Wellington to Melbourne

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Very early start today-up at 2am. Final check in time was 4am at Wellington Airport and I hate being late. We were lucky to get a lift to the airport with my cousin Leslie and her brother Gary who were also heading to Melbourne for the Cup. They were on the same wave length in terms of timing and as a result we arrived just after 3am. Top marks for enthusiasm all round but unfortunately the airport was closed at that time of the morning - who would have thought! The doors didn't open until 3.30am so we had to hang around outside for a while. No worries on a typically balmy Wellington morning. Once we were inside it was still after 4am before machines were turned on and we could check in. Bit of a messy start to things all in all, which would very much prove to be an omen for the day ahead. However everything else from check in to take off went smoothly.

Unfortunately when we got airborne things got complicated. Around 40 minutes out from Wellington the pilot announced that there was possibly trouble with one engine and rather than head out into the Tasman they would circle close to Wellington while they tried to figure out what was going on - I'm thinking that's sensible plan. Much better than being half way across the Tasman and the pilot announcing "oops one of our engines just fell off sorry about that folks"! In the end the pilot in conjunction with Air NZ on the ground decided a safety first approach would be appropriate - again top marks for that! The decision was made to divert to Auckland and have plane checked over by the Air NZ maintenance crew based there. The result being a 4 hour delay so instead of heading off at 6am to arrive in Melbourne at 8am, we left Auckland at 11.30 am and arrived in Melbourne around 2pm. To cap things of fit was a pretty bumpy flight especially the last hour coming in to Melbourne. So not the ideal start to our exciting Melbourne adventure.

On arrival in Melbourne we were met at the terminal by tour host Des Coppins and the Sporting Tour people - things went much more smoothly from there. We were bused to our accommodation The Swanston Grand Mercure which is a nice Hotel right in the heart of the Melbourne CBD. After settling in it was off shopping (definitely NOT my favourite past time). Jeanette needed a dress for Melbourne Cup which thankfully she found without too much searching! First impressions of Melbourne are really positive it has been very easy to get around and it looks like there's heaps to do! I love public art and there are some awesome examples around the CBD,

We had an evening meet and greet with others on the tour and that went very well, lots of very friendly people all with shared love of racing, Should be a great week.

First big race day tomorrow, very exciting!

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Photos

OMG
Jeanette was using scales to weigh bags this morning. Rooky mistake - I decided to jump on and check my weight-won’t be doing that again in a hurry! Definitely time to eat better and exercise more!!

Stuck in Auckland
Fortunately is around 11am in Melbourne - Close enough!

Public Art
I love seeing public art and these guys are really cool

Great Location
Our accommodation is right in the heart of Melbourne