Day 20 – Saturday 28th December Bye Bye Camper

Kaikoura’s Last Trick

It has rained with little let-up for the last 48 hours. But as we left Kaikoura this morning it was definitely higher cloud. The Whale Watching air operation had held us seats “just in case” on the morning trip at 0900. We were doubtful but called in on the off-chance. When I went in there was no sign of any staff – because they were preparing aircraft! Apparently it was all on, as there was a window in the weather. By the time they had finished briefing us that window was slammed in our faces as it pissed it down again! We and another couple were told to wait; they were quietly optimistic. At 0930 we were airborne – it all happened very quickly!

What we didn't see

Of course Kaikoura had the last laugh. They have a 95% success rate at spotting whales. Guess who the 5% were today!? Bloody typical. We did though have a fun flight and we did see the biggest pod of “Dusky Dolphins” we have ever seen – literally hundreds of them!

We then departed for Christchurch and a miserable drive through the rain. A stop for lunch and Sarah to pack and before we knew it we had said goodbye to the camper and were sat in departures of Christchurch airport for the flight to Auckland.

A moment of reflection here. We had clocked 3491Km (2,169 miles). Land End to John O’Groats is 874 miles; so more than two and a half times that distance. This was good going according to our check-in clerk when we returned the van. Glad we had an unlimited package! I won’t miss the driving; we will miss the open road.

To Auckland

Fellow Air NZ Passengers

Domestic flights are a breeze here. I scanned a bar code, printed boarding cards and dropped bags on a conveyor belt. Security was empty and actually had cheerful staff. You can take liquids on internal flights and we did also this without at any point showing ID. We simply scanned our boarding card as we boarded. That was it - job done. A month old Airbus A320 whisked us up to Auckland in little over an hour. The flight safety video was rather different. Rather than tell you about it, follow this link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9x6jufB2Dg - no go on - do it...

Then on to the Novotel at the airport for all sorts of wild luxuries – baths – big soft beds and agoraphobic space compared to the campervan!

And so to bed. Just another 12 hours on a plane tomorrow L

What I learned today:

• Flying can be fun and stress free. As long as you're in NZ.
• Whales can dive for 45 minutes at a time. That sometimes is not good on a 30 min spotting trip.