Kia Ora

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Friday – Day of Departure – we had a lovely few hours in New York … walking across Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and back again (about 4 miles … training Emily up!) ‘The Met’ was by far and away the most accessible and impressive of the art/museum collections we saw whilst in New York and we all wish that we had had longer there. Highlights (we only scratched the surface in the two hours we were there) include the Temple of Dendur (saved during the construction of the Aswan dam), the Greek, Roman and Egyptian sculpture collections, some terrifying and beautifully made Oceanic shields and masks and a huge collection of art masterpieces (Van Gogh standing out for P). The walk back through the leaves on the ground and the watery, wintry sunshine did make us all long for warmer climes but also appreciate how exciting and stimulating a place NY actually is.

Security at JFK was as stringent leaving as it had been arriving and the plane to LAX was late by an hour but both Qantas flights were as comfortable as long haul can be with W and E being particularly well looked-after. I did ask the stewardess the score (All Blacks were playing Wales whilst we were in the air) – she didn’t know but coincidentally is the girlfriend of one of the Fiji team (he scored the try to take Wales out of the last RWC!!!)

Saturday – just disappeared … crossing the International Date Line (W to E) . I tried to explain this to the children but not very successfully as I am not sure I understand it myself properly

Sunday – Day of Arrival – smart, enticing terminal building (all ready for the Rugby World Cup in Autumn 2011) with very friendly immigration and customs staff – very efficient luggage handling (we had been very worried that our bags might have gone somewhere else at LAX airport and they were the first four bags off the carousel) and an easy taxi ride into Auckland.
Beautiful early summer sunshine and high temperatures (twenty plus, thirty elsewhere on North Island) greeted us as we went for a stroll along the waterfront to try and find the tourist information office (again – very helpful and friendly staff!) and a supermarket. Bizarrely we walked straight into the middle of the Farmers Santa Parade – it was as if Macy’s Parade had gone on a tropical tour with floats and giant balloons closing down the streets for the afternoon … really odd seeing people swelter beneath santa hats!
What a great country … we managed to catch the fourth (!) re-run of the Wales game at tea-time, and the Kiwi commentators we were very generous of their praise for the Welsh team. The game was also the second story on the nightly news … the priorities are obviously right here!
We tried to stay awake to try and counter the effects of jet lag but we all succumbed and were asleep by 7.00 pm.
Boat trip to one of the Gulf Islands tomorrow for some beach time.

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Photos

The Horror!
... of Maths 'on the road'

Comments

[Kate & Giles]

Who would want Auckland and blue skies and beach when you could have snow threatening and sub zero temperatures in Sherborne... Feeling very nostalgic now that you are on familiar territory! Say Hello to the "Ky Tower" from Alfie. x

[Amy Northam]

Jealous
Now we are really jealous. What we would do for warm on our backs at the moment. Freezing here but crisp so all good. Looking daily at the updates. Maths club looks fun!! Miss you Emily.x