After spending five lovely nights catching up with friends Craig and Adi in Palmerston North, and Justin and Lucie in Wellington, it was time for us to head to the South Island. We had booked our flight to Christchurch over a month ago, and since the airport reopened a few days ago we decided to go ahead and fly to Christchurch. Unfortunately, we would not be able to stay in the Christchurch area, as all hotels within a couple hours’ drive were filled with refugees and relief workers. We therefore reserved a room in a hostel in the town of Oamaru, about three hours south of Christchurch.
At 4PM, our Jetstar flight taxied out on time, but then returned to the gate with a bad flight control computer. As we suppose planes fly better with functioning flight control computers, we got to sit in the lounge for the next two hours while they fixed it. Both friends and strangers warned us about Jetstar’s distinctly unstellar on-time record, and they lived up to our significantly lowered expectations. Even the security personnel at Wellington airport referred to the airline as “Jetscum”.
When we finally arrived in Christchurch after our 35 minute flight, it was 7:30 pm instead of 4:50 pm, which meant that Apex, our car rental shop, had closed for the night. Facing a night sleeping in the airport, we got on the phone and started dialing for solutions. Luckily, the Apex branch in Auckland was still open, and we reached a wonderfully helpful Derek, who called Tony, the director of the Christchurch Apex center at his home, who happened to have a dirty but functional rental car in his driveway.
A $32 cab ride later, we wound up at his house, met Tony and Phil (the CEO of Apex, who was staying with Tony, as his house was damaged in the earthquake), and they handed us keys to a car a couple of levels nicer than the one we had reserved. No paperwork to complete, just a handshake and a promise that we’d check the car in when we get to Queenstown in a few days. Only in New Zealand!
Our Apex rental car in front of our hostel in Oamaru
Three hours later we arrived safely in Oamaru, tired but grateful for Derek, Tony and Phil of Apex.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
kiwis really are nice!
They are! So friendly and helpful 🙂
Hi Allie and Mark,
Thankyou for your wonderful comments, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you. As a matter of fact when Phil and I went back to our beer we both commented on what nice people you were.
Enjoy the rest of your trip to New Zealand.
Kind regards,
Tony Quinlivan
Yay us Kiwis!! Nicest people in the world! Tony and Phil sound fantastic and I am glad they looked after you guys. I will definitely be recommending Apex! Hope the next few days go well and we will see you guys again soon.
And clearly the most humble too ;^)
I hope we’ll see you guys again soon…how’s the 23rd sound?
23rd sounds great, we will book the reservation and fluff the pillows…