in Tony’s office       Tuesday December 21 2010     ritzdeluy@hotmail.com

Wow, everybody who told me how beautiful New Zealand is , was correct!  Amazing. I fall from one astonishment in the other. Being here on one of the most gorgeous looking estates , helps of course as well.

I left Australia half an hour later  then fore-casted as the arriving plane from Quantas had a small delay. Before that I had lot’s of trouble to get my luggage through security. Stupid me! Here I go with a very ancient sterling silver butter knife, beautifully wrapped as present for Emily and Tony, in my hand luggage to the security. I did not ever think of it as a knife and nearly forgot about it as well, as I had no problem to get through security with it, at Schiphol or HongKong Airport. But in Australia they did not see it as a present but as a knive, so I had to leave it behind. It was too expensive to do so, so they advised me to go back to the the service desk from Quantas. They were really good. They packed it in a plastic bag and send it as another package, but…with the message ,;”It might not arrive”.
The plane was fully booked. Very tall guy’s were sitting behind me, all in good mood. They won from the Australian team I heard. They were the National team of NZ , the Breakers, playing top level basketball. Some were so tall, they hit their heads against the ceiling and the legs from the one behind me came out under my chair. When we left the plane I was the tiny little person walking with them and looking high up to see their face. I had to smile when I told them I felt like a dwarf.
I was the first to have my suit case , but the little package did not come. I waited long, and then decided it was a nice Christmas present for some body else. A guy was overlooking the belt with suit cases and I asked him if a small parcel still might  be somewhere. He said straight away :” I put it aside mam, here it is” . So very pleased I walked out to a new adventure in my life, exploring the Nord island of NZ.

At Auckland Emily and Tony   were waiting for me. I knew Tony of course but never met Emily and she is just such a sweet, warm, gorgeous looking young lady with the most beautiful voice and… a clever girl as well,  as I found out straight away. I got nice flowers, took of my coat as it was highly humid and still warm at 11.30 PM. The main street up to the north of the Nord Island was superb, I was amazed to see this. In one hour we were at Springhill, where a glass of Moet , made me sleep in a flash.

Next day, so yesterday  we needed half the day to look around on the Estate, with hills, trees in all varieties, green great land- scaped gardens, a river, high like the Murray now, very well fed sheep , about 2000, good looking cattle, springs , a farmers house ,sheer facilties for the sheep, possibilities for several B and B’ s and a very original built home stead.I fell in love with it all, straight away. On top of that it has a 1 km. long straight runway 34,  and a few big hangars as well as a club house for the model pilots.You have to fly over it to see it total , but the weather was not good enough to do so.

After lunch in a very authentic little town on a small creek,  Matakana, Emily , Linda,[ Tonies mum a real nice lady] and I went out to help in the soup-kitchen in Wellsford, where a Christmas dinner was organised for the people who need it. Lot’s of beautiful looking young children. At least they had a full tummy yesterday.
After we had dinner at Tonies and Emilies, with Linda,  Tim and Ruud, both retired airline captains and their wives Caroll and Caroline. Tim is from the UK and Ruud from Holland. I knew him from the past , about 40 years ago, as he flew in the same company as George did and Inge now.” A blast from the past, ” Ruud called it. A very pleasant evening with the special-Tony_pasta as a main. Tim and Ruud run a business on the airfield here and a buyer just visits the estate here to pick up a new light aircraft. I will give you their link asap.

Overcast today with light rain, after 3 weeks of very dry weather here, they even called it  a drought! Every minute is filled as Tony wants me to see as much as possible and I try to keep up with their speed. He does n’t want me ” to work” he wants me to enjoy NZ. In between we talk about possibilities to ” use” this estate for more then sheep , cows and owners. It has great potention . You can soar here , specially in this time of the year as the sea-breeze comes from both sites making the air in between great for soaring. When I mentioned ,it might be not a place for 1000 km flights , Tim who just bought a DG 400, said that it IS possible and has been done!But on top of that, you can do horse riding, motorbiking, hiking, fishing, and just enjoy the beauty of the estate. With the plane, or an helicopter you can go  Hastings, where there is great wave flying, to Napiers an art deco town , hit by an earth quake in the past but totally rebuild. I come back on all these items as I am going to visit those places including Hawkes Bay.

Off to do more today including a dinner with an helicopter -business-owner and a developer in this area.
By the way I get the latest version of this writing program and I should be able to put videos and pictures on it as well. I know this was promised before, but…now I visit the owner of my domaine name and site, what can I expect more! He believes in me and in blogging! Brainstorming has started but it feels not as working, I really have a holiday here!!!!!!!

Cu when I have time. But…you share it all, no worries!Ritz
Sorry if I have spelt names or words wrong, forgot my dictionary