Thursday, May 31

May 31, 2207

Josh and I woke up this morning because the laundry was being started up across the hall from our room. A GOOD THING! When I looked at the clock it read 7:45 or so. Apparently, because I hadn’t checked the alarm clock very well the night before and because we’d left the cell phone in the car, we woke up about 15 minutes later than we had planned.

Josh got up to shower first and I packed up and made the bed while he was out of the room. Then, it was my turn to bathe. I had told Josh to take a “one quarter” shower which referenced the times when we were on our other camping road trips and we would have to use pay showers. In order to save money, we’d try to shower by using only one quarter each which meant taking a REALLY FAST shower.

We were ready to eat breakfast at 8:10. The “porridge” aka oatmeal was sitting on the stove for us and the dishes and cutlery were out as well. Ken was sitting in his recliner and Fenn was scuttling about taking care of the laundry and other chores. After helping ourselves to the porridge, Josh and I sat down at the table and ate our breakfast.

We spoke a bit to Ken and Fenn then we returned to our room to get our things to pack up the car. We were backing out of the driveway at 10 till 9. We hoped that was sufficient time for Ken and Fenn to make it to Timaru for their appointment. We, certainly, had time to make it to Christchurch for our 1:30 flight to Palmerston North.

The drive from Ashburton to Christchurch is only about 80 kms and on the drive Josh and I commented that even though we just spent over a month together almost 24 hours everyday we wish we could spend more time together. When we reached Christchurch around 10, we found a park with plenty of open parking spaces to sort out our luggage situation. We opened all the car doors and the trunk and went about the business of organizing all our papers, books, and clothes. Josh is definitely the master organizer in our relationship. It only took us 30 minutes or so before all of our gear was neatly packed up.

We drove over to a Subway to suppliment that morning’s porridge. We split a toasted foot long club sandwich on garlic bread. Since we ordered the sandwich as a meal, the girl at the counter asked us if we wanted a medium or large drink but told us refills were free so we might as well get the medium…FREE REFILLS…we love Subway…and we purchased the medium drink.

Josh and I enjoy hanging out in Subways because it brings back memories of hanging out in the Caddo Valley Subway while we were at HSU. I could have hung out longer (especially with the soda free flowing) but Josh (for the first time EVER) was pushing us towards the airport so we would not miss the flight.

We left Subway around 11 and stopped in to buy gas before reaching the airport. Josh topped us off (I noted that there are not many pay-at-the-pump gas stations in NZ) and we headed to the rental car depot to return the rental car before going to the airport.

Josh had feared the impact that the broken hubcap would have on our pocketbook, however, the young guy at the counter did not seem overly concerned about it. He said that he would take a picture of the damaged hubcap and the agency in Nelson would let us know if there was anything we needed to do. So, no pocketbook damage YET!

We were driven to the airport in the Sunny T (which was only a 5 minute drive from the rental car depot) where we unloaded all of our luggage onto a trolley. Then it was off to check in. However, before we could check in, we needed to finish getting ourselves sorted (like Josh wearing his fleece jacket and his suit jacket to take weight out of our luggage). We pre weighed all the bags at this convenient scale the airport has set up before you reach the check in counter so there aren’t any surprises. Surprises include having to pay $5 NZD for every kilo you are over the 20 kgs/person you are allotted.

By the time we had taken care of all this, the Air NZ line had dissipated, so we were able to walk straight up to the counter. The whole process of flying domestic in New Zealand is interesting. At least this time, the guy who had checked us in asked for identification and if we’d packed our own bags and if we had any sharp objects in our carry on bags.

I had originally booked us in seats in row 1, however, when I was talking to the ticket agent, I asked for an emergency exit row over the wing…Well, there is no “over the wing” in this aircraft as the wing is attached above the body of the plane. I don’t think the guy understood what I was asking for (because as it turns out row 1 is an emergency exit row with additional legroom) but he did do us the favor of putting us in row 9 C,D and because it wasn’t a completely full flight, he blocked 9 A,B so we could move over there during the flight. Our luggage was only .3 kgs overweight so we didn’t have to pay any additional fees.

After checking in, we had about an hour before our flight departed. We picked out a seat by the departures monitor and sat down to read. Remember how quickly the status of a flight can change here (based on our first experience on the Auckland to Palmerston North when we were moving here?) well, it was the same situation today. Watching the monitor, here is how the post-check in process goes on the monitor: Proceed to Departure Lounge (which is a big open area), Proceed to Departure Gate (but remember, there aren’t really gates like you think of in the states…it’s just one big corral about 30 feet from the Departure Lounge…so you might as well stay in the lounge and have more space), Boarding (which literally last 5 minutes on the screen), followed by Final Call.

When it was our turn to board, we loaded up our carry ons and pushed through the crowds standing around the Departure Gate (we’d opted to stay in the lounge) and then boarded our flight. Josh and I sat together for take off (which felt a bit wobblier than usual) then, when I realized the view from this side of the plane was only going to be of the ocean, I switched to the other side of the plane to have a mountain view. Overall the flight was smooth. I was able to view the snow capped peaks in the Kaikoura area from the air, however, as we flew over the water separating the South and North Islands, the clouds thickened and nothing but white cloud was viewable. Well, Mount Egmont was sticking up out of the clouds as we approached the North Island. It was dramatic but not quite as AWESOME as the flight we had to Nelson on a sunny day.

The flight took an hour and it was neat to land back in Palmerston North again like the first time we arrived here. Josh joked about me doing a leg kick when I got off the plane, so I did that again…I guess it’s going to become a Palmerston North Airport tradition! We picked up our bags, found where Grame had parked the car, checked to see if the mail we had held was available (it was 3:30 and that part of the post office had closed at 2:30…New Zealand hours!), bought groceries and gas and settled into the house again.

It was an amazing adventure!