Sun, 27th August 2006: Sydney, Australia to Christchurch, New Zealand
I woke up really early and at once when the alarm rang. But I guess I was already ready to wake up even in my dreams. I was staying at Brad’s place, which was reasonably close to the Airport. So, I decided to take the taxi from there instead of looking for buses (because I had to take two!)
Taxi was there on time. It was a Chilean man who was driving – who looked very much like a Pakistani. He was the first Chilean I ever met in my life. I arrived in-time for the flight to Christchurch (Chch is the shortform) Check-in was smooth then I went straight up to the POST Counter and sent my parcels to Europe and Pakistan and thanked God that I got rid of them before damaging them. I was tired of carrying them because of their odd size (larger than normal large :P)
Sydney airport is nothing special to talk about. Nice and Clean I would say…. Security clearance line was a bit longer than what I expected. Immigration out of Australia was easy. The female immigration officer was friendly. Qantas flight was on-time. Plane was Boeing 767 2-3-2 configuration. I was having a window seat with no one sitting next to me. It was the same music on board which I have been listening in last three Qantas flights so now I was bored of it :P There was no personal video screen but there were screens for every ten rows. I had a continental breakfast with cereal and coffee. The other option was impossible for me as it was Egg with Bacon : ( I took a short nap and then …
God! I am suddenly excited when I saw the travel route map on the screen in the aircraft that we will soon be flying over the south island of New Zealand. Wow! I am finally in a lovely country hidden far away from all the rest of the world. I saw some brilliant views of the Southern NZ Alps. Wow! Can’t wait to be down there among them! Weather looks beautiful on both western as well as eastern coast of South Island.
Christchurch airport is just-an-airport with minimum requirements fulfilled. Immigration officer – a young girl – was friendly but was asking me lots of questions and I gave detailed answers. Then quarantine check was easy (special customs control which is only in Australia & New Zealand to my knowledge) Then came another Immigration/Police check and she also asked me similar questions and a few were really interrogative – such as you must be having a good salary working with Swiss Railways that u managed to do this Round the World tour : ) anyways, I was happy and excited to talk to them and all went fine. I came out of the terminal and Sophie – My couch surfing host was waiting for me in the car. Greetings exchanged! Photos of the airport taken ;-) and we were soon on the highway to the beach because Sophie wanted to collect some stones/pebbles to be precise – to make a special gift for her sister on her birthday. The views from the beach towards the Antarctic Ocean were great and on the other side the green hills hugging the small lake were equally stunning. We soon left for Sumner – the suburbs of Christchurch where Sophie left but I was damn hungry so we made a short stopover in a Blue Duck café. The scenic route from there via Governors bay & Lyttelton to Sumner was lovely.
Sophie lives in a big house, which she shares with another 3 students. The house is big n clean and right 10-15 meters from the beach – The Great Pacific Ocean, which I am going to cross InshAllah on 13th September 2006. I had a little chat before I made my daypack ready to leave and explore the city center of Chch. She was kind enough to bring me back to the Bus terminal in Sumner. The bus ride was mere 20 mins and then I was right in the city Center of Chch.
It was a Sunday and 99% of the shops were closed. Moreover, it was late afternoon so the remaining few would have been off as well. I roamed around aimlessly before having my dinner at a lavish restaurant and let my daily budget get busted.
Taxi was there on time. It was a Chilean man who was driving – who looked very much like a Pakistani. He was the first Chilean I ever met in my life. I arrived in-time for the flight to Christchurch (Chch is the shortform) Check-in was smooth then I went straight up to the POST Counter and sent my parcels to Europe and Pakistan and thanked God that I got rid of them before damaging them. I was tired of carrying them because of their odd size (larger than normal large :P)
Sydney airport is nothing special to talk about. Nice and Clean I would say…. Security clearance line was a bit longer than what I expected. Immigration out of Australia was easy. The female immigration officer was friendly. Qantas flight was on-time. Plane was Boeing 767 2-3-2 configuration. I was having a window seat with no one sitting next to me. It was the same music on board which I have been listening in last three Qantas flights so now I was bored of it :P There was no personal video screen but there were screens for every ten rows. I had a continental breakfast with cereal and coffee. The other option was impossible for me as it was Egg with Bacon : ( I took a short nap and then …
God! I am suddenly excited when I saw the travel route map on the screen in the aircraft that we will soon be flying over the south island of New Zealand. Wow! I am finally in a lovely country hidden far away from all the rest of the world. I saw some brilliant views of the Southern NZ Alps. Wow! Can’t wait to be down there among them! Weather looks beautiful on both western as well as eastern coast of South Island.
Christchurch airport is just-an-airport with minimum requirements fulfilled. Immigration officer – a young girl – was friendly but was asking me lots of questions and I gave detailed answers. Then quarantine check was easy (special customs control which is only in Australia & New Zealand to my knowledge) Then came another Immigration/Police check and she also asked me similar questions and a few were really interrogative – such as you must be having a good salary working with Swiss Railways that u managed to do this Round the World tour : ) anyways, I was happy and excited to talk to them and all went fine. I came out of the terminal and Sophie – My couch surfing host was waiting for me in the car. Greetings exchanged! Photos of the airport taken ;-) and we were soon on the highway to the beach because Sophie wanted to collect some stones/pebbles to be precise – to make a special gift for her sister on her birthday. The views from the beach towards the Antarctic Ocean were great and on the other side the green hills hugging the small lake were equally stunning. We soon left for Sumner – the suburbs of Christchurch where Sophie left but I was damn hungry so we made a short stopover in a Blue Duck café. The scenic route from there via Governors bay & Lyttelton to Sumner was lovely.
Sophie lives in a big house, which she shares with another 3 students. The house is big n clean and right 10-15 meters from the beach – The Great Pacific Ocean, which I am going to cross InshAllah on 13th September 2006. I had a little chat before I made my daypack ready to leave and explore the city center of Chch. She was kind enough to bring me back to the Bus terminal in Sumner. The bus ride was mere 20 mins and then I was right in the city Center of Chch.
It was a Sunday and 99% of the shops were closed. Moreover, it was late afternoon so the remaining few would have been off as well. I roamed around aimlessly before having my dinner at a lavish restaurant and let my daily budget get busted.
posted by Umer at 8:34 am
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