Landing in Nelson after midday, I had to collect my rental car.  The last-minute decision to travel meant that rental cars in general were horribly expensive.  Fortunately, I found a good rate from Hardy Car Rentals whom I had never used before. I was supposed to ring them for a shuttle pick-up but when I […]

Above:  Flying past the city of New Plymouth. I had wanted to return to the Golden Bay area before summer started to fade.  My original dates two weeks ago met with a couple of hiccups.  The weather coincided with severe storms in the region.  Also, the Covid-19 Omicron outbreak was just starting and contact-tracing rules […]

I finish my trip today after more than 11 weeks.  Because the last few days have been a domestic holiday, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been overseas at all.  In fact, yesterday wasn’t even a domestic holiday.  After dropping Kim off at the airport, I had lunch with a former colleague, then visited an uncle […]

We left the Lake Benmore camp site at 0930, heading for Christchurch.  It had come highly recommended that we try out the pies at Fairlie along the way.  That recommendation came with the advice to order from the side window rather than the front walk-in area where a queue was almost guaranteed. The smoked salmon […]

We woke to a glorious day with a maximum of 28 degC.  Having come from MIQ with limited fresh air, I now have all the air and space that I could wish for. It turned out to be two days of doing very little.  I sat down lots to enjoy the view and the sunshine […]

Above: A train of SpaceX Starlink satellites. (Image credit: Marco Langbroek via SatTrackBlog) Leaving MIQ Today is my day of freedom!  I was discharged from Managed Isolation & Quarantine (MIQ) at 1530.  That’s 1h10 later than expected due to my delayed flight arrival 10 days ago. I consider myself very lucky to have managed to […]

Above: Our daily (or twice-daily) walks are in the carpark and this adjoining courtyard. Increasing strictness of MIQ Today, I’m halfway through my 10 day Managed Isolation & Quarantine (MIQ) stay at Sudima Hotel Christchurch Airport.  There have been some differences since my first MIQ stay over a year ago in 2020. New Zealand has […]

Departing for Christchurch We boarded our replacement A350-900 around 0030, an hour later than its original departure time.  Being Singapore, the ground staff started giving the boarding announcement inviting first the Business Class passengers, then high-status frequent flyers etc.  Strictly per the manual. Then the senior staff member turned up and told all 27 passengers […]