Kiwis Fly across the Ditch

Who said Kiwis can’t fly?  Fly we did today, from Wellington. to Sydney, to Adelaide.  It was an extremely early start, and we had to be at Wellington Airport by 4.30am to check in.  To ensure we were up and ready in time, we had arranged a wake-up call for 3.15am, and to make doubly sure, Robin set the alarm on his phone for the same time.  But I am a bit of a worrier and had trouble sleeping.  After getting up every hour to check the time, I was wide awake by 2.30am and laid in bed watching the clock.  We boarded the free shuttle supplied by the hotel, and left with another bunch of travellers at 4.15am.

Once the bags were checked in, there was nothing to do but sit and while away the time, till we were called for boarding.  A whole bunch of young blokes turned up in uniform just in the nick of time, they were a team of indoor cricket players, it seemed.

Our trip took us firstly across the Marlborough Sounds, and I could see fingers of land reaching out into the sea.  As we climbed higher we topped the cloud cover, and looking out my window I had to wonder how those narrow dainty wings had the strength to keep the aeroplane aloft.  They hardly seemed strong and sturdy enough to do the job.

Looking out my window

Breakfast smells wafted from the galley, and after such an early start we were more than ready for a bite to eat. But I must say that the breakfast served was very disappointing.  We had scrambled eggs (rubbery) cooked tomato (watery and mushy)  a hash brown (wet, flaccid and tasteless) a sausage (ugh)  and baked beans which was the only half decent ingredient on the plate.  The meal barely reached a mark of 1 out of 10 and we wondered how many air miles it had flown before being served.

The pair of us have different methods of dealing with a flight.  Robin happily sits in his seat, headphones clamped to his ears, and passes the time watching a film, or listening to music.  Not me – I like to keep my eye on how the journey is going, checking the altitude, the speed, and how long till we land.  It’s a bit like navigating in the car – I need to  keep a check on the pilot to make sure he’s doing it right!

We arrived safely in Sydney, flying low over a multitude of red tiled roofs and then gliding to a stop.  Then we had to collect our bags and go through Customs.  That was a challenge, I  can assure you.  We had to go through a special gate, poke our passports in a window as it printed out a ticket, collect both, then stand on a pair of yellow foot prints on the carpet while looking  up at a camera and get our photo taken.  Luckily we managed to cope with all this new fangled technology.  And we had to remember to turn our watches back 2 hours.Then about an hour later it was time to board of second flight of the day, to take us to Adelaide.

Our flight to Adelaide

Another flight done and dusted, and we were happy to touch down.  And we were surprised to learn that we had to adjust our watches again once we were in Adelaide, this time turn them back another 30 minutes.

Welcome to Adelaide

We found a handy shuttle to take us to our hotel, the Mercure Grosvenor, situated right in the CBD, where we are staying the next 4 nights.

Our hotel in Adelaide

After our large luxurious room the previous evening, (after all there was room for four beds), this one is rather small, but adequate.  And with several sight seeing trips arranged for the next few days, we will only be using the room to sleep in.  And I’ve \found out that there is a guest laundry available, so I’ll certainly be using that in the next couple of days.

Our hotel room in Adelaide

Next on the agenda was a stroll up town for Robin to purchase an Australian Sim Card to use in his phone.  This will give us enough data to post the blogs while we are away.  And look what I found – a posse of pigs!  So cute, and they certainly look right at home in the middle of the city.

Pigs in the city

I guess it will be an early night for us tonight.  After getting up at 3.00am this morning, and changing the clocks by two and a half hours, we don’t know if we are coming or going.  All we do know, is that we are both “knackered”.  I know we are only just starting, but being on holiday is very hard work!