Wall to wall sunshine - warm It's the last day in Auckland, probably a day too many for sightseeing, but I have relaxing time built in, as going full time for months is impossible - pace yourself. Went into Newmarket to get a few more camping bits and then carried on southwards along the coast. Went through endless suburbs and hit the coast at a little park in some place called St Helier's. It's a wildlife park with a mangrove swamp being re-established. Pohutukawa trees just flowering - animals limited to a few ducks. I carried on southwards and eventually found myself on a bay called Maratai Bay - now out of the suburbs so looked fairly quiet, although there were signs of it being very busy at weekends. Had a cooked lunch for a change ... read more

Cloudy day with very occasional showers - cooler Time to get organised and do some shopping for bits while the weather's down. Went to Newmarket first to look at camping gear. I thought this would be a major shopping centre, but it just seems to be a High Street without the major concentration of gear shops I was thinking. Carried on to Sylvia Park instead - a major out of town shopping mall (apparently the biggest - or maybe only - one in New Zealand - a little bigger than the Reading Oracle. It's noticeable that there are fewer chain shops and international brands - it gives each place more of it's own feel. There also doesn't seem to be a dominating Tesco's to distort the market. Christmas is in full swing - the mall has ... read more

Cloudy with occasional sunny intervals - warmish. Geological notes on Rangitoto Island in Fieldbook (July 2007 onwards) page 59. Waited for an earlier bus - it was late, so only just made the ferry at 9.15 (had to rush for water and food - there are no supplies on Rangitoto Island). There are only 1 morning and 1 midday ferry. The ferry was full of primary school kids on a summer term day trip. Short journey across the gulf - 25 minutes or so. I climbed up to the summit from the wharf - full of the kids, it could be a Cub hike (except that I don't have to be incharge). Scrubby trees in a'a lava to the sides. The path was gently climbing until it got close to the cone, and then climbed steeply ... read more

The flight onwards to New Zealand was fairly quiet, the only t urbulence was as we passed over the torrential rainstorms still affecting the Phillipines. Woke up in the early morning - around 0130 Hong Kong time 0630 New Zealand time. Still dark outside and everyone elae in the cabin was trying to sleep, so lay still and quiet for an hour or so. About this time you could see the first hints of dawn outside my (eastward, left-hand) window. Beautiful thin line of red above the clouds fading quickly upwards to deep high-altitude blue. When it got lighter, there was an unidentifiable bit of Australian coastline below, with a natural harbour. Breakfast appeared and an hour or so later we landed in Auckland to a grey sky (with occasional clear bits). Immigration and biosecurity (what's ... read more

Very cloudy and misty today. I decided to have another day out, so walked down to the ferry terminals again. All the streets and pavements were littered with Filipino girls having picnics. Apparently Sunday is the day off for the 153,000! maids in the area and they take the centre over (the Indonesian maids go to Victoria Park, I understand). I thought I'd better do something about postcards on the way (have any readers received them?) and then waited for ferry to Lamma Island at pier 4. Following a short wait, I got on the ferry to Yung Sue Wan. After a 25 minute trip through the murky harbour - there were many container ships unloading onto barges - I arrived on the island, along with the rest of the crowded ferry. I walked though the ... read more