We made it........
....but the skin of our teeth hardly describes it!!
So we finished packing in NYC at around noon on Thursday 22nd March (EDT). At noon precisely our Carmel Car Service driver arrived and we had a very swift transit to snow covered La Guardia airport. We had already checked in on line for our United flight to Houston and due to the previous day's blizzard, we were a bit nervous that flights would be delayed. As it was, the flight seemed to be on time and we thought we might have beaten the snow. But..... then the flight was delayed by 90 minutes which would mean that we would be extremely close for our connection from Houston to Auckland. The flight eventually left around the re-scheduled time at 6 p.m. It took a little over three hours and was uneventful. But we arrived and disembarked in Houston at 8.15 p.m. local time at Terminal C, with our Air New Zealand flight due to leave at 9 p.m. local at Terminal D. This meant we had a headlong dash across the airport onto the airport shuttle train and over to Terminal D where we found Gate 11 just as they were announcing the boarding of our seat rows. Phew, that was close!! But, would the checked bags make it.......??
The long 14 hour flight to Auckland took off on the dot of 9 p.m and was uneventful. The Air New Zealand Boeing 787 was comfortable and the other passengers including the children were well-behaved. The crew were very attentive polite and helpful. Altogether a very good flying experience.
Auckland airport was a revelation and just about all US airports could learn a lot for it. Immigration was all automatic with passports scanned with a machine, some questions to answer on-line and ...zip! you are through. Then the apprehensive wait at the baggage carousel......but YES!! they did make it. Not sure how they managed that at Houston but God bless them, they did. We had an hour or two wait for our flight onward to Queenstown on the South Island so we could stop for a celebratory breakfast and relax. We were surprised to find a lot of our fellow passengers to Queenstown were Chinese and on asking later in Queenstown, we found that New Zealand had now become a very popular destination for the Chinese. Same time zone, safe, very beautiful so, maybe not surprising. Somehow, at Auckland airport, a stuffed lamb and stuffed kiwi managed to steal into our baggage to add to the coterie of stuffed animals we already had there!!!!!!
The shortish flight to Queenstown was fine and we arrived around 9 a.m. After a small snafu which was easily resolved regarding the shuttle to take us to the hotel, we were soon on the road for the 6 mile trip from the airport to town. We arrived at the Chalet Queenstown Hotel where they were not quite ready with our room b jut we dropped out bags and walked into town.
Queenstown is a small town situated on the edge of Lake W........ It is, as we soon found out quite hilly and we descended down the hill into town. There us a large hill overlooking the town and a gondola-type ski lift arrangement will take you to the top. From the top, people were bungee jumping, luge riding down a concrete pathway and also hang-gliding.
So to plan the couple of hours before we went back to the hotel, we went to a restaurant where we had another, unneeded breakfast!! Then e decided that the gondola ride was too good to miss as the views of the surrounding snow-capped mountains and the lake would be spectacular as it was a nice sunny and relatively warm day. So we climbed the hill to the foot of the gondola station and were just deciding whether or not to go when I overheard an older gentleman saying to his friends, "Well I am going even if you are not" and felt this was a sign. We fell into the queue behind him and his friend n and he proceeded to tell us he had been up here this morning and actually had hang-glided and that it was the best experience of his life!! He was going up again with his friend to give him courage to do it too. The gondola cabs take four people and are very smooth as they go up the very steep hill. At the top, the views are, indeed, spectacular, with the lake and the mountains in the sunlight. The hang-glider swooped past us on their descent with an instructor and passenger in tandem. The luge ride was short but looked like fun. Then we watched as a couple of people, did the 'bungee swing' which involved leaping off a platform into space and swinging wildly on a rope meanwhile, of course screaming!! It looked fun but not for us, I am afraid.
After spending a while at the top we descended in the gondola and walked back up the hill to the hotel. Our room was ready and we went upstairs for what was to be a short afternoon nap. Well, during the unpacking, it was found that my medicine had not been packed. So we called our neighbor in NYC, Narendra, and he kindly went into our apartment and found that, indeed, they had been overlooked. So, what to do?? Well instead of trying to overnight the pills here, we took a taxi to the local medical center where after a bit of a wait a doctor, Dr. Simon Hart, agreed to give me a prescription for some similar pills to tide me over for this trip. The whole process was very easy but it did cost abut NZ$300 for the consultation and the pills, which I suppose is the penalty for not packing the pills!!
By this time, it was round 6 p.m. and we decided to have an early dinner and what better place in New Zealand than Pedro's House of Lamb!! We walked there and it is a small shop with some tables outside. Pretty much all they serve was a half shoulder of lamb with potatoes, served in a large foil dish and salad. The meat was falling off the bone tender and in a great gravy which could be soaked up with the accompanying bread. We sat outside and finished all of it.
Pretty stuffed with this delicious meal. we decided that even though it wasn't that far back to the hotel, it was uphill most of the way so we would take a cab.
It did not take us long after this eventful time and pretty much 36 hours without sleep other than cat-naps on the plane, to get to bed.
Photos to follow later.
So we finished packing in NYC at around noon on Thursday 22nd March (EDT). At noon precisely our Carmel Car Service driver arrived and we had a very swift transit to snow covered La Guardia airport. We had already checked in on line for our United flight to Houston and due to the previous day's blizzard, we were a bit nervous that flights would be delayed. As it was, the flight seemed to be on time and we thought we might have beaten the snow. But..... then the flight was delayed by 90 minutes which would mean that we would be extremely close for our connection from Houston to Auckland. The flight eventually left around the re-scheduled time at 6 p.m. It took a little over three hours and was uneventful. But we arrived and disembarked in Houston at 8.15 p.m. local time at Terminal C, with our Air New Zealand flight due to leave at 9 p.m. local at Terminal D. This meant we had a headlong dash across the airport onto the airport shuttle train and over to Terminal D where we found Gate 11 just as they were announcing the boarding of our seat rows. Phew, that was close!! But, would the checked bags make it.......??
The long 14 hour flight to Auckland took off on the dot of 9 p.m and was uneventful. The Air New Zealand Boeing 787 was comfortable and the other passengers including the children were well-behaved. The crew were very attentive polite and helpful. Altogether a very good flying experience.
Auckland airport was a revelation and just about all US airports could learn a lot for it. Immigration was all automatic with passports scanned with a machine, some questions to answer on-line and ...zip! you are through. Then the apprehensive wait at the baggage carousel......but YES!! they did make it. Not sure how they managed that at Houston but God bless them, they did. We had an hour or two wait for our flight onward to Queenstown on the South Island so we could stop for a celebratory breakfast and relax. We were surprised to find a lot of our fellow passengers to Queenstown were Chinese and on asking later in Queenstown, we found that New Zealand had now become a very popular destination for the Chinese. Same time zone, safe, very beautiful so, maybe not surprising. Somehow, at Auckland airport, a stuffed lamb and stuffed kiwi managed to steal into our baggage to add to the coterie of stuffed animals we already had there!!!!!!
The shortish flight to Queenstown was fine and we arrived around 9 a.m. After a small snafu which was easily resolved regarding the shuttle to take us to the hotel, we were soon on the road for the 6 mile trip from the airport to town. We arrived at the Chalet Queenstown Hotel where they were not quite ready with our room b jut we dropped out bags and walked into town.
Queenstown is a small town situated on the edge of Lake W........ It is, as we soon found out quite hilly and we descended down the hill into town. There us a large hill overlooking the town and a gondola-type ski lift arrangement will take you to the top. From the top, people were bungee jumping, luge riding down a concrete pathway and also hang-gliding.
So to plan the couple of hours before we went back to the hotel, we went to a restaurant where we had another, unneeded breakfast!! Then e decided that the gondola ride was too good to miss as the views of the surrounding snow-capped mountains and the lake would be spectacular as it was a nice sunny and relatively warm day. So we climbed the hill to the foot of the gondola station and were just deciding whether or not to go when I overheard an older gentleman saying to his friends, "Well I am going even if you are not" and felt this was a sign. We fell into the queue behind him and his friend n and he proceeded to tell us he had been up here this morning and actually had hang-glided and that it was the best experience of his life!! He was going up again with his friend to give him courage to do it too. The gondola cabs take four people and are very smooth as they go up the very steep hill. At the top, the views are, indeed, spectacular, with the lake and the mountains in the sunlight. The hang-glider swooped past us on their descent with an instructor and passenger in tandem. The luge ride was short but looked like fun. Then we watched as a couple of people, did the 'bungee swing' which involved leaping off a platform into space and swinging wildly on a rope meanwhile, of course screaming!! It looked fun but not for us, I am afraid.
 |
| The gondola to the top |
 |
| Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu |
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| The surrounding mountains |
 |
| Queenstown with a hang-glider descending |
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| One way to descend |
 |
| Another way to descend |
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| The bungee swing |
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| Our way to descend!! |
By this time, it was round 6 p.m. and we decided to have an early dinner and what better place in New Zealand than Pedro's House of Lamb!! We walked there and it is a small shop with some tables outside. Pretty much all they serve was a half shoulder of lamb with potatoes, served in a large foil dish and salad. The meat was falling off the bone tender and in a great gravy which could be soaked up with the accompanying bread. We sat outside and finished all of it.
Pretty stuffed with this delicious meal. we decided that even though it wasn't that far back to the hotel, it was uphill most of the way so we would take a cab.
It did not take us long after this eventful time and pretty much 36 hours without sleep other than cat-naps on the plane, to get to bed.
Photos to follow later.
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