Day 1 - Auckland

Tuesday 20 July, 1am (some timezone somewhere)
 
Now flying from Perth to Auckland aboard Air NZ flight NZ176 (departs 19:30, arrives 05:50). This is a 6hr 20min flight with a 4 hour timezone jump, and feels every bit of it. Various bits of me are already feeling dreadful. We are watching Laws of Attraction and Jersey Girl. I can't say I'd watch either if I had the choice, but they're not the worst I've seen on a trip (I think "Race the Sun" starring Corey Affleck, Ben's younger brother, on a bus from Bunbury to Perth in 1998 would be it - his acting was the saving grace, but the plot sucked!)
 
A few notes about the last few days. On Sunday, Dad's car broke down chronically, which hampered things considerably. I basically had several things to take care of - buying a shaver (mine broke ages ago), banking a heap of money so I'd have accessible money on my trip, hassling Global Plus in Fitzgerald Street about my Belgrade-Istanbul ticket, renewing my YHA/HI membership and getting the vouchers for the Singapore Stopover package. I did all except the last in 45 minutes, and entirely on foot. I'm glad it was a beautiful fine day and I was fit. :P
 
Dad got a loan car at the last minute (quite a nice one too) so we managed to get to the airport, albeit somewhat later than expected - only 1hr 15min before the plane left! Thankfully, everything was very routine - I was an Australian citizen going to New Zealand and had nothing to declare, and everyone was very friendly at the three or so desks I had to go through. I'm glad that I don't buy duty free in airports though. The flat trapezoid box of Lindt chocolates you can buy in any Target or Kmart store for $2.99 cost $5.30 tax free, the alcohol looked expensive, and I don't see anyone paying $125 for a heap of chocolate macadamia nuts, even if a "free" $30 cabin bag is included in the deal.
 
The Air NZ plane was a little old/dilapidated, but still quite comfortable. I got a window seat and have seen an awesome skyline of Perth, a view over Hobart as we went over that, and some awesome stars on a clear sky. According to the information displayed on the monitors between the movies, we maintained an average altitude of 11,300m, the avg temperature outside was -53 deg C, and avg speed was 925 km/h. At takeoff, the speed was 327km/h.
 
I tried to sleep on the plane, but not very successfully - I did get some sleep but I hope I get much more tonight to make up for it.
 
9:53am, NZST (5:53am Perth time)
 
I've arrived safely in Auckland - the adventure has well and truly started. Arrived on time at 5:50am - it was pitch black and 5C. After ages of going through one counter after another, I got my luggage almost immediately, then got the bus outside (NZ$22 return).
 
Side note - New Zealand has really nice looking currency - if I get time and a suitable range of notes I'll try to get a picture of it. They have $1 and $2 coins like Australia do, but the $2 is about the size of our 20c coin, and they're made out of a lighter material.
 
The bus took us up a pretty non-interesting motorway, then through the inner southern suburbs into the city centre, and then all around it. Auckland feels like an Australian city, yet just isn't for reasons that are hard to pin down. The roads look very similar, although some signs are different. Thing that hit me immediately is that Auckland is a lot more cosmopolitan than other cities that I've been to - most notably, I notice Maori in just about every service occupation here, and "sushi and sake" cafes everywhere. Fuel is more expensive (it is weird seeing 121.5 on a fuel station, but keep in mind to divide by 1.1 for the currency conversion). As for getting around, the city centre seems REALLY busy, and a disproportionate amount of it is built on completely unlikely hills.
 
My accommodation, Aspen Lodge ($50 a night inc breakfast and shared facilities) is actually really nice. My stay in NZ definitely isn't going to be wanting in the comfort department :P
 
This city is too hard to navigate without a street directory, so I've acquired one. Hopefully getting lost every time I leave Queen Street (the main drag in Auckland) won't be too hard.
 
I'll update again in a few days.