Peter Garland is the first person students meet in New Zealand.
By tomorrow, Peter Garland will have done the 62km drive from Helensville to Auckland Airport on seven consecutive mornings.
School holidays are always a busy time for this 75-year-old grandfather of six. Peter works part-time for Helensville Private Charters and much of his work entails collecting overseas students
and "delivering" them to their homestays.
To beat the traffic, Peter sometimes sets off at 5.30am, which also means he has time for a cup of tea at the airport, with rather more sugar than his wife allows.
Today, he's picking up 13 Chinese students who are on Korean Airlines Flight 823 from Seoul and should be coming through shortly. Well, all going to plan: one time a charge was detained after dutifully ticking every box on the customs declaration form, including the "Are you carrying any drugs?" one.
Peter chuckles at the memory but he says things are usually more straightforward. When the students come through the gates he'll gather them up in fine Father Hen style, take them to the money exchange and also to get SIM cards for their phones. Then, outside in the van, he'll give them a whole lot of info about New Zealand.
On the way to their new homes, he'll show them the sights. "One Tree Hill, the Domain, Mission Bay... up Queen St if time allows. When we cross Mangere Bridge, I'll tell them about the Manukau Harbour. And I tell them about the West Coach beaches and how they have to be careful swimming there."
Sometimes, the students will turn interlocutor: they like to ask Peter if he has any brothers or sisters.
And with this, Peter laughs again. This old Bilbo Baggins in the light brown cardy and navy-blue jacket is the first person these students meet in Aotearoa and it's hard to imagine a more kindly ambassador.
However, after 30-odd years in the taxi trade Peter says this may be his last year. "Maybe. But I love this job and the students are nice. Sure there's a lot of time wasted waiting, but it doesn't worry me at my age. I'm not in a hurry."
