KEY POINTS:
David Bain will spend the next few days on a fishing trip as he comes to terms with life outside prison.
He and his chief campaigner, Joe Karam, will head off to a secret location out of the public glare today.
"Where? You would love to know," said
Mr Karam yesterday as he and Bain touched down at Auckland airport. "Wherever the fish are."
The flight from Christchurch was Bain's first in about 15 years and he landed at Auckland to another large media reception.
Although the 35-year-old was smiling and insisted that the last 24 hours had been "a lot of fun", he was tiring of the attention. "It's been a tough day and I'm blinded by flashes at the moment. It's pretty intimidating."
He was not sure if the world outside prison had changed much because "I've not seen a great deal of it".
Mr Karam's son, Richard, met the pair then took them to the Hilton Hotel at Auckland's Viaduct Harbour where they spent last night.
The newly released prisoner was also planning to spend some time with friends before going to live with Mr Karam at his Te Kauwhata property in the north Waikato.
Bain was released on bail by the High Court on Monday, after serving almost 13 years, as a result of the Privy Council last week quashing his convictions for murdering his parents and three siblings in Dunedin in 1994.
Crown Law spokeswoman Jan Fulstow said a decision on whether there would be a retrial was weeks away at least. "There's huge amounts of material to go through."
Bain said he had not slept much on his first night of freedom at the Clearwater Resort in Christchurch. "I didn't sleep. I didn't bother. I was too high," he said.
"It's a complete reversal of everything that I have had for the last 13 years, where every day was controlled, every day was monitored, and now I'm walking along in the public and dealing with all of you [media]. It's a strange experience."
Bain's presence at the Auckland and Christchurch airports drew notice with a member of the public shouting at Christchurch: "Well done. Fantastic. Well done Joe Karam."
Mr Karam said they would not be going to his home until "sometime next week" and that the fishing trip was a way of relieving the tension of recent weeks.
Bain said: "I'm looking forward to meeting Joe's family, and meeting all the people I haven't seen up there as well.
"And then Joe's going to take me away to go fishing somewhere, so that sounds quite exciting. I'm looking forward to it."
Bain could be in luck out on the water. Fishing expert Bill Hohepa said fishing conditions were expected to be good today, with bite time at around 9am according to his Maori fishing calendar. "I would probably suggest the Motuihe Channel's still got some fish in it and the time to be there is between nine and lunchtime."