That was before some kiwi muppet dug up the pipeline that carries fuel to Auckland airport ...

My midnight flight has now been changed to 0315 (and subsequently delayed 0415); we’re stopping at Melbourne to refuel; I miss my connection at KL so the two-hour change has now expanded to ten hours ... I think I will now get home sometime round about lunchtime Thursday.

Oh, well. In an attempt to make the best of a bad job I’ve googled Kuala Lumpur and will do a bit of sightseeing. I hope the airline will offer me something in recompense too – even though it’s not their fault.

Little Sis never made it out of Florida. Damage to their property was minor, all things considered – a few tiles off the roof, damage to solar panels, and some fencing blown away. Could have been so much worse – part of a neighbour’s roof was blown into their garden. They lost water for a couple of days and only got power back yesterday. Now, if you had been without electricity for a week, what would be the first thing you would do when it came back? I’ll give you a few minutes to think of that before I tell you what she did.

One of my NZ excursions was to “Sanctuary Mountain”. Basically, they put a 47-km animal-proof fence around the top of a mountain, then spent a few years removing all furry animals from inside the enclosure. The result is an area that allows native flora and fauna to flourish – and it is amazing.

There are a number of trails through the bush – “bush” is the kiwi term for any uncultivated countryside. It is quite strange to be in a wooded area and not see a squirrel, but the lack of deer means there are lots of young plants growing in the undergrowth.

We saw a kaka (parrot-type bird) and a hihi (small bird) – our observation helped by some wildlife enthusiasts who pointed them out.

I think this place could be my second-favourite NZ tourist attraction.

My favourite NZ tourist attraction (where we also went) is the Karanhake Gorge. Many years ago (well, not that many – NZ hasn’t been around for that long), this was a gold mining centre, and the area was home to processing plants to extract the gold from the ore – by heating it, pummelling it, and dissolving it with acid. The waste products were probably washed into the river. Different times.

One tonne of rock would yield one ounce of gold, on average – which doesn’t strike me as a wonderful return rate but probably explains why gold is so expensive.

Anyway, the gold mining has gone and the gorge is now a beautiful area for walking and cycling – yet still retains enough industrial archaeology to make it exciting.

While walking along the river we saw a bird on a rock below that looked like a penguin. It was standing like a penguin, it was the size of a penguin, it had big webbed feet like a penguin. What would a penguin be doing on a river in the middle of North Island?

OK, it wasn’t a penguin. It was a little shag. But it still looked like a penguin.

Have been to a couple of social-history museums. They give an interesting perspective on early NZ life. While the houses are built from local materials, the furnishings, utensils, household items, etc are similar to what you would find in a museum of UK life. A kind of Midwest Pioneer meets Victorian England. Why, there was even a teddy bear that looked just like The Aged’s.

Near a pile of contemporary fuel I overheard a teacher explain to her class what coal is.