Leaving Melbourne and arriving in Christchurch - NEW ZEALAND...

Hi Everyone,

Well we got up really really early... like 5.15am! Packed up the last of our bits and bobs and headed outside the front of the hotel to get picked up!

The pick up was meant to be at 6am but they finally arrived at 6.15am! I had a natter to Mummy on the way to the airport!!! When we got to the airport we were a little worried that we had got the wrong terminal because we couldn't find our departure! It turned out that the plane was delayed until 11.55am (it should have left at 8.40am). They did however give us $8 vouchers for food while we were waiting!

It turned out that the pilot who was meant to fly our plane was sent home from work in Christchurch because he was too ill, and the backup pilot had flown the night before... aviation law states that a pilot must have a certain amount of rest so basically the plane leaving Christchurch was really late and there was obviously a knock on effect! To be honest this didn't bother me too much, I sat flightside and talked to Mummy and Daddy (and Smudge) on the phone for quite a while which was really really lovely! Then I booked all our hostels for the first couple of days in New Zealand! Which is good cause it means we have someone to sleep tomorrow night! :-) And also the trans-alpine train to Greymouth!

What did annoy me was the people who KEPT complaining about the situation, they were shouting at the Melbourne Airport staff and complaining to each other, and then in our airport shuttle they were complaining even more! I really really don't understand it, I would rather the plane was really really really late and have a pilot that is well enough to fly! I kinda figure safety comes first! Plus the cabin crew were in exactly the same situation as us, one of the girls missed picking up her new car!

Anyways, rant over... lol! We took off at around 1pm. We were sitting in the front seats, which made me nervous cause the woman that checked us in was like 'are you able to help in an emergency?'. We were like, ummmmmm yes!? lol! This however turned out to be a really really good thing for me! I have a habit of staring at cabin crew when we are taking off and during turbulence, I tend to go by the idea that if they look fine (considering they fly allll the time) then everything is fine! Obviously sitting in the front seat means that the cabin crew are directly in front of you, I think I might have freaked them out cause I was staring at them a lot! lol! It however meant even though we had a bit of turbulence the flight was really really good! The cabin crew did laugh at me when we were descending cause I shouted 'sheep' really loudly (by accident) when I saw the first New Zealand sheep! lol!

Owwww the view on the way in was absolutely beautiful as well, we flew straight over the southern alps, which looked absolutely amazing! Also a lot of the farmers were burning their fields (this is meant to happen! - although we don't know the crop, they burn the cane sugar fields in Cairns), this looked really cool from above. Owwwww also the cabin crew were named, Sapphire, Tiara, Sarah and Mark - I thought that was hilarious! lol!

We were flying with Jetstar who are a Aussie budget airline, it was really good cause it was like Sleazyjet but you can hire entertainment units for $7 and watch all the films and tv shows you want! I think Sleazyjet should do that, cause it helps pass the time!

We finally landed at 6.50pm New Zealand time, which is now 13 hours ahead of you guys and 2 hours ahead of Aussie time! We had to have our hiking shoes examined by customs, they are very very strict with customs here!

We got a shuttle bus to our accommodation! Which is absolutely awesome! Its in the old Christchurch jail so we have a cell to ourselves, they have converted it so all the cells are now dorms and rooms! Its definitely worth coming to! The toilets are plastic with barbed wire in them! Theres also a cinema room and a pool table! The place is awesome! We've taken lots of photos!

After checking in and mulling around the jail we headed back into town for dinner, which we had in a pub! Then we headed to get some supplies from a convenience store because we've got 10hrs on a coach tomorrow! Fun fun fun! lol! I think what I will mostly be doing is sleeping! lol!

The plan for the next few days is...

29 - Queenstown
1 - Queenstown
2 - Milford Sound
3- Milford Sound
4 - Milford Sound to Queenstown
5 - Queenstown to Christchurch
6 - Christchurch
7 - Whale watching
8 - Trans-Alphine train to Greymouth

Thats how far we have booked, I think we're gonna spend a day in Greymouth then head down to Fox Josef to go to the glaciers then all the way up to Nelson!

All very very exciting!

I hope everyone is really good!

Lots of Love,

Sarah xxx