Month: January 2026

Late on Friday I got a message from Air New Zealand letting me know there could be weather cancellations of our flight on Saturday. Both rain and high winds were in the forecast. They were offering rebooking at no additional charge with a wider window than usual.

We decided to risk keeping things as they were since we had our reservations all arranged for the South Island.

We did get to the airport earlier and the car rental return completed by 1030. Our flight wasn’t due to leave until 1 pm so before we dropped our luggage we checked at the counter and were able to get on the noon flight.

The flight was uneventful. Once we were above the clouds, we were in sun and the turbulence was done. There isn’t much time for anything on a 90 minute flight. A choice of water, tea or coffee with a real small snack package.

Arriving in Christchurch, we had a fairly long wait at the car rental counter, but finally were on our way. After a false start (I grabbed the reservation info for when we return to Christchurch), we headed north of town to our motel for the night. It was about an hour and a half drive plus we had to make a grocery stop since we didn’t have much leftover. It meant we didn’t arrive until about 6:30.

Tomorrow we make our way north along the coast. It’s about 350 km, but estimated to be at least a 5 hour drive. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Friday was a day where we drove in and out of rain, but more sunny periods.

It’s interesting driving through all these small towns. Rather than having picnic areas along the highway in the countryside, most towns have a sign directing you to public toilets. There also may or may not be a park associated with them.

All too soon we were back to Auckland. Our hotel was about 15 minutes from the airport. It was raining hard when we arrived. Fortunately they had a covered area we could pull in to where we could unload. We emptied the car so we could repack for our flight on Saturday. Lots of challenges trying to even out the two suitcases and two day packs to be within the tighter guidelines flying domestic with Air New Zealand. We came in just under the threshold!