Woo-hoo! It all comes together

Fortunately after the setback with the missed flight in Dubai, the replacement boarding card I was given was for a seat next to over-the-wing exit (24F) - and valid for the next three hops to Christchurch!  Nearly went amiss in Bangkok when I zipped past the transit area, engrossed in texting Al on a moving walkway... but then common sense prevailed after spending a few minutes in the queue for customs and entry to Thailand, and I managed to make it onto the third flight in time.

It was raining when we landed in Sydney but only cool and overcast on arrival in Christchurch. I was expecting a fraught time with the people who check for foreign organisms on entry (Al told me they gave him a tough time when he arrived 48 hours before me) but they were quite happy just to inspect my tent, which I had cleaned very carefully.

My bag was in the boot of the hire car within fifty minutes of touchdown. The car itself has seen better days with 250,000 km of NZ roads behind it, but seems to be quite feisty. Has been nicknamed Woody after it's registration plate, EDW050. I keep burning rubber when pulling out of junctions. Our own horrible Diesel Mondeo would stall rather than gallop away on the same pressure on the gas pedal.

I found my way to Hagley Park as the rain started to fall gently, and then drove on into Cathedral Square in the hope of finding a shopping mall for food and essentials. Unfortunately I had obviously arrived a year or two late - it all still looks like a bomb site, mostly weeds and crushed concrete gravel with hoardings and boarded up buildings - in a very sorry state, and it's difficult to imagine how it can recover with the historic heart of the city reduced to this state.

So instead I drove out to Riccarton and my motel on Dean Street, clutching a street map because I couldn't get roaming mobile data on my smart phone for Google Maps.

Lena's motel room was lovely  - scrupulously clean, the Argyle on the Park. She's been running the place for six months and is very proud of their renovations. Initially I decided she might have been brought up in Poland, but after talking for a little while she revealed that she'd been a surgeon in Russia before emigrating to Christchurch, which probably explains why everything is so spotless. The room had a lounge, bedroom, kitchenette with microwave, cooker and fridge, and en-suite. What struck me most was the birdsong heard through the open windows - very exotic in the late afternoon - and the subtle differences in the decor and appliances from home.

I slept for bit and woke up at 1 AM to do a quick shop at a 24 hour convenience store around the corner. Raining really heavily now, glad to be totally dry in a kayaking cagoule that covers me to mid-thigh.  Didn't really feel like a longer walk so went back to bed after toast and a cup of tea back in the room. So everything has worked out I am established in NZ - pretty pleased at the way things have turned out.