Life in Blenheim has begun!
Happy Easter Everyone!
We have been New Zealand residents for just over two weeks now and we are starting to settle in to our new life here in Blenheim. We are currently living in a rented flat (owned by friends) that is conveniently within walking distance to downtown. We should be here for another month or so and then we will have to find a longer-term place to stay as this one is being sold! Still moving! Rentals are not easy to find here and so we will have to start looking soon. For now, we are lucky to be in this one as it is partially furnished and we have not had time to find much furniture of our own and do not plan to ship our stuff over for awhile yet.
As I write this, Jim is in Seattle on the beginning of his 3 1/2 weeks in North America that we had planned before our residency came through. He will hopefully get a chance to see some of you as we do not know how long it will be until he returns again. While there, he will keep a doctor's appointment that he has had scheduled for about 7 months now and will make a trip to Nicaragua on tickets that we earned last year in our crazy "cross America" marathon...remember that? It earned us our Platinum status with American Airlines for another year. We had planned to go together, (I was to fly to Canada on April 6th) but as the residency came through and I have already started my job, I will not be returning to visit until late June or early July. I sure am not use to watching him fly off. And he almost didn't actually. I must tell you that story as it is such a great example of Kiwi ingenuity and the attitude of the people in our new home!
As new residents of Blenheim, we did not know that the worst time to book a flight out of Blenheim to Wellington, or out of Wellington for that matter, is early in the morning at this time of year. And this year has been even worse than usual. FOG! For four days prior to Jim's flight, fog had shut down the capital city's airport (Wellington is the capital, not Auckland for those of you who might have thought otherwise!) We were nervous, to say the least, as the day was approaching. Jim's International ticket started in Wellington and we had booked a separate flight to get him there in time for it. We were using the little airline that we had used before (we took the photos already posted from that flight). They were friendly, the plane was fine and it was better priced than Air New Zealand (national carrier) who also has small planes flying in to Blenheim. We made the RIGHT CHOICE! Here is the story that begins with our 35 seconds of "life as the rich and famous"!
It was 6 a.m. and Jim is driving to the airport, flight due out at 6:50 (small airport, remember?) and the cell phone in my purse starts to ring! Surprised, I answer it and an unknown voice asks for Jim. I tell him that Jim is driving, ask if I can help. He identifies himself as the pilot of the plane coming from the Wellington side to pick Jim up and asks about the fog in Blenheim. I tell him it is fine (and it was at that time) and he says that Wellington is in trouble again (no landings due to fog) but he will come and we will play it by ear once he gets there. WOW right? Jim asks who is was on the phone and I get to tell him "that was our pilot dear, saying he is on his way. Now drive James!" So this is how the rich and famous live?
By the time the plane landed, the fog was rolling in and I had to explain to the pilot that I really didn't make it up ..... it HAD been nice when he called! He asked how badly Jim needed to get to Wellington and we explained the international flight. We had called Wellington to see if he could get on a later flight and still make his connection in Auckland, but there were no available seats. The pilot is willing to give it his best shot and says he can fly Jim in to Paraparaumu, which is a small airport close to Wellington, and rather than take their shuttle (as traffic in to the city, at that time of the morning, would be horrible) , they would get him to the train station going to the airport. Are you with me so far? pretty amazing!
Quick kiss goodbye and Jim and the pilot, Peter, head for the plane (yes, Jim was the only passenger for this flight). A few minutes earlier, an Air New Zealand plane had headed out to the runway. As I stood outside to watch them leave, I saw Jim's plane taxi to the edge of the runway and stop! Oh no! They don't have time! What are they doing??? Finally, they took off and I crossed my fingers that they would make it okay and Jim would get to the airport in time. Jim phoned from Wellington to fill me in on the parts that I didn't know. Apparantly, the AirNZ plane was just sitting on the runway, waitting .....so OUR pilot (he's ours now) knowing that they did not have the time to wait, radioed the tower for permission to take off on the grass! And they did! And when they got to Paraparaumu, HE (our pilot) drove Jim to the train! Jim made it in time but only because of Kiwi ingenuity and the "above and beyond" customer service of the little local company! This is an example of why we are so taken with this country!
I had planned to write more about Blenheim itself, but it is getting late so that will have to wait until tomorrow. I will post some new photos of the town then too, so be sure to check out the 'webshots' site (see link in March 4th journal article) My computer has decided it is tired too and a few of the letters are sticking so bye for now
Judy
As I write this, Jim is in Seattle on the beginning of his 3 1/2 weeks in North America that we had planned before our residency came through. He will hopefully get a chance to see some of you as we do not know how long it will be until he returns again. While there, he will keep a doctor's appointment that he has had scheduled for about 7 months now and will make a trip to Nicaragua on tickets that we earned last year in our crazy "cross America" marathon...remember that? It earned us our Platinum status with American Airlines for another year. We had planned to go together, (I was to fly to Canada on April 6th) but as the residency came through and I have already started my job, I will not be returning to visit until late June or early July. I sure am not use to watching him fly off. And he almost didn't actually. I must tell you that story as it is such a great example of Kiwi ingenuity and the attitude of the people in our new home!
As new residents of Blenheim, we did not know that the worst time to book a flight out of Blenheim to Wellington, or out of Wellington for that matter, is early in the morning at this time of year. And this year has been even worse than usual. FOG! For four days prior to Jim's flight, fog had shut down the capital city's airport (Wellington is the capital, not Auckland for those of you who might have thought otherwise!) We were nervous, to say the least, as the day was approaching. Jim's International ticket started in Wellington and we had booked a separate flight to get him there in time for it. We were using the little airline that we had used before (we took the photos already posted from that flight). They were friendly, the plane was fine and it was better priced than Air New Zealand (national carrier) who also has small planes flying in to Blenheim. We made the RIGHT CHOICE! Here is the story that begins with our 35 seconds of "life as the rich and famous"!
It was 6 a.m. and Jim is driving to the airport, flight due out at 6:50 (small airport, remember?) and the cell phone in my purse starts to ring! Surprised, I answer it and an unknown voice asks for Jim. I tell him that Jim is driving, ask if I can help. He identifies himself as the pilot of the plane coming from the Wellington side to pick Jim up and asks about the fog in Blenheim. I tell him it is fine (and it was at that time) and he says that Wellington is in trouble again (no landings due to fog) but he will come and we will play it by ear once he gets there. WOW right? Jim asks who is was on the phone and I get to tell him "that was our pilot dear, saying he is on his way. Now drive James!" So this is how the rich and famous live?
By the time the plane landed, the fog was rolling in and I had to explain to the pilot that I really didn't make it up ..... it HAD been nice when he called! He asked how badly Jim needed to get to Wellington and we explained the international flight. We had called Wellington to see if he could get on a later flight and still make his connection in Auckland, but there were no available seats. The pilot is willing to give it his best shot and says he can fly Jim in to Paraparaumu, which is a small airport close to Wellington, and rather than take their shuttle (as traffic in to the city, at that time of the morning, would be horrible) , they would get him to the train station going to the airport. Are you with me so far? pretty amazing!
Quick kiss goodbye and Jim and the pilot, Peter, head for the plane (yes, Jim was the only passenger for this flight). A few minutes earlier, an Air New Zealand plane had headed out to the runway. As I stood outside to watch them leave, I saw Jim's plane taxi to the edge of the runway and stop! Oh no! They don't have time! What are they doing??? Finally, they took off and I crossed my fingers that they would make it okay and Jim would get to the airport in time. Jim phoned from Wellington to fill me in on the parts that I didn't know. Apparantly, the AirNZ plane was just sitting on the runway, waitting .....so OUR pilot (he's ours now) knowing that they did not have the time to wait, radioed the tower for permission to take off on the grass! And they did! And when they got to Paraparaumu, HE (our pilot) drove Jim to the train! Jim made it in time but only because of Kiwi ingenuity and the "above and beyond" customer service of the little local company! This is an example of why we are so taken with this country!
I had planned to write more about Blenheim itself, but it is getting late so that will have to wait until tomorrow. I will post some new photos of the town then too, so be sure to check out the 'webshots' site (see link in March 4th journal article) My computer has decided it is tired too and a few of the letters are sticking so bye for now
Judy
posted by Jim and Judy @ Saturday, March 26, 2005
