Few flights are truly memorable (in a good way). But last June, on our visit to New Zealand and Australia, we had a remarkable plane ride between the two.
During our visit to the South Island of NZ, we stuck to the northern parts due to time constraints (darn the American two week vacation) and had to skip the picturesque mountains and glaciers in the southern half. But after these fantastic views, we felt like we got to see at least some of it.
Our final evening in NZ was spent in Christchurch, a city on the west coast of the South Island and recently known for it's devastating earthquakes. We took off from there and flew across the island, which was a lot more efficient than driving across the via the Lewis Pass like we did the first time.
Early on in the flight, the mountains looked like the ones we left behind near Hanmer Springs: rugged and brown.
But as we flew farther east, the landscape became snowier.
Until it looked like we could parachute down onto a nice ski slope.
It was kind of like sky diving without messing up the hair. We entertained ourselves with the thought of possibly seeing Mt. Cook in the distance.
Once we were out over the Tasman Sea and everything was blue, we hunkered down for some food and entertainment. Good old Qantas Airlines - free headphones and on demand movies at every seat, not to mention a big meal that included ice cream. And that was in coach! Clearly we were happy campers.
And we finished our flicks just in time to say...
"Hello Sydney!"
