Homeward bound and some reflections on the journey Brisbane, Australia

Brisbane, Australia

We rise at the ungodly hour of 3.30am and pack our bags for the last time. We catch a free hotel shuttle to the airport and begin the frustrating process of clearing customs. After picking up some duty free we head into the Air NZ lounge to wait for our boarding call. We are surprised at how nice the lounge is and decide to have a Bloody Mary for breakfast ……..we need something to wake us up. The flight home is very ordinary! We have boarded another old clunker and once again feel ripped off having paid for premium class seats with very little advantage.

On touching down in Brisbane we have made up 3 hours and it is only 7.30am but wow it’s hot outside being 28 degrees already. Clearing customs was surprisingly fast and 30 minutes later we are at home feeling as if we had never left. Damn!!! Back to work tomorrow for both of us.

Reflection on the Journey:

We have been home for a few days now, caught up with the family and work colleagues and had a birthday party to boot, so I thought I would note down some memorable moments before our holiday is nothing more than a haze.

Things we disliked/hated:

– Rude Japanese Tourists (avoid Queenstown if you can, as this is where they are found in large numbers)
– New Zealands version of Chinese food (avoid it like the plague, they don’t even have dim-sims)
– Kiwi drivers (they always want to go faster than you, even when you are sitting on the speed limit)
– Nelson and Tekapo (not what we expected)
– The overcrowded thermal pools at Hanmer Springs (If you don’t like stewing in everybody else’s juice try a private spa…we did)
– The sandflys (we were pretty lucky but they are nasty little beasts).

Things we liked/loved ………… Top Ten (in order)

– Our overnight stay on the Fiordland Navigator on Doubtful Sound (you should definitely put this on your bucket list)
– The road to Milford Sound (this was an amazing drive)
– The Trans Alpine Train (this must be one of the worlds great train journeys
– Fresh Crayfish at Nin’s Bin (it doesn’t get any fresher than this)
– Whale Watching at Kaikoura (where else do you get to see massive sperm whales in such calm water)
– The Shotover Jet (touted as the best in the world…….this was an exhilarating ride)
– The Orana Wildlife Centre – Lion Encounter (amazing experience, I’m sure they wanted to eat us)
– Dunedin, Lake Wanaka and Akaroa (all very pretty spots, very welcoming with lots of things to see and do)
– Punting on the Avon (a must do if you are in Christchurch on a nice day)
– The Marlborough Wine Region (the worlds best white wine in a very compact setting).

And one last point……….don’t let anybody tell you Greymouth is a dump, we loved it and had the best meal and best whitebait sandwich of the whole trip and by the way we had it at the Kingsgate Hotel.