More internal travel in New Zealand

I was all lined up to take the ferry from Wellington to Picton when the cousin I was planning to stay with wrote to say she was leaving for a house sit in France. As I was travelling with Intercity coaches from Hawera to Wellington this left me with two possibilities. One was to go to the bus station in the city, walk to the train station and wait 50 minutes for a shuttle bus to the ferry; the other was to continue with Intercity to Wellington airport and fly with the little aeroplane run by Sounds Air (soundsair.com) from Wellington to Picton. 

The bus arrives at 3.45 and I’m supposed to be checked in by 4.10 with departure at 4.40. There is always the chance that the bus might be late, but I decided it was worth the gamble. I rang Sounds Air and discovered that the plane only takes 12 passengers so check in shouldn’t take long. I’ll probably have to pay some excess for my extra bag that will be my cabin bag, but at 6 dollars it certainly seems worth it. 

Organising travel in New Zealand

As I am travelling on my own and I’m going almost the length and breadth of New Zealand, I decided to go almost everywhere by Intercity coach. I have been able to book all of the journeys from the  UK.  

After spending time in Auckland and New Plymouth my first journey by coach is to Waihi an old mining town on the East Coast of the North Island. I am spending Christmas there with my cousin Mary. My cousin Tina who is also there has already lined me up to play the piano for Christmas Midnight Service and 9.30 service, where I’ll accompany her singing. 

New Zealand Adventure

In two weeks time I will be flying to New Zealand with Singapore Airlines. This was recommended to me by my favourite travel agent for this journey, Austravel (austravel.com). As I live in Chester I shall be flying from Manchester Airport. There is one short stop in Singapore then off to Auckland where six weeks of adventure await me.