The motorhome has arrived in NZ!!

Yesterday the motorhome swam its way into Auckland - well, the ship it was in berthed there and hopefully, the motorhome was unloaded - we damn well hope so, as the ship left again late last night ... Our fingers are crossed that all is well with it, that nothing has been removed and pilfered, that no damage has been sustained en route. 😓😨

This is the screenshot from the Marine Traffic Update service about an hour or so before the ship (Heogh Seoul) berthed in Auckland.  We have been using this service to track the ship since it left Southampton. Updates are not always provided - if the ship is outside the range of the landbased tracking system (i.e. between South Africa and Perth, and between Brisbane and NZ) we just had to wait until it reappeared - nerve-wracking stuff!

All being well, we are flying up on Wednesday to do all the necessary things to get it inspected, certificated, signed off, validated, COFed, registered and whatever else is required on the Thursday. Then we will commence to wend our way slowly home.

When I woke at about 6am today it was to the sudden realisation that the pile of mulch outside the lounge could be in the way if I cannot reverse the motorhome down the driveway and on to its parking pad - the back up plan is that I drive down forwards past the pad and then reverse into it. AAARRRGGGHHH!!! I am reasonably confident that I will be able to do the reverse down the driveway thing, but just in case I cannot, I need that pile of mulch gone.

So today, when our friends, Mary and Alan who stayed with us overnight last night, discovered that the concert they were going to in Paraparaumu didn't start until 4pm, I decided that it was fine to co-opt Mary into coming out and helping me do the newspaper and mulch thing.

What a team! What speed and efficiency! It did make a big difference that David loaded the wheelbarrow when I delivered it back empty, but essentially, Mary and I got a lot done very quickly. So now

• the garden outside our bedroom is completely covered, 
• the back garden where Rob and I had to install the edging has been rectified with additional mulch to cover up the newspaper that had re-surfaced during the edging insertion
• the strip of garden by the driveway has been replenished and 
• mulch has been strewn under the verbalium hedge on the other side of the driveway.

The mulch pile has diminished greatly, and I reckon that I could get the motorhome in position to be able to reverse back on to the pad if necessary. So, the panic is over!