And off to New Zealand!

We arrived to Christchurch via Auckland.

Well, we thought this would be an easy transfer with 2 hours connection between Auckland and Christchurch.

We arrived to Auckland on an evening flight so most people were sleeping most of the time in the plane, including me. If we compare it with Virgin Atlantic I believe that the latter makes one feel more special including the passengers in Premium Economy and not only Business Class.

So, we landed in Auckland and we had to pass customs, get our luggage, pass Bio security and transfer to the domestic terminal to get our flight to Christchurch. Perhaps the airport authorities were out of touch after so long disconnected from the world, but many passengers felt stressed thinking we could not get the connection. For some, it happened last minute, our flight was at 9:00 and we checked in at 08:45 but we got in the crowded domestic flight. Hurrah!

When we arrived, our friend Barry (Caroline’s other half) was waiting for us in the terminal and he kindly took us to their home where we would stay for a couple of days.

I haven’t mentioned that for our stay in NZ we decided to buy a car rather than renting one, as it could be more convenient and we could sell it after 3 months at a minimum loss (we hope!). We bought a black Mercedes - does it sound familiar? We have one at home - with the help of Barry and Caroline.

Lunch in Akaora with our friend Caroline and Barrie

It is a Japanese import, which in our view that is what it meant: imported from Japan. What we were not expecting is that as soon as we turned the engine on, a Japanese lady would start saying something in the audio system and the screen, plus an additional Japanese lady was added in the dashboard to warn about items being close to the car…ahhh, and the map was moving around Japan rather than Christchurch.

You may think this is funny and perhaps it seems like this now but when we went to pick our new car after landing and the jet-lag it felt completely alien. 😉

The following day we had lunch with niece Deborah and it was great to see her after such a long time.

Lunch with Deborah in Christchurch

Barrie and Caroline made us feel completely at home and treated us with generosity and patience whilst we sorted out the car. One day we might have time in Christchurch to explore its history, sites and culture but this time a visit to the wonderful town of Akaroa, originally a French settlement, a day with Leslie’s niece Deborah, including installing security cameras and then a visit to Leslie’s 95 and 93 yr old Uncle and Aunt and it was time to hit the road…

A tea with Leslie’s uncle and aunt before hitting the road from Christchuch

Mount Cook / Aoraki here we come.