Jon and I took Totty to the kennels and usually the man takes her straight through but it was the lady and she was chatting to me and so Totty sat at my feet and did not want to move and the lady had to carry her off and I felt awful.
We set off to Auckland about 10.30 and stopped for coffee in Katikati. We arrived at the airport after a quiet drive and checked in and then went through immigration and security. Jon bought six bottles of red wine at $2 a bottle as they were clearing it. It is a good system as you collect your duty free on the way back so don't have to carry it.
We had a Burger King at the airport as there wasn't much choice. We boarded and took off on time and it was a very good flight apart from the food which was awful. S & S chicken and noodles which were all stuck together and the bread roll was frozen, just as well we weren't hungry. They came round with ice creams and Jon and Heather said that was the best part of the meal but I didn't have one. We landed at 5,00 Oz time and it was already dark so Heather had a good view of the harbour at night. It doesn't get dark so early in NZ.
Immigration and security are very, very strict in Oz and they ask all sorts of questions like "Do you have any bee keeping equipment with you?" Can you believe it!!!! We had to pass through body temperature equipment due to the swine flu problem and one man had written on his health form that he had a cough and they made him wear a mask and took him off for swabs.
It was raining when we arrived so we got a taxi to our apartments which were right in the centre near Darling Harbour and Chinatown. The traffic was amazing, just like London and at one point the driver took a right turn right across two cars at some lights, we were glad to get to our apartments. We checked in and Jon broke the bad news to me that we were on the 43rd floor. I nearly died. Up we went in the lift with ears popping more than on the plane. The apartment was lovely with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen and lounge/dinner and a lovely kitchen with dishwasher. It also had a laundry area in the hall, everything you need and very clean and modern but I couldn't go near the window and was very glad that the patio door was locked and you were not allowed out there or Jon and Heather would have had to check it out and I would have felt worse than I did. Once we closed the curtains I was fine.
We got ready and went out to look for a place to eat and found an Italian. There were so many Chinese people in the area and lots of Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean restaurants. I had a club sandwich which was enormous and Jon had some lovely steak while Heather went for the safe option of spaghetti.
We were quite tired by this time as there is a two hour time difference and so we went back for coffee and watched TV which is every bit as bad as NZ.
One big thing though the apartment had heating and it was so nice to be warm again.
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