Air New Zealand canceled our flight out of Wanaka to Chrstchurch and put us aboard a bus to Queenstown instead. In Queenstown we picked up tickets to fly Air NZ from Queenstown to Christchurch. It was raining and overcast; clouds were low, so Air NZ canceled our flight and put us aboard a bus to Christchurch instead.
The thing about NZ roads: NZ is very hilly with huge mountains near Wanaka and Queenstown; very steep mountains. This condition requires the roads to have numerous switchbacks, with many turns. Even a normal rider should take Dramamine before attempting country travel! Air travel, on the other hand flys like a Crow, taking less time and less distance to make the journey. The 55 minute trip air time from Wanaka to Christchurch ended up taking from 7:00 AM to 10:30 PM to make the journey, with actual windshield time being a little over 8 hours. *sigh
If this should happen to you, don't expect Air NZ to offer any compensation! They will ante up for the bus fare, but no air fare rebate or "free ticket" to a future destination. After all, they were "put out" as well.
I believe that our Aussie friends, Richard and Jan were flying out of Queenstown this same morning on Virgin Air. If that is true, Richard and Jan, your flight was canceled as well and you would have had to remain overnight to possibly fly out the next day, if the fog lifted. If not, you would still be there! Unless, of course, they could figure out a way to bus you to Sydney!
The bus driver dropped us off out in the pasture near the air terminal and we walked in, dragging our luggage behind us. I had canceled our Super Shuttle as soon as our flight cancellation was announced. It was going to meet us in Christchurch at 3:30 and I knew we would not make in time and didn't want to still have to pay the $39 (no show) fee. As we neared the taxi station I spied two Super Shuttles at the curb and asked them to reinstate our reservation. After they made a couple of phone calls, we climbed aboard and was soon at our hotel.
We are staying at The Dorset House, a backpackers hostel with tiny, but private rooms and community bathrooms. The bedrooms are small, barely enough room to change your mind! But once you close the door, turn out the light, jump into bed and close your eyes, it's very large!
We took a bus tour of Chistchurch today. The earthquake damage is slowly being repaired, although it will take years more to complete. More than 1700 buildings were damaged and around 200 people killed in the 4 earthquakes they had.
More about that later.
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