Villa Pacifica Waiheke Island

Hi its Dave

Had a quick chat with her ladyship this morning. Messages are taking forever to get through, she's receiving them but they are taking about 12 hours for replies to get to the UK, so don't worry if you haven't heard from her, she's safe! There's also problems with the internet where she's staying, so ll means of communication are cut!

Other than tht ...

... getting into LA at 9:15... plane to take off at 9:30. Mark called from a payphone and told me to sprint through the airport... he was holding up the plane, had the lady check me in and practically arranged for a security guy to escort me through all the lines to speed up the process and make the plane.... man I felt like a celebrity! Need to go... will finish later.... xx

Well today is Good Friday and we are eating hot cross buns for breakfast...mmmmm. This is our last weekend before we go so it is going to be spent washing and packing as well as doing stuff around the house so it's clean and tidy for when we leave (and for Kamal while he's living here!) We ...

... a single known soul and slightly lacking in the rucksack department. Arriving into New Zealand was like sailing into a world of familiarity despite it being my first time in the country but the language, the shops, the organisedness and of course the presence of Gisele made me feel immediately at home and relaxed - something I hadn't experienced in an unfamiliar city in quite some time. After jumping on Gisele's bed at some ungodly hour of the morning ...

... anyway, that is for her to decide and not for me to judge!!.... Anyway we say goodbye and I leave the plane. Most people have a connecting flight to Sydney so it is only a handfull of us who make our way to immigration... as I walk through this almost deserted airport (admittidely it is 4.30 in the morning) my nerves go away totally - I almost instantly feel good here. I head to the immigration desk and the guy is so friendly I cannot believe it... much more relaxed than any ...

... lovely deli and now have fresh hand made pasta and ratatouille sauce AND (i was so exicted about this) dipping chocolate! like u get to dunk strawberries in! when i found it in its little tub i stopped singing 'heard it through the grapevine (which was playing on the radio) and let out a little 'wow!' and looked around for people to share in this wonderous discovery, but unfortunatly there was noone around, so i just smiled to myself for a while ...

... she kept calling Bays of Island), and she commented that Waiheke was beautiful but nothing compared to B of I. Um. Sweet! I guess I have lots more to see! That's about it for now. Set up my bank account this morning, so I'm feeling good. Leave for Whitianga and the cafe tomorrow around noon. I'm looking forward to it. Hope all is well. From Ponsonby, Auckland, e. Soren Larsen under sail. View of Mawhitipana Bay Me on Oneroa Beach

... place for lunch and a great swim, then on round the island, seeing penguins. The third day we progressed to Dead Man's Bay, the perfect stopping place for a would-be pirate ship. We drank rum under a full moon and chatted 'til the early hours. On our final day we completed the circumnavigation, and moved on to Motutapu. A landing party was sent off in search of coke and ice cream, in the snazzy dinghy complete with an outboard motor with all ...

A bus, a ferry and, due to the friendly organising of the company who run both the ferries and the Waiheke buses, we were able to get straight off the ferry and onto a local bus. Mike, our Couch Surfing host, had told us to ask the bus driver for a particular stop, and, given the lack of obvious landmarks for us to look out for, to ask the driver to let us know when we got there. This we duly did, and the driver grunted at us, presumably to let us know he had understood our request and ...

*************************************** *************************************** ******** This is writen while I am already in Darwin, Australia. Reports will be very short from here on - if I write something at all. I will update it with pictures from home. So everyone who will not have the pleaure going through millions of picture with me personally can reads his/her way through my ...