Kiwis use planes like poms use trains. There are airports dotted all over the country and it’s the main way to travel between distant towns. Wellington airport sits on a narrow spit of land to the south of the city and is a busy hub. Two years ago the old airport at Paraparaumu on the Kapiti coast reopened and that’s where we flew to and from Auckland this trip.

Pip had never used it before, but Beryl had. For 11 years, when Wellington was being improved and weather strengthened, this was the busiest airport in NZ. And Beryl flew from here to start her nursing career in Dunedin, in 1952.

Now it is small but bustling, with an excellent on-site cafe. The service was simple and quick, and the plane (a 52 seater) comfortable. The flight was slightly longer than from WLG (because the plane is smaller) but the time is more than made up by the easy boarding and arrival processes. The airport is close (by taxi) to the local station with lines into Wellington, or there’s a shuttle service. We were lucky as the Mum’s taxi service took and collected us: otherwise from Upper Hutt it would mean a train into the city and out again.