Part IV - Auckland & Home

Check in at Qantas was very smooth. There was no one in line at the business class position. I went to the Qantas Club. There were no computers. I ate a little breakfast and watched the TV news until flight time. It turned out this was the very first QF33 flight that Air Canada had operated for Qantas. The flight attendant told me this was the first time the crew had been to Auckland. The plane was a 767. The business class cabin was configured 1-2-2. I had the single seat 3A. It had a nice long footrest that completely supported my legs. They called the meal that was served, brunch. To me it was just a regular lunch. They showed the movie “Legally Blond”. The movie was terminated before it ended because of landing preparations. Again my bag was one of the first off. I found an ATM and got my New Zealand cash.

I had also emailed the Auckland Sheraton for an airport shuttle recommendation. They wrote and told me the cost but did not give me a name. I just got in the first shuttle I saw. I had to wait in the shuttle for ~15 minutes but I was the first one dropped off at the Sheraton. All was in order with my reservation and I was quickly checked in. I was given a coupon for a free drink because I was SPG Gold. The room was really a letdown after the two beautiful Westins. The room was small, but the furnishings were fairly new. Everything was clean and in working order. The hotel has been refurbished, but it is a fairly old hotel. The ceilings are low. I did not like the color scheme of my room. The walls were gray and the carpet had a big gray leaf pattern. The bedspread fabric did not coordinate at all with the rest of the furnishings. Most Sheratons that have been renovated are very tastefully decorated, but Auckland just didn’t have esthetic appeal

The Sheraton provides a courtesy shuttle to downtown area of Auckland. It runs once an hour. There is also a Link Bus that stops near the Sheraton that runs in a loop through the central areas of Auckland. Sunday I took an explorer bus of Auckland and got a general idea of the city’s attractions. I went up in the Sky Tower. I don’t like heights. I attempted to go up in the AMP Tower in Sydney but turned around and left before buying my ticket. Melbourne has the Rialto Building which is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. I didn’t go near it. Getting back to the Sky Tower in Auckland. I arrived there very early in the morning. There were no security measures that I could see. No xray machines like at the Empire State Building. I told the attendant that I was scared to go up in the elevator by myself. He told me he wound punch the button for me. I was on my way. The elevator had a glass front and there was a good view as I went up. I walked around the viewing areas. There were glass or Plexiglas panels in the floor in parts of the observation deck floor. You could look straight down to the street below. I avoided stepping on these panels. I put the 70-300mm lens on my camera and took quite a few pictures.

I took a day trip to the Bay of Islands which is north of Auckland. Unfortunately it rained that day. I saw very unusual vegetation on the bus trip to the Bay of Islands. There were large fern trees. The main attraction in the Bay of Islands is to take the boat ride through the Hole in the Rock. The waters were very choppy and my boat was not able to go through the Hole in the Rock, but I did get a very good view. A lot of people on the boat got sick from the rough water. Fortunately I do not get seasick. Heights are my problem.

While I was at the Sheraton the hotel got a brand new Mercedes van to replace their old courtesy van. They were like a bunch of kids with a new toy. Tuesday afternoon I was one of the first to ride in the new van. Wednesday I went back downtown in the new van and took a ferry boat to Devenport which in a historic northern suburb of Auckland. I got a walking map from tourist information center. When I returned to Auckland I was picked up by the Sheraton van. We got to the American Express Americas Cup Village and the driver said a red light had come on and the dash board felt very hot. There was a man in the van who had a cell phone he offered the driver to call the hotel after he determined that the van had lost all off its coolant. Someone at the hotel told the driver to put some water in it and get back to the hotel. The other passenger said this was not a good idea, and they might void the warranty if they did that. The other guest offered to call the hotel again and talk to them. At this point I decided to walk back to where I could catch the Link Bus. I had intended to do this later in the day anyway. It took over an hour for me to get back to the Sheraton, and I only covered half of the Link Bus’s loop. I did see a lot more of Auckland. When I got back to the hotel, the driver was standing in front of the hotel. I asked him how he got back, and he said he took a taxi. He said he left the van where I had last seen it.

The next morning the van was back in front of the hotel. The doorman said the dealer had added an air conditioning unit to the van. In the process they had taken off the radiator hose. When they put the hose back on they failed to tighten the clamp and the hose came lose. I was relieved that the van had suffered no serious harm.

Finally I left Auckland on Oct. 25. The concierge arranged for a shuttle that was twenty minutes late. It cost 5 $NZ more than I was told. New Zealand charge a 22 $NZ departure tax on all people flying out of the country. I ended up with only $20. The Qantas agent told me that at a bank upstairs I could pay part of the tax in cash and charge the rest to a credit card. $2 was charged to my Amex card which converted to $0.86 US.

The Qantas Club in Auckland was well hidden. I had to stop and ask directions 3 times before I found it. I was directed to a first class lounge to the side of the club. There was only one computer in the first class lounge and it was in use. I went back out and asked the attendant if there was some place else where I could use a computer. She said she didn’t think anyone would mind if I went in the main club. I did this and then went back to the first class lounge until flight time.

My carryon was xrayed a second time at the gate area for QF25. When it was close to boarding time, a crew of seven uniformed men and women with latex gloves boarded the plane. They finally emerged and boarding started. Only five of the fourteen first class seats were occupied. It felt lonely in there. The flight was supposed to leave at 6:30 PM but was a little late because of a delay due to filing paperwork.

I enjoyed my dinner much more on this flight than on the LAX-SYD flight. Again, I didn’t sleep very well. There was quite a bit of turbulance. I don’t even remember if we landed on time. They didn’t open the front door on the 747. I had to walk through the business class cabin and exit behind the business class passengers. It was a very long walk at LAX to the immigration and customs area. The lines were relatively short. My bag with the first class tag came out after quite a few business class bags with the priority tags.

When I went outside, I had a little trouble finding the hotel shuttle loading area. I called the Sheraton Gateway and was told to look for the red signs. I found the red signs and the first hotel shuttle I saw was the Sheraton’s. This time I was given a room on the 12th floor of the hotel. Since I had last checked into this hotel some changes had taken place. The desk clerk told me a new procedure was started a few days earlier and they were now checking photo ID’s. I showed him my Texas drivers license. Then he told me I would need to insert my key card in the elevator to go to my floor. I thought I was being given a nice upgrade. I latter found out that now you had to use your key card to go to any guest floor. I think this is a very good security measure. I hope all hotels implement this practice. Even if there were no terrorist threat it should reduce crime by keeping people who are not registered or employed in the hotel from accessing the guest floors..

As soon as I got in my room, I took a shower and washed my hair. Then I ate lunch. I napped and watched CNN for the rest of the day. It was good to see the USA version of CNN again. CNN World has a different slant on the news.

The next day I went to terminal 4 for my LAX-DFW flight. Three first class passengers were randomly selected for the hand inspection of their carryons when we were in the boarding process. I had a shrimp salad for lunch on the flight. Again I was shocked by the plastic flatware. Qantas had metal flatware on all of the flights that I took. The American Eagle flight back to BPT was only half full. It arrived at BPT 15 minutes ahead of schedule. While I was away, jet ways that swing out to the planes were installed at BPT. They are really much nicer than the ones on the American Eagle satellite terminal at DFW. The Southeast Texas Regional Airport is really uptown now.