Auckland

The piece of music you are listening to whilst reading this page is Going Home - by Dire Straits - one of my favourite instrumentals

The flight left LAX at 10.40 with some very tired passengers, especially the babies.   After watching a couple of movies the flight path screen comes on and we see that we are having a stop that wasn't on my flight itinerary.  A nice surprise.  I am actually going to Fiji for an hour.  The airport is very small, but nice.  We were greeted by a trio singing traditional songs, didn't understand a word they were singing but still, they did sound good.  One little girl, about 3 yrs old, seemed very fascinated by these men in skirts singing.  She wandered around them, in between them, checking them out from head to toe, and at one stage actually started to dance to the music.  She would have been there for about 10 minutes, while we were lined up to go through security and on through to the shopping area.  What a shame I have an empty purse and the credit card is now permanently stuck in it's little section in my purse.  Not to be removed until I am home.  Although we were here in transit we still had to go through a security check to get into the shopping area, and no, I didn't buy anything, not even a fridge magnet.  That would be cheating as I didn't really visit Fiji.

Exactly an hour and we're re-boarding the plane for a nice 3 hour flight to NZ.  It was nice to have a short break to stretch the legs.

Even though we left LA late we had made up all lost time with a good tail wind and arrived in Fiji on schedule.  I am now sitting in the airport in Auckland, NZ, a 3 hour wait before my final flight leaves.

I found a power point next to some seats, so no more sitting on the floor hoping no one trips over me.  I haven't connected to the net though as I figure why waste $10.00 for 1 hour when I've got it at home and you only have to wait a few more hours to read this.

There was some drama on the flight from LA, it's the first time I've heard the announcement on all my travels, "if there is a doctor, paramedic or nurse on the flight, please make yourself known to a flight attendant."   There were quite a number of people stood up at this time, not sure if they were all legit or some just nosy, but they all went towards the front of the plane.  Must have been an emergency in business or first class.  Once we hit Fiji, the captain told us to please wait as emergency medical crew were coming on board and would give the all clear once they had checked the sick passenger.  I overheard some girls in the ladies talking and one said she had gone up front to the loo and saw a man with drips attached but didn't know any more.  Whilst waiting to go through security I did see a man in a wheelchair with a doctor with him.  How did I know it was a doctor?  He had a stethoscope round his neck, don't they all?

The flight left on time for NZ.

Arriving in NZ, I find my gate and settle down to write this story.  I check the time in Perth, a little too early yet to send a text to anyone letting them know I've arrived here and will be leaving again in 2 hours.

A bit optimistic it turns out.  An announcement comes over the PA to say the plane will be delayed 1 hour, we will now be departing at 3.20 as there is a problem with the hydraulics.  Time to take out that damn credit card, I am starving and can't wait that long for something to eat.  The problem now is, after buying my snack and cuppa I am left with 13 NZ dollars.  Guess I'm going to have to go in the shops after all and see what I can spend it on.  A couple of stubbie holders for the kids maybe?  Not at $11.95 each, sorry guys, you are not getting one of them, and if that's an indication of the prices here then I can't see anyone getting any souvenirs.  I end up spending it on a big bag of Toblerone, one of my favourite chocolates, at $12.99 a bag.

Wandering back down to gate 4 I hear another announcement, the flight is now going to be leaving at 4.20, the hydraulics are still leaking and another plane is being readied for us.  I watch as the catering company unload all the refreshments and meals and transfer them over to the new plane.  The cargo handlers are removing the luggage and one trailer seems to have been forgotten.  It sits there for a good 20 minutes before someone finally hooks it up and trundles over to the new plane.

It's a decent time in Perth now to send the boys a text message to give them my new arrival time.  2 hours late.

We finally depart at 4.50,  2 and a half hours late, but the pilot informs us that we have been given a new flight path which will cut 45 minutes off our travelling time.  Too late to let anyone know now as the phone had to be turned off once we boarded.  I guess that won't really matter though as I will have the delay of going through customs at Perth airport so it should work out just about right time wise.

The flight was a lot more turbulent than any of the flights I've had, at one time it felt like we were on a roller coaster, we hit that many air pockets.  There were some Oohs and Aahs from some passengers each time we dropped.

We finally arrive in Perth at 7.40, and as expected, it was a bit of a wait getting through the customs line.  After past experience travelling I knew it was always quicker to have something to declare, that line really does move quicker, so I declared my chocolates and some wooden articles I'd bought.  I had them in my back pack so there was no need to find the right key to the locks on Mack and MM, which also made it a little quicker getting through.   Everything checked out fine and I'm directed to the main doors and into the airport lounge to be greeted by Louise and Brandon running towards me.  I am home.

Finally, and I'm sure you are all breathing a sigh of relief now, my adventure has come to an end so no more stories for you to read or mountains of photo's for you to look through, and because they are all digital you don't have to suffer through me showing you numerous photo albums week after week.

Although my adventure has now ended and there will be no more photo's to add or stories to tell, keep checking back as I will start adding those comments to the photo's as time allows.   I will also be updating other sections of the site and adding more fun stuff as I find it.

Thank you to all who were a part of my adventure, the friends I visited and the new friends I made, and thank you to everyone for taking the time to wander around the world with me through my pages.
A little bit of useless information for you here.  Whilst uploading the last of the photo's I thought I'd count how many photo's you have actually waded through during this trip.

There are 3,432 photo's throughout this album.  If you have seen every one of them   and thank you.  It has made making these pages all the more worth while.