Friday 8th – Melbourne to Nelson

It was a cool 9 degrees in Melbourne when we arrived for our 90 minute touchdown at Melbourne around 5am local time. Because of the hassle J had with his screen, he asked for new seats for this last leg and managed to secure 2 seats in a row of 4, with the other two seats being empty. After we had yet another breakfast on board (we have had 1 lunch and 3 breakfasts in the last 24hrs), I could curl up on 2 seats and had a bit of a snooze. Greeted by a stiff wind and showers when we arrived in Auckland and an even cooler 7 degrees. Checked our bags through to Nelson and scurried between the international and domestic terminals. Sat down in the café and had the best coffee I’ve had in 4 months. My first flat white and it was delicious.

We had told Scott we would have 5 hours to kill at the airport and he took time off work to come and see us, which was nice. By the time he’d left we were starting to suffer from the lack of sleep, and were nodding off for a few seconds every minute. Pretty weird. It was good getting on our plane to Nelson so we could nod off for the trip south. Sally was there to meet us, and so back to home!

Some of the shops of Céret

So, a very good trip. Lots of excellent memories, some 4000 photos, a bunch of fridge magnets, and precious little else. Oh yes, also an apartment in Céret which we thought we’d leave there rather than bring back. The book research had gone well, we’d stayed healthy (but not terribly fit), and had met many interesting and enjoyable people. Can’t wait until next year!!!