Not Lost at Sea

The other day I wrote about a shipwreck that occurred 100 years ago. Although that vessel did have a newfangled radio aboard, whatever happened to them happened so suddenly or so catastrophically that they were never able to use it. Not then, and not even today, does anyone know where that ship ended up.

Times have changed. Now there are lots of radios, and lots of satellites, and who knows what other methods of tracking a ship. So I know that the ship pictured above, the Spirit of Shanghai, is heading for the Port of Tauranga and scheduled to arrive in the early hours of September 17.

But why would I care, you might ask? Well, it’s because all our stuff from the USA is on that ship. We’ve done pretty well accumulating a house full of furniture, dishes, clothes, etc. since we’ve been here. But all the stuff that really matters, all the sentimental stuff, is in a container on that ship. Fingers crossed…

Once the ship arrives, our goods have to clear customs, and then they have to go through a biosecurity inspection to make sure we aren’t importing any foreign germs or parasites or anything. Once all that is done, the moving company will grab the container and bring it right to our door, where everything will be unloaded into an empty part of our living room. And after that we can spend the next six months figuring out what to do with it all!