Day 34-35 29-30th Nov 2024
All good things must come to an end. Our trip around the “Mainland” was nearing its end. We woke up to a wonderful view over Lake Tekapo.
After breakfast, it was time dump the waste water and empty the toilet cassette for the last time. Then it was off to Christchurch. The first part of the journey, over Burke’s pass to Fairlie, was reasonably pretty.
After Fairlie, we were back onto the Canterbury plains. So it became flat and boring, for the first time in a fortnight. We stopped in Geraldine, partly to get a cup of coffee, partly because we have a friend called Geraldine. We couldn’t find anywhere for a coffee. Nonetheless, we did manage to take a photo of the town sign to show that we had been there.
The road from Geraldine back to Christchurch was very flat and more or less straight. Diane tried to stop herself from getting bored by taking pictures of railway crossing signs. The road and the railway run parallel most of the way.
We stopped for lunch in Ashburton at some place. I can’t remember its name, probably because it wasn’t a memorable meal. Then, it was back up SH1 to Christchurch and Maui Campers to return the van. That took a wee while. We had to wait for the branch manager to discuss the compensation for the water leaks. They needed to decide what level of compensation they were prepared to offer us. Compensation agreed we caught the Maui airport shuttle to our hotel.
The Sudima Hotel was the most boring of all the hotels that we stayed at on our trip. That said, it did its job. It gave us a bed for the night and fed us. You can’t really ask much more of an airport hotel. It did, though, lack a lift. Fortunately, they employed a retired second-row player to cart our bags up to the second floor.
The next day, we were up reasonably early for breakfast. We had a plane to catch at 12:00. Our brilliant time in Aotearoa was over. Next stop Singapore.
Checking in and going through security at Christchurch Airport was an absolute pleasure compared to Heathrow. Heathrow probably has more passengers to process in an hour than Christchurch has in a week, but never the less. Actually, landing in Singapore was similarly stress free. Everything was automated, and it worked. We hardly saw a single (official) person from leaving the plane until we were picked up by our car.
The flight to Singapore was pleasant. Because of the changes in time zones it was daylight all the way. We spent the flight watching Lord of the Rings films, trying to spot the places we had been.
A Scotsman in Suburbia 