So I am here in the transit lounge at LAX. Justine dropped
me off at the Dunedin airport almost 24 hours ago now, so yeah, I am feeling
pretty crappy. All in all, I guess the flight wasn’t that bad, I managed to get
a bit of sleep and had a spare seat between me and the other people in my row
on the long haul leg, so plenty of room to spread out and a nice extra blanket
and pillow for me! I did have a rather strange man sit next to me from Dunedin to
Wellington. At first, we were seated either end of a three seat row, then for
no apparent reason during the flight, he unclipped his seatbelt and moved into
the centre seat right next to me where he stayed for the rest of the trip. He
was a rather tall guy, like me so it was not exactly comfortable, and so there
I sat staring out the window wondering why on earth he moved, but not really
wanting to ask in case he wanted to continue talking (I had already decided he
was rather strange!). There was some pretty shitty weather in NZ so it seemed every
leg of the flight was delayed to let thunderstorms pass and we had a bit of
turbulence to go along, but once we finally departed Aukland things smoothed
out a bit.
The last post I wrote was on the way back to Melbourne. I
was returning to complete my PPL. Unfortunately, I still did not quite get
there, the good old Melbourne weather was not too kind and I cancelled many a
lesson. I did get the opportunity to do my first cross country solo though,
which was quite a thrill, so at least that is one milestone that I have
achieved and the last stages of training hopefully I can complete in Canada.
I
did a nice little flight from my home airfield in Lilydale, down to Moorabbin,
then over to Inverloch, Latrobe Valley and then back to Lilydale. Was even
feeling comfortable enough to grab the camera and take some happy snaps.
So the
trip home was not a total loss, I also got the chance to tie up a few loose
ends at home – the rotten car blew a head gasket just before we left so I was
able to repair that so that my mum can use the car, and the roof of our storage
container was corroding a bit so I was up on the ladder to sort that out. It was great to catch up with a few old buddies at the High Vibes
festival, which is a great free music festival in Northcote, sorry to all those
I wasn’t able to have a beer or a coffee with, but there is just too many of you to see in two
weeks! Anyway, my plane is boarding now so I will continue this shortly……
………After returning to Wanaka, just in time to pack up and
head for the UK, Justine and I managed to squeeze a bit of fun into our last
few days. We had a rather nice farewell at the lodge, a good bunch of friends over on a beautiful
sunny arvo for a beer. It was a most perfect afternoon and we mixed up some
pretty mean cocktails with the remaining dregs in our bar resulting in everyone
getting rather trashed. There was crazy trampoline stunts, a badminton
tournament and a pretty good time was had by all.
The following day we were to
farewell or last flatmates Charlie & Patrice who were off to see Milford
Sound, then we finally managed to do a hike out to the Rob Roy glacier that we
had been trying to do for most of the time we were in Wanaka. It was a pretty
tricky drive out there, all narrow gravel roads and lots of fords to cross in
the car. About an hour and a half of walking took us through some beautiful
forest and up the canyon to the glacier. The trail winds up the opposite side
of the canyon to view the glacier and it is easy to see why, you would be mad
to try and climb the glacier side as the whole thing literally hangs off the
edge of the cliff. As you stand and watch in awe the silence is broken by a
loud crack, as chunks of ice and snow break from the terminal face and tumble
down the ravine. It certainly makes you feel very small.
Even just on the
walking trail, there were at least three major landslides that had occurred
recently eating up the trail and anything else in the way. You really need to
remember that mother nature is the one in charge up there!
Despite being rather tired from the hike, we launched
into a frenzy of cleaning the next day so that we could leave the house the way
it was at the start of the season, then were on our way to Dunedin for the
grand opening of Scott & Amanda’s (Justine’s big sister and her fiancé) new
salon. We stuffed ourselves on champagne and seafood, which was delicious (nice
one guys) then headed home to get some sleep, as I still needed to figure out
how to get all my crap into the baggage limit. Hooray for transiting North
America, you get twice the weight of everywhere else, but I still reckon I was
pushing it!
So I arrive in Heathrow about 32 hours after checking in
at Dunedin. God did I want a shower! After all the delays it was odd that we
arrived about 15 minutes early, which in such a busy airport meant that our
gate was unavailable so we had to get out on the tarmac! Of course it is a
beautiful London day (about 14 degrees and drizzling) but I suppose it would be
silly to expect anything else this time of year. The employment agency have
been brilliant, I have a job to start in two days time, and they have really
looked after me. Right now I am writing this in my complimentary hotel room,
and they even sent a driver out to pick me up from the airport, which was
pretty damn cool. First time anyone in a suit and tie has ever been standing at
the gate holding a little sign with my name on it. Makes you feel pretty
special! It was also a big load off after such a long flight not to have to
think at all, the guy even insisted on carrying all my luggage (yes, I have a
LOT of it), so really I just sat back in the leather upholstered minivan and
took in the scenery while he delivered me to the doorstep of my accommodation.
Sweet eh! I am trying to stay awake now to re-tune my body clock, I have an
appointment tomorrow with the agency to open bank accounts and get a tax number
and that sort of thing. I fear I will be in bed by 5pm tho, my head is feeling
oh so heavy.
