Arrived and at 'Home'

I'm sipping on a glass of Shiraz listening to Sibelius on the Exogear waterproof speakers connected via bluetooth from the newly arrived ship-based ruggedised laptop having connected the new Wifi Antenna  which has improved the network connection immensely for us far-end-of-the dock-dwellers.. I can't imagine why various family members thought that most of my 28kg of checked luggage was gadget related?

An early start today but a nice flight on Emirates 380 Airbus - I managed to book seat 43C, and must remember that particular row in future.  Right at the front of the lower level with heaps of leg-room without the designation of an 'exit' row.

Caught the shuttle into town straight away after a long wait at the baggage carousel - Over 500 passengers' bags take a while to unload, I guess.

Stopped at my favourite cafe in the arcade near the bottom of Queen street, then sorted out bank cards and phone card issues and thought I would see if anyone was at home at Roger and Ryoko's place.  Sure enough the windows were open and Uncle Roger was in residence... Good to catch up, have a cold drink and a piece of his famously delicious home-made raisin toast.

Beautiful day in Auckland with fluffy white clouds, blue sky and sea breeze.  They have had heaps of wind as we have in Melbourne recently, so this was one out of the box. Forecast looks pretty promising for this week at least...

Said farewell to Rog and over to the Naked Bus terminal at 5pm where 'Jonno' my driver from the last trip was waiting.  I said: "Heavy Bag, mate!" and he said with  chuckle "Ohh if its more than 20kg that's another HUNDRED BUCKS! You can load it yourself then... it needs to go right at the back 'cause you're last off!"
At least this was a full size bus with decent seats - unlike the last time in a 14 seater van!

It's a nice relaxed trip up, taking just over three hours for the 225kms.  I managed to track the journey on the gps watch so knew how far we had to go at various points.  Jonno dropped me at the top of Opua hill as the last light of the day faded and I hauled bag, backpack and camera down the long hill (no street lights here, mate!) and along to E pier.

Everything looks OK on Kalai and I'll just need to drop along to the General Store in the morning to pick up some of their freshly baked sourdough and a few other supplies.

It's good to be back!  Might even sneak out for a sail in the next couple of days if the weather is as good as it is supposed to be.

Time for some sleep - 10:25 pm in Melbourne, but 12:25 am here...