New Zealand - Jan 22
The flight from Rotorura to Christchurch
took just over an hour. We flew on Air New Zealand. If you ever
fly to New Zealand, you may get there on Qantus, but once you are in
the country, you may find it more convenient to fly from city to
city on Air New Zealand. They are kind of like Southwest Airlines
is to
the Unites States.
One thing we did
like while flying around Australia and New Zealand on Qantus and Air New Zealand
was the in-flight service. They still serve meals like the US
airlines used to do 10 years ago. They also still allow
pre-boarding for people with children. Most US airlines now
force you to purchase your meals separately and encourage you to
bring your own food on the plane, and many have eliminated
pre-boarding. It was a nice change to have food, beer and wine
all for free on several of our flights.
We arrived in
Christchurch around 4:30 pm on Sunday the 22nd. Christchurch
is a big tourist town and is known for being a quaint town with
plenty of things to see and do. My goal was to relax in the
hotel and catch up on some much needed sleep. We stayed at a retro hotel
right downtown called Off the Square. It was literally one
block off the main square downtown. It had cafes all around it
and it was right next door to the Trolley Station. They had an
old time trolley that ran throughout the downtown area like a bus.
[photogallery/photo00024464/real.htm]
When we checked in, the
receptionist told us that the International Buskers Festival was
going on that week. A busker is a street performer.
Christchurch invites the worlds most popular Buskers to Christchurch
every year to showcase their talents. Each morning starting at
10am til 7pm, a different street act would be performed every hour.
The performers ranged from acrobats, jugglers, comedians, etc...
It was quite entertaining to watch.
[photogallery/photo00025667/real.htm]
We spent a lot of time walking
around Christchurch and checking out the city. We ate at
different restaurants each day. One of my favorites was the
Sergeant Peppers Steakhouse Restaurant. It was a tribute to
the Beatles. The steaks were awesome. We found the place
by just walking down the street. We almost missed it because
the front entrance was only a single door between two other stores.
We had to walk upstairs to the restaurant. There were Beatles
pictures all over the walls and Beatles music playing all the time.
It was quite cool.
[photogallery/photo00026299/real.htm]
The downtown area of Christchurch
was very well laid out and easy to get around. Plenty of
outdoor restaurants, pubs, and a lot of parks along a river.
Here are some pictures we took while we walked around:
[photogallery/photo00017035/real.htm]
We couldn't figure out what to do
on our last day. We didn't have enough time to white water
raft, bungie jump, or ski dive. So instead, we decided to take
a 3 hour horse back ride. It was quite enjoyable. We
went on several trails and crossed a river several times. They
let us run and trot the horses quite a bit. Being from Texas,
I was used to riding western style saddles, so I had to learn the
English saddle thing. Not too tough, but the hat made me look
like a total dork. That's why you won't see my picture in the
photos below:
[photogallery/photo00009894/real.htm]
We flew out of Christchurch at
4:30 pm on Tues New Zealand time on Qantus Airlines. That
would be around 12:30pm Monday US time. We first flew to
Auckland, New Zealand (1.5 hours) to catch an International Qantus
flight to Los Angeles, CA. The flight to LA would take 13
hours. After a 2 hour lay-over in LA in order to clear US
Customs, we would catch a flight to Salt Lake, City, UT that would
take approximately 2 hours, then after an hour lay-over, we'd catch
a flight from Salt Lake City to Dallas which would take another 2
hours. As I write this, I'm sitting on the plane to Dallas.
So if I total it up, we'll have been traveling for approximately
20.5 hours. Then figure on an hour to get our luggage in
Dallas, 20 minutes to get to long term parking, and 1.5 hours to
drive home. So in total we'll have traveled for almost 23
hours to get home. The time in Dallas when we land will be
8:30pm Tuesday, so the NET travel time will only by 4 hours from the
time we left New Zealand. That's an example of modern day time
travel. Since New Zealand is about 16 hours ahead of Dallas,
we gain a whole day coming back home. It sure doesn't feel
like it though. I can never get much sleep on a plane, so I'm
looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.
As we sit thinking about our trip,
we are so glad we finally did it. I hindsight, we waited too
long. All the things we thought would be difficult, like
driving on the other side of the road, money conversions, travel
plans, etc... just weren't as hard once you get over there. We
got to see things we never thought we would, eat new types of foods,
experience new cultures, and most importantly, visit good friends
and meet several new ones. It's an experience we'll not soon
forget. Once again, we'd like to thank all the people in
Australia and New Zealand that welcomed us into their homes and made
our trip so enjoyable. We hope we can return the favor some
day.
Chuck & Michele Gleason
