it turned out, Gary and Jackie saw us as they were leaving in their car, called out to us, turned around and stopped to chat for a while. We caught up some, learned of their favourite fish and chip shop and agreed to go out for a curry Wednesday evening (even though we’re also meeting them for lunch). They were off to Blenheim so we parted company.

We decided we wanted to hike the nearby peninsular so returned to the lodge to pick up apples and water. We drove to a car park on the ridge and set off towards the end of the peninsular (called The Snout) via the Queen Charlotte Lookout. It was a fine hike with great views of the sounds. There was a lot of ups and downs which kept our hearts going but we were never out of breath. There and back the hike took nearly three hours so we retired back to our room to shower and read and have a facebook chat with one of the boys.

During the day we also booked dock space in Whangarei from Thursday 17th. That gives us almost a week to make our way back across the north island. We’ve no idea where to go yet.

Around 5pm we drove into Picton to pick up some fish and chips (we couldn’t resist) which we brought back to our lodge and ate on the balcony. There we met our temporary neighbour, Paul, and ended up chatting into the evening.

Today we are planning to meet the A Cappellas and Inspirations Ladies at 10:30am for a brunch. Ed and Cornelia are on today’s 1:10pm ferry, hence the time. We were going to walk into Picton but have opted for a lie in. It’s allowed.

Motueka

The weather refused to improve for rest of the day in Wellington. We decided to go for the 4pm showing of the Green Hornet and eat later. We struggled through the cold rain the short distance to the cinema and settled in for a very mediocre movie. Our alternate was to watch the King’s Speech which in hindsight would have been the better choice. However, we felt a drama could wait for DVD while an action movie was best watched on the big screen. It passed the time.

We ended up eating in the food court in the cinema complex where we had a good sized curry for a very reasonable price. We ended up spending the rest of the evening in the hotel room with a bottle of wine watching another movie.

This morning we took the ferry to the south island. There were warnings of an uncomfortable ride with 4 meter swells. The ferry did swing around a bit but nothing like we’ve got used to in similar conditions.

Just before arriving in Picton we gave Jackie and Gary a call on Inspiration Lady as we knew they could be in the area. It turned out they were and were glad to meet up for lunch – as were we. It was nice to meet them and hear what they’ve been up to for the last month. In fact we had a pretty good feeling all round. A lot of that had to be the sunshine which greeted us in the south island.

After lunch we headed off in the direction of the Abel Tasman National Park where we intend to hike soon. We’ve stopped off at a Top 10 campsite and pitched the tent. We plan on relaxing a little tomorrow and use the time to make up our minds what to do in the park.

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