So packing wasn’t fun. More than just being annoying and something you had to do, it felt like goodbye. Which could seem silly, we knew most of these people superficially and nothing more than recognizing a familiar face at one of our ports. But everything I put in the suitcase was a reminder of our huge adventure and how part of it was coming to an end. While shaking out still MORE sand from the snorkel set I remembered Henry and Peter splashing around in the surf and the huge sea turtles. When I unearthed the pile of seashells I remembered looking at my little blondie blonde boy digging for shells all afternoon. And aside from the material things and locations there were some amazing people that we got to know and most of them crew members.
Tonight, Ketut is probably making new little friends and *zapping* the 7 new kids coming on board, Danielle and Christina in the kids club are meeting an entire new set of parents (no doubt wishing they were as cool as we were.. haha), Matt, the vocalist and guitarist is probably already learning the names of the new people in the crow’s nest and teasing them endlessly, and Luke my dance partner is probably gearing up for the Welcome Aboard show. I felt like we were leaving a weird little family that we’re not likely to see again. There’s a sort of connection that you have with people when you spend 41 days on a boat with them. Some of the people I really hope to remain in contact with and I wish we’d met earlier on in the cruise. In the middle of packing I sort of sighed and started to get a little teary about it all and Peter caught my eye and knew exactly what I was thinking. Henry suddenly noticed a change in the room and then said “I’m sad too because pretty soon, when we go back home Daddy is only going to get to see us in the morning for a little bit and before bed at night” – which then brought on another load of tears and snuggles. Henry’s next statement was that he’d also now have less time in hot tubs with Dad and would miss that too. We’ve truly been fortunate for Peter to be able to spend this much uninterrupted time with us – it will be weird trying to remember what “normal” was like when we’re back.
On top of all this the recent hurricane to hit the Philippines is likely to have affected many of the Filipino crew on board though as we left the storm was just hitting. I think about how helpless I’ve felt when things have happened and I’ve felt far away from my family or how we can’t stop watching the news nonstop when natural disasters occur. These crew members have to put on a happy face and still go out multiple times a day and serve drinks and food and clean rooms when I’m sure all they want to do is have some sort of confirmation from their loved ones that things are ok. Hard stuff.
So all that being said. We somehow stuffed our entire room into our bags and wheeled them all off in Auckland, hopped in a cab and went and picked up our Campervan! Which will be home for the next week. After spending the good part of the day, sorting out the campervan Peter keeps muttering “we’ve been too spoiled over the last 41 days for this sh&t”. It’s a bit of a drastic change going from having someone take care of all the cooking and cleaning, turning down your bed every night, washing and ironing your clothes – to trying to stuff 4 suitcases into an RV and organize it so you can get to whatever items you might need over the next week, burying any gifts bought, any formal wear, and anything thing you aren’t likely to need camping. Currently, we’re both online at a campground across from some really pretty waterfalls up in the Bay of Plenty near the top of the North Island. We’ve both burned through our allotted “free” internet minutes given to us by the campground so who knows when we’ll actually get this posted with pictures.
Arriving in Auckland @6am…
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