New Zealand - Christchurch

We took a night flight out of Singapore and lucky for us, we managed to get JD a seat for free. Pity though, that because they was bulkhead seats, we couldn't lift the arm rest and she still had to alternate between sleeping in my arms and in the bassiset.

We arrived in Christchurch about 9am, NZ time. It was really a pleasant surprise for us to see a special queue for families with children below 5. I had always thought airports should have this as young kids do get really cranky if the wait's too long. Needless to say, immigration was smooth sailing, baggage collection was quick and customs declaration was effortless too. The long checks for food declaration that I had to face at Australia were absent here and this made our start alot easier. We picked up our rented car from the Hertz counter and off we went to our first stop, Sign of the Takahe, which allowed us to have an overview of Christchurch.





This 1st day was basically an R&R day for us, before we begin our long drive down south. We put up at Ashleigh Court Motel for the night, a small but quaint apartment. Our host Steve was really friendly and helpful in kickstarting our trip.