Today was my flight. The cousin who is a former rally driver, and can drive indefinitely it seems, offered to take me to Whangarei airport by the long, scenic route, and the Gentleman Friend would go as well to see me off. (Something very alien to the British side of him, though a way of […]
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Pack, repack
A spot of packing for the trip back to Pakistan for a wedding, complicated by the long stopover in Beijing, long enough to leave the airport but where the weather will be dramatically different. I think I have decided to go through the Forbidden City, get a quick bite to eat, watch the Tiananmen flagraising […]
On the spirit way
An early start this morning, as there was a long drive north and a tide to catch. The Hilux was loaded and we left; Lady Bright and her son in front, the Gentleman Friend and I behind. We caught the ferry to Opua in good time, then drove back along the coast to Paiha (of […]
Tapeka point
Last night the music continued at the pub nearby till past midnight. Execrable rock covers, with a really unnecessary bass. It kept us up, so that we ended by sleeping through what we were told was a fire alarm, with sirens blaring. There was no work today and the two new visitors had gone sport […]
New arrivals
Two new arrivals today: Lady Bright’s son and his partner. Not my preferred company by any means (they are the ones previously described as ‘insalubrious’, but there it is. It also meant that dinner was ham so I ate salad instead. Fortunately there was chocolate mousse afterwards. Work all day.
Nation building
This bright morning we took the ferry over to Waitangi Treaty Ground, the place where a key treaty between the Crown and the Maori chiefs was signed, and which is considered the foundation of modern New Zealand (though it would not have been considered so a few decades ago). It was fascinating to see the […]
At the sundial
We have now been in Russell for two days. The first was a quiet sort of day. In the morning, after a late start we met Lady Bright for coffee with a local friend of hers. They were discussing a rather horrific incident, a fellow kayaker, a highly experienced one, whose boat overturned last week […]
Kiwi Christmas
In the morning we got an uber, loaded it with our bags and went to the Gentleman Friend’s cousin’s house for Christmas. The driver was, unfortunately, rather inept and managed to dent the corner of my suitcase by trying to bang the dickie lid shut on it. After watching a couple of vigorous attempts in […]
Market morning in Sulphurtown
In the morning we went to the Rotorua farmer’s market, which turned out a disappointment, perhaps because it is so close to Christmas. Only about 6 stalls, of which three sold prepared food. The greengrocer’s stall was nearly out – they sold their last courgette to the person in front of us – and the […]
Mud bath
(An inaccurate title to this post, as will be seen). Early in the morning we had our breakfast (a surprisingly hideous one, as we’d requested omelettes from our AirBnb and these emerged from the microwave which they had been cooked. I tried telling myself they were steamed, like a chawanmushi, but it didn’t help in […]