25-29 April - aren’t family wonderful?

Alright, I admit that Auckland is my least favourite place in New Zealand to be a tourist, although Gore in the rain in a close second. But, with two cousins in the city, both of which I’m rather fond of, I like to put in an annual appearance if I can. So, the sixth annual trip to New Zealand was a rather short one but a pleasure all the same. Wednesday was spent travelling, with the centerpiece being a flight in bourgeois class on one of Air New Zealand’s bright, shiny new 777’s. They don’t have first class so business class comes with beds, footstools and a seat at 35° to the direction of flight. With a larger than usual screen to watch, and games to play, the journey fair flew by (yuk, yuk, yuk…).

Thursday was spent with Kim, whose job hunt continues. It was decided that we would go for an afternoon in Devonport (yes, the New Zealand Navy retains a small outpost there), having lunch, strolling up Mount Victoria and drinking coffee. I took the opportunity to renew my habit of having my hair cut in different places, mostly far from home (last six hair cuts in Fiji, Mauritius, London, Goa, Harrogate and Auckland) and felt much better for it. Dinner was taken with Warren, with a few beers and a large steak to wrap things up perfectly.

The next day, Kim decided, should be spent educationally, so we headed for the Auckland War Memorial Museum, a building so solid that it seems to almost pin the city to the landscape. Their exhibit on New Zealand at war is a remarkable one and, if you want to know exactly the type of people New Zealanders are, this might be more helpful than any book. Kiwis don’t do drama, they do duty instead. They are, as a group, some of the most amazingly decent, friendly people you could hope to meet and, at one time, Rachelle and I were seriously planning to emigrate out here. I get the sense that being a bureaucrat here is somewhat different to being one at home…

Saturday was “lounge around at home with family day”. Armed with Monteith’s finest (their Radler beer is outstanding), a bottle of Riesling and some snacks, I arrived at Warren’s house in Birkenhead - see, it really is just like being in England - to be welcomed by Tanya, Warren’s wife, plus their children, Tamara and Georgia. At this stage of the trip, a day spent lounging around catching up on family gossip and talking about the future was a real pleasure.

Sunday morning came as a rude awakening, having to get up at 4 a.m. to catch the next flight. My luggage picked that moment to play up, and I’ll clearly need to do something about this before I leave Auckland again, more’s the pity. At least I made my flight, and was able to recover some of my equilibrium before my arrival in country number 45. But that’s another story…