Day 1 New Zealand Bound

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Well I’d love to say I woke early and was off but since we don’t actually fly until 20:10 it’s just another day. But I did wake early and it’s a really beautiful morning, crisp and frosty but bright and sunny. Makes me think of Christmas and how strange it is going to be having Christmas in the summer time and also how weird its going to be being away from home at Christmas.

I took a walk to the local shops photocopied my new driving license (thank you DVLA for getting it back to me on time) and then came back packed my backpack for the final time and just about managed to squeeze it into my travel sac (and I thought the travel sack was going to be too big!) for the uninitiated my travel sack is basically a lightweight holdall (£17.99 www.catch22products) I can put my backpack in that means that all the straps and everything are tidied away and less likely to catch in the airport bag handling equipment. Yes I could have just bought a travel pack instead of a backpack but I was seduced by the Berhaus Bioflex system which is supposed to make the backpack more comfy when you are off the beaten path trekking which I plan to be.

Ok its lunchtime, off we set for Manchester Airport and the journey wasn’t too bad at all, although as usual the traffic was pretty heavy. We arrived at a freezing cold Manchester airport and checked in with the help of some very friendly and helpful Emirates staff. The attempted problems with my meds never materialised and we were waved straight through at security with no one even asking to see my doctors letter or prescription. Boarding, we were very pleasantly surprised at both the legroom and the amount of in seat amenities; seatback TV with a seemingless endless supply of movies, loads of which I wanted to see. Ethernet connection and power point for my laptop (had they put us in business class by mistake??) I was mildly disappointed with my spicy Asian vegetarian meal but then you can’t have everything. Although I was keen to get started on my blog and had a list of movies to watch (not to mention extensive reading material and endless trip planning to work on), we were both feeling pretty tired so once we’d eaten we thought wed try and get a head start on the jet lag and try and get some sleep before our 3am (7am local time) arrival in Dubai….

Yes well I’m afraid here was my attempts at a travel blog came to a premature end.

We’ve now been in New Zealand for almost four weeks and it seems like forever, I’ve lost all track of days and time. Is it Monday, Tuesday? Am I standing on my head or is the world the wrong way up?

I had all these plans to update my blog daily but it’s amazing how difficult it is to actually find time to sit down and write when you are travelling. Not to mention the fact that since we are staying in a camper and not a hostel we don’t always (or even usually) have access to electricity and certainly no WiFi connection. I knew this camper van idea was a bad one….

Anyhow, today is (I think) Wednesday 12th November and I’m typing this blog to you sat finally in the sunshine on a picnic bench at the lakeside holiday park in Te Anu, 2000 or so kilometeters from Auckland where we touched down some eleven days ago. Not bad 2000km in 11 days especially given the mountainous terrain, 100km speed limit and inclement weather we’ve endured.

I had so much to tell you all, but you know what my memory is like so please bear with me and let’s see where the story takes us..... Are you sitting comfortably then I’ll begin…….

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