We drove out to Dunedin airport – Lou was driving, Mum was in the front seat, and I was wedged between Will and Timmy’s car seats! It was still relatively dark when we arrived at the airport but it lightened up while we were there.
Will wandered off to the ‘shooting room’ while Timmy made a few friends walking around. He discovered the children’s corner and it was funny watching him climb up the steps which were too big for him, then seeing only the top of his head and his feet sticking up as he went down the slide!
We boarded the plane and waved farewell to Dunedin and Lou and the boys. I felt sad that I was going but glad that I was leaving with happy memories and that my family wasn’t tearful when we left.
Up in the air, we flew over Dunedin with beautiful views over the city while the sun came up over the horizon in a flaming red mass. The flight to Christchurch was over before we knew it and it felt like a good sign that our journey was going to pass quickly.
We arrived at Christchurch to a relatively abandoned international terminal. We found a place to sit down and fill out our departure cards and have a cup of coffee. When people started arriving we joined in the early queue, and we were lucky as a hoard of people arrived not long after and queued up behind. The flight from Christchurch to Singapore was painless. I watched quite a few movies and TV programmes to fill in the time and I really enjoyed the Braised Beef in Black Bean Sauce meal that was served.
We descended into Singapore and the view of the city and surrounding islands was excellent. Changi airport is quite far away from the city centre so we didn’t get to see that from where we were. Stepping off the plane was like walking through a heat curtain. The temperature outside was reportedly 42 degrees, a temperature I can’t comprehend. Fortunately, the airport was conditioned and a much cooler environment.
We had six hours to kill before our next flight, but Changi is an impressively large airport and is well laid out. We walked from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 then caught the SkyTrain to Terminal 2. We quickly located the gate we needed to depart from, so we wandered down the concourse through the rows of shops. There were central areas with large plants, pools and trickling water. The koi inside the pools were massive.
After buying a few items for the relatives and family back home, we retreated to a cafe for a coffee and a hot dog. Realising that we still had a couple of hours to spare, we found a comfortable place to sit down and watch the local football team (Woodlands) fight a valiant Final battle against French newcomers Etoile FC on a big screen. We wandered off down to the gate and to our dismay discovered Sanctuary @ T2; a quiet area of peace and comfort seemingly isolated from the busyness of the foot traffic. We curled up for about ten minutes and vowed to remember to come back on our way back through. After going through the gate, we waited for a short time before boarding the plane and departing for Munich.
