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New Zealand Visit Part I
Oct. 18th, 2022 09:37 amMy last international trip before COVID-19 days was to New Zealand, back in early 2020. Airport staff were just at the point of asking departing passengers whether they had been to China in the previous fourteen days. Because of my love for the place, it is now the first place that I have returned for an actual holiday, with travelling companion Angela D, who has been wonderfully supportive over the past two years and certainly has good reason for a holiday in their own right. Starting at Auckland, we visited the old Symonds Street Cemetery (which is almost a forest), the Sky Tower which does provide some pretty impressive views of the city, the Auckland Art Gallery, and finally a rather good Chinese restaurant which had the best fried tofu I have ever had (yes, worthy of 'blogging).
The following day caught up with Andrew Ensor from the HPC team and Square Kilometre Array group at Auckland University of Technology, before making our way for a three-hour investigation of the absolutely beautiful and diverse Hamilton Gardens. Even given this time, we could have spent another several hours in said location, and I'll certainly be visiting again. By the evening we were outside of Cambridge at the home of one Matthew Simmons, former CEO of Nyriad whom we did work with several years back and now with a number of other ventures in progress. Always a source of excellent conversation, Matthew has been an incredible host in a beautiful country location and we'll be making a visit again on the way back.
It's a pretty full agenda that is planned on this trip, but we're both good with this pace and Angela has been a delightful travelling companion. The following days will see visits to Taupo, Napier, Masterton, Wellington, Whanganui, Waitomo, and then finally back on the silver bird out of the country. It is a holiday, but there are a few work(ish) and study(ish) related matters on this looped tour of the North Island, including my enrolment at Victoria University of Wellington for my next master's degree (climate science and policy).
The following day caught up with Andrew Ensor from the HPC team and Square Kilometre Array group at Auckland University of Technology, before making our way for a three-hour investigation of the absolutely beautiful and diverse Hamilton Gardens. Even given this time, we could have spent another several hours in said location, and I'll certainly be visiting again. By the evening we were outside of Cambridge at the home of one Matthew Simmons, former CEO of Nyriad whom we did work with several years back and now with a number of other ventures in progress. Always a source of excellent conversation, Matthew has been an incredible host in a beautiful country location and we'll be making a visit again on the way back.
It's a pretty full agenda that is planned on this trip, but we're both good with this pace and Angela has been a delightful travelling companion. The following days will see visits to Taupo, Napier, Masterton, Wellington, Whanganui, Waitomo, and then finally back on the silver bird out of the country. It is a holiday, but there are a few work(ish) and study(ish) related matters on this looped tour of the North Island, including my enrolment at Victoria University of Wellington for my next master's degree (climate science and policy).