Arrived Safely

It is a gorgeously sunny day in New Zealand and we have arrived safely, unpacked and done the washing!

After my message from Changi things got very eventful but first the good news...the fish spa was brilliant!  I went for a 20 minute session but the spa was quiet so they said I could stay as long as I wanted and I met a lovely girl from Perth who was just back from travelling in India and was terrified of the fish - her squeals could be heard across the airport I'm sure!!  So, with apologies for my feet, here goes:

I started with the baby fish in cool water and then moved up to the fish with more suction in warmer water and it was amazingly soothing and my feet were actually softer afterwards and for a few days.  The fish are supposed to be good for eczema and other skin complaints and were discovered in Turkey!  Surreal but nice!!

Sadly things took a bit of a nosedive after that as there were plane problems.  We all boarded and as the plane was taxi-ing a warning light came on so we went back to the gate.  Eventually we all had to get off!  This happened a further two times with the result that we were seven hours late flying and actually lost a day in Sydney.  We arrived at 5.15 p.m. absolutely shattered.  Actually the worst bit wasn't even the delay, it was the fact that Qantas saw fit to feed us with food from BurgerKing while we were waiting!

 

Anyway, we did eventually get to Sydney and our hotel was lovely.  We explored the Royal Botanic Gardens and followed the waterside walkway to the Opera House where we enjoyed lunch in the sunshine.  We then had an early start for our flight to NZ yesterday and it was only a short flight of course.  It seemed strange that such a short flight on a small plane could get us to NZ.  When we boarded Al's seat was taped up with a "do not use" notice!  Fortunately the steward was able to re-seat us both and we ended up with emergency exit seats, good one!  Terry picked us up at Auckland airport where he was dropping off Laurie who'd been staying with him for a week and was just about to fly back to Brisbane.

I've started to catch up with messages and emails and I've downloaded our photos to Terry's computer so I'll add a few to my previous posts later.  To keep you going though here's a gorgeous one: