After walking back to the hotel to pick up our luggages, we again took the public bus from the bus stop outside our hotel back to Queenstown airport. It was only a 15min bus ride at a very affordable NZ$2 per pax.
The pretty small Queenstown Airport terminal building.
Traditional manual check-in counters for JetStar, Qantas and Virgin.
While NZ uses mainly self-check-in kiosks.
Boarding pass printed.
Queenstown is proud to hold the annual Winter Pride.
FIDS and waiting hall.
Queenstown Airport is certainly one of the most scenic airport in the world!
Virgin arriving from Australia.
JetStar arrived from AKL and Star-liveried NZ A320 pushed back.
Fun fact: JQ uses Australia-registered aircraft on domestic NZ flights due to open-skies agreement between Australia and New Zealand.
Our ATR72 arrived from Christchurch. This afternoon flight was originally scheduled on an A320, but was changed to the ATR72 instead subsequently.
24 August 2018
Air New Zealand
NZ 5652
Queenstown (ZQN) - Christchurch (CHC)
ATR72-600
ZK-MVH
Economy Class
Flight Time: 0H51M
Boarding gate for the prop flight is via Gate 1. Interestingly, there were no security checks prior to boarding the flight. We were scanned through and allowed onto the tarmac to board.
Beautiful tarmac view! The red-roo was also at ZQN.
Legroom on this ATR was good, helped by the slimline seats fitted.
Safety card
View out the window.
Boarding completed. The flight was totally full. With no IFE system on this prop, safety demo was done manually.
Started the short taxi to the runway.
Holding short for Virgin to depart.
Taxiing down the runway and making a U-turn to depart from heading Rwy23.
Very scenic departure from the beautiful Queenstown!
Video of the taxi and beautiful departure.
Flying on the ATR72, we were treated to gorgeous mountain views due to the lower flying altitude of only 17,000ft and slower airspeed.
The 2 cabin crew on the flight first came around offering water.
More gorgeous views enroute.
The crew then pass through again, offering cookies and coffee/tea. They were kind enough to give me 2 cookies, washed down with a cup of tea.
View of the cabin.
The ATR lavatory, which was clean but tiny.
After cabin service, the senior crew, knowing that we were visiting New Zealand for a holiday, dropped by our seats and passed us a coffee cup, filled with fudge! 'A small treat', she said. What an angel!!
We were soon descending into the Canterbury plains.
Approach and landing into Christchurch Rwy20.
Video of landing.
Taxi to props parking stand.
Disembarking.
Spotted an All-Black with white nose ATR72.
Waiting for luggage to be delivered.
From Christchurch, we took the public bus to the city center. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Christchurch, which is a rather new hotel built over a previously office building damaged during the devastating quake. I believe the hotel is also one of the tallest, if not the tallest, building in Christchurch currently. The room is very modern, clean and comfortable.
View from the hotel room the next morning. It was a rather cloudy morning.
Our room included a daily hearty buffet breakfast.
Being a Saturday morning, we visited the Christchurch Farmers' Market at Riccarton House. There are 2 major markets in Christchurch on Saturday and Sunday, and the Farmer's Markey is held every Saturday.
The market was rather busy, with various stalls selling products ranging from fresh produce, bakery items, food products, beverages and more.
Beautiful stream beside the market.
From the market, we walked to Westfield Riccarton, a major and busy mall in Christchurch.
We also hopped onto a bus toward Brighton beach. As it was winter, the beach, expectedly, was rather quiet.
The tourist tram in Christchurch city.
New Regent Street, though shops and restaurants. operational, was still under repairs with structural supports in place.
The damaged Christchurch Cathedral, which is yet to be repaired or restored.
Cathedral Square
Newly rebuilt Colombo Street and Cashel Street shopping district.
Bridge of Remembrance war memorial.
Dinner at a very cool food court-like eatery.
The pizzas from BASE Pizza were amazing!
On Sunday morning, we had clear and beautiful skies! Snow-capped mountain ranges could be seen in the distance.
Visit to another market, The Riccarton Market, which is the biggest market in Christchurch and held on every Sunday.
Victoria Square, just across the road from the hotel.
The Commons, a shared recreational area.
Newly built-up area of town and the Casino.
A historic still-standing clock tower and a fenced-up apartment due for demolition.
And for a taste of authentic and affordable Thai food in Christchurch, I totally recommend this pop-up eatery, Thai Container. The dishes tasted just like what I would have in Bangkok!
