Note: During our remaining time in New Zealand, we’ll be reposting photos (including their original captions) from our previous stay, beginning in January 2016, when we were based in a far less remote location than where we are now in Kaiwaka, nearly a full day’s drive from most sightseeing destinations.
Today’s photos are from this post here.
Last night, around midnight, just as I was beginning that gentle slide from wakefulness into sleep, the kind where thoughts blur, and the body finally relaxes, the bedroom exploded with sound. Tom was already asleep, breathing evenly beside me, when the fire alarm went off. I have never heard anything so piercing in my life. It wasn’t just loud, it was aggressive, the kind of noise that jolts every nerve awake at once.
In those first few disoriented seconds, my half-asleep brain tried to make sense of it. I was convinced it had to be my phone. I grabbed it, fumbled in the dark, and shut it off, fully expecting silence to follow. It didn’t. The alarm continued to roar, echoing off the walls, relentless and impossible to ignore. By then, Tom was wide awake too, and we both leapt out of bed, hearts pounding, adrenaline flowing.
We stood there in the bedroom, the alarm screaming overhead, trying to figure out what to do. There’s something uniquely unsettling about a fire alarm going off in the middle of the night when there is no fire, no smoke, no apparent reason for the chaos. Tom finally dragged a dining room chair into the bedroom and climbed up to reach the ceiling. He removed the device from the ceiling, hoping that would permanently remedy the issue.
We examined it under the light, hopeful we’d find a simple solution. Surely there had to be a battery to remove. Surely there was an off switch we were missing. But no matter how carefully we looked, there was nothing, no removable battery, no way to silence it permanently. A few minutes later, as if to mock our optimism, it went off again.
At that point, we knew sleep wasn’t going to happen unless we took decisive action. Tom wrapped the shrieking device tightly in a bath towel and carried it outside, setting it well away from the house. We waited, listening. The night returned to quiet. We never heard it go off again.
This morning, when we spoke to Dave, the mystery was solved. He explained that when the internal battery in these alarms reaches the end of its life, the entire unit must be replaced. There is no way to shut it off. The alarm did exactly what it was designed to do: alert loudly and persistently, but timing, as always, has a sense of humor.
As a result of the midnight drama, I didn’t fall asleep again until after 2:00 am. The alarm may have been gone, but my mind wasn’t ready to let go. I finally drifted off only to wake at 6:45, far earlier than planned. Oddly enough, I feel fine today, at least for now. That may change when we hit the road.
We’re heading out shortly for the 45-minute drive to Whangārei, with stops at the pharmacy and the New World Market. Grocery shopping out here is always a strategic event. We’re proud of how well we did this last time, stretching our supplies for 18 days. If we can accomplish that again, we’ll only need to shop once more near the end of January, which feels like a small victory in a long-term stay like this.
February 11 is already looming on the calendar. That’s the day we’ll drive to Auckland and stay overnight near the airport, easing ourselves into the early morning flight to Tasmania the following day. Having that hotel booked brings a sense of relief and peace of mind.
As always, our thoughts drift further ahead. September, when we depart South Africa, remains an open question, a collection of possibilities not yet pinned down. Travel has taught us that plans evolve, sometimes quietly, sometimes abruptly, much like fire alarms in the middle of the night. We’ll share more once the picture becomes clearer. For now, we’re moving forward on less sleep than usual, but with full hearts, and another story added to the ever-growing collection.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, January 8, 2016:
