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8 Mar 2018
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Now it is packing day for the airport. We went to BMW to pick up a metal palette for Dan’s bike (he already had a wood BMW one for the 650, but it is for a much smaller bike!) and 2 dozen tie downs. Faisal’s dad also showed up with one of their trucks for the transport. We had a lot of help from the shop guys, Faisal and Orvar to get them crated, loaded, and onto the flat bed. This meant mirrors, windscreen, and front tires off as well.
 Malaysia-104 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Malaysia-105 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Malaysia-106 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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8 Mar 2018
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The next issue today is that Mohadin now says we have to pay cash unlike with MAS which takes Visa. There is no way we can get that kind of cash from an ATM in one day. We will get what we can and try to get him to sort out a Paypal account for the rest.
We finally set out for the airport at 445 pm. We arrived to the cargo terminal, obtained day passes for us and the truck, and entered the secure zone. Mohadin the agent met us inside and he dealt with the carnet exit stamps. We had “inspection” , which was a check of the VIN and then we moved the bikes over to the loading bay for final “volume” measurement and wight 315 and 324 kg (bikes, luggage, helmets, and gear). Mohadin worked some magic on the numbers to get us the best deal. They are flying Thai Air Cargo tomorrow to Bangkok and then TAC to Auckland on Dec 31.
 Malaysia-108 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Malaysia-109 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 Malaysia-110 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_1748 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_1749 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
This is a very brief description, but does not really describe the huge hassle and stress that is involved in the shipping. The issues of getting a booking, getting the best rate, making the smallest volume, being told a different thing every few hours, being told you could roll on and then that you need to crate, being told you can pay with visa and then at the last minute you need to pay cash, trying to organize money international transfers for the next day when transfers will take several days…..We were finally in bed at midnight and up at 5 am for our flight. We had met the agent at the hotel set up a PayPal account for him, paid him all the cash we could get from the ATM daily limit, and sent the rest by paypal. In the morning we get a message that the payment was sent back by the agent as he clearly did something wrong on his end. The bikes did go to Bangkok, but several hours before we had a message that the agent that we needed to get the money to him ( it is sent, but as he refused the last one they are holding this one) or the bikes will not fly tonight (we have a way bill that says paid), but Faisal to the rescue again and he guaranteed the payment.
 IMG_1757 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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8 Mar 2018
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We arrived to Auckland airport at almost 1 am. Here you have to go thru several layers of customs screening after immigration. It is important to declare any food or items that may contact soil. If they find something you did not declare (even a candy) the fine starts at 400$. We handed over our tent for fumigation and had the luggage X-rayed. They spotted something in the bag that turned out to be a Vick’s candy we had forgotten about and they let that go. After all this we used the SIM card purchased in duty free to contact the hotel shuttle and finally fell into bed at 2am. You know you are in the first world when your room is as booked, there are towels and 4 pillows, there is a bar fridge and it is already cold and has fresh cream in it for your coffee.
 IMG_1764 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Janet and Charlie Russel who we finally met in Osh have kindly offered to host us until we get the bikes (very kind as it may be 4-5 days). They arrived to pick us up about 11 and drove us to their home in almost rural Albany.
 Screen Shot 2018-01-05 at 18.53.05 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 IMG_1768 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 North Island NZ 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 North Island NZ 1-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Nice Garage!
 IMG_1767 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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8 Mar 2018
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We are quite shattered today, but rested up here at the Russel’s. Well the bikes have left Bangkok and arrive to Auckland today at noon Dec 31. The cargo company Menzies says that we can come at 2 pm (Saturday) and “all the paperwork with be done”. We did drive all the way over there again only to find the paper work done, but customs is closed for the next 3 days!! AGH. We did pay our 113$ NZ (Import international terminal fees and document import fees plus GST)
 IMG_1782 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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10 Mar 2018
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It is finally “pick up your motorbike day” January 3. We loaded up the trailer again and Charlie drove us back to the airport. We arrived to customs at 930 and they seemed a bit confused about what to do. This is a Carnet country, but very few bikes arrive here i would guess. They did manage to stamp and sign the papers, but it took them over an hour. They told us “you do not need to go to inspection”. From here you go back 200 m to the shippers Menzies with your document from customs and they then told us we did (of course) need inspection and had to drive 3.5 km to the new MPI (Ministry of Primary Industries) office to get our inspection even arranged. Because customs did not enter the info the officer here had to redo all the data and after the long wait in the cue we finally left after 11. We called to book the inspection, but they could not do it until 1. Lunch it is. We arrived back to the warehouse area and just had to wait 15 min for the inspection officer to finish with the last customer. We were of course worried the bikes would be clean enough and that we would not have any banned items. He unwrapped all the saran and opened the bag with the boots and suits, Dan’s tank bag and one of his panniers….10 minutes and both passed. Now we just had a few minutes to wait for a fork lift driver who lifted the bikes onto Charlie’s trailer. We unloaded the luggage and strapped the bikes in for the drive the 46 km back to Albany.
 North Island NZ 1-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flick
 IMG_1787 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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10 Mar 2018
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The weather held out all day and there was just a sprinkle starting as we arrived home. Charlie has all the bits and pieces that we can use to set up a good ramp. We all worked together to lift each bike on the center stand and get the front wheel back on. We managed to get them both unloaded before the predicted storm hit.
 North Island NZ 1-18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 North Island NZ 1-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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10 Mar 2018
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We had planned to try to leave today, but it got too late and then the next day the 4 th it was gale force winds and pouring. There is a severe storm warning and they have evacuated the beaches and camping on both the central coasts. It is Sara’s birthday so we went out for a birthday dinner!
By 11 am on the 5th there was a window where the storm looked less severe and we set out the 147 km to Tikipunga where Tina and Thomas live.
 Screen Shot 2018-01-05 at 18.59.28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
It was pretty windy, but not raining that hard until our lunch break in Wellsford. After that is was Patagonia windy and pouring. The traffic our way was not too bad , but there was a continuous line of vehicles coming towards us.
 FILE0092 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 FILE0086 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
We arrived to Tina and Thomas’s to fresh baked rhubarb cake.
 North Island NZ 1-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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10 Mar 2018
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Contributing Member
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We made a brief stop in Kawakawa to get a photo of the "famous" Hundertwasser toilets here! There are public toilets in almost every NZ town. This may be why there are sort of unfriendly signs on the door of all the shops and restaurants warning " toilets are for guests only”!
 North Island NZ 1-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
From here we rode on some small roads thru the woods and then on some gravel cross country to arrive south west of Whangarei again.
 Screen Shot 2018-01-06 at 20.11.51 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 FILE0242 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Tina and Thomas have been very kind to host us for 2 days here. They also looked over our map and gave their suggestions on our route.
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11 Mar 2018
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From here we rode north on the 12, which takes you thru the Waipoua Forrest. We did a few gravel side trip, with a visit to the Trauson Kauri park, the Waipoua Forrest lookout (not much to see but trees), and to the visitors center where we had lunch at 3 pm.
 FILE0300 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 FILE0319 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 FILE0342 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
 FILE0350 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Got to watch for KIWI! Probably not actually since they are nocturnal.
 FILE0406 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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