We arrived home on Sunday 31 May, having flown from Taipei to Auckland on Saturday night. Then we walked from the International Airport to Domestic, and checked our baggage through to Wellington. The weather was not too bad – overcast but not raining and not very cold. We went to the Domestic Koru lounge and I had a long black (very strong!) and a shower. Although it was busy, there were plenty of showers free this time.
We were fortunate to fly Business Class from Taipei to Auckland, although it was “only” 10:15 hours. It was a new Boeing 787, with different seating from our previous Business Class experiences. JD and I are each in a “pod”: this time we can recline our seats, but unfortunately we’re not given mattresses, which would make things more comfortable. However the pillow is good and the blanket large and thick. There seems to be more room than previously; and best of all, there are places to store things that have covers, so they don’t fly around! That is a big improvement, since there are a few things you really want to keep near at hand. There are bigger screens, too, and a wonderful range of entertainment: I watched “It was Just an Accident” and “Is this thing on?”. Two rather Arthouse movies that I’d previously missed. I didn’t sleep much, but I was comfortable.
Having completed our online arrival forms, we went through customs and border control very quickly, and walked to the Auckland domestic terminal. It was overcast, but quite warm – about 18C. It wasn’t raining. Most of the walk is now under cover. Once you have your luggage on a trolley, it seems easier to get some fresh air and walk rather than unloading one’s luggage onto the free bus and then reloading it onto a trolley at the other end.
We offloaded said luggage, and went to the Koru Lounge to have showers before flying to Wellington. I was looking forward to my “long black” coffee, but it was too strong! Welcome to New Zild! But it was nice to have a shower and get changed.
Then we flew to Wellington where one of our sons met us. In Wellington it was also overcast but not raining and not too cold. Much colder than what we’ve been used to, of course! He stopped for us to buy a loaf of bread, and some oat milk and bananas, the immediate necessities. Amazingly the house is still just fine, although our gas heater no longer works.
So we’ve been back a week: it’s now Sunday 7 June 2026. It is hard to be back, although it’s not too cold in Wellington. One is tired but neither of us is sleeping very well. There are a great many leaves in the driveway! It has rained most days, so I haven’t been out to pick them up and put them in the bin.
I have been writing about our experiences, and remembering that it was so lovely to be on holiday, in spite of the many challenges! And we were so well looked after on our cruise. There were downsides, of course, but I remember the good parts!
It was nice having no obligations; we’re gradually getting back into previous activities.
It’s now Sunday 19 July.
It has been really hard to come back! It does not get easier, alas. In the old days one would get back into work or study, and be distracted by the need to deal with present issues. But now that we are retired, and older, having completed a wildly ambitious and successful trip (do it while you can!), find that we just want to do it again, and see more of the places we did not visit, and return to Greece. But we can’t, for a while, and of course it gets more expensive as we get older, and one wants more comfort such as better hotels!
I have seen some of the French Film Festival movies, but the ones I’ve seen have been disappointing this year. In the past I generally found French films to be quirky, funny, and an amusing distraction, although some films dealt with more serious issues. But last year and this year there seemed to be lots of bad language, and some darker themes: I found the film The Richest Woman in the World, starring the famous Isabelle Huppert, profoundly dislikeable; I saw The Stranger, the film adaptation of Albert Camus’ L’Etranger, and I thought it was a very good film if hard to watch and frustrating at times. I remember this novel by Albert Camus being a set text when I did French 1.
The film I did enjoy was The Camino Therapy. Although I’ve seen several films about walking the famous Camino track, I did appreciate this one.
I did manage to hurt my back, so I’ve been taking things more easily during the last few weeks. I’m really pleased that neither of us had a fall or became ill during our six weeks away, but it’s frustrating nevertheless to have a sore back!
Last week I had my hair cut and coloured, and that is such a relief! Next week I’m off to the dentist, for what I hope and expect will be just an annual checkup.
It’s now Sunday 2 August.
I did go to the dentist, and it cost $229!!! It was $140 last year. He did take some X-rays, and I suspect there’s a fancy new X-ray machine; the good news is that he couldn’t find decay in the tooth that’s been bothering me intermittently; that’s a relief, since I didn’t expect to pay so much!
July has been a frustrating month. My back was very sore for a while, making it hard to get comfortable, and really painful to stand up or sit down. Thankfully my sore back is now much better, but it has been really cold here: last week on Monday morning it was 0 C degrees! It has been very cold the last few days. Although the temperature rose slightly, that really cold day seemed to emanate a lasting chill, and it certainly doesn’t seem much warmer. Sometimes we have sunny days, and that’s nice, as it does seem warmer for a few hours.
The movies on offer have been rather dismal, and some I have chosen not to see. A good review in The Post does not mean that I am going to like the movie. But sometimes I go just to get out of the house.
Last week a friend and I saw Colours of Time, a French Film Festival movie that has gone on general release. We took advantage of the Penthouse Cinema’s $10 offering, but there were only four of us seeing this film! $10 is a really good deal. I think, but it was rather cold in that big theatre.
Afterwards I was trying to tell JD what the film was about, but it was really confusing, with constant time shifts between groups of characters. But there was lots of Monet, especially of the Musée de l’Orangerie, where we have been! Also of his Impression, Sunrise painting: I have a beautiful scarf representing that, which I bought at that museum. Since we came home we thought we must do a jigsaw. I decided we would do a puzzle representing Monet’s Waterlilies. Well, this jigsaw is really difficult, and we came to appreciate better Monet’s great expertise. It’s 1,500 pieces, so it’s quite large. Now that it’s done, I am reluctant to put it away again. We bought it some time ago in a Whitcoulls sale, and gave the other puzzle (two for a specially low price) to a friend (poor thing!).
Recently I saw the film Islands, which was about an English couple and their son and a tennis coach at a resort in the Spanish Islands, Les Palmas, off the cost of Africa. Think The White Lotus television series. I thought the first half of the film was good, but it seemed to lose its way in the second half, and was oddly disappointing.
At home we’ve been watching a rerun of Line of Duty on TVNZ+; we only remember some episodes and characters, so that’s a blessing! It’s really well acted, on the whole.
Last night we went to the opening night of Massenet’s opera Manon at the St James Theatre! A friend ours couldn’t go, and had rung yesterday morning and offered us his and his wife’s tickets to the opening performance. I had hoped we could go and take some of our grandchildren, but you could only get seats in the Gallery (up in the “Gods”); then they put two more shows on while we were away, but bookings for those were snapped up right away. So it was a treat to see this opera. I worried about going since it was quite long (about 3 ½ hours), and very cold, and my back is still quite tender; we also wondered how to get there: whether to get a taxi, or take our car. It was far too cold to use public transport, although that would be free to us on a Saturday. When we go to concerts at the Michael Fowler Centre, we have a parking space we normally use, but it seemed too far away from the St James. In the event we had some soup and toast, and parked in Wakefield Street. Then we walked to the St James from there. Oh, the delights of Courtenay Place! Walking back afterwards, I would have been a little nervous if there weren’t lots of other couples. I had worn a puffer coat over my dressy clothes, so although it was very cold, I was warm enough. Thankfully it was not raining.
The opera was extraordinarily good. It was performed by Wellington City Opera, and Orchestra Wellington, and they were wonderful and well supported. Although I wasn’t familiar with this opera, it was colourful and the music and acting were beautiful, so we were entertained the whole time. It was sung in French, and was funny at times as well, although being opera it was about a tragic love story (of course). It was a great show, and Pene Pati was just magnificent! Boy, can he sing! His wife, Amina, was on stage for almost the entire opera, and she’s wonderful too. The opera has five acts, and there were two intervals; but it wasn’t a complicated story as some operas are. It was sung in French, too, which was nice. The cast seemed to enjoy performing it. I did get rather uncomfortable towards the end, but at least you can cross your legs at the St James Theatre, unlike the Michael Fowler Centre!
Today we had lunch at the Beach Café and Kiosk in Owhiro Bay. It really is magnificent out there on Wellington’s South Coast: the view is always different, but you have the sea with it’s powerful waves, the stark hillside, which changes with the sunlight and clouds, and on a clear day you can see the mountains in the South Island! Today we had to wait a few minutes for a table, so we went to look in the lovely spacious shop behind the café. Well, it’s a mistake to take JD to a shop; he insisted on buying a book, but I chose a wooden soap stand for our guest bathroom. We have squeezy soap there, of course, but it’s nice to have a cake of soap as well. For some strange reason the new guest bathroom unit with cupboard and hand basin does not have an indentation for a cake of soap. With the wooden soap rack, it shouldn’t break even if it is dropped. The shop also had lots of crystals and Māori healing remedies. They had wooden cheeseboards too with wave-patterned china inserts. They weren’t quite as beautiful as the cheeseboard (with lemons) that I would have liked to buy in Syracuse! We both had the Brioche French Toast, which is really so good, it’s hard to go past it.
So we have had a very nice couple of days, and I am gradually getting used to being back in Wellington. Christopher Nolan’s film of The Odyssey is on at present, and it has aroused a great deal of discussion. I haven’t seen it yet; being a would-be classicist myself, I’m reluctant to see pictorial versions that replace the pictures (and words) that I have in my head; but people I respect say it’s a great movie, so I think that I will see it. JD is coming round to the idea, although it’s no longer on at Wellington’s Embassy Theatre, his preferred venue.
That’s it for now! Slava Ukraini! Nga mihi nui!
Classic Barbarian 