Our first day in Vietnam. We were not off the mark quickly as we didn't breakfast until quite late and then after we had booked a coule of trips and a table for the New Year celebrations in the hotel we didn't hit the streets until almost eleven. With David as our very capable quite we walked to the cathedral which shut at eleven. We then walked to the Palace of Reunification which was shut, so we walked to the Museum of War Remnants which was shut for lunch. We readjusted our plans and walked to the largest market in the city, which we enjoyed and we found a food court nearby so we had lunch before we walked back to the Palace of Reunification.
This was originally the residence of the South Vietnamese President and it is kept in the state it was in when the North Vietnamese took over Saigon. Hence it is full of 1970's furniture and has a rather tacky feel to it. Neither the tour director nor I really enjoyed it, but it was good to see as a piece of history. Next we turned back to the Museum of War Remnants, a reminder of the American War which is rather biased in its approach but still worthwhile visiting and a place which reminds you of the futility of war. I did hear some Amerian lads say that it had made them realise how biased the history that they had been taught was, so it clearly is serving a purpose. I have to say I found it a little distressing.
Having walked about eight kilometres we returned to our hotel to rest before our evening adventure. David had booked for us a food tour of Ho Chi Minh City, which we were to undertake on the back of motorbikes. At six thirty our drivers arrived, all young women, that is less than twenty five. David's driver was called Tsung, Rosmarie's Janz and mine was Han. The first trial was to find a helmet that fitted me, I tried one on but the strap would not do up, there was much laughter whilst I tried a couple of others, until Han managed to alter the strap of the first one so it fitted. With that we were off into the chaos that is traffic here and what an exhilarating experience it turned out to be. Our first stop was the night time flower market, and then on to try street food, Ban Sale, followed by deep fried quail, and then a tour of Saigon, before dessert, which was not really my cup of tea. Mine was made of seaweed and was very sweet. Back onto the bikes we carved our way through major traffic missing cars and other bikes by what seemed like centimetres, enjoying the sights of the city by night.
Our last stop was for snails, which none of us was relishing but when we stopped it was for snails and crab claws and oysters and shrimps, all of which were lovely. The Vietnamese seem to insist in roadside cafes that you sit on stools that were designed for four year olds, which made it quite difficult to stand up.
Traffic here is really hard to describe there are over ten million motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City and traffic rules are that you go with the flow, everyone is aware of every one else but other riders and cars came seemingly very close to us. Han reassured me by telling me that it was her job and that she hadn't lost anybody yet.
After four hours we were returned safely to our hotel all of us excited and full of what had been a truly Vietnamese experience. David was even allowed to drive the motorbike for the last coule of miles home, and I have to say that although he enjoyed it, his mother's heart was beating considerably quicker as it made its way towards her mouth.
All in all a wonderful experience to make our first day in Vietnam truly memorable.

And so to Vietnam. This had not been a part of our original itinerary but at David's suggestion we agreed to go for a couple of weeks rather than just drift around in Singapore. There is still plenty to do in Singapore, but Vietnam is so close to Singapore that it seemed silly not to take the opportunity.
We left David's flat at about ten thirty, having carved the rest of the gammon into bags for the freezer.
The drive to the airport was uneventful and the airport was remarkably quiet.
The check in at the airport was fine and then David had to get a picture for his visa to get into Vietnam, we didn't need one as were travelling on British passports. David got us into the lounge at the airport and then we were on a plane to Ho Chi Minh city. At the airport we had to wait a little while for David to get through immigration but as we walked out into the heat there was a man holding up David's name, one of the most wonderful sights in the world. A large van appeared and two men clad in our hotel's livery put our bags into it for us and whisked us off to our hotel. Whisk is a strong word here as the traffic was amazing. It would be impossible to count the number of motor scooters on the road.
Our rooms in the hotel overlook the Saigon River and genuinely we were more than pleased. After unpacking we tried to meet for a beer in another bar, but there some misunderstanding and David went to one bar whilst we went to another one. Eventually the situation was resolved and we set off in search for restaurant in which to have our evening meal. As soon as you leave the hotel the heat hits you, the noise assails your ears, the people abound and generally your senses are assaulted. We walked to find a restaurant which was recommended on David's  phone, but they were full. They did recommend another just around the corner so we walked there. They were queuing out of the door to get in. We asked how long the wait would be and we were told ten minutes so we waited moving forward slowly as groups were taken from the front of the queue. The wait was worth it , the meal was very good and we relaxed before handing back into the turmoil that is Ho Chi Minh city to return to our hotel.

All of us felt refreshed after our Boxing Day and as David's cleaner comes on Sunday we had to go out. David went for an early morning bike ride and we agreed to meet him in a cafe across the road for breakfast. After breakfast we walked along the river and generally spent time observing Singapore relaxing. The whole idea of going out for breakfast is still a strange one for us but it is very enjoyable and host I am not sure we will go out for breakfast in the UK it is a pleasure we enjoy when we are away.
 New bikes and scooters filled the river bank and we did very little apart from just walking  and talking.
In the late afternoon we made our way to Daivid and Kate's , two friends of David's, who had invited us to a barbecue. The venue was the pool area of their condominium block which was spectacular. Small pools for children, intermediate pools and large pools. The group was fairly large and very universal, South Africans, Canadians, British and Japanese. There were small children and two grandmothers and a good time was had by all. We didn't stay very late as we were travelling to Vietnam the next day and there was still packing to do. If I am totally honest I also think that none of us relished the idea of travelling with a hangover!

Boxing Day was a bit of a damp squib after the excitement of Christmas Day. We were late up and and all of us felt we had over indulged the day before. As a result we spent a very quiet day in David's flat doing very little other than watching television.
We did reflect on our good fortune at Raffles and had a salad for tea. Sometimes if you have eaten too much good food that is all you want or need the next day.

Christmas Day and we observed all those customs we follow at home, gammon sandwiches followed by present opening which of course was accompanied but sparkling wine. Ŵe missed all our families at home but having said that we had a very adult Christmas. David had several utilitarian presents to open, mainly caused by the lack of tools and crockery in his kitchen.
At about half past ten we got a taxi to Raffles and drove up to the front door where th commissionaire  opened th car door for us. We were a little early but had a wander around the hotel and looked in their shop which was, of course, open.
We joined the queue for dinner fairly early and we were admitted and found our table. Our table was on the verandah outside the billiard room. We walked around the food on offer and marvelled at the range of foods available. A groaning cheese board, fantastic sea food, a full carvery, a counter of cold meats, fresh pasta and so on. Much to my surprise other people started on the buffet as soon as they were allowed in, we decided to wait for the other people who were joining us. As soon as we were all gathered we started on the food and thoroughly enjoyed everything we had. As this was David's Xmas present to us it was important that we enjoyed it.
We had an absolutely fantastic time, the wine flowed, Singapore slings were enjoyed, the food was just as good as it looked and the company as great.
Everything stopped at three o'clock but by then we were past eating anything else. After Raflles we were invited back to a friend of David's for drinks and we returned home quite late, having had a fantastic day.
Raffles is full of colonial charms, the service was impeccable and there is very little chance that we will do anything similar in the future.

Christmas Eve dawned in some sympathy with Great Britain, as the sky was black and the rain poured down. We had planned to go out shopping but the rain rather held us back. David was working from home and we sat around and read and wrote our diary and the blog.
The plan had been that we were going back to the butcher's to buy some sausages to turn into cold sausages on sticks as a little Christmas treat. At about eleven thirty the sky cleared and off we set,through the last few drops of rain, to make our journey. The sausages were purchased at the cost of ten pounds for about 12 which gives you an idea of the cost of western produce here. However, we were pleased and we then set off to the supermarket to do those last bits of shopping which mysteriously had eluded the tour manager. We met David on his way back from having his hair cut and the three of us went for Christmas Eve lunch.
I had chop chop crispy chicken noodles and Rosemarie had rickshaw duck which makes it quite unlike any other Christmas Eve lunch we have had before. The very bad news was that it was clear that Rosemarie was coming down with a heavy cold, so that rather put a damper on things.
In the afternoon David went out to do a few things and we hastily wrapped presents and cooked sausages, all in all a bit like being at home albeit in a temperature of thirty degrees plus.
There is little to write about the area around David's flat, which appears to consist mainly of high rise buildings. The riverside about a hundred yards away is very pleasant  but is also extremely commercial, full of cafes and wine bar/restaurants. The walk to the butchers, slightly up hill, goes past a Chinese temple, set back from the road, scarlet and red beaming in the modernity around it. There are a few terraced buildings there with a five foot frontage as required by the original planners, but then these quickly give way again to high rise apartments. Singapore, has now reached the state where it has to protect some of its original buildings from the developers and to its credit it is trying to do that.
In the evening we had booked to go to a restaurant for a meal, which we enjoyed, and which was made all the more pleasant by the gift of a free bottle of wine. We sat around until midnight, wished each other a Merry Christmas and retired to our beds.

The first part of the morning was dedicated to the tour manager's production of, believe it or not, sausage rolls. We had purchased some sausage meat, from a local westernised butcher and some frozen pastry from the local supermarket. The lack of appropriate equipment in David's kitchen, proved to be s light hindrance, which Rosemarie overcame with fortitude and good humour. At the end of an hour there were several cooked sausage rolls and cheese straws on display. These were placed carefully of a tray and left to cool. Although we had all the windows open whilst the cooking was going on the heat in the kitchen was almost unbearable. We were a trifle foolish in that we forgot entirely to turn the flat's air conditioning on, which would have helped all round.

As the case of our I Pad had broken, and the I pad is an essential tool of the twenty first century traveller it was decided that we would go off in search of a replacement. This allied to th determined wish of the tour manager to purchase David some Christmas baubles and in particular some candles led to the prospect of a day's shopping. Divide had suggested Sun Tech city as a place where we might buy a replacement and off we set. We walked to Clarke Quay and then took the tube to our destination. Sun Tech city proved to be a marginally larger shopping mall than we had expected.
After fruitlessly searching the directions computer we decided to go and get some lunch in the food hall where we had a great Indian vegetarian meal.
After lunch we headed off in search of the items required and although we found a candle set at the cost of seventy five pounds we were disinclined to buy it. We had no luck with the I Pad cover and even less withe candles. The tour director was deeply dispirited.
We headed off walking along a subway to the shopping mall in Raffles city and half way along came across a small Japanese supermarket that was selling Christmas baubles, the tour director's eyes lit up with delight and we purchased a small illuminated Christmas tree, about six inches tall, a giant snow flake, a small snowman tree decoration and a gold window decoration in the form of a small Christmas tree. The lightening of the mood was palpable.
As generally we were getting nowhere and the thrall of the Christamas shopping crowds was oppressive we decided to head for home, stopping of in a supermarket to get some supplies for David.
On our return a Christmas ham had been acquired by David and we set to cooking that so that it could be enjoyed over the festive season.
After dinner we set off in a taxi to go and see the lights in Orchard Road. This reminded me very much of childhood trips to go and see the lights in the West End of London, but Rosemarie really enjoyed it and that is all that matters. Whilst we were there we found a small pop up stall that sold Christmas ephemera and there in the middle of the stall was a small red lantern with a candle inside for five dollars or two pounds fifty. Rosemarie was overcome with elation and purchased two. The lady selling them gave us six tea lights and I asked if I could buy another six, so she gave me half a dozen for free which I thought was genuinely kind of her. Outside the shop Rosemarie managed to drop her mobile phone over a barrier into a shrubbery eight feet below. David, ever gallant, climbed over the barrier and down the other side to retrieve it, having to use the flashlight on his phone to find it. There was no obvious damage done either to David or to the phone and we made our way home.

Today we decided to walk to the Museum of Asian civilisations. This took twenty five minutes and was alongside the river all of the way, it took us twenty minutes to walk to Boat Quay which had taken about the same length of time in a taxi last Saturday.
The museum was well worth a visit, we paid our four dollars each to enter and spent a little time in a room dedicated to a ship wreck from 830 AD. While we were doing this we were approached by a member of museum staff who enquired if we would like to join a guided tour of the museum. Although the tour director was not awfully keen on the idea we joined the tour and it proved not only to be very interesting but also very educational. The Singaporean government had bought the whole of the ship wreck from the Indonesian government for the sum of thirty two million dollars, and in doing so had purchased a remarkable piece of history, the ship had been trading with the Middle East and was returning there from China loaded with porcelain packed into amphora. The bowls that they now have look remarkably modern and we would certainly have them in our kitchen. After a morning in the museum we decided to have lunch on Boat Quay in a Chinese restaurant and we had prawns and beef noodles which were very good, albeit a little pricey.
We then walked to Raffles City, a huge shopping mall, to see if we could purchase some crackers and a few candles so that at least some elements of the Christmas festivities would be maintained. The tour director is very clear in her thinking that things need to be a bit more Christmas like. Unfortunately six crackers cost twenty pounds or there abouts and so we baulked at buying those and candles were non existent. The tour director was not pleased!!!
We caught the train back to Clarke Quay and walked home, prepared dinner and then went for a drink with some of David's friends, believe it or not back in Boat Quay. A taxi there and back saved us the walk and we had a chicken dinner before retiring to bed.
Christmas is just around the corner and I asked David who has been in the Southern Hemisphere since 2007 if he was now used to the idea that the festive season was in the hottest part of the year? His reply was that he still found it strange and that is exactly where we are.

'Twas the week before Christmas and the temperature is still in the high thirties. Christmas decorations abound, hotels have huge Christmas trees outside and yet to us it all seems a bit strange.
We had a quiet morning as the tour manager had a made an appointment to have her nails done before Christmas. The shop which was brave enough to take this on is about two hundred yards away from David's flat and so off she went at ten thirty. I stayed behind and caught up with the blog and lo and behold an hour later she returned, extremely pleased with the job that had been done. I have to say they did look very nice.
As this had taken up most of the morning we remained in the flat for an early lunch before heading off down to th river to go on a river boat cruise around the city. It was extremely hot, and we waited in the shade for about twenty minutes for the boat to arrive. What was clear is that you get an extremely different perspective from a boat, and we were glad we had had the chance to walk around Singapore and knew some of the buildings we were seeing from the water. For some reason, which still remains unclear to us, unless it is part of an art installation, the harbour is full of white balls about eighteen inches across, just floating there and in the daylight clearly doing very little. The tour took about forty five minutes and provided us with several photo opportunities, so all in all we thought it was worthwhile.
The heat here is enervating always around the thirty degree mark but with high humidity, a mile walked here is probably worth about two miles walked at home. For this reason drinking a lot of water is essential and we always carry two bottles.
On our return to Clarke Quay we sat by the river and had a couple of beers before we headed home to cook some dinner. As David was out, having dinner with a friend, we ate by ourselves and watched a film on television before heading to bed. A rather English end to the day.

We had decided to walk the Mangram trial up Mount Faber, the second highest hill in Singapore, so after breakfast we set off by walking to Clake Quay and catching a train to Harbour front, just outside the station the trail is clearly signposted and goes straight uphill. As the temperature was quite high we were all struggling a bit with the hundreds of steps on the way up, but once we had reached the summit the walk was well worth it. Mount Faber, is a protected park, and the path through it is clearly cut through jungle, with several boards wearing you what to do if you encounter wild monkeys.
At the top, in one direction you look out to sea over the strait betweenSingapore and Sentosa island in the other direction you look back to the central business district  with several skyscrapers and housing blocks.
Our first task was to find a bridge called Henderson Waves which joins Mount Faber to anther park and which is part of a nine kilometre trail. This proved slightly more elusive than one might have thought but when we found it, it is a wonderful piece of architecture and design, spanning a road seventy or eighty metres below. It is called the Waves because of its undulating design. One side looks like waves rolling in from the ocean.
After this we walked back to the summit to catch the cable car  down into Harbour Front, a fantastic experience, I never tire of riding in cable cars. The task ahead of us at Harbour Front was to find a shop which sold frying pans, as David did not have one. We could have chosen a slightly better day, bearing in mind that this was the last Sunday before Christmas, but braving the kamakaze crowds we sallied forth into the shopping mall.
We explored the ground floor of a local shop only to find out that kitchenware was on the second floor. We also discovered that the only way up was to plunge ourselves back into the melee out side and find the escalator to the second floor.
Having fought our way gallantly through the Christmas shop, we found the kitchenware department and then began to look at frying pans. Customer service in Singapore is good, in that, as soon as you look at something a salesperson is there trying to sell it to you. The one who chose us was not going to take no for any sort of an answer. David explained he wanted a larger pan than the one that was on display, she assured us she had a larger one in the store and went off to fetch it . When she returned it was with exactly the same sized one that was on display. David pointed out it wasn't any bigger and she agreed saying that she didn't have a larger one. David likes to persist, in what appears to us to be rather pointless discussions, as there is no apparent logic in the ensuing conversation. However, we eventually bought a pan he liked and a baking tray for the tour manager's proposed sausage rolls and headed off back through the maelstrom to find a quiet bar beside the river, where we enjoyed a couple of beers before heading for home. The romance of river traffic isn't quite dead, although they were no small fishing craft, there were several ferries and two large passenger liners, one of which left whilst we were having our beer. You do find yourself wondering where it was heading. They are majestic things to watch as they slip their moorings.
A train ride and a walk home form Clarke Quay led to the use of the frying pan to cook steaks and a pleasant meal. All in all a very interesting day.

The weekend arrived, partly by surprise as we had both thought we were on Thursday rather than Friday, it is an odd thing that travel can disorientate you in such a way. David was meant to be getting up early to go for a bike ride but that didn't happen and so we had rather a slow start to the day.
After breakfast we walked up the hill to a butcher's to look at gammon. A four kilo gammon would have cost about sis to pounds so David decided on something else, unsurprisingly I thought. We did buy some sausagemeat so that Rosemarie could make sausage rolls. A traditionally British dish in thirty degree heat, who could ask for anything else?
After the joys and delights of the butcher's emporium we were off on the walk to Tong Bahru, a Chineses vegetable market about a mile away. The walk involved crossing several extremely busy roads and led us past countless hotels and into a social housing area of small two or three floored buildings rented out to individual families. There were also the obligatory high rise Housing Development Board houses as Singapore struggles to house it's six point three million inhabitants.
The Chines market was a riot of colour and seemingly pandemonium as customers shouted st stall holders and received replies, or conversed loudly amongst themselves. Shopping here does not seem to be a quiet, peaceful experience.
We threw ourselves into the throng and bought the necessary supplies before setting off again in the heat to make our way home.
After a few minutes we were off again to Clarke Quay with the intent of catching a train to Boat quay to meet an old friend of David's. The walk to Clarke Quay is a pleasant one alongside the river past several restaurants which are predominated by ex pats and tourists. The walk takes about fifteen minutes and by the time we had arrived there, in sight of the station, David decided that we were running a little late and that we should take a cab. We arrived at Boat Quay ten minutes late to find that David's friend and his family were on the train so we wandered up and down the quay, looking at various restaurants and historic buildings until we decided on one which suited us. About twenty minutes later David's friend arrived with his wife, young daughter and his parents so the eight of us settled down to lunch beside the river. I hadn't realised until David explained it that the Singapore authorities have turned the Singapore river into a fresh water reservoir in case their water supply is ever cut off by their neighbour's.
So our view at lunchtime,across the river, was of Parliament House, which looks remarkably like a flying saucer has just landed on a building and of the nineteenth century centre of Singapore.
After lunch we walked across the river and went in search of Raffles Hotel so that Chris and his family could have their photograph taken in front of it. I remember the first time Rosemarie and I came to Singapore we did something very similar, because Raffles is such an iconic building.
Having achieved our aim we then went to the Swiss Hotel where we had a drink on the ground floor, before going up seventy floors to look at the view from the bar on the top of the hotel. The view was a little hazy and unfortunately did not make for good photographs but it was spectacular none the less.
We left Chris and his family at the train station where they we boarding a train to take them to the airport for their onward flight to Auckland. We took the train home and had a quiet evening enjoying a bottle of wine and some cheese.

Friday dawned and the tour director still had no shoes to go with her dress for Christmas Day in Raffles. This meant an urgent expedition had to be mounted to find the requisite items. We walked to Orchard Road the centre of shopping in Singapore and set about the task. In the first mall we found a giant department store and after looking at at least two hundred and fifty pairs of shoes she found a pair she liked.
The next item needed was a clutch bag and after a little searching the appropriate item was located and purchased. This truly should have been the end of the matter but Or hard Road is a bit like the West End of London you come out of one mall back onto the road and straight into another mall or large department store. To be fair we did spend a little bit of time looking for a frying pan for David, but we looked at more shoes, dresses and tops, this was all fine as we had done what I wanted to do when we had been to the museum.
We had lunch in a food court in an Indonesian cafe which we went to because it was full of Indonesians and they should know if it was good or not. We came out from lunch to find the heavens had opened and the rain was so hard we had to don our raincoats, before entering another department store. The rain had put paid to our plans to go on a river cruise so we just mooches around the shops. At about three thirty the tour director announced that she was sated and we set off to walk home.
In the evening the three of us went to a delightful restaurant called" T he Chop Suey House" where we had a great meal, infact one of the best Chinese meals I have ever had. During the taxi ride home we were able to marvel at Singapore's Christmas decorations and lights, all of which seem just a little bit over the top, eight feet high snowmen and leaping golden deer Spring to mind.
On our return we sat in a bar by the river and had a beer and spent a pleasant hour just chatting.

Thursday we decided to visit the Singapore National museum. This sounds relatively easy but first of all we made it complicated by deciding to walk there crossing Canning fort to do so. We found the way relatively easily but then lost each other at a loo stop. The tour director was not amused by the fact that I had wandered off looking for her, but at the time I had no idea where exactly she was.
Once we were reunited and she had calmed down a little we found our way to the museum, which is a truly astounding building. Some of the museum is in an old nineteenth century building but over that the museum has built a new twenty first century shell.
We entered from the park into the second floor and wandered around unchallenged trying to discover where we could purchase a ticket. This was eventually resolved and we thoroughly enjoyed a guest exhibition from the British museum, entitled Treasures of the World. We also enjoyed the History of Singapore Hall. We had lunch in the museum restaurant and then after looking at a couple of other things we decided to walk home stopping off at the supermarket to buy a few essentials which we appeared to have forgotten in our earlier forays.
Our general impression is that the Singapore national museum is well worth visiting and we would recommend it to everybody who visits the city. Canning fort is also well worth a visit as around the hill it is built in are a number of placards detailing the the history of Singapore and the part this hill had played in it. This went back to the thirteenth century and continued onto the Second World War when the hill was the command centre for the British and Australian forces defending Singapore against the Japanese. The hill is steep and is quite a walk in the heat of the Singapore day but it was well worth the effort.

Wednesday and we were clearly tired. We walked to the Japanese supermarket and bought some supplies. The smog has lifted from Singapore which is now in its rainy season, with almost predictable rain around three pm every day.
We then walked the supplies home before heading out tot the food court in Clarke Quay. To reach that we walked alongside the river threading our way through the skyscrapers. The food court was in the basement of a twenty first century shopping mall and we had great fun in choosing a place to eat. We were the only Europeans in a Chinese dominated restaurant and we had a great meal for less than ten pounds.
In the afternoon we walked back through the mall looking for shoes the tour director could wear on Christmas Day at Raffles hotel. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in our quest, having visited at least five shoe emporiums. We went to another supermarket on the way home to find some things we had failed to collect in the morning and then made our way back to David's.
We had a quiet evening in, a couple of bottles of wine and retired to bed early, as we were both extremely tired. It might be easier to cope with jet lag when you are a bit younger, it is a very weird thing to wake up at five in the morning thinking that it is in fact much later, and then to collapse dog tired at nine in the evening for no real reason.
Singapore remains as always, hot and humid, an Asian city thriving against the odds at a crossroads between east and west. The only way to sleep comfortably, at least for those of us who don't live here permanently is to have the air conditioning on. It is also a true melting pot, a large Indian population, a large Chinese population and a good smattering of Europeans all melded together in a small area which has a border of one hundred and twenty five kilometres in total.
We felt we needed a relaxing day and we certainly had that.

Departure day, we were up at six forty five as we had to be at the airport by twenty past eight. Breakfast was a quiet affair, the bags were loaded into the car and with due solemnity we were on our way. Our first stop was the Village butchers where had to pick up four kilos of steak for David.
This was vacuum packed in two kilo packages so when we arrived at the airport our first task was to put two oaks in each suitcase. There is nothing quite like packing meat at the airport. The bad news was that although we thought we would be put in transit all the way to Singapore it transpired that we were only booked to Sydney, which meant we had to enter Australia and then leave again immediately. The tour director was not pleased especially as we now had four kilos of raw meat with us and we would now have to declare those at Australian customs.
We boarded our plane at Gisborne having been through a tearful farewell, the doors were shut and the engines revved up before a guy a seat behind us to the right announced to cabin crew that he had left his wallet in his car. There was a telephone call to the flight deck and the response was that as the doors had been sealed he could not leave the plane. There was another conversation about his five year old daughter he was travelling with and the result was that the pilot capitulated and the guy was let off the plane to fetch his wallet. He did get into trouble for vaulting the three foot fence in front of the terminal, but he certainly sprinted to his car and back. I am not sure this would have happened at any other airport in the world.
The trip to Auckland was uneventful, the flight to Sydney was fine and then we were faced with retrieving our cases and going though immigration into Australia. Luckily the airport was quiet and we were quickly into customs where we declared our meat. The very pleasant customs lady looked closely at our meat and our itinerary , called her manager over to look at our meat and between them they decided we could keep it.
They told us we had to rush to make our connection and gave us very clear directions. We rushed to the departure area where there was no queue at the BA desk. Very kindly BA had upgraded us so we're both delighted. The next hurdle was emmigration closely followed by security, at which point I discovered I had left my kindle on the last Air NZ flight. The tour director was not best pleased, and once we through into the departure lounge we spent a few minutes emailing the airline.
The flight to Singapore was great and we arrived early, David was a few minutes late picking us up but he arrived and nineteen hours after we had started this journey we were back in David's flat, tired and ready for bed. I am pleased to report that David was very pleased with the meat.

Monday, our last day in New Zealand and sadness infected the atmosphere. The tour director got on with the packing in the morning and I used the normal avoidance techniques. I was dragged in to help pack a box which contained clothes we have decided we don't need on this trip.
After the packing we needed to go out for lunch or that's what the tour director decided she needed. We set off for the centre of town to see a huge passenger liner that had pulled into the bay and which was in the process of unloading passengers who were flooding into Gisborne. The ship held 2400 passengers so the centre of  Gisborne became quickly inundated. Some left in buses to go on a tour and some waited for the steam train to arrive to take them on an excursion.
It was decided we would wait on the esplanade for the steam train to pull out. This was due to happen at 12.00 so we only had fifteen minutes to wait. The best laid plans are often misled and run awry. We sat on the grass bank waiting for forty five minutes until the train showed any sign of movement. The wait was punctuated by a young Maori girl who walked to the middle of the bridge and then sat down waiting to jump into the river. Although the security guards on our side of the bridge were shouting at her to jump, she refused. Where else in the world could you walk on put a railway bridge when a train was imminent?
The girl was persuaded to jump by the sight of two policemen running to the scene.
After all of this excitement we headed off to find lunch, we went to a restaurant, which was full of passengers from the ship, so Sally suggested a pub. We drove for twenty minutes to get there only to discover it was shut. Sally then suggested a vineyard so drove ten minutes to get there only to discover it was shut on Mondays. Andrew then suggested a pub in Gisborne three minutes walk from where we had been sat waiting for the train to depart. We arrived there, inspected the menu and decided we didn't like it, so we had lunch in a bar across the road about a minute's walk away from where we had been sat. Lunch was not a great meal Andy complained about the way his steak was cooked and as a result it was removed from our bill. My steak was also over cooked but as I idiotically ate it so I could hardly claim a rebate.
In the afternoon we relaxed before the tour director went to have her hair cut at six pm. Our evening meal was quieter than normal and we had a relatively early night.
After the three weeks the idea of leaving was one all of us found difficult to come to grips with.

So if Saturday was our Christmas in New Zealand then it clearly follows that Sunday must be our Boxing Day. We started the day with a huge brunch, an all round old fashioned fry up which in this case included black pudding and liver. I am not sure I have ever had liver for breakfast before!
After this it was decided we would journey up the coast to look at where Andy and Sally have camped by the sea for the summer.
Apparently Gisborne is one of the few councils left in New Zealand which allows people to arrive on the foreshore and pitch tents or set up caravans. You must have a permit and you must be self contained, having your own loo. There is no water on site so you have to take every drop with you. Many Gisborners go there for the night before returning home to shower in the morning and then go to work. You really couldn't get much closer to the sea. There no clearly defined sites so you just roll up and take whatever sort of area you require, some of the outfits were quite large.
The coast going north out of Gisborne is fantastic, large sandy beaches, clear water and some spectacular scenery most of which is laid down to sheep pasture.
We carried on northwards to Toko where we decided to have an ice cream, as we were enjoying this on the beach it became clear that a medical emergency was taking place on the playing field behind us. An ambulance arrived followed by a fire engine and several utility vehicles. Andy decided that they were waiting for the emergency helicopter and sure enough as we stood there watching the helicopter appeared over the hills and landed in the games field, just like being in Launceston.
We were about a hundred yards away from the action and I felt rather like I was invading the space of the poor person who was eventually flown away. There is something in human nature that encourages people to take an interest in such things. I always try not to gawk at incidents on roads and yet here I was actively observing what could have been a tragedy. The person involved was clearly stetcher bound but conscious and after the helicopter had set off so did the cars clearly following it to the hospital.
We returned to Gisborne on the same road, which you have to do as there is only one road north along the coast. We enjoyed a clod evening meal, in the Boxing Day tradition, using left overs from the meal the day before and retired to our beds.

Saturday was our designated Christmas Day with Andy and Sally. The sun was shining and it was hot so we headed off to the farmers' market to make sure that we had adequate provisions. The market was as busy as it had been the week before and so we strolled in the sunshine, purchasing avocados and bread , alongside small carrots and beans. The shopping done we returned home for a well earned rest.
The rest of the day was spent preparing the feast we were to have in the evening. We sat late in the afternoon enjoying the late afternoon sunshine chatting as we had decided to eat in the evening when it would be cooler.
The opening of a bottle of champagne proved the stimulus for Father Christmas to arrive in the form of Philip who having erected and decorated the tree, managed to find a sack of presents.
The tree decoration was interesting as Philip was entrusted with it but he had no chance as the tour manager and Sally were baying at the door to finish the process. As soon as he had left the scene the two women leapt at it with abandon and totally reorganised it. The final tree looked fantastic and all parties declared themselves satisfied.
Philip did a great job of handing out presents which we opened out on the deck before we headed in for dinner. Asparagus and snapper for starters, roast lamb and veg for mains and pavlova for desert.
The food and wine flowed freely and we pulled our crackers and wore our paper hats. At least this time it didn't rain for our Christmas down under.
The wine and conversation flowed and all had a jolly evening.
There is something very strange about celebrating Christmas under a blue sky sat under a hot sun. All the customs are the same but it just doesn't feel quite right. It is very hard to explain! Gisborne itself is obviously in the throes of Christmas, trees and lights abound, the window decorations are there and people wear silly Santa hats, but the weather makes it seem as though it should be a mid summer celebration.

Friday and it was clear the tour manager was now much recovered. We headed off back into the shopping delights of Gisborne to have another search for a dress. Sally had put her mind to the problem and had come up with a few more possibilities and so into town we went. No joy in the first shop but I the third we struck upon a couple of possibilities. Rosemarie eventually decided on one and after much discussion it was purchased.
As every man knows this of course was not the end as we then had to go and look for shoes, which proved a little fruitless,  but then this was only day one of the shoe safari.
Andy took us to the Poverty Bay Club for lunch were I ordered falafel thinking it would be a light lunch. When it arrived it came with the largest salad I have seen for a long time , probably bigger than the salad Pete and I had in the Elliot Arms. After twenty minutes eating it didn't look as though I had touched it. Andy had fish and chips and Sally and Rosemarie had something a lot lighter. How wise they were. I was eventually defeated by my salad, which had roast sweet potatoes, roasted carrots, strawberries, tomatoes, fried mushrooms and a host of lettuce etc.
After lunch we were off to the village, a small shopping centre just down the road from Andy and Sally's. Shopping achieved we headed home for a quiet afternoon and an early night.

Thursday we had to be up early as we were off to Whakatane to meet Heather who used to work with us at Launceston College. This involved a three hour drive to get there along the gorge road which is extremely beautiful. The sun shone for us and the scenery was fantastic, the road was the same we had taken to Motu and then after that it rose into the hills and the runs alongside a river through a deep gorge. The sunshine on the hills and the river which was very low and it looked as good as it possibly could have done.
After the gorge , which by the way was full of New Zealand bush, the scenery changed to open flat farmland, mainly pasture until we ended up running adjacent to the sea which was a glorious blue. We arrived in Whakatane on time and found Heather, who was sat there waiting for us. Hugs all round and then it was off to find somewhere to have lunch. Andy led the way to a cafe he knew and we ate outside enjoying the sunshine. After lunch Andy and Dally left us to go and find some bait, in the fishing shop, and we sat there chatting.
After an hour we decided that once again we should look for a dress for Raffles again and Heather leapt at the prospect of purchasing a dress for Rosemarie. The next hour was spent in and out of several dress shops before defeat was announced. All too soon it was time to head home and unfortunately we had to return to Gisborne by the same road, which offered us different perspectives of the gorge.
Back in Gisbprne we had a quick trip to Farmer's to pick up the tour manager's purchases before we returned home tired.
There is something deeply satisfying about meeting someone you have known in different surroundings on the other other side of the world, Rosemarie really enjoyed meeting Heather and she enjoyed meeting us. After the obligatory mobile phone photographs the chatter continued without respite for all the the they were together. Old friends are friends wherever they live.

Wednesday was rather a strange day. The tour manager was still not feeling too well but she is made of stern stuff and so we went into Gisborne to look for a dress for her to wear to Raffles on Christmas Day. Unfortunately she was quite up to it and after about a hour we returned home. Illness on a tour like this is dreadful and we were all a bit concerned when she took to her bed again in the afternoon.
The result was that we spent a quiet afternoon doing very little.
Gisborne is an intriguing town built on a block system like any town in America, but at some time in the past somebody decided to plant palm trees along all of the major roads in the city centre. The result is that you feel that you are in a seaside town but it is hard to see the sea from anywhere in the city centre.
The world is becoming a global village with many of the shops in New Zealand being the same as you might find in Australia, as commerce on a large scale replaces small independent shops it is harder to find interesting little shops.
We went to a large department store called Farmer's which could have been any department store in any city in the world. The tour mangager did find some clothes she liked, which is never really a problem for her, and our "guard" as she as trying things on told us that if we put items on hold until the following day we would get thirty percent off, as they were having a sale on Thursday. We were not sure if she should have told us this, but it was too good an offer to miss and so that is exactly what we did. It seems to me that all shops across the world are still struggling to sell and the result is a large number of sales, in fact they are in almost every shop you look in. The problem for customers is determining whether or not these are genuine sales. It also appears that the centre of Gisborne is not particularly busy and that everyone is waiting for the sales that inevitably follow Christmas.

Monday, and a heavy blow was dealt to our touring party as the tour director woke up and was clearly not feeling well. There is no need for a raft of detail here but suffice to say several trips to the bathroom were needed and there was an early return to bed. All of us remarked that she looked as white as a sheet and all of us felt that bed was the best place for her.
It is amazing how the illness of such an important person affects the mood of the rest of the group and it would be fair to say that the mood was one of despondency. We all remarked that it was very quiet without the tour director about.
I kept checking up on her but she was sleeping most of the time and that was that. I managed to read a book whilst she was sleeping, or rather I managed to finish a book and start another one.
There was growing concern I the camp, but all of us felt that Rosemarie was doing the right thing by staying in bed.
The ramifications began to grow as on Tuesday we were due to travel to meet an old friend. I tried to find a phone number to cancel that but we had no number. Andy tried looking for a phone number on a directory site but to no avail. As a result I had to email her to say that we needed to cancel. In the email I put our number and about an hour later Heather rang us. We managed to rearrange for Thursday which was good.
Illness on your travels is never great and Rosemarie is not one to take to her bed lightly. The day passed slowly and although Andy and I made a few trips out, to the rubbish tip and the fish shop there was very little else we could do. Sally and Andy were great and were very understanding. However, there were signs of improvement by the late evening although Rosemarie did stay in bed.

After a leisurely start we headed off in the car for a wine tasting at Milton's vineyard , about ten miles outside of Gisborne. We drove across the plain and just into the foothills to a vineyard which is both organic and biodynamic. It is the only certified organic vineyard in New Zealand and the tasting room was very like many French wine tasting rooms we have visited. We tasted some really excellent wines surrounded by French wine barrels and pictures of St Emilion. The young guy who did the tasting was excellent and we tasted five wines. The cream of the crop was a Pinot Noir which was for sale at sixty dollars a bottle , approximately thirty pounds. Needless to say, we did not purchase any as the tour manager felt that it was a little expensive.
After the tasting we went for a short drive in the area around Gisborne which was very interesting. The area around the town is basically a flat plain which apart from grapes grows many different vegetables. On the way home we stopped at some friends of Andy and Sally's for a coffee and then we went home for lunch.
The afternoon was whiled away reading the papers chatting and generally relaxing. In the evening another friend, Judy, turned up for dinner and we enjoyed a couple of bottles of wine and some lively conversation.

Saturday was a designated quiet day after our travels. We were up early to go to the Farmers' Market in Gisborne a ten minute walk away from Andy and Sally's house. The market fills quite a large area and comprises of a proper fruit and vegetable market under covered stalls. The market had three wine producers, a coffee stall and a bakery as well as a doughnut and fruit juice stall. The crowd was quite large and we were there for about an hour. There is always something pleasant about travelling around a market, vegetables we had never seen, Kamo Kamo which looked like a round courgette but which apparently is more like a marrow. It was a a good experience although we didn't purchase much, Andy and Sally bought vegetables of all sorts.
After the market we returned home for lunch before spending a quiet afternoon. Andy and I went to look at some tent s which were on display on a green down by the river. They were all Coleman tents and they were all for sale at a reduced rate. There were some excellent tents there but I could hardly come back and tell the tour manager that I had bought a new tent!
As we were standing there looking at the tents we noted that on the other side of the river, the Santa parade was assembling so we wandered over to have a look at that. There is something very strange about watching a Christmas parade in thirty degrees of heat. There were twenty seven floats in the parade, mainly school and nursery groups although the local MP had a float and the local Phillipino group also had a walking display. The last float was of course Santa on a sleigh and to my eyes as I felt my arms sunburning it was all rather strange.
After the excitement of the Santa parade we walked home for dinner and a bottle of wine.

Our last day on the road had arrived and there was a general feeling of despondency in the camp. After a leisurely breakfast we headed off on the road back to Gisborne. This was to be a journey of several stops.
First of all we stopped to see if Sally's niece was home but. Unfortunately she wasn't , then we stopped to buy some apricots. A further stop was necessary to purchase some strawberries and then we had a stop at a hardware shop where Andy had a voucher to spend.
Having spent the voucher on a camping chair we set  off on our way only to stop at a chocolate factory which sold some very expensive chocolates, we only bought a few and the tour manager was heard to complain about the price.
The rest of the journey back to Gisborne was uneventful passing through some wild country inhabited by hundreds of goats which roam free. The road rose through some very high hills  and then levelled on a plateau which was used for pasture.
Reflecting back on the week's travel we had enjoyed it, the tour manager passed it a reasonable activity although she was still muttering about not being allowed to look in clothes shops in Wellington. The company had been excellent, the food was relatively good and as we chose where to eat it can only have been our fault anyway.
The scenery had been fantastic the Tongoriro volcanoes being one of the high spots, the people had been very friendly and helpful and NZ is certainly somewhere we would onto again.
There is a certain element of sadness about coming home which in my opinion verges on mild depression so the general feeling was a little low.
We did some washing and then went to Gisborne's food fair which was excellent, no stall holder was allowed to charge more than five dollars for their food and we tried Indian and Thai food which was very good.
This was followed by a couple of bottles of wine and the mood of the company had lifted  by the time we were ready for bed.

We left Masterton early as we wanted to be at the Mount Bruce Wildlife Sanctuary in time to see the Tuataras being fed. We had heard about these creatures when we went to the Kiwi sanctuary in Motu and here was a chance to see one.
It didn't take us long to reach the sanctuary and having paid we were delighted to see an endangered bird species the Takahe. A very nice warden gave us an interesting talk on the Takahe, and it transpires that there are only 240 left in the world. A hunter recently shot two by mistake, thinking they were another species and he is now very unpopular with the bird loving fraternity in NZ.
After the Takahe talk we wandered around for a bit and then returned for the Tuatara talk, which was given by the same warden. Tuatara are lizard like creatures which have been around since the dinosaurs roamed the earth but they too are endangered. Like lizards they don't move around a lot and therefore they require very little feeding. So we watched a female being fed a live locust.
After the talk we walked over to the Kiwi enclosure, where they have a white Kiwi in a glass fronted enclosure so that you can see the birds vaguely as inside the enclosure it is night time.
The female white Kiwi led a smaller brown male Kiw a pretty dance chasing him all over the cage, he must have been exhausted, in the talk we stayed for, again given by the same warden, she said she hoped the female Kiwi was pregnant so they were all keeping their fingers crossed.
After the talk on th Kiwis we left to make our way to the Tui brewery where we had planned a visit but as the visit cost twenty dollars and the tasting twenty five dollars we decided to give it a miss. We did however stop at the brewery for lunch.
It was then off to Sally's sister's for the evening. She looks in a farmhouse in Fremlington which is reached by travelling off the main road for some considerable time. It is in a beautiful spot but I am not sure I could find it again easily by myself.
This was also in sheep country, the hills rolled around the property and he drive to it alone was very worthwhile.
Rex and Beth made us very welcome and we enjoyed a good meal and some decent conversation with them. Another fine day in North Island.

Wednesday started with a ride out of Wellington up though a magnificent mountain range called the Rimutakas, an alpine road with hairpin bends and magnificent views, the road taking us slowly away from Wellington. We stopped at a lookout on the top to enjoy the views across a couple of lakes and then drove onto turning left to visit Rivendell, yes there actually is a sign post to it. The tour manager got very excited.
The drive down a narrow road took us to a car park where we had to leave the car. We walked across a long suspension bridge, one person wide to some NZ scrub where we enjoyed a short walk around a loop. We then walked down to the river side and on to a clearing where the Lord of the Rings was filmed. There were some very good information boards which showed where the film had been shot and explained how the Elven Kingdom had been built and removed. The tour manager for very excited at pictures of Aragon and the elf prince. It was, I have to say, extremely interesting.
It was then onto Martinborough the centre of the wine industry in the area, Andy and Sally had arranged for us to do some wine tastings and after lunch we went to a winery where we tried five wines, buying two bottles. Onto another vineyard we tried another seven wines and bought two, before heading off to Johner's vineyard which had been recommended by one of Sally's friends.
On the way there we stopped at NZ's version of Stonehenge, yes someone has built out of concrete blocks a replica of Stonehenge in England. We refused to pay the eight dollar entry fee and spent sometime in recovery from our hilarity.
The drive to Johner's was to say the least interesting we had to drive several miles of dirt roads just to find it. The tour manager was not amused when we arrived to find the tasting area was shut but this was resolved by Andy sounding the car horn a few times. The tasting was the best of the three and we tried four whites,a Roseanne four reds before the coup de grace of three sweet wines. The Swiss lady who gave the talk was brilliant and we bought several wines to take home. The vines are grown in the middle of a river plain and whilst it was not the most beautiful of areas the river itself was very beautiful.
We found our motel and had a meal before retiring to bed exhausted.

Our second day in Wellington was dedicated to the National Museum, Te Papa, and it proved to be worthwhile. The exhibit on Gallipoli was certainly one of the best exhibitions I have seen in a long time.
During the day we looked at the flora and fauna of New Zealand, an exhibition on earthquakes, a Maori heritage exhibition and a life in the fifties and sixties exhibit. By half past five we were exhausted. I would recommend a day in Te Papa to anyone visiting Wellington. We had arranged to meet Jacob, Sally's nephew in a bar and as we left the museum the heavens opened.
The result was that we decided to have dinner in the pub we were in before heading back to the station to catch the train home. The trains were comfortable and clean and ran on time, as we have little chance to travel by train we really enjoyed the experience.
In fact it would be more than fair to say that the tour director and I enjoyed our two days in Wellington and we felt that we should have spent at least one more day there, it is very clear to us that there is plenty still left for us to do there.
Petome is a relatively interesting suburb and our decision not to go for a hotel I n the centre of the city appeared to have been justified. The tour director was a little miffed that we had not allowed some time for perusing the clothes shops in the city but hen you can' that even everything can you?

We had decided that our first day in Wellington would be spent outside as the forecast for Tuesday was not as good. We walked the ten minutes to the station in Petome and had a pleasant chat with the chap in the ticket office who was very friendly. Andy and Sally were able to travel for nothing on their Gold Cards for NZ pensioners and we had to pay four dollars fifty  for the trip into Wellington. The line into the centre of the city ran along the coast and was very picturesque.
We found our way out of the station to the parliament buildings where we were just in time for a guided tour. The tour took an hour and was interesting. The NZ system is based entirely on the Westminster model apart from the fact they have proportional representation and there is no upper house.
The Queen is not allowed into the parliament itself and the back rod has to summon MP's into another large area for the opening of parliament etc.
After the tour we walked through a shopping thoroughfare to catch the cable car up the hill to the botanic gardens. We had to wait about fifteen minutes for a car as there were large crowds but the ride to the top was worthwhile as the views were magnificent. We enjoyed the cable car museum at the top and then walked down through the botanic gardens into the city. We had lunch in the gardens and then walked along the water front which the city council has turned into a tourist area with bars and restaurants, Wellingtonians also use the area as a thoroughfare and for relaxation.
We sat and enjoyed a beer at the end of the day looking out over the harbour before looking for a restaurant to have our dinner in. We couldn't go back to Petome until after 6.30 as Andy and Sally would have to pay if if we travelled in the rush hour.
The train ride back was just as interesting and we spent a quiet evening relaxing.

On Sunday we left the heady delights of Turangi and headed for the desert road. We climbed steadily for quite a long time and reached the Desert Road after about an hour. The name, Desert Road is a misnomer there is no desert but there is a vast expanse of rough country with low shrub, which was reminiscent  of lowland Scotland. The great surprise was to see two huge mountains covered with snow. These were in fact active volcanoes and they dominated the landscape for miles.  The photo opportunities were far too good for the expiation photographer to ignore.
The "desert" is in fact the training ground for the NZ army and there were numerous signs warning the unwary traveller not to venture too far from the road. It was no surprise then to find the National Army museum at the end of the road and we had a pleasant two hour trip around that discovering the history of the NZ army. There was a very good exhibition on Gallipoli which was well worth the time.
Lunch was taken in a small cafe before we pushed on to Petome, just outside of Wellington. We found our motel and settled in. The drive into Wellington was actually quite boring and very busy as we got involved in roadworks and huge queues of traffic, one pleasant part was a cross a pass which then developed into a riviera style drive along the sea front around several winding bends.
Petome was and is a suburb of Wellington and was celebrating its annual history month so once we had settled we walked up and down the Main Street  looking for a restaurant. We choose a pub in the end and all of us had fish and chips.
The pub itself was quite empty and we had to ask mine host if he would mind turning the music down ten or fifteen decibels, once this had been achieved I was able to take clear instructions from the tour manager again.
What strikes me about today is that in parts the North Island is just as beautiful as the South Island and all of NZ is worth seeing , certainly the desert road was a piece of interesting landscape.

Saturday started in a frenzy of activity as the tour manager packed for us to be away for a week and could only take two small bags. This generally was fine but it is always best to avoid contact whilst it was going on, In the kitchen things looked fairly similar as food was packed both into a large cardboard box and into a freezer box. By half past ten peace had been restored and we were off in th car for our journey. The first part of this was to Napier some two hundred kilometres away and one thought it wouldn't take too long, but you forget the bends and the slowness of the roads, no dual carriageways, and often an speed limit of fifty or eighty.
We had a picnic lunch beside a beautiful lake before arriving in Bay View just outside Napier to fill up with petrol and move on to Taupo. The climb up from the coast was wonderful huge panoramas of mountains in the distance, low clouds, green high land pastures and remote sheep stations.
Our arrival inTaupo coincided with the end of the round the lake cycle race, which mean that Taupo was absolutely full of people. There was certainly no rooms available at any of the hotels. We had a coffee in a small restaurant and replanned our night stop. As we moved around the lake to Turaguangi where we found a small motel which had a room.
We decided to explore the town which took all of fifteen minutes and then we went to the local pub where we had a beer before leaving to go to the supermarket to get a cooked chicken for tea. The scenery around Lake Taupo is spectacular, Hugh hills surround a large inland lake so that the views are wonderful. The drive itself was very worthwhile although it has to said it does take far longer to get anywhere than you imagine.

Friday was a day of rest and relaxation and it was Andy's birthday, so we stayed at home and did little, which is probably something we needed. After lunch we went for a walk along the boardwalk in Gisborne and almost got blown off it as high wind blew the sand off the beach straight into our faces. Ten minutes was all we could stand and the tour director was not pleased.
In the evening we went out for a meal to celebrate Andy's birthday, we walked to a restaurant and he and I ordered steaks, both medium rare, when they arrived Andy's was overdone and mine was rare. When Andy questioned this he was told both steaks had gone on at ten same time. He was offered a another steak and was told this would take ten minutes, he complained to the waitress about this delay and the next thing we knew the manager was at our table trying to soothe matters. Andy was still unhappy and after twenty minutes his steak had not arrived. Another call for the manager resulted in a free steak but when it arrived Andy was still unhappy about it, but at least he got something to eat. The end of the matter is that we won't be visiting that restaurant again.
The rest of the evening was spent walking his me and sitting and chatting, before the tour manager did some late night packing in preparation for our big trip to Wellington tomorrow.
Sometimes when you are travelling for a long time, you need days like this, resting and recuperating, reading and relaxing, recharging both body and mind. I had another look at Gisborne during our walk in the afternoon and it has some lovely Art Deco buildings hidden by plastic fascia sand twentieth century plastic signs. In places it is hard to believe you are not in America, the buildings extend only for two stories apart from four or five little high rise buildings. The beachfront has some lovely houses on it which are obviously very expensive and they have complained about the provision of the boardwalk in front of their properties, so that their access to the beach now means them crossing the boardwalk. Nimbies everywhere.

A trip to Hackfalls arboretum should be fun and it was. The road was windy and we enjoyed a trip into the house go hills which took about an hour and a half. The sun shine and we enjoyed the alpine like scenery, forests, pasture and smallholdings.
We arrived at the arboretum and the sign at the entrance pointed to information on the left and the car park on the right, so we followed the road to the right and parked near the entrance being the only car there. We walked into the arboretum and spent a glorious hour looking at the various trees on display. There were several large specimens of trees from around the world and we enjoyed reading the aluminium labels. We left the tree collection and went back tot the information office to discover we should have gone there first and paid ten dollars each to go in. We felt honour bound to pay albeit that the general feeling was that it was very expensive for what was there.
We had a very pleasant lunch overlooking a lake and then set off for home turning to visit Doneraille park, in which we immediately encountered a dirt road. The park included a large river and parking and camping area and having looked at those we decided to follow the dirt road , having no idea where it went, there were no maps in the car. The scenery was fantastic, remote farms, high pastures beautiful riverside areasand fairly large hills. After about an hour of driving we arrived at a crossroads and found to our amazement that the right turn was the road to Hackfalls. There was much hilarity in the car as we just sat there and laughed for about five minutes.
The rest of the drive home was uneventful and we passed a pleasant evening before retiring to bed.

The drive up to Motu had been pre planned by Andy and Sally so that we might visit a Kiwi crèche and so after a leisurely breakfast we set our sails and headed North into the highlands. The drive was windy and beautiful taking about an hour through  some spectacular upland scenery. I am not sure you could call it mountainous but there were certainly some very high hills. The whole place is green and the countryside reeks of extinct volcanoes, small triangular peaks nestling beside each other, dotted with sheep or cattle, creating a picture that strikes a chord with the view of New Zealand we had when were at primary school.
I drove us up to Motu on the main north highway and we must have seen a total of about six cars in the whole hour. New Zealand is a joy to drive in and I have  to say I enjoyed driving.
At Motu, the cafe was shut, but as apart of our pre planning we had telephoned and Andy found the owner in her house. She was preparing the school dinners for the day and couldn't talk to us until these were out of the way. So we decided to drive a further five kilometres up a dirt road to go and look at Motu waterfalls.
The waterfalls were beautiful, a largish river in a narrow gorge dropping nine metres. It would have been more spectacular had there been a little more water in the river. It appears that Spring has been very dry here. The access to view the waterfalls was over a rickety suspension bridge about twenty metres above the river, the bridge moved so much that Sally had to persuade herself that she really wanted to cross.
Once across the bridge there was a section of u spoils New Zealand bush, which was worth seeing and Sally being something of a plant expert was able to name several species for us.
We the returned to Motu to the cafe where the owner opened up especially for us and made us coffee and a toasted cheese sandwich, normally the cafe is only open Friday Saturday and Sunday, so she made a special effort for us. Lunch over the owner then gave us a twenty minute talk on the habits of the Kiwi, which was very interesting before walking us about quarter of a mile to look at ten Kiwi crèche.
This little bird has so many predators that it is seriously under threat and suffers from the attentions of possums, stoats,rats, weasels and hedgehogs. All of these were species introduced to New Zealand by Europeans, so clearly we did Kiwis a great favour there.
The crèche is surrounded by a seven foot mental fence with a cat proof top, the fence is dug a metre into the ground and a metre out at ninety degrees to stop burrowing predators, the result is something like Guantanemo Bay prison without the guard towers and the searchlights. The door we entered by was a security type door with two doorways opening at ninety degree angles. We walked around the crèche which is full of native NZ plants and were impress d by the work the conservators have put in.
I had expected to see a Kiwi in a Kiwi Crèche but had of course forgotten entirely that these are nocturnal birds, so the nearest I came to a Kiwi was a stuffed one in the restaurant.
All of us agreed it was areal,y interesting trip and we made a contribution to Kiwi conservancy which made us feel all better.
The drive home was uneventful apart from a trip to the Sunshine brewery in Gisborne where we sampled ten beers an interesting experience and one that made us all laugh. I enjoyed three or four of the beers but the others in the party were not so keen.
We retired home for a pleasant meal and an early bedtime.

Tuesday and after a decent night's sleep,feeling refreshed , the tour manager and I were ready to take on the world. A quiet morning ensued whilst we chatted and caught up. Eventually we headed off into Gisborne and did a little shopping, Gisborne is a sprawling city on the east coast of the North Island which is attractive, as all cities are in parts.
We looked in Katmandhu for a puffa jacket for the tour manager but again she was unlucky, Katmandhu is rapidly becoming one of her least favourite shops. There are no high rise buildings in Gisborne and it feels in many ways very American, maybe all colonial cities have this feel?
The shops look pretty universal with several well known names as we continue into creating a global village.
After lunch we headed off to a beach some miles north of Gisborne where we sat and watched Andy fish. I have never seen the fascination with this particular hobby but he loves it and to be fair he caught two fish in his first two casts. The first was so small it was thrown back and the second was large enough for the cat's tea.
After a couple of hours in the beach we returned home for a family meal and a couple of bottles of wine. The sun had shone, the company was good and we had enjoyed our first full day in New Zealand.

Monday a day of travel with what looked like some impossible time intervals between flights did not encourage optimism in any way.
We arose at five forty five and we're ready to leave at seven ten, ten minutes behind schedule. The drive to Hobart airport was uneventful and Pam dropped us off , so that by seven thirty we were waiting in a queue at the Jet Star desk. Inside the airport the booking in for our flight was announced as ending in five minutes. In no time at all we were boarding and on our way to Sydney. We apparently had a five dollar voucher which purchased a cup and a half of coffee, two cups with an additional two dollars thrown in.
At Sydney we had to rush to retrieve our luggage and then find the terminal bus to take us from the domestic terminal to the international terminal. We found the bus stop with little difficulty and realised we had to purchase two six dollar tickets from a machine. The tour director fed a twenty dollar bill into the machine which gratefully digested it and returned neither tickets nor change.
As the bus had arrived the tour director decided to take it up with the bus driver who walked over to the machine and tried to retrieve our money. This proved impossible and he decided to take us on the bus without a ticket, probably a wise decision on his part looking at the look on the tour director's face.
In the International terminal we were faced with the airport shuffle again as we queued to get out of Australia and through immigration and security. The airport shuffle consists of joining a queue and then moving forward half a pace at a time, feeling great joy at moving a whole pace forward at any time. Eventually we got through with twenty minutes to spare, purchasing a bottle of scotch for Andy and then racing to the gate. Here we suddenly found that we a long distance from the gate and by the time we found it they were already boarding. One more we enjoyed the airport shuffle as we waited to board.
Our Air New Zealand flight to Auckland proved uneventful, our itinerary said there was no food service on this plane but this was wrong as we were given lunch, having already devoured two chocolate bars.
At Auckland we were once again forced into the airport shuffle as we collected our luggage and then had to get through bio security and immigration. Having got through this , we walked to the domestic terminal where we had thirty minutes to spare. The tour director raced us from one terminal to another and I was grateful we had the chance for a sit down.
At this point it was announced that the flight to Gisborne was delayed by thirty minutes so all we could do was sit and wait. The tour director was not amused.
Eventually forty five minutes late we boarded our last flight of the day and arrived in Gisborne to a family welcome at about eight fifteen. Rosemarie's brother and sister in law were there to meet us and whisked us home to a very pleasant buffet supper after which we collapsed into bed. All the worry and concern had been useless, all the flights had been met and we had arrived where we should have been albeit have a little late.

Our last day in Australia rose fine with Hobart glinting majestically across the Derwent. We spent some time looking at the view as small white clouds skidded across the mountain. We were a little. On earned as the wind rose and white tops appeared in th river as we had booked a trip on the Lady Nelson for an hour and a half cruise around the harbour, but as the morning progressed the wind dropped and the sun shone. We made our way over the bridge to the harbour and boarded in brilliant sunshine.
The ship, although a replica, reeked of authenticity, the original had sailed out from England, but looking at the size of her I was fairly sure I would not have liked to have made that voyage. Hobart is clearly meant to be seen from the river as a port town. Edging out from the harbour you do get a good idea of what the original settlers thought of the site. The old town is situated right on the water front with newer conurbations spreading up the mountain. We loved the experience of being on the water looking at the city. All too soon our hour and a half was over.
The pleasure of sailing in a wooden ship around a harbour built by convicts is hard to describe, the sounds of the sails unfurling, the creaking of the timbers, the lapping of the river against the bows are sounds that are difficult to describe. One is always taken back to the history both of the city and the boat itself. All three of us thoroughly enjoyed the experience and all three said that we would do it again with out hesitation.
We had lunch in a bar in the city and then made our way home. A few friends came for afternoon tea to say good bye and we had a tea party which was very pleasant. The evening was spent finalising packing and watching television, before we retired to bed relatively early as we had to be up a five forty five.

As you approach the end of a stay anywhere there is always some time you have never adequately planned for. In my case I am ever too concerned about this as the tour director normally has things fully under her very capable control. And so today we headed off to Mona the Museum of New Arts in Hobart which is a major tourist attraction sitting up on the river bank at Glenorchy, built by a world gambler who used his winnings to finance it. Pam drove us out to the museum and and as she had to be at work in the afternoon we went straight to lunch, sitting outside overlooking the River Derwent in bright sunshine. My stomach complaint having somewhat abated I enjoyed a cheese and bacon sandwich. The tour director was full of praise for her salmon salad which I have to say did look very nice.
The museum is dug into a quarry so that very little of it shows above ground, therefore, once you are in you drop three floors to start the tour. The emphasis is on twentieth century art or even twenty first century art and there are no signs of respect for any of the old traditions. It is a strange place, there is much that is fascinating and macabre, much relating to death and more than a few pieces relating to sex. We came out three hours later not quite sure if we had enjoyed the experience or not but at least it made us talk about what we had seen. The owner has just sold a Damien Hirst piece to finance building a new wing so there will be changes in the future. The audience was large and varied and consisted of all ages and now comes from all over the world.
As we were leaving the heavens opened and we ended up queuing for the ferry back to Hobart in pouring rain. The tour director was not amused but has a strange idea about staying dry in such circumstances, instead of staying to the leeward of a portacabin which offered some protection she insisted on straying out into the open on the pier. I was brave enough to point out the folly of this action and she did come back to the edge of the cabin and thus we were not as wet as we might have been.
The ferry back along the Derwent is a memorable ride as mountains are glimpsed along the river side and fade as bends are taken on the way downstream. In Hobart the sun was shining and we caught the bus home enjoying the ride in the sunshine back across the river.
We stopped off at Woolworth's to buy some food came home cooked our tea and watched DCI Banks for a couple of hours, good old British television.

There is no joy in having a stomach bug when you are travelling and that is exactly how I felt today although there was a clear improvement from yesterday. The tour director is not too amused at the whole situation and is keeping a watchful eye on me.
The harbour and mountain viewed out of the window of the house we are staying in looked enticing and we ventured out in the morning to go to Woolworth's where we shopped for supplies before returning for lunch with Pam's sister and a friend who arrived from the north.
After lunch Pam dropped us off I the great metropolis that is Hobart and we went to the Tasmanian museum. This is well worth a visit and we immersed ourself in the history and art of Tasmania, the tour director is now well used to having a great deal of history on her travels with me. Seriously though we both enjoyed the experience and we stayed until the museum closed at the rather early hour of four pm.
We then went for a walk around the harbour in Hobart and looked at the wooden boats before we headed off to catch a bus home. The tour director pointed out quite forcibly that I wanted to wait in the wrong side of the road for the bus and once we had rectified that situation we were soon heading back across the River Derwent.
The  evening was a quiet one sat watching the lights twinkling across the river and watching Sherlock on ABC. The Hound of the Baskervilles still has a strong pull.
We are very saddened by the fact that our time in Tasmania is rapidly coming to an end. This is a beautiful state full of rapid variations in landscape and climate, a small island that is redolent of England in so many ways. The people are extremely friendly and helpful and we feel truly at home here. I suppose the question is "Would we settle here?"
The answer probably is that we may have done thirty years ago but now the UK has a strong pull on us and anyway we are now to old for Australia to accept us.

Wednesday my stomach bug decided was the day it would really play up, I hadn't eaten all day Tuesday and didn't fancy anything at all for breakfast. We set of for home with me having serious doubts about the number of public toilets I had seen on the way up.
We stopped to get some bread rolls fro lunch and set off on the return journey. As there is only one road in and one road out it had to a journey on the same road.
The rain was spouting down, the mists had descended, the mountains were obscured and the road was slippy. To take my mind off my stomach I volunteered to drive the first couple of hours. We stopped for a twenty minute walk to Donachie's lookout, a somewhat uphill stroll which took it out of me but we made it and the views were magnificent. High mountains a verdant forest under a grey sky with swirling clouds.
We continued our journey to "The Wall" one man's artistic voyage, a huge  hundred metre wood carving each panel two metres high and a metre across. The quality of the wood carving was exceptional, and the story told was of how the early Australian pioneers had transformed the environment they discovered. The tour manager and I were awe struck.
Th carver of this masterpiece had never had a wood carving lesson in his life and that made it all the more remarkable.
The journey back to Hobart was uneventful although as soon as we got home I went to bed as the Australians would say feeling a little crook.
Without the aid of Rennie we would.not have made this trip and we are so grateful to him for organising it all, it was a tremendous experience and one which will stay with us for a long time.

Tuesday was the day of our journey up the River Gordon and to the opening of MacQuarrie Harbour, Hells Gates. This harbour is larger than Sydney harbour and it stretches for miles. We were up early and down at the boat by eight thirty. The tour manager has all in hand. The boat left at ten to nine,  having announced it was going to leave at nine, tough luck if you were late. Because all passengers had allocated seats we can only think that all the booked passengers were on board. The day was wonderful, warm with a blue sky and few clouds, the sea was calm and the scenery of majestic mountains all around were clearly visible.
The journey to Hells Gates, a very narrow harbour entrance, took about twenty minutes and then the captain announced that as it was so calm we would venture into the Roaring Forties and go and have a look at Sorrell Lighthouse, put there to guide ships towards the narrow harbour entrance. Neither the tour manager nor myself ever thought we would be sailing in the Southern Ocean, it was a great thrill.
After the heads we were off to inspect a fish farm, as there are several in the harbour. Having done that it was off to Sarah Island, a penal colony in the middle of the harbour where second offenders would be sent as an additional punishment. The island became a major ship building centre for the penal colonies but it was also a horrific place. The first settlers were ordered to remove all the foliage only for them to them discover that in the first serious gale from the south that they had no protection, good planning all round.
The afternoon consisted of a slow and leisurely trip up the Gordon River to Heritage Landing where we had a thirty minute walk in the temperate rainforest looking at trees and plants that we did not know.
Back on the boat to Stahan the trip ended in a Huon Pine saw mill with an explanation of how important the logging industry had been.
In the evening we went to a play, "The Boat that never was" a great romp explains a successful escape bid by a number of convicts on Sarah Island, which they left and sailed for Chile. A fantastic day somewhat spoils by the fact I had a stomach nupset and did not feel like eating, but I wa sdetermined not let that get in the way. If anyone has any plans to visit Tasmania this is a trip I would thoroughly recommend.

First of all my apologies to all of our regular readers for the lapses in our publication. One of the things we need is a working wifi system and sometimes that presents problems. We also need to remember to blog in a regular basis. So there we go lethargy backed with a failure to link to a reasonable communication system. This blog has now had over four thousand readers so I believe you are all due an apology.
Monday was the day of our great expedition to the west coast with our good friend Rennie. We were heading off into the unknown, a five hour trip from Hobart. We were picked up at ten after we had found Rennie who for some reason was waiting outside number twenty three. The tour manager had the good sense to go down to the kerbside and look up and down the road and lo and behold there was Rennie three houses down.
The journey followed the course of the River Derwent and it wove through a beautiful valley the river borders lined with weeping willows planted by early settlers. Pastures ran down to the river and there were several places where one could have been looking at English countryside.
We stopped for lunch at Lake St Clair the largest lake in Tasmania surrounded by mountains and looking particularly appealing in the hot summer sunshine. I forgot to put on my insect repellent and consequently the mosquitos had a filed day on my legs as we sat by the lake and enjoyed a picnic provided by Rennie.
After Derwent Bridge we entered the high country, large mountains and temperate rain forest, eucalyptuses and ferns lined the road, an impenetrable forest lining the road. At Mount Lyell mining reared its ugly head. Sulphur fumes and apparently helped to delude the countryside of vegetation and there were no trees in what was clearly a major mining area of some importance. A tough unfriendly landscape with no redeeming features. The town of Queenstown waits anxiously for the copper mine to announce that it is going to reopen, there are large numbers of unemployed and the government is currently subsidising the pumping out of the mine until the owners think that the mine is once again economically viable.
After another hour and a half of driving we arrived in Strahan a picturesque port in MacQuarrie Harbour. After dropping our bags off at Kiah's, a friend of Rennies, we wandered down to the coastline and enjoyed a couple of beers in the pub before heading back for dinner.
A long day but one which gave us a different view of Tasmania, this is a much bigger state than you think and there are great differences between the various landscapes one encounters. This is our second visit and yet there is still so much for us to see.

Sunday was a day of rest, our lovely landlady had to go to work early and we languished in bed until nine, to be fair we were both a little exhausted form our exertions the day before. The tour director takes her managerial responsibilities very seriously and for that I am grateful.
It was our task to prepare the evening meal and so our first excursion was to Woolworth's, how that name brings back happy memories of  child hood rapture in a British High Street shop. Unfortunately this was a huge food supermarket, but it did the job.
We planned our menu carefully had a quiet lunch and then set about the task. A starter of mango salad, followed by a beef and coconut curry and for desert peaches grilled with a little brandy and brown sugar topped with Greek yoghurt.
I have to say it all went rather well. We had a very pleasant walk along the shore line in the afternoon. We are on the opposite side of the River Derwent form Hobart and so are rewarded with glorious views across to the city which lies directly beneath Mount Wellington, the water, the boats the view are all wonderful.

Saturday proved to be wet and miserable as storms hit Hobart. The rain and the wind put an end to our visit to Salamanca market across the bay, much to the dismay of the tour director who had been looking forward to perusing the market stalls. So we stayed in and I prepared again for the history school in the afternoon, which was probably needed. I had to cut my talk on the British Suffragettes down from an hour to thirty five minutes which was causing me some problems.
We had a quiet lunch at home before setting off to the Polish Club where the History School was to be held. We arrived about thirty minutes early and I was first on talking about why Britain sent political prisoners to the colonies, it all went well and the history speaker's manager was very pleased with it, so Brownie points all round.
The second session was on songs the convicts brought with them and I thoroughly enjoyed it before I launched into the Suffragettes. Halfway through that session the last speaker arrived and I had to truncate it even more, however it went fairly well. The last session was really interesting as it involved a producer director of a film coming out soon in Australia  which tells the story of some of the convicts.
At the end several people stayed behind to talk to me before we repaired to the organiser's house for a barbecue. I have to say it was a little cold outside and people sat around in their coats huddling beside a chimenea, it was all very like an English barbecue. However, it was a very enjoyable evening.
All in all I was pleased with the way the History school went, there about forty people there and from comments afterwards most people seemed to enjoy it. As a speaker that in itself is rewarding and the school raised about two hundred dollars towards a plaque to commemorate William Cuffay, a Chartist who was transported to Hobart for his part in the Orange Tree conspiracy.

Out of the window one could just perceive Hobart on the opposite bank of the River Derwent meaning the rain had abated. The view from this house is magnificent and changes almost every hour as the river changes are different clouds appear in the sky across Mount Wellington.
After a leisurely breakfast we were off to Hobart to return the car and then off to the shops to remedy our clothing shortage especially as next week we are off to the West Coast which is supposedly wet.
So into Salamanca awe ventured stopping in that well known emporium "Katmandhu".
The tour manager suddenly sprang into life, clothes and spending appeared to be the key word. She almost immediately found a magenta top which suited her followed by a long sleeved top and some other item she apparently despararately needed. I wa swallowed a top, a long sleeved shirt, because I have none with me and a pair of trousers. What sort of shop is it that has trousers in medium, large, X like and two X like sizes. I was flummoxed and to ask an assistant for help only to be told I should try everything from a large size upwards until I found a pair that fitted. With the tour manager in attendance this is exactly what I did, and luckily for me the large size was the one I needed.
Pam found a lovely Puffa jacket in the sale and this was much coveted by the tour manager, unfortunately there was only one of that size but we were assured that another store in Hobart had the required item so off we set to try and procure one.
The second store proved a great disappointment to the tour director as they didn't have the required item, but she compensated by buying another top and much to my surprise I was able to find a Puffa jacket in the correct size for me. This did not necessarily go down well with the tour director but she was pleased with yet another purchase.
The afternoon was spent preparing for the talk I give tomorrow interspersed with shortening the trousers I had purchased and weeding in the garden.
In the evening we headed off to the Lark pub to listen to live music and had a fantastic fish and chip supper on the quay in Hobart. Another lively evening.

Rain, rain and rain backed up by howling winds and a redolent feeling that this was England rather spoilt the morning. However, knowing we had to move we were up early and breakfasted before packing the car in the wet. Although we are supposedly prepared for all eventualities we have not come equipped for the Tasmanian weather, I only have one pair of jeans and one jumper and we have two pack away macs, hardly sufficient for pouring rain and cold winds. The tour manager was not a happy bunny.
We decided to drive north away from Hobart, along the coast road to Falmouth, unfortunately the rain continued and refused to abate so from time to time we were able to see the ocean and the golden beaches which abound along the coastline. Falmouth was a very small village and in a rather amused manner the tour photographer took some pictures capturing the rural locality.
We then drove up St. Mary's pass to a central plateau bordered on one side by coal mines and high mountains which we just about able to perceive through the mist and rain. The drive back to Hobart was uneventful through farming land consisting mainly of pasture with hills in the distance. Hobart itself proved to to be a huge traffic jam and it took us ages to get back to the house.
We were warmly greeted and given tea and cheese and biscuits before heading out again in the rain to a restaurant where we enjoyed a meal for the tour director's birthday. Surrounded by good friends we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, full of laughter and bonhomie. Who could ask for more?

Wednesday and in the daylight our first objective was to investigate the non locking door, there was no apparent reason for it failing to lock but it steadfastly refused to do so. After about thirty minutes of failing valiantly we were forced to telephone Simon, the caravan's owner to explain the situation to him. He told us to leave it and to get ourselves off to Freycinet and we did just that.
The drive to Frecinet national park took about three quarters of an hour but as we got closer we were greeted with great views of the Hazard mountains and a bright blue sea glistening under an almost cloudless sky.
We purchased or ticket for the park and headed off on the footpath up the mountain to Wineglass Bay.
The path WA steep and certainly took it out of us, it was an almost perfect day for walking in Australia not too warm, with a foolish breeze blowing off the sea. The struggle to the top was certainly worth it, great views of a perfect bay with sapphire blue sea bounding onto a tropical looking sandy shore. After a stop for the tour photographer to take another fifty shots we walked down a steep path into the bay and enjoyed our lunch sitting on the sand looking out across the ocean.
Over lunch we decided not to return the way we had come but rather to take the Isthmus path which was a three hour return. We enjoyed the walk across the peninsula and out onto Hazard beach which was spectacular. The walk did take us the full three hours suggested and we arrived back at the car tired but elated, having thoroughly enjoyed our stroll along the cliff top.
After a quick look at the hamlet of Coles Bay we headed back to Sawnsea where we enjoyed a much needed pint of beer before heading off for an excellent supper of fish and chips. The eleven kilometre walk had taken it out of us and we retired to bed early full of wonderful memories, of golden beaches and glinting sea, aboriginal maddens, large lizards and beautiful birds. A walk well worth doing and also very rewarding. The coast of Tasmania is as beautiful as any I have ever seen.
The tour manager although fatigued was delighted with the day's walk and the outing as a whole.