Latex gloves

Tom's camping knife has been a very useful tool on this trip but also is a source of amusement. He is required to declare it at very port and embarkment ponit.

So friday was the time to arrive in Auckland and go through their stringent customs and quarantine procedures. Off Tom went followed by a bemused Iranian guy to a separtate queue in the airport and to the Latex gloves. I went thruoght the 'I'm not a criminal' queue and met my sister the other side in arrivals. It was a good 7 minutes before Tom arrived and he was walking funny, he says the gloves weren't used but the jury is out.

Auckland it was for the weekend. I spent it with my sister, husband and sons and Tom with his aunt, uncle and joined by his cousin, husband and son. Two contrasting weekends but we were both glad to report that the large double beds and bathrooms had been our highlights!

For me some much longed for time with my family, even if getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to watch my nephew play soccer in the rain, was necessary.

Suitably, frozen yet refreshed (there was a restaurant in Singapore with a similar tag line wasn't there?) we were ready to begin our NZ trek. We had not been prepared for the cold. NZers seem to cope with the lack of insulation and heating, but us Brits straight in from a distinctly warmer Oz couldn't. I have a bag full of warm things and have left the sun lotion and sunier aparrel in Auckland.

The following week will keep us entertained with new and exciting experiences and then back to the family in Auckland for more R&R and collect all the stuff we left there to make our bags lighter!

As we do not have a broadband ready campervan you may not hear from us for a while, so until next time, have fun - we will be.