Flying to Christchurch today to meet up with the rest of my crew. In a strange use of common sense, there was absolutely no security screening at the Queenstown airport before getting on this plane. When I checked my bag, they said I'd be boarding from gate #1, which was just around the corner in a completely open area of the airport lobby. Thinking that this couldn't possibly be correct, I asked a security officer for directions to the real gate #1. He pointed to the same doors and told me that, for domestic flights on planes with less than 100 people they don't bother with security checks. How cool is that!
In Christchurch, I'll be meeting up with 3 of my former rugby teammates from Houston. The same group of knuckle-heads that I went to France with for the 2007 World Cup. We've rented a motor-home, or what the Kiwi's call a "camper-van" for the rest of the trip.
We were originally scheduled to see two quarter-final matches in Christchurch. So, we thought we'd have 4 or 5 days play around here on the South Island, see the games on Saturday and Sunday, then take the ferry over to the North Island and make our way up to Auckland for the two semi-final matches the following weekend. All of our our original plans were built around that itinerary.
After we booked all of our arrangements, a huge earthquake devastated the Christchurch, and our quarter-final matches were moved to Auckland. So now, instead of having several days to tour the South Island, we have to head north almost immediately in order to catch the ferry over to Wellington on Thursday evening. We'll get there late, and have to spend most of the day Friday driving up to Auckland for the games on Saturday and Sunday. I'm fortunate that I've already spent a fair amount of time here on the South Island, but my buddies are only going to get to spend about 3 days here.
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