Monday, 16th of July 2012
7:00 – Waking up to a last windy and rainy austrian morning, stuffing the already weighed (23 kg for big cases and 7 kg for hand luggage) and ready suitcases with the last items that could not be forgotten.
12:00 – The last real schnitzel with wild, selfmade cranberry jam for a year?
13:30 – Last goodbyes at home.
14:00 – The suitcases fill the car up to the roof. How will all this fit in a compact Ford Focus?
15:30 – We arrive at the MUC airport, there’s no queue at the check in counter and on concerns about London and our seat numbers (last row …) the employee reassures us that everything will work out just fine (seriously?).
17:00 – Now we know the five shops by heart, can recite the headlines of the leading yellow press magazines, tried on all the bavarian hats, drank at least 2 litres of water out of boredom and did some princess-painting book paintings.
18:00 – Our plane lands on its flight back from LHR.
18:15 – Boarding is now open! Everybody jumps out of their seats at the same time.
18:50 – The roaring turbines push our heads and even our thoughts deep in our seats.
19:50 – After some extra loops over the airport and one hour time shift we finally land in time (!) and meet a lovely elderly lady with express lane passes at the exit, she leads us directly to the terminal-3-bus.
21:15 – T3 opens before us, no struggle to get around at all, the big Qantas bird is still waiting.
21:50 – Start! 20 min late. Bye LHR. No, we didn’t cause the delay ;)
22:30 – Dinner comes around, parents enjoy a douple portion because the kids can’t eat anything because they are still overexcited.
00:00 – Kids still can’t sleep and thus we don’t, either.
… we loose some hours at this point due to our heading east and passing so many time zones (http://weltzeit.fernweh.com/).
Tuesday, 17th of July 2012
The very short, but long felt night starts. When we arrive 13h later in SIN, it’s 17:30 already.^
18:30 – We discover a cactus garden with extraordinary humid air on the roof top of our gate.
19:30 – The bird flies again.
21:00 – Another supper and another sleepy time – but this time we’re so not tired, Verena and I keep playing her favorite (munching worm) computer game while Anna tries to watch all kid’s movies there are.
24:00 – Still alive and kicking.
… loosing another two hours on the way.
Wednesday, 18th of July 2012
05:10 – When we land in SYD, the airport is almost empty and very quiet. The security checks are now routine moves, start getting really tired now.
07:20 – We enter our last plane for the day. The crew is very friedly, the light breakfast helps to lift the mood a little bit.
12:00 – When the captain tells us that the weather in Christchurch will be sunny, we open the lids and have this phantastic look over the snowy Southern Alps. I can’t help having goose pumps.
12:50 – The landing was smooth like black tea with milk, only the border control took a little of our time and we were already a little bit edgy when we finally got all our luggage and met our contact from Ford Christchurch.
14:00 – Checking in our luggage at some motel.
15:00 – Driving new car back to our motel, eating some pastries.
16:00 – Found myself in bed fully clothed, corrected error, slept instantly again.
