We both managed to sleep quite well on the 18 hour flight to Auckland. We then had a 2 hour connection which ended up being very tight. We had to declare our tent, which they searched. We then walked to the domestic terminal with our copious luggage. By the time we arrived at check-in we had to split up to check the bags and the bikes.

After a stressful yet speedy security screening we raced to the gate, arriving right when it was meant to start. It didn’t. After 30 minutes we were on our way to Christchurch.

The journey was beautiful. Along the coast the whole way.

At Christchurch, we transferred to a turbo prop. The airport departure gate was more bus terminal than airport. I was very excited.

We landed at Invercargill around 4 and our taxi just didn’t arrive. It later transpired that the taxi attempted to pick us up the day before. We ended up sharing a taxi with a lovely lady who was starting a walk up north along a similar route.

We then did some shopping and fell asleep.