Off to New Zealand's South Island for a few weeks with 2 of our grandchildren, Aylee and Nate. The adventure started straight away, as on the way to the airport at the Gold Coast we got as far as the Bogangar interchange to find the highway closed because of flooding. We knew it was closed yesterday because of the rain depression following Cyclone Debbie, but were unaware that that was still the case. It looked like the trip might be over before it began. We decided to go back to the Pottsville turn-off and try the Pottsville to Kingscliff road. Bradley was in the back seat and he checked on the phone to find out that it was open. We were still a little concerned about getting back onto the highway at Chinderah as it is pretty low at that point, but we had no worries. We were on our way.
Arrived at the airport and sent Bradley back home with the car, and then faced the electronic system for boarding passes and baggage. What a pain!! I do like being served by a real person. We were through the boarding gates without too much trouble - I had to remove my belt. Emigration is electronic as well, although for some reason the machine didn't like my passport and I had to talk to real people.
Take off was very smooth. Lots of water around from the floods. Dinner was a bit of a palaver. Didn't have everything on the menu and my credit card didn't work. Hope that is not a sign of things to come. Just as well one travels with more than one credit card. There was some turbulence about mid way through the flight but otherwise all was uneventful. Jetstar is very basic, even for flights across the ditch – not even a screen so no movie to watch for the 3 hour flight.
On landing in Christchurch we had a bit of excitement when Aylee was asked by the airport police to be a guinea pig, and carry in some "contraband" to test the skill of one of the sniffer dogs. The dog passed. Once through customs we headed to the Spark shop (NZ Telstra) and picked up some sim cards. One for a phone and a couple of data cards for devices. It seems we can’t do without keeping in touch with the world.
The taxi got us to our accommodation at around 11pm which is not quite as bad as it sounds, as we are two hours ahead of NSW time.
We have a two bedroom unit at the Christchurch Motel - very comfortable. Aylee made some hot chocolate and we were off to bed.
