COUPLE OF DAYS IN NZ
The 1st of Dec finally came and Liz drove me to the Gold Coast Airport and it was a bit of a shambles with a big flight going to Japan as well as mine to NZ. Airport security had 2 different checkpoints before customs and immigration. So it all took time and it felt like I had bricks in my 2 carry on cases. A laptop with all the accompanying cables added to the chargers for cameras,mp3 and binoculars is pretty heavy when you add a book or two—whew!!!!! It was hard leaving a very good friend but I will meet up with Liz again in Hawaii about this time next year so its all good.
I was the last one to board the plane about 5 mins late and then the cabin staff couldn’t get the headcount right for another 25 mins so we left half an hour late but made it all up with a strong tail wind to Auckland. Nice and mild there and pick up of my ‘mini’ Nissan campervan went smoothly. It was rush hour as I made my way into the city and then over the bridge to the north. Orewa is the last suburb to the north and I was pretty tired by then so stayed the night with one of my late wife’s cousins Jeanette. We made some calls from there and were given some good news about how this evenings surgery to my mum-in-law went.
Shirley is 90 the day after Boxing Day and her fall a couple of weeks ago was a worry with all the Xmas and birthday celebrations coming up. Anyway it all looked good when I reached the hospital at Whangarei the next morning and saw Mum in pretty good shape after the operation on her hip. The photo is of her and her son Mervyn and the amount of visitors she had while I was there is a great reflection on her standing in the community.
Now my trip will continue to the Bay of Islands and loop back through the west coast and down through Auckland to the south before coming back to Auckland on the 22nd and joining up with the rest of the family coming from Australia for X’mas and Mum’s birthday.
The 1st of Dec finally came and Liz drove me to the Gold Coast Airport and it was a bit of a shambles with a big flight going to Japan as well as mine to NZ. Airport security had 2 different checkpoints before customs and immigration. So it all took time and it felt like I had bricks in my 2 carry on cases. A laptop with all the accompanying cables added to the chargers for cameras,mp3 and binoculars is pretty heavy when you add a book or two—whew!!!!! It was hard leaving a very good friend but I will meet up with Liz again in Hawaii about this time next year so its all good.
I was the last one to board the plane about 5 mins late and then the cabin staff couldn’t get the headcount right for another 25 mins so we left half an hour late but made it all up with a strong tail wind to Auckland. Nice and mild there and pick up of my ‘mini’ Nissan campervan went smoothly. It was rush hour as I made my way into the city and then over the bridge to the north. Orewa is the last suburb to the north and I was pretty tired by then so stayed the night with one of my late wife’s cousins Jeanette. We made some calls from there and were given some good news about how this evenings surgery to my mum-in-law went.
Shirley is 90 the day after Boxing Day and her fall a couple of weeks ago was a worry with all the Xmas and birthday celebrations coming up. Anyway it all looked good when I reached the hospital at Whangarei the next morning and saw Mum in pretty good shape after the operation on her hip. The photo is of her and her son Mervyn and the amount of visitors she had while I was there is a great reflection on her standing in the community.
Now my trip will continue to the Bay of Islands and loop back through the west coast and down through Auckland to the south before coming back to Auckland on the 22nd and joining up with the rest of the family coming from Australia for X’mas and Mum’s birthday.
