Tuesday, 23-09-2014. Day 34.
From Christchurch to Sydney
We'd enjoyed a casual two weeks without having to worry about getting onto a plane, but as of this morning, that was over. We had a light breakfast in the camper van to finish off the remnants of our groceries, then dumped the waste water and the toilet water before heading off to return the Behemoth, stopping to top off the gas tank along the way.
No, the behemoth didn't run on electricity, but we did need to plug this thing in (13 times in all) to keep the battery topped up for our on-board power needs.
New Zealand Petrol Costs
In total, we'd filled up the camper van five times for a total of $418.33 ($338.83 US). Then, we were hit with a $136 ($113.36US) diesel gas tax when we turned in the camper van. This brought our petrol total up to $554.33 ($452.19 US) for the two weeks we'd toured around New Zealand.
The drop off went smoothly and quickly. We hopped on a shuttle to the airport (all of a a five-minute drive) and arrived five hours before our flight — and full two hours before we could check in. So we had some coffee and fluffies at the nearby coffee shop.
Too late we discovered the joys of New Zealand Road Bingo.
After we checked in, though, we fell under some pretty intense security scrutiny at the security checkpoint. Both Samantha and I got stopped and our bags got turned inside out. I'm still not sure what they were looking for, but in the end we got the all clear and none of our items were lost. Samantha was admonished for carrying a deck of playing cards at the bottom of her pack — not quite sure why this was an issue.
The flight, our first on Emirates airlines, was uneventful. At least until they collected everyone's headphones before landing, so we couldn't see the end of our movies. That was weird. Jackie got a gift from the flight attendants, a small “Fly Emirates” messenger-style bag — the perfect thing for our little collector (although we didn't really need another bag).
After clearing customs and immigration, we caught a cab to where we were staying — a small house in Paddington, that, after the tight confines of the Behemoth, felt positively spacious.
We walked up to Oxford street to do a little shopping for dinner at the local IGA and to check out the neighborhood, and by the time we got back it was dark, and we were tired.
Notable Statistics
Kilometers driven: 8
Hours on a plane: 3.5 hours
Movies watched: 4 (total)
Cabs taken: 1
Tom Fassbender is a writer of things with a strong adventurous streak. He also drinks coffee.
