Monday 23rdNovember 2020

We left Dalyan for Gobun Bay, where we had been before with our other boat friends. It was only a 20 nm journey from 8 am til 1 pm. Once we arrived I did some washing, we made some water, the kids did some schooling. Tim and I both had a shower since the water was hot from motoring. In the evening we decided to have a campfire again at the beach and bake some potatoes and onions and have some nibbles and drinks with the Pisces crew.

They hadn’t really done camp fires before and really enjoyed the experience. Jason loved the collecting of the wood for the fire and stocking up the fire. After our dinner we saw a frog coming close to the fire hiding by the warm stones.

The next day we said good buy to Pisces as we had to head to Fethiye for our appointment with immigration and they still wanted to explore the national park. It was a busy and productive day for us. I made some more banana bread, tidied our stationary and games cupboards, prepared our documents for immigration and did some school work with the kids.

Nina lost a milk tooth while eating her breakfast, because it was bleeding she put the tooth on the table and went to the bathroom to deal with the bleed. When she came back Lucy was sitting at the table right in front of where the tooth was, licking her mouth. The tooth was gone! We checked all the surroundings and the floor to no avail. Lucy obviously didn’t withstand the temptation of licking up the “crumbs” from the table. Lucky neither of our kids really believe in the tooth fairy anymore!

At 11.30 am next day was Tim’s appointment at immigration. We where so nervous, still traumatized from all the trouble in Greece, almost expecting the worse. However it all went smooth and after 1 hour he was sent on his way. We went to top up some groceries on our way back and check if our Diesel heater had arrived. Tim had bought a Chinese remake of the expensive German brands ($2,000 upwards NZD) that we could not afford, it came up in the end just over $400 NZD incl. import taxes. However the parcel hadn’t arrived where it was supposed to arrive, so after some investigations we where worried it might have gotten lost. Tim called the courier and found out that the courier driver still had it in his van, so they caught up later that afternoon and we where so happy to have it, as the mornings and evenings now get really cold.

Also our outboard motor was playing up again – stopping randomly and not starting again. Its like an endless story. I wish we had the money to buy a new one. It always puts Tim in a bad mood, having to take it apart and clean and blow and wonder what the heck the problem is this time. Its really troublesome when its not working, because its our only method of transportation to land and we have to use it at the very least 2 times a day to get Lucy to shore to do her toilet business…. So its always a worry. We have got paddles for it of course, but its not much fun to paddle a family of 4 around on the sea often with groceries for a week. At least he had the joy of receiving the diesel heater package before days end, so that was one worry less.

The kids had to do a school project to create a hat each symbolising their year 2020 These where the results:

The next morning at 8.30 am we had to head back to immigration for me and the kids appointments. We didn’t get appointments all at the same time. Unfortunately our appointment didn’t go as smoothly as Tim’s. First of all our German passports where $130 NZD more expensive each than the NZ passport, so we had to pay more tax for all 3 passports. And the lady wanted a birth certificate with an apostille for both our children. We had one for Nina with an apostille on, but not for Luca. We had original birth certificates for them both from New Zealand and Germany as well as their German and New Zealand passports, but it was not enough apparently. On top of that the birth certificates had to be translated and the translation notarized. She told us the New Zealand Embassy can’t do Apostilles or certifications, it needs to come from New Zealand. She gave us the address and phone number of an office in Istanbul who could perhaps help though. She gave us a 30 day extension to produce the relevant papers, payments and translations.

So slightly deflated we went back to the boat to start investigating our options to get our original birth certificate certified somehow in Turkey. It ended up being a long story involving our friend Birgul trying to help, the Turkish office in Istanbul and the NZ embassy but coming to a dead end with it. So I ordered a new New Zealand birth certificate for Luca with an Apostille from New Zealand. And ahhh what a fresh breath of air the New Zealand public offices have been. Within 2 weeks even within all this covid craziness here in Europe the courier delivered Luca’s birth certificate with an apostille!

After all the stress with the uncertainty if all could be accomplished in time I had more crochet therapy and finished the kids advent calendar late in the night. There are at least some things that I am in control of. Finishing the advents calendar in time for the 1st of December.

The next day was a Friday – market day in Fethiye. Nina and I went to the market to buy fresh fruit and veg and Tim went to the Senayi – the industrial area to find bits and pieces for the heater installation. Since only Tim has a Sim card for his phone, we have no means of contacting each other. We took our VHF radios but they only work within a certain distance. We made an approximate time, but I didn’t have a watch and no clue what time it was. We ended up waiting for ages in the dinghy for Tim to come back. He was wasn’t very successful to find what he was looking for in the industrial area and walked for ages. There are no real megastores here where you walk in and find everything you want. Its all little workshops and half the time you don’t even know what they are doing and most of them don’t speak English. Those are the joys of boat life. Even the most simples things at home can turn into a big several day adventure here.

The next morning I wanted to take a trip to town by myself to buy fillings for the kids advents calendar and have a stroll in peace without anyone being impatient or having some demand or telling me whatever we are doing takes to long or is boring. It was so nice to have a single outing just with myself. We still hadn’t found anywhere to refill our Greek gas bottles, so I walked into the marina and checked if they knew somewhere and sure enough there was a little shop right there that could do it. I was so thrilled with myself. We had been looking for ages. On the way I also saw a shower sign and felt a deep longing for a warm shower – maybe later!

I found some winter PJ’s and some singlets in town which I needed, had a sneaky detour to the wool shop and dropped in at Migros to find sweet things to fill the kids advents calendar.

Once we where back I filled the calendar and then we headed off in the dinghy to the Marina to fill the gas bottles. Nina and I took our towels and soap to try and sneak into the marina showers, while Tim dealt to the gas bottles. The shop owner was so helpful and kind and Tim’s new best friend to find all the things and bits and pieces he wasn’t able to locate so far. Nina and I had the nicest shower in the Marina, washed clean hair and bodies. Such a luxury – something we took for guaranteed at home. So that was an altogether happy day.