Wow! Good news – the hotel here has free wifi. Bad news – I’m moving on first thing in the morning. After a day of waiting around airports, flying and eating airline food, it’s rather a relief to be settled, if only briefly. 16 new people have joined us, making 26 in total. So far, we are very unimpressed with the new tour manager, but the previous one set the bar high. One day is not enough time here, but we had our city tour this morning, followed by an amble around in the afternoon. I went to the nationsl museum and the highlight of the dsy was being given a personal tour of the section devoted to World War I, by an elderly lady who works there as a voluntary guide; she was full of fascinating information and she turned out to be New Zealand’s equivalent of Michael Morpurgo, as she has written a book for children about a dog caught up in the War. Her name is Patricia Stroud, the book is called “Caesar” and it is being considered for a film by Peter Jackson. I bought a copy of the version expanded for adults in the museum shop and she signed it.
The Beast's Pen 