Whakatane, New Zealand

When you have a deadline time goes faster for sure. We were fairly well organised other than a final pack of toiletries etc that today I had planned to get my hair done, followed by eye lash extensions (yep no panda eyes on arrival for me). Then we had the handover to the poodle – house sitter, and into town to pick up our 5 yr old grandson Oli from school. We were taking Oli on his first plane trip to hand him over to our son at Auckland airport, and I think I was more excited than he, who naturally couldn’t conceive what it would be like until he had experienced it.

I thought we could manage this easily today, wrong. Things got so busy we didn’t even have time to grab some lunch and were throwing final things in our backpack at the last minute literally. Ah well adds to the excitement eh? Vern’s dad dropped us at the airport where we also met Joan, Oli’s mum who came to wave him off.

Oli was bouncing off the walls excited, so excited I think it was hard for him to comprehend or take things in – poor wee possum. As was his usual self he was talking a hundred miles an hour with no pauses. Correction, he was not talking, he was yelling LOL. He handled the experience like a seasoned professional, marching across the tarmac to the small Chatam Islands plane, little hand in Poppsies big hand and turning to give a final regal wave to his mum and aunty before swiftly climbing the stairs to board.

He handled the flight well, but once on board was more keen to get to Auckland to see dad than take in the scenery. Which I guess is completely natural. He was still wriggly and vocal and I was thankful the flight was only 30mins and not a long haul. He loved the landing in particular, especially as he could see the runway lights and decent up the aisle in-between the pilots and feel the bumpity bump as we made contact with land again.

At Auckland airport we met Lili (daughter) Hugo (daughters partner) and Casey (our son) and enjoyed a simple airport asian dinner including hugs, tears and kisses before heading through the departure gates. We had no time to spare and by the time we got through the electronic security checks they were beginning to board at our gate. Darn it – no time for any playing in duty free!

The holiday reality still hasn’t sunk in, but it was a great pre trip day, with highlights of sharing a special first experience with Oli, and seeing the kids in Auckland.