Around the World the Other Way

Sometimes sailing plans change for very good reasons. Sometimes they change because your brother is getting married. And sometimes a flight route accidentally gives you an excuse to visit a country you thought you had already ruled out. Our last few weeks somehow managed to include all three. After Alex’s parents finished their visit with us in Fiji, we took a little break from sailing. Not necessarily because we desperately needed one, although we certainly did not complain about stocked grocery stores, fresh food and a stable bed. The real reason was much more important: my brother Patrick was getting married to his now wife, Rebekka. There are certain occasions in life that you simply cannot miss. Your brother getting married is one of them. So, a couple of weeks earlier, we had reluctantly bitten into the sour apple, paid for the flights and accepted that we were about to spend more than 50 hours travelling from Fiji to Germany and back. But there was one small consolation. Our flight was going through New Zealand. We had already been a little sad about skipping New Zealand and Australia because our plans had changed and we were now heading toward Indonesia. So we decided that if we were flying over New Zealand anyway, we might as well make the layover considerably longer. It turned out to be a very good decision. What followed was a slightly chaotic combination of boat preparation, New Zealand adventures, a German family wedding, old friends, Sydney, airport panic and, finally, a very welcome return to Tauha.

The Great Marina Shuffle

The day before leaving Fiji, we moved Tauha into a tiny marina near Nadi Airport. Calling it a marina is perhaps generous. It had water, somewhere to put rubbish, a bathroom with cold water and, most importantly, protection. That was enough for us. Getting into the marina had already made us slightly nervous. Tauha draws about two metres, while the channel becomes shallower than that at low tide. Luckily, we made it into our spot without any problems. Then the marina staff told us that we had a small problem. Our parking spot was privately owned, and the owner was going to return while we were away. So they asked us to move to another spot the day before our flight. No problem. We decided to walk down the dock and have a look at the new position before moving. In hindsight, this was perhaps our first mistake.

When we reached the dock, there was another sailor there whom we had met the day before, along with a woman and what we assumed was her husband. He asked whether we are the ones that will swap positions with them. We nodded. And then the woman came over. Like a furry missile. She immediately started shouting that she had a flight in a few hours, that she was absolutely not moving her boat and that she still had a cake in the oven. The cake was apparently a critical part of the situation. I tried to explain that we were not the people she needed to be angry with. We were simply following the marina's instructions and also had a flight the next day. She could talk to the marina staff, but there was no reason to shout at us. After repeating this a few times, she eventually calmed down somewhat. We told her that we needed to prepare our own boat as well and that she could find us on Tauha if she needed anything. The marina staff apologised to me and asked whether the couple were French. I said yes. The marina guy nodded knowingly and explained that, according to him, everything was wonderful as long as everything went their way. But if something did not work exactly as they wanted, things could get rather complicated. His words, not mine. Haha. Shortly afterwards, we could hear the shouting all the way from our boat. At some point, both sides were apparently threatening to call the police. Eventually, their engine started. Ten minutes later, both boats had swapped positions. Two hours of drama. Was it worth it? Probably not. And no, I still have absolutely no idea how the cake turned out.

At least Tauha was finally in her safe spot. That evening we cleaned the boat, closed valves, secured everything and prepared her for two weeks without us. Ironically, most of the bags we had prepared were almost empty because we had ordered a ridiculous amount of boat parts to my parents' house in Germany and needed the suitcases to bring them back with us. The next morning, we got into a taxi with our empty luggage. First stop: New Zealand.

Auckland, Pho and Finally Some Water

We landed in Auckland to cloudy but pleasantly warm weather and a lovely breeze. After renting a car, we drove to our hotel, which was almost exactly in the city centre. At first, we actually walked straight past it. From the outside, it looked far too fancy for two people who had spent the last few months living on a boat in stained sailing clothes. There was a parking service, golden floors and ceilings, and even tea served to you during check in. The tea was delicious, by the way. We felt slightly out of place. But it was also a very nice treat. Before going upstairs, we asked the ladies at reception where we could get good food. They recommended a tiny Pho place that was almost hidden on the side of the street.

Exactly what we wanted. We had been waiting for Pho for so long, and it was fantastic. Afterwards, we walked down towards the harbour.

Finally, some water! We sat by the waterfront, watching little islands and sailboats across the bay. Seabirds flew overhead while fishermen patiently tried their luck. There was something wonderfully peaceful about it. That evening, we booked the hotel's hot tub and enjoyed some proper relaxation before getting into a warm bed, eating pizza and watching something on the television. It felt very luxurious.

The next day, we explored Auckland on foot. We walked through parks and a botanical garden, wandered through the marina and discovered a collection of incredibly old boats. Some of them had been built in the nineteenth century. One of the owners happened to be on his boat, so we started talking to him. He told us about the boat and about their plans to make a documentary about it. Of course, as sailors, we were immediately interested. We also spotted one of the superyachts that we had repeatedly seen during our sailing travels. It really is a small ocean.

Later, we walked up one of the nearby hills and found a beautifully modernized old pub with fantastic food and a great view over the city. That evening, we went to our first rugby game. Neither of us had ever watched one live before. It was less crowded than we expected, but we had a lot of fun trying to figure out what was happening, why everyone was suddenly yelling and what exactly all those calls meant. On the way back, my German instincts took over. I wanted to walk. This was a mistake. The sky opened. It absolutely poured. We arrived back at the hotel completely soaked, but at least we got to see Auckland at night. And honestly, even the rain made it memorable.

Black Sand, Rain and Middle Earth

The next morning, we picked up the car and headed south. There was one destination I definitely wanted to see: Hobbiton. But before reaching the Shire, we decided to stop at the west coast. The drive itself already felt like an adventure. Winding roads climbed through what looked almost like jungle, with palm trees scattered between the hills. Fog hung between the trees and rain followed us for much of the way. Then we reached the beach. And wow. Of course, white sand and bright blue lagoons are beautiful. We love them. But there is something magical about a completely different kind of landscape. A dark sand beach. Rough sea. Heavy weather. Huge cliffs. And an enormous black beach stretching out in front of you. Apparently, penguins can sometimes be seen there. We did not see any. We did, however, see plenty of surfers. From a distance, they almost looked like penguins anyway. We walked along the beach until we were completely soaked and eventually admitted that perhaps it was time to go back to the car. We stopped at another beach afterwards and somehow managed to get even wetter. Eventually, cold won over adventure. We continued south towards our Airbnb.

The drive through heavy rain was not exactly relaxing, but eventually we arrived at this beautiful little place surrounded by gardens and a small alpaca farm. The garden looked like something from a fantasy book. There were little corners everywhere, places to sit, hide, read or simply lose track of time. Checking in was slightly complicated because the woman who normally ran the place was away, while the man looking after it had trouble hearing us knocking. Eventually, we got into our room. It was wonderfully old fashioned, with tea and a beautiful view over the garden.

Then we heard the magic words: "You can feed the alpacas." I was immediately sold. Our final activity of the day was therefore feeding alpacas.

We tried very hard to make sure the little one got some food too. The problem was that the big alpacas had other plans. They simply pushed the little one away and ate everything themselves with their enormous lips straight out of our hands. Fair enough. They were cute.

The drive through heavy rain was not exactly relaxing, but eventually we arrived at this beautiful little place surrounded by gardens and a small alpaca farm. The garden looked like something from a fantasy book. There were little corners everywhere, places to sit, hide, read or simply lose track of time. Checking in was slightly complicated because the woman who normally ran the place was away, while the man looking after it had trouble hearing us knocking. Eventually, we got into our room. It was wonderfully old fashioned, with tea and a beautiful view over the garden.

Then we heard the magic words: "You can feed the alpacas." I was immediately sold. Our final activity of the day was therefore feeding alpacas.

We tried very hard to make sure the little one got some food too. The problem was that the big alpacas had other plans. They simply pushed the little one away and ate everything themselves with their enormous lips straight out of our hands. Fair enough. They were cute.

Welcome to Hobbiton

The next morning, we headed to Hobbiton, the movie set location of the hobbit village where Bilbo and Frodo lived in the Lord of the Rings films. Even before arriving at the film set, it was obvious why the filmmakers had chosen this place.

Green rolling hills stretched as far as we could see, covered with sheep. One sheep was even in the middle of giving birth. It was basically Middle Earth already. We took the bus from the visitor centre to the film set, where our tour guide showed us around. And it was incredible.

The little Hobbit houses built into the hills were already adorable, but what really amazed us were the details. Smoke coming out of chimneys. Tiny posters. Plants chosen for their colours and smells. Little jars of food. Apparently, if something is inside a jar, it is actually real. There were even two honey sellers in the village for some reason. Everywhere we looked, there was another tiny detail designed to make the place feel alive.

We also got to enter one of the Hobbit houses. Inside, Alex looked suspiciously more like a wizard than a Hobbit. He did, however, manage not to hit his head too often.

After the tour, we went to the Green Dragon and enjoyed a beer outside overlooking Hobbiton. It was one of those experiences where you understand why something became so famous. It was absolutely worth it.

On the way back, we stopped at a nature reserve. We knew that seeing a kiwi during daylight would be extremely unlikely, but we still kept our eyes open. No kiwi. We did, however, see one of the native parrots, so we were happy.

That night we stayed in another cute Airbnb. No alpacas this time, but still a very nice place to spend our final evening before heading back towards the airport. The next morning, we made one final stop at a beautiful garden attraction. It had gardens inspired by different historical periods, countries and themes. There was an Egyptian garden, a Japanese garden, a crater garden and even a fantasy garden. Guess which one was my favourite? The fantasy garden, obviously. And then, just like that, it was time for another flight.

Germany, Family and One Very Important Wedding

The flight itself was fairly uneventful. Doha Airport was impressive, with plants, waterfalls and sculptures everywhere, although at that point in the middle of the night we were too tired to appreciate it properly. A little later, we landed in Berlin. I made it through passport control in minutes.

Alex did not. He stood in line for almost two hours. Eventually, though, we were both through. And then we saw my mum. She picked us up from the airport and suddenly we were home. There was all the food I had been missing: Hackepeter, Benjamin Blümchen cake and, most importantly, the whole family. And Samy, our dog. It was fantastic. There was just one small problem. Our bedroom had become a storage facility. There were huge piles of packages waiting for us, mostly boat parts we had ordered to my parents' house. Our mission was now to somehow fit all of this into two suitcases. But that would be a future Alex and Niccy problem.

The next days were busy. Very busy. We had food to prepare for the wedding, a speech to finish, a Family Feud game to prepare, clothes to organise, suitcases to pack and family time to squeeze in between everything. And, of course, jet lag. We had arrived on Tuesday. By Friday, we were already at the wedding venue setting everything up. Most things went smoothly, although the weather decided to make things interesting.

That evening, rain and storms tried their best to destroy the little outdoor tent. We spent some time fighting with it to make sure it did not simply fly away. Still, it was a beautiful evening, especially because some of my grandparents and my aunt were already there and everybody had good vibes.

Then came the wedding day. And somehow, everything worked. Even the weather cooperated, giving us a mixture of clouds and sunshine. Walking towards my brother with Alex beside me and carrying the rings was a huge honour. Looking into Patrick and Rebekka's slightly wet eyes made the whole thing suddenly feel very real. The little brother got married. It was a beautiful ceremony, followed by a fantastic first kiss surrounded by bubbles. There was great food, games and a fantastic party. Most importantly, Patrick and Rebekka were married. I could not be happier for them and wish them nothing but the best for their future. They deserve it.

Old Friends and Short Visits

After the wedding, on Sunday, we visited two of my great friends, Sarah and Kathi. I was really happy that it worked out, especially because we had organised it on fairly short notice. The difficult thing about visiting friends when you only have a few days is that you always want to do so much more than time allows. You want to talk about everything. You want to hear everything. You want to share every story from the last months and discuss all the plans for the future. But eventually, you have to leave again. Still, we had a fantastic evening at Kathi's cosy apartment, eating, drinking, talking and sharing adventures and thoughts about what comes next. I was even allowed to steal a quote from Kathi's quote book.

I picked one of my favourites from Walt Disney: "If you can dream it, you can do it." It now hangs in our toilet. Not because we need a daily reminder of the quote. But because where else would you put an inspirational quote? And honestly, that sentence fits our trip pretty well. At some point, after Alex had fallen asleep on the couch a couple of times, we decided it was probably time to leave. It was a wonderful evening.

And who knows? Maybe Kathi and Sarah will eventually make it onto Tauha too. If they do, you will probably hear about it here.

The following days were again spent packing, organising, spending time with family and recovering. Quite a few of us had apparently picked up some kind of bug during the wedding. So our glamorous international adventure involved quite a lot of packing while feeling slightly ill. Eventually, it was time to leave again. The visit had gone by incredibly quickly. But it had been absolutely worth it. And, admittedly, not just because of all the boat parts we managed to bring back.

Sydney and the Airport Panic

On the way back to Fiji, we decided to make another extended stop. Sydney. With the jet lag and the lingering sickness, I have to admit that getting out of bed in the morning was not particularly easy. But we did it. Well, at least by noon. We saw the Opera House and even went to see My Fair Lady. The show was fantastic. There was just one small problem. The play revolves around speaking English correctly, different accents and different ways of speaking. Unfortunately, a lot of the jokes went straight over my German head. Still, I absolutely enjoyed it.

The next day, we walked through the city, explored the botanical gardens, had again some Pho and eventually made our way through a park to watch the sunset over the bay. Later, we found a bar and had a few beers. Nothing spectacular happened. And somehow, that made it perfect. It was simply a very, very nice day. The next morning, we were back at the airport. And then came the moment when our relaxed return journey nearly turned into an expensive disaster.

We checked in our bags and were almost finished when the airline employee asked us to show our onward flight tickets proving that we would leave Fiji again. Of course, we did not have any. Our plan was to leave Fiji on our own boat. We explained this. She then wanted to see our customs papers. We did not have the complete set with us. She told us we might have to buy a flight. At this point, we entered what I like to call the "the ‘Oh Crap’ corner". We stood there slightly panicking while going through every email on our phones, desperately searching for anything that could prove that we were, in fact, planning to leave Fiji by boat. Eventually, we found a document that was good enough. Thank God.

We were allowed through. And we were on our way back to Fiji.

Home to Tauha

We landed in Fiji after dark. By that point, I could not wait to get back onto the boat. There was still one small challenge: Customs.

This was slightly entertaining because of what was inside our suitcases. Alex had a solar panel as a carry on. I had a sewing machine. And our suitcases featured a large collection of sailing parts. Oh, and a complete sink. Luckily, after briefly checking our bags, the customs officers accepted our explanation that everything was for personal use on our boat. We were free.

We jumped into a taxi and headed towards Tauha. The taxi driver had a rather... energetic driving style. He also asked us what had taken us so long at the airport. We were a bit confused about the passive aggressive way he asked that question but oh well. And then, finally, we saw her. Tauha. Still floating. Still exactly where we had left her. It was an incredibly good feeling.

The next morning, Alex went grocery shopping and immediately started working on one of our projects: fixing the watermaker. I, meanwhile, had discovered something even more exciting. Water. Fresh water. Lots of it. So I spent basically the entire day playing with water. I washed the boat.

I washed the lines. I flushed our water tanks. Then I filled them with fresh water. It took forever. But after more than two weeks away, Tauha desperately needed it.

And Then We Got Stuck

The next morning, we had to leave the marina early because the channel was extremely shallow. High tide was at 9:30 in the morning, so we wanted to make use of it. Everything went smoothly. We slowly made our way out. We were almost clear. Then, with the last rocks only about ten metres away, our depth sounder suddenly dropped to half a metre. And Tauha stopped. Completely. That is not a particularly comforting situation when your boat draws about two metres and you are sitting in a narrow channel. We went backwards. Then forwards. Eventually, Tauha freed herself. But it was more than enough excitement for one morning. We were very happy when we finally reached our anchorage. Back in beautiful clear water. Under a beautiful sunny sky. With a boat full of new materials, spare parts and projects. And, most importantly, a long list of things that needed fixing.

Boat Work, Boat Work and More Boat Work

The last week has basically been one giant boat project. And the next few days will probably look very similar. We are fixing the watermaker. We are building a new storage compartment underneath it. We are rebuilding part of our closet so that we can finally use it properly for shoes and jackets. We replaced the damaged boards underneath the kitchen sink. We installed the new depth sounder display. We bought and installed a new battery. We connected the new solar panel. We sewed a new lazy bag. We are working on a new dodger, spray covers and window covers.

We made and will now install a new table top. We are fixing the autopilot. And several other projects are currently somewhere between "planned", "started" and "why did we ever decide to do this ourselves?" Basically, Tauha is getting a little makeover. And while it is exhausting to work on the boat day and night, it is also incredibly rewarding. Every day, something gets a little better. A little more commutable. A little more reliable. A little more like the boat we want her to be for the next long leg of our journey.

One Night Off

Of course, we could not spend every waking minute working. One evening, we took a night off. By complete coincidence, we ran into a few fellow sailors again. We had originally met them in Aitutaki and saw them now again waiting for the bus while travelling from the city back to the harbour. That city, by the way, has a fantastic fruit and vegetable market. At that same bus ride, we also transported our enormous 150 Ah battery, which caused quite a bit of disbelief at the store. Anyway, we met these sailors again and they invited us to join them for a night out.

And that night could easily have started with: An Argentinian, an Australian, a German, an American, a Canadian and a Fijian walk into a bar...

Except that this time, it actually happened. There were drinks. Dancing. Laughing. Stories. And then even more stories afterwards on one of the boats. It was a fantastic night. And, unsurprisingly, the next morning came with a slightly heavier head than usual. Worth it.

Back to the Ocean

Looking back at the last few weeks, it feels almost ridiculous how much happened. We left Tauha in a tiny marina in Fiji. We survived a two hour argument over a 50 metre boat manoeuvre and, somewhere out there, there is still a cake whose fate we will probably never know. We explored Auckland. We ate Pho. We watched rugby. We walked through parks and marinas. We got soaked on black sand beaches. We fed alpacas. We walked through Hobbiton. We drank at the Green Dragon. We searched unsuccessfully for a kiwi. We flew to Germany. We saw my brother get married. We spent time with family and friends. We watched My Fair Lady in THE Sydney Opera house. We almost had an airport-induced heart attack. We flew back to Fiji. We got Tauha stuck in a shallow channel. And now we are back where we belong. On the boat. Surrounded by tools, spare parts, sewing machines, batteries, solar panels and approximately 42 unfinished projects.

We are incredibly grateful for everything we got to experience over the last few weeks. At the same time, it feels really good to be back on Tauha.

It is exhausting right now. We are working day and night to get everything ready for the next leg. But there is something deeply satisfying about watching the boat grow with us. Every repair, every modification and every new piece of equipment makes Tauha a little more ours. And soon, hopefully, she will be ready again. Next stop: Vanuatu. The Pacific is waiting.

If you’d like to read more, follow our journey, and support what we do, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on social media. Every bit of encouragement helps keep the adventure going and we’d love to have you aboard!