When I got ready for my flight from Queenstown to Auckland, I hoped that the third time would be a charm, since I had had absolutely no luck in my first two attempts to fly in and around New Zealand. Unfortunately, I had that gut feeling it wouldn’t be, which was enhanced by the creeping cloud I saw moving into Queenstown from the top of the Skyline Gondola the night before my flight.
When I gathered my stuff and made my way to the airport, things were looking even less promising: it was pouring rain and you couldn’t even see the top of the gondola anymore for the fog. As soon as I made it to the airport, I found that my suspicions were right: the airport was completely closed down, thanks to the fog and the fact that the Remarkable Mountains would not look nearly as remarkable if a plane found them in the fog. There were lots of people at the airport, but not nearly the mob scene I had seen in Auckland, and I made it to the ticket desk pretty quickly. Qantas took care of me and told me that they could put me on the earliest flight possible in the morning, which was around 7ish, but that they weren’t sure if the flight would actually go out. In fact, they were fairly certain it would not because the fog had set in for the long haul. Since I had a flight to catch out of Auckland the next day for Sydney, they told me my best bet would be find my way out of town and catch a flight from Christchurch the next morning.
After a rather expensive taxi ride back to the hostel (I couldn’t afford to waste time waiting for a bus), I investigated my options. The Black Sheep Backpackers was full for the night, but the person at the front desk thought there might be a few places left in town. Then, I headed into town and waited with the crowds of people at the information centre. When I finally got to the front desk, I found out the same thing I had in Auckland: there was absolutely no way out of the city. All of the buses, of which there were quite a lot, were full to the brim. Luckily, just as I was about to leave, someone cancelled on Atomic Shuttles, and I quickly pounced on the $45 seat. I had less than an hour to make it onto the bus.
After rushing back to the hostel, I got on the phone with Qantas and, after a bit of a wait, found out that I could get a seat on a plane from Christchurch, but it would cost me an extra $65 to cover the difference in the ticket costs. I bit the bullet and accepted, since my losses would be a lot more if I had to go around canceling lots of reservations in two different countries. Just like that, with a little extra, but standard, cost, I was on the flight. I made it to Christchurch and after an exceptionally long night at a horrible backpackers (the only one with beds left when the lady at the info centre in Queenstown called), I made it back to Auckland, with just enough time to make it to my hostel to pick up my suitcases before I left the country. Even though it cost me a lot of extra money and a bit of misery, I was thoroughly satisfied with Qantas and I am convinced that if I had a ticket on AirNZ, judging by how I was treated in Auckland, my situation would have been much worse.