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Brisbane, again (2–4 April)

We arrived at Christchurch Airport in plenty of time to check in, clear security, and find our gate.

2 April #

The flight was uneventful, but Greg suffered a minor space invasion from the guy in the next seat, who settled down, manspread, and promptly fell asleep. Fortunately Greg is travel sized for your convenience, so it wasn’t too uncomfortable. But ask us again why we prefer trains and ships to planes!

We did get a nice view of the Southern Alps on our way over the South Island. The highest mountain poking through the clouds is Aoraki Mount Cook, identifiable by its double peak.

Chez picked us up at the airport and dropped us off at Aunt Margaret’s place, where we were staying for two nights. First job: laundry!

3 April #

Most of the next day was taken up finishing the laundry and reorganizing our stuff for the cruise. (Remember, two of our bags and a bunch of our stuff had been living in Margaret’s spare bedroom since we shipped it to her back in December.)

Margaret got both of us (but mostly Karen) out in her back garden to help tame the jungle.

At Margaret’s request, Greg took another stab at making gluten-free pizza for dinner. He tried a different approach this time, using self-rising flour for the crust. He figured this was an improvement, but Margaret preferred one of the previous versions with yeast and baking powder. And her favourite of the pizzas Greg made was definitely this one:

Upside-down Pizza #

From the Fields of Greens Cookbook, where it’s called “Pizza with Tomatoes, Gorgonzola, and Pine Nuts”

Makes one 13" / 33 cm pizza

In a small skillet on low, toast

  • 1 tbsp pine nuts (but actually more)

Preheat your oven to 500ºF / 260ºC, or as hot as it will go. Stretch one recipe of pizza dough onto an oiled pizza pan. Top with

  • ½ medium red onion, finely sliced
  • the toasted pine nuts
  • 125 g Fontina cheese, grated (substitute Fruilano, Provolone, or Mozzarella)
  • 65 g Gorgonzola or Cambezola cheese, crumbled or pulled into small chunks

Over this, carefully arrange

  • 2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced

and sprinkle with

  • salt and pepper to taste

Bake until the crust is golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then top with

  • about 3 tbsp / 45 ml grated Parmesan cheese
  • a dozen or so fresh basil leaves, bundled together and thinly sliced

4 April #

We finished our packing the next morning and Chez picked us up at noon for the drive to the cruise terminal. Thanks again to Chez for the transportation, and to Margaret for looking after us so well at her place. We’ll miss you!

When you’re trying to get 4400 people onto a ship in just a few hours, you end up with scenes like this. However, the boarding process was very well-organized and went about as smoothly as can be imagined.

And then we were on Quantum of the Seas, and shortly setting sail towards French Polynesia and ultimately Honolulu.

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