Friday
7 Dec
Marc
took us to the airport nice an early, which was a huge mistake, as
the aircon at the airport was faulty and it was even hotter than we
had been at home. (Rocky had been up to 39oC a few days earlier, and
there were lots of fires around so it was also really smoky). To top
it off the plane was delayed. Eventually, we flew to Brisbane, and
arrived at the International Airport. It transpired that the plane
from Brisbane to Auckland was also delayed and instead of flying out
at 6.30pm, we were taxiing out until 8:40pm, which meant arrival at
around 3am. For some reason I really suffered with the cabin
compression, although I noticed some others had even more issues than
me. I had booked at the Ibis Hotel, which is right near the airport,
and a free Park'n'Ride bus took us straight to the front door.
Saturday
8 Dec
Despite
my initial misgivings about the proximity to the airport, It is
really quiet here, which is good as we were able to have a good
sleep, and slept in until 10am. The rooms are really basic, with no
cupboard, kettle, cups etc, but Woolies is just across the road, and
it was only a couple of hundred metres walk to Ace Car Rentals to
pick up the hire car, so really convenient.
NZ Christmas Tree in full bloom near the airport
We had a very gentle
start to the day, basically just a little grocery shopping, before
getting the car, as we both seemed to be affected worse by this
flight than any others we have done. In the afternoon we decided to
go to the Auckland Botanic Gardens. We passed a lookout at the back
of the airport and stopped before realising it was the lookout for
plane-spotters – there would have been about 30 cars there.
The
navigator (me), having only really basic maps (which didn't actually
have most of the roads on them) took us the long and scenic route
(actually nearly around the whole perimeter of the gardens before we
found the entrance), but it was quite pleasant there.
Back at the
Hotel we celebrated with Chicken and NZ Champagne for dinner before
crashing at 8:30pm when it was actually still light.
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