Leaving day

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Last day in this now soggy, sodden, flooded place. It has indeed now been raining non-stop for the promised 24 hours so the forecast has been revised to 48 hours :-) The fire service here used an old air-raid siren to call the firemen to action and it went off at least twicew yesterday and three times last night.

Jet lag Rob says. Hmm. Tricky one - up to Auckland today and stop there for a couple of hours - time enough for a snack and a drink then onto a 23:00, 13 hour duration flight to LA. If I can stay awake on that one (which I doubt) and then sleep on the next 11 hour stretch to the UK, I should wake up at approximately the correct time of day. If that works, I'll be shocked. An alternative might to pretend the pointless LA debacle is a very day short indeed and sleep on both flights. Either way, I need to sleep on the London leg for this to work or I'll be landing in the evening just as the good folk of England finish off their breakfasts.

Nuff of that. It's been a pleasure sharing these trips with you - you are an attentive audience I must say ;-)

Now off to find too much coffee and perhaps indulge in a bit of shopping and posting of things before I head up to the airport (that sealed strip you saw in one of my pics all those days ago is Queenstown runway - they somehow manage to get quite large jets in there). Not sure there'll be much of a view of the alps on the way up as they're likely to be wrapped up tight in their enormous blankets of cloud.

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Photos

Glenorchy
and the head of Lake Wakatipu from Mt Alfred. Islands are Pigeon island (the big one) and Pig Island - no idea why

Scott Creek and Basin
From Mt Alfred. My xmas lunch spot is just up from the top left-hand bit of the top basin :)