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“Beef or Chicken? the hostess asked me on the plane...”

With apologies to Mick Thomas. The airline staff were handing out the meals, Jo looked at me, smirked and uttered the line, then, as I nearly doubled up with suppressed laughter, the large, walrus-moustached hostie repeated it.

A midnight landing at Auckland, two staff to process 400 passengers through imigration.

A call for Duke and Tritschler to go to the baggage desk — but it was only a book that someone else had left in the plane near our seats.

The customs staff weren't, then were, then weren't, interested in checking our bikes.

Outside the airport and we met Phil and Julianna, then began the arduous three hour drive to Te Puke. The full moon on the left was shining on enormous storm clouds, then clear sky above us, then another huge storm over to the right, complete with lightning and torrential rain. Not an auspicious start to the weather!

We hadn't even reached Auckland when three cars shot past — boys out on a Friday night. Travelling at least 120km/hr in the wet, the first tapped his brakes, the second slid a bit but recovered, the third slewed straight off into the wall, sparks and glass everywhere, then bounced diagonally back across the road in front of us, then off the side of the road to the left. Two minutes later, lights and sirens started up ahead of us as the police took off after the first two.

Nearly five am and we crawled into bed as the sky was just starting to get light. Off to sleep with the rain on the roof, roosters crowing outside the window, and no real idea of where we are!

Where?

Auckland, Paengaroa

Friday, nearly the end of the year, and so much seems to have happened. Lots of things that I won't be writing here, some I will.

Reading some more of Gerald Durrell's biography I was struck again by what a larger-than-life character he was, I'm glad I got to visit the zoo in Jersey, even if I did have misgivings about it at the time.

As the first stage of our trip to New Zealand I spent the morning packing the bikes in boxes—and foolishly forgot to measure the boxes, so my bike (the larger one) ended up in the smaller of the two boxes. Didn't realise until I'd nearly finished, no wonder Jo's was the easier of the two to pack!

The bags are packed, everything looks far too small with no panniers, no tent, we even left the airbeds at home once we re-read what can be supplied by Phil.

Melbourne's weather has finally fined up after the last few days of rain and wind, it is starting to feel like spring, rather than the middle of winter! I'm curious what the weather in New Zealand will be, neither of us is looking forward to a fortnight of cycling in the rain.