Hamilton, NZ Fri-Jan-8- 2010

We arrived at LAX shortly before 11:30 to learn AirNZ counter opened at 1pm. We knew we would be early, but! There was no place near our hotel we wished to have lunch; too tired and too little time for a quick tour of LA; our only option was to hang out at the airport. Front of the line check in and through security shortly after 1 pm. This time we had no problem with taking knapsacks onboard; the stuff other passengers carried through security was absolutely a joke! We had lunch at Route 66; shopped at Duty Free (2 litres of Baileys+ iPod/MP3 speakers for 34 USD–hope it travels well in my suitcase once we leave Hamilton!); we found a quite area on the 2nd level near the airline lounges, away from the hustle of the commuters & clean washrooms nearby. We took turns napping and before long it was time to board our flight.
The aircraft was a 747-400 double-decker series and we were seated in seats 63 G & H; 2 aisle seats & 5 rows from the rear of the plane. Close to the washrooms with a fully booked airplane! The crew were friendly and there were no delays. We were served a full course meal; complimentary bar service; personal entertainment system: movies, TV, games, radio, audio books; flight information. It was neat to watch the kilometres fly by as we cruised along at 864 KM/H -48⁰C outside and that by trips’ end we had travelled 10,555 KMs in 11 hours and 46 minutes - shaving a full hour from the scheduled flying time – landing in Auckland at 4:30 am Friday January 8th. None too soon with the quality of the stale air onboard!
We completed the New Zealand Passenger Arrival Card – penalties for the non supply of information ranged from denied permission to enter New Zealand through to heavy fines and/or imprisonment. My hiking boots and remedies supplements were declared as stated under “Biosecurity” notes; no problems there when they confirmed the boots were new / clean and the supplements were capsules / pill forms. We adhered to “Honesty is the best policy. If you are not sure – declare it!” Within an hour we were outside hooking up with our shuttle driver.
Three other passengers joined us: a college student from Spain arriving for a 3-month program to learn English; two young ladies returning from a vacation in the US. We had a middle-aged female driver who lives here in Hamilton, has 5 children and has never left the North Island of NZ. We learnt a lot from her as we chit-chatted along the journey. Once she knew we were doing a house exchange and scheduled to meet the owner’s daughter at 8:30 am; she dropped us last – giving us a chance to see Hamilton.
A couple was at the house, assumed correctly it was Ray’s brother Barry and his wife. Then Ashleigh drove up in her car! What a warm welcome to a new land! Barry said he comes by daily to water the grounds; a very friendly chat. Ashleigh, a beautiful young lady, introduced us to Sassy, the cat and gave us a tour of the home; a designer couldn’t stage better. Christmas tree was left up for us to enjoy; especially nice since we had no tree of our own this year.
Ashleigh gave us a ride to the New World grocery store; our 1st groceries. We had hoped to walk back: too tired, not sure we knew the streets; looked like rain and a local bus gave us an alternative. The bus driver was very helpful; we were not on her route. She offered us a free bus ride to a taxi stand.
The Taxi driver was confused - with the help of our map we navigated him back to our street. Granted a little round-a-bout and 26 NZ$ later – although he dropped the fare to $23 – still a bit of a rip! But we were home and we had food! Time for a snack and a nap! The next challenge was getting the internet to work. Ashleigh & Scotty came to our rescue. Using his laptop; we experimented until we got his to work. From there it was an easy step to get ours to work. Success!
After they left, we watch a little SKY satellite TV by 10pm we were ready to fall into the beautiful bed! Day 1 in NZ! Myth buster # 1: toilet flushes in what direction still needs confirmation!