As they say, the opera is not over until the type 2 diabetic soprano sings.
Tainui is at present caught up in the Australian Quarantine Service bureaucratic quagmire in Southport. There are 300 species of termite in Australia already, but AQIS is very worried that Tainui might have brought in more of them. Because she is an old vessel, fresh from termite-endemic areas and with much timber below decks, AQIS is “suspicious”.
So our poor old boat needs to be isolated, wrapped and fumigated with all sorts of toxic chemicals. An expensive and time-consuming business, this feels like the last straw.