Whoops....still in New Zealand!

So what was supposed to be our last day in New Zealand turned into extra days. We missed our connecting flight to Sydney and had to spend an extra day on Auckland. The man at the ticket counter was wonderfully kind and tried to get them to hold the plane for us but because of the ash cloud cloud coming from Chile they couldn't hold it. They only had until 3pm to get to Sydney before the ash cloud reached them.

Now you may be thinking, "just fly through it and above it" which is entirely logical and my first thought when this trouble began a week ago. I learned wile in Franz Josef the danger of flying through the cloud. Apparently the turbines on engines get so hot the ash dust would instantly affix itself and eventually cause the engine to stall. Bad news bears when you're trying to reach a cruising altitude over the ocean. Some smaller aircraft have been flying under the cloud, but larger planes cannot as they would burn a way higher amount of fuel.

Always being a safety fiend I reminded the students how great it was to have an airline that didn't want to risk lives for ensuring flits went through. They got an extra day to play in Auckland, the weather today was perfect and some delicious food was consumed (I could not resist the Little Turkish Cafe, so good!) We will most likely be on our way to Sydney tomorrow but if not, I am ok because I choose life lol!

On our flit from Dunedin I met a wonderful oman, Sarah Bond. She is a travel writer and has tons of stories. She looked through my photos and gave extra insight into them. Additionally, we exchanged information so when this trip goes again, she said to give her a ring and she will recommend cool, inexpensive activities for the students to do all over New Zealand. I have already added her on Facebook and I have read a bunch of her work. So cool! One of the most exciting people I have met. I was cracking up half the flight she was so funny! Sean sat with us for the flight and we learned extra info about Fox Glacier and chatted about Te Papa and Queenstown. Coolest flight so far!