Tuesday 10th January 2023
There’s not much to write about today, as most of the day is spent travelling (despite the flight only being 3hrs). Our flight leaves at 12.10pm, so we need to leave the hotel around 9am to head for the airport. Its surprisingly quick clearing security, so we set off in search of breakfast. There aren’t many good options at Sydney Airport so we settle for a McDonalds McMuffin and has brown. Yeah, I know it’s not the best choice but it’s satisfying for an occasional treat.
Our plane ends up taking off an hour late. I’m not sure exactly why, we just sit on the tarmac for ages and they apologise for the late running and say it’s because they’re waiting for “documents” to allow them to fly. I’m slightly concerned we’ll end being told to disembark, but fortunately it’s just an hour delay.
We’re flying AirAsia but even so I’m surprised that the inflight menu is identical to that of our Bali to Perth AirAsia flight (Asian food, all priced in Malaysian Ringgits, and very cheap for airline food). If you pay in cash, your change will be given in Ringgits. Pete and I only had breakfast a couple of hours ago though, so aren’t hungry and don’t bother with any of the food options (Pete wanted a pineapple juice but apparently they’d run out of all juices!)
We landed an hour late, which (due to the 2hr time difference) was now around 6pm. When we were in the air, they’d announced we needed to fill in passenger arrival cards in the arrivals hall of the airport. Apparently that’s now changed and we need to fill these in before we disembark the plane. There’s another wait while we wait for the forms to be delivered to the plane, then handed out to everyone, and finally filled in. Eventually we leave the plane. The airport, however, is not much better. There’s a huge queue to go through customs. Eventually we get through, exit the airport, and get an Uber to the Auckland Airport Motel where we’re staying the night. The room is quite basic, but it’s a convenient location as we’ll be picking up a car from nearby tomorrow morning.
After checking in and dropping off our bags we go to the nearby Sage by Zabr’one for dinner. We’re greeted by a very enthusiastic, friendly old English chap. He’s lived in New Zealand for about 50 years but the English accent combined with the rain outside make us feel right at home! The menu is mainly curry based, so we order a starter of calamari to share then follow it with a butter chicken and lamb curry.
The food was pretty decent and we left feeling tired but satisfyingly full, and looking forward to our first full day in New Zealand tomorrow.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 