This month has been busy with the launch of ‘Defector’ and ‘Double Cross’ on all e bookstores. Being a first time author, it’s been a steep learning curve and next month I’ll be starting my advertising campaigns which I’m sure I’ll learn from many mistakes. I’ll share my learnings as I go.
In addition to launching my first two books I also had some trips out of Wellington, the first weekend was to Christchurch to spend time with our daughter before she flew to the UK over December and the Christmas holidays.
Then I went up the Hamilton for a few days and had the opportunity to visit the Hobbiton Film set, which was very impressive. So I’d recommend it as a good place to visit for anyone coming to New Zealand and spending time in the Auckland/Hamilton/Matamata.
I was also able to go tramping (hiking) with my wife in the Tararuas (our local mountain range). The weather was fine on the Saturday and once we reached our hut, the rain came down which continued overnight and poured all morning. Our route would have taken us along the riverbed and across the bottom of a large slip, but we felt the river was too high so we had to climb up the hill and around the slip. Which made for a longer, more tiring trip. By the time we reached the end, we were both soaked to the skin and happy to have finished. We ended the month with a long weekend in Auckland where went to Waiheke Island for the first time. We took the ferry for the short trip to the island and headed to a small vineyard which has an excellent Italian restaurant. We had a great afternoon of excellent food, matched wines and good company.
Here is the view from the ferry terminal on Waiheke looking back towards Auckland. The following day we did something which we’d wanted to do for a long time and that was to take the ‘Northern Explorer’. A scenic train journey from Auckland to Wellington. It takes approximately 12 hours and provides a relaxing way to see the country.