The Last

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Auckland is like the rest of New Zealand. Our hotel was right downtown on Queen Street. You walked down to the Pier and the water. But then it was uphill back to the hotel. The streets are built in the gorges it seems. The streets are full of international students and visitors and you are listening to many other languages being spoken. We walked to the Information Centre trying to avoid the steep uphill climbs. Going down is not easy either. (I wonder if lots of people have bunions here, because when you are walking downhill, your toes keep bumping the front of your shoes!) At the info centre, we watched some people getting their gear for the bungee jumping from the tower - $245 per jump! We just enquired about the city bus tour and the Devonport island. The gal was great and wondered how we compared Australia and New Zealand. She said some people said there was no difference. I wonder what planet they came from. For us, there were many differences. New Zealanders are shyer. In Australia, many times when we were standing and wondering about where we were, people would just stop and ask if they

could help us and make suggestions about restaurants or routes to take, etc. I don’t recall this happening in New Zealand. Even at church, the priests were not very outgoing! Don’t misunderstand me, New Zealanders are friendly and helpful. They just don’t approach you!So we went down to the pier to catch the ferry to Devonport, another quaint town with two inactive volcanoes. We found a nice bakery café for lunch and Ken had his Long Black (coffee) and meat pies. It was very hot outside, but we did do the uphill climb to the base of Mount Victoria. Directions were lacking and we did some extra walking before we asked people coming down a road if that was the way to the top. It was tough going! We notice a path we thought might cut off some of the distance. (Wish I was a few years younger!) We did get to the top and had a beautiful view of Auckland and the long Auckland Bridge. Ken went down in the bunker where they had a cannon, which was never used during WW1, but built to protect the harbour from a Russian invasion. The wheels for raising the gun were still there. We also found some steep steps which we took to go back down to the road. We still had to wander down. Back on the main street, there happened to be an ice cream store. What could be better on this hot day!!Back on the mainland, we had to stop at the Champions store to see the All Black rugby shirts and there is a huge variety. They have their game shirts, their practice shirts, their media shirts, and the #16 shirts (fan shirts). Marketing is certainly at a high. And then we walk up the hill and we are back at the hotel where we ask about how to get to the church further up the hill. We could take a bus and then have a short walk. But this short walk is still uphill!! Even the parking lot at the church is an uphill climb! At least the church is level with the usual wooden pews and kneelers that are very uncomfortable. Many of the older people do not kneel or only half kneel. The seats are quite square. And then we had the downhill walk, looking for somewhere to have supper. There wasn’t a lot of choice and we thought we could just eat at the theatre restaurant across from the hotel. Think again. Something is going on, as there are lots of people standing and drinking wine, eating hors d’oeuves, etc. So as we walked to the corner to cross the street, lots of people were walking past us, dressed up and other people being dropped off. At our hotel restaurant, we found out it was theatre night. The old building across the street had three different theatres and our hotel had a pre-theatre dinner menu. By this time, the restaurant was not busy and very accommodating to our food needs. They didn’t have a vegetable side on the menu, but they did one for us to go with the chicken schnitzel.

A van pickup had been arranged to take us to the airport. We had an interesting conversation with a Builder who was travelling back to Christchurch. He said the reason the rebuilding of Christchurch is so slow is the lack of trained workers. When we were there, they were bringing in workers from Indonesia and building the containers into apartments for these workers. However, I think what this builder

was saying was that there just weren’t enough qualified, electricians, plumbers, etc. He also mentioned the hardships some of the people are going through. They cannot move back to their unsafe house and are still paying the mortgage on it and in addition have to now pay rent. And who knows when the next earthquake will hit!!

And then the trouble begins. Not sure that I have mentioned that New Zealand Air, Qantas, Cathay, etc have all brought in this carry-on baggage rule. The carry-on bag can only weigh 15 pounds. Usually the empty bags weigh 7-9 pounds. That does not allow much to be put in the bag. We tried to lighten that load. But at our first check-in the gal insisted the two bags were over and since our checked baggage was not near the 50 pounds, we should move some of the carry-on to the checked bag. Ken decided to make a issue of it . His bag is smaller and it did not have any extra space, but I knew there was room in mine. I handed him the passports and set down the holder while I opened the 3 bags and proceeded to move

stuff. There was another family doing the same thing (2 young children, with the father saying: but there are four of us!) When we had finished the changing, she was gone! So we went to her neighbour and he just weighed the big bags and sent us on our way. Now getting organized, I looked to see that we had everything and no passport holder. It had money, Nexus cards, US credit cards, letter from Dr. Davy regarding my codeine. We retraced our steps, nothing. I am convinced that somebody just took it! But we had to report it. So information directed us to another building and we reported it with our email address as the contact. Going through security, that gal did weigh Ken’s bag and it passed but we hadn’t filled out our card for leaving New Zealand. Having done that, she just waved us through. Then it was showing the passports again and finally through the actual check. My purse and bag did not pass and then they decided that I needed the overall scan. My purse and bag both had water, which she asked if I wanted to keep the bottles, I would have to drink all the water. Maybe they wanted me to spend my flight in the washroom! I should explain that within
Australia, they don’t care about the water when you are going through security. I am sure that when we left Melbourne and I was carrying water. When I told her that, she said someone wasn’t doing their job and this rule was an international rule and she had just been to Australia and certainly enforced that rule!!!

We finally boarded the plane and everything was fine, a little turbulent but they eventually came with coffee and drinks. Ken had his coffee and had just started drinking it when it got really bumpy and sure enough, the coffee spilled all over his pants. Between the lady in the next seat and myself we managed to have enough Kleenex and napkins that we got him dried up! I must say I have never experienced turbulence that bad. But the rest of the flight we chatted with our neighbour. She was born in Fiji, was a teacher and had moved with her own family to New Zealand. She had two sons, both highly educated and she was going to Sydney to spend 7 weeks with her 18 month old grandson and her son and his medical doctor wife. And, yes, they did go back to visit family in Fiji quite often. The other son was a marine biologist and lived in Auckland. Her husband was a minister in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

Arrived in Sydney safely, and we checked the heavy bags and took the train to Circular Quay and our hotel. It was nice to walk in still familiar territory. We had a light supper in a restaurant on the Quay. It was the best Pizza I have ever had!! The “Dawn Princess” was in dock. I can’t imagine traveling in one of those huge 15 decks, 1998 passenger ships. Smaller is more our cup of tea! The musicians were still playing the didgeridoo making for a very nice good-bye evening. Our train ride to the airport was uneventful – neat trains with upstairs and downstairs! And the saga of customs security again continues. We solved out weight problem by putting several of the heavier items (computers and books) in our black shopping bag. If they questioned the number of bags we could put my purse in the bag too, but that never happened. But going through my carry on suit case, it had to go through the X-ray a second time and then I had to open it while she took out all the toiletries and put them in a tray and back through the x-ray. They decided my toothpaste was not acceptable. I couldn’t believe it. This toothpaste had been on at least 9 different airplanes and through as many securities but no they considered it a gel and considered “gel” a water!! And they just had to have it!!

Somehow, I wonder if they ever think that these bad experiences ever reflect on your opinions of their countries. Both, it seems to me, are paranoid. The gal sitting next to us on the plane was living and going to school in Australia and said they make it very difficult to get in and just as difficult to get out. The number of times you have to show your passport is unbelievable – but at least you don’t have to take your shoes off to go through security!!!

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Comments

[Sandra]

Turkey Jerky in Auckland
I had trouble bringing in Trader Joe Turkey Jerky even though it was sealed last month. I was in line going through the extra search and after the woman looking at a series of pdfs she surmised that only certain countries could bring in turkey...and those countries were...another 15 minutes of internet reading...were...NONE. The irony...the American Turkey Jerky was not allowed in New Zealand on American Thanksgiving!

[KandJ]

Makes one wonder how many problems they have had!
Nice to know other people have had unpleasant experiences with New Zealand security!