I de-planed and made my way to Customs and Immigration. There were a wide variety of shopping opportunities available to arriving passengers before they reached Customs. I recall seeing a sign offering expedited Immigration processing to those passengers who had purchased duty-free items over a certain dollar amount, but I could be wrong. Anyway, as I entered the line an airport employee handed me a magazine containing tourist information about New Zealand. I had ample time to browse nearly the entire magazine as I waited for about 45 minutes in the immigration line. Inside the magazine I found a coupon for a discounted roundtrip ticket on the airbus (NZ$11 O/W or NZ$18 R/T) shuttle into town. These rates were a savings of a few dollars over the non-discounted price.

When I finally made it to one of the immigration counters an immigration officer greeted me asked to see my passport, arrival card, plane tickets, and hotel reservation documents. He spent a good amount of time thumbing through my passport looking at the various immigration stamps while asking me the nature of my visit and what I planned to do while in New Zealand. He seemed suspicious that I didn’t have a detailed itinerary in mind and questioned me at length about the several Amsterdam immigration stamps in my passport. I told him I used to be a frequent flier with Northwest Airlines and KLM and that Amsterdam was a major hub in Europe for these airlines. I also told him that since I have friends in Amsterdam I would often visit them when transiting through Schiphol Airport. The immigration officer seemed satisfied with that answer, wrote the number “07” in red on my arrival card, returned my travel documents, and sent me on my way. Since I had no bags to retrieve I continued directly to Customs. When I gave my arrival card to the Customs Officer he directed me to another line to the right of the exit. As I got in line with about ten other people I realized I had been sent to the secondary screening area which consisted of several rows of metal tables. There were no partitions offering any privacy to the passenger as they sat in plastic patio chairs and watched, along with everyone standing in line, the Customs Officer remove every item from their bag and lay the items on the metal tables for examination while simultaneously interrogating them. Welcome to New Zealand! For the next 90 minutes I patiently waited in line. Some of the passengers were in possession of three or more large suitcases. The Customs Officers seemed to work at a snails pace, removing items from suitcases, then taking some of the items over to a machine for some type of analysis. When they completed their search, the Customs Officer would pile the passenger’s belongings back into the bag or just stand there and watch and wait for the passenger to re-pack their belongings on their own. When my turn arrived I was directed to a female Customs Officer who asked for my passport and arrival card. I asked her why I had been selected for the secondary screening. She replied the Immigration Officer had suspicions about my identity. After confirming over her radio that a criminal history check had been completed on me and that I was not a wanted person, she told me she would not need to search my bags and escorted me to an x-ray machine (presumably to check for the presence of prohibited agricultural products) where I had to submit my bag for x-ray. What a great start to my first visit to New Zealand!

I exited the arrivals area and walked around looking for the Airbus stop which I eventually found. It is located directly outside the arrivals area door to the left of the Customs Hall exit. There is a booth to the right of the bus stop where you can purchase tickets for the Airbus. I didn’t see any signs directing me to the booth to purchase a ticket so I just waited for the bus to arrive. As I, and 40 other people, elbowed our way onto the bus the driver asked for our tickets. He told me I should have purchased a ticket at the booth but said I could purchase a ticket if I had cash. I presented the coupon I found in the tourist magazine and paid the driver NZ$18 for a roundtrip ticket. The trip into town took about thirty minutes. The bus makes stops at designated locations and hotels throughout downtown and along the road to and from downtown. After about an hour the bus arrived at the Crown Plaza Hotel where I had booked a room.

The Crown Plaza is located inside a large building that houses offices on the upper levels and shops and restaurants on the sub-street levels. I made my way through the spacious lobby to the front desk where the clerk checked me in and assigned me a room on the 20th floor. The spotlessly clean room was spacious and was furnished with contemporary décor and offered a nice view of Queen Street and beyond. I found two terry cloth robes and extra pillows (with different firmness) in the closet along with an iron and ironing board. The room also had a mini bar with the standard snacks at inflated prices. The brightly lit bathroom was also spacious with marble tiled floors and counters and a tub separate from the marble tiled shower. For US$95 per night I think I got a great deal. The hotel is centrally located at Albert and Victoria Streets in downtown, just one block from SkyTower, one block from the Village Force Entertainment Center (movies, IMAX theater, restaurants, and bars), one block from Queen Street (the main shopping area), and a 15 minute walk to the ferry terminal. The concierge was very helpful in providing directions, maps, transportation information, and suggestions on places to see and things to do.

The skies were clear the day I arrived so I took the opportunity to visit the SkyTower. As SkiAdcock mentioned in her report it is worth the few extra dollars to buy the tower admission with access to the upper tower viewing level. There are less people on the upper level and some better unobstructed views. One of the cool things about the tower was in certain parts of the lower viewing level there was clear glass flooring that you could stand on and look down at the street. Another cool thing was you could watch the descent of the people doing the cable jump from the upper tower. Occasionally, the electronic reader board would flash "Jumper Having Stage Fright". The views from the tower were magnificent on this nearly cloudless day and gave me a chance to orient myself to the city and its surroundings. I felt it was worth the NZ$18 I paid for admission.

I walked through the America’s Cup Village but didn’t find much to see or do there. I also walked through the Viaduct Basin where the Auckland Visitor Information Center is located (there is also a tourist center in the lobby of the SkyTower complex). There are shops, restaurants, bars, and markets but nothing much else to see, at least in my opinion. I’m sure this area is more vibrant during the America’s Cup challenge. That evening I wanted something light for dinner. I found a great Asian food court in the basement level of one of the indoor malls on Queen Street between Wellesley and Victoria Streets on the Crown Plaza Hotel side of the street. There isn’t much signage so you’ll miss the entrance if you don’t watch closely. There are several food vendors in the food court offering different types of Asian cuisine. It’s self serve which makes the food prices very reasonable. I ate there twice and both times had quality, good tasting meals for less than NZ$12.