Day 328 - 331
Day 229 - AUSTRALIA DAY :-)
Auckland, New Zealand
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CONGRATUTLATIONS to my gorgeous neice, Shameem and your wonderful Kia on your marriage!!! We wished we were there and thought of you both, as we were flying high!...Love Aunty Jen and Uncle Greg xxxx
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We left Santiago, Chile last Friday, 25th January...at 10.30pm so we had the whole day to fill in before we left for the airport. We spent the time going into the plaza de armas and also did the last blog on that day.
We then flew for 12 hours via Lima (stayed there for an hour) to Los Angeles. We had a problem with our tickets and ended up having to pay US$125 to reissue our tickets, $40 service fee and a US Airport tax of $85.30 (each) to fly to NZ via LA!
It was really annoying because when we booked our orignal round-the-world tickets in January 2007 we were not able to have flights booked for 2008 (computer system reasons!) and all the flights had to be booked for 2007. So the flights for 2008 had to be extended..and this leg, the Santiago - Auckland flight had to be reissued, adding almost $500 to our budget!
We also couldn't get a direct flight so had to fly to LA to get to NZ, adding another WHOLE DAY flying! So annoying. We also had to spend 2 hours at ticketing, while they sorted this all out for us!!! Thank god we were at the airport 3 hours before boarding!
Anyway, once we got going (and the flight was on time, thank goodness) it was a smooth flight. Cramped, but smooth. We tried to sleep, but mostly watched movies! Passengers clapped once again (always unnerving!) but it was good to arrive in Los Angeles. The airport seemed like a mini city itself. We considered catching a taxi or bus to Hollywood but seeing we'd both been to LA and to Hollywood, we decided to just hang around the "city" at the airport. There seemed lots to do to pass the time.
We put our clocks back five hours so it ended up being 7am in LA! Security was stringent upon arrival. We passed the customs delcaration form and and got clearance for not being involved in espionage, criminal activity, etcetc! We were fingerprinted and photographed and had our luggage checked. Thank goodness our wine glasses from Undurraga wine glasses and chilean biscuits cramped up inside them survived the flight and customs! (hehe)
Now all we had to do was wait 12 hours for our next flight to Auckland!!
During that time, we caught up on all our paperwork, diary, plan for NZ and met some other people who had also been delayed in LA. They were there for different reasons, their flight had been delayed a day due to weather conditions that delayed the plane flying. They were not happy.
A couple from San Francisco were desperate to see their grandchild in NZ and had only gotten 500 miles before being delayed for 24 hours! (All flights full~) and another couple from Melbourne, with 2 kids, were also waiting and NOT HAPPY! Listening to their stories made the 12 hours whizz by for us though!
We also found time to be decadent and had a starbucks coffee and cinnomon bun smothered in caramel sauce and sugar coated almonds. Ohlala..American's know how to make coffee and snacks!!!
We heard Heath Ledger's family were in the Qantas Lounge. (Realised they were talking about the NY airport later!) Still think this whole thing is So Sad. A really sad, sad thing to happen to such a brilliant man. There was still a buzz surrounding all of this, in the media.
Finally we boarded at 8.30pm and flew for another 12 hours to Auckland...the thing that really "GOT ME" was the fact that, somehow, apart from losing time already, we lost a whole day when we crossed the date line! The whole day of the 27th January just got wiped out of our lives!!! That was the day the Australian Open played...and it was really funny because the pilot, just as we were about to land, actually announced that Novak Djokovic won the men's title! (Which was great news!)
The movies were great. On Qantas flights we get our own tv so, Greg and i watched different ones. I watched a movie that was based on a book i've just finished reading which was great! Called Jane Austen's Bookclub. Also watched December Boys, Invasion (Nicole Kidman) and a documentary on the Galapagos and the US Space program called In the Shadow of the Moon which i loved, having been to both Galapagos and NASA ourselves.
We landed in Auckland, New Zealand on the 28th January at 7am..and fame came along there as well. As we were finding our way out of immigration and customs England's Cricket Team filed by in their Vodaphone covered, red, white and blue luggage blazened with the name of their team. Media was all about as well. Apprently they are in NZ for 3 months.
We were so tired we didn't take photos to add to our huge collection. But the image is in our minds..they so much luggage per person.
\A bit fuzzy, but the Maori calvings are gorgeous aren't they?
Auckland Airport is so fresh and welcoming and gorgeous. The walk from customs to the main airport area is very inspiring! It has Maori calvings at the main exit door...and the glass is all etched in trees and leaves. So beautiful.
I still felt a bit dazzled by the accents. To hear so many people speaking English was so weird! I had to bite my tongue from saying, 'gracias' and 'si' to people! Had we been in Spanish speaking countries that long? It is weird how you begin to 'think' in the language of the country you're in!!!
And really, for the last 11 months we have been mostly in foreign speaking countries so it was strange to hear English being spoken. The Australians we heard seemed to have very broad accents!! Do we really sound that AUSSIE!!!?
The first thing we did after being free from all the security (NZ is really strict on bringing in food, even the snack package that Qantas supplies on the plane is checked and they check this very thoroughly, both with sniffer dogs and at customs) was to hire a car.
If you can imagine..we were really tired from not sleeping for 2 nights (3 with the lost day!! Still can't get over THAT!)..but we still managed to drum up some energy to organise a hire car. It was going to cost $60 by taxi to our hostel otherwise!
So..we are the proud babysitter, for the next 18 days, of a little Toyota Corolla!
Our drive to our hostel was in awe. Auckland was not as i remember it. I was here as the umpire of a under 17 state badminton team going to the Australasian Titles, with 4 other adults from the team management and nine Under 17 kids! (including Sam) 8 years ago and it really seemed a whole different place then! (Lots of badminton halls!)
I was also at a stage in my life, then, which was shadowed by divorce and my mood was pretty downcast. My memory of NZ was therefore, not as clear as it seems now.
This time, it seemed so fresh, so friendly, so coastal, so beautiful..I was feeling excited as we drove downtown!
Funny how places can be so different from what you remember!
