It happened again. When it did, it was just uncanny, as it was 30 years ago in the same part of the world. You might think that a paranormal experience had come onto us, and that yet again the Smarts had been right in there when the something out of the ordinary happened. And it wasn't deja vu either. It was a simple occurrence, a chance meeting really. We've all experienced what I'm about to tell you about, and it's happened to us all a few times in our lives, it's so strange that you want to tell the first person about it.

You'll hear folk say 'Do you know who I met?', or 'Do you know who I was speaking to?' Sometimes the person who has your ear knows them and sometimes not (which makes the story less appealing). So in case all you out there have started to wonder who it was, you won't know them.

It happened like this. Saturday past, the 8th, The Beast and I decide to go for a run and ended up not too far from Keri Keri at the airfield. I'm sitting outside, the airfield is fairly quiet but there's always something to watch. I hear a couple of voices behind me. A tall fellow in a yellow high viz jacket and smaller wizened lady wander nearby. He asks her 'What do you see around you that makes you think you are in New Zealand?' She stops, peers into the terminal building, looks around again, and replies blankly, 'Nothing here'. Actually the answer was an advertising sign for the Airport Café, Keri Keri. The tall man seeing me looking at them in a puzzled fashion, explains that June here is on a pilot orientation course. I say that she had better not speak to me then, she'll really be confused, me being a Scotsman.

Ok, to cut out the flannel and get to the point, he tells me that he is a Land Surveyor and helps out at the flying club at the weekends. Oh, cool……us guys are quite rare on this planet! He used to live in England, and throws a couple of names at me. 'Yes, know him, he's a name I've heard of, do you yourself know such and such?'.

It is a chance meeting, if I had been there 5 mins later, or Mike had decided to examine June (who by the way comes from Tolaga Bay near Gisborne) somewhere else, I wouldn't have had a story to tell.

By the way, in case you are wondering where the 30 years ago bit comes in, 30 years ago when Lesley and I were in Australia we were sitting in a restaurant in Cairns, Queensland, and not being able to avoid overhearing Scots voices at the next table, we enquired where the two ladies were from. Scotland, in fact Castle Douglas. Well now, one of them had taught Roddy McLean, a second cousin of Lesley's as a youngster. Small world indeed!! Yup, and travelling the world is not new to us!

While all this was going on, Lesley is gainfully engaged in her PRIME course, this time the exercise is in Paihia, not too far from Keri Keri. Glad she gets back in one piece, as this time is was a practical demonstration of how to deal with a road traffic accident. Lesley is the 'driver' in a car with three 'passengers', and has to pretend she didn't have a pulse as she is rescued from the car, its windscreen having been well and truly smashed in and the roof cut off by the local fire brigade! She has never imagined that being the 'patient' would be as testing!

Not quite finished with the small world bit! My younger brother John in Canada is married to Gosia who has two brothers in Canada, one of whom is Jacek. By sheer coincidence he was travelling in NZ with his wife to celebrate 25 years of marriage when we are here, not just NZ but Northland, what a bonus, could not have been arranged any better. So we exchanged e-mails then phone calls and the place date and time is arranged………….Waipu on the east coast, Friday 31st October. We piled into an Indian restaurant for lunch but they were about to close, so the alternative was the pub across the road. Waipu is famed for its Scottish connections through The Rev Norman McLeod, and they have a Highland Games here every Ne'er day. The walls were decked out in tartan, making us a little homesick but not enough to stop a huge plate of fish and chips doing down. They then headed south to carry on exploring, and we headed north to Keri Keri for Lesley's course.

We're back in Gisborne now, to a degree of normality. Since I last posted the blog, in Northland, we've visited a two thousand year old Kauri tree ('Tane Mahuta, King of the Forest'), gazed in awe at an uncovered Kauri tree reputed to be between 150,000 and 200,000 years old, just mind boggling isn't it; learned how the gum diggers obtained Kauri gum from buried dead trees and sold it for the production of varnish. The mineral Amber is also made from Kauri gum.

Won't bore you with the Bay of Islands steam railway trip and Rainbow waterfalls that I went to see while Lesley was being trained!

We had been to the Gisborne Theatre a few weeks ago to see a play about New Zealand's best known full back, George Nepia. As you do, I turned to the fellow next to me and remarked about this or that. Turns out he is a Dunedin, South Island, based GP doing a locum in Gisborne. We enjoy a few pleasantries and afterwards he says that we should get together for a meal when his wife Adelle comes up. So, Lesley's phone rings on Monday evening just past there and we arrange to meet them both on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the place they have booked is being used for the local pub quiz that night, so we step along the road to what turns out to be a better restaurant. We get acquainted, and it ends up in an invite to 'phone them when we get to Dunedin and see if we can meet up around New Year. We'll keep you posted about that one.

I've not said too much about the third member of our group, The Beast….….his name is Mitsubishi Canter. No doubt about it, he's big and strong, can carry six folk if needed. Well it's looking much better than we thought on the 31st in the Auckland rush-hour. He's now just as he should be, timid and subjective, doing what I want him to do at my command..…he doesn't argue too much either now that I've shown him who's boss :-)…..the 720km, 450 mile drive from Keri Keri to Gisborne saw to that. We're not quite at the stage of treating him with kid gloves as from time he is still a bit bad tempered. And he's a thirsty critter, drinks up diesel like there is no tomorrow. Lesley has not dared take the reins yet, that's fine, we don't want him snorting in anger again. A few comfy nights last week in his company in Northland really proved his worth, he liked the grass we parked him on and also his electrical hook-up…….in return he provided hot dinners and showers, cold beer and even went as far as allowing his on board TV to be tuned to 10 stations! Yup, he likes a bit of TLC. He's been so good that we are treating him to a trip this weekend Lake Waikaremoana, a couple of hours from here in the Te Urewera National Park.

Let's hear it for the Scots………vs New Zealand this weekend!

And a big Hi! To Fiona Pollock at STA Travel London office……….Fiona is Lesley's best pal Susan's daughter. If the STA blog censor reads this……..pass on our best wishes and tell her we're having a fantastic time!