Thursday - Auckland

Our flight out of Los Angeles was delayed because we could not land in Sydney before 6:00 am. We landed at 6:02 am. Since we were the first flight in, we got through immigration and customs fairly quickly. Australia is a bit picky about travelers bringing in soil from foreign countries on their shoes and sports equipment. Michael had taken time before we left California to clean the soles of his hiking boots, but since Nancy had neglected to do so, she had to take her boots into the bathroom for a scrub before we went through customs. (The toothbrush from her airline care kit came in handy.) When she explained to the customs agent what she had done, the agent thanked her for trying and then took the boots away to be disinfected. Nancy was relieved that they hadn't been completely confiscated. However, we did have to relinquish the apples we had not yet eaten.

Because we had not booked our flight straight through to New Zealand (i.e. the flights LAX-SYD-LAX were on one ticket and the flights SYD-AUK-SYD were on another), we had to come completely out of the secured area with our luggage and then go back through security.  

Since we had arrived so early in the morning, the airline agents were not yet at the counter when we went to check in. Once the process got started, we found it irritatingly bureaucratic: one agent (and line) to check our passports, another agent (and line) to confirm our tickets and collect fees for baggage ($80 AUD per bag!) and a third agent (and line) to weigh and take the baggage.

Michael was doubly irritated to find that Air New Zealand is incredibly anal when it comes to baggage weight: checked bags cannot weigh more than 23 kilos (50 lbs) and carry-on bags cannot weigh more than 7 kilos (15 lbs). They weigh each bag, and it must conform to the restrictions for its class. So although the aggregate weight of Michael's luggage was well under 30 kilos, his 10-kilo carry-on bag was deemed unacceptable and he was forced to repack there on the floor of the terminal. Air New Zealand obviously had encountered this situation thousands of times before because they directed us to a set of scales just behind the check-in area, which they had provided so you could make sure each of your bags met the weight restrictions. Nancy knew that Air New Zealand's inefficiencies must have pushed Michael beyond his ability to tolerate them when she noticed that he had misspelled his own name--twice--on the customs and immigration forms he had filled out while standing in line.

The boarding process at the gate was chaotic at best, but we did get on the plane and we did have seats--and anyway, we were on the last leg of our inbound journey, so who was going to complain? We have to give Air New Zealand credit for the most entertaining safety-feature video we've seen: the head flight attendant onscreen was dressed as Galadriel, and the passengers to whom she showed the exits included hobbits, elves, dwarfs, and orcs. Gandalf welcomed us from the cockpit, and Peter Jackson himself had a brief cameo as Bilbo, who promptly disappeared. It actually was quite amusing.

As we approached Auckland and came out of the clouds, we were treated to a view of New Zealand that was so stunningly beautiful it almost made Nancy cry. Around much of the coastline, green mountains plunge directly into the sea. No strips of high-rise hotels. No petroleum holding tanks. No superhighways. Just green mountains, sparkling water, blue sky and long white clouds. 

Ours must have been one of several flights arriving in Auckland at about the same time that afternoon because the crowd in the immigrations and customs hall looked like the one outside the Apple store on the day the first iPad was released. While waiting to deplane, we had overheard the two English blokes behind us talking to the people who were coming to pick them up. One reported that his girlfriend had said she was just outside the terminal and would see him in fifteen minutes. The other was dismayed that his girlfriend had barely left home and was still thirty minutes away. As it turned out, both those girls could have just rolled out of bed, taken a leisurely shower, done their hair and makeup, eaten lunch, and stopped to pick up their dry cleaning--and still made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

1500 visitors making their way through New Zealand Immigration

The immigration processing room was about the size of two basketball courts, with lines snaking back and forth to control what must have been 1500 people waiting to get through. And wait we did! To pass the time, we struck up a conversation with the English couple in front of us, Pauline and Buster, who is a pilot for Virgin Atlantic. Their New Zealand itinerary was similar to ours, so we won't be surprised if we run into them again.

After immigration, we collected our bags and then went into another basketball-size room to go through customs. All in all, it took two hours from the time we landed to the time we got out. We were so glad to see my sister DeEtte and husband Art in the waiting area, though it was a little tricky finding them among the hundreds of others waiting to greet their guests.

By the time we got to their apartment in Takapuna, about thirty minutes from the airport, we figured that we had been in transit from Doug's apartment in Fullerton for 22 hours!

Art & DeEtte's apartment building.

Shakespeare in the Park with DeEtte and Art.

Surprisingly, we didn't feel too jet-lagged. After settling our stuff in Art and DeEtte's guest room and cleaning ourselves up a bit, we went out to dinner at Portofino, a local Italian place, and then to an outdoor performance of Much Ado About Nothing, both of which were close enough to walk to. The Shakespeare troupe was semi-professional and quite good, especially Beatrice and Benedick. Though it was an enjoyable evening, we were glad to finally get into bed. And we slept soundly!

The view from our fourth-floor bedroom in Takapuna. Downtown Auckland is in the distance.