Safely Landed

David writes:

It was an early start for us on Sunday, all packed and leaving the farm at 7am.  It certainly wasn't an uneventful lead up to our departure however!

I inspected all of the horses on Friday and Saturday and had good briefings with all the team who know exactly what needs to be done in our absence.  We have a fabulous team at the farm - Robyn and Marise, Luke C and Luke E, Sophie, Miriam, James and the whole crew - all very dedicated and hard working people.

It is also great having our dear friend and former farm manager Sam Boyd back at Te Akau Stud - Sam is staying in our home while we are away and just keeping a general eye on everything, as well as looking after the dogs!  As it turns out having Sam there has proven more valuable than we could have known.

Hilton our new black lab fell ill on Saturday so I rushed him to the Raglan vet - he had three injections and they told us he would be quiet (??!!) for a couple of days and then come right.  Sadly he didn't improve on Sunday and so on Monday Sam took him back to the vet clinic.  He is undergoing exploratory surgery today (Tuesday) and as you can imagine we are all beyond worried about him.

The Air New Zealand flight leaving Auckland was delayed by nearly one and a half hours as, when I spoke to the pilot, he told me that they were missing a flight deck crew member.  Not sure who was absent but obviously they couldn't fly until the replacement arrived - and apparently the stand-in had to come from Pauanui!

So eventually we were in the air and eight and a half hours later, landed on a beautiful Honolulu evening of 26 degrees.  Straight to the hotel by about midnight and then Lydia and Mitch and Karyn and I thought we would have a nightcap before bed - no such luck as everything had closed at 11.30pm!  and on a Saturday night!  Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

Sunday was our first full day here (Monday NZ time) and at 29 degrees not a lot to complain about.  Just a pleasant day - in the gym, then by the pool, catching up on reading and life.  We had some drinks in our room which ahs a lovely balcony overlooking the ocean and beach and then went to our favourite restaurant Michel's at Diamond Head for our wedding anniversary dinner.  This restaurant is right on the beach and watching sunset there is breathtaking.  All in all a perfect start to our holiday.

Thank you to so many of our owners and friends who sent us lovely "happy holiday" wishes - your thoughtfulness was really appreciated by us.  We will stay in good touch with you!