Auckland - Working in Paradise

Celebrating the New Year in a plane, believe me, is not worthwhile. I would have expected at least a glass of champagne to drink on a good year, but most people were just sleeping through it or watching a movie.

The flight Down Under is long and straining, no matter how much your used to or excited about flying. I had some decent stuff to read and my new mp3-player with me, a good chat with a Hongkong flight attendant on holidays who was sitting next to me and the 8 hours stopover in a smoggy Hongkong with winter-temperatures of 16 degrees was wonderful. But arriving in the early afternoon on January 2 in Auckland, I had picked up only a couple hours of sleep, after starting my journey in Zurich at noon on New Year's Eve.

Kiwi-summer: 50 degrees warmer

The excitment to see New Zealand after hours of sea and after looking forward to it for so long was overwhelming. I was welcomed by a humid 25 degrees (it was -25 back home) and by Clare Wade, who was so friendly to take care of me and give me a home for my two and a half weeks in Auckland. Very fast I realised why I've been missing this country ever since leaving it. The broad roads, green parks, random people greeting you cheerfully, cricket, the sea and the uncomplicated relaxedness and lightheartedness of everything make it a unique and wonderful place.

After a slightly rainy start, the two tournaments I worked at as a line-umpire we were spoiled with the most beautiful Kiwi-summer-weather and it was working in paradise for me. The team of umpires, as at pretty much every tournament I guess, was very welcoming and blessed with all kind of nice and weird people, so we had good fun together. They gave me a lot of time to work on the serviceline, a new challenge for me, which I consider as another level of umpiring compared to the other lines. I made many mistakes during the ladies event, some on the first day because of the jetlag, some because I still had to learn how to deal with the serviceline and some I just couldn't explain to myself. So I was really eager to improve towards the mens event and did fairly well, conceding just one overrule and making two bad calls during the whole tournament. I was pleased to do more serviceline and to make the final, where Juan Martin del Potro unfortunately crushed Sam Querrey in straight sets.

Next stop: Oz Open

I was working on 14 of the first 15 days in New Zealand, leaving only little time to enjoy the city. I went for runs around the beautiful Orakei Basin near my house, played tennis at Parnell with my billet and different mates, was invited for several dinners and a very interesting bbq, was spoilde by Clare with good food, watched some amazing cricket and, on my only free day, went to Piha and Whites beach on the westcoast for a swim and walk.

It was definitely a good start into my time in New Zealand and I'm looking forward to come back to Auckland someday and meet all the people I've got to know. But now, the Australian Open, my favourite sports event, is about to start and I seize the chance to go to Melbourne for 10-day-holiday, before coming back to NZ - and stay.