WELLINGTON, May 10 Agencies - Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has been released from an Auckland hospital, after surgery for a head injury following a fall.
But he’s staying in New Zealand for a while to undergo check-ups as an outpatient at the Ascot Hospital.
From the doctors to the beautiful ladies who make painful nights less painful and shorter, I'm pretty much at a loss for words to express my deep gratitude,'' he said in a statement released by the hospital. I hope I wasn’t too much of a pain in the arse – after all it was my head they fixed. Many thanks Kiwis.’’ 
It was not immediately clear how long the hard-living 62-year-old rocker would remain in New Zealand, where he has already spent about two weeks.
He was flown there for observation after falling and suffering a concussion while on holidays in Fiji, apparently when he fell out of a :eek: coconut tree.
Richards underwent an operation on Monday after complaining of headaches, and the procedure was 100 per cent successful,'' his publicist said at the time. The Stones organisation has not said what the operation was for, but news reports have speculated it was to drain blood from his skull. The band's publicist denied reports that Richards had actually undergone two surgeries and risked brain damage. [ :p Damage? How Could They Tell The New From The Old Injuries?] Richards' ailment has forced the Rolling Stones to postpone the start of the European leg of the band's A Bigger Bang’’ world tour, which was scheduled to kick off on May 27 in Barcelona, Spain.
It is now expected to start in June, though no new dates have been announced yet.
Richards’ wife, Patti Hansen, and children have been at his bedside, and guitars have reportedly been brought in for him to play.
The Stones’ publicists have given few details of Richards’ mishap, which happened while Richards and his wife were in Fiji following the conclusion of the Asia-Pacific leg of the band’s tour.
Newspaper accounts have variously reported that he fell from a tree or from a watercraft. Or a Spacecraft?
One spokesman said Richards had been up and about chatting, and phoning New York'' following the surgery. Jerry Hall, the ex-wife of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, said Richards was doing very well’’, adding that she was in e-mail contact with his family, who had been at his bedside in Auckland.
``We are very upset about it. Mick is on holiday at the moment so he is hearing the same news as we are,’’ the 49-year-old Texan model told reporters in London.
Richards’ accident happened at Fiji’s Wakaya Club.
The resort, with private suites costing up to $10,000 a night, is a favourite with the rich and famous, with Pierce Brosnan, Bill Gates, Michelle Pfeiffer, Celine Dion and Nicole Kidman among past guests.