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Published: September 21st 2008
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Christchurch
Christ Church, Cathedral Square I was up at 7am today. I’d set my alarm as I didn’t want to miss everyone leave. Had a quick shower, a couple of breakfast cereal bars and shot off downstairs. No one had stirred, so I went for a quick walk around town. I hadn’t taken any photos of Christchurch, so took some of the surrounding area of Cathedral Square. It was still really quiet everywhere. However, when I’d got back to the hotel, the Connections coach was parked out the front and Nick was loading all the suitcases onboard. There were a few of the guys outside, Christiano, Kevin and Yannick, so we had a quick chat until all of the others came out. I said my goodbyes to as many as I could; though I still missed saying my farewells to a lot of the group. I gave Annabelle my card, so that she’d be able to send me the Fox Glacier photo I missed, when she got back home. She said to keep an eye out for her at Heathrow, as we were both getting back to England the following Sunday morning. I said I’d keep my eyes peeled.
And so they were gone. Just
like that!
My flight wasn’t untilmid-morning, but I still had to get to the airport, and be out of my hotel room by 9am. I had booked up a shuttle bus to pick me up from the hotel to the airport. I thanked the lady on the reception for her hospitality, as she’d helped me out with a few directions when I first arrived in Christchurch a week earlier, and waited around for five minutes or so for my lift.
I was the driver’s only fare, unlike the five other passengers when I got the lift into Christchurch last week. This meant that the driver was full of questions on the 20-minute journey to the airport. Where was I from? What I did? Had I enjoyed my time in New Zealand? It was another warm day, which the driver had said had been quite unusual, having so much nice weather, so early in the summer.
He dropped me off at the airport, and I checked in. I had lots of time to kill, so I sat and wrote up some of my diary notes for the past few days. I had then started to realise just exactly
how much I had done in the past few days. It was unbelievable.
After catching up with my notes, I had a quick look around the souvenir shops there. I had really set my heart on coming back with a picture or painting of one of New Zealand’s breathtaking landscapes, but didn’t really see anything I liked. It reminded me of the market in Christchurch on my first day of the tour. We passed a market stall with some excellent watercolours of places in Christchurch, as we walked over to Canterbury Museum. I’d decided it would be too awkward carrying them around for days on end. I did find a few bits and pieces though. I got a mug, a key ring and a postcard from one of the duty free shops. I had to pick them up on the way to the boarding lounge though. I still had around an hour to kill, so went and had a cup of tea and a cookie, and finished reading up on some of the places I’d visited. I made a decision there and then, that I would definitely be coming back.
It was time to board, so I made
my way through the security checks, picking up my duty free on the way.
There were no real problems this time. No delays, or anything which was good. I found my seat and got settled in. A lady had the window seat on my row, and the middle seat was empty which was another good thing - more room. I got chatting to the lady, and found out that she was a teacher from Dunedin, which is right at the foot of the South Island. It’s a very academic part of New Zealand, with strong English connection, and even has its own university. She was travelling to Sydney for some teachers’ conference or something. I told her a little about me, and she was interested. She was English, and used to live in Yorkshire, before she emigrated.
Emmigrating to New Zealand, is similar to Australia. You are only allowed to emigrate if you have a formal qualification. Guess the ends my chances of ever doing that then!
Before we took off we were chatting about the amazing view flying into Christchurch, over the Southern Alps. She agreed. It was spectacular. I mentioned how I had the aisle
seat on the flight (my choice I know. Had I known how much legroom there was on Air New Zealand flights, I wouldn’t have chosen it). She sympathised, and said that you have got to get some photos to show the folks back home, so she said that during take-off I could have her window seat, so I could get some perfect snaps. That was so nice of her.
As we flew over, I went a bit crazy with the photos, though it was such an awesome sight. There was still plenty of snow on the mountains, even at the start of their summer.
After we’d flown over and the ‘belts-on’ symbol had switched off, we changed back over. I will remember her kind gesture for a long time.
The flight was only an hour-and-a-half or so, so it was just enough time for me to finally reflect on the last seven days, and pick out the best memories. Also, I’d forgot, England had won the rugby, so I could wind up Bryan and the others, as they were so confident they’d win!
We touched down in Sydney. It had been a comfortable flight. It was sunny
there, and quite warm. I picked up the brandy and menthol cigarettes that Bryan’s neighbour had asked for, and made my way through customs.
I was to pick my car up at Avis, and Bryan and Damon would meet me there, so that Damon could give them his driver details too. However, they were running a little late, so I had a ten or twenty minute wait. The airport was really busy.
Bryan, Damon and Eileen turned up and we sorted out the car. I was quite lucky again, as I got another upgrade. This time, however, it was two grades. I ended up with a Toyota Camry. The newest version of what Bryan drove. It was easily the biggest car I’d ever driven.
Eileen couldn’t wait to tell me the good news. Danielle and Chris had got engaged. This was excellent news, and I was very happy to hear. Danielle is very like Kerry, my sister, in that she likes to have her future mapped out, so this was certainly a good thing for her.
Anyway, I picked up the car and drove, with Damon, back to Harbord. Bryan and Eileen went ahead in his
car.
It was good to be back driving again.
Our journey took us just under an hour, as there was a fair amount of weekend traffic on the roads.
We arrived back at Bryan and Paula’s, where I told them all about New Zealand. Lorna was there too.
After a sandwich and a drink I wanted to pop over to Warringah Mall as I wanted to get my photos developed. Whilst shopping around I got two dvd’s, ‘The Road to Perdition’ and ‘Anger Management’. I’d seen ‘The Road to Perdition’ before, and thought it was such a stylish film, that I just had to get it.
We had dinner at Bryan and Paula’s tonight, and when Danielle and Chris turned up, halfway through the evening, I gave my best congratulations to them both.
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