by steve, on January 15th, 2011 (
New Zealand, Tracks)
Our last day together with the boys was emotional.
We had breakfast together at one of the marina restaurants before setting off in the car. It took nearly 3 hours to get to the airport but fortunately we had no problems with the traffic.
I stayed in the car so the boys could check in. As we had plenty of time our plan was to check in then go somewhere for lunch. I circled the airport a couple of times to avoid being moved on from the drop off area. Ben popped out once needing some cash for a visa which I thought was odd. Next time round Helen came out to say I should park and help out.
We had a bit of a problem. We are all dual national. When Ben left the US he ran into difficulties heading into French Polynesia with a one way ticket on a US passport so he switched to his UK passport. Since then we’ve cleared him out and into each country on his UK passport. When we inquired with NZ customs as to the best thing to do to avoid a wrangle when Helen and I left without him they suggested he should leave the country on his UK passport. Ben had diligently checked in using his UK passport and the checkout required him to have a valid US visa which is required these days. I managed to talk to an immigration official and agreed a plan that would probably not cause Helen and I any problems. Ben cleared out on his US passport. We then took a photocopy of his US and UK passports along with his boarding pass. We’ll use that as a starting point to demonstrate we have not brought in an illegal immigrant when we leave the country without him.
That being sorted we still had enough time to leave the airport for a bite to eat for lunch. Then it was back to the airport to drop them off and say goodbye. It was a little tearful. It’s been great having both of them aboard for the last 3 weeks and getting to know Ben as an adult over the last six months. Since December 2009, bar 2 weeks in Tahiti, we’ve had family aboard and now we’re going our separate ways again.
It is sad of course but one has to focus on the positives. It is a time of new adventure for all of us at our respective point in our lives. This is truly exciting for all. We are thankful for the opportunities we have for spending time together in fantastic places seeing and doing amazing things with the kids we brought up. There are enough estranged families to remind us how lucky we are. And, who knows, they may communicate from time to time to let us know how they’re getting on.
We returned to Whangarei a different route (RT 16) as I’m getting fed up of driving the Auckland to Whangarei main road. It didn’t take much longer and gave us some refreshing scenery. We stopped at a hardware store on the way back to pick up a camping table and some hosepipe attachments I need.
I’ve just spent the last couple of hours sorting out our tracks from Tonga so that Ben has a full record of the mileage he’s covered with us. His total is 3,137nm which is a lot more than many will do in a lifetime. Not bad. At the same time I’ve caught up with the tracks for this blog. Here are our tracks since we’ve arrived including the leg from Tonga if one can be bothered to zoom out and see it. If you’re really diligent, mad or both you can actually find the bit where we turned around to lash the broken rudder post and steering gear. During that time our course changed as the current pushed us south east.
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