Auckland, January 7.

We were on the point of congratulating Air New Zealand on a fabulous flight from London via Los Angeles when - bingo - they lost our luggage. But the wonders of modern technology yielded the vital information that the bags were in LA, removed in error by a jobsworth. Happily we and our three months worth of clothes were reunited within four hours, delivered to the home of our generous hosts Dee and Chris.
We've had a wonderful tour of Devonport and Mission Bay beach with a superb dinner at the harbour after admiring team New Zealand's Americas Cup yachts.
Today, Wednesday, we decided to indulge Colin's love of tennis by attending the ASB Classic, a women's tournament. Leading players such as Elena Dementieva and Caroline Wozniacki are taking part and we enjoyed watching our British hope Anne Keothavong win her way through to the quarters finals by beating the higher rated Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 6-4. Auckland's weather has lived up to our high hopes, so the sun block has already been well employed.
Tomorrow we are off to Coromandel, a coastline of idyllic beaches to the east of Auckland - thence to visit David Barons, a National Hunt trainer who emigrated to New Zealand 15 years ago. We'll keep you posted!