Arrival in Auckland

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 OK, OK. So I’ve not posted for a while and I apologise. I have my excuses. The main one of which is that I have been a little bit poorly – a hangover from the tummy trouble in Hanoi. Thankfully I am now able to last more than 20 minutes without a toilet trip so have actually started to enjoy myself in Auckland at last!

The flight was enjoyable and uneventful – as all good flights should be. I watched Fun With Dick And Jane and Casanova, both of which I’d recommend. I also saw most of The Longest Yard again, which wasn’t a bad thing. The girl sat behind me, a Dane with red dreadlocks, had me taking pictures out of the window for her at various points as she had one of those annoying “window seats without a window”. I was wanting to watch the FA Cup final with, believe it or not, was possible onboard as they’re now offering broadband during flights. Thing is, it would have cost me more than flying back to the UK and buying a ticket from a scalper 10 minutes before kickoff. When I finally heard the result I almost wish I had.

 Finally, New Zealand hove into view off the starboard bow. Wing. Side. Whatever. Lovely and green in the early morning sunlight (I landed at 10:30am), we could even see the Sky Tower in the centre of Auckland’s Central Business District. Lou lives a stonesthrow from there.

The Danish girl (“P” to her friends) asked very nicely if she could possibly share a ride into Auckland with me. Knowing Indy, who was picking me up, and how nice he is I said “probably”.

Border control was pretty much as thorough as I’d heard, though the staff were by far and away the most pleasant I have ever encountered when entering a new country. Most passport checkers are… quiet, to say the least. They usually just take the paperwork, stare at you, rustle things for long enough to make you nervous then hand the stuff back and point at where you should go next. I got a “How are you this morning?”, a cheery “Work or pleasure?” and a final, polite “I hope you enjoy your stay in New Zealand” with a very genuine smile.

Even the scary Bio-Diversity Control wasn’t as bad as I’d heard. Strict, yes – but friendly. The forms we had to fill in on the flight asked questions such as “have you been in contact with any animals other than domesticated cats and dogs in the last 30 days”? Now, if I answered honestly, they might think I was taking the Michael… Snakes, elephants, tigers!

However, I was waved through with no problem, just asked to have a second x-ray of my luggage in case the chocolate I bought in Hanoi Airport was loaded with tarantulas or something, then home free. P had to go through the third aisle so they could check her boots as she’d been trecking in such foreign climes as… erm… London.

Indy was waiting for me with a cheery grin – almost four years since I’d seen him and he’s not changed a bit. Except for the manic look of an expectant father surrounding him like a panicky cloud, prodding him from time to time. We headed into the CBD via a Buddhist hideaway for P to drop her stuff off (including a rather wicked snowboard) and located Lou’s little hideaway, just off Queen Street.

 Nice pad, as well. This ain’t no hostel! I have yet to find out how much she’s paying for it – I think she’s rather embarrassed. Two doors up, there’s a hostel for $NZ15 (£5) a night and I promise before 6 weeks are up, I’ll have her sleeping in a dorm room somewhere in New Zealand! Even if just for a night! Indy stayed with us for an hour or so (during which I made full use of the bathroom. Several times) and then dragged himself home to his better one-and-a-half.

It was barely lunchtime and despite the toilet trouble, I felt fine. No sickness or anything, just an inability to wander more than 100 yards from a lavatory. A couple of Imodium put that problem to bed and we headed out so I could stretch my legs and see what Auckland has to offer. Rob’s heard it described as “Manchester by the sea” and I can see where people are coming from with that. Certainly where we are now, it’s very much a town centre with a fairly British feel to it. This includes the weather which verges on the cooler side, but can throw three different weather patterns an hour at you.

Lunch was at Wendy’s which will make Chris very jealous indeed. And it’s just round the corner. I didn’t have a big meal, though, as my stomach just wasn’t up to it. Best fast-food burgers, though. I have no idea if there is an A&W anywhere, however. I haven’t seen any root beer yet, though NZ has one drink unique to it called L&P – Lemon and Paeroa – which I have yet to try.

Partly due to the bad stomach and partly due to sharing a flat with a health-mad woman, breakfast and lunch has been from a place round the corner called Zest which sells soups, juices, smoothies and the like. Frankly, I’m happy with this, though, I’m now spending as much on early morning food as I did on my entire food and drinks for a day in Hanoi. Of course, this is to be expected given that I’m in an entirely different country. On an entirely different continent.

The last photo up there on the left is of the Sky Tower. If you look closely to the left, you may be able to see what looks like a pair of cables coming down from it. This is so that insane people can jump off the damn thing (it’s 328m tall at its peak – the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere). Kiwis pretty much make a habit of things like that. If it’s high up they’ll find a way to jump off it. If it’s deep, they’ll work out how to dive down to it. If it walks they’ll have some plan to either get it on a plate or into bed. Disturbed people.

 One treat awaited me for dinner though. Something I’ve been craving more than decent chocolate, English-speaking television and wireless internet. Yes. Beans on toast. The nectar of the gods when they’re on a budget and want something filling after a night out on the cellestial booze-wagon.

I also had some proper deep-fried chunks of potato (Americans pay attention – these are “chips”, not those crunchy things you get in bags) when we headed up to Lisa and Indy’s for dinner. On Wednesday night, I joined them again for a pub quiz (where we didn’t come first though this wasn’t a surprise – winning would have been) and sampled four different local brews. Thank you to their friends for dropping me back “home” afterwards. I’m sure I’d have found my way, but my visa would likely have expired by the time I’d staggered there.

Plans are afoot for the next few weeks, but we’re currently biding our time in Auckland until little Megan decides to invite herself into the world. She’s due on Wednesday 24th, but we all know what first-borns can be like! Posted by Picasa

Jetting around

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 I’m typing this section up during my 3-hour layover in Singapore airport. I did attempt to check my email at one of the 200 free internet terminals, but the session crashed as soon as Gmail loaded. At least I noticed I only had the one email (I’ll get back to you tomorrow, Chunky!) so that wasn’t a great problem.

I’ve heard great things about this airport and it doesn’t disappoint, except that they give you 200 free stand-up terminals and then attempt to charge you for wi-fi. No careless IT staff have left any routers switched on as in Phuket, either, so I’ll have to wait till I get to Auckland before I can do any surfing.

The rain had stopped by the time I got to Hanoi airport, which figures. Mind, I checked in quickly and my flight was confirmed all the way to Auckland.

My only problem with the flight was the food. The menu showed the option for Hanoi to Singapore and also Singapore to Hanoi. I would have preferred the food going in the opposite direction! When I booked the flights, Singapore Airlines give you a vast array of dietary options. Sadly, “no seafood” isn’t amongst them. Every single meal had fish in either the starter, the main course, or both. I went for the pork main course which was OK, though I was hungry enough to have wanted a starter. Someone also needs to sit them down and explain that cold corn in jelly is not a dessert. Or certainly shouldn’t be.

This is something I’ve noticed a lot in Vietnam, and to a smaller extent in Thailand. The inclusion of corn and other vegetables in ice creams and ice lollies is astounding – though mainly as it’s unheard-of back in the UK. I suppose it’s one way of getting kids to eat healthily, but give me a Strawberry Mivvi any day.

 Having walked between areas F and E in terminal 2, I’ve already gone past two impressive Koi Carp “lakes”. OK, they’re quite small, but the fish are impressively sized. According to the leaflet I picked up in Hanoi, there are a number of things to do at the airport depending on the length of your layover. More then 5 hours and they’ll even take you on a bus trip round the city for free! There’s a gym, pool, showers and do on that can all be used for a vastly reduced price (literally a couple of pounds) with a Singapore Airlines boarding pass. I’m toying with doing this on the way back through to Hanoi in 6 weeks – all of a sudden the long layover doesn’t seem so bad.

Well, my second flight boards in 90 minutes or so, so I’m off for more of a wander around to see what else I can scrounge. One stand was selling a 17″ portable DVD player for S$190, which I reckon’s around £80. Eek. Nothing else is that much cheaper though! Duty Free prices worldwide are all inflated to the point where they’re rarely worth taking advantage of. Posted by Picasa

Tam biet, Hanoi!

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 (that’s “goodbye” – or it would be if I could get all the accents right)

Last night I had most of a full meal and some beer, so I must be getting better. I also got to watch some astounding lightning in the skies to the west of Hanoi. I’ve never seen lightning move horizontally before. Also, the moon travels across the sky an awful lot faster than it does in the UK overnight. Or perhaps I’ve just not noticed all these years.

I’m off to catch the airport shuttle bus in half an hour. It’s $2 rather than the $10 that a taxi costs and nobody else is going airportwards so I’m taking the cheap option. I don’t have to be there earlier than 12:30 so that’s plenty of time.

Next stop will be a 3-hour layover in Singapore, then on for the long-haul flight to Auckland where I’m due to arrive at 10:30am local time. I’m stocking up opn Red Bull so that I can make it through as many of the 60 on-board films on the flight as possible. I want my money’s-worth, dammit!

Catch you all down under!

 *UPDATE*

It’s now about 10:48 and I’ve opted for a taxi. Just as I was grabbing my bags, the heavens opened. And they don’t do it by halves over here! By the time I got to the bus station, but bags would be drenched, so I’ve opted for a taxi (due in 10 minutes) instead. Eight dollars (US) extra because of the weather. Pah.

I’m viewing it as Hanoi trying to get me used to the weather I’ll be encountering in Kiwiland. The girl at the counter said that Hanoi didn’t want me to leave. I like her phrasing better, but I have a feeling I’m closer to the truth! Posted by Picasa

One day to go

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Well, I’ve not done much over the last couple of days. Mainly mope about, buy more DVDs and start to eat more. People have come and gone at the hostel, many of whom I’ll stay in touch with. This is a great way to travel if you’re sociable!

The hostel is suffering from a common trick at the moment as well. Taxi drivers are being paid a commission to take people wanting to come here to another building instead. This place is done up to look like the hostel, but when they get there, the “manager” comes out and apologises, saying they’ve double-booked but got the traveller room at another place.

The place they’ve been taken to is a front – there are no rooms there. It’s an office. I believe plans are afoot to legally get them to shut down. In the meantime, Max is looking to hire some large locals to meet travellers off the plane/train/bus and ensure they get to the right place.

One girl arrived last night who was taken to this other place, but she’d seen photographs of the hostel and knew she’d been taken for a ride. Basically, she started to walk off with the taxi driver screaming at her. She pointed to her map saying “want to go here. You have not taken me here, so I not pay. Goodbye.”

He caught her up and drove her to the right place. The question is, will he do it again?

The only other event of note was a little night-time visitor. One of the guys in the dorm was sneezing a lot which he put down to the aircon. Nodding off, he dropped his phrasebook down the side of his bed. As he went to retrieve it, he saw a pair of eyes staring back at him and freaked. “RAT!!!”

Close. One letter out. Cat.

The poor thing was petrified. Darted onto my bed, straight for the door, bounced of it as it was closed, onto his bed, somehow directly onto the bunk above, bounced off the closed window, clambered along the sill around the top of the window frame, into the bathroom and hid behind the toilet. From where it refused to come out.

We popped a little bit of food down for him/her and kept the bathroom door shut, as the guy who’d found the cat was very allergic. No harm, as it’s a tile floor and any mess could be cleaned up. Hopefully it would feel less threatened in the morning.

By morning it had gone. At around 4am there was an almighty CRASH. Kitty had climbed onto the bathroom door surround and managed to hoik out the entire extractor fan unit and fled through the hole. The cats here may look frail, but they seem to come with engineering qualifications.

Getting better – and put in charge

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Nothing really much to report other than my stomach now seems to be working OK. I’ve submitted a lesson plan to Blue Dragon based on a 3-week project for the kids and the feedback is positive so I now need to start on individual lessons for translation into Vietnamese. Something to do in New Zealand when I’m not chucking myself out of planes and things.

For a short period this evening, I was in charge of the hostel. They were short-staffed and the girl on duty had to go and pick up a new tenant from the station. I stepped into the breach in return for which I was told I could drink as much beer as I wanted. They knew I had been ill and couldn’t drink! However, it seems the offer’s extended until I leave – very generous 🙂

Today I have managed a large chicken baguette (which took about 3 hours) and a large plate of potato wedges. The pizza place nearby does apple crumble so I’m going to work my way up to that, hopefully before I ship out on Saturday.