Wellington, New Zealand

Pulled into Wellington a little past noon. Immediately our own little “fly in the ointment” produced a list of names which allowed half of us to go over the side each day – the other half of the passenger aviators to remain aboard and twiddle their thumbs. Everyone cursed him heartily. Finally the ships captain sent down in order that we could all go ashore anytime, which thoroughly squelched Lt.Cmdr. “Fly.”

Raced ashore and called Diana – but no answer. Spent the rest of the day hiking all over town, stopping off at each phone booth to phone again, but no luck – damn.

It was quite cold and frosty after nightfall, and as the town was thoroughly and completely “rolled up,” most of us returned to the ship early.

In my hunt for Diana, I stopped off for awhile at the Midlands Hotel and there met some RAF officers were very interested in the squadron’s recent experiences in the East Indies. They made me promise to bring some of the fellows up to their headquarters for lunch tomorrow, so that they could get a better slant on Jap tactics. (Flight Lt. Mill.)