I am waiting for my Qantas plane to Auckland and I must say that as far as checking in I had the pleasantest experience of the trip at LA International. My luggage was grabbed by a guy as I was wheeling it towards the X-Ray machine, put on the conveyor by him and when it arrived after security looked at it another guy politely enquired which class I am flying with. He put the cases onto the weighing machine and a charming dusky maiden of about 55 eventually enquired as to my seating wishes. I asked for a bulkhead seat, she told me that none is available but she can check what else can be done for such a charming gentleman as me, went away and came back with the devastating news that I am to sit in business class. This in spite of the fact that I could not find my neck tie, which I understand is a pre-requisite for any hope of an upgrade.

 

It seems that my upgrade does not include an invitation into the Qantas lounge and so I am roasting in a comfortable seat, but exposed to the sun, which cannot set fast enough for me this afternoon.

 

Before I left my host and hostess I posted my Report No.27 and afterwards it was checked for accuracy by Edward. (You now know why I was careful not to say anything derogatory about him.) It seems that my description of his war time exploits was not accurate as he was not just offered Australian citizenship, but actually became an Australian citizen and as a soldier of the AIF he received some medals. However, he wanted to join his family in the USA and when he became a citizen he had to give up his Australian citizenship.

 

There is nothing exciting to report about my last day in LA. Edward went to his office and  my cousin Martha and I stayed at home and we played on her computer and I taught her a few shortcuts. However even without these ideas she can master all she needs to do, i.e. word processing, emailing and searching on the Internet. She is not doing too badly, considering that she is reaching a respectable number of years within the next month. The number will be divulged on payment of the usual bribe which is being increased by 10 % due to my losses on the various transports in St Petersburg.

 

Which reminds me to report that both my brother and Valentina reported that Prince Charles visited SPb, had look at the crypt of Nicholas II, a relation of his, travelled on a bus and no doubt had no encounter with pickpockets or gypsy kids. Also I am sure that he saw either an opera or a ballet performance, which reminds me that the ballet company of the Mariinsky is going to London and the English Ballet company is going to St Petersburg with a Nutcracker where Tsarist officers are involved. Some years ago there was a Graham Murphy choreographed Nutcracker written for the Australian Ballet with a story line in which the 1917 revolution figured. I wonder if this is the ballet which the company from London is taking to Petersburg. (No doubt I will get a reaction straight from my lady friend in SPb.)

 

It is very hot here, in spite of the air conditioning which is surely working overtime. It will be interesting to see what mid-winter will be at 5 am tomorrow morning in Auckland.  I have no overcoat except a wind cheater, but I have some thermal underwear I brought along, - just in case.

 

Hamilton, Friday 18^th, 6 AM. In spite of the complications of the business class seats, TV screen and the table, all of which requires a mechanical engineering degree to operate I had a pleasant few hours of snooze with never a turbulence during our 14 ½ hour flight which landed at it’s (!) scheduled time. Sitting behind me were a couple, with whom I struck up a friendship. They were “small people” and I never fail to let people who are similarly afflicted know of my great love and affection for a small person who in the dark days of 1944 / 45 made an effort to be human towards my mother and me.

 

It was about 5.:15 AM when I fronted the NZ Immigration Officer lady, who greeted me with “Good Morning, what brings you here that early? Couldn’t you sleep?”  What a wonderful way of welcoming a tired traveller to the Country of the Great White Cloud! Although I am not a Kiwi myself I confess of loving this great little country seeing it bred this Maori lady and of course they also owned another lady with whom I spent the major portion of my life.

 

I had to wait until 7 AM before I could ring to be picked up by the car hire people and I quickly found my windcheater and phone, which I noted required a charge up. At 6 AM the phone shop opened and I asked the young man if he could charge up my phone. With a hearty “No worries” he put it on charge and I decided that at the end of my trip I will classify all the various countries I visited by using my personal Smilometer measurements. As at this point the Kiwis are way ahead with the Yanks a veritable 2^nd.

 

The Indian Mr Saheed from Fiji, who is a proud NZ-er now picked me up, recognised me from last year and having drawn maps galore sent me on my way in a Mazda. I headed towards Te Kauwhata, where I lived for 6 months while on a holiday/business trip in 1956 and went to have a cup of coffee and some short bread in a café housed in a building which is still owned by a company in which my family still has a share. I looked into the store which used to be part owned by my father-in-law and was recognised by the present owner whom we visited about a year ago.

 

I drove past Joy’s old home and visited the field where I scattered the ashes of my parents-in-law and where since last year those of my wife’s also repose and I was gratified to note the green fields next to the lake with some hills in the background and the peace and quiet in which the cattle was grazing and some birds were singing. A fitting place for three people who loved nature.

 

On my way back I called in to see Graham Pulham, who knew the Marshall family well and who still runs the company holding some of the old company’s real estate and from there I stopped at the old Wine Research Institute, where in bygone days the NZ wine industry started. It is now a private winery and I bought some wine to take along from Te Kauwhata  to various members of the family. When they heard that I knew the winemaker in 1956 they insisted in giving me a free bottle of wine, emphasising that the free one is not commercially available and should be kept for a special occasion! I might even take it home with me!

 

I arrived in Hamilton around 11 AM, some 21 hours after take off in LA and in spite of my having been out of bed for the previous 16, making it a 37 hour stretch (if my calculations are correct) I was remarkably alert and only collapsed for an hour’s rest another 4 hours later, when I had a bit of a snooze.

 

I am staying with Gold and Neville here in Hamilton, just for one night. They are themselves going to Oz for a holiday tomorrow and I am moving on to Taupo to my brother–in-law and his family. Gold is a cousin and friend of Joy and I know her since 1^st March 1952 when she arrived at Waterloo Station in London and Joy flashed her miniscule engagement ring she received less than 24 hours earlier. She has been a good friend of mine since then and later Neville became another mate.

 

Of course they were interested in my trip to Saint Petersburg and especially my relationship with Valentina and of course they are happy at the thought of my not being lonely and feeling sorry for myself, a reaction which I sensed by all I encountered on this journey and even earlier. Of all my NZ relations only Gold and my sister-in-law, Pam knows my brother and I had to report on him to Gold and will do so later when I meet Pam.

 

I hope to send this from Taupo later today.

 

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Driving through the usual gorgeous New Zealand scenery on first class roads I arrived at the home of my brother-in-law Peter and his wife Elizabeth. They live on the top of a hill (or is it a mountain ?) overlooking the lake and behind them snow bedecked mountains, as picturesque as any postcard, in spite of the great competition between the various and many North Island beauty spots. I must specify the North, since even some honest North Islanders admit that the South offers even more varied and more picturesque scenery. In my humble view the comparison is unfair, since both islands are different but equally beautiful. One cannot compare a fjord to a ski field or a lake view to a mountain top?

 

We had lunch with just Kate and John and their 3 sons from Carleton (4 hours driving away) and there might have been a few other grandchildren around for Liz to look after, but in the late afternoon other members of the various families started to arrive and I was constantly tested in trying to remember the name of old and newly born grand-nephews and nieces. There are altogether 15 of them and it becomes even more confusing when you see that seldom is a child being fed or held by one of his/her parent, but they are being cuddled or played with by all and sundry. It would take me a bit longer to learn it all and I never stay long enough to become an expert in the intricacies of this type of communal living style.

 

Dinner at my in-laws is not necessarily a formal one, in fact it seldom is. There are children fed, people come and go, family members leave the table and proceed to cuddle their own but mostly the shared kids, the younger members take their food elsewhere, - it is all deliciously informal and free flowing. I attempted to photograph the multitude, but there was never a full compliment available and I gave up the idea.

 

The night was bitterly cold and I was glad to have the comfort of my electric underblanket, which I am not ashamed to admit was left on throughout. the night and morning and I still felt that one must be a bit of a masochist in visiting the Taupo area of NZ during the winter. Nevertheless Peter and I braved the weather and went to visit Christopher and Penny and their two sones and 11 months old daughter in a house which was transported from some distance away after being cut in half and loaded onto two trailers. This carrying houses across half the country is a typical NZ idea and many a times have I encountered half and even whole houses being towed along on main highways. This particular house was a two story timber building and they have been living in it for some time now.

 

It was erected on a part of Peter’s farm, where also Megan’s house was built some time ago. Another son built his house on the property where Peter’s house stands and shares the beautiful view overlooking the lake and the mountains. It was this son, Peter Will and his wife Vanda and children who shared the evening meal with us later, together with some other grandchildren who seemed to have been left over when their parent departed from a visit. If this seems confusing to you, believe me it is the same to me also. One thing is certain that all the kids, as well as their parents are a delight to meet again.

 

On the way back from the house which Chris and Penny bought about 150 km away from their piece of land, Peter took me to some vantage points on hills where the simple beauty of NZ farming (grazing) land could but be admired. It seem to me that in NZ, if one can see it, it is fit to be painted. A land blessed with beauty, green grass and peace. No wonder that they will not allow any ships carrying atom bombs into their harbours, an event which brought forth some animosity some 30 years ago, but they won in the end this argument against the USA, which applied sanctions against them.

 

In the afternoon we attended a concert in a church hall in the township of Taupo. There were 4 a-capella singers from Auckland and the Lake Big Band from Taupo, featuring an all local orchestra with one of the saxophonists being Peter Will Marshall, who is actually a clarinet player, but plays sax in this orchestra. To be honest, I could have done without the singers quite happily, but thoroughly enjoyed the jazz played by the excellent orchestra and was amused to note that after spending 30 days in Russia my first hearing of “Midnight in Moscow” was in Taupo.

 

Sunday, 20^th July. John Fraser and Kate with their three sons are leaving today for their home, but I am staying overnight and leaving tomorrow. It is a beautiful sunny day, but having been out to my car, I appreciate the crackle and heat of the open fire inside. We watched the NZ vs South Africa rugby match on TV in our pyjamas and now we are waiting for lunch. One of the sons (Peter Will) appeared as well as two of the grand daughters (Lily and Alice). No doubt there will be more poppers in during the day.

 

 Auckland, Tuesday, 22^nd July. Surprise, surprise, Sunday evening was spent by just us three oldies quietly contemplating, analysing and discussing the win by the All Blacks over the Springboks. (For the uninitiated barbarians, the All Blacks are the New Zealand Rugby Union test players, the Springboks are ditto but from South Africa. By the way the Barbarians are a rugby team also, but they are drawn from any nation and usually play friendly games against one country such as the Wallabies (Australia). For further information of rugby union matters, contact any member of the New Zealand nation, whose religion this game is.)

 

After dinner I retired to my icebox where I would have been able to thank for the blessing of my electric blanket but due to my chattering teeth I could not do so. I don’t like making promises, but I promise never to visit NZ in their winter again. That idea is not even for the larks.

 

Monday morning brought a steady stream of visitors to the door. I recognised most of them in spite of their Arctic outfits. Some were children saying their good byes to their uncle glued to the fireplace, while others were babes dropped in to be baby sat by their grandmother.

 

While I was saying my goodbyes, Peter was busying himself de-icing my car, which was covered in ½ an inch of ice all over and I was given a helping hand with my luggage. I took off and when 180 km later I discovered that my computer was left behind, I rang Peter who was feverishly attempting to have people along the route to Auckland waving me down to let me know what was left on the table, all nicely packed, but left there none the less.

 

We agreed that I will turn round and drive to a place about halfway and he too will come towards me and indeed an hour later we met, I got my computer and Peter got my expressions of regret for his unplanned 180 km trip and I set out once again to visit Guy (son of my sister-in-law) and Kate and their three kids en route at a small 50 km side trip.

 

I got there somewhat later, had a sandwich and continued on my way to my sister-in-law on the other side of Auckland after getting exact instructions on which exit I should take off the Motor way. Unfortunately that exit did not exist, or it might have been renamed, so I could not exit and had to continue on the Motor way which was a mere 25 km away, turning around there, thus giving me an extra 50 km to go before I got off on what I thought was the right exit. Of course it was not!

 

Need I say more? I got to Pam at around 9 by which time her roast dinner made specially for me by this vegetarian, was looking decidedly sick, but I made a valiant effort and ate sufficient to last me until this morning, which I survived quite well considering that Pam has no electric blanket, only a large quantity of hot water bottles, most of which found their way into my bed and which I was dodging most of the night. Just the same I had a very good rest and it was the wet nose of lovely yet sad looking dog which made me aware of a clear day, which I will spend with Pam before moving to another nephew, Tim and Halcyon and their three boys. That is if I find them.

 

The NZ country side is sheer delight to drive through. The fields and hills are green and lush even in winter and the cattle and sheep seem to eat their fill in surroundings which makes you almost forget that their future is not as rosy as the peace around them suggests. There are lots of deer farms in NZ and one can see them grazing in the paddocks. It is interesting to see deer grazing, - while cattle sometimes lift their head and chew the cud or reflect on the day’s activities deer grazes on a non-stop basis never lifting their head or at least none ever did in my view.

 

Many of the fields are separated by hedges and some are quite high and almost always neatly trimmed. It was gratifying for me to see that, since I introduced into NZ in 1956/57 an English made tractor mounted hedge cutter into NZ with some considerable success. Unfortunately my agreement with the UK company was for 5 years only and I ceased to benefit from my initial work after 1962 otherwise I might still be collecting a commission.

 

Auckland is a small city, but full of cars and to cater for them they built lots of motor ways. The problem as I see it that the motorways run parallel to each other and once you pick one it takes you straight out of the city and you can start all over again. To make it somewhat easier, all of them have names, such as North Motor way or South-West Express way or Eastern distributor. Unfortunately I do not  carry a compass with me and in any case those who give me detailed instructions on how to get to their place have other ways of naming the exits as those in charge of the sign posts, which makes sense only to people who were born here and who are probably using the same route daily to get to work.

 

The interesting thing is that in 1956 I had no trouble finding my way in Auckland, but since that time all these time saving roads were built, mostly above the houses or in place of them. In fact I was worried about finding my way from my sis-in-law to my nephew’s place but mentioning this to Pam’s neighbour made him volunteer to drive ahead of me the approximately 15 km distance. A typical NZ gesture.

 

I spent the night with Tim and his family. His wife could not have been sweeter and more caring. I can say this without fear of her reading it, since she confessed that she does not read my trip reports. With her 3 boys and the Tim to look after in a big house, I cannot blame her. It needs an idle traveller like me to write my reports but you must really be bored to read them all.

 

But I now have some good news! I am at Auckland airport at Gate 10 waiting to board my flight to Sydney. Thus my saga should come to an end if all goes well. I know that I wanted to test if you read everything by asking such questions as to which of the ballet performances I liked least or the name of the wife of the young NKVD officer whose birthday I attended. But what could I offer to the winner? Maybe a week in Budapest and the runner up? He would get two weeks stay in Budapest.

 

I will be fairly busy during the next week or two, sorting out my credit cards, insurance claims and some other pressing matters, but do expect another communication when I will advise you where you may see the many photos I took before my camera was pinched and the photos I took with my replacement camera.

 

In the mean time, thank you for listening and reading.

 

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