We began with an early morning wake-up call (9:00). Check-out in most hotels in New Zealand is around 10:00, which, for our vacation needs, feels a little early. We like getting out of bed around 10:00 (to the great displeasure of the cleaning staff, who caught us in the shower more than once). We followed a long breakfast with a trek to the Dunedin Airport (if you remember from day 24, it was quite a long way)
All our efforts were rewarded by the most wonderful commercial flight experience we have ever had. We arrived at the airport and made our way to the lounge without passing through security. Then, after a good time enjoying our comfortable couch in a quiet area, we got up and walked to our gate (again, no security) and boarded our plane by scanning our boarding pass (no ID, passport, or anything). So flying from Dunedin to Christchurch can be summed up as:
- Step 1: Get to Airport
- Step 2: Board the plane
- There is no step 3. No getting almost naked for security or proving you actually exist. It is nice.
Arrived in Christchurch and realized the cool part of the city is about one square kilometre, and we live right inside the perimeter. We didn’t explore much today (leaving that for tomorrow), but the little street art we saw is fantastic. The rebuilding after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes did leave plenty of opportunities for art, if nothing else. (The rebuilding effort has cost about 40 billion dollars to date)
After three days of gray and cold weather (18-20°C), we’re happy to be back in summer time (25-28°C), and that’s the forecast until we head home.