Home Again!
Oh, My Goodness!! Flying back from Milford Sound, I got to ride in the co-pilot’s seat of a 9-person propellor plane – over the mountains, through the passes, seeing the hanging valleys, above the clouds, and finally, along the lake to Queenstown! Just like the postcards!!
Not only that, we are now back in California, and acclimating back into our work and personal lives!
We drove from Queenstown to Christchurch, got there in time for a beautiful sunset we watched from our hotel window, along with cold white wine, and headed back to Auckland the next morning.
And that’s an interesting story about trusting the Universe!!
We had met a man on the North Island (in a pub watching a golf match on TV) who was familiar with where we lived. He found out my husband loves to fish and that we were leaving the next day for the South Island. He told us to look up his brother (an avid fisherman/guide) on the Rakaia River (just outside Christchurch).
We knew that would have to be one of the last things we did since we would only be in that neck of the woods on the way out of the country. So, as we came through Rakaia, my husband wanted to just keep driving. I said, “No. We’re here and we’re stopping.”
So we went to find Bruce. It took us a little time, but we found him (Blue as he’s known to his friends) at his favorite pub. He looked at us a little strangely when we two Americans brazenly walked up and introduced ourselves. After about 5 minutes of talking, though, we were like good friends, with him giving Tom lots of advice about fishing that river and asking if we’d be around very long so he could show Tom some spots.
We talked for about 30-40 minutes, thanked him, promised to come back and look him up next time so the boys could throw their lines into the river, and left to finish our drive back to Christchurch.
My husband knew I wanted to buy some Merino wool sweaters for home (they are light and warm at the same time), and he had heard an ad on the radio for a chain of stores. As we came into Christchurch, I directed him in the “back” way to avoid the commuter traffic we would have hit coming in the same route as the first time we were there.
Well, there on the corner was the store! So we stopped and I picked out two nice sweaters to bring back. That took another 30-40 minutes.
When we showed up at the hotel, they told us that the travel agent (yeah right) had cancelled our reservation and they were fully booked for the night (sound familiar – just like Lake Taupo). But wait, just 15 minutes earlier they had received a cancellation, so they could give us a room – just not quite the same room they had reserved for us before.
So, if we had NOT stopped to find Blue, and we had NOT stopped to buy my two lovely sweaters, then we would have been turned away AGAIN, and would have spent our last night in who-knows-where-hotel in New Zealand!!
And, as we were starting to unload the car and turn it over to the valet ($15/night) parking, a spot across the street opened up at a meter. Since it was after 6 p.m., we were able to leave the car there overnight and pick it back up before 9 a.m., thus avoiding any parking fees and fines.
The flight to Auckland was uneventful. Our baggage was booked through to Los Angeles and our family picked us up in Auckland for a few hours at their home, then we boarded the flight back to the US.
I’m still unpacking and getting things put up – although we’ve washed all the clothes and I think the suitcases are pretty much empty. As soon as I get an opportunity to go through the photos, I’ll get some posted.
My only real disappointment (and it is small, not large), is that it was too difficult to coordinate writing posts and putting up pix while we were gone. At least I was able to transfer them from my camera to my flash drive, and then to one of my websites for safekeeping!
New Zealand is definitely set up for tourists!! There were many internet cafes – not all at the same prices, and not all offering the same features, but I could always get in to check my emails, even if I could do nothing else.
And SkypeOut worked great! I highly recommend it if you are going to travel outside the US. It ended up costing me 2.1 cents a minute to talk anywhere in the US. That’s compared to .89 cents a minute to use the cellphone I had borrowed (and installed my own SIM card). You know which one I used the most!!
Amazingly, customs was a breeze – and the only “problems” on the entire trip turned out to be minor!! We made all our connections, and although we were about an hour late getting back home, we, and our luggage, arrived safely and securely!!
P.S. Tom never did get to fish while we were in NZ. I promised him that the next trip there will specifically include fishing for him! And yes, we’re going back! It’s a wonderful place with happy, friendly, helpful people and we loved it!