A day of firsts...

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Hello everyone! Well, as you can see by me writing this, we've made it across to the other side of the world alive and whole. It's Monday 21st of July, 9:10am for us at the moment, but it's 9.42pm Sunday 20th for you guys 😊

Right, where did Jason end the last entry? Ah right. After making our first entry we had some cheeseburgers with Graham and then re-packed our bags and went through the list of stuff to take for a third\fourth time. Making sure we had everything, we spend the rest of the afternoon just relaxing before heading off to Heathrow at half four, arriving at six. We managed to get to Terminal 1 fine, and found the Air New Zealand section and checked in. Despite having talked about it, neither of us asked if there was any spaces to be upgraded, much to Graham's amusement. We said goodbye to Jason's dad, and got through security without any problems. In the departures lounge we bought some water and winegums for the flight, as well as some pens for Jason so he could actually write in his journal. We had a quick bite to eat before finding Gate 52 for our flight.

We boarded the plane around eightish, and we're just behind the wing in the centre isle. There's no row behind us, instead there being a storage thing for the cabin crew. Jason's in the middle seat, while I'm on the end. We grab books and MP3 players to keep us entertained in the flight, along with flight socks, and then place everything in the hold. A quick check of the inflight magazine revealed a treasure trove of movies and telly programs that we can watch, so we're very pleased. Take off goes very smoothly, and I watch Definitely Maybe while Jason's watching Semi Pro. Dinner arrives quickly, Chicken and Veg with the usual cheese and biscuits, roll, fruit and dessert. Jason's not hungry, but since a member of cabin crew tells me that the dessert (banoffee pie) was made in a factory with nuts, Jason happily eats it for me (just doing his duty apparently).

I begin to watch another film but begin to nod off (Jason's already fallen asleep while watching his movie) so decide to put flight socks on before nodding off. Damn things are next to impossible to put on while confined to your seat. Jason wakes and does the same, managing to crash his knee into the seat infront of him before we decide to turn our lights on to see what we are doing. Sleeping is an interesting thing to do on the plane, as we both agreed with the windows closed you keep thinking you're on a train. Jason's TV remote is stuck into his chair arm, so whenever he fidgits he keeps turning the screen on. Sleep comes intermittantly, and never for very long (listening to Jack Johnson helped us both). About two hours before we land breakfast is served, blueberry and apple pancakes, and we both clean our plates.

We land without realising it (the plane is so heavy it doesn't bounce like the little ones) and we have to disembark for two hours into Hong Kong airport. It's around four in the afternoon when we arrive, and it's 31 degrees, and we're both feeling the heat. We pass through security, where the women are wearing bullet proof vests, before changing our remaining 15 pounds into 219 Hong Kong dollars, and buying some more water (we had to throw our Heathrow water away by security). We wait by our gate, Jason starting his journal and I begin to read my book from Uncle Paul. We both manage to text mums and girlfriends to let them know we're safe. We're get back into our seats on the plane, with new pillows and blankets, and Jason's remote has been fixed.

Learning from earlier mistakes, we only have our camera's and water on us, the rest of our gear going into the bay above us. We take our seats as we watched the kids over the next row move their headrests, which are adjustable and and have side flaps to rest your head against. That would have been sooo useful to know about at the beginning! Take off is a little more bumpy this time, and again dinner arrives soon after, a horrid lasagne. Again Jason declines a full dinner but eats my dessert. We then settle in for our second night in flight, the day having lasted from our point of view for no more then six hours. Jason spends the next eight hours by starting three movies one after the other, then immediatly falling asleep after watching half an hour of them, only to awake for the credits. I find sleep harder on this flight, despite being tired, and amuse myself with Dreamgirls and a bit of St. Trinians, before getting my MP3 player out and attempting to sleep to my music. That also fails, so I watch Finding Nemo. Jason manages to sit through all of A Bugs Life (we had watched all the older films we wanted, and were now checking the kids section if you can't tell).

Jason's beginning to get hungry, wishing he had had dinner. We are soon served breakfast without being asked for what option we wanted (we can't decide if the cabin member overheard us discussing that we wanted the scrambled egg and bacon, or if it was just the only ones left and we had to have it). In traditionally Sunday Morning Breakfast style, we swap bits of breakfast around (though no one was there to have our mushrooms like Mark normally does). We spend our final hours in the air watching Austin Powers 3, and land again gently into Auckland Jean Batten Airport, 9am Sunday.

We hand over our Passenger Arrival Card, having both ticked a biohazard section as we've got hiking boots. We're one of the handful of non-asians in the queue for passport control, and Jason's red hair is getting a few stares. We get the first ever stamps into our passports and then wait around quarter of an hour for our baggage to arrive. With all our gear we then have to go through a second security check point, where our boots are taken away and *decontaminated*. This leaves Jason squeaking across the rest of the airport as he's wearing his. Our bags are then x-rayed (though Jason points out that we ourselves aren't scanned) and Jason's check-in baggage causes a stir. He's asked to open it for security, but it turns out it is the odd-shaped Lynx shower gel that caused the problem. He's allowed to keep it, and we finally leave the airport. We had decided to take a taxi, but a shuttle driver offers to drop us at the hotel for 20 dollars less then we were planning to pay. Bargin.

Auckland could be in England by looking at it. The only thing that shows we're in a different country is the number plates and road signs looking more American. It takes about half an hour to get to the hotel, which is as posh as we thought it'd be. We're given room 412 on the fourth floor, and after having to partially climb over a cleaning cart in the corridor, we get to our room. We had both become aware of how bad we smelled in the shuttle, so first things first was getting clean and into clean clothes (and brushing teeth!). Jason spots that we've got the wrong adaptor plugs, as the New Zealand plugs are like smaller, upside down versions of the UK plugs. While Jason showers I check out the maps and find the big shopping district for the city is just down the road.

We head out into Auckland, both beginning to feel very tired. We have a quick lunch at Subway, not only becuase it's Jason's favourite place to eat but it's also one of the few non-asian places. We find a pharmacy and get some adaptors for $40. We also stop into a local shopping mart to get some crisps and biscuits, before checking out the harbour and the Sky Tower, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. You can walk around the outside of it at 192 metres, so we're looking into doing that tomorrow (today as I write). We're both too tired to find an internet cafe for the the blog, leaving that for tomorrow as well (again, today as you can tell).

We get back to the hotel around 2 in the afternoon, with Jason deciding to take a nap before we search for dinner. We take a quick video recording, and Jason manages to bang his head against the wall while checking out the telly. While Jason sleeps I start my journal when around 3 I have to block up our window with plasters and tissue as the wind is getting through the broken seal. Jason wakes for about a minute and looks out the window, but falls asleep again. He later doesn't remember waking up. I go to sleep around four as well, too tired to try and stay awake.

We have no problem sleeping, though I have some stomach difficulty later in the night, around seven. We both wake up refreshed and wide awake around midnight, and begin to plan our next full day in New Zealand... I'll leave it there, as Jason can tell you what we got up to at stupid o'clock in the morning in the next entry, which should be in the next few days.

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we have had actually doing it! We still can't believe we're on the other side of the world! First time to visit a Communist country, first time in the Southern Hemisphere, first time in New Zealand, first time we've spent a whole day in the air! A day of firsts :D

Right, that's it from me, Jason will have the next update. He's sat next to me checking out some times and prices of stuff, and says hello. We're happy and healthy, and we send love to y'all, and we'll update soon!

Elliott

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Photos

Sitting on the plane
Our seats for 24 hours

Our plane
Picture from Hong Kong of our plane getting ready to go to New Zealand

Arrival
Finally in New Zealand

The Harbour
Jason at the Harbour

The Sky Tower
Might be walking around that later...

Planning
Us at one in the morning planning our day

Early Morning
Jason checks out his looks