New Zealand 2023: Day 17 Home coming

By the numbers

Second Breakfast

1 plane

17 kg bag

 

I was out the door to the hotel just as the check in opened. I made sure to check online to see what it was doing as I didn’t want to have to wait half hour. The departures said the gate was open, so I made my way down and there was no rain in the sky for the time being. I was happy not to be getting wet while walking over. I should say the bed was comfy too. With my bag still on my back, I was able to print off a bag tag and the nice lady from Air New Zealand attached it for me. I was still attached to the bag, so had to close it up so the straps were tucked away. Off to bag drop and the bag was away.

 

I was worried that there would be a mass amount of people trying to get through to the airside of the terminal. It was less than 5 mins for everything. Security wanted a second look at my bag, but it wasn’t my keyboard this time as it was in my checked luggage. It was actually my power bank they wanted to look at on the x-ray. I was also told to stand behind the line as I stood right in front of the security guys wanting to know what the issue was. No problem there, and I was off again going to find first breakfast. I had a Maccas breakfast with a coffee before moving on. At this time I was at gate 17 and that was on the other side of the terminal. The gate number will become important later. I ended up at gate 2 to use the loo there as one nearby was shut. I spent this time wandering the shops, many that were not open last year. I ended up with several extras in my bag that I hadn’t intended on getting.

 

On leaving the bookshop, I noticed I had a gate change as I was going to walk to gate 17. It had been changed to gate 7, near where I had been earlier. I headed that way to see if it was correct and the gate change was correct. As the time for boarding became closer the gate was becoming crowded and there were some families gathered. One group of teens right as boarding was supposed to open appeared and were telling their parents that they hadn’t noticed the gate change so had to run from one side of the airport to the other. Once boarded I soon found the protests of that day seemed to have caused some airport chaos and our bags were being loaded as we were being seated. I had a screen in front of me so decided to listen to the music selection. We left a little late, but we would make up the time on landing. During the flight, I got Second breakfast that was scrambled egg. I didn’t like the other choice.

 

On landing at the Gold Coast I found that it was a nice sunny day and it was warm too. I was happy that I had packed my jumper in my bag as it wasn’t needed. I got to go through the new part of the terminal for the first time and that was interesting. It was like any customs area except there was a part on the floor that showed you the state border. The border runs through the airport, which is unique. The new rules as forget isn’t an excuse was read out when we all we waiting for our bags. I think telling people I forgot isn’t an excuse means they want to treat people like adults and bigger fines will clear up memory issues. I had two customs people come for a chat while I waited, which was nice and I told them about my trip and they asked where I work, so I told them. Think they were checking to see if people were legit or not. I had said that my boots were used in the wilderness areas, and the customs guy who looked told me they were very clean, and I said everything I wore has been through the wash twice. I had some friends waiting to pick me up and then came the fun part and that was unpacking everything, ending another trip away.

 

New Zealand 2023: Day 16 Whangarei to Auckland

By the numbers

17 kilo bag

1 plane

7.35 kms

9,322 steps

 

Usually I catch a bus on my return journeys to Auckland before flying home. This time I am flying out the next morning, so flying from Whangarei to Auckland is a good idea and cuts out having to stop in Auckland to catch another bus. The weather itself wasn’t looking too bad when I looked out the window, but there was still plenty of cloud. I had heard that it was raining at my final destination of Auckland, but that could change at anytime.

 

I was flying out at midday and as soon as Claude dropped me off at the airport the sky opened up and it started raining. I was actually happy to be inside the Whangarei airport building. I weighed my bag and found there was no self service bag tag printer, or any human waiting to check me in. It just meant I had arrived a little early. I had a coffee and in the mean time more people turned up and then the Air New Zealand ladies appeared to take the bags. After sorting out my bag, I went for a walk outside to see the clouds rolling in and knew there was more rain on the way. Once the plane arrived, which seemed to be pretty quick and was the only plane that was at the airport, we all knew it was the one to catch. There was no security when boarding as we went straight onto the plane, which is different. When I boarded I found the plane wasn’t actually full. I had a seat vacant next to me and several other seats had no one in them. The rain was pelting down as we took off and were soon in the air. The flight attendant said she wasn’t allowed to serve our refreshments due to the potholes as the flight was already pretty bumpy.

 

It was only a half hour flight and we were soon on the ground where I could see that it was raining outside. We had a short walk to shelter as it was actually raining pretty heavy. The walkway to the main terminal building took me out to the regional New Zealand section of the airport terminal, which was smaller than the rest as the other locations are bigger hubs like Queenstown and Wellington. Jetstar is probably more strict that Air New Zealand in regard to baggage weights. I had to race to find the toilet as my teeth were swimming. When I came back, I thought my bag would be going round and round the carousel. It still hadn’t come through, but once I picked it up, I found my bag was wet from being in the rain. It wasn’t wet on the inside as it was only the outside. I thought I was going to catch a free terminal bus as it was raining, but the rain was not as bad as I thought, so decided to actually walk.

 

 

In around the 5 to 10 minutes that it took to walk to the international terminal, it had not rained, but I was just lucky. I had a destination in mind as I was going to be staying in the airport hotel over night so that I would not need to catch a bus or transport from the city, which means I need to be up really early. All I need to do is walk out the door and into the terminal. I was able to check myself in around half hour early, so I ended up with a view of the international terminal from the 6^th floor. Once I had settled, I checked myself for the flight, where I could have upgraded myself though its only a 3 hour flight so its not worth it. It meant I had the boarding pass and only needed to do the bag drop. I wandered around the international terminal that had opened up all its food places that was closed 12 months ago, then I wandered over to the domestic terminal for something to do. There seemed to be more in the way of shops as in books, but I probably should hold off. It was trying to rain again on the way back to the international terminal. Around 40 mins before there had been a long wait to get through customs, but on my return it was less that 5 mins. I think my jump into the airport in the morning will mean I might be stuck in line and should get there early enough that if I do get stuck going through I should be alright.

 

Not long ago I received a text from the airline to say that there will be protest action in Auckland in the morning. Its something that is registered with the police and are told to make sure you have plenty of time to get to the airport. Something to be aware of as I didn’t know about that until I got a message. Good lesson to stay at the airport overnight.

 

New Zealand 2023: Day 15 Whangarei recovery day

By the numbers

1 wet day

4 tv shows

 

Literally nothing much happened today as the weather turned out to be raining on and off. The plan to get dropped off at the shops and walk back was postponed until another time due to the weather and Claude not feeling the best at all. I thought I would need another day to recover from my cold as that has pretty much sorted itself out.

 

I caught up on TV shows on my computer and surfed the internet. The bags have been packed and ready for the flight to Auckland, where I will be staying in the airport over night before the flight back to Australia on Tuesday morning.

 

New Zealand 2023: Day 14 Relaxing Whangarei

By the numbers

5.67 kms

7,102 steps

After a restful sleep, well early to bed as I wasn’t well there were several times that I got up during the night, but I was feeling lots better and without a headache. Just a little stuffy in the sinuses, but overall happy that I was staying where I am as I am unsure if I could have handled another day in Auckland being that unwell let alone with a migrane . I started setting things up like my computer as I wasn’t well enough the day before to sort that out. I think my brain would have exploded the day before if I attempted to. The day today was one of those for taking it easy and the weather was something that you never know what could happen as it was cloudy, but might not rain at all.

 

We had an arrival of a family member from Kerikeri who was bringing firewood down and I helped with that in getting it off the ute. Three of us working together made pretty quick work even if I got myself a little stuck between wood and the ute in the garage. At least it got done. Later in the afternoon I went for a walk to the waterfall and to see if the path that was being built last time had been finished. I soon found that it had been finished. It had and went to the new estate just past the Whangarei waterfall that was being built last time as well. It was a nice little walk. Even though I wasn’t feeling 100%, I thought the short walk around the park at the top of the falls and back to where I was staying would be enough.

 

Once I got back, I watched some videos and even looked at the random band I had picked up in CD form the other day as they looked interesting. The band is actually a New Zealand one and did a tour in Australia while i was in New Zealand. Kind of funny when you think about it. Claude had to visit the shops and I thought since we are going there, I should get a new water bottle as the one I am drinking would be carrying bugs from my cold and don’t want to keep sharing them once I get home. I was looking at the details to my flight on Monday to Auckland and then my main flight on Tuesday as to the bag limits, and found that I would be able to bring home everything I got as the weight for both is 23 kilos, and not 20. I just have to adjust my bag tomorrow and pack it properly for travel.