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Back with the Kiwis

Jun 30, 2025
7 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

New Zealand – May 18–30, 2025


On May 18, I finally set off. After several flight reschedulings by my airline, I left early Sunday morning, took the train to Zurich, flew to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), boarded another flight to Melbourne (Australia), and then another to Auckland (New Zealand). And all that just to arrive in New Zealand’s capital in the middle of the night and doze off on those uncomfortable airport benches until I could catch one of the first trains into the city to board the bus to Whangarei (*deep breath*)—my final destination. After 30 hours of flying and waiting, I really would have loved to have had one of those hammocks that a backpacker—dressed in harem pants and wearing a straw hat—had hung from the railing right in the middle of the arrivals area. It looked funny, sure, but it was definitely comfortable.


Finally, a total of 40 hours (plus a 10-hour time difference) after saying goodbye to my mom, my dad, and my best friend, I got to greet Mirko, who was waiting for me at the bus stop in front of the Hundertwasser House at Town Basin in Whangarei. I was immediately transported back a year and a half, when this then-stranger had grinned at me just as happily as he did today. This time, though, the greeting felt a lot more familiar than it had back then :-)



Neither New Zealand, nor Whangarei in New Zealand’s Northland, and certainly not the Riverside Drive Marina had changed much. Only the temperature was different from the last time—now, in May, winter was approaching; back then, in November, it was spring. Both the New Zealand landscape with its hills and green meadows, which had passed me by during the bus ride, and the all-too-familiar annoying beeping of the Riverside Marina travel lift (the thing that hoists boats into the water), with Mo at the controls, brought a smile to my face. But that was nothing compared to the joy I felt when I caught sight of the Yum Yum—my future home. And I hadn’t even spotted the bouquet of flowers, the Prosecco, and the banana-chocolate muffins that Mirko had baked for me yet.

Mirko and I quickly got caught up in the daily routine at the marina, and there were already a few boat maintenance tasks to tackle. The yacht was currently on dry dock, and Mirko was fully occupied with refinishing the underwater hull. In other words: removing barnacles from the boat, sanding it down, and applying three coats of antifouling paint. Luckily for me, 80% of the work was already done, so I “had” to focus on outfitting the boat. That meant I got to spend my time shopping for practical—and not-so-practical—items to make our home a little cozier. The familiar rounds through Woolworths (the supermarket I still knew as Countdown), Warehouse, and Kmart were therefore on the agenda almost every day. Mirko and I also attached the ship’s tattoo—painstakingly designed and plotted in Switzerland—to Yum Yum’s rear… uh… stern—cool, right?



It wasn’t just us who had landed back in New Zealand; Paula from Scotland and Jim from Australia on the Freydis, as well as Rachel and Adam from Australia on the Lady Annabelle—with whom we’d spent a lot of time during our last visit to Fiji—had also landed here on the island at the other end of the world. Unfortunately, I just missed the Freydis by a few days, as they had flown to Europe for a couple of weeks to visit friends. Luckily, though, we’ll see them again in Fiji.

In addition, the “sea nomads” Doris and Wolfi set sail from New Zealand this season aboard their yacht, the Nomad. The two Austrians have called their yacht home for over 30 years, have circumnavigated the globe more than once, and have seen things and experienced adventures that Mirko and I can (so far) only dream of.


Mirko had met the two Viennese in Polynesia in 2019, while I’d known them by name for quite some time but didn’t get to meet them in person until March in Zurich at their talk. After I burst into the already dimly lit lecture hall, out of breath and sweaty, as the last person to arrive (finding a parking spot in Zurich is truly a nightmare!), they immediately recognized me as Mirko’s girlfriend and pressed a Mozartkugel into my hand before addressing their welcome remarks to the audience.


After a week on dry land, Yum Yum finally returned to the water. Back in the swampy, salty-sweet Hatea River, I couldn’t help but smile, because I was immediately greeted by that familiar crackling sound of the snapping shrimp (also known as pistol shrimp). These tiny creatures produce a loud snap with their claws that can reach an incredible 250 decibels.


Mirko and I knew pretty quickly that we wouldn’t be staying with the Kiwis much longer. A weather window had opened up for the crossing to Minerva. Last year, before we sailed on to Tonga, we’d already made a stop at the unique Minerva Reefs, and I was excited to see them again so soon. But more on that when we get there ;-)


To stock up on provisions, we were able to borrow the red van from Mo, the marina employee and former circus performer with the… um… let’s just say most interesting hairstyle ever (a shaved head with a small tuft of hair at the back—yes, that’s intentional). The only two conditions: “Pay for what you break” and “Leave a message somewhere.” The van was a sight to behold. The very first thing to greet us from the windshield was a skull wearing a winter hat, which seemed to be mockingly surveying all the smiley-face stickers on the dashboard and the walls and ceiling of the car, which were covered in marker scribbles. Okay… following the second rule—or rather, leaving a message—turned out to be a bit harder than expected—you first had to find a free spot to do it! Apparently, over a thousand people had already borrowed Mo’s car, and it really did seem like everyone had stuck to the rules.


Admittedly, I would have loved to take another road trip all the way across New Zealand if it hadn’t been late fall and if we hadn’t been short on time. So Mirko and I had to squeeze the “Best of Whangarei” into just a few days: We went to our favorite restaurant, Whang Thai, for Thai food (*drool*) and feasted on pizza at a bakery that turned into a pizzeria on Thursdays and Fridays, along with the “Sea Nomads” and a German couple who were just getting their newly purchased sailboat ready for their journey across the world’s oceans.


We also had two birthdays to celebrate: first Rachel’s, and then my own. On my birthday, we visited the Kiwi House to see one of those little, mysterious birds in person one last time (sooo cuuuute—even if it did scare me a little :D), and afterward toasted my 35th birthday with Doris and Wolfi over a glass of Prosecco. And in case anyone was wondering: Mirko and I could easily polish off a cake like that all by ourselves ;-), but of course we shared it. After all, who can say no to Wolfi’s chocolatey gaze?

Anyone familiar with my previous blog posts knows that I love to add a few (fun) facts to my writing—let’s just call it “educational trivia” for simplicity’s sake. So here are a few interesting facts about kiwis: These little birds have been threatened with extinction ever since humans arrived in New Zealand. The caretaker at the Kiwi House told us that the kiwi’s biggest enemy isn’t actually the introduced opossum—which steals and eats the flightless bird’s eggs from its burrows on the ground—but man’s best friend: the dog. Also, kiwis usually lay one egg per year. That’s pretty few for a bird, but hey, when you see the size of the egg, you’ll understand why: It’s as big as one-third of the bird itself. Who would want to lay more than one a year? It was very encouraging to hear that the population of Northland Brown Kiwis has grown so much again that they are no longer considered critically endangered. A truly wonderful success that the sanctuaries—the so-called Kiwi Houses—have achieved there in recent years.

On May 29, everything was finally ready: The new bimini was there (thanks, Steve!!), the engine had been serviced (thanks, Mirko!!), we’d done the shopping, tidied up, attached the lifelines, and had everything we needed for the five-day crossing on the open sea. We said goodbye to Karl and Mo, the Riverside Marina crew, who both surprised us with a warm hug. It was especially surprising coming from Karl, since I personally had only ever exchanged a few sentences with him. Not because we didn’t understand each other—or maybe actually precisely because of that. His New Zealand accent is so thick that I didn’t always understand him. But he was always nice (at least I assume so), so I simply decided to fall back on the “penguin-style wave-and-smile” principle and return his warm hug.


We had finally left Whangarei behind and spent a night at anchor in a bay called Nook, which lies at the river mouth leading to the open ocean. The next day, we sailed to Marsden Cove to clear customs and set off for the islands. Although the weather forecast for the next few days had looked better before and was only moderately satisfying, this was still our best chance to avoid getting stuck in cold New Zealand for another two weeks or longer. So, with Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye”—which had already become a tradition—playing in our ears, Mirko and I left New Zealand waters and headed toward Minerva Reef. See you in a few years, New Zealand! (maybe ;-)



“A new moon on my birthday… Perfect for starting a new year!” — Doris

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