Going home...yes...no...yes...no...YES!!

Oh, the joy of a long luxurious shower before breakfast!  Hils, Gary and I meet in the lobby and go to breakfast together where we find a lavish buffet breakfast is laid out for us,  It will be diet time when I get home, that's for sure!  The dining room is buzzing with passengers from the plane wondering when our replacement  flight will be.  Mid morning we are told that the plane is still not ready to fly and that we must wait for further instructions.  A few of us sit chatting in the lobby and find that many passengers will be missing important appointments due to the delay.  I get talking to a South African man who was meant to be in Auckland today for a job interview.  He told me how difficult it had been to make the decision to immigrate, as he has teenage children, but due to the severely depressed South African economy his own engineering company had gone under and he was jumping at the opportunity of an engineering job in New Zealand. We hang around for a while but with no news of a departure we go back to our rooms to watch TV or rest.  I enjoy watching the Ryder Cup golf on TV, the first television I have seen in a month.  At 2.45pm a very excited Ruth comes to tell us that we have quarter of an hour to be packed and at the lobby to catch the bus for the airport.  Fortunately we have  full sized buses to take us this time.  We travel through an area of Johannesburg we have not seen before, passing a huge and very glamorous looking casino and some smart, modern buildings.  No joy at the airport, though.  The queues are even worse than yesterday. There is nothing for it but to get on the end of one and slowly shuffle our way forward to check-in.  The destination label on my bag has come off somewhere during our trip and the girl at the check-in counter tells me she cannot give me a new label - don't ask me why! She tells me I have to take the bag on the plane with me.  It is much larger than carry on luggage, and I am bemused, but follow her instructions.  We work our way through an equally long immigration queue and when my bag is scanned they find the swiss army knife and scissors I have and want to confiscate them.  Then I am told to go back to check-in to check my bag in!!  What a nightmare, it is a long hike through the airport and I have to carry the bag as there are no trolleys available.  I refuse to get on the end of the long check-in queue again so push my way through to the front earning a lot of sour looks and angry remarks from other passengers but I don't care anymore.  The same girl at the desk then checks my bag in AND labels it!!  I ask you...what was that all about? The whole thing is an ordeal.  It takes exactly two and a half hours to get checked in and I get through to the departure lounge with half an hour to spare before the flight.  I manage to grab a very quick cup of coffee before going to the departure gate.  You will not be surprised to learn that there is another delay here...another queue, another long wait.  We are told that the hold up is due to the caterers not having loaded the plane in time.  Finally at 7.30pm we board the plane and take off at 8.  I am lucky enough to have a spare seat beside me and for the first time in my life take a sleeping pill on a flight.  It is worth it, I have a solid five hours sleep but feel sorry for Hils who tells me she didn't sleep at all. With a tail wind the flight is shorter going back, just over ten hours.  We head to the transfer desk in Sydney to organise flights to Auckland.  Due to the delay in Johannesburg we have lost our Sydney/Auckland seats and must try and get on any flight with seats available.  There is a lot of confusion at the transfer desk, especially since our luggage has not been booked through to Auckland.  In the end most of our group get on a Qantas flight to Auckland, leaving immediately, so it is a final rush for the departure gate.  We arrive in Auckland at 11.30pm and, surprise, surprise, my luggage has been left in Sydney so now I have to go to the lost luggage desk and fill in a report, the last thing I feel like doing!  I am told I will not get my luggage for a couple of days. Unfortunately the delay sorting out my luggage means I do not get to say goodbye to some members of our group who pass through immigration and disperse quickly.  Hils' daughter, Emma, is waiting for us and takes us home.  It is 1.25am and a lonely feeling arriving at my empty house but then my own little member of the cat family, Molly,  runs to greet me and I pat her.  It is so good to be home but what an incredible adventure it has been.  I am elated, thrilled, excited and proud. It was absolutely fantastic and  I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Sincere thanks to Grassroots Adventures, Auckland http://www.grassroots.net.nz/  for creating such a marvellous trip.  Thanks also to our guides, especially Ronney and Jonas and to the "gang" : Hilary, Gary, Raewyn, Judy, Trevor, Cherry, Lorraine, Laurie, Murray, Ruth, Uwe and Maria...you were the best, so much fun to be with!...and to Gary and Raewyn for photos.
(photos of the gang previous page)

Miriam Dunningham, Auckland, New Zealand



Left to right: Gary, Laurie, Judy, Hilary, Murray, Miriam (me!),
Ruth, Cherry, Uwe.  Front: Lorraine, Maria, Raewyn, Trevor




Our group with Ronney at the Etosha salt pan.  I'm 4th from right.