Flying South For The Winter
As we woke in Rotorua this morning and inhaled deeply, we got our final lung-full of sulphur-tainted air before leaving for the South Island. It amazes me that people could live here; the aroma is pretty pungent and every now and then the wind might change and a loud collective groan will emanate from the crowd. The smell is really not good. The locals tell us they honestly don’t notice it after a while. Strange. Living in such close quarters, we are more exposed to one another’s “gentle rumblings”, as one of the tour dads put it, and today one such emission popped out and we all said “ooh, it smells like Rotorua in here!”
Our trusty coach driver was ready bright and early to whisk us away to the airport in Rotorua. He has been fantastic and he was rewarded with a rousing three cheers from the team and his very own, limited edition Bulldogs New Zealand Tour Jersey. He was chuffed.
As usual, the Jones family had heavier-than-allowed bags, some exceeding the magic 23kg by more than others. Toby’s “shove it all in without folding it” method of packing proved a little less than desirable when he had to offload a couple of kilos and try to rezip it! Sam was offering to dive on it from above so it would shut. A flat packer is a good packer I always say.
Eventually all bags passed with flying colours (pun intended) and we were through to the coffee shop for some traditional New Zealand fare: L & P (a lemony soft drink “world famous in New Zealand”) and “Perky Nanas” (they need to be tasted to be believed!). We had a nice long chat to Molly – we are missing her so much. Everyone was lapping up the free airport wi-fi, watching videos, checking their “likes” and going through emails. I don’t think anyone looked up for at least half an hour.
The flight to Christchurch was absolutely stunning! We were flying over the gap between the North and South islands! As we headed further south, snow covered peaks were appearing on the horizon, their powdery white tops smiling at us up through the clouds. The scenery was gorgeous! Touching down on the South Island, we were met by yet another coach driver who would chauffeur us in comfort to Methven. Once onboard, he welcomed us to ‘The Mainland of New Zealand’ and gave us a rundown of the sights we were encountering along the way. Once again the view out the window was primarily green – slightly less so than the North Island – with dairy cows and sheep mowing paddocks all over the place, fields of cabbages and rows of other veggies. As we neared Methven, the mountains were huge and snow began springing up on the sides of the road. This was the first ever sighting of snow for some of the boys on the tour! Needless to say, they were getting excited.
Methven seems like a very cute little town. A very cute, cold little town. Some of us are staying at the Blue Pub and some at The Brown Pub and they are right across the road from one another. Both have open fires, comfort food and a warm family friendly atmosphere. The pub we are in has a myriad of little rooms upstairs and a communal sitting room. It’s very cute. Let’s hope the heaters are good! We’ll be up with the birds tomorrow morning, ready and raring to get on the snow. Can’t wait!
