Taipei - Sydney - Wellington

Wednesday, 13 July

Packed up and checked out of the hotel and waited ages, it seemed, for the bus back to the airport. I was glad to leave Taipei, but it was another long, long flight. It seemed rainy in Sydney as we touched down, but it was ok once in town. (We had another day to wait for our connecting flight to Wellington so had some time to kill.) I was disgusted at the price of a train ticket from the airport to the central city (AU$50). Locals with ID could get student or child discounts. Anyone else had to pay full fare. That stinks. It’s pretty obvious if someone is a child or under a certain age. Rip-off artists. And to store our luggage because it was too early to check in cost us another $36. H was very tired. We walked around, trying to find a dress for her school ball. We found nothing in the shops. Food was expensive, but we bought something and ate it at the waterfront and enjoyed the sun. We walked past the Opera House and to the park, and saw a woman feeding cockatoos – which was the highlight of the day. They were all over her and the ground around her. My last photo on the camera didn’t turn out too well. We caught the train back to the airport and waited. H wasn’t feeling at all well. I asked for a glass of water so she could take a panadol. We were all very very tired.

I made the mistake of being honest on the immigration card for NZ. It asked to list all countries visited. They should have asked for all countries you stayed overnight in. So I dutifully listed Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, England, Taiwan and Australia – a large number for such a short visit. We were pulled over on arrival at Wellington airport and questioned about so many countries. We were also so tired we probably looked drugged. I was ready to fall over from exhaustion. They then looked at our itinerary and probably realised how tired we must have been.

I was very tired and very grumpy and no-one had come to pick us up (it was after midnight local time). I had to ring twice before someone who just lived above the airport, left to pick us up. I was not impressed. What a welcome back. I hated New Zealand right then.

Those long flights put us all off airports and flying for many many months. Never flying China Airlines again. I don’t care how much it costs…