New Zealand February 26 th

Friday
Another long flight which resulted in us reaching Auckland in the early hours of the morning. After going through customs and then getting a taxi we arrived at the hotel about 2am and fell into bed.

Later on Friday.
Got up reasonably early and went for a much needed breakfast. Ceri face timed us just as we got onto wifi in the cafe, to give us the good news of her confirmed pregnancy and to show us the scan. We spent the rest of the day on cloud 9 - helped by going up the Sky Tower to oversee the panoramic views of Auckland. We then spent some time on the waterfront until it was time to collect the car to travel to Gareth'.
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All went well traversing Auckland on highway 16 and we made good progress to Waimuru - only to discover that Gareth no longer lives there. Bit of a shock - miles from anywhere in the middle of nowhere and no idea where he lived. We found someone in the same road however who remembered the Jones and who sent us to his wife who he was sure would know more! Ieuan by this time was having a field day thinking about how he could tell this story to all and sundry.
It turns out that the Jones had moved about 12 years ago (I obviously had not noted it in my address book).
After much ringing around we eventually found out the new address and our 'new found friends, the Barnes' gave us directions on where to to. This was after they had also given us a cup of tea and some cake. Terrific hospitality to complete strangers.

Half an hour later, we arrived in Kaukapakapa, where we eventually found them - well sort of as it turned out they weren't expecting us until the Saturday. What a mix up. Luckily Sue was at home as she was preparing to go and get Gareth from the golf club where he plays every Friday evening and where they then both have a meal. So Gareth was surprised to see us with Sue.

All in all what could have been a disastrous start to our 1st weekend in NZ turned into a successful evening.

Saturday

Up reasonably early but Sue was already out riding her horse and Gareth was doing something around their beautiful home. Ieuan was very relieved to find that he was able to watch Wales playing rugby against Ireland and even more pleased when Wales won.
After a big breakfast, Gareth and Sue went off to rescue an escaped calf, then the lawns had to be cut before they took us to a place called Davonport where we met up with Carwyn. There were some great views over Auckland harbour from this peninsula to the north of the bay. But then it rained -and rained! This meant we had to unfortunately spend the rest of the afternoon in a pub. We also went to their 'local' pub later for a meal.

Sunday
We had planned to move on in the morning but as the Jones are in the process of selling their house and land, and looking for somewhere else to buy, we ended up driving to see their school and then on to an open viewing of a property they wanted to see.
After a lovely late Sunday dinner of 'home grown' lamb, we left to move on to visit Linda Warrington, another X Barnet headteacher