There's plans, and there's what happens

January 31, 2010
We duly left, taking Airways Transit from Waterloo to the airport.

We had made our “Stand-by” booking paying extra for the higher priority and also Business Class if available. At Pearson airport in Toronto, while waiting to board, we realized for the first (but not only) time that travelling through Vancouver near the time of the Winter Olympics was not our brightest idea. Oh, there was lots of space in Business Class to start, but Air Canada, in a public relations move, had promised Canadian athletes travelling to the Olympics they would be upgraded to Business if there was space. So, in the end, we watched a rather large number of very fit young people boarding the front of the aircraft, while we hauled our old bones into the back. But, it’s only 5 hours, so what.

We hung around in Vancouver airport for about 8 hours waiting for the flight to Sydney; people watching was quite interesting, as the airport was in high gear, with volunteers welcoming athletes and officials flying in for the Olympics. However, after a while even that got boring, and after eating super we ended up simply reading until it was time to go to the departure lounge for the Sydney flight. And here again, the plans weren’t quite what happened. There was plenty of seats in Business class, but we watched as traveller after traveller showed up with upgrade certificates, and moved from hospitality to business. That doesn’t change the number of empty seats, but it shifts them to the back. In the end, we flew 14 hours, Toronto to Sydney, in Hospitality, not quite what we had hoped for, but, we got there. And yes, even 14 hours upright is manageable; beyond eating, there is movie watching, and even sleeping, even though not well.

February 2, 2010
We arrived in Sydney on February 2 (it’s that International Date Line thing - there is no 31 Jan 2010 in our lives) in the late morning. Wisely, we had booked ourselves into an airport hotel, rather than continuing on to New Zealand the same day, as we were somewhat bagged. After finding out where the hotel “Super Shuttle” departed from, we hauled our bags there, probably 500 metres in the Australian Summer sun, on a rough sidewalk; not so “Super” a shuttle in my opinion. And I mention the rough sidewalk, as in the hauling about half the rubber “tire” on one of my suitcase wheels got scrubbed off, leaving it with a rather lurching gait for the rest of the trip. But, we duly transferred to the Ibis Hotel-Airport, got to our quite expensive (roughly $160) but very small room, which also had a very dirty carpet, and very quickly collapsed into deep sleep for about the next 7 hours.

We got up at dusk, headed downstairs, and discovered that the downside to this hotel was that it wasn’t near anything. We also didn’t have the energy to want to go very far, so we hit the dining room for supper, starting with a carafe of the house wine. That was the best thing we had. June ordered a pasta with a “home-made chicken and wild mushroom sauce” while I settled for the “organic greens with grilled chicken and home-made herb dressing” salad. The pasta might have been cooked that day and re-heated, and the sauce was a glutinous mess that might have started life as a mixture of cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup; my salad was basically iceberg lettuce shredded, the chicken might have been grilled at some time in its life, and the home-made dressing was an incredibly good imitation of Kraft’s Ranch. I picked out the chicken, June picked out what seemed to be edible, and when I went to pay the bill, a not inconsiderable Oz$50 (C$60 or so) I complained to the totally disinterested cashier, who knocked off the pasta and half the chicken salad from the bill. (This is one of the by-products of the Australian insistence on no tipping - tipping establishes a one up one down relationship, and Australians are not interested in that, but as a result no one in a restaurant is the slightest bit motivated to provide good service, or cares whether or not themanagement makes money.) After the culinary disaster, we went back to our room to catch up on the rest of our sleep.

February 3, 2010
We got up quite early, as we needed to get back to the airport by about 7:30 a.m to continue on to Auckland (with the usual 3 hour international check-in requirement). With some fear and trepidation we went into the dining room for the included in the rate breakfast, buffet style, which turned out to be surprising good. So the Ibis scores down on room cleanliness, and is a tie on food quality - but we would probably not stay there again unless absolutely forced to.

We had listed ourselves stand-by to Auckland on Emirates, Quantas, and Air New Zealand, to ensure we would get there on Feb 3, as we had hotel bookings from that day on. Emirates might come as a surprise, but was a suggestion from our travel agent. Emirates flies twice daily from Dubai to Sydney, and then on to Auckland, with the second flight to Christchurch. Of course most of the passengers get off in Sydney, and very few people think of Emirates as a way from Australia to New Zealand, so there is usually lots of room. As indeed happened for us; we had no problem getting seats. And then the usual wait in a departure lounge that we were in before the aircraft actually arrived. It was hot and stuffy for about two hours, and then got quite pleasant; that’s when we realized that Sydney airport had zonal controls on its air conditioning, they only cool an area when it is reasonably expected to be occupied - our mistake was heading there too early, rather than hanging out in the central area until the aircraft actually arrives.

The flight to Auckland was a pleasure. We were on an Airbus 380, the currently largest passenger aircraft. Even in Economy the seats were larger than we are used to in North America, the entertainment system was fantastic (think of not just watching first run movies at your seat, but being able to duty-free shop on your personal screen), and the food service was what June tells me was the standard on Air Canada in the 1980s. A very pleasant three hours from Sydney to Auckland.

Immigrations and Customs in Auckland was the usual firm but polite examination that one expects down-under. They are especially firm and polite about making sure that one is not importing anything that might want to grow, reproduce, or take over parts of the eco-system. No fruit, no plants, but also no wood products that might carry parasites, etc. And also, they make very certain that you are just visiting, have means to support yourself while doing so, and definitely intend to leave again.

As you walk out of the customs hall, there is a large poster showing a pastoral scene with Hobbit holes, familiar from the 1st Lord of the Rings movie, announcing “Welcome to Middle Earth” - just don’t bring any critters or plan to stay, I thought. But, why not trade on the familiarity of New Zealand scenery from the movies.

The first order of business was to get into Auckland, as the airport is a considerable distance from the city. There is a shuttle bus, but it only does defined stops, none of which was near our hotel. But we talked to the booking clerk, who assured us that we would be dropped at a cross roads, from which a free city bus would pick us up, and drop us just by our hotel. We duly did that; I’m still not sure that the second bus was the one we should have been on, but we did get on, and did get dropped off, with a friendly pointing down the road, where, sure enough, about 150 m on, was our hotel. So we wheeled our suitcases downhill, mine with it’s pronounced wobble from missing half a wheel, and duly arrived at the Heritage Hotel-Auckland, and were checked into a very lovely room, almost a suite, in a heritage building that was once an department store.

It now being later afternoon, we did a clean-up of ourselves, and set out to do some exploring, and find some supper. The Heritage is not that far from the harbour area, so we headed basically downhill, until we found water, and then looked around. Auckland is called the “city of sails” and it is easy to see why, boats, mostly sailboats, are moored everywhere. Boats of all sizes, from modest dinghies to Americas’ Cup yachts are all around. And, the harbour scene jumps, with lots of restaurants and nightclubs, full of people having a great time, on a Wednesday night! (And once again, when in a harbour city that has a waterfront that is alive and vital, I thought about what a waste Toronto had made of theirs; instead of people, Toronto has condos.)

After a check around, we ended up in a restaurant in the Auckland Ferry Building, on a balcony, looking out over the harbour. We had an excellent seafood meal, and an excellent bottle of New Zealand wine; it wasn’t cheap, but given the quality, value for money. And, since New Zealand menus list the price of a dish inclusive of taxes and service charge, with no tipping expected, there was no nasty surprise at the end; what you ordered you got at the price listed.

Then a pleasant walk back through the pleasantly warm night to our hotel; and so to bed, ready to tackle Auckland in the morning.