Adelaide and Various Airports, Days 13 and 14

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - Day 13

Jim checks online to ensure we have everything we need for our flight out tomorrow morning and we arrange for a taxi to pick us up at 5:00 am the next morning. Adelaide has a central market similar to other big cities where local produce, meat, cheese, and other wares are sold . Central Market in Adelaide was no exception as it too had a wonderful selection to choose from, including small cafes to get a bite to eat. We ate our way through the marketplace including fresh baked bread, pastries both savory and sweet. This market also has many stores attached to the facility and we ended up in Chinatown. This was the only place we found cheap eats in Adelaide. Jim has commented that there has been no shortage of places to eat and one has to wonder how they all stay in business. It would be nice to see a burrito place now and again.

After getting our fill at the market, we decided to take a walk through the casino. Gambling must be a big problem here because there are postings everywhere about where to call for help. They are considering legislation (or whatever it is called here) to limit the max that can be bet on a slot machine to $1. The table games started at $10 and went to $50 minimum bets. Jim had a $2 coin so we wasted some time at a slot machine. Just like Nevada, the house kept the money.

Since we had limited tasting during our trip to Barossa Valley, we went to the National Wine Centre of Australia. Most of the facility was closed for a private function so we did not get to see too much. We went to the wine cafe and ordered 2 flights of 3 wines each. We took our time and enjoyed the tasting. The Wine Center is at the corner of the Botanical Gardens. When we depart we head out into the Gardens for a very short walk. Jim may have had his fill of gardens and our feet were getting tired, obviously not enough wine.

It was almost 5:00 and that means time for a beer. Jim had read in the beer book he bought at the beer festival that Coopers had a great ale house in town so we set out to find it. We find the pub and Jim is excited to see two hand pumps on the bar. We enjoy happy hour and get a bite to eat (sounds like all we do is eat and drink). The bartender is a very nice mate and we had our share of good brew but eventually, Lisa must drag Jim away as we have a lot to do to prepare for our long travel day tomorrow. The plan is to leave Adelaide at 6:30, change planes in Melbourne at 10:00 and then arrive in Christchurch around 3:30 pm. We then have a 2 hour drive to our apartment. Because this is our first travel day between cities that is not a direct flight, Jim is concerned. Lisa reassures him that everything will be just fine!

Goodbye Australia - Hello New Zealand

Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - Day 14
Jim checks online again and receives an email confirmation from the airline. We take an annoying ride in a taxi to the airport. There was a constant audible warning tone beeping away while we were in motion which the drive simply ignored. Multiple warning messages displayed - check drive train, low fuel, check engine, fasten seatbelt (driver was not wearing his). We were beginning to wonder if we were going to make it to the airport, but after a short drive we arrive in one piece. Whew. It is finally going to get better.

As we step into the terminal, we see our flight has been cancelled. What? Jim checks in at the Service desk. They have rescheduled us and now our long day of travel becomes an even longer day. We will not depart Adelaide until 10:30 AM (we could have used more sleep) and now we have a 6-hour layover in Brisbane. We will not get into Christchurch until after midnight. Our plans to say "Hello New Zealand" today have vanished and it is only 5:30 in the morning. We will now spend one full day of vacation in airports. What was it Lisa said about everything turning out just fine?

We get in the queue to check in to get boarding passes for our new schedule. Once we get to the counter the woman who assisted us must have taken 30 minutes to sort out our seats, luggage tags, and boarding passes. Got to love the Aussies, the line behind us was long but no one complained as they waited. As we watched our luggage move down the conveyer belt Jim waved good bye as with all the confusion we may never see it again. We got a bite to eat and a cup of coffee in the airport and met a few other folks that were in the same predicament as us. They seem to take it in stride. Now we had to let the rental car agency and the property manger for our apartment know we would not show up as scheduled. We chose Go-Rentals in New Zealand which came highly recommended. To our surprise they went out of their way to take care of us. After a few phone calls the arrangement was now for us to arrive in New Zealand after midnight, call a local hotel for them to send a shuttle to pick us up, and the rental car would be waiting for us. Almost sounded too good to be true.

We boarded the flight to Brisbane on time and the flight was not bad but on Virgin Australia there are no meals, drinks, or movies. Just get in, sit down, and hold on. We landed hard - very hard - in Brisbane but the plane held together. We had to take a metro train to get from the domestic terminal to the international terminal. There must be a lot of long lay overs in Brisbane because the information given to us by the airlines provided information on what to do for a 2-, 4-, 6-, or 8-hour layover, including taking the metro into city center for shopping. At this point with all that went wrong Jim did not want to leave the airport. It was time for Jim to call the property manager for the apartment we reserved but no one answered so Jim left a message. We requested a 2:30 AM check in time, which most would say, "yea right". Remember this is a small 4-unit apartment in the alpine hills not a large hotel in a big city. After about an hour we got a call from the manager and he said "no worries mate, I will leave the unit unlocked with the keys inside." What a guy! He even asked which type of milk we preferred (cream or light) so that he can leave it in the refrigerator for us. We found a deserted area of the terminal with some comfortable seating and tried to get some sleep for the next two hours. Lisa comments that once we leave the airport she can breathe a sigh of relief as she has not had a snake encounter in Australia and New Zealand does not have snakes.

Our flight to Christchurch was full and left on time, 6:00 PM. Since New Zealand is in a time zone three hours ahead we were really leaving at 9:00 PM. The flight was bumpy over the ocean and a little scary as we approached Christchurch as it was windy and raining but again we landed in one piece. Once we cleared customs we called the hotel for pickup. Within 5 minutes the shuttle arrived and we were off to get our rental car. Both the driver and the desk clerk were very helpful and within 5 minutes of arriving at the hotel we were in our rental car and driving off to our destination. Oh yeah, it was raining and we had to travel about 90 miles before we could put our heads on pillows. The drive was not bad as there was no traffic but we were both tired and ready for some sleep. We arrived at the apartment about 2:50 AM, took all our stuff in the apartment and went to bed. The day started at 4:30 am in Adelaide and ended around 3:30 am in Hanmer Springs so it was the longest day of vacation in our lives and one we hope we do not have to do again any time soon. We look forward to returning to the fun adventures after a few hours of sleep. Hello New Zealand! Finally.

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Photos

Coopers Ale House
Jim's favorite pub in Adelaide

The Treasury Building
This is the building we stayed at while in Adelaide, highly recommended.

Lisa Resting
Long lay over at Brisbane took its toll