We're back

Well, here we are back in Wanaka, New Zealand after nine months.   We are very happy to be here to see Dan, Annie and the kids.   

 

First a few words about the flight trip down here.  Just for fun I started my stop watch from the minute we walked out our front door and stopped it when we arrived at Dan’s house.  Total time: 26 hours!!   A big thank you to our friend Sue Flint for the ride to the Phoenix airport.  On this trip we brought 3 large bags and two carry ons each. At home each bag weighted right at 49 pounds give or take but at Southwest Airlines one of them weighed about 52 pounds so once again we were on the floor rearranging  stuff to make sure nothing weighed over 50 pounds.  We got it done, barely.  Coming home we won’t have this problem because we had a lot of stuff for the family.  The biggest issue, however, was my carry on which had to weigh at least 35 pounds.  I had purchased a poker chip set for the kids and it was very heavy, so heavy that a fellow passenger had to help me lift it up to the storage bin.  That too will remain in NZ.   Last summer we flew from PHX to LA via American Airlines so the transition to Air New Zealand was very easy.   Not this time.  The Southwest terminal was at least one mile from ANZ.   Thankfully we had rented push carts for our bags but we both sweating by the time we made the transition. Our bags did not gain weight on the flight to LA so no issue at ANZ except that they would not check our bags through to Queenstown, our final flight destination, and we would pay the physical price later in Auckland. The flight to Auckland took off on time for our 12 hour jaunt across the Pacific.  We upgraded to Premium Economy which gave us more leg room, a further seat recline and a better meal. Still, 12 hours is 12 hours.   It can seem like a 120 hours. 

We each had a problem with our seats.  Mine would recline back immediately no matter how softly I touched it with my head and Joan’s wouldn’t move at all unless I got up and pushed it back with everything I had.   Although the flight attendents did their best to rectify the situation nothing could be done to fix the problems.   I’m sure that when I send in our review of the flight we’ll be comped with two free business class seats when we return!   Yeah, right!!

 

We arrived in Auckland on time, cleared customs, had our bags x-rayed again to make sure we weren’t bringing in produce to the country (Joan had some prepackaged chocolate dates that she “forgot” to tell them about and the x-ray machine missed and then we secured two carts to go to another terminal for our final flight.  And this is where we paid the price for the “no check through” to Queenstown.   We were told to just follow the painted green line and you’ll arrive at the domestic terminal, eventually. This turned into a two mile walk pushing all our stuff. The alternative was to take the bus shuttle to the terminal but that would have meant lifting the heavy bags onto and off the bus and I wasn’t about to do that!  We were very happy to finally get rid of the bags for the short flight to the South Island.  Easy flight EXCEPT for the gigantic weather bump we hit after cruising quietly. A real wake up call and there were more than a few gasps from the passengers.   

Very disturbing but no harm.

 

It was great to be greeted by Dan and an easy 45 minute ride to the rental house after a brief stop at Pembroke bakery to pick up lunch and an almond croissant.

 

We have been here for 3 full days now and I’ll be back soon with more of our adventure.  Look close by for some photos taken in the last few days.