Amazing God. Amazing New Zealand. (The Scare)

It was supposed to be a straight forward flight. We were to take off at 7.45pm, Thursday, land at Sydney at 5.15am, Friday, leave for Christchurch at 7.15am and arrive at 12.20pm. This would give us half a day to walk around the city centre, rent or buy snow gear and have a good rest.


Initial Scare
Little incidents began that cause some jitters - Wendy arrived home late from work, Daddy also came back late from church, we left 1st and 4got about Chassa's car seat, parents and siblings couldn't get a cab and at the check-in counter, we discovered that we have not checked in for our flight from Sydney to Christchurch. The counter staff couldn't do it for us but assured us that our 2 hrs transit was sufficient to get our boarding passes.


The plane took off an hr late. The pilot explained that there's landing restrictions in Sydney. We can only land after 6am (our plane was supposed to touch down at 5.15am) but if wind conditions were good, we could land at another runway that has no restrictions. The journey was super bumpy. The turbulence was so bad that I felt like puking. Thank God the girls slept thru it and the plane stabilised before I felt real sick.


The wind conditions weren't good to land so we had to hover over Sydney until 6am. By the time we left the plane, we only had an hr left before our next flight leaves. An airport staff was waiting for us at the gate. We waited for the rest of the passengers that were also going to Christchurch then headed to the transfer desk to get our boading passes. We had to clear security check and by the time we arrived at the desk, the counter lady told us we were too late for our flight. Apparently, the gate closes 45mins before take-off. It was a long wait for someone to handle our situation. Finally after almost 3 hrs, we got our booking for an Air New Zealand flight leaving at 12.45pm and breakfast vouchers compliment of Qantas. We chose an Italian cafe over Macs which turned out to be a wrong choice. The hot chocolate was diluted and the bacon was ultra salty. Check-in at another transfer desk for the Air New Zealand flight was smooth. We waited around the departure lounge. By this time, everyone was tired. Chassa fell asleep and I had to carry her onboard.

Horrible Scare
Chassa woke up for a while then fell asleep again on my lap. Just when drinks were served, she suddenly sat up and stared blankly upwards. I talked to her but no response. I tried giving her some apple juice but it trickled down her chin. I started to panic. I shook Daren sitting infront of me. He tried calling her but also no response. Mummy who was sitting across the aisle, got up and tried shaking her but still no response. By this time, we have created a commotion. The air stewardess came and quickly took us to the back of the plane and announced for any doctor onboard. A lady neurologist came forward and took over the situation. They tried putting oxygen mask over her but Chassa struggled. Then she vomitted. I could see the macademia nuts and mushrooms that she ate. I asked the doctor if she could be allergic to nuts but she said it was unlikely. She explained that Chassa had probably undergone a seizure. She was worried that it might be menigitis and asked to inject her with pennicilin. Chassa was still not responding, just very drowsy and fell asleep on Daren's shoulders. She cried when the needle went into her butt but fell back to sleep again. It was a long one hour waiting for the plane to land. The doctor, Dr Lisa Dark, sat beside us throughout to monitor Chassa. As the plane was descending, Chassa woke and complained of headache and ear pain. She finally fully awoke and started talking when the plane landed.

After the passengers disembarked, a medical team came onboard to assess the situation. They decided that Chassa should be sent to Christchurch Hospital. While the rest went through normal immigration and customs, Daren, the girls and myself were led to the first aid room in the airport then through back doors and staircases to the baggage claim area. Daddy and I accompanied Chassa to the hospital on an ambulance, while the rest collected the minibus and checked in.

At the A&E, we were led to a room. A young, Taiwanese doctor came to check on her. Before that, a public health service officer took down our particulars and Chassa's medical history. Everything seemed ok after the check-up and we thought Chassa would be discharged. Instead, the doctor told us that she needed to be warded for further observation by the pediatrician. It was a very long wait for Chassa to be transferred to the children's ward. Everyone was tired. Daren came with Matt. He sent Matt and Daddy back after a while then returned. We finally got a room in the ward. After waiting for half an hr and still no sign of the pediatrician, Daren walked up to the nurse station and asked to leave. She advised us not to but we were just so tired of waiting. It was already 11pm. We left without having to sign or pay for anything. Chassa was so happy to go to the motel. We were happy she was back to normal.

Earthquake
We finally got to sleep around midnight. Suddenly, the bed started to shake violently. The table lamp beside me fell to the ground. It was an earthquake! Unbelievable! After all that we've been through in a day, we had to experience a 7.1 scale earthquake that has not happened for the past 20 years. After checking that everything was ok, we went back to bed. The girls didn't even stir in their sleep. Maybe we have not experienced an earthquake before and don't know the dangers of it or we were simply too exhausted to bother. It never occur to me to evacuate or find something to hide under. All I wanted was to sleep. And I did. I didn't even feel the after shocks.

On hindsight, the whole ordeal of the missed flight and the scare we had over Chassa perhaps have made us so tired that we had no energy left to worry about the earthquake. They say ignorance is bliss. I say having God is bliss. He took care of the turbulence, provided for an alternative flight, sent a doctor to help us when Chassa underwent a seizure, gave Daren the courage to walk out of the hospital (if we stayed, we would have been stuck there with the influx of patients due to the quake) and protected us during the earthquake.

Amazing God. Amazing New Zealand. (The Planning)

It was a rather spontaneous trip. My parents wanted to bring Chassa to Melbourne to play snow and tot it was a good idea for the whole family to go, including Wendy & Matt. Wendy would rather go New Zealand so the planning began...

Air Tickets
Not many options to choose from as we only have time to tour south island, so we had to land in Christchurch. It was between SIA that flies direct but more expensive or Qantas that has a stop-over in Sydney. We decided on Qantas as SIA only had 4 tickets left. We considered splitting the group but decided to travel together.

Car Rental
This took the longest to confirm. After deciding on one vehicle instead of 2 cars, we scouted around for one that can take 8 of us plus all the luggage. We finally settled for a Toyota Hiace minibus. The search began for a good rental company that has the vehicle in automatic gear. The reliable ones had all their vehicles rented out and it was only until a week before the trip that we got confirmation from Rhodes that they have a 12-seater, automatic, diesel with luggage cage. We could pick it up at the airport and drop it off there.

Accommodation
This was fun to google. The choices were so wide and varied. The difficulty was coordinating accommodation with the itinerary. It took a while to plan out what we want to do. Finally we decided to spend the 1st night in Christchurch to rest before driving off, 2nd night at Mt Cook so we could have the buffet dinner, 4 nights in Queenstown and last 2 nights back in Christchurch.
We wanted to get some snow gear in Christchurch so we decided to put up near town centre. Roma on Riccarton is a very nice motel. We took 3 units which were very snug and clean. Just opposite the motel is a very nice cafe and a decent sushi place.
The Mt Cook Hermitage motel unit was much nicer than I remembered. We took 2 units. Each has a queen bed in the living room and another 2 single beds in a bedroom. The bathroom comes with dispensing bottles of soap, shampoo, conditioner and moisturiser. Very environmentally friendly. The hot cocoa and biscuits they provide were rather yummy :)
Our 4 nights at Queenstown were spent in a 2-storey house that sits on a hill. Called 45 South, it's located on Kerry Drive which is about a 10 min walk to town and a 20 min walk back becos it's real steep. It's the most expensive accommodation of the trip but we decided on it after they gave us a 4 nights for the price of 3 special. It's a beautiful house with 3 bedrooms (2 queen, 1 single with roll out bed), a bathroom and toilet on level 1 and on level 2, a master ensuite, kitchen, TV room, dining, living with fire-place, laundry, toilet and bathroom. The house has a garage but our vehicle was too high to fit in so we parked along the road. There's a patio out of the living room where you can have bbq but it was too cold when we were there. The view overlooking the mountains, lake and town centre was great.
Our last place was Chardonnay Motor Lodge near the Christchurch airport. We took the double storey townhouse which was basic and clean. The main drawback was that the place only has a bathroom, so 8 of us had to take turns to shower. There are 2 toilets, one upstairs and the other downstairs. Matt took the single bed in the living room. The rest of us took the 3 bedrooms upstairs (1 with 2 single beds, 1 with 1 queen and 1 with 1 queen and 1 single).
It was good that all our accommodation had heaters in the bathroom and rooms. Even the beds have heating but it tend to get too warm after a while.