Christchurch/Auckland — Itsmosblog - an appetite for Lochaber

Last dinner with Meg and last in Wanaka. Last breakfast with Meg and last in Wanaka. It was very sad to say goodbye to our girl until we see her in October. And most likely that we won’t come back to Wanaka.
The drizzling rain as we departed matched our mood but as we climbed (very slowly in the Lucky van which at least was consistently still going forward) up through the Lindis Pass, the weather lifted enough to make it a great road trip across the High McKenzie Country. Meanwhile, way out west, the drizzle was more of an unrelenting rain, causing landslips in Milford Sound, trapping around 400 people on the inaccessible side, kick starting a national emergency. And the Routeburn track which Meg and Spook had walked a couple of weeks before, suffered a landslip that damaged one of the huts and hurt a couple of people. The track is likely to be closed for months now.

We were oblivious.

I took over the driving to come down Burke’s Pass and onto the Canterbury Plains - eventually. There were strong cross winds which stopped us from operating the vans air conditioning system (opening the windows). It got hotter and hotter and between the wind, the heat and my natural heating system, I was welded To the steering wheel by the time we arrived at Hugh and Donna’s house in Rollerston, outside Christchurch. It was 37 degrees Celsius.
Hugh was happy to rehydrate us with whisky and beer. He’s from Spean Bridge and was not going to waste the opportunity for a ceilidh. As the whisky flowed he got his accordion out and phoned Duncan McLeod in Nairn. Duncan sat shell shocked on his sofa first thing Sunday morning whilst being regaled by a fond Hugh on the other side of the world - I thought the FaceTime screen had frozen but it was just Duncan caught in the headlights. I presume Spook started singing at some point but Donna and I had not waited to hear it and took refuge in our beds.

Next morning we flew to Auckland to be cared for (tenderly) by Maggie and Mike.
The temperature was lower but the humidity higher. Maggie has wanted to take me to her beloved Piha beach since we first met, so we went there to cool off.

Now. This is more like it. Lifeguards watching close to the shore and more of them higher up with a wider view of things and a set of binoculars and radios. To be protected by the lifeguards we were to swim between the flags as they monitored rip currents and possibly sharks (for my sake). You got a wee blow on the whistle and some frantic waving of arms presumably to let you know you’d strayed and not that a shark attack was imminent. Once I’d established this reasoning it was fantastic to let big waves wash over us and splash about like kids. Magical.

Maggie felt we needed to recover in calmer waters. (Surf was way bigger than it looks.)

Magnificent views over Auckland to Sky City

More beer and bbq of excellence.
We had been wined and dined up and down the Land of the Long White Cloud and it was hard to say goodbye to people who are such long distance friends and so warm and welcoming all these years later. But Scotland beckoned and that’s where we belong.

Here. Exactly as it looked as Storm Ciara approaches - no filter