The land of Oz

10th Feb,

It's over...the time had come to depart New Zealand. All good things eventually come to an end and so with heavy hearts today we did the final clean of RP, filled the gas cylinder with LPG and topped up the diesel tank. By 11 am we had arrived at the rental place fully prepared for a fight on our hands about the compensation. Ian had already sent an email stating what the cost of our delays and all the hassles experienced should be worth but, and I will give the company their due, with only a slight amendment of the figure, we got what we wanted.

Ready to leave for the hire company and looking nice and clean.

I think the whole world knows by now of the coronavirus and an email from the airline mentioned an earlier check-in. Fully expecting long delays, sometimes it pays to look a bit dim and ask the question to one of the airport staff why we were having trouble booking in. She took us under her wing, asked all the relevant question about where we had been and did we feel at all unwell etc and before we knew it the queues were jumped, bags dropped off and we were through to security check, cabin bags scanned and retrieved with only a slight hitch as my bag was singled out for further scrutiny. Another scan and we were through to the departure lounge.

The flight took off about 15 minutes late. Some may know that I hate flying but for once the three-hour flight held no dramas. Arrival in Oz was almost to time and we sailed through baggage reclaim and immigration.

Some flooding could be seen.

Arrival at Kingsford Smith airport Sydney.

 My Brother Andre was waiting and within half an hour we were back at his place after first having to squeeze the car under yellow tape. A tree was almost blocking his road because of an earlier storm. Yep after all the fires that had continued to rage from September to now, 36 hours of torrential rain has doused all but a few but it caused widespread flooding and many a tree down. This one was balanced precariously on a power line but even so was not deemed urgent enough to warrant immediate attention.

 The next big adventure is to Tasmania and that starts on the 20th. So looking forward to that and hopefully, the next motorhome will be much better than the RP? After all, nothing could be worse....or could it?!

Golden Lizard.

Meet Norwyn, He lives by the BBQ and waits for tasty bits of fruit to come his way