18 Hours in Auckland

We arrived at the Langham at just after midnight. The check in staff were very friendly and processed us quickly. I wasn’t too tired, as it was only 10pm Sydney time.

I took the lift up to my room and then grabbed a couple of photos. The room was quite dated, but clean and comfortable. The room was a good size with a large bed and desk. It was a bit of a shame that I’d only get to spend less than 8 hours there.


My Room at the Langham


The Bathroom

We had agreed to meet up in reception at 8, so it was time for me to get some rest. This would really be the story of this trip, not enough sleep!

I met my colleagues in reception and we headed out to a local café, which actually turned out to be next to the office. I wasn’t sure when we’d get to eat again, so I went for a full on dish of eggs Benedict which was delicious. Of course, the service was the expected Kiwi standard, very friendly and chatty.

The office was literally next door, and we spent the next 8 hours there running through our presentation, making changes as required.

The office had good views of the city and we were even able to see the Skytower.


Auckland’s Skytower

So, at 4.45pm we packed everything up and made our way downstairs where a taxi was waiting for us. What a shame that I didn’t get to spend any more time in Auckland. Next time.


Auckland to Palmerston North on Air New Zealand

The taxi ride to the airport was reasonably quick, given the time of day. I ended up in the front seat and so had the duty of talking to the driver, who was very friendly, but insistent on talking for the entire journey. Not good when I was so tired and jet lagged (don’t worry, I wasn’t rude though).

We arrived at the domestic terminal at 17.15, 55 minutes before our flight was due to board, which was plenty of time to be honest. We were booked onto the 18.25 flight, which is one of nine daily ANZ departures from Auckland to Palmerston North.


Domestic Terminal Drop Off

Air New Zealand, like a number of other carriers, including Qantas, have introduced self-check-in facilities. This is pretty straight forward, and actually a bit easier than with Qantas. The funky design of the check in area makes it easier to work out what you have to do.

First, you go up to one of the many kiosks and enter your booking reference. Here you can select your seat and then tell the machine that you want to check in a bag too. It then prints out your boarding pass and baggage label, which you attach to your bag yourself. Once done, you simply put the bag onto the conveyer, no additional steps. There are friendly staff dotted around and one of them even offered to put my colleague’s bag on the belt for her.


Self Check In


Heading Towards the Pub

At this point I took out my phone to take a few photos of the check in area. I thought that it would just be easier to explain to my colleagues exactly what I was doing, rather than face the obvious questions, especially when I whipped out my proper camera on the tarmac later on!

I got the impression that they thought it was a bit weird to be taking photos and writing a report, but didn’t really say much.

There didn’t appear to be any gates to speak of, so we walked to the bar to grab a quick drink before boarding. As we sat down there was a rather strange announcement over the public address system: “would the owner of the brown paper bag left at check in please return to collect it”. Haha, really? Someone left their alcohol at check-in? Only in New Zealand would they do this. In all other countries they’d have probably called in in the bomb squad by now.


Mmm, yummy cider

As we sat there, enjoying our drinks, a load of police appeared from through the arrivals area and then none other than John Key, New Zealand’s Prime Minister waltzed through with the absolute minimum of fuss. Can you think of another country where the top minister would just stroll through the airport after arriving from a flight with such little fuss? Again, it’s just another great example of how relaxed New Zealand is.

We were due to board at 18.10 so at 18.05 we headed down to the ‘boarding’ area to find that they weren’t accepting boarding passes just yet. Now here’s the funny thing about domestic air travel in New Zealand. There is no security. Seriously. There are no metal detectors, no x-ray scanners, no pat downs, and no queues. You just scan your boarding pass and then walk to the aircraft.

I scanned my BP and then walked outside, to the apron, which had a covered walkway with open doorways with gate numbers on them. It was rather loud outside, with lots of propeller aircraft moving around. If you were to get lost you might end up getting chewed up by one of them.

Flight: NZ5077
Carrier: Air New Zealand
Aircraft: Aerospatiale ATR72-500 - ZK-MCX
Scheduled Departure time: 18.25
Duration: 1h 05m
Scheduled Arrival time: 19.30
Class: Economy
Seat: 7A (seat plan)

I walked out onto the tarmac and was able to get a great view of the aircraft that we were about to board. This was to be my first flight on a turbo-prop and my first flight with Air New Zealand.

The aircraft itself is quite odd. For a start, it’s very low to the ground, the wheels barely extend out of the fuselage. Also, passengers board at the rear, rather than the front. There is no baggage hold as such either; bags are loaded at the front of the aircraft, between the cockpit and the passenger cabin.

Interestingly, the ATR-72 is actually not the smallest aircraft that ANZ operate. That title goes to the 19 seat Beechcraft 1900D which is so small it has a 1-1 configuration in the cabin.


Our ATR-72 to PMR


Cockpit and baggage compartment


Boarding


A few of the port engine


The tail, as I boarded

I made my way on to the aircraft, up the tiny stairs, and was greeted by one of the two friendly crew members who would be serving in the cabin today.

I made my way forward to my seat, 7A which was level was just behind the propeller.

My first impression of the cabin was that it was actually a lot bigger than I thought it would be! The cabin was laid out in a 2-2 configuration and the seats looked quite comfortable and roomy.

I went to store my bag in the overheard locker and struggled to get it to fit. As you’d expect, the lockers were pretty small. I sat down and found that the leg room wasn’t too bad and I had a view of the propeller from the window.


Boarding


My seat, 7A


Looking back


Leg room


View out of the window

I noticed that the propeller was tied up with flags, which was a little odd. I’m assuming that a simple bit of bunting wouldn’t stop the engines starting if someone wanted them to.

At 18.23, a couple of minutes before our scheduled departure time, the engines were started (the flags were removed). The crew proceeded to perform a very simple safety demonstration, which basically just pointed out where the exits where. One of the crew members then took position at the front of the aircraft, sitting on a seat which seemed to pop out of a nearby cupboard. Rather novel.

We were told to turn off our phones and any devices that could send or receive “tixt” messages too (sorry ).

We had a very fast and short taxi and without any notice we just started our roll down the runway. The take-off was quick, very loud and surprisingly powerful. This thing was a bit of a rocket! We were soon climbing away from Auckland and on our way to PMR.

The seat belt sign was turned off after a few minutes and the crew announced that they would be serving tea and coffee shortly. I was actually most surprised that anything would be served at all.


Looking forward, post take-off

The crew started by serving water, which was then followed by tea, and then coffee. Cups were handed out and then the tea and/or coffee was poured with the cup on a tray and then collected by each passenger. The crew serving at the front of the cabin seemed very smiley and friendly.

I declined the tea and coffee and just stuck with the water. About 20 minutes after take-off, the First Officer announced that we had reached our cruising altitude of 18,000 feet and had about 150 nautical miles to run. He described which towns we were currently flying over and then told us that were expecting to arrive on time at 19.30. It was a bit of a weird feeling, to be flying at 18,000 feet. It’s as though we were a little vulnerable, being so low, but of course, that wasn’t the case.

After the tea and coffee came a surprise. A big bowl of fudge was brought around by the crew. These were really great!