Travelling adventures
One of the lovely things about coming to New Zealand in December is that the Pohutukawa Tree, also called the Christmas tree is in bloom. There is a whole avenue of them leading down to the bay in Milford. This was the best specimen and the sun was enhancing the colours in spectacular fashion.
The day itself had begun quite grey, but by midday the sun was beautiful and sparkled on the water. There is a lovely view of Rangitoto from the beach .
I was delighted to pass through this Maori carving gateway as I made my way to the Bio Security. I had filled in that my trainers had been on a farm. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for the introduction of foot and mouth disease to New Zealand. The girl checking them did a great job of steam cleaning them and gave them back to me in a nice plastic bag.
Once I came into the arrivals hall I was anxiously scanning around for Peter, who at 6’ 6” is pretty hard to miss. He suddenly materialised in front of me and as I had done when we landed I felt a bit emotional. It’s quite something to be back after 13 years.
The drive back to Milford took rather longer than it should have and as we detoured around various streets of Ponsonby and finally crossed the bridge Peter remarked that we’d been on a real Tiki Tour.
There is no doubt that travelling Business Class made a huge difference to the state I was in upon arrival, I was determined to have my body clocked switched to New Zealand time from the moment I set foot on the aeroplane. Having my own space made this so much easier to accomplish,
Over the two legs I watched three films and tried to eat and sleep according to New Zealand time. I could have read, but the novelty of having time to watch films was more appealing. When I reached saturation point with movies I moved on to playing Pac-Man much to the amusement of the cabin crew.
My flight with Singapore Airlines arrives at 23.30 on Monday 10th December. My old school friend Barbara and her husband Peter are meeting me.
As you can see from the map it is a 41 minute drive to their home so it is going to be well into the early hours of the morning when we arrive there. Not only will I have to clear passport control, and pick up my baggage, but I will probably have to have my trainers steam cleaned. This is done if your shoes have been near farms to prevent any disease like Foot and Mouth from entering New Zealand.
In just less than 9 hours I’ll be taking off from Manchester International Airport and doing the first leg of my flight to Singapore.
I’m flying Business Class, which will be a new experience for me. I shall take some photos in both the plane and the lounges. After an hour in Singapore Airport I shall set off on the second leg of my journey to Auckland.
As I bought my airplane tickets in February, actually going has always seemed months away. I’ve worked steadily through a series of things that had to be done, like contacting friends and relatives in various places, booking all the internal travel and even purchasing my New Zealand dollars; done online through Post Office Travel Money, but until December arrived it was always sometime in the future. Now there are four days left to pack.
Packing for six weeks when you are flying to your destination is much more challenging than three, the longest I’ve been away in recent years. As I’ve been unfortunate enough to inherit every affliction both sides of my family could heap upon me the medication alone for six weeks is taking up some space. I have to consider that I might be lugging suitcases on and off coaches and that the 12 seater plane has limited luggage space. Fortunately it is summer in New Zealand and summer clothes are always lighter.
My idea for the flight is to check both my hold and cabin bags into the hold and take my essentials for the flight in my tote bag. This should make for a more comfortable experience.
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.
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.
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.
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!