Well had the usual frantic pack late on sat night after we got rid of mcgregor and geddes who called on way home from golf to wish us well......up about 4.00 and repacked three times , weight being issue.....then cleaned spoutings and sprayed roof (as you do ) as soon as it was light....other chores.....left toad hall in the hands of our very capable minders and hit the road ie naked bus from clinton..($15 each to ch ch ...couldnt run your car to dunners for that )...we were still to close to friday 13th for everything to go smoothly and bus blew a tyre at milton and we were stuck there for nigh on 3 hrs till they got a replacement so into ch ch at 9.30 at night ....picked up and boarded by long suffering brendy and ann......about 4 hrs kip and taxi to airport 4.30 am ....one of the curses of cheap air fares.....to auckland and straight onto korean air 777-300 great aircraft with plenty of leg room ....into seoul late afternoon......wasnt keen on stopping there but being only 3 hrs behind nz was great for a recharge considering lack of sleep in buildup....the service on korean air is fairly spartin and apart from two inflight meals you basically only get what you ask for....however they do pay for the stoppover which was at the hyatt regency at incheon airport and was pretty flash and dinner and breakfast included.......i was very impressed by what i saw in korea and hope to see a bit more on way home too.....people are super friendly and polite....best of all it was about the same temperature as we left in nz .....just right in shirt sleeves....will be stinky hot in july on way home of course....so april probably best ....we have a big day on way home so hope to get a tour up to the dmz.
Away again on tue afternoon and rolled into heathrow 6.0pm that night......took till about 10.00pm to get down to kent where we are staying with Julia and Peter ...friends we met through Imogen years ago.....they have a property called stonecross.....it is a large manor house built from about 1500 which is not long after the maori came to nz ....just to keep it in perspective......this visit was meant to be brief as we were booked to sale out of southampton today on a italian flagged container ship but she is running a week late ......however we have plenty to help out with here and am going to make the most of still being here for ANZAC day as that kicks off at the nz memorial at hyde park corner at 5.00am and carries on along whitehall and ends up at westminster abbey for the service at lunchtime...so hope to get a comparison to service at clinton........more from that later
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