With only one week before departure we had a farewell party with the Wellington RATs (Riders Association of Triumph for the uninitiated) which was very kindly hosted by Damian and Catherine. Thanks to everyone who were able to join us.

On Tuesday evening we had our "family" farewell party with Mick, Moira, Lyn, Gemma and Siana and were treated to a traditional Kiwi dinner, had to have the roast lamb and Pavlova!

On Wednesday we left Wellington to spend a few days in Auckland with our friends Margaret and John Sickling. For those people in the UK, John's ancestry traces back to the times when the Sickling family resided at Sickling Hall near Harrogate in North Yorkshire and the surrounding village takes its name from this hence the name Sicklinghall. John and Margaret live in Pukehohe and we have had to use the train to get ourselves about so we are now specialists on the Auckland rail system.

On Thursday we were able to catch up with some of the Auckland RATs including Dave Panting and his partner Amber. Great to see them at the Garrison Pub at Sylvia Park.

All arrangements and paperwork for the bike and ourselves are now complete - we can't do much more before we set off for Chile tomorrow. We have found out that the bike WILL be on the same plane as us so Neil is going to have a word with the pilot to ensure a soft landing in Santiago as he will be carrying precious cargo!!

Well that's all for now and we will report in from Santiago.

G&N