5th to 6th October: Flight to Auckland

Very long, but actually quite comfortable trip, complete with hot kiwi girl in the next seat, for the first leg at least. In Changi she was being harrassed by her mother by mobile - a huge advantage of parents who refuse to turn their phones on is that it never occurs to them that they could expect hourly updates. Sadly we were on opposite ends of the second plane, and beyond a wave at Auckland that was the last I saw of her. A pity since she seemed to be thinking about offering a bed in her motel at one point. She thought the 'pile into taxi and say "find me somewhere to sleep"' dubious in the extreme.

But it worked. The motel was a bit more expensive than I'd have liked (the cheaper first motel was deserted) but the decent shower and the good bed were more important.

As used to be traditional, I saw more films on the plan than I have in the cinema over the last year. Hancock (quite good, strange to see Will Smith playing a drunked bastard quite so well), Kung Fu Panda (silly in a good way), Indiana Jones 4 (glad I didn't pay money for it), half of Die Hard 4 (plane came into land) and the first 20 minutes of the second Hulk movie (so dull I gave up and read a book).