Expedition Aotearoa – New Zealand

Travel days 26/27 December

It’s Boxing Day or Tweede Kerstdag back home – being either in Malta or Holland and most of our friends and family would be waking up to either inspecting all the gifts that were exchanged on Christmas Day or still trying to digest the excessive intake of food that had been consumed the previous day……. well for us it was finally waking up to a sunny day and my first prayer was of gratitude that our last day in Bali would be enjoying some sunshine after we had our breakfast and finished packing. Our pickup was scheduled for 5pm to take us to the airport well on time for our 9.30 flight to Sydney. So this was supposed to be a relaxing day before we started our 1 month expedition to New Zealand.

But no!! The weather gods did not grant us this last wish as when we hadn’t noticed that the skies had turned a dark grey with thick clouds rolling in and hiding away the sunshine – in no time the flood gates of heaven were open and the torrential rains came down! We were lucky to keep our room till 3 pm and then went for lunch in the lobby and settled our bill. Our pickup arrived early but that was good as it was still raining heavily and traffic would be horrendous!

 We arrived in good time at the airport and had a smooth check in. After spending some time wondering around the shops and having a coffee it was time to board our plane – we had a Qantas flight and our first experience of this company was very positive. Good (economy) seats; up front with loads of leg space and only the two of us in our row and  good meal before dozing off to sleep.  6 hours later arrival in Sydney for our transfer to Christchurch. But this is where it went somewhat wrong. Qantas uses Emirates from Sydney to Christchurch and where we should have had a 2 hour transfer time it ended up with a four hour wait as the Emirates plane from Dubai had a delay due to foggy weather in Dubai.

Not much to do than hang around and have some coffee and sent a message to our friends, Ralph and Eve who where going to meet us at Christchurch airport , that we would be late arriving. Finally made our last leg of our flight and arrived at Christchurch – and went through such strenuous immigration control. My hiking boots and sneakers had to be disinfected and all luggage scanned for any illegal food being brought in to the country! Well it was after 4 pm that we finally got out of the airport to find Ralph and Eve waiting for us. 

By the time we drove to Hotel Rendevous in downtown Christchurch it was already nearly 6 pm; however it was bright sunshine, so we decided to go for a walk around before dinner. This city centre had suffered badly during the 2011 earthquakes and there’s hardly anything left standing from the old colonial buildings. Gerry remarked that he has never seen a city which so many parking spaces…….. building have been torn down and temporary parking areas created; roadworks are still going on, and new buildings are being constructed still, but to us, it seemed that the heart and soul of the city have been torn away and it will take many more years before Christchurch down town gets the vibrancy back again.

Author: Liliana

Retired banker now spending time travelling the world with my soulmate, Gerry. Early retirement due to the fact that the bank I worked for changed their direction from global to local and hence my expertise was not needed any longer - now using my passion and energy in discovering the world after I have worked enthusiastically for so many years, brought up my daughter and son and now still have good health to enjoy my new experiences. View all posts by Liliana