Duck missed pot

A hungry and curious duck decided this morning that Alita and its crew look great to check our. So it swam up close hopped on board. It was on the deck astern (hinten) and checked out if there would be a way to get food.

Well, Katrin gave her a little bit of bread, but in the water. So she jumped back out. BUT: it came back. 

The third attempt started from the stern. I saw it swimming behind our boat and came close to sit down and film its probable attempt to hop aboard. Well, it did and I filmed it. However it failed on the attempt for hop up further. So it sat and looked out to the water. 

I went downstairs to get ready to go to land when I get called: „PICTURE"

Running up with my camera in my hand I found Mr Duck already attempting to enter the cockpit, where Alex and Katrin were sitting. I could not believe my eyes!

The last time (unfortunately Katrin and I were on land already) it jumed up higher towards the cockpit. Marcus and Alex did not really pay attention for a second and all of a sudden the duck was gone. Then Marcus saw that our mosquito net of our hatch (Luke) was down and a shock came to his head. You can probably guess what happened next: Marcus looked into our bedroom and there it was, sitting on our bed. Unfortunately the shock of falling into the boat (she had jumped onto the net which is only held up with magnets and did not cope with the duck's weight) made her shit all over our bed. 

She was running around on our bed. 

Then Marcus chased the duck through the boat until he finally caught it with a towel and threw her out. Thank god Alex took the two pictures of the duck on our bed. At least we can laugh looking at them. 

We think she will avoid becoming friendly with boats for a while. ;-) Well, I already washed our bedding, but will wash it again next time I we have a washing machine near us. Wish I could draw I'd draw a cartoon of this situation. Just imagine the duck's eyes when she happily sits on the net and then all of a sudden she drops down into a hole and lands on something soft. Oh my god, this is so funny!

Brother and sister in Auckland!

Auckland

Here we are, in the biggest marina of the southern hemisphere, maybe of the world, waiting for my brother to arrive tomorrow morning!

Happy Kiwi Easter!

Safely arrived in Hamburg

Or Tauranga... :-)

Harbour works

Ships in the harbour...

Arriving in Tauranga harbour

Tauranga harbour is the biggest "trading harbour", it has the most traffic of trading ships. Almost all of NZ's exported Kiwi-fruits leave from here, to give an example. We just arrived at the river entrance, one more hour to go til we can put the anchor down and get a rest. Lots of traffic here, always exciting to arrive at night. A good watch (look out) is important!

White Island

4hrs ago we were sailing past the "White Island", the active volcano, its activity currently rated "category 1", which means that right now it's just sending off lots of sulfur steam. Boy it smells.
We're slowly making our way past the island hardly beating into the waves with saltwater constantly washing over our deck. The waves work against us and slow us down drastically. We expect to land in Tauranga somewhere around 6pm, we're motoring in the meantime.

Burning volcano

This sunset of the easternmost part of NZ lets the island appear like a bug active volcano. And that's basically what it is, especially here at the central part of NZ. Tomorrow we'll pass by the active volcano on a little island called White Island. It is the last one on a ridge of volcanos which also the ones we visited this week and Mt Egmont in New Plymouth belong to. So it comes at no surprise that the sunset reflects the volcanos.

A wedding and a funeral

This yacht club here in Napier is special and a complete contrast program to the one in Dunedin. Whilst in Dunedin there was always action, sailings school, regatta etc. There is not so much action here (well, at least we don't see it so much because the area is ver spread out) but lots of events. A week ago there was an event from the Jazz Club with great live music which actually was Dixi Land. On friday there was a funeral of a lady who put down in her last will that no one should wear black and that they should have a great party, her coffin (Sarg) was purple and reflected her will. So cool. Yesterday they had a wedding here of a young couple. Wedding couple and bridesmades / groom mates were delivered with a sailboat and champagne in their hands. We were always first line, because we're docked right in front of the club house. Everybody sees Alita and we get lots of compliments. 

This evening we're heading out to Tauranga, we expect a 2 day sail. 

I have just uploaded pictures from my scenic volcano flight and from the central plateau area. Just follow the links (click on the blue text):

Volcano pix

Central plateau

Here are some as well: 

Moon crater walk near Taupo

Mt. Ruapehu

 

The tower with a „Glockenspiel" in Stratford - the only Glockenspiel in NZ

Wanganui

Old tunnel on the „Forgotten Highway"

Typical landscape where all the trees have been cut (which is about 98% of the whole continent) in order to make this farmland

Mt. Ruapehu, 2797m high

The red crater

Emerald lakes

Mt. Nguhere to the right, Tongariro to the left

Mt. Nguhuere, around 2200m high

Alita's new body guards

Just finished a new job: new outfit for Alita's body guards: the fenders. We are a happy boat, so even the fenders need to smile. Just following the motto: „Smile even if you're under pressure!". 

 

 

 

 

Napier - our current home

Here are some pictures of our current home Napier. 

 

    

    

 

    

    

     

Feels like Santa Monica