January 14

The last day in New Zealand and I was awake at 0215 (not because of anticipation, but because of our flight time) and up at 0225. I showered, dressed and finished packing. Fran was quickly up and dressed. We had a cup of tea, I had a can of coke and took the suitcases outside.
Our taxi arrived at 0310, so we packed up and were off to airport. We arrived at 0330 with a fare of NZ$24.50 but it was only NZ$22 with our discount coupon. We went into the terminal and found that our flight was departing from the domestic terminal. There were no staff around, no check-ins open, but quite a few passengers. I quickly found that the auto check-in doesn’t work for International departures from the Domestic Terminal. After wandering to the International Terminal, I eventually found out because of shift changes, no-one would be on until 0430. There were very small signs and generally poor signage. We went into the lines at 0430, had our suitcases weighed (20.4 kg each) and were passed through. The luggage was going straight through to Adelaide, so that was no problem. We had to wait until the departure gate opened, then went through. There was no real problem at the security point. Finally we got onto the plane to Auckland and we were off on time. Sunrise was during the flight and scenery was nice.
We arrived at Auckland on time and went quickly around to the departure point for the flight to Adelaide. Here the security check was okay but my pack was selected for random testing – and, low and behold, it tested POSITIVE for EXPLOSIVES!
Fortunately both I and the tester were sensible about it, because like a lot of things, one negative test negates many positive tests. He reset the machine, used a fresh test strip and – all clear! Off we went, but now with little time. However we still made it to the flight on time and, again on time, the flight headed off to Adelaide.
The flight back was smooth, but they ran out of a selection of food so it was either take what was offered or nothing. After twenty flights within the last year, I didn’t mind and just ate what I liked.
We landed in Adelaide on time and I rang Ashley to pick us up. He was already at the airport, so we went through Customs and Immigration, hoping for no delays. Immigration was quick, but Fran held us up at two points because of declaring all the medicines and so on that she had, and because she ran into a parent from school. However, even so, we were through very quickly once the officials realised what Fran had (no prohibited material) and so we were soon in the public area of the terminal and met Ashley. Quickly we took the luggage to the car, put it and ourselves in and, for Fran, her New Zealand holiday was over.
For me, over a year of travelling had come to an end – and is never likely to be repeated!