The flight took off at 18:00 from Japan and expected arrival time was 9:30 a.m.(NZ time). It was about a 15-hour flight. I sat on the aisle seat and I was supposed to enjoy flying with Air New Zealand. But I slept for almost all the flight because I had worked a lot of overtime in anticipation of a long flight. So the time went quickly and I arrived at Christchurch.

I went through passport control and went out of the gate. "Your hostmother is supposed to pick you up and you will be able to find her easily. If there is nobody there, please call an agent from the local company which arranged it." I was given the advance notice in Japane and I looked for my hostfamily around the gate. I wondered if there was nobody waiting for me! After a while..."Oh-, there is a woman holding a paper with my name in her hand." I could see Dawn, my hostmother.

We got into her car. She said "My house is next to a golf course and the other day some player broke my window! And so we are going to a glass store." We went shopping for about an hour. After shopping we headed to the countryside. We drove for about 15 minutes and we were surrounded by a wide stretch of grassland! Amazing! "How far is it from here to your house?" "It's about ... an hour and half." "!?"
I heard that my hostfamily was living in Christchurch.

We drove and went over a large hill and at last we arrived at the coast of Banks Peninsula. The house is near Akaroa.