Well, the dream that was my 10-week trip to New Zealand is now officially over. You blog readers are lucky though, because while this entry describes my last days in the country/my exciting plane trip over to Brisbane, it won’t be my last entry…since I have a good portion of Fiordland to describe, having not had time to give all the things I did there proper written treatment while I was actually there.

Anyway, this blog has pretty much been about me running around like a beheaded chook trying to do everything I possibly can while in New Zealand. I finally decided that, after over 2 months of running myself ragged, that it might be good to have a day of relaxation (especially since I don’t want to turn up at training in Perth absolutely knackered!). So, instead of sticking around in Christchurch for my last day in NZ, I caught the “Hanmer Connection” bus into Hanmer Springs, which is about an hour-and-a-half drive towards Lewis Pass, which crosses the Southern Alps that divide the island into east and west coasts. This also meant that I made good on my vow, made after the Copland Track, that the next hot springs I was going to go to were going to be some that I could ride a bus to rather than walking 17kms!

The hot springs were housed in a complex that cost $15 for a return ticket, meaning I could leave and come back in once. I paid the extra $5 for unlimited access to the waterslides as well just for kicks. The pools themselves were very much like warm swimming pools, in that they were concrete-bottomed and surrounded by sidewalks; it was not at all like the natural springs at Welcome Flat, but at least I didn’t get my swimsuit covered in mud the day before I flew! There were plenty of choices of what to swim in–I could go in the freshwater, chlorinated pool, the various heated swimming pools, the rock pools that used filtered natural hot spring water, or the hot pools that had 40 degree C unfiltered, fully natural and very sulfurous, water. My friend that I met on the bus and I went in the unnatural hot pools, followed by the very hot pools (which we couldn’t sit in for more than 5 minutes without breaking out into a heavy sweat), followed by the rock pools. All of them were quite nice to just sit and relax in, although I suppose I was a bit disappointed in the scenery–I thought there were going to be mountains all around, and while I could see a few, the complex blocked most of the views. There were quite a few nice redwoods around, but I suppose the 17km walk on the Copland Track was worth it, because it was absolutely nothing compared to that. The waterslides were pretty fun too, but there were only a couple pretty small ones; they were a nice change after sitting around for a couple hours though!

After I showered and changed into dry clothes, I had lunch in town and then headed for Liz Ryan Massage, where I treated myself to a 45-minute massage. It was really quite good, since my back and neck muscles had really tightened up over the course of the six overnight walks that I did in NZ. Plus, I’d never had a professional massage before. I left feeling calmer and with a slightly less wound-up neck & back. From there, I had a wander down the main street before heading back into the hot pools for the rest of the afternoon, where I talked to a couple for a while before leaning back and literally nearly dozing off and missing my bus.

I thought this was a really good way to end my trip–mellowed out with nothing to worry about, just trying to get my body ready for the daily grind that I’ll be starting in a couple weeks. However, the next morning somewhat shattered that calm that I had created with my trip to Hanmer when I arrived at the airport at 4am only to find out that all of the flights out–all to Australia at that time of the morning–had been put on hold after a phone call from Auckland grounded all Airbus A330s (I think–I know it was an Airbus, just not sure what type). The AirNZ flights to Melbourne and Sydney got cleared pretty quickly, but unfortunately the Brisbane plane failed the test, so we were removed from the line and handed $6 vouchers to buy food in the airport (sound familiar, Megan and Cristina?). This will buy exactly 1 bacon & egg McMuffin imitation, so they weren’t exactly being generous; plus I was annoyed that I was the second person lined up for Brisbane and they were making me give up my precious spot in the queue, which now stretched nearly to the door of the terminal.

After eating my tasty meal, I lined up at the departure tax counter to try to pay my $25 fee for leaving the country, but when I reached the counter they told me that all of the people going to Brisbane had been rerouted through Auckland and that I should check before paying, as they would not refund me and I would have to pay again in Auckland since the airports are owned by different private corporations. I feel like I was understandably frustrated when I went to the counter and asked about this new development; they told me that yes, the flight had been cancelled and that I could get the last seat on the plane to Auckland. Why had they not announced this to the general public? I don’t know. Perhaps it was a test that only the most insistent people could pass. I nearly killed the guy at the counter when it took him forever to check me in. He didn’t want to let me on the plane because I didn’t have a return ticket from Australia, and it didn’t seem to make sense to him that I had a 4-year-long visa. He finally decided to actually read the documents I handed to him and issued me the tickets, but it sure took him a while and I certainly wasn’t going to buy a return ticket (like Jetstar made someone I met do at the gate when she tried to come over to NZ) because my visa didn’t require that.

I finally made it to the gate and was trying to calm myself down for the flight when a friendly couple from Noosa sat down next to me. We got to chatting; they were also flying to Brisbane and were also slightly perturbed because they had a shuttle booked that they were now going to miss. They sat in a different place on the plane than me, but we ran into each other again in the massive queue of Brisbane-bound people waiting for the inter-terminal bus in Auckland and then again after we cleared security. At this point, even though I was running 3 hours behind schedule, the extra detour to Auckland started to seem okay; this was mainly because the duty-free store had a 20% off special for anyone buying alcohol and going to Australia. I ended up getting the requisite 2 bottles of Bundaberg Rum for $46NZ–cheaper than it’s sold in Brisbane’s duty free, which is crazy since it’s made only a couple hours from here!

The gate area for the Brisbane flight was absolutely packed, and I hadn’t realized that we were flying on a 747 across the Tasman Sea. Even more shocking was that, after talking to the couple from Noosa and a few other people, I found out that everyone flying from Christchurch had actually been upgraded! The only thing about this that angered me a little was that I had been upgraded to premium economy while many of the other passengers had been upgraded to business class–something I would have gotten if they hadn’t made me leave the line and then not announced any further developments! I couldn’t complain too much though, because I had an extra 6 inches of leg room, a footrest, a cabinet in which to put my carryon so it didn’t get in the way of my feet, only 1 seat next to me (I was on the aisle) as opposed to 2, a dedicated flight attendant for our 4 rows that brought us any food or drinks we needed, a thicker blanket, and a better TV screen. Not too bad, considering I paid a normal economy fare!

Even better was the fact that the couple I knew were upgraded to business class, as well as a couple from Rockhampton that I’d talked to in the airport. They told me that I had to come up and visit them, which I did after having lunch. Everyone in business class had had a 3-course lunch with plenty of free alcohol, so they were all feeling rather happy. When I arrived, they let me sit down and ordered me a glass of champagne and then took pictures to document it, given that I will probably not be in business class again anytime soon! It was fortunate that I’d bought a nice work outfit a couple days before I left because I actually looked like I fit too. Good lord though, the things they are given in business class are insane; they got a chair that reclined and flattened into a bed that joined up with their ottoman, all the magazines they wanted, privacy in the small walls between each seat, which was only one to each side of the aisle, free champagne and good food, etc, etc, etc. The ottomans even have seatbelts on them so people can wander around and chat with one another, as I was clearly doing. I really enjoyed myself, and since I sat there until the seatbelt sign came on for landing, I was even given one of the express passes through immigration and customs since the flight attendant didn’t realize I didn’t belong in business!

The only downer after getting off the plane was that my photo album was taken off me; I had bought it especially for New Zealand prints and it had a nice kiwi design on the front plus a few leaves pressed into it. Unfortunately, the binding was partially made of banana leaves, which were apparently impossible to remove or treat. I was given the option of either sending it home at a cost of over $50 and lots of time or just throwing it away. I chose to chuck it so it wouldn’t become even more of an exercise in wasting money than it already was, but it was very sad since I didn’t buy a huge number of souvenirs for myself.

Overall though, it was a good last few days and it ended with what was possibly the best flight I’d ever had…and then I got to see James at the airport! And for those that are keeping track, he did reach his goal of raising $1000 for leukemia. He shaved his head a few weeks ago, but since he just reached that marker, we got to wax his legs this weekend. It was quite amusing, although disturbing to see the amount of hair that came off and how much he liked his smooth legs afterwards!