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Wellington & Auckland, New
Zealand
A joint journal from Pam and
Tom:
During the brief stay in Wellington,
Pat and Ashley went off to a luxurious sheep station/resort
that was about a two-hour drive or fifteen minute helicopter
flight out of town while we relaxed in the West Plaza Hotel
in the downtown area.
Compared to our room in Queenstown
and many of the other fabulous places we have stayed, the
West Plaza couldn't compete. However, there was nothing at
all wrong with it. It was clean, modern, right in the center
of the action and within easy walking distance of all the
downtown city attractions.
The evening we arrived in Wellington,
New Zealand's capital city, we took a rainy walk to Queens
Wharf for dinner at Shed 5. This was, again, an excellent
restaurant. We both had lamb, a good decision. Our waitress
was Victoria, a delightful gal who plays the cello and is
hoping to go to the USA for some postgraduate work in music.
Her father was a diplomat and she was raised in Los Angeles
and then lived in Washington, Nairobi, and Sydney. They are
now all back in their hometown of Wellington. We wished she
could meet our friend Jon Cole, but we guess that is unlikely
to happen.
The next day we were very busy
trying to see as much of Wellington as our energy level would
allow. We started out at the National Museum of New Zealand
where we looked up Nicola Woodhouse, whom we had met at the
top of the Duomo in Florence. She had given us her old ID
card from work which showed she was a librarian in the research
area. It was fun briefly chatting with her. We found out she
was pick pocketed in Rome right after we saw her. It can happen
to anyone, as Pam well knows from her AlliedSignal flight
to Czech Republic. Luckily, it was Nicola's last stop in Italy
before heading home. She and her brother had some leftover
whiskey and crackers their last night since they had absolutely
no money.
Tom broke off from the museum
a little early and went to the City & Sea Maritime Museum.
It had some very nice exhibits documenting the nautical history
of the area. We then hooked up an hour and a half later. We
stopped for a relaxing drink on the patio of another dockside
restaurant named…The Dockside. The sun was breaking through
the clouds and the sunshine on the wharf made for a great
setting. We then walked over to catch the cable car up to
the botanical gardens. The original funicular that was an
icon of Wellington was replaced a few years ago with a modern
cable car of Scandinavian manufacture. It is a smooth and
fast way to ascend the steep mountain that forms the city's
backdrop. The views of the city were great from up there.
We decided not to take time touring the gardens and started
our walk down the winding streets and paths back into the
city center, or centre, as they spell it here. On our walk
Pam saw a hair salon and made an appointment for the next
day. She couldn't go any longer without a hair cut. We ended
the day with another walk to an area that was known for many
ethnic restaurants. We chose one called Hummingbird. The concept
was great: they had many entrées but all were mini-size. We
ordered six different dishes, from breads, to salads, to vegetables,
to meats and chicken and they were all yummy.
Next day Pam got up and left
for her haircut. She was a bit apprehensive. Nothing is worse
than the combination of a bad haircut, being overweight, and
having one's face breaking out. Her face had not broken out
but she felt that she was overweight and now the hair was
a possibility. The hairdresser was Nicki and she had been
in New Zealand for two years from Scotland. She was delightful
and gave Pam an excellent haircut. Whew, only too much weight
is the remaining worry!
Wellington is windy! It's the
Chicago of New Zealand. We landed with gale force winds out
of the south and the departure takeoff now has gale force
winds out of the north. It was Tom's leg and his takeoff roll
was about as long as Pam's landing roll had been. In other
words, short. We headed off to Auckland with - guess what?
- headwinds. This time we were in the clouds and therefore
had our engine ice vanes down. This decreases our speed by
about 15 knots. It was a slow boat to Auckland but still required
only 1.6 hours due to the short distance
Our handler in Auckland is Air
Center One. We receive a call from them about 75 miles out
giving us ground directions to their facility at the airport,
our first sign that they are going to be excellent. We are
met by Robin Leach and Raynor Simich. Robin is a veteran ferry
pilot with over 120 pacific crossings in twin and single engine
aircraft. He is a great resource for us on all the islands
we have ahead. We picked his brain as best we could. He was
at one time the Beechcraft dealer in Auckland and I am sure
many other positions and talents that we didn't get a chance
to learn about - maybe next time. Raynor was a beautiful woman
- Yeah, we know, the name makes one think it's a man - and
she made things happen. "Ask and you shall receive." She was
the mother of 4 boys, ages 16, 15, 13 and 11. Wow, now we
were really impressed. She also had and rode horses. Nick,
her husband, is a captain for Air New Zealand on the Boeing
767. That means many days of single-parenting…now we are even
more impressed. All our interactions with this competent team
were positive. They helped us reroute our leg between Nadi
and Bora Bora for better fuel stops. Robin called the fueler
at Penrhyn, a small island in the Cook Islands chain, to verify
he had some stored jet fuel. This gives us an additional fuel
option, if necessary, on our flight from Tahiti to Christmas
Island, one more safety net. They were both enjoyable, likeable
and professional. They win the "Best handlers Encountered
During World Flight 2001" award, even though we have had many
good ones in many places.
All four of us stayed at the
Ascott Metropolis Hotel in downtown Auckland. Our room was
on the 28th floor, with a great view. It was a spacious apartment-like
accommodation with kitchen, washer and dryer, living room,
bedroom, bathroom, the works. Our only complaint is the arrangement
of the doors. One tiny vestibule between the bathroom, bedroom,
laundry room, and living room had four hinged doors opening
into it. You almost had to plan in advance as to what doors
could be opened in what sequence!
Wednesday night we were invited
to dinner at Paul and Carolyn Hughes' home. Paul was the squadron
leader of the Super King Air B200s in the New Zealand Air
Force when Tom trained with them in January 2000. Paul and
Carolyn were wonderful hosts to us on that trip and proved
to be again on this one. Oh, how wonderful it was it have
a home-cooked meal of roast chicken and oven-cooked vegetables.
Their children are Samantha, age 13, and Christopher, age
11. Samantha took us to see the pony she cares for as a volunteer.
She goes out four days a week and feeds Dizzy (or Daisy?)
supplemental feed, grooms him, and rides him. Then once a
week he is used to give disabled children rides and an overall
horse experience. It is a win-win for everyone. Dizzy is very
lucky to have such a wonderful volunteer as Samantha who loves
him and cares for him so well. After Samantha showed us her
horse she left for her junior high graduation dance. Boy,
did she look cute! Christopher stayed with us this evening,
coming in and out as he would get bored with our chatter.
He is looking forward to his summer break coming in just a
week or so. Pam saw the F-14 Tomcat model he built and she
thinks he is a budding pilot. She got to go with Carolyn to
pick Samantha up at the dance. What fun that was! We both
had a wonderful evening with many laughs, stories, and friendship.
I hope we get to see the Hughes again soon, either here or
there.
When we had arrived at the hotel,
we found one of two expected packages. Our Garmin database
updates were there - Thanks, TJ and Kathleen! - but the Sperry
Compass Compensator unit wasn't. We tracked it down and it
arrived the next day, Wednesday. Thursday, we went back to
the airport and Tom installed the unit and checked it out.
Good deal! Now we have our Number 1 compass system working
again as a slaved, not just a free, gyro. We arrived back
in the in early afternoon. Wednesday morning we had taken
a good walk down to the Viaduct Basin area, home to all the
America's Cup hoopla. Ate a late breakfast, early lunch, at
Mecca, overlooking the marina. Thursday evening we again walked
there, this time having dinner at the new Hilton Hotel at
the end of one of the wharfs. What a great area! It brought
back happy memories of our stay here in January 2000, when
our son Mike was able to join us.
Reluctantly, we bid goodbye to
New Zealand for now. It is a wonderful country and one we
hope to return to again and again. We are off to the South
Pacific. New adventures await us.
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