I probably had the best night's sleep I have had for sometime, we had the air conditioning on and a lovely duvet on the bed so I was nice and warm and Jon was cool.
I was so excited I could hardly eat any breakfast!
When we paid the bill the reception were so kind and printed off the all instructions we needed to go to the customs office first for clearance and then on to the agents office - Air New Zealand Cargo Imports. FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS OF OUR SHIPPING AGENT IN ENGLAND.
Jon couldn't have picked a better hotel as it was just around the corner from the customs office where we arrived at 8.20 to find it closed!!!! According to our agent they were open at 8.00.
We made our way to the Air New Zealand Office and told them we wanted to get our dog who had arrive dthis morning and the customs office was closed. "It will be open at 8.30 - go back". So we did, and it was still closed. We phoned the number that was on the board outside and it told us that they were not open on Saturdays!!! I was by this time getting very stressed thinking what about my poor little dog where is she going to spend the weekend and how were we going to drive back to Tauranga and then back again on Monday morning! We went back to Air New Zealand and told them the customs office is closed. No that can't be she said I have had lots of people coming back from customs this morning. We showed her the papers from our agent and she said "Oh! no , not that office. That one has been closed for more than three years, you need to go to.... and she showed us where to go on a map. We found the correct office and waited in a queue to get clearance when it was our turn the lady told us we needed all of our papers from MAF, shipping bill, vets papers etc so we then had to go back to Air New Zealand and ask for them. Oh! she said I thought you already had them and then showed us where to get them. The man there was very nice and said yes, she had arrived, was fine, had had a walk and had plenty of water and was fine. We at least felt better now that we knew she had survived the flight. Back to the customs clearance where the queue was longer than ever but we had no choice but to wait and we did....... Eventually it was our turn and it really didn't take that long and STAMP we had it Clearance! Back to Air New Zealand and another $33.75 and another Stamp and we had it. YES we could get Totty!
Follow the yellow line on the pavement to the office round the corner we were told which we did and then were told to go back around the corner, the way we had just come and wait by the big doors and they would bring her out. Eventually the doors opened and on a trolley, in a wooden box was our little Totty. I started to talk to her and at first she didn't do anything and then when she saw it was me she got very excited and started to bark and bark. It was so lovely to see her. The man opened her box and out she came bouncing around like a puppy, so excited to see us and I was crying as she looked so well and clean, not like I thought she would be. She had been well looked after. We got the box into the back of car and she sat on my knee and we were off back to Tauranga.
She was really good on the way back. She has never had such a long car journey and was really good. We stopped after about an hour and a half and bought a sandwich. Stopping in these towns along the main road is easy. You see a bakery, usually there are plenty of parking places outside and you stop buy your sandwich and drink and sit on a bench nearby and eat it and then you are on your way again. Easy.
When we got home our neighbour was just going out with his two elder children, Petra and Flynn, for a swim over at the Mount and they waited to see Totty. Flynn seems to have really taken to her. When she came into the house she spent a little while looking around and sniffing but now she seems to have settled very well. She has made her "place" the corner of the sofa. Jon went out to buy her a toy, a blue woolley bone, which she likes. We took her out for a walk when the temperature had cooled down and she enjoyed being by the sea and chasing the seagulls.
We are really pleased that she seems so well and can't believe she has just had a 27 hour flight and seems to have come through it so well.
She is at the moment stretched out on the sofa and looking very well, long may it last.
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