The process of sorting receipts and clothes to claim tax back and packing was finished this morning. Upon ensuring we had everything in the room, we checked out, said goodbye to our favourite bellmen, Jimmy and Brett and headed back to Chadstone mall to kill a few hours and have a feed. We had originally intended to drive down the coast but decided we were a bit short on time so back to the mall instead.
We had brunch at Little Sparrow and then a bit of a wander around, a few last minute purchases, before heading to the airport.
En route to the airport, the kids played a rather painful game of guess the lyrics and eventual they were told to be quiet and stick to sign language ???
The airport was very quiet so check in and immigration were very easy. We went to TRS to process our tax refund. The lady was clearly having a bad day … very grumpy, wouldn’t accept one of our Apple receipts as it was a “reissue” (although to be fair I do understand that, but it was the only paper one Apple gave us) and then went through every single receipt asking to see random pieces of clothing, which we of course had with us, but talk about pedantic. I have never had such a difficult experience with it. Not one smile the entire time. Never mind, it improved at duty free when the girls both got some Marc Jacobs perfume and the lady gave them both a free Issy Miyake perfume ??.
Into Koru for a few drinks ? and lots to eat. I got called to the front desk for an ongoing issue with my name with Air NZ – their system does not seem to recognize hypens ?. I told the kids I was being arrested when we got back and poor Greer was most upset ?.
The flight was delayed about 40 minutes or so but it was all good. Onto the plane and the kids all sat together for a change … ? I can ignore them all flight ?. We needed to upgrade one of our tickets to accommodate the extra bag of shopping so Mark upgraded us all to the works so the kids were happy. That said, they later said they didn’t think it was worth it ?. The food looked ordinary (I ate enough in Koru so didn’t need any).
We arrived in about 12am and the airport was very quiet which made for quick processing. Our bags were first off and we were out the door and in our car within 30 minutes.
Now, bring on the US!!! Only 21 weeks to go ???
