Christchurch - Home

 It has taken me all this time to summon up the energy and the will to complete the last post of our wonderful journey.

The Paris-Singapore leg was fantastic with both of us sleeping and waking up only 3.5 hours from Changi Airport! Approaching Changi we were informed there was congestion and we would be in a holding pattern ... after 30-40 minutes, we diverted to Johor Bahru in Malaysia as we were running out of fuel. This was only a journey of 60km, but we ended up spending 2.5 hours waiting for the plane to be refuelled then back to Changi.

By this time we had missed our connecting flight to Christchurch. Singapore Airlines were very organised and had our boarding passes ready for us for Auckland-Christchurch. Although by this stage we only had 45 minutes to get from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 and Gate 29. For those of you familiar with Changi, you will know the sheer size of the place. However, thanks to regular Sky Trains we made it to the departure lounge.

Auckland leg went well and arrived on time, although we only had 80 minutes for our connecting flight to Christchurch ... not a lot of time!! This is when the drama set in ... waited at baggage until the last piece had been placed on the conveyer belt ... and ours, along with a few French folk, did not appear. So Anne heads to the baggage claim desk and registers our bag, along with the French folk we had befriended. At this stage, time is ticking by.

We head to Immigration and are met by a long queue ... I seek out someone official looking and ask them if we could be 'fast-tracked' as we have a connecting 3pm flight to Christchurch, along with the French couple. Bearing in mind, we had to check-in our bag that did arrive by 2.30pm. At this point it is around 2.10pm and we still need to get to the Domestic Terminal.

We get through Immigration swiftly, along with 3 of the French folk, but the couple had to have their shoes checked ... must have been around animals or a farm?

Anne went ahead with the bag to Domestic, along with 3 of the French while I waited for the couple. Finally at 2.20pm, I scampered to Domestic, I couldn't wait any longer. I felt so sorry for the French couple as they had limited English, one of their bags had not arrived and they would miss their connecting flight to Christchurch ... 😞

Met Anne at Domestic Security, huffing and puffing and off to Gate 29 to Christchurch. The ironic thing was we had no major hiccups during our 18 weeks away, until our return trip home! Christine was waiting at the airport for us and it was back to her house in Vernon Tce.

Thank you to all of you that have commented on the blog, or emailed saying you have enjoyed sharing in our travels!

It was wonderful spending time with both Sam, Urh and his family, and the boys' friends. Likewise Olivia, her colleagues and friends. My sister Nicola and Robert, seeing Atkins & Potts new production plant in Newbury, and Anne's relations up in Warrington (Angela, David & family). And the Reese's for allowing us to stay in their gorgeous Paris apartment. Everyone has been so hospitable and generous - thank you all so much!!

So ... it is lovely being home and it just reinforces what a great little country we live in. What struck me the day after we arrived home, was the big blue sky, the greenery and birds singing. New Zealand Aotearoa ... not a bad wee place to live!!

Ciao (until our next adventure!)

Last photos ... On Sunday Christine and I walked the Adventure Park, quite a grunty 5.2km, but the view from the Summit makes it worthwhile!