New Zealand Trip

Part 1-The Outward Journey

This next adventure to the other side of the world began as all long journeys do; with the first step. At 11.00 am on Monday 30^th November we locked our door. We are grateful that our friends, Paul and Mary were the first part of the journey, on a damp morning to the i4 bus. It was a good call to leave at that time in the morning and have plenty of room for our cases and cabin bags.

At Broadmarsh coach station there was time for sandwiches before going to the coach stop. When it did arrive, slightly late, we were told that it had broken down and we were to go on another coach and change at Milton Keynes. We faced with two slight causes for concern. The first one was as to how long we would have to wait at Milton Keynes and the second was the signs on the M1 advising of 1 ½ hours delay after Milton Keynes.

In the event there was no time lost at Milton Keynes. With regard to the second cause for concern the driver opted to keep off the M1. Despite being on roads not designed for the coach we eventually arrived at Heathrow only 30 minutes late.

The transfer to the Premier Inn went quite smoothly. A young man took us through the intricacies of self-check in. Using a code sent to Irene’s mobile phone the machine delivered us two key cards and a room number. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the furnishing. Having got sorted out we went down for a good meal in the restaurant. A good night’s sleep followed and at 5.00 am we were up and making our way to the airport.

Check-in was, like the Premier Inn, also streamlined. Once I had found the correct code from the many supplied it was a simple matter to have boarding passes and case labels printed. There was still a queue for baggage check in. This time our cabin bags were given a seal of approval. This was the first time in our travels that we have sent our luggage to go on ahead to Auckland. This was a bit un-nerving. Going through security was not as bad as I imagined it might have been, given the recent terrorist alerts. One of the security guards asked me if I had any liquids. I said, “No.” and that was that.

Terminal 2 has really hit international quality standards. It is a beautiful, easy to use facility. We had breakfast at ‘Eat’. Mine was croissants and Irene had yoghurt. Soon we were through the gate and walking down the long metal tube to our seats. Having booked a window seat, it did not happen. This was not a great problem.

The flight was long and steady with good food and plenty of movies. It felt quite odd walking to the ‘Transit Hotel’ with just our cabin bags.

It was 5.30 am (local time) when we arrived at the hotel where we were greeted politely and given our room keys. At first sight the room was very much of the ‘Premier Inn’ style. There were clever touches. One wall was a mirror and this gave the impression of being in a larger room. Next to this was a ceiling to floor curtain. However when I opened it I was face with a wall. The room had no windows and was almost sound proof, apart from an inconsiderate couple walking by our door halfway through ‘our' night.

A note on the wall said that shaving kit was available. It was quite a luxury to be able to have a shave at this point in the journey. By 3.00 pm we were ready to get up and go explore the airport. The first stop was ‘breakfast’. This came in the form of donuts and coffee at ‘Dunkin Donuts’.

The one thing that we wanted to do was to visit the butterfly house. This is a great feature of Changi airport. It is a roomy cage on two levels with a waterfall. There are loads of colourful butterflies and moths.

Unfortunately our flight was not until around 1.00 am. This meant a lot of hanging around. We walked to see their Christmas tree scene.

We found a Wi-Fi hotspot where we could use our tablets to send and receive messages. There was also supper time. This, for me, consisted of a sandwich, a donut and iced tea.

Eventually we passed through security and on through another metal tube to our next pair of seats. Once again we were without a window seat. I would have liked to have had a better look at the Martian-like landscape of Australia which I glimpsed from time to time. Compared to the first leg of our flight this 9 hour one was over very soon and we landed at a cloudy Sydney ready to spend 4 hours in the airport. Our first call was ‘Gloria Jeans’. At last we could have decent coffee. Singapore does not do dairy.

At this point we changed to New Zealand Air for the next stage of the journey. This time we had a window seat. Through the window we could see 3000 miles of sea below before we caught sight of the coastland of the country that was going to be home for the next three months.

This time we had to go through immigration procedures. It took so much time to fill out our forms that when we arrived at the luggage carousel our cases were easy to spot.

The next part of the procedure was to show our card and passport at the immigration barrier. There were few people waiting and it should not have taken long. However, there was a small party of Chinese people. Firstly they were using 8 year old documents. Eventually, out of kindness they were accepted. Secondly there was a cultural difference which meant they had a different attitude to queuing. As always the border guard was very friendly. Once again they accepted our answer to their question. This time it was about whether we were carrying fresh food.

To make sure all our baggage was scanned before we could leave and finally a lovely dog sniffed around us.

An excited Zoe greeted us at the barrier and then we were off into the warm New Zealand night arriving at our final destination at 10.30 pm on Thursday 3^rd December.

Location Relocation

Yesterday was the final, final end to our Christmas and New Year celebrations and this is the last blog from 'At the Oaks' for some time. But, do not despair dear reader, your next item of literary merit will be available on http://wearekiwisnow.blogspot.com/


Firstly, comments on the dance. It was well attended and very enjoyable. We do need to congratulate Alan and Irene Bexton for all their efforts in this, and on the state of the dance floor, which was like a mirror.

Alan on the right running the raffle

 The only hiccup was the fact that David wore the same bow tie as me.

Identical Bow Ties

I don't think Irene and I have ever celebrated New Years Eve like this other than in 2000 when we saw the millennium in from a hill overlooking Nottingham. Back then the mobile phone network could not handle the traffic. I think it did this year. (There was a missed text from Joni when I found my phone.)


On my 'skip run' I came across the following headline 'DRUNKEN DOG OWNER BANNED'. Please let me know where the pause should be. It could be after 'dog' or 'owner'.

Julia and Joe

For the past few days we have enjoyed having Joe and Julia with us. They arrived late on Thursday. Joni and Fiona joined us and after our evening meal we all played the fantastic 'Small World' game. After our introduction to what seemed to be a complicated game, it turned out to be good fun for us all. On the following day Joe's friend Alex called over and the three of them went off to Dale Abbey.


I am glad that it was one of the better days. I had the task of taking the car for its service and MOT which meant walking into town and back. I carefully planned that I would call into the post office at the right time to pick up our dollars, having ordered them two days earlier. Bad idea. After waiting outside for 8 minutes the door opened, but not to me. 'Five minutes more' I was told. Just before 5 past came the 'f' word behind me. I gave in and entered. Now came another 5 minute wait, then off to the 'Bureau de Change' I did go. The debit card did not work, the credit card did not work, and getting cash from their cash point did not work. So back towards the bank and a measure of success. Now with sufficient funds I purchased my Singapore and New Zealand dollars. A fat wad of notes was  instantly transformed to a few bits of paper.


On Friday evening, after another lovely meal, out came 'Chart Busters'. My sister bought us this game in 1970. It has been used since then by successive groups of children and young people. It now consists of a battered board, the box lid (kept because it has the instructions) and a Tupper ware box containing some more battered cards, one of which is actually now in two pieces, and some playing pieces, some of which are the original ones. (This game can now fetch as much as £80 on e-bay.) We actually managed to complete the game by ten o'clock and I have vowed to rebuild the game later in the year.


Joe and Julia returned to Brighton on Saturday afternoon. We hope the bridge removal on the M1 did not delay them too much.

Fiona and Joni left at about the same time. This left Irene and me with the task of moving excess stuff from our bedroom back to Joe's bedroom, have tea, play 'Upwords', watch some TV and then to bed.

ASIDE
During Saturday afternoon I completed the task of digitizing about 850 negatives from 1967. A few were colour ones. I was very surprised and well pleased by the way that the scanner handled the task. With a little tweaking in 'Photoshop' the image quality is almost as good as some digital photographs taken today. This is the first time the negatives have seen the light of day in over 40 years. Not only are they a good record of aspects of the 60's including London, hovercraft experiments, college and family life, but I can see in them the kind of eye that I have for photographic composition.

Christmas in London

The author enjoying college life. Eat your heart out Sir Cliff.

Hovercraft Rally at Sutton-in-Ashfield

My Dad, my Sister Anne and my Mum

After writing the above aside it dawned on me that the negatives were a very significant aside. There is a good chance that more pre 1967 negatives will turn up, but it is less likely that many post 1967 ones do.


The negatives of 1967 chart my last full year of bachelorhood. At the very end of the year, in my effort to find a partner for the college Christmas dance, (my usual partner having failed to comply with my invitation) I entered the room of a friend and standing quietly in the darker part of the room was this drop-dead gorgeous young lady. For some reason she had never appeared on any college social scene. She accepted my invitation. And, as they say, the rest is history. By August 1968 we were married, and this history continues joyfully into today.


As for the photography; it took a back seat and re-emerged as colour slides from August 1968 and through the 70s when I turned to prints until the noughties.


RETURN TO MAIN BLOG
This afternoon we made our last visit to the allotment and now comes the task of getting ready to travel. 

See you from the other side of the world.