Author archive
5 April 2025
Yellow Crane Pagoda E & BW had arrived late last night and despite the late night arrival, they were ready at 0830 to begin the day with breakfast at Hubu Alley before heading to Yellow Crane Pagoda. BW is fluent in Mandarin and can read. Until now, I was the best Mandarin speaker amongst us […]
4 April 2025
Qingchuan Pavilion With my bodyclock on New Zealand time, I woke at 0540, lazed around before having breakfast of muesli and coffee (from the machine in the lobby). I arranged to meet KL & M at 0900 downstairs before going out to explore Wuhan. First up, we took a car to Qingchuan Pavilion. There we […]
3 April 2025
Continuing to Wuhan On the flight from Auckland to Haikou, I had about 4h30 sleep then sat with my eyes closed for a further 1h30. We landed about an hour earlier than the scheduled time of 0500. Immigration at Haikou was super-fast. KL & M had missed the arrival cards on the plane as they […]
2 April 2025
Background This trip was conceived with a booking made 14 months ago with a single flight on AirAsia X from Xian to Kuala Lumpur to use up vouchers that were issued during the pandemic when the airline was went belly-up pending revival. Over the months, I slowly built up an itinerary to include places that […]
10 January 2025
We had a relaxing start today, hitting the road at 0900 for the drive to Auckland. We stopped at the supermarket to get some fruit as we didn’t have breakfast. That ought to sustain me till brunch which we had at Mokau River. Fortunately, Kim remembered that we had parked our car at a hotel […]
9 January 2025
Continuing on the road After lunch in the Whanganui, we continued our drive to New Plymouth, getting to the Devon Hotel around 1730. Driving through town in search of dinner, we came across the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre with its impressive mirror-finished exterior. We took dinner at a Korean fried chicken and […]
9 January 2025
It was about 1000 when we started our drive leaving Wellington. The car performed well, with Kim doing most of the driving to Whanganui where we stopped to visit friends Michelle and Colin. They live on Durie Hill overlooking the city, by the War Memorial tower. The suburb is served by a 66m elevator since […]
9 January 2025
Above: Mt Taranaki on the flight from Auckland to Wellington. Landing at 0910, we were met by David, the seller of the Lexus ES300H. I was surprised that he had parked and came into the terminal for us, holding a rose. At his age, maybe 80, I expected him to pick us up at the […]
9 January 2025
Trip overview Today we fly to Wellington to look at and hopefully buy a car, then embark on a road trip to New Plymouth for a nightstop enroute to Auckland. If we don’t buy the car, we have backup standby flights from Wellington to New Plymouth and then to Auckland next day. As the flight […]
12 December 2024
My flight arrived about 10 mins later than the scheduled time of 0940. Auckland Airport, sometimes known for its awful queues at arrival due to biosecurity screening was a breeze today. Our flight had been selected for an express arrival trial. With nothing to declare and no luggage to collect from the carousel, I was […]