Trip to New Zealand, an epic in three parts! |
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| Leaving freezing Basingstoke on the 1st March 2005, heading for warmer New Zealand. The night before I left, it had reached -7.1C .... brrrrr! Anyway, it was off to the Heathrow airport I go - same deal as before Basingstoke to Woking and Woking to Heathrow on the RailAir link. Everything went smoothly, and I arrived at Heathrow Terminal 4 at around 4pm. I had "Checked-in" online the night before so wasn't quite sure of what to expect as I hadn't done it this way before. Anyway, I followed the instructions and the self-check-in teminals were supposed to produce my boarding cards when you insert the Executive card or the credit card used to make the bookings. Sadly this didn't work, but I was directed to a fast check-in desk - cool. Because I had checked-in online, they could accept my hold baggage. Had I done it at the airport, I would have had to wait until 6pm. The assistant couldn't say why it wouldn't let me havve my boarding cards at the self-check-in terminals - perhaps my flights weren't all with BA ??? So, next through to security. There was a big long queue to get through security, and they were picking people out to try out their new low-dose X-ray system. I was picked ... well, I had nothing to hide, so proceeded to the area, where I had to pose in three positions, whilst they blasted me with some X-rays. That was easy enough. As they had "inconvenienced" me, I by-passed the rest of the queue and went straight to have my bag X-rayed. So, not quite as fast as the Concorde Fast-track I had experienced the time before, but not bad (considering how long the queue was now). So, I was now airside with not too much to do before boarding the plane. |
 
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My plane was .... exactly the same plane that brought me back from New York the last time I travelled .... well that's weird! Take-off was later than expected, but we were soon rushing towards our first stop in Bangkok. The blinds were pulled down (as this was a "night flight".) The plane passed south of the Himalayas around 5am GMT - there was a great view of the mountain range, but nearly everyone else was asleep - shame that. Landing at Bangkok was relatively uneventful, and I stayed onboard whilst they refuelled the plane and loaded on the next sectors baggage and food. We were only there for about 40 minutes. Off we went again, now headed for Sydney. We were greeted at Sydney with darkness and drizzle - it was about 5:55am there and we weren't allowed to land until 6am. Landing went according to plan and we parked up at Terminal 1. The plane for the onward flight was by Qantas. Again we weren't there long before we had to board the flight - I'm glad the baggage was transferred automatically. So onto Auckland. The entertainment onboard the Qantas flight was not as good as the BA flight I had just left - same films but projected onto the display at the front of the cabin. Good job it was a short flight.  
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| I cleared immigration and customs at Auckland really quickly and before long I was being transferred to my hotel in Auckland. I was only going to be in Auckland for a few days, so I had to plan what I wanted to do (and how to get there). Things on the agenda were a visit to Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and undersea World, Auckland Zoo, Auckland Museum and Sky Tower - the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere |
          
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| Sadly, although I did see a live kiwi at Auckland zoo, it is a nocturnal bird, so it was in the nocturnal house. Perhaps I'll have a photo at my next stop ..... |
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