Goodbye and Hello*

March 10 2010
Our last morning in New Zealand and a last wander around Christchurch and as we returned to Cathedral Square we saw the Town Crier and said hello and introduced ourselves as he’s Louise’s Dad and we talked about Walthamstow and the allotments.

We then took a short flight (at least by the standards of this holiday) to Australia and landed at Sydney airport, which was strangely deserted. Like all large modern airports it was impersonal but it seemed worse than most when it came to signage; unable to find the shuttle buses to the hotels we went to the information desk which had a sign giving the information that there was no one at the desk and we should go up the escalators and walk 60 metres to our left. Once there we found an information desk had a sign giving the information that there was no one at the desk and we should walk 60 metres to our left and go to the top of a different set of escalators... we did eventually find someone who did direct us to the shuttle buses. We don’t know if it was because we have spent nearly a month in New Zealand (and Easter Island and Tahiti prior to that) where it is all very relaxed, peaceful and verdant but we both felt very overwhelmed by the bumper-to-bumper traffic seemingly going in every direction (including above and below) and the noise and people rushing everywhere. We were very relieved to arrive at our hotel which despite being huge seemed an oasis of calm. What are we going to be like when we reach Hong Kong and Tokyo? We’re staying at The Westin, which like our hotel in Christchurch also has a “heritage” building (the old GPO building) but we’re staying in the new tower which is the dream made reality of some interior designer and where everything is “heavenly” – we have a “heavenly” bed with five huge “heavenly” pillows (actually the bed and the pillows are pretty heavenly being incredibly soft yet very supportive). The bathroom is a huge frosted glass cube with a “heavenly” bath and “heavenly” towels and inside the bathroom are two more frosted glass cubes one with a shower and the other with a lavatory – but is it heavenly toilet paper?
In the evening we wandered through part of the city which seems to be in a state of upheaval as it is being renovated, renewed and regenerated until 2030 – sadly it seems to be being made into any big city in any western country with McDonalds, Star*ucks, Nike and the like on every corner. We wandered down to the harbour which does seem to still have a unique character (and a McDonalds and a Wagamama) and had dinner in a place overlooking the water. Good food, good wine but strange music – why did we choose a place with a DJ playing loud house-music?