NZ North Island
SYD to AKL on Boeing 737-800
Another short Qantas Flight after waiting in the reasonably nice Amex lounge in SYD with a nice view of the tarmac.
[photo from Amex lounge]
The lounge was pretty full but we managed to grab a window seat. There was a pretty spartan selection of food and drinks available, but probably what you’d expect for a lounge this size. The toilets were bizarre though. They had electrically operated doors that were frosted glass. You could definitely see the outline of people using the facilities. The lounge had the easily recognisable plant wall that seems to be in all the Amex lounges.
We had a frustrating issue with Qantas on this flight. The night before we OLCI'd and selected exit row seats when there was a technical error. Upon calling the service centre (after 40 minutes in a queue) we were told that something had gone wrong and we’d been assigned two seats but not in the exit row. We were told that exit row seats were still available, but we couldn’t change our seat selection because we were within 24 hours of the flight(!). But not to worry, we could do it at the airport in the morning. Of course, by the time we got to the airport, all the exit row seats had gone so I had to fold myself in to a normal seat.
I passed on the meal after the last Qantas experience.
We were planning on driving a lot in New Zealand so had pre booked a hire car with Hertz. Ford Falcom XR6. We picked this up from Auckland airport (no upgrade) and there was a little confusion. first i confirmed that I was dropping the car off at a different location (Queenstown), which was fine. I then enquired about the Ferry. I’d read online that the hire car companies will penalise you for taking a hire car on the Interislander Ferry. So when I queried this I was told that I should just drop the car off at Wellington Ferry terminal and pick up a replacement at Picton, and that all this was arranged. Fine. He handed us the keys and off we went. Well, not before the guy came running after us telling us he’d given us the wrong keys (this is after he got the bay number of the car wrong). This should have been a warning of what was to come.
The next week was spent in the Hawke’s Bay and Lake Taupo areas. We were predominantly there for a wedding which took place at the Black Barn Vineyard. Lovely setting. As family of the groom, we were staying in the Black Barn Vineyard buildings, which were spectacular.
[photos of black barn]
After a few days we headed down to Lake Taupo and a stay in a lake front hotel, The Millennium Hotel, with very nice views. Pretty basic hotel and a little dated (sorry, only got photos of the view) but fine for a night.
[photo of Taupo view]
A couple of days later and we’re off to the South Island.We drop the car off at Wellington Ferry terminal, drop the keys in the box and take the sat nav unit with us. There were no instructions for Hertz customers at Wellington terminal, just for Avis and the counters were closed.