Another overseas departure, kind of ho hum in a way. I do like the departures board at the Canberra airport now it seems to have been rebuilt. It looks like the old school flick over letters, but its all digital. A nice touch I thought. I did see one of those old school departure boards in Belgrade I think.
On a good note I scored a business class upgrade to Auckland. On a bad note I didn’t quite get enough time to see the end of “The Wolverine”. I had some delicious dark chocolate and orange ice cream. I really hate the feeling of enjoying something so delicious yet knowing I’ll have to work my butt off afterwards.
I also nearly got onto NZ border security. I ticked yes for medicines, because I have some. Well i got ushered down the corridor to the area where people with illicit drugs get taken. They were interviewing a man of asian appearance over what he was doing. Then they asked me what have I got and when I told them I had pills for my gout, he told me I was too young to get gout and told me how to exit.
Then I caught the shuttle into town. The driver Greg was a nice guy. There were 2 american comedians who work cruise ships on the shuttle bus and a young family. Greg was a nice guy, I said lets not talk about the rugby, the comedians suggested the America’s cup might be more palatable. I mentioned how beautiful the landscape was coming into land and one of the comedians asked where all the sheep were that NZ was famous for…….. I said “They keep them in their bedroom”. Apparently I’m welcome to join the comedians in the cruise ship business.
View of city from Verandahs
Greg eventually got me to the hostel/backpackers called Verandahs. Pretty nice old house, with a verandah over the park and a view of the Auckland tower. Time difference hasn’t hit me, because NZ is 2 hours ahead and I’m thinking its early, but its getting close to 7:30pm, so I better go find some food.