Chiseldon, UK

Life is not so depressing,even when one is staring out of a window on to a soggy grey February morning in England 2010, severly jetlagged.
Our travelors spent the last Sunday in Coromandel driving up to the northen tip which took 2 hours, a journey of about 60 km. The road is long, winding and narrow, and it is important to look out for falling rocks, washouts and landslides. Other traffic too , although that is not as common as the natural hazards. There is a campsite there, E wondered what they did if they forgot to buy milk. It would be a round trip of 5 hours to the nearest shop. There is a nice beach where you can watch parents teaching their toddlers to surf. This is also the start of a walking track which takes about 3 hours down the east side of Coromandel to the road. Groups can split up and start the walk at different ends, meeting up for lunch and hopefully not forgetting to swop car keys. No such problems for E&K, they just walked to a nice bay with views over to Great Barrier Island, then turned back. So that was 4 hours driving to take a 3 hour walk. The evening was spent in the village singing lustily. An old time music hall evening had been arranged with old songs from London, world war 2, and the seaside. The strange thing is that E knew most of the words in spite of not having lived in the UK for nearly 40 years. We must mention here Mr John Maclean and the rendering of his monologe "Albert and the lion" which had E rolling in the isles with laughter, tears streaming down her cheeks. When we look at the programme it says Mr Don Hughs, there's a mistake somewhere. Even his performance as Jasper , the butler in the "the wages of sin" was outstanding and much appreciated by the audience of which ,one suspects, was comprised of friends and relations of the cast. The final chorus of "we'll meet again" made E close and say "Yes, we'll meet again, someday. The evening drive back to the chalet went well, although the weather had changed with reavy rain and high winds forecast for the Coromandel. Monday was a holiday in the Auckland area so E&k got themselves into the queue back to the city after a short stop in Thames on the Monday morning. The journey went well with only a few spots of very slow driving. The faithful Mazda was returned to Scotties on the New North Rd, and E&K were dropped off with their luggage outside the hostel on Turner St. with an afternoon in Auckland. The Auckland bridge climb had been agreed on for the afternoon. Unfortunately it wasn't open. Ok, a concert called Beatlemania on the north shore. Not on tonight. So the late afternoon was spent at the seafood festival down in the harbour which meant that the nice meal at a restaurant was called off because they weren't hungary. A visit to the cinema to see a not so brilliant film was followed by a visit to the laundry at the hostel which ended the last evening in New Zealand. E waved goodbye to K who has reported that all is well in Hong Kong, and finished her shopping and then did the bridge climb, the evidence of which can be seen on www.aucklandbridgeclimb.co.nz code ABCM002024380970. The flight to LA was uneventful apart from confusion on which form to fill in. White, green, blue or yellow. On arrival we were put in a queue, fingerprinted and eyescanned, given a stamp in our passports and sent to a waitng room while the plane refuelled. On to Heathrow where E was met by her ever efficent brother in law, with tea and sandwiches and driven along the M4 where her 3 nephews and neice were eagerly awaiting her arrival. She never sends presents, she takes them when she visits. E managed to stay awake all day, a bracing walk in drizzle and wind helped but she gave up about 9 in the evening and awoke refreshed and starving at 5 am.
Keeping a blog on your holiday is one big chore, but it would have been a lot easier with a small laptop, which even the poorest backpacker seems to carry today.