Departure day

A lovely friend delivered me to Queenstown airport in plenty of time for my 9.30am departure to Auckland.  The drive over the Crown Range had the countryside looking its chilly best. 

The Mark Hill sculpture is intended to welcome travellers home, but in my case I know the 3 warriors were bidding me a fond 'bon voyage'.  

I'm off with my fancy new backpack (thank you Hannah for pointing me the way of Nordace) and my delicious pink 8kg wheel-on.  Yeah I know the limit is 7kg but if airline staff get in any way pesky,  I'll smile sweetly and adopt a 'she'll be right' attitude like all good Kiwis.  If that fails I can don several additional layers - maybe !