Above: Flying over the Gold Coast area.
For the flight from Gold Coast back to Auckland, I was seated back in my allocated seat squashed between two people. They were interesting enough, especially the lady to my right. She looks completely African but has a Chinese name and carried a Hong Kong passport. We got chatting. She speaks and writes both Mandarin and Cantonese and studies in Taipei. Her father is Chinese but mother Nigerian. And in her B&W passport photo, she looked quite Chinese. I wonder if she ever has trouble getting through immigration in any country!
Then I noticed that one of the crew was from Uzbekistan from the flag on her badge. She was very impressed when I told her that I had just been to her embassy in KL for a visa and was off to her homeland soon.
The flight landed in Auckland 15 minutes late and I was picked up by Kim, who had only arrived back last night. End of another trip comprising of multiple and varied adventures.
Edit: I went to the doctor and got myself tested for my long-lasting but slight tummy troubles. Positive with giardiasis. Because of the timing and incubation period, I put it down to the glass of tap water I had upon arrival at the apartment in Gran Canaria. It was the perfect weight loss programme … only two half days of real problem, and long-lasting appetite “suppresion” resulting in 2kg of weight loss! Special antibiotics wil put an end to that though. If I could bottle it, I’d make a lot of money. Plus I had a middle ear infection too which didn’t appear to respond to antibiotics which possibly was viral rather than bacterial.