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Dunedin, December 2004
Dunedin, December 2004
Peter Cameron2006-03-12 12:22:29
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Sunday 5 December 2004
Landed in Auckland in pouring rain - no sign of the town until we were almost on the ground. Easy journey through customs. At immigration I declared the Christmas food destined for Australia. They detected the fruit cake on the x-ray machine, but waved me through. A very crowded transit bus to the domestic terminal, where I was in plenty of time for the Dunedin flight.
Up into the clouds, and then absolutely nothing to see except clouds until we came down through the clouds to Dunedin. (No wonder they call it the land of the long white cloud!) There was no track beside the runway, so the plane had to return along the runway to the terminal; I guess the airport never gets too busy. Two masked plovers stood on the grass. We were fifteen minutes early because of a tailwind: Tank arrived only just on time, coming into the terminal as I walked through to pick up my luggage (Karen was still parking the car, but my bag took a long time coming so she was there by the time I was ready).
They drove me to their house (past a lagoon with lots of black swans) and gave me coffee and toast - much appreciated, as breakfast on the flight from London had been at about 4am NZ time, and there was nothing but a cup of weak coffee on the flight down. They have a lovely place, a stone's throw from the sea, huge garden, sound of surf and birds.
Then we drove into town, stopping at the station (to book me on the Taieri Gorge train to Middlemarch on Friday) and the tourist information at the Octagon (to pick up some maps and leaflets), and went on to University College (or Unicol, as it is known). I have the penthouse suite in the north tower: a downstairs sitting room and desk, and up a narrow spiral staircase, a big bedroom with en-suite bathroom and a splendid view over the harbour and peninsula. After dumping stuff, we walked to the room where the lectures will be, so I will know the way.
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New Zealand Gallery
