From Down Under to the Middle Earth - excerpts from a slightly belated travel log

Yes, I indeed want an 18th Century title for this one!

I'll be sharing some memories from my recent trip to New Zealand, as I've already promised to some of you.  My partner and I planned this for a while and along the way (read months) I missed some opportunities to actually accompany him in one of his job related trips there...well, until it became clear we should actually go for it and enjoy NZ together. One for business, the other for pleasure . All being clear, we've spread our  wings and threw ourselves  in the air, flopping our artificial feathers... well, no, we took a plane like all people with intact synapses, but it was worthy to think of Icarus for a second or two.

Sunshine Coast, Queensland

We left sunny Brisbane how else but in a sunny Saturday, saying good bye to the Sunshine State (where it's sunny no matter the season!), heading to a so called winter, in Auckland NZ- which proved to be fun for me, an European used to ...well, real winters. Spoiler: in my book, it was autumn there. Sunny. Remember this, it's a key word. Sunny.

For an obvious reason I love airports (dang, it's the magic gate to new places!) and it's always worth watching the crowd, without doing it on purpose. OK, I lied.  While waiting to board on our plane, some Kiwis drawn my attention. Reason: their passports. Black passports with a silver fern on it - classy and cute! It may seem a silly thing to like, but for me it was the first taste of NZ, despite the fact that I've already had a few items brought from there. It was my first encounter and it's stuck in my visual and affective memory.
That was only the beginning, as once in the plane , we had in front of us a beautiful Maori woman and her little daughter. This was wonderful since it was the first Maori I've seen in reality. I realize how childish my words seem, but so was the joy of observing all around me . Her dignified features took my eyes a few times, as much as her tattooos which shyly came  out of her short sleeves: another fern to admire! I think I napped a little and took some pictures with the sky, plus had a few traditional ''on the road-laughters" with my partner - all good, but not all can be told.
Good landing, bursting excitement and a pinch of irrational worries given the lore about NZ customs - they have a certain reputation, but I should say I found them much nicer than all rumours say. We walked accompanied by sounds of water towards customs (no lie, the airport has a sweet sound system and they are geniuses for using at max all things connected to LOTR, really well decorated wall as as well - too bad it was late at night and we hurried, otherwise I would have taken some shots). 
Back to reality, let me tell about the first customs officer we presented passports to: I was amazed by accent, thought it's rather Scottish, but it proved later on it's only the way Kiwi people talk. I'm in love with that accent now and enjoyed it every time I could hear it there. We had to meet a second custom officer as well, given that we have different nationalities me and my partner, or so I think about the reason we had to go through another filter.
Either way, since we have no bad agenda or ideas or unusual items, it went smooth, but took a while as a negative thing. Contrary to our expectations, it wasn't me he asked things to, but my partner, since he was the one who traveled many times there with business. The officer soon realized we're what we say we were and kept repeating ''I won't be keeping you here long, guys.'' or ''Is there a taxi waiting for you?''; fact is he just started his comp once we reached his desk, so it took a while for things to be processed. This guy had lovely tattos I kept staring at and since I was tired I gave him a silly answer when he asked me if I like living in Australia: 'Thank you!'' said I and a few seconds later as my neurons started functioning I added'' Yes, thank you, I like it very much.'' He must've thought I'm a bit of an idiot. He let me in, that's all that matters and like my Grandmother says ''it's not like you'll be having coffees together next day''. True. Taxi, hotel, sleep, end of day 1.
See you next post!