|
| 7:11am (NZST) |
As noted, yes, we landed at 7:11am.
An excellent time if you were a convenience store operator in the
States, but the notion seems foreign in this foreign land. |
| 7:23am |
We actually escaped the tin pod of the plane and into the
terminal. Ah, sweet, solid land. |
| 7:28am |
Tubby stopped to change notes from
U.S. dollars into New Zealand dollars, at a rate of roughly 1:1.5.
It felt a little like Vegas, wherein US$80 got us NZ$120 (well, NZ$119.90
after it rounded up, since there's no such thing as the penny in New
Zealand). |
| 7:37am |
We queued up for Immigration, which was something of an impressive
line. (We weren't the only plane in the queue, of course.) Girl 69E
was behind us such that we passed her often, nay, close enough to
speak to, not that we thought anyone in our group would do any such
thing. |
| 8:21am |
We got to chat with the lovely Immigration
officer, and handed over our oh-so-colorful forms. (And after 12 1/2
hours in a plane with putty walls, ceilings, and fixtures, colorful
is quite appreciated, as it is when giving your mum things to post
on the fridge. Mums like colorful drawings, too, or so I'm told.)
|
| 8:37am |
Well, after watching the luggage cycle around several times, it
was becoming painfully apparent that ours wasn't amongst them. It
wasn't clear if it was in the round-about still in San Francisco,
or Los Angeles, but at any rate, it certainly wasn't in New Zealand.
Bugger. |
| 8:53am |
We got to chat with a dear in Baggage
Services, who applied a tracer-thingy to our two bags that were missing
in action. She figured if they were on the plane, but caught up in
the final destination (Sydney) buckets, they'd be back 'round today,
otherwise, tomorrow if they were still in the states. Alas, we left
our hotel address, and spot on. |
| 9:02am |
We managed to clear Customs two bags faster than we'd figured, which
worked out quite well. (Except for the fact we had two bags traveling
the world without us.) |
| 9:07am |
A call to the service confirmed our
travel documents and such were safely with the folks with whom we'd
hire a car. |
| 9:09am |
We arranged for our hire car, a dandy white Toyota Camry, and after
electing for the NZ$28/day insurance (they do drive all backwards
here, y'know), we were dispatched to the car lot. |
| 9:20am |
Car
54, there you are! |
| 9:22am |
They apparently rent enough cars to tourists to warrant the placement
of stickers as a reminder of how to drive. |
| 9:32am |
Driving
about, you have to almost unlearn everything you learned about
driving. But not so much that you're rendered useless. |
| 9:40am |
We stopped in the City of Manukau,
Mangere Bridge area, and wandered about. |
| 9:57am |
Well, I don't yet know what this
is all about, but it's definitely intriguing. |
| 10:24am |
We prepared to depart Manukau, but not before we snapped a
photo of the local hospital service's Mercedes-Benz ambulance. |
| 11:07am |
We checked in to our hotel, Flag Aristotle
North Store, and were sent to our room, with no luggage. That'll learn
us for checking in before the 1pm check-in time. |
| 11:18am |
After settling in, such as it was, we walked a bit down Link Street
to Denny's New Zealand, to have a [familiar] bite to eat. |
| 12:02pm |
A quick look-around on the way back,
and we're again in the room. |
| 12:44pm |
As much as I'd like to report otherwise, the day was on a downhill
slope. The powerful effects of little sleep on the plane caught up
with us, and after rotating through for a lovely, steaming shower,
and it was nap time. |
| 3:36pm |
The 3pm alarm didn't sound, but by
now, the motivation still seemed to loose out to sleepy eyes. |
| 8:04pm |
Well, obviously, what with darkness already fallen and the fact
that most places close at a reasonable hour, particularly on a Sunday
night, we opted to just call it a day and will assault the day with
full force (and no sleepy eyes) tomorrow. And more pictures then,
promise. |
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