Wednesday and Thursday, November 20th and 21st - Days 71 and 72 - Picton - Christchurch - Auckland
These two days were travel days. We tidied up our place in Picton and reluctantly said "goodbye" to our beautiful harbour view. We gassed up and set off for Christchurch around 9:30. We enjoyed the scenery en route - there were countless fields of wine plantings for miles on either side of Blenheim. The scenic road south was bordered by the ocean on the left (east) and mountains on the west. It was absolutely gorgeous.
We spotted a fabulous beach right next to the highway and stopped for a quick look and walk. A railroad track had followed the road closely, both squeezed between the ocean and the mountains.
We got to the airport hotel around 3:30pm and checked into an upgraded one-bedroom apartment. It was nice and clean - we both were tired from the drive and had a snooze for a couple hours and then went out to a local (Merrin Street) pub for dinner - Deb had a margarita pizza and Munroe a Thai beef salad with a nice sweet and spicy sauce. Deb had the house Shiraz and Munroe a Montieths' pilsner - brewed in Greymouth, on the West Coast. We were in bed by 9:30pm, tired but happy.
Thursday morning we packed and cleaned up and left the hotel around 9:30am but failed in at least 3 efforts to find a cafe in the nearby area, despite finding them ok on Google Maps. Go figure! So we decided to bite the bullet and simply go to a cafe at the airport. We found a gas station and filled the car up. Munroe dropped Deb off with the bags at the domestic terminal and then dropped the car back at Snap Auto Rental. It always is a relief to drop a rental car off. After putting more than 4,000 km. on this one it was especially sweet! The premium SUV was a major upgrade that we weren't expecting, but it certainly made our long days of driving comfortable.
The shuttle dropped Munroe back at the terminal and Deb had already tagged and weighed the bags. We've been doing a bit of shopping so have to be conscious of the weight of our bags. All that went smoothly, so we dropped the bags off (Air New Zealand has you tag and drop off bags yourself) and went through security. Finally, we got to have our Flat White (Munroe) and "Naked Cappuccino" (Deb) at the departure area.
Christchurch airport is lovely, small enough so as not to overwhelm, but still with capacity to handle international flights. We saw Fiji Airlines and Jetstar planes. The interior is open and attractive - but no Priority Pass lounges, unfortunately! Only an Air New Zealand one that we couldn't enter.
The flight to Auckland was a bit late leaving, but otherwise fine. We got in about 5 minutes after the scheduled arrival - after about a 40-minute flight. A few bumps along the way, especially descending into Auckland where a stiff breeze was blowing.
Munroe went to check about his sunglasses that he left in the Alamo rental car on November 2nd when we were leaving Auckland for Christchurch. They weren't at the domestic terminal but the attendant at Alamo was going to check with the International terminal (where Munroe returned the car). So we'll check with them again on Sunday!
We got a cab to our Airbnb downtown - the driver was very interested in talking about Trump!!! Our place is gorgeous - RIGHT downtown. It is one floor up - very 'urban chic' - old brick walls. FULL of atmosphere and right across from Albert Park and the University of Auckland.
We made a quick trip to Woolworths - just a 5-minute walk away - and picked up lamb, salmon, and supplies to do us through the next 3 days.