New Zealand Adventure

December and January 2019-2020

 

Transit Day: Saturday, January 4th

We got up very early in the morning on Saturday and headed to the Christchurch airport--very close to the hotel, at least. This was Marcus's face when he realized that he hadn't needed to have tossed out the last of his precious bottle of L&P after all--apparently liquids are allowed on domestic flights, and we were taking a budget carrier (Jetstar) to Auckland before going back to the states on a separate ticket. Ah, well--perhaps he'll someday get to taste the nectar of the gods that is L&P again, once more before he reaches old age!

Our baggage took a bit of finesse to make sure we were under the weight limits (did I mention the whole "budget carrier" detail?), but we all made it, and in Auckland we managed to change terminals and store our bags just inside the international terminal so we didn't need to think about them during our layover.

Helen slept, Marcus read, and Robert drank coffee while we dealt with the bags.

Then we grabbed another sushi handroll from the same place, and walked out of the terminal down the side of a not horrendous road about fifteen minutes to Butterfly Creek, a family-friendly farm/butterfly/alligator/playground/ropes course place that seemed like a good option for getting some energy out during our layover.

Helen and I carefully evaluated all the kiwis before deciding on one for Evie and others for Marcus and Samantha. She wanted a morepork (ruru, or New Zealand owl) for herself, though, and was very definite that she did not want a kiwi.

Marcus loved photographing the butterflies, and Helen adored the little metal animal sculptures around the grounds.

All the kids had fun with the silly outdoor dinosaur/mythical creatures you could walk around near.

At the end, I got Helen an iceblock while Marcus and Samantha did the big ropes course, which had its challenging spots. Robert left to go back to the airport to retrieve our luggage and try to check us all into the plane, and I was getting a tad panicky at having my bigger children thirty feet above me, and us a solid fifteen minutes still away from the terminal, as the minutes ticked on, but we all made it: ropes course, bathroom stop, walk back, security, super quick stop at Robert's fancy lounge, and then boom, time to get on our plane!

We had a quick layover in San Francisco, when everyone was pretty tired, but we ate some breakfast on our second Saturday in a row and made it through our connecting flight, landing in Boston a little before 8:00 at night, and going straight home to bed. Monday morning the kids were sleepy but basically back on schedule, and happily at school--Samantha, of course, having tried to update her teacher-assigned reading log to reflect the time change and double Saturday.

 

Looking Back. . .

 

Our take-home haul of biscuits, lollies, licorice, chocolates, and honey:

 

Samantha's trip journal, complete with sketches, bits of maps, and tourist brochures:

 

Greatest Hits, according to each family member:

	Robert	Christina	Marcus	Samantha	Helen
Favorite part of the trip	Our fantastic fishing expedition, and the companionable Christmas BBQ/international experience	Rotorua public park foot bath with Marcus, and seeing Sally	Playing with Joash and his brothers and sisters in Whanganui	The secret garden playground in Hamilton, and the ferry ride	All the playgrounds, with high slides, flying foxes, and wild swings
Best thing we ate	Fish feast after fishing trip	Mussel burger in Whanganui River Traders Market	Grilled swordfish Christmas night in the campground and Pedro's roast lamb take-out in Christchurch	A chocolate-chocolate-brownie ice cream cone in Kaikoura	Red candy with chocolate (chocolate-filled raspberry licorice)
Cutest animal	Hedgehog on the bench at Butterfly Creek	Baby penguins in their nests	Kune-kune pigs in the Butterfly Creek farm area	Kiwi birds	Baby penguins

 

 

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Created: 1/6/2020. Last Modified: 1/6/2020.