Crikey, I've been kept busy since I last blogged my progress on Tuesday. Apologies for that, I'll try to catch up now. Things may seem a little random or disorganised as sleep is trying to get the better of me as I type...
Following a Wednesday morning ¥6900 (NZ$107, £47) breakfast in my hotel room I checked out and headed for Akiba. The Tokyo Met-r-o was back to its normal busy self after the national holiday (culture day) the day before. I headed up to Suehirocho and returned to the surface in "Electric Town". This place never dissappoints and the warm sun was a good excuse to pop into many shops for a quick look round. Unfortunately, due to the fall of exchange rates, the British Pound was worth around 40% less than when I was last here so little shopping took place. The new robots took up a lot of my time and they continue to impress with more tricks every time I see them. No purchase on this trip. :-(
My midday lunch appointment with old colleagues and friends, Kano-san and Alex, was really fun and it was great to see them. We made full use of their local knowledge and had a wonderful, ridiculously cheap and properly Japanese meal followed by another Japanese tradition of Starbucks. I then strolled back down Aoyama Dori, past the office building where I had been working and down to Akasaka before taking a right and returning to the Okura hotel for my bus back to the airport. We made record time (~55 minutes) to Narita, whizzing passed lots of other coaches from the same company, I suspect it must have been our driver's last run of the day.
Queueing at check-in took well over an hour and then I spent another forty minutes in the security area while every single item in my carry-on bag was examined one by one. At least all this meant that I didn't have too much time to kill waiting for my flight. Asahi beers at 200 went down very easily and I was in my seat before I knew it. Air NZ service is second to none and I had a very pleasant flight.
Following a Wednesday morning ¥6900 (NZ$107, £47) breakfast in my hotel room I checked out and headed for Akiba. The Tokyo Met-r-o was back to its normal busy self after the national holiday (culture day) the day before. I headed up to Suehirocho and returned to the surface in "Electric Town". This place never dissappoints and the warm sun was a good excuse to pop into many shops for a quick look round. Unfortunately, due to the fall of exchange rates, the British Pound was worth around 40% less than when I was last here so little shopping took place. The new robots took up a lot of my time and they continue to impress with more tricks every time I see them. No purchase on this trip. :-(
My midday lunch appointment with old colleagues and friends, Kano-san and Alex, was really fun and it was great to see them. We made full use of their local knowledge and had a wonderful, ridiculously cheap and properly Japanese meal followed by another Japanese tradition of Starbucks. I then strolled back down Aoyama Dori, past the office building where I had been working and down to Akasaka before taking a right and returning to the Okura hotel for my bus back to the airport. We made record time (~55 minutes) to Narita, whizzing passed lots of other coaches from the same company, I suspect it must have been our driver's last run of the day.
Queueing at check-in took well over an hour and then I spent another forty minutes in the security area while every single item in my carry-on bag was examined one by one. At least all this meant that I didn't have too much time to kill waiting for my flight. Asahi beers at 200 went down very easily and I was in my seat before I knew it. Air NZ service is second to none and I had a very pleasant flight.
Thursday morning arrived four hours earlier than my body expected and, after being processed through arrivals and biosecurity, I was happy to be greeted by both Clint and Phil who were in the process of buying coffees. It turned out these were necessary to keep us warm as we scurried back to Phil's car in the rain under very low and grey skies. Karen extended the welcome and soon we were out exploring North Shore. Lunch with the enchanting Bex was great, followed by the ferry across from Davenport to Auckland for a good look round there too. The rain, which had abated for much of the afternoon, returned with low, low cloud. Still a great afternoon. The evening was spent with Clint's parents and family for a Bonfire Night BBQ. As the cloud had stuck and the rain continued to fall, much of the traditional pyrotechnics were lost in the fog.
On Friday we set off north on the road towards Paihia. Highlights on the outbound journey included breakfast at Jack's Café, the toilets in Kawakawa, that must be seen to be believed, and a steam railway that runs in the road through the middle of the same town. When continued past Paihia to the Treaty Grounds. These were spectacular in the glorious sunshine.
Then it was out on the water for a spot of sea fishing, my first ever such outing. We chose a small boat that took us out to the very edge of NZ. I managed a couple of keepers and went back to port very happy with myself. Our skipper filleted the catch and we were soon heading back to Auckland and Karen's culinary efforts were wonderful and greatly appreciated.
Saturday saw us head down to Pukekohe to watch Clint's cousin who races V8 cars. Things were busy in the garage as preparations were made for the start of the new season. Clint and I had a go at taking some decent pictures that could be used for promotional stuff this year and we were almost successful(!). Then it was off to the airport, the Koru Club Lounge and eventually Queenstown in the south island. Having a drink around the lake in this most gorgeous of small towns was a pleasure. However, Fergburger's "Big Al" was enough to finish off both myself and Phil (Clint wimped out with a "little lambie".
First thing this morning, Sunday, we headed over to the Shotover Jet boats and enjoyed a coolish, dampish blast down and up the river - all very exciting. Then it was back into town and to hire a car for some exploring. We headed up to Glenorchy, back via Queenstown to Arrowtown, via a bungy bridge and winery/cheesery to Cromwell and finally Clyde. The scenery throughout the day is just the most amazing to be found anywhere on our planet. Learning a little bit of NZ's history was fun and were all looking forward to finding our own nuggets of gold in this Wild West part of the World. Once again it was time to head back to Queenstown, a steak dinner, some Geocaching (in the dark with no GPSr) and then home to the hotel, bed and blogging catch-up.
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