ニュージー緊急帰国

鴻が骨折して一週間後、ニュージーランドの曾おばあちゃん（アンドリューのおばあちゃん）が亡くなってしまった。８０歳だったけどおばあちゃんの家系はみんな９０歳以上の長寿家系だったのであと１０年は大丈夫と、皆思っていた。とっても素敵なおばあちゃんで、私たちの親代わり的存在だった。
と、いうことで急遽ニュージーに行くことになったのですが、、、、なんと、龍と鷹（no1&2）のパスポートが切れていたと言う超基本的大失敗を犯してしまった！とにかくお葬式には間に合わなくては、と大使館と連絡を取りまくり、当日発行できる緊急手続きを取ることに。が、ニュージーのパスポートが発券できるのはシドニーのみ、と言うことでお葬式前日の水曜日朝一でシドニー行き、その後夜便でニュージー入りすることに。水曜日の朝４時自宅出発。が、濃霧で外が全然見えない～！何とか空港に着いたものの、もちろん飛行機は大幅に遅れ（キャンセルにならなくて良かった。）シドニーのタクシー乗り場は長蛇の列。国内空港から国際空港に行って荷物を預ける時間ももったいないと、でっかいスーツケースガラガラ引きずりながらなんとかシドニー中心街にある大使館に到着、そこで待つこと１時間以上、パスポート申請書を受け取ってもらい発行できる３時半まで自由時間になったわけだけど、、、朝４時起きで朝食もままならなかった子供たち、すでに限界に来てます。その上外は大雨、寒い、、、弱り目に祟り目とはまさにこのこと。うぇ～ん！
とにかくビルの一階にある喫茶店で食べ物にありつく。ふ～。ここで３時半までだらだらしたい、と、思うのは大人だけ。睡眠が足りてない子供たちは超ハイテンション。ここに居るわけには行かない、と、とりあえずせっかくシドニーに来たのだからオペラハウスには行かんと！喫茶店の人に行き方を聞いてみる。そこから歩いて１０分足らず、というので、荷物がでかかろうと嵐だろうと行くことに決定。その様子を見ていた店のお姉さん、さぞかし私たちが不憫に思えたのだろう。大きなスーツケース＆その他もろもろを全部預かってくれ、その上傘を貸してくれた！地獄に仏。こんな時ほど人様の親切が身にしみたことは無い。ありがとぉぉぉ！お姉さん！
意地で見に行ったオペラハウス＆シドニーブリッジ。オペラハウスは白と言うよりクリーム色。きっと青空の下なら真っ白なんだろうなぁ。とにかく震えながら証拠写真を撮る。ということで、無事？観光を終了し、喫茶店のお姉さんにお礼を言って、真新しいパスポートを抱えて深夜（早朝）１時に無事クライストチャーチに到着し、お葬式にも参列出来ました。
日曜の早朝には帰国したのだけど積もり積もったストレスと疲れで、飛行機の中で具合が悪くなる始末。一応最後尾の座席が一列、緊急用に空いていたのでそこで横になったけど、格安飛行機の座席は狭くってもぞもぞ動く度に転げ落ちそうになった。座席３席も占領して文句はいえないけどね。
とにかく、なくなる前に「もし天国にマージャンルームがあるとしたら私はそこに行くと思うわ。」と言っていたおばあちゃん。そこで楽しくマージャンをうっていますように。

One week after Justin fractured his arm, Andrew's grandmother passed away. She was 80 years old but all her family lived over 90 years old so we all expected she would have another 10 years or so. She was the sweetest funniest Lady and was our Mum in NZ we all loved her dearly.
We were going to NZ to attend her funeral but! Julian and Jayden's passports were expired!! What a basic yet silliest mistake!!! We contacted NZ immigration and organized emergency process. Because Sydney is the only place where issues passport, we booked a flight early Wednesday morning to Sydney,then launch the papers, get passports same day,then fly to Christchurch late night to attend funeral on Thursday. 4am on Wednesday morning we left Ballarat but such a heavy fog we can't see out anything!! We just made in airport on time but of course the flight was delayed(we are glad that flight wasn't canceled!), when we arrived Sydney there was huge queue for taxi. We were so worried that we don't have enough time to process for passports, instead of going international airport, went to straight to immigration office with our huge suitcases. We arrived there in middle of city, waited more than 1 hour, finally lodged forms now we had to wait till passports are ready. We are already so tired and starving, it was heavy rain and cold.Does Sydney supposed to be warm and sunny???Nothing is right for us!!! sob...
We had a lunch at cafe in same building. I really wanted to sit and relax here until passports are ready. But you can imagine what are kids like when they are over tired. They are out of control. We decided we have to go somewhere doesn't matter if it's Storm or not. While we were having discussion what to do, The owner of the cafe must felt sorry for us, she offered to keep our all luggage and lend umbrella to us. You can guess how much we appreciated her offer. THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!!! We love you!!!
We walked down to the harbor to see Sydney bridge and Opera house. Opera house was rather cream than white. It must be white if it under the sun shine. We took photos in shiver to prove we were at Sydney then finished sight seeing.
After thanking to the cafe owner for her kindness, we got two new passports, arrived safely in Christchurch at 1 am. We made our dearest grandma's funeral.

It was such a stressful trip.We left Christchurch early Sunday morning, I felt really sick in the airplane because of tiredness I believe. I was allowed to lie down on the last line of seats which was open for emergency, our plane was cheap flight seats were so small every time I move, I almost fell down. That was my last misfortunate for this trip.

Everything is over now. I remember Grandma said couple of months ago before she passed away that if there is a majong room in heaven, she will be there. I hope she found the room and enjoy her game with her sisters and brothers.