We both woke up a number of times in the night due to the torrential rain beating down on the ground and plants around the hotel. If we were in any doubt as to whether we had made the right decision in transferring early, then the amount of rain that had fallen overnight led us to believe we were right to move. Anyone who didn’t take the agents advice almost certainly did not make any flights this morning.
The alarm call came through at 05.00, but we were already awake, so up, showered, packed and in reception for 05.45 was not a problem. The hotel couldn’t have been closer to the airport; it took all of 2 minutes to be delivered to the departure terminal. Nadi airport is a modern well laid out airport terminal, which in my opinion is more than can be said for the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow. It may have won awards for the design of the architecture,( beauty is in the eye of the beholder) but for ease of use it’s the pits! It has to be one of the most disjointed airports in the world. After checking in, we had to go downstairs to departures, then across to another building on a shuttle train, then back upstairs to the departure gates. Crazy – it’s supposed to be progress.
Anyway, after a fast check in, with no queuing at Nadi, we settled down with the knowledge that the flight was on schedule to depart at 08.00. First mistake of the day! We were just about to board when the announcement came that there was a technical fault on the plane and there would be a one hour delay. One and a half hours later, we boarded the plane only to find that it was barely one third full. Lots of spare seats, so room to spread out. Whilst this was a relatively quick hop of just 4 hours, it was nice to have the extra space. This turned out to be an additional bonus as the views over New Zealand were a fantastic taster for what is to come and we were able to swap from one side of the aircraft to the other to get the best possible views.
Once on the ground in Christchurch we were fairly quick through the Customs and immigration formalities and straight into a taxi heading for the motel. Next problem – they only had us down for one night and not two. Net result – we are one night in this motel and then we have to move about 100 yards up the road to another. The manager here has been very helpful in trying to overcome the problem, but we could have done without the hassle.
We spent what was left of the afternoon walking into the city centre and taking the tram ride. We also went into the new art gallery and studied a real mixture of modern art and some terrific oil landscapes. We struggled with the 7 old window frames set into a wall of plywood and the huge packing case that was about a 15ft cube. Not to mention the pile of old paint tins stuck on top of each other.
After the gallery, it was off to the Botanical Gardens, in all their splendour, then back to the city centre for some dinner. The weather has been great today, warm sunshine with a cooling breeze almost perfect sightseeing weather. Now back to the motel to plan tomorrows excursions, then on Tuesday it’s pick up campervan day!
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