New Zealand 2016 Wandering boots, Day 1 Thunderstruck

New Zealand 2016 Wandering boots

Day 1 Thunderstruck

I will call the day I left and the day I fly to Whangarei as one day since I end up landing in the early hours of the morning. I would say the first day would be uneventful, but getting to the airport meant I had to work for the day before heading to the airport. I had already packed days before and used the remaining days to update the info I had including the maps I needed. I have gotten lost before and being lost and walking in the wrong direction is not fun at all. Hopefully I have not forgotten anything. Today I cant record my fitbit information as I did not have it on me and was in my bag unless it recorded the plane trip.

Landing at Whangarei

It was an easy run to the airport with the knowledge that there was a storm approaching and I wasn’t sure what it would do. Two days in a row and it had me slightly worried. I wanted to get through quickly through immigration so I could eat and relax instead of rushing. I had no idea at all if there would be a line and I could be late. I found this time after all these years of the Gold Coast having a body scanner I got to use it and think they knew my excitement. It shows an outline of your body and areas of concern. My ankles with my boots and my right pocket, I would believe it picks up on anything that is thicker than clothing. I do wonder if that means it will detect implants on women or screws from operations? It was my hanky that it found, but the guy wanted to feel my pocket and ankles. He didn’t want me to lift the bottom of my trousers up. I found after getting through I had an hour to wait so as usual I wandered watching the storm come. The airport had included stations to charge your devices and I thought this was pretty cool. The Gold Coast airport is slowly catching up to the modern world or the rest of Australia.

Gold Coast International

The plane was your usual Jetstar until we were boarding and the piolet wanted to leave before the storm struck. I was sitting in the second back seat of a full flight and was happy with a window seat. We were about to take off when the pilot aborted due to a huge lightning strike. It was an awesome one as I had seen it. The song playing on my ipod at the time was End of All Hope by Nightwish. Then we drove in circles before going back to the gate to wait for the storm to pass. People were getting restless as kids needed to use the loo and the staff had to allow them to use it after a bit of negotiation and an angry lady. She later apologised, but I was waiting to see what happened. You could say that I was breaking the rules by playing with Facebook on the plane as we decided to taxi a lap around the runway. I even checked the BOM site to see the mass of cloud cover with stormy parts.  An hour later we had to refuel and then took off. My entry card looked shocking when I filled it out like I had problems other than a bumpy ride.  The meal that came with my ticket that I had somehow booked, but don’t know how came. It was a pie face meal and lucky I had a main meal at the airport or else I would have chewed my own arm off. Snack of party pie and sausage roll. When we were approaching the airport I could see out towards the Coromandal area that there was a storm that way, but the direction was a big guess due to it being night.

Waiting for the storm to pass

We arrived in NZ an hour later that usual, but I got through immigration and customs really quickly. I was able to get through without being checked and the customs officer asked if I was carrying food and I replied ‘unless you consider water to be food’. He said if there were floaters in the water then it would be. I went eww! He let me go down the green lane that took me outside. I missed the shuttle bus as I seen it leave without me, but with others. I knew another one would be back soon, but unsure when. A taxi driver asked if I was alright and needed the shuttle bus to the city and I told him that I was after the supershuttle, which he seemed proud of the answer.  While I waited for the bus to arrive I was getting a little tired, but perked up when the guy turned up. When I got on we waited for some no shows from my flight. 5 of them actually and when they didn’t turn up we headed off. I got to the hostel and went to bed in my dorm as I knew I would only get a few hours sleep, but a bed was a bed. Top bunk was the only one free and I would sleep around four hours or a little less. The YHA now has free Wifi and that makes me happy as i keep costs down slightly.

Before leaving for my domestic flight Whangarei I went looking for breakfast and no shops were open. This weekend is a long weekend and a Sunday so nothing was open early. I found a 7/11 open and got a drink and biscuit. Once checked out I was on the bus to the airport looking at sights along the way. I got a shock with the bag drop as there was a huge line and I became worried I would miss checkin. I had to get my ticket printed and since I used Webjet I was wondering if my details would work and they did to my relief. The bag drop line was fast moving actually and I could put m bag on myself. Jetstar doesn’t let you have it that easy when I wandered to that end. I am in the cheap area with the regional flights. Unlike the other end of the airport we just walk out as I was gate 49. It isn’t so bad hopefully as i wandered the small domestic airport to see what I could find. I did find a coffee and better food sort of. The bookshop had several books that interested me, but with those two it would add to the weight. Maybe close to going home I will grab them. Nothing is new when Brad finds books One is about Maori history and the other historic Churches though both are $50 and that seems to be the cost of books in NZ. Maybe they are in Hamilton as I know of a second hand bookshop there that is reasonable. I think both books would have made by bag a little heavier than allowed.

I had enough time to sit around and read a book while waiting to board the plane and I was wondering how big thing aircraft would be once we got into it. I had an aisle seat this time around and we boarded into a smaller plane that had only one cabin crew lady. It was a half hour flight so wasn’t that long before we landed in Whangarei. Claude was waiting for me when we landed and I was happy to see him after not seeing him or granny for a year. The airport was mainly a big shed quite a bit smaller than Armidale International airport. No security screening either so I could take my water on board. Once I was back at home I had lunch and needed a sleep due to the lack of sleep, where I felt like I was heating up. The sun was streaming onto the bed so needed cover, but I was rested, so wanted to take a walk. I wanted extra batteries and a wander. It is weird not walking the dog, but I was breaking a sweat though its like Australia heat without the blast of the furnace sun back home. I found just after Whangarei falls that the caravan park is now affiliated with the YHA. The clouds were coming over and I was wondering if I would get caught in it especially after I walked out of the supermarket. I know I am tired as I was getting in peoples way and feeling out of sorts in a supermarket. Getting in peoples way is part of my job, but being tired and doing it is crazy. I managed to catch Claude going out as I was returning. He was getting tea for tonight and that means the end of my day in Whangarei as I could have a nice rest and be up early enough tomorrow. Would you believe I do not really have plans, but will see how everything pans out. I did develop a strange issue with the internet, but changing settings around fixed it. It never had that problem last several times I was here and everything including my yahoo email needed to be logged in. Actually a few other things needed

By the numbers

Main bag weight 14 kilograms at Gold Coast

Backpack 6 kilograms and Auckland domestic

Travel around New Zealand: The past and the future

Ever since I got my passport back in 2007, I have been traveling overseas ever since. New Zealand is one of those places I keep coming back to mainly as I have family and was born there. That is only part of the reason as I want to get to know the country a bit better and I think I have found plenty of locations of interest for the fountain of knowledge especially through blogs where I talk about the locations I have visited.

My visits to New Zealand have taken me from the very top of the North Island at Cape Reinga to Invercargill on the South Island. I have not done much travel in the South Island other than a loop tour that takes me to the usual places like Christchurch and Queenstown. On the North Island I always seem to find something new to visit. I do research where I want to go and see if the bus can get me there as I don’t want to drive everywhere. Actually I have never had to drive a vehicle in New Zealand at all. Some of my trips have revolved around Lord Of The Rings or The Hobbit not just for the filming locations, but also for the scenery that was shot during the movies as New Zealand has some beautiful country.

Every trip to New Zealand is a learning experience especially in regards to the travel gear I bring along. I am learning what I do need nearly every time I pack my bags. I have taken away the sleeping bag as it is something that is not needed and hostels usually wont let you use them in the rooms. I try to bring around four pairs of clothes on the trips though I recently was reading about rolling the clothing up, which is something that I actually do. Wet weather gear is something that I usually have on my person at all times including a brolly and rain coat with the wet weather pants too. They came in handy when I was both at a very wet Hobbiton and when it began snowing in November in Whakapapa Village near National Park. Snow is something very different to what I am used to and unexpected for my trip away.

Other gear I take away with me is all my electronic stuff especially a computer to record my travel blogs online. Usually I try to post something like this at night as I don’t usually go out or very far other than for food. My computer has changed from a bulky laptop to a Netbook that has come in handy and thin enough that you hardly notice it. I have learnt that you need to research some of the places to visit as you are on the go. You cant always have a list of places to visit. A low tech notepad and pen is handy for that too. I have included in the last trip to New Zealand gear to increase my USB ports, a card reader for my photos. For easy access to everything including power cords I have them all in one place within a bag. There is nothing like hunting around your bags for a cord or cable when they are not altogether. This year I am taking a power point adapter with USB chargers so then I hope it makes things easier. So many devices charge on USB these days.

I would never say that I am an expert in travelling to many different parts of New Zealand, but there is plenty of history to look into when you head to that country. I don’t always find out about historic places until after I am actually within the locality and I then hunt down the little bit of information about that place. Sometimes I actually misread something like in Devonport as I wanted to visit Mt. Victoria and I thought they had singing mushrooms. The mushrooms were not singing at all. I have recently started a blog about historical wanderings and somehow I have ended up with plenty of New Zealand locations with the photos as my blogs don’t say much about the individual places. I have learnt which are the best places to stay while travelling and I have everything all booked by the time I leave as then I do not need to worry about finding something and leaves my entire day free to move around. I would suggest looking into the YHA hostel for starters, but they are not in every town.

This year I am going to a few places and several are out of the way, but I am going by bus so they are all on the route. The places are as follows not in alphabetic order. Auckland, Whangarei, Paihia (Waitangi Day), Warkworth, Taupo, Hamilton, Te Kuiti, New Plymouth, Wanganui and Wellington. Some of these places I have visited before and will always try to find something new or they are actually stop over points too. I am wanting to experience a Waitangi Day so left my New Zealand trip later than what I planned. I usually head there around the end of October November, but plans were interrupted. The original trip I had planned had me heading to Ohakune where I was going to try for the Bridge to Nowhere tour, but that is something I should research and might have to stay in Pipiriki overnight. I also found in Ohakune that there is a memorial / monument to the last nail being placed onto the railway. I could be wrong, but it is not far up the road. I think anyone can get a fair idea as to where I would head. Original plans don’t always work out, but sometimes they can be even better.

You never know what I will find on my travels and I can even surprise myself. I always have a camera that will capture something that has caught my interest and I never run out of things to do. There is plenty of country out there to explore and to stop at on your way to another location.