Back in Canberra, (finally?)

Seth seemed to have a good time busking during our night in Christchurch. He made friends with two drunken boys who gave him change to sing the blues—then joined in by drumming on his guitar case. He gathered $8, enough to pay for our bus fare and a part of our Japanese take-away dinner, the first and only time we ate out during our month-long trip. He was also given a pack of crackers and offered cheeseburgers.

Our bus to the airport was equally smooth. We were going to get off the bus about 2 stops before the airport ($2.50 each) to avoid the hefty fare they pose to airport travellers ($7 each). The driver was very nice, though, and took us all the way to the airport, right when it began raining pretty hard. In the international arrivals section of Christchurch International Airport (open 24 hours) we joined a small village of a few dozen other travellers and set up camp. I didn’t really notice at first, but I was later told that the Christchurch airport is unique in that it doesn’t mind people sleeping overnight—it even has a free shower. We picked a spot under a Japanese tour desk and ate dinner.

Seth got up a few hours later (3:50am) to go for a very quick run and we dashed over to check our baggage for our 6:35am flight. We were shocked to find the queue winding throughout the terminal. After waiting for a while, Seth ran ahead to ask if we could be checked in. The JetStar attendant told him that it was 55min before the departure time and check-in for our flight had closed 5min ago. We were RIGHT THERE, the plane would not leave for another hour, and the woman refused to help us. In fact, it seemed she actually tried to prevent us from getting on the plane.

We asked around at other airline desks if they would have standby tickets, but none did, so we ended up having to rebook our flight (with a $120 fee) for the next day. Since it was raining and we had lots of luggage, we didn’t feel like lugging it to the city and ended up spending the rest of the day at the airport. That night, we were going to sleep under the information booth, but at 11:45pm it opened for an incoming flight and a woman came to tend the desk until 2am. She didn't seem to mind that we'd set up camp right in front of her desk; but it would have been weird to have groups of people walking right next to us looking through information pamphlets, so we went back to our spot under the Japanese tour desk.

The next morning, after Seth’s 4am run, we made it on our flight (finally!), and even caught an early bus back to Canberra. We didn’t have seats booked since we missed our bus the day before and were afraid there wouldn’t be room for us.

View of New Zealand from airplane window

The bus ride back was really strange. Usually I am excited about coming home after a long trip, and this trip was the longest one I had ever been on. In fact, I was dreading going back to Canberra, knowing we didn’t have any place to go. We arrived at the Jolimont Station and I poked my head into Dash. I was looking forward to working so that I could get back to some sort of normal schedule and see my co-workers. Jan and Greg, the owners, sold the business two days before, and the new owner, Michael, was working. I introduced myself and after talking to him for a moment I was under the impression that he wasn’t planning to schedule me in at all. Weird… He would “call me later”, but I am a little doubtful. For now, although I enjoy working there, I am a bit relieved to not have to worry about going in for a week or two so I can catch up on my thesis.

We grabbed a few groceries in Civic and walked, with all our bags, back to campus and to BoZo (where else could we go?).

Seth got in contact with Nick Love (a good friend from Johns who moved out and got a house with Artur and Moose) and asked if we could crash at his place. I went to the gym for the last time (my membership had expired), unpacked a few things, and made “dinner” in the tea room downstairs. The entire time we had to sneak around and not look suspicious with our armfuls of food. It was all so weird—knowing that just around the corner was Johns, where there was friends, lots of hot food, and once a comfortable flat to ourselves. After a month of wandering around a different country without a home, we were so close to our previous home, but could not go there, and were still homeless.

Finally, we went to Johns to retrieve our bikes from the shed. It was really strange and also depressing being back, and the only people I saw were new first-years. We took off for Nick’s place in Lyneham, about a 15min ride down the road. It was nice to be around somewhat familiar faces: Nick, Moose, Artur, and Matt, who was visiting. Their house is really laid-back and spacious, and we were able to sleep in the study room.

Instead of working on my thesis (like I NEED TO DO), I spent a good portion of today making phone calls and sending emails about accommodation. No luck. I still can’t believe how frustrating it is to not have a place to live, especially after having been moving from place to place (hostels and campsites) nearly every night for the last month. Seth will be leaving soon for his job interview and will probably be away for at least a month. I sure hope I can find someplace to go by then, or else I will probably strongly consider going back to Raleigh.