Kiwi Country

After spending a week in Australia, it was finally time to (briefly) depart for our next port of call, New Zealand!  While NZ also got its start as a British Commonwealth (colony), it was different country, with its own national pride and identity.  We learned that Australia and NZ have a strong sense of sibling rivalry.

Our itinerary to NZ required us to fly from Cairns to Brisbane, then from Brisbane to Auckland, New Zealand.  Our flight to Brisbane was sunny and uneventful, and we had plenty of time to hangout in the airport before our next leg.  Matthew caught up with us in the terminal, and we boarded our flight.

The night-time flight to NZ was pretty uneventful.  Ramona and I played a Scrabble game that Angie had picked out in the terminal.  The passenger seated next to us was a gentleman from South Africa, who was working in Sydney for the International Firefighter Games.  We chatted throughout the flight.

When we arrived in New Zealand, we learned that the country has extremely tight controls on fruits, nuts and seeds entering into the country.  We were instructed to dispose of all fresh fruits, nuts and seeds or face stiff fines.  As NZ is an island with no natural predators, an infestation of mice, rabbits or fruit flies would be disastrous.




After picking up a rental car, we were off to our hotel.  We were staying at the Waldorf Service Apartments, a swanky condominium-style hotel in downtown Auckland.  Our room was a literally a cross between a hotel room and a condo (complete with washer/dryer, fridge, microwave, dishwasher and electric range).

The hotel was located not too far from the wharf and the business districts, so there were a few restaurants in close proximity.  Better still, a nearby grocery would make it easy for us to provision breakfast in the morning.

It didn't take us long to settle in; as it was already 1AM local time (the latest Mona and I had been up all week), it was time for bed.