Sigh… what was meant to be a one and a half hour flight to Queenstown ended up a flight to Christchurch, followed by a 7 HOUR busride to Queenstown… the airport was closed when we arrived after 9PM, no services – no rental car, no way to get to our hotel an hour away… Told by Jetstar, the airline to take a taxi to Wanaka ($190!) or to walk up and down the main drag of Queenstown looking for a hostel for the night! (With 4 suitcases and 2 additional bags of camera gear.) I refused to leave the airport. Security threatened to arrest me for trespassing. I said ‘go ahead.’ No doubt wanting to avoid the inevitable bad publicity, the airline found us a decent hotel, (though I had to pay for it.) C’est la vie – but Jetstar hasn’t heard the last of me!
Finally arrived in Wanaka at noon, completely enhausted – I feel like I’ve had a long haul to Europe! Ugh!
And… it’s not winter. It’s t-shirt weather out there. It’s warmer here than it was at home. Note to self – give up all expectations of anyone and everything in the universe, except myself… The world has gone loony… or it’s always been loony and I’ve got to stop expecting it to ever be otherwise…
Love this tree! And Wanaka is wonderful, even without snow.
Titirangi Storyteller 
OMG. What a horror. Where are you off to and why so much luggage?
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Strangely, more light bags are easier then fewer, heavier bags. Our tripods are heavy, so rather than put them into one bag and have no weight left for clothes, they go into two suitcases and there’s weight left for whatever. They are also light enough that we can easily lift them without straining ourselves with a max-weight suitcase. Bobby pulled a groin muscle hauling a heavy bag up a staircase in Amsterdam – spent a week hobbling around – back when one suitcase held all our ‘stuff’…
Into the two smaller carry on suitcases there 2 laptops, camera lenses, a cpap machine, assorted meds and electronics. My camera bag holding my actual camera also doubles as my purse. Bobby also carries his camera in a small camera bag.
So it seems like a lot, but really, it’s generally very manageable. We are not backpackers…
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First, love that tree. Second, what a nightmare. Yes, I would definitely give Jetstar hell. Good for you for refusing to leave the airport. It sounds like something I would do, especially if I were tired.
As for the world going loony . . . sad to say you’re right. I don’t think that it was always this loony, but it is definitely getting wierder day by day. Of course, that’s not to say that you and I aren’t loony too!
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I’m pretty sure I am considered loony – I don’t passively agree to be walked on, stomped on, or dumped on. I speak up and speak out. I make people who are behaving badly uncomfortable. But I learned it from my mama…
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