John & Allison's Adventures Down South: January 2017

The First Few Days in New Zealand

We decided to travel a long way south this winter for our annual vacation. A 13 hour flight south to New Zealand.
We chose Air New Zealand to fly with and booked Premium Economy as it is such a long flight. What a wonderful way to go!
The crew on Air New Zealand were so professional, friendly and efficient. From the hot towels offered before meals to the excellent food and special little perks, everything was so nice. The seats reclined 80% more than regular plane seats and had extending foot rests. It wasn't too hard to have a pretty good sleep. I could go on and on about the service and comfort of the Air NZ Premium Economy but I won't. I'll just say, if you can swing it, do it.

How to spend time waiting at an airport

This little packet was waiting on our seats along with a blanket and pillow, aaaah
Contents: socks, sleep mask, ear plugs, tooth brush w. paste and lip balm

the menu

Did not need any "Help yourself snacks"!

We landed at Auckland International airport early in the morning. We left on Wednesday evening from Vancouver and landed on Friday morning so we lost all of Thursday. (we will make it back on the way home).
Getting through customs was a breeze. There was a bin before we started the customs process to get rid of any food you brought with you from home e.g.: fruit, meat, dairy, and I remembered we had an orange left in our backpack and binned it.
Good thing because just as we were near the last checkpoint a lovely Labrador retriever sniffer dog jumped and bumped her nose on the bag signalling she smelled something. The handler questioned us and we told her that there had been an orange in the bag up until just a few minutes ago. What a sensitive nose!!! The orange had been wrapped in a plastic bag.
I purchased a NZ sim card for my phone. I thought that would be the best way to go for the price, they (Vodafone), offered. Unfortunately the first couple of texts home I sent weren't received....
That, I think may be a speck of trouble.

Three days in downtown Auckland was plenty for two non-city people. Our hotel was right on the main street, Queen street, and our room faced the street. We were also there over the weekend so there was a LOT of traffic, both vehicular and people......
We were woken early, 4am-ish, every morning by weekend partygoers. :(

Queen street is on a pretty good hill.
There are loads of little eateries in the area where our hotel was. Also a park just down a bit where festivals run all summer. The weekend we were there it was a Latin theme.
Lower down Queen street the big shopping begins. Upper end department stores and then couture shops such as Dior, Prada, Louis Vuitton etc. La-dee-da.

The harbour area is nice and laid back. More eateries. No end of places to nosh in this city!
We walked down Queen street to the harbour, booked a tour by ferry out to Devonport. It used to be Devonport Island but quite some time ago they filled in the gap between the mainland and the island.
A lot of that sort of thing has happened in New Zealand back in the "good ol' days". Forests felled, swamps drained or canals dredged in order to create "more usable" land. Yes, all in the name of progress. I can only imagine how the Maori people must have thought of the white settlers and entrepreneurs....not that they didn't try to stop them!