THURSDAY, LEAVING CHRISTCHURCH

 

It's an early start for us today.

Up at 6, and out of here by 6.30.

Stew is going to drop me and the bags off at the airport, before returning the rental car.  He will get the shuttle back to the airport.

Our flight, all going well, leaves shortly after 9, so we should land by around 10.15.

Then it will be HOME TIME... and while our trip away has been fun, it's also been tiring.

All I can think of right now is getting home and relaxing.

Unpacking will happen much later on today.

ABOVE: A couple of photos I missed putting up yesterday. Our dirty lunch dishes from PASTA PASTA.  I thought there were neat, having little messages on the bottom of them.   The restaurant owner was wearing a t-shirt with PASTA PASTA printed on it, and I asked him if they were selling them?

He said no, as they had only been open 3 months.  I told him we were coming back next year and I wanted one!  I wonder if he will get any printed off for sale?  😂

And that's enough waffling from me, I really need to get a move on, the plane waits for no one.

ONWARD...

ABOVE: Wet and dark, heading out to the airport.  I can now say with 100% accuracy... we did not see the sun at all while in the South Island! 

Here's hoping we get home to sunshine. 

Our flight doesn't leave for 2 hours yet, so we have time for a leisurely breakfast here in the terminal.

8.40 am and its nearly time to board our plane.

My carry on bag got flagged at security and we were pulled aside for questions. The security officer was looking VERY puzzled about the contents of my bag. Lol. I'll show you what caused the fuss once we are home.

9.34 am and just our luck. We are sitting on the plane and our departure is now delayed due to the baggage loading machine being broken. So we have to wait for another machine to arrive. Expected delay is around half an hour, on top of the 15 minute delay we have had already.  🫩  

We arrived back in Hamilton with no trouble or rough weather, which was expected.  So happy it didn't happen.

A few of the trip home photos:

ABOVE: Sitting on the tarmac, watching the sun try to peep through. It gave up.

ABOVE: Snow topped ranges west of Hanmer Springs.

ABOVE: The weather wasn't that conducive of taking photos... this one was of some snow capped ranges  near Nelson.

We really didn't seem much snow at all.

ABOVE: Kawhia Harbour, and our plane was descending into Hamilton by then.

The flight was smooth, we arrived about 1 and a half hours late at the end of the day.

We have already done most of the unpacking.  Stew is getting ready to head into an important meeting at work that he can't miss, then once he's home, I'll be taking him to the pub.

Not sure if I will go to the pub tonight, I'll see how I feel later.

ABOVE: THESE were what caused the fuss at security!  They couldn't make out what the hell they were, so I had to explain.  The security officer said she thought we had a actual OCTOPUS in my bag.  😂😅

We got both those in Akaroa... and we have ordered two more of the metal bees, they should arrive in a few days.

ABOVE: The larger rock was the one we got in Akaroa, which cost me my knees.  The smaller one is from the Christchurch Port Hills.

ABOVE: The fabric stash from three different shops.  Fabric weighs a lot, and with all that, and the few other things we bought (and rocks), our suitcases were almost at capacity weight.  We just squeaked in.

ABOVE: Another purchase from Akaroa, I have always wanted one of these vases.  It's so gorgeous!

We bought a few other things, but they are for gifts, so can't show them.

It is now 1.20 pm, and we have finished unpacking, and putting stuff away.  Time to relax.  Well, for me anyway.  As I said, Stew has a work meeting soon.

7.42 pm, and tonight is the first time Stew has walked to the pub, and will be walking home again!   This is what I wanted when we moved here, not having to take him up there and then picking him up again IF I didn't feel like it.

So, it's taken 14 months, but here we are.

I stayed home and did a few jobs, did a big Facebook update and just relaxed.

I'm hoping we both get a good night's sleep tonight, as last night was awful.  Worrying about sleeping in and missing the plane I presume.

Right, that's me for the day.  

Catch ya tomorrow.