I tried out a new (to me) NZ lounge at the weekend, in the bustling metropolis of
New Plymouth. This was my first experience of a 'regional' Koru lounge and I have to say I was quite impressed. It's not exactly large (seating for 30) but it felt spacious, with well-spaced comfy chairs, lots of natural light, big plate glass windows looking out over the apron etc. Besides us there was only 1 other pax in the lounge - ours was the only flight departing at that time, a 2/3 full mid-afternoon weekend departure, so probably mostly leisure pax. Drinks choices included jugs of juices, a couple of different wines and 2 or 3 beers - I can't actually remember if there were any spirits, but I think not. Food options were a plate of sandwiches under cling film, pre-packaged crackers and a range of Kapiti cheeses, and some pre-packaged Arnotts biscuits. Only downside was that the check-in agent didn't mention the lounge to me despite seeing my *G card, and when I asked for the security code (it is an un-staffed lounge, accessible via a code that changes each day) he rather reluctantly gave me a card with today's code written on it. At least he didn't object when I took a guest in with me (which in the regional lounges one is technically not allowed to do).
I also visited the
Wellington domestic Koru Club (a.k.a. my second home) several times during the course of my slightly silly itinerary over the last few days (SYD-WLG-BHE-WLG-NPL-WLG-SYD). I'm happy to report that despite the recent 'roof tearing off' incident in the August storms, this lounge is back to its excellent self. The breakfast spread was fairly impressive, and the number of beers on offer has grown to a record
fourteen!
The international lounges in SYD and WLG were same as always - SYD is excellent (some tasty new additions to the food options, such as Moroccan spice-rubbed chicken) and WLG is a bit limited. One good thing in WLG is that they had the piccolo sized bottles of Lindauer, which makes more sense - the large bottles they have in SYD are often flat, despite those caps they put on the bottles to keep the bubbles in.
As for the lounge in BHE...
