At this time of year, daylight saving starts in the Northern Hemisphere and finishes in the Southern Hemisphere, but not necessarily on the same day in each country. We were not sure, therefore, whether our flight left at 13:30 or 14:30. Enquiries to various places gave ambiguous answers, but the consensus revealed that it would leave at 13:30. Accordingly, we set off in time for this, and after check-in, we waited.

As it turned out the flight took off just on 14:30. As befits a Business Class service, good quality meals and good quality champagne and wine were served throughout the flight. From the interior of the aeroplane, you would never guess that you were not flying with Australian Airlines, with whom Air Vanuatu has a close affinity. This is so that when Australian uses their aeroplane during the rest of the week, nobody suspects that it isn't a real Australian Airlines aircraft.

I have no complaints about the quality of service. So far as I can remember, this was the first time I had ever travelled on a narrow-bodied aircraft which offered in-flight entertainment. No film, but numerous music channels through headphones.

The meal service, the drinks and the level of service were certainly as would be expected, and on arrival in Auckland, everything ran smoothly and efficiently. We disembarked, and went through immigration, to the first westernised place I had visited in a year. It was quite a shock. We took a taxi to the hotel, the Auckland City Travelodge, in the city centre and checked in happily.

The most disturbing thing about our hotel room was the mini-bar. I know that the prices in a mini-bar are always outrageous, yet after almost a year in Vanuatu they seemed reasonable. Obviously they were not genuinely cheap, but to those who have become used to prices with import duty always added to them, they did seem acceptable.

It was not until the next morning that I found that I was suffering terribly from an unknown complaint. Quite simply, this made me feel so weak that even moving was a terrible effort. I do not know what was wrong: the staff at the hospital suggested it was just as a result of the strain of the flight. This was not encouraging at the start of a round the world trip. Other, more cynical, folks have since suggested that it might have more to do with the quality of the champagne on the flight, or even the quantity of it. Either way, I didn't do much that day, but was fortunately just about well enough to get to the airport for the next flight. So we left some bags at the hotel in Auckland, where we were later to return, and set off.