Day Eleven:

I woke up at around 8:30AM, took a shower, packed up, and at 10:20AM we were downstairs for check-out. While our flight was only at 4PM, we really wanted to get away from the hotel, and I had not checked FT or my email for a few days, not to mention we were hungry, so the lounge can't be beat. We had arranged for a shuttle at 11AM but there happened to be one at 10:30AM, so we took that one instead, which was perfect!^

The driver was very friendly and we were sitting behind some Germans who had just completed a seven week tour of New Zealand and Australia, which would be too long for me! On the ride I reflected on our time in New Zealand, which I enjoyed greatly! I have to say that Auckland was a bit of a disappointment though compared to the other cities. We got to the airport at around 11:10AM and I took a couple of pictures of the outside.

At AKL:

The international terminal is much more impressive than the domestic terminal. We searched for the Business Class check-in, but had trouble finding it. As it turns out, they have a special check-in area for Star Golds, Koru Club Golds, and Business passengers. It was located behind a sliding door and reminded me a bit of the entrance to the First Class Terminal of Lufthansa in Frankfurt (YES, I said a little). There was only one check-in lady there, and it had several stations as well as some seating.

She checked us in immediately, although she wasn’t especially friendly. We paid our departure tax of $25NZD per person and sat down to fill out our departure form. Once it was done there is a dedicated immigration officer, which means no wait whatsoever! That took us to an escalator, which brought us up one level to the security area. Fortunately this also had a dedicated security line, which means no wait. At that point we were dumped into the international terminal, which had a ton of duty free shops. It was once again very nice!

We walked towards the Air New Zealand International Lounge (Yes, I learned that Air New Zealand domestic lounges are called Koru Lounges while the Air New Zealand lounges internationally are appropriately called the “Air New Zealand International Lounge.”). On our way up we passed the Emirates lounge on the first floor, and escalator upstairs dumped us in front of the Qantas club. Immediately across from the Qantas club was the Air New Zealand lounge, which once again had a very tropical entrance.

We were immediately admitted and entered a relatively deserted lounge at around 11:30AM. I immediately noticed that the food selection was not as good as that in the domestic lounges, much to my surprise. We grabbed a seat on a couch and got some food, since we were starving. After lunch I headed to their computers, which are located in the back of the lounge. On the way I noticed that they also had a special “no cell phone” area with comfortable seats, which I would later try, as well as three stations with Play Station Portables.

This time the computers were not in the open but were all like small offices with closing doors. After I checked my email and PM on FT, we headed over to the comfortable no cell phone area, which also had a good view of the tarmac and runway. Most of it was occupied by four men who thought they owned the area. My mom tried to take a nap in the comfortable seat and I used the wireless in the lounge and got a US adapter from the lounge attendant so that I could charge my laptop. No, I hate to be a party spoiler for those four guys, but one guy was playing cell phone ringtones and I gave him a pretty dirty look. He got the idea and took a call outside the area, fortunately. I had a cappuccino, which was fantastic as always at these NZ lounges.

We left the lounge at around 3PM since we got pretty bored and browsed the duty free selection, which was all ridiculously overpriced.

We took the escalator down to gates five and seven, and on the way heard several boarding announcements which I LOVED! When any flight has a final boarding call they go “Mr. XYZ, this is your final boarding call for flight ABC to Melbourne. Please proceed to gate seven immediately. The whole plane is waiting for YOU!” Whenever I heard this announcement I could hear several chuckles throughout the terminal! Gotta love how embarrassing that is, especially for the self-important idiots that wait in the lounge until the very last second when their gate is ten minutes away.

We got to gate five at around 3:15PM. Boarding started for Business Class at around 3:20PM, and we were the only passengers at the time, since everyone else was still in the lounge. We handed the agent our boarding passes and passports, and were own our way down the glass jetway.

Thursday, June 7
NZ105
AKL-SYD
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300
Seat: 3A
Scheduled Departure Time: 4:00PM
Actual Departure Time: 3:55PM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 5:30PM
Actual Arrival Time: 5:PM
Load: 100%C/60%Y

Upon entering we were immediately greeted by two FA’s, one of which immediately took my garment bag. As I walked into the cabin I quickly snapped some shots before anyone else was aboard, both of the business cabin as well as coach cabin, and also of our seats. As I reached my seat and stored our luggage in the overhead bin the FA quickly took my coat and less than a minute later offered us pre-departure beverages of either OJ, water, or champagne. I went with OJ and my mom went with water. NZ’s 767’s are in a 2-2-2 configuration with four rows, for a total of 24 seats.

I was quite impressed by the way the seats looked. They were a dark color and each had a nice striped green and white pillow. The pitch was quite generous for a regional configuration. The seat controls were located on the left side of the seat. As boarding continued and the Business Cabin began to fill up pre-departure service was in full swing. It seemed like there were at least four FA’s working the C cabin at the time, which was very impressive.

As boarding began to settle down a bit an FA came around with newspaper selections. Shortly thereafter dinner menus were distributed. Lastly, another FA came around explaining the individual television monitors, which are located in the seat consoles. They are not on demand, unfortunately, and are actually almost like UA’s international entertainment system. The movie selection for tonight’s flight was not all that interesting to me: Shooter (which was also being shown in the main cabin), Wild Hogs, The Number 23, The Factory Girl, [I]Platoon[/], and CSI: NY. I glanced out the window for a bit and noticed an Emirates A340-500, which is quite a majestic bird!

The door closed around five minutes early with a full C cabin, and the captain immediately came on the PA telling us about today’s flight. Due to very strong headwinds we would have a flight time of 3hr40min, which is ten minutes longer than our block time! We would be cruising at 38,000 feet and he said we should expect a bumpy ride due to so weather patterns. Shortly thereafter the Inflight Service Manager came on the PA introducing himself as well as the Inflight Service Coordinator (Wow, how many of these people do ya need on a regional flight like this? Anyone actually know that the difference in duties is between these two?) and asking us to pay attention to the safety video, which began shortly.

I always find it classy that they stand in the aisles on Air New Zealand during the safety video. Nothing annoys me more than flying with a US carrier and hearing: “Please put down all reading materials and cease all conversation for this very important safety video,” and then hearing the FA’s yapping so loudly in the galley that you can hardly here the video! This is very nice on NZ’s part!^

As the safety video finished we pushed back from gate five and held position for around five minutes. We were apparently waiting for a Qantas 747 to taxi to the gate next to us. As we began our taxi I immediately noticed two Emirates 777-300’s! This is basically an Emirates hub!

We quickly taxied to runway 23L and after a powerful takeoff were quickly airborne. We began a very steep climb and as we passed 10,000 feet the seatbelt sign went off and immediately turned back on. Announcements were made that the movies were now starting, and I went with Wild Hogs, which was a pretty decent movie for an airplane. They also announced the coach meal choices, which were lemon chicken or a steak pie, I believe. The FA started taking drink orders from the back of the cabin, and I went with a Diet Coke. In the meantime another FA came around with hot towels, which are fantastic with NZ!^ The Diet Coke was promptly delivered, along with a bag of Veggie Chips, which were actually delicious! A minute later tablecloths were distributed.

The dinner service began shortly thereafter, and the menu read as follows:

Dinner

Starter
Chicken and duck terrine with baby salad greens and gazpacho dressing

Main Course
Grilled New Zealand salmon steak with lemon barley and herb risotto, creamed white wine sauce and watercress
Roasted pork scotch with sage jus, apple and potato rosti and green beans
Antipasto platter of kassler ham, salami and chorizo sausage with marinated eggplant, mushroom, capsicum, Roma tomato and Mediterranean pesto

Dessert
Gourmet ice cream dessert of triple chocolate and gingernut ice cream

Cheese
Fine regional cheese and preserved fruit

Beverages
Freshly brewed or decaffeinated coffee, tea, herbal tea or hot chocolate

Beverages

Spirits
Glenfiddich Malt Whisky
Chivas Regal Blended Whisky
Jack Daniel’s Black Label
Gordons Gin
42 Below Vodka
Courvoisier VSOP
Captain Morgan Rum
Ron Bacardi Superior

Port and Liqueurs
Portuguese Port
Grand Mariner
Bailey Irish Cream

Beer
A selection of beer featuring Steinlager, Export Gold, Heineken and low alcohol lager

Soft Drinks
Mineral water, orange juice, apple juice, tomato juice, cola, lemonade, tonic water, ginger ale and a choice of diabetic drinks are available

The tray was shortly delivered, which consisted of the starter and some cheese, which I assume was the after dinner cheese. The FA also offered bread and water, both of which I accepted. The garlic bread was once again fantastic! The starter was also tasty, and it was quickly removed by the inflight service manager once I was finished. The three meal choices were then brought around on a tray, and I took the antipasto, since I was not particularly hungry and none of the other choices really appealed to me. My mom took the salmon, and much to my surprise the FA commented that this was the last one they had, even though they started meal service in the back. After service in our row I noticed that they skipped to row one… anyone know if that’s just random, or if they take meal choices by status? It surprised me a bit…

The main course was ok, but I did get some more garlic bread. After the main course the tray was cleared and dessert was brought out. Once again the ice cream was fantastic! A few minutes later coffee and tea were brought around, which I declined, but I did accept the delicious mints they offered!

The cabin lights were dimmed and the immigration forms were handed out, which I immediately completed. At this time my movie was wrapping up, and I spent most of the rest of the flight working on my trip report and watching airshow. Without reclining my seat I have to say that the footrest angle was very limited, so was not particularly comfortable. When reclining the seat the footrest reclines as well, which was more comfortable.

Throughout the rest of the flight drinks were constantly being refilled and the service was always with a smile, which was great! The cabin was extremely hot, and due to the lack of individual air nozzles, it actually became quite uncomfortable! We began our descent at around 5:30PM Sydney time, and the seatbelt sign was almost immediately turned on. It always surprises me that NZ turns the seatbelt sign off so quickly on climb, but always turns it on so quickly on descent. Also, as soon as they turn on the seatbelt sign, all electronics have to be switched off. I was surprised that it was already pitch dark outside, and already had been for an hour or so!

I quickly stored all of my luggage in the overhead again, and the coats were soon distributed, which is even earlier than they do at UA (if they remember to do it)! We flew right over downtown Sydney and I could see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, but we kept flying. We once again made a lower pass, I assume for a traffic pattern, and landed at around 5:55PM. We quite possibly had the slowest taxi I have ever experienced, which lasted for almost 15 minutes! Jeez, this airport is HUGE! We arrived at the gate around 6:10PM, and we were happy to be in Sydney!

At SYD:

We quickly began the immigration marathon, which was quite a walk! We got there at around 6:20PM, and were through by 6:23PM. The officer was very friendly, which was a welcomed change, so it was time to wait for luggage. It took around ten minutes to arrive, and by 6:35PM we were in the quarantine line waiting to put our bags through the belt, which seems to be standard for everyone. We were outside by 6:40PM and decided to take a shuttle to our hotel for $10AUD per person. We made it to the hotel by around 7:10PM, but that was not the end of the night.

Crowne Plaza Sydney Darling Harbour review I wrote from IC forum:
Day Eleven Continued:

After checking in we decided to walk towards the harbour, which we actually had quite some trouble finding. We must have walked at least 6km, which was great after the relatively lazy day. We eventually found the harbour and saw the Opera House, which was a surreal sight of sorts after seeing it in so many pictures! We sat down and had a drink there and headed back to the hotel, getting back my 10PM, which was really two hours later for us due to the time change. We would be getting up early the next morning to transfer to the Intercontinental.

Intercontinental Sydney review I wrote from IC forum:
Day Twelve:

We started the day with a wonderful breakfast on the club level. This property really is fantastic, and the views from the club level can’t be beat. Unfortunately the weather was absolutely terrible! It was pouring without end, and according to weather.com the winds were 40mph gusting 59mph! This means no sightseeing for us, unfortunately!

As a result I stayed in the lounge for a bit and used the computers. The computers have a view of the “Intercontinental” sign on the top of the building, which looked like it was about to fall off. I swear the club lounge sounded like a full 747 taking off, if you can picture that. At around noon we headed to the Opera House to try and get a tour of it, which is done hourly. Unfortunately the main symphony, or whatever it is called, currently had rehearsals, and was closed till 2:30PM. As a result we decided to book a tour for 3:30PM. The people at the information center at the Opera House were the rudest people I have had the displeasure of dealing with in a long time! I was shocked by their attitude! Wow is all I can say!

We stayed in the hotel more, and fortunately we had a great suite, so it was all very tolerable. We headed back over there, and had a fantastic tour of the Opera House by a very, erm, passionate guy. You could tell his life revolved around the place, and I swear he almost cried as he was telling the story of its history and all the ups and downs. The history was extremely interesting, as well as an explanation of the structure itself, and the inside was very impressive!

Here are some pictures of the tour.

Unfortunately when we left the winds were ridiculously strong, maybe the strongest I have ever experienced, and that’s coming from someone who lives in Florida, which has quite a few hurricanes. As a result we were confined to the hotel for the afternoon and had to order room service. The free minibar as an RA is a nice bennie in situations like this.

Day Thirteen:

We headed to breakfast early, and fortunately the weather was looking better than yesterday, which unfortunately still means light rain and strong winds. As a result we decided to take a city tour, and the concierge recommended the City Explorer, which has around 20ish stops throughout the city. We followed his directions and headed to their stop, and took a bus which we thought was it. Unfortunately this was actually the City Sightseeing Sydney, which was a bit more like a clown car. We only realized this after two hours or so when we had gotten off at the Aquarium and wanted to jump back on the bus! Gah!

After doing a tour around the city we decided to take the Bondi Bus, which is part of the same company and is free with that ticket, and goes to what are apparently the suburbs of Sydney and to the beach. As we started to take the bus it started pouring and there were some strong winds! The room was leaking, the whole inside was wet, and everything was rusty. It was in scary shape. As we drove by Fox Studios the bus had to make around the cul-de-sac, and there was a small truck there, so he couldn’t make the turn. I know it sounds bad on my part, but I don’t think I have ever laughed as hard. The driver was so incredibly uncoordinated in making the turn, just started honking the horn without end, and started just cussing out loud. It was pretty funny to watch as a passenger.

We finally got to Bondi Beach, and at this point it was raining like a waterfall and the winds were blowing like Paris… nevermind, very much so. At this point the bus driver announces that he wants to take a 25 minute lunch break so we could go outside and go shopping… in weather that was probably hurricane force.

So, off we go and sit at a McDonald’s for 25 minutes as the driver has lunch. We eventually got back to the hotel at around 3:30PM and were happy we had seen something. Our cab driver from the bus stop to the hotel mentioned that this is the worst weather he has seen in five years, so I guess that’s just our luck.

I arranged to meet my fellow nut-loving (yes, we are talking about United’s hot nuts, of course!) FT’er wimpypipsqueak for drinks, which we had at the club level of the hotel. It was great to hear his stories, especially the one about him getting stuck in Auckland for three days on a United flight! I tried to convince him to join us at the San Francisco Do in September, so here’s to hoping!^

I finished packing up and FT’ed for a bit back in the club lounge. For the first time since we arrived the weather was beautiful, and I really enjoyed the view of the night skyline!^ Sydney really is a fantastic city, much more interesting than Auckland, IMO. I hope to return one day when the weather is a bit nicer, I guess in summer. So much for “sunny” Sydney.