And Im burning up... burning up...burning up such a long way from home

Day 1- a dollar and a day late in blogging so apologies for that... all will be explained.

So as you saw my brother abandoned me at the airport and I got through security pretty swiftly. An uneventful boarding and takeoff and subsequent very dull 13 hour flight was mitigated by the couple, bernie and Paula, who i was sitting next to. Turns out Paula was a site manager at a hospital which made for very interesting topics of conversation for a few hours..  Despite being totally wired I did manage 3 hours sleep which took the edge of the weariness.

The welcome from Singapore was one of pouring rain but at least warm outside.. shame I was in the freezing airport.

This is where it all began to go slightly wonky...
Swollen legs from tge flight were the least of my worries as I had now developed a nasty cough... a sore throat... chills alternating with a fever and aching all over. As Ileft Singapore I felt worse and.worse. this had the.bonus of.knocking me out for practically the whole flight. I slept through breakfast.. turbulence and the landing!!!

Clearing customs wasnt too bad but there were a few nerve wracking moments when I realised I had to declare my gels.. my bike..(fortunately not muddy) and persuaded them that my tarp was nearly new and had no mud whatsoever.

Baggage claim... bike had arrived.. slightly beaten up but seemed ok. A few holes in box with gear leaver sticking out but hopefully no damage.

Walking into arrivals I saw a cheery face waving at me. Despite the late hour Mark had come to pick me up to stay at his and his wife Sue's house. A random act of kindness to a complete stranger. Obviously living by my embrace the randomness theory.

Apparently I was pretty pale and probably didnt lok like someone who would be able to cycle 1500 miles. Hey ho. Time will tell.

The wave of heat was fantastic after the cold airports and as we drove out of Auckland.. chatting away.. it felt like me and mark were old friends.

Collapsed into bed at around 2am with the hope that tomorrow was a new day and i would feel a whole heap better

Thats all folks... a day and a dollar late with the blog ... .. but HERE!!

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