Home Safe and Sound

It was a really early start to the morning for our trip home from Oz.  The alarm was set for 4am on Monday morning, and the shuttle collected us just after 5am to take us to the airport.  After offloading our cases, we went through Customs and I was selected as a “random” for testing for explosives.  You never joke when in this sort of situation, just stand quietly and let them do their thing.  Then we walked up to find our gate where we would board our flight, and waited, and waited, and then more waiting.  Till finally we were called onboard, and settled down for our 3 hour trip to Wellington.  We were flying with Virgin Australia and if passengers don’t want to purchase any food, only a drink of tea, coffee or water is available.

That’s our plane

The flight back home went smoothly, although I did take my duty of checking to make sure the wing hadn’t fallen off very seriously.

Yes, the wing is still safely attached

With my nose in a book, and Robin snoozing, the time soon went by, and before we knew it, Wellington came into view.  It was a nice fine day of 13 degrees, we were told.  Brr - that’s much cooler than the 29 degrees we left behind in Brisbane.

Wellington City and harbour

While we were waiting to collect our bags the sniffer dog came by.  The handler asked another passenger if he would allow a bag containing food to be placed on the floor beside him, as training for the dog.  And what a happy dog he was to find something, sit down, and receive his praise.  A family group were also stopped, and the mother explained that the children were carrying their school backpacks – seemed there was a lingering smell of fruit from the school lunches which the dog picked up on.

We collected the car from the Long Term car-park, loaded the bags and headed for home.  We had a great holiday, but it’s always nice to return home safely.