Lion Rock, Piha.

Having said goodbye to Gillian in the morning we embark on our first NZ camping trip in the afternoon. We head to the surf beach and village of Piha with our £9 second-hand 4 man  tent. Piha is the other side of the Waitakere mountain range from Auckland and about an hour drive from St Heliers.

We checked into a very laid-back camp site with only the very basic of conveniences. For someone who is familiar with British beach resorts and camp sites, Piha is a very different. It is stunningly beautiful with very little commercial development. Its famed surf break washes onto volcanic sand which in-turn backs on dunes and  a mountain range covered in native bush.

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The first of many landings at Wellington airport.

Having spent my first week in Auckland this week saw me heading on a ‘ticky tour’ to Christchurch and Wellington where Telecom has large offices .

Christchurch is the home of Telecom’s call centre and is where inbound email form the website is managed. Wellington on the other hand is where  the majority of the digital team. To a person they are very welcoming, so welcoming in fact that they send me a link to a youtube montage of Wellington airport landings to prepare me for my visit – Wellington airport is famous for its short runway, powerful cross-winds and ‘white-knuckle’ landings. My landing in Wellington proves uneventful apart from the visual spectacle of  generally white wooden houses hugging bush-clad hills that is the Wellington vista.

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