Notes from New Zealand - Day 1

The night before departure I decided to do my tax return, so while stressing over my packing and cleaning the house, I was also finalising deductions.  Lunacy.  After falling asleep at an ungodly hour, the airport thing was an easy affair.  Except that the flight was around 3 hours late thanks to a closed runway (which was passed by lunch at Movida, no less-thank you brilliant international terminal).  Add to that a severe seizure by a passenger on the flight, which made me question whether this trip was a good idea.

Christchurch is in a sorry, empty and eery state, especially at 9 o'clock at night after a 12 hour ordeal.  The city centre is closed and people are leaving en masse due to the persistent earthquakes.  We wanted to start the road trip to Queenstown that night, but only made it as far as Methven before the fatigue and darkness stopped us in our track.

But waking up to this out the window the next morning certainly made up for the slow start.