Day 2 Brisbane to Wellington the middle earth tour begins official like

Day 2 Brisbane to Wellington the middle earth tour begins official like

I was up very early to catch the early train to the airport. I wanted the 5am train and once I got to the station I never realised it was a weekend time table and I had an hour to wait. I had forgotten I was flying out on the Saturday so wait I did. I didn’t mind, but I had around 3 hours sleep and woke up 2 mins before my alarm. I did make it to the airport with plenty of time though. I found it really good that my Gocard does work going through to the airport as I had read somewhere it did not.  Once at the airport I was able to drop my bag off and then passed through customs earlier as there were no decent food places open at check in. Departures had more available and I wanted coffee. I drool as always at the full body scanner but never got into it. The plane did however look like it had shrunk in the wash. Its Virgin and I did see on the new the Virgin Galactic had crashed. Still thats nothing scary. I am hoping Wellington is not going to be hot as hotter than hell Brisbane city. I did see a weather warning for Monday about high winds so lets see if it is bad or not. I do prefer the Gold Coast airport as they seem to be doing some work as in building.

Going to the loo on the plane ended up being an adventure. Luckily I had caught the ladies at the start of the food handout so that they could take the trolley into the cargo bay to let me in. Though I was stuck on the other side with 10 seats between then and I. I was just happy to stand staring into space and the backs of the stewardesses. I was complaining about being stuck as it breaks up the trip and really it was something like 10 or 15 minutes wait. I had to get out of their way and we did chat for a bit until I was able to get through. No hot food other than breakfast stuff and I will exchange my coinage around before landing. I do wonder though how on earth you can get your hair into a bun as it looks like a lot of work to do that and not even a small bun either.

Once we had landed there was the need to clear customs and it was all pretty easy. I think we were basically the only flight into the city at that time that was international. I declared the bottle of water I have that I bought at the airport, but strangely the customs lady was interested in my boots. I told her I wear them riding though she looked anyway as it had been a first unless she wanted my boots. One of the reasons for flying into Wellington was the Hobbity things around and they still had Gollum, but the eagles were new with Gandalf on the top of one. I was surprised there was not a whole heap more, but tomorrow I am visiting Weta so they could have ideas.

This time around I went without catching the super shuttle to go with the airport flyer bus that takes you into the city. I remembered where I was going for the hostel and was very happy not to be staying on the other side of town closer to parliament. Sure its close to the archives, but I rather be close to other stuff like the museum instead of having to hike to them and being exhausted before I reach it. That has happened before. I soon found being a member of the YHA I would be able to get free wifi. That makes me warm and fuzzy especially to find my way around. I did take a walk before it got dark and even though it was cool I was enjoying the walk. I was looking for a cemetery and found where the huge war memorial is the road was closed due to construction. I found a street called Hanky street that had steep stairs though I went down so I knew I should head back as I as getting tired.

Back in the room I found we had a menagerie of people from different locations. One guy from Japan who is 60 years old,  A French guy, A Kiwi, Aussie (me) and a dude from the UK. It was funny how people were using Google translate to help talk to each other. The UK guy knew about the time issue on the border and thought I was nuts to escape Australia with all the heat. With little sleep I knew I will be dropping off pretty soon i will spend the night in the hostel and recharge.  There is meant to be a weather warning floating around for the next couple of days. I do know there are some very ripe clothes that need washing soon. Funny the first day of my trip and I am exhausted all because of the lack of sleep. I don’t find it to be a real problem as I will be able to sleep well tonight and then be up in time for the tour in the morning.