Thursday, October 24th - Saturday, October 26th - Days 44-46 - In transit to New Zealand
A near disaster was averted when Munroe left his backpack on the station floor near the entrance to the Shinkansen tracks. He and Deb had made it all the way to the platform before he noticed that it was missing. Seeing it right where he left it was an amazingly good feeling!
The Shinkansen high-speed train was right on time - 3:01pm - and we made superb time to our destination - Shinagawa station, which is one stop before the main train station in Tokyo, but nearer Haneda airport. Unfortunately, we arrived during rush hour and things were pretty chaotic. Munroe approached a taxi on the street and the woman driver indicated that she had a booking. Before we knew it, she was out of her car and had hailed another taxi for us! Not even the same company! Then she proceeded to help Deb with her cases as she made her way to the cab. One thing that is clear - the Japanese are among the friendliest, most other-regarding, and courteous people we have ever encountered!
The taxi took us to The Mercure Airport hotel just off the Haneda airport grounds - about 9 km but with traffic it took about a half hour. The Mercure itself was a godsend. It is a beautiful hotel, newly refurbished with huge (by Japanese standards) and very well-equipped rooms that are spotlessly clean. The staff spoke perfect English and were courteous and professional. We had dinner in the lovely restaurant - the menu was all comfort food of one kind or another, mostly Western. Deb had beef stroganoff - Japanese style, and Munroe had fish and chips - Haneda style. Delicious. But it was the breakfast the next morning that was truly amazing - a buffet with a huge array of Western and Japanese choices - we had a bit of both. There were three kinds of fish - salmon, pickled herring, and grilled mackerel - Munroe was in heaven!
On the morning of the 25th we got the 11am free shuttle from the airport to Haneda - maybe a 10-15 minute ride - and got our boarding passes and luggage tagged - and then had a coffee until the Cathay Pacific bag drop opened at 1:15pm. After dropping the bags we had a quick pass through security and then headed to the lounge, where we had lunch and a couple drinks before it was time to board (around 3:30) for the first leg of our journey to New Zealand - a four-hour flight to Hong Kong. We were in Premium Economy so had nice seats and good service.
Leaving Haneda for Hong Kong
We had only about an hour and 10 minutes to change plans in Hong Kong, but that proved to be ample time. The flight from there - on a nice new Airbus 350 - 1000 - was about 10 hours long. The seats were nice and comfortable - we had two seats on the left side so no one else sitting next to us. We had a nice lamb meal and settled in for a long night. We both were eventually able to get decent sleep - waking only to see a glorious sunrise, and we landed on time around 1pm on Saturday, October 26th.
Our bags were among the last to appear on the conveyor belt, causing us some concern because of the short connection time in Hong Kong. But eventually, all three appeared and we were able to clear customs and the bioscan process quickly after that. We got the car from a genial guy at the Alamo counter - a nice, virtually brand new (about 4,000 km) hybrid Yaris Crossover mini SUV. This is Munroe's first experience with a hybrid and so far, so good!
It was windy and showery when we touched down - the showers turned into rains, with some heavy spots, as we made our way up to the Bay of Islands in the north. Deb navigated us through the downtown part of Auckland like a pro, and we ended up stopping for meat pies for lunch at a motorway service area. Yay! We had steak and kidney but had a laugh over the Buffalo style ones.
It seemed like a long drive - we stopped en route and did a large shopping, so now we're all equipped. Apparently, the stores are open on Sundays here but we weren't sure about that yesterday.
It was grey and raining but we arrived and found the spot without incident - and it is GORGEOUS! We are on a lovely little harbour, with yachts, motor boats, fishing boats, and a small ferry! The driveway is steep but manageable. (Note: It wasn't until the next morning, waking up to bright sunshine, that we saw the incredible view.)
We got the bags in, the groceries put away, and found that there was no water! We got in touch with Katrina, who turns out to be the manager but not the owner. Before long, a guy turned up and after a few minutes, we were in business! Deb made a delicious dinner - fresh lamb shoulder chops, tender sauteed silverbeet (aka Swiss chard), and rosemary potatoes. We washed that down with a nice bottle of Australian Barossa red wine (from the Adelaide region).
This place was simply made for us! Besides being set on an idyllic harbor, it is at the beginning of a coastal walking track to a nearby town (Paihia). We turned on the TV to see what channels might be available (we both were looking forward to English language shows!). The first show we encountered was Carol Drinkwater with a show about her olive farm that we read about in a book (called The Olive Farm: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of France) she wrote (and that Munroe picked up second-hand last fall when he was in Southampton for a conference). The farm is in a town in Provence that is between Cannes (on the coast) and Grasse a bit inland, where we visited a couple weeks ago! As if that wasn't enough of an omen that we had arrived at precisely the right spot and time, the next show was an episode of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown that featured some Boston chefs cooking (and rhapsodizing about) Nova Scotian lobster! Clearly, the universe was speaking as directly as it could to us - and Munroe is thinking a great deal about his parents and their abiding (and understandable) love of New Zealand.
We both washed the road grime off with a lovely shower and then hit the sack, counting our lucky stars!