I'm back after a whirlwind tour of primary schools around Westport reading my books and talking about writing for the NZ Post tour. Things got a little shaky before I even took off from Auckland when I arrived home from my weekly gig at the local school to find my greedy dog had sucked all the chocolate out of their foil wrappers: the chocolate I'd bought specially to maintain my sense of humour on my trip. I know it wasn't the end of the world but I shed a tear and called my SO to tell him about it because a trouble shared is a trouble halved. And my sweety arrived home unexpectedly before my departure with a new box of chocolates because he totally understands their essential status. He wuz my hero. I got to the airport in good time and boarded the plane but the plane was broken and we had to get off. Even a ten mintue delay might have made catching the once daily connection to Westport tricky but it looked like being 40 minutes plus. Air New Zealand - bless them - swung into action, grabed my bag and the bags of the two other westport bound folk and scooted us on to a flight to Nelson. Once there we had a three hour drive in a taxi in the dark and made it to Westport by around 9.30. I'm glad i didn't have to make the taxi trip alone. My companions were civil engineers making their weekly trip to help manage the coal mine at Stockton and they were great company - thank you Sarah and Warren for keeping me from the brink of insanity. As bad things happen in threes when I called my SO to let him know I'd finally made it to the Motel he let slip that on the way back from the emergency chocolate delivery his car had been swiped by a bus doing an insufficient job of trying to squeeze through an insufficient gap in traffic. I blame it all on Robbie, of course.
I enjoy school visits except for the nerves and the mental preparation. Although there was plenty of time between engagements over the Tuesday and Wednesday, the itinerary was fairly full. Thank you so much to Kate and Margaret who chauffered me round, showed me some sites and gave me lots of information and insight into the region (especially loved the walk up part of the Denniston incline) accompanied me everywhere, and said positive encouraging things and to Michaela who organised everything down in Westport and glued it all together. You were all great company and made the trip even more enjoyable. I hope the schools enjoyed the visits. And I hope too that I get a chance to go back there.
Had an idea for a new picture book when I went to see Star Trek last weekend. Must get on with writing it.
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