We visited New Zealand's North Island when we were first married and vowed to return one day. Some 30 years later, here we are on our way to Te Wai Pounamu (Maori for the South Island).

Cabbed it out to the Brisbane International Airport around 3pm for a 6 .15 flight. Cleared customs and headed to duty free with 2 botles of grog underarm when the girls at the checkout informed us we were allowed 3 litres of spirits and 6 litres of wine each........wow!! We purchased some extra literage and lobbed into the Air New Zealand lounge for some relaxation time before the flight.

On boarding we were a little dissapointed as the plane was an old clunker, so old infact that it didn't even have video screens in the back of the seats. Dinner wasn't much better with a very ordinary chicken caserole. A couple of nice Shirazs later and we were ready for touchdown. It was 11.45 Christchurch time with a cool ground temperature of 12 degrees.

We cleared customs in record time, grabbed a shuttle and tucked in for a good nights sleep at the Sudima Hotel hoping for good weather when we hit the road tomorrow.