September - Meeting And Greeting At
Auckland Airport by Celia ZLlALK

How could I help with YL2000? It seemed that as we live only 20 minutes away from
Auckland Airport, the obvious way was to offer to meet DX visitors arriving there en route to the YL2000 meeting. Quite a number had given Biny their flight details, so we had a base to start from. The first arrival was Ruth LA6ZH, on the 21st September and luckily I had a photo and was accompanied by Biny. It was obvious she had endured a long flight from Europe and was grateful for a cup of coffee and a chat before we`steered' her towards the shuttle bus to her city hotel. That was the start of our daily trips to the airport

Ruth LA6ZH It wus a lovely surprise to be met by a reception committee at Auckland Airport after my long trip from Norway to Down Under, welcoming me to New Zealand.

All of those we met were pleased to see the YL2000 sign we were holding up -they may not have recognised the face, but having someone to meet and offer help is certainly appreciated when you land at a strange airport after up to 31 hours travelling. The Scandinavian travellers had the worst of it, as there are certainly no direct flights to New Zealand from that part of the world.

The earliest flight arrival was 5.10 am - Dave ZL1AMN and Aola ZLlALE, and Geoff ZLlAKY and I managed that Once each - but luckily most arrived in the middle of the day. Five international planes arriving within an hour of each other and a dozen European and Asian 'Unknowns' to look out for was quite a challenge. But it's amazing how easy it is to identify an amateur when he carries a long narrow parcel - not a fishing rod but a portable antenna I found Gunter DJ2SL that way.

Jacqui, the YL2000 travel agent, arranged an excellent shuttle service to take some of the visitors direct to Hamilton. The driver, Len Hatwell, was very interested in his customers and we were able to help each other, as we knew the gender and country of origin of the people we were meeting. He only had surnames and flight times but he had a 'right' to get closer to the `arrivals' gate. We enjoyed working well together.

Poor Dot VK2DB and John VK2ZOI arrived during a torrential downpour - welcome to New Zealand spring weather! It did clear before they left Auckland. The airline managed to send VK5BMT Maria's luggage to Los Angeles instead of Auckland, However in the main the exercise was successful as we did manage to meet all the DX arrivals on our list _...... and we thoroughly enjoyed doing it. Hopefully the visitors felt welcome as soon as they arrived in NZ and after that it was over to the excellent reception committee at the Novotel Tainui in Hamilton.

Ruth LA6ZH - When I came to my room at the Novotel Tainui hotel in Hamilton I found lovely flowers from my Norwegian friend who wus not able to take the trip to New Zealand I was very touched by such thoughtfulness from one who had to stay at home

Robyn VK3WX - I really enjoyed YL 2000. Everything was organised so well, It was a huge task but you made it so personal for each of us. What a success!