April 26-29: New Zealand Weekend

Just as April looked like being an aeroplane free month I found myself on my way to Auckland new Zealand for the Annual Congress of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).  I am a fellow of thye AusIMM and was going down/across to Congress as  half of  a 2 person delegation from teh darwin Branch. With my colleague  we eft darwin at 0145 on the day after ANZAC day and saw the sun rise over Sydney. the tarnsfer waas the best ever in terms of timing for the bus and lack of queues at the border. I took Dave up to the Qantas First Class lounge (a benefit from years of too much travelling) and we sat in the elegant surroundings of the lounge and ate a fresh cooked breakfast.

Then it was off for another couple of hours across the Tasman to hit Auckland on a grey afternoon. The bus was waiting for us, and a lot of other delegates, and we soon found ourselves at the waterside downtown in the Hilton Hotel, our base for the stay. That evening we had an informal drinks  party in the hotel bar before ehading off to one of the nearby waterfront resstaurants for dinner. Sadly it was just too breezy and chilly to eat outside but the crayfish still tasted very good.

A  car carrier coming into port

Friday was a day of workshops and working sessions on institue working arrangements, branch and section reports and discussions of big issues for the mining industry professionals of today.  Certainly we were very busy.  The weather was more like Melbourne with clouds and rain one minute and bright sunshine the next. 

View from my hotel room " a harbour view" acording to the hotel

0830 Friday morning-view from the coffee lounge

same view , same day at 1100!

There was a short break in the  afternnon which enabled me to stroll aroound the area of the waterfront and see the super yachts moored up all around us.

Then in the evening the local Branch hosted us all to a BBQ on an old steam tug  sailing on the harbour. It was dark and it rained a bit so the undercover are of the deck was a bit crowded. Still we could go and look at the engine room and even stoke coal if we wanted!

Saturday was brighter but we were still in the working rooms hard at it. At the end of a very good day for work we had a formal dinner. I was surprised to be presented with a 20 years membership award - I had not been counting. Dave got one too and a third colleague got a 40 year award. We also had a magnificent cultural display by Maori dancers and singers  - who naturally included a Hakka for us.

 The Congress will be hosted by us in the Darwin Branch next year so we will be looking for a local cultural display to match this - a hard act to follow.

Sunday was the AusIMM AGM and we elected a new president for 2013 and agreed anumber of formal items as  organisations like this must each year. Then after lunch it was time to make the return journey to Darwin, via Sydney. I finally got home at 2400. A very worthwhile weekend but the travel was a bit tiring and I am off to Canada next weekend on one more of my "conference holidays"!