Postboxes and Transit

04/03/09

This morning I realise not everything fits in my bags. This hardly comes as a surprise, given the number of postcards and occasional tee-shirt I have acquired since being here but is a nuisance nonetheless. I have also acquired some things which, although I can get them back to the UK, won’t make it through biosecurity in New Zealand or the USA.
So.
Only one thing for it… Another parcel home!
Hazel helps me pack up my stuff and decide what to post home and what to try and squeeze in. The honey, obviously, won’t make it out in my baggage, and I suspect the delicate silver sandals and floaty skirt will be totally unnecessary in New Zealand and the USA. Into the parcel they go!
Parcels three are taken to the post office down the road where the lady who helped me find my pen is once again incredibly helpful. She works out for me that one big box is actually much cheaper than three little ones, and provides me with a box for my parcels and does all the confusing bits for me. She is very nice and very efficient.
Waving my box off, I head back to the flat to gather my remaining belongings and hail a taxi.
Hazel hails me a taxi and the driver helps me get my suitcase in the boot. He is Asian and very nice. Hazel waves me off – I feel a bit sad at this point, it has been lovely to be here – and I am on my way to the airport.
On the way, I spot a very clever thing and am intrigued. There are workmen collecting cones on the highway with a truck; it pulls up the cones on one side and spits them out on the other and as we approach it more closely I see that the cones are flat ones set into a long rubber strip which is being fed into one side of the truck on a conveyor belt and slides out the other. It is rather like watching a long snake easing itself off the road.
I get to the airport and sink back into the numb sterility of the limbo before aeroplane travel, broken only by a brief faff getting my e-ticket, without which I apparently won’t be allowed into New Zealand. They clearly want to make absolutely sure they can get rid of me as well as welcome me in! :P Once on the aeroplane I begin to get excited – Andrew will be there to meet me! J
I am interested by the multitude of enormous guys all wearing blue tee-shirts with ‘Fly Emirates’ written on the chest – amusing for people travelling with Quantas! It turns out that they are a rugby team, though I never find out which one; is there a rugby team called Western Force? This too is embroidered on their shirts. I feel a bit sorry for one of them in particular who is large; they are all clearly in the peak of health, but they are huge, barrel-chested guys and must surely have trouble with the legroom and seats in Economy!

Isn’t the Bernoulli effect brilliant! I have a seat over the wings, which is nice, and it’s a window seat too – bonus! I get to watch the mechanics! J I love watching the subtle changes in the shape of the wing that make such an enormous difference to the way it flies.
My neighbour is a financial watchdog for a large corporation and is called Paul. He is very friendly and lives in New Zealand, though seems to have travelled extensively. interesting chap; we bond over netbooks – he wants to buy one for his not-so-small-any-more daughter and I tell him what I found out while researching my little beastie.
It seems like hours before we touch down, but isn’t really long at all. As we arrive, just before we touch tarmac, I peer out of my window and see green grass, turquoise sea, purple mountain and blue sky – perfectly lines up in elegant, swooping parallels. It is quite beautiful and I haven’t even left the ‘plane yet! What a pleasing welcome…
I think my trip is turning into a validation of my confidence and abilities – I manage to feel perfectly capable as I exit the aeroplane and step into the cool greenness of New Zealand.
I meet Andrew; I am sure I can leave the details of that part to your imagination. I smile.
I have actually been met by Andrew and his cousin, Mike, which is lovely.
His cousin and family are most welcoming and hospitable, even promising us the loan of a car while we are near Auckland so as to get up to Paihia and Waitangi that much more easily. To my delight, we are welcomed into a family buffet dinner, which is wonderful – everyone has had a hand in something and, after a brief and thoughtful grace, there is cooked meat, curried stuffed eggs, fresh bread, roasted vegetables, cheese, salad, sweetcorn and many other tasty morsels followed by a really nice local fruit salad and passion fruit yoghurt (try it if you get the chance, it’s lovely!). Andrew is clearly ready for bed once we have helped tidy up, but we stay up and natter and look at photos for a while first. We are both sleepy and I think Andrew is asleep before his head hits the pillow… Tomorrow we head up towards Paihia for a look at the Waitangi Treaty house and whatever else strikes us as a good idea along the way!
First impressions of New Zealand are definitely good – not too cold, very hospitable, gorgeously pretty, and wild and remote, even when protected in a town… I am not entirely convinced that it is nicer than Australia yet, but I am perfectly prepared to keep an open mind and see!
J