Glad to be home


Although I enjoyed the PanPac competition and especially our day on stage I missed out on so many things we planned to do... tagging, singing pokare, Afterglow, dinner on the boat and Big Sing


Initially it was the distance between venues and the position of our hotel that stopped me but lack of taxis and the inability to get an Uber with blocked bank accounts and no international phone calls slowed me right down and isolated me. I wished I'd known more about where others were staying and the venues before I booked our hotel. Detours, steep hills and pot holes also took their toll. 12 minute walks took me nearer 30 and 20 minute uphill ones nearer an hour even with my stick.

I loved the City Explorer trip and our day trip to Waiheke Island and those two events helped to ease the disappointment.

It was a relief to get out of the City for some touring and site-seeing further South (Rotorua and Lake Taupō) and such a joy to meet up with Reuben and Sarah in Cambridge for lunch. No tickets available for the Maori experience on any of our 3 days and I didn’t get to the mud baths or glow-worm caves either.

As well as a nasty cold developing I had severe back and knee pains but I gritted my teeth and did the luge which was on the top of my wish list. Later in the week a hacking cough started and by the time I flew home I was masked up with flu.  The next day this turned to bronchitis and 3 days later I'm still in bed feeling pretty awful.


Despite this, I'm glad we went and I have some great pictures and memories

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