Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur.
Sunday December 30th.
After spending a wonderful Christmas with Steve, Kris, Lauren and Josh it was time to say goodbye and head for the other side of the world.
Kris drove us to Heathrow and we entered terminal 4 to start the first flight. This would be the second time that I have asked for assistance at the airport due to contracting polymyalgia several years ago. Walking and standing for too long can cause me problems and the assistance makes the journey so much easier.
All went smoothly and we boarded our flight to KL and took off at 9.30pm.
After a busy 10 days I was pretty tired and managed to doze quite a lot during the first half of the flight which was 121/2 hours. Then I fell asleep and was much surprised to be woken, by the flight attendant, when breakfast was served. That’s a first for me as I have never been able to do that before.
When we landed I was met by a nice young man who was waiting for me with a wheelchair. Although we had been to KL before I had forgotten just how big the airport is. It’s a long walk from the plane, through duty free and then onto a train to get to immigration. Immigration was so busy and I think that our young man was new to the job as he had to ask someone where he could take us. Once he found that out he took us to an immigration desk where we passed through very quickly. Then on to baggage reclaim where the bags had just started coming through so we had quite a wait. N was pretty hot and went to find a seat to take off his flight socks and I was left looking for the cases. Mine is easy to spot being turquoise and black but N’s is dark navy with no distinguishing features so we had tied an orange ribbon on the handle. Just as he returned I spotted the cases so our young man loaded them onto the trolley and off we went through customs.
The hotel where we are staying provides a buggy service from the airport but it was quite a challenge finding the location of it! We went up a lift which went up and down and up and down again before we got out. Difficult to explain but quite disorientating. Then a long trek through a food court and finally to the buggy stop. Said buggy duly arrived and as they were unloading the cases N said that’s not my case!! Who could believe that there were 2 dark blue suitcases with orange ribbon on the same flight! On closer inspection this one was older and had a lock. Panic!
So I get buggied off to the hotel and N now gets put in my wheelchair and gets wheeled off in search of correct case.
I am deposited in hotel lobby where I start to imagine many scenarios of mistaken suitcases, loss of his suitcase etc. Much to my surprise and relief he appears after about 15 minutes. They had gone back through the maze, found the correct case on the carousel and deposited the other one back on the carousel. Panic over.
Check in and finally get to our room at about 8pm local time. After a welcome shower and brief relax we go down to get some dinner. A very multi cultural menu. The waiter, who like all the employees is charming and dare one say it obsequious, insists on hovering whilst we make our selection. Despite me saying, several times, that we will eventually make our choice, he continues hovering and making suggestions about what we should select. I decide on having a Nasi goreng but do ask that it shouldn’t be too spicy please. N goes for the same. The food arrives, beautifully presented. There are some prawn crackers,on the side which I dip into the attractive looking sauce surrounding 2 succulent looking prawns. I take a bite and oh, ow and some strong expletives as I virtually leap off my chair as the heat from the sauce sears my mouth and heads down my aesophogus. Either Mr Obsequious didn’t understand me or his version of not too spicy is not attuned to my delicate European palate. A quick slug of my Tiger beer and the heat begins to abate. Thankfully the rest of the meal is most acceptable as I carefully avoid the dastardly red stuff. A shame as I am quite partial to prawns and I couldn’t even think of trying to eat them. N, never one to look a gift prawn in the mouth, manages though after scraping off most of the red stuff.
So finally the moment I have been looking forward to arrives and I sink into the wonderfully comfortable bed and into a deep sleep for nine and a half hours.
January 1st
After a wonderful nights sleep in an amazingly comfortable bed we both felt refreshed.
Breakfast was a buffet with so many dishes from so many places. I’m afraid I’m not keen on rice and spicy things for breakfast so I stuck to fresh fruit, omelette and toast and marmalade. The welcome coffee was the icing on the cake, strong, just as I like it.All the staff were so charming, so smiley and everyone wishing us a happy new year. By the time we had breakfasted it was 11am and time to return to our room and digest our meal and relax. In the afternoon I went down to the pool and swam and then read for a couple of hours. Nigel came down later and we sat in the jacuzzi for a while and relaxed poolside.Then time to organise our cases and go down for dinner. Teriyaki tonight and very good it was too.
Then buggy back to the airport, check in and wait for our flight to be boarded. KL is an incredibly busy airport which functions 24/24 and is very well organised. Unfortunately there seemed to be a problem with the electrics during the pre flight check and after we were boarded they stopped other passengers boarding and we sat there for almost an hour before they recommenced boarding.
I bought a super duper neck cushion at the airport and I’m sure that it would have made sleeping much more comfortable had I been able to sleep! Not even a glimmer of a bit of a doze, felt wide awake the whole flight.
We arrived in Auckland at 3.30pm local time and were quickly through immigration, baggage reclaim and customs and the girl who was accompanying us through the airport checked us in for our flight to Kerikeri and took us to the stop for the transfer bus to the domestic terminal. We had a couple of hours to wait there and were able to have a snack and a very welcome cup of coffee.
The plane to Kerikeri was tiny compared to our previous conveyances but it did the job and got us there in 30 minutes compared to a 4 hour road trip. A small terminal and son Rob was waiting for us ready to take us on the last leg of our journey from Castandet!
A 30 minute drive through Paihia to the ferry at Opua, 5 minutes on the car ferry and 2 minutes up the road to our home from home.
As always I’m overwhelmed by the vegetation. Some of the Pohutakawa trees are still in flower. Agapanthus Jacaranda and bougainvillea are in full flower. At the moment everything is very green as there was a lot of rain before and up to Christmas.
And so to bed, I reckoned that I had been awake for 33 hours!
Thursday January 3rd.
Slept till 8am, felt wonderful!
A day of settling in to our new home, unpacking, resting and relaxing.
Rob rents the downstairs of a large property overlooking English Bay and the Bay of Islands Marina at Opua. https://www.bayofislandsmarina.co.nz
I met Rob’s landlords Tony and Anne who live above
I went into Russell with Rob to get a few necessities at the 4 Square shop. We had brunch and watched the world go by.
Russell is a very popular tourist destination and has a lot of history being known as the “Hell hole of the Pacific” in the 1800’s.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell,_New_Zealand
In the evening Rob did a bbq and we sat on the terrace and watched the maritime traffic in the bay below us
Friday January 3rd.
Rob and Nigel made a quick trip in to Russell.
I spent a lot of time just sitting and watching activity on the water, so easy to spend time doing that.
We have a weka lives nearby. He’s very friendly and as long as one doesn’t make any sudden moves he’ll approach to see if there’s any food going. He’ll even take some from ones hand.
We watched some tv.
Rob cooked tea, a curry, too hot for me!
Beginning to feel more rested now.
Saturday January 4th.
Awake at 8 and sat outside with my morning cuppa and a slice of toast. The tour boats were just leaving the marina to go down to Paihia and the ferry traffic was hotting up.
Later in the morning I went upstairs and had a coffee and a chat with Tony and Anne, they kindly gave me a bag of newly dug new potatoes.
Another trip into Russell with Rob to get more supplies and then late afternoon I went with him again as he is taking advantage of having a chauffeur in residence. He caught the foot ferry over to Paihia to meet up with some friends for a drink or two. I had a wander around then bought an ice cream and sat by the shore watching the world go by. Then to drive back here. First time this trip driving an automatic car with right hand drive on the left! Beginning to feel not quite 100%. Cooked tea but couldn’t eat a lot. Went back to Russell 7.30 to pick Rob up and then to bed.
Sunday January 5th.
Didn’t have a good night, coughing, hot and cold, bad head. Nigel feeling better thankfully.He’s not been at all well since we got here.I think we must have caught some sort of virus on the way here. I slept on and off until early pm. Rob then started feeling ill. What a disaster! Still we have nothing to do and nowhere to go so can take it easy and rest and recuperate.
January 1st
After a wonderful nights sleep in an amazingly comfortable bed we both felt refreshed.
Breakfast was a buffet with so many dishes from so many places. I’m afraid I’m not keen on rice and spicy things for breakfast so I stuck to fresh fruit, omelette and toast and marmalade. The welcome coffee was the icing on the cake, strong, just as I like it.All the staff were so charming, so smiley and everyone wishing us a happy new year. By the time we had breakfasted it was 11am and time to return to our room and digest our meal and relax. In the afternoon I went down to the pool and swam and then read for a couple of hours. Nigel came down later and we sat in the jacuzzi for a while and relaxed poolside.Then time to organise our cases and go down for dinner. Teriyaki tonight and very good it was too.
Then buggy back to the airport, check in and wait for our flight to be boarded. KL is an incredibly busy airport which functions 24/24 and is very well organised. Unfortunately there seemed to be a problem with the electrics during the pre flight check and after we were boarded they stopped other passengers boarding and we sat there for almost an hour before they recommenced boarding.
I bought a super duper neck cushion at the airport and I’m sure that it would have made sleeping much more comfortable had I been able to sleep! Not even a glimmer of a bit of a doze, felt wide awake the whole flight.
We arrived in Auckland at 3.30pm local time and were quickly through immigration, baggage reclaim and customs and the girl who was accompanying us through the airport checked us in for our flight to Kerikeri and took us to the stop for the transfer bus to the domestic terminal. We had a couple of hours to wait there and were able to have a snack and a very welcome cup of coffee.
The plane to Kerikeri was tiny compared to our previous conveyances but it did the job and got us there in 30 minutes compared to a 4 hour road trip. A small terminal and son Rob was waiting for us ready to take us on the last leg of our journey from Castandet!
A 30 minute drive through Paihia to the ferry at Opua, 5 minutes on the car ferry and 2 minutes up the road to our home from home.
As always I’m overwhelmed by the vegetation. Some of the Pohutakawa trees are still in flower. Agapanthus Jacaranda and bougainvillea are in full flower. At the moment everything is very green as there was a lot of rain before and up to Christmas.
And so to bed, I reckoned that I had been awake for 33 hours!
Thursday January 3rd.
Slept till 8am, felt wonderful!
A day of settling in to our new home, unpacking, resting and relaxing.
Rob rents the downstairs of a large property overlooking English Bay and the Bay of Islands Marina at Opua. https://www.bayofislandsmarina.co.nz
I met Rob’s landlords Tony and Anne who live above
I went into Russell with Rob to get a few necessities at the 4 Square shop. We had brunch and watched the world go by.
Russell is a very popular tourist destination and has a lot of history being known as the “Hell hole of the Pacific” in the 1800’s.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell,_New_Zealand
In the evening Rob did a bbq and we sat on the terrace and watched the maritime traffic in the bay below us
Friday January 3rd.
Rob and Nigel made a quick trip in to Russell.
I spent a lot of time just sitting and watching activity on the water, so easy to spend time doing that.
We have a weka lives nearby. He’s very friendly and as long as one doesn’t make any sudden moves he’ll approach to see if there’s any food going. He’ll even take some from ones hand.
We watched some tv.
Rob cooked tea, a curry, too hot for me!
Beginning to feel more rested now.
Saturday January 4th.
Awake at 8 and sat outside with my morning cuppa and a slice of toast. The tour boats were just leaving the marina to go down to Paihia and the ferry traffic was hotting up.
Later in the morning I went upstairs and had a coffee and a chat with Tony and Anne, they kindly gave me a bag of newly dug new potatoes.
Another trip into Russell with Rob to get more supplies and then late afternoon I went with him again as he is taking advantage of having a chauffeur in residence. He caught the foot ferry over to Paihia to meet up with some friends for a drink or two. I had a wander around then bought an ice cream and sat by the shore watching the world go by. Then to drive back here. First time this trip driving an automatic car with right hand drive on the left! Beginning to feel not quite 100%. Cooked tea but couldn’t eat a lot. Went back to Russell 7.30 to pick Rob up and then to bed.
Sunday January 5th.
Didn’t have a good night, coughing, hot and cold, bad head. Nigel feeling better thankfully.He’s not been at all well since we got here.I think we must have caught some sort of virus on the way here. I slept on and off until early pm. Rob then started feeling ill. What a disaster! Still we have nothing to do and nowhere to go so can take it easy and rest and recuperate.
No comments:
Post a Comment