DAY 19 SATURDAY 10th OCTOBER, AUCKLAND & WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND

Woke early and went for a jog up the road to a nice park called The Domain. Should of and could of run further but soon seemed to find myself in a café bar buying a spot of breakfast. Looking forward to Australia and some nice runs in the sun. I spent the majority of the day with the distributor friend from last night who took me to some gorgeous spots on the coast west of Auckland. What a stunning country – I will have to come back one day with the family and hire a campervan and explore…
In the afternoon, I took a flight to Wellington. $10/kilo for excess baggage! The airlines really are squeezing every buck these days…
Wellington is grey, wet & cold. My mood not helped by another crummy hotel in the middle of nowhere. I had to dash for a pre-arranged seat at the NZ Opera Company presentation of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Apparently it’s relatively rare to have opera in NZ – maybe twice a year. The place was packed – everyone was very scrubbed and brushed for a night out. I have to say that, fine performance though it was, it wasn’t Beethoven. Hurried back to hotel for a good night’s sleep. Hope it’s wet tomorrow – that will encourage punters to the show.