On to New Zealand.....

Hi again! Beginning this on Saturday evening, and goodness knows when it will be finished! I'm still surprised looking out of my windows at springtime, when I left autumn behind in NZ and Australia. It's still not very warm, but at least it hasn't rained since I got home! It's just after 9.30p.m. now and it's still light! We'll have about another half hour I should think! Then it will be light again at about 4.30 a.m.

Some of our customers at the Co have actually missed me! It's nice that they noticed I hadn't been about for a while!

So - on with the NZ photos, starting at Melbourne airport. Scotland has its Nessies and haggises, Dubai had its camels, and Australia has more than its fair share of koalas, kangaroos, kookaburras and wombats. What am I on about, you ask? Soft toys! The airports' souvenir shops were full of them!

Dubai camels!

and now some kookie burghs....

and kangaroos......... oops, sorry, these are the koalas.

Kangaroos....... oh and wombats and duckbilled platypusses too, or as my sister renamed them - flat billed ducky pusses! Now I hope you Americans out there don't think that's rude, but it isn't, in English!

So I arrived in Auckland and stayed with Margaret and the boys for a few days.

This is Chris.

and here is Mike. These two hate being in front of a camera!

and this is Margaret - on the right - with Patricia, Margaret's first cousin, another of the Inglis descendants, who came to visit one day.

We all pored over the Inglis family tree and Margaret produced photos and articles for us to look at.

Their grandfather - seated centre - came to Scotland in the 1880s, and went touring with my grandfather - seated right - and a couple of friends. They are on top of a mountain on the Isle of Skye in this photo.

Margaret very kindly gave me the manuscript that contains Bert's description of their tour, and this photo amongst others of family members,

So now I have introduced you to the cousins I'll continue next time with some views!

Talk again soon.