Kia Ora Aoteara (Hello New Zealand)

With the kid duties successfully completed it was time we crossed the ditch to the 'youngest country on earth' - New Zealand.  Roughly the size of the UK but with only 10% of it's population!

Once in the air we turned left on the east coast at Bundeena, our spot for a picnic only a week earlier. A great view of the Hacking River inlet, still stocked with day-trip boating types. As you can guess it

was a clear night for flying and Dave had the seat at the window. After 3 great months in Oz it was onwards for us around the globe to Auckland, 2161km from Sydney and yet another timezone.

Another country brings another odd start and our arrival in NZ didn't fail on the oddness front. No passport lossage this time, oh no, but they were kind of in the mix!

On arriving at NZ immigration the not so smiley operative behind the desk seemed to be hell bent in making our entry into the country as awkward as possible. Not only were our trusty passports required this operative wanted a blow by blow itinerary of why we had turned up in NZ and what we were planning to do whilst we were here. We rattled off a few buzz words of key destinations with a view to keeping things
simple but oh no this Shelia wanted way more. In her words 'it was her given right as an officer of customs to ask such questions to travellers entering the country'.

With this said a reply went back over the desk of 'seeing we are travellers we plan to 'travel' throughout the whole country', you know to see all your best bits on offer. You'd think in us ticking the temporary visitor 'travellers' box on the obligatory customs entry forms, which for sometime now were sat firmly in the hired help operatives little palms, oh the bundle of joy she was. But alas no it didn't so it was out with the trusty but so what used looking homemade 'rough guide' to highlight our plans more indepthly. Once viewed and
still not seeming suitably convinced our visa applications were stamped cancelled and we were directed off to 'window 4' ! A clear case of computer says no! NEXT.....

Here the process seemed to hit a more clued up type as within a series of more softly delivered questions lasting all of a minute, tops, we were wished Kia Ora and we were through. Hooray. Operative on desk 4
we salute you.

Suitably rattled and fairly whacked, it was around 2am now, we duly boarded the wrong bus which completed a tour of two airport hotels neither of which we were staying at as we'd booked a place in the guts of town. So without another thought we stayed on the bus, the wrong, free bus thankfully, back to the airport to catch the correct bus that would take us into town. On alighting the bus we both thanked drive
for the tour of the surrounding area and toddled off back into the bus stop that we originally started from some 20 mins earlier. It's now around 2:30ish.

At last we were on the correct bus which seemed to have a Frank Spencer figure at the wheel who only seemed happy to stop at each bus stop if you rang the bell prior to arriving at the bus stop. Sure
thing that's how buses work but how are tourists fresh out the airport going to know which pesky stops are which having just stepped off the plane from many far flung destinations. The whole bus was in hysterics
as Frank would always stop at every stop regardless if anyone had rung the bell or not! We would all just sit there with the doors wide open no one moving a muscle.

If all this wasn't funny enough on checking into our new digs our card was refused at the desk, thankfully all our time spent hanging around bus stops someone had a spare thought to withdraw some kiwi dollars.
You beauty as the clock radio displays a zero three forty, goodnight irene!