Funny kind of day really. Bill and Sue leave for Australia at 1pm and we leave for Auckland and Hong Kong at 5pm. As I mentioned before Christchurch has lost its heart so there really isn't much going on. However we had a late breakfast then went across the road to the Botanical Gardens. These Kiwi gardeners know how to grow roses and they don't seem to suffer from any bugs and smell delightful. Yes I know it's nearly Christmas and I am smelling the roses. There ...

After another 11 hours in the air we have now arrived in Auckland New Zealand. What a nice place this is. We dropped lucky at the airport as tthe hotel shuttle bus was waiting,so door to door service and the driver gave us a running commentary as he brought us in. Once again not much sleep and the time difference is now +13 hours. Fortunately our room was ready and it was a very nice room too. We showered and walked down to the waterfront where we found a n...