Two mobile phones and the bedside alarm clock ensure that I wake up in time for my flight to Brisbane. I drop the car off at the airport office, and get a lift to the departure terminal. It's a quiet morning so, within five minutes, I've checked in and completed my departure slip. I find that all people leaving New Zealand have to pay a departure fee, which I find unbelievably annoying. It seems like a cynical way of just milking people who have no option. They can't decide not to bother flying. They just have to pay, just for being allowed to leave the country. I pay the fee and go through to the departure lounge where I have plenty of time for a coffee and an unhealthy breakfast of toasted banana bread.
The flight is smooth and arrives in Brisbane 5 minutes early. I collect my luggage and walk out into the Arrivals lounge to meet Paddy. After 15 minutes in Arrivals, I ring him, but there's no reply. 5 minutes later, he rings me back. He's still in bed!
So I get a taxi to the house and we all laugh about how hopeless he is. I bore them with my stories of New Zealand, and they say that they want to visit me out there. All I have to do is find a job.
