I recently had my first flights on NZ as well, and my experiences are similar to the OP except for the Premium check-in at AKL (mine went off without a hitch and I was out of there in no more than three minutes—even though they had to interline my bag on a non-conjunctive ticket).

Except for the domestic sectors, I flew in C, and found the trans-tasman service level to be excellent.

I have nothing but good things to say about the NZ 777. Quite simply, that flight was just too short for me!

All in all, I was also positively impressed ^^