palmanfr

Thanks Nequine ! I actually took a one day organized tour for the great ocean road, the tour was also using a toyota minivan (so relatively small group) and I was lucky to get the front seat. our tour guide was excellent. Another benefit for me doing organized tours is that I was travelling alone and this was the best way to met people. But I can probably agree that doing it on your own is better, especially if you can stay there a few days.

nequine

Our first trip was in a small bus too but it isn't until you drive it yourself, that you realise you miss out on so much stuff by doing an organised tour in comparison to doing one yourself.

palmanfr

After landing in Melbourne Tullamarine from Launceston, I headed towards my hotel for the next 3 days, the newly opened Ibis hotel in the center of Melbourne. The rates were very reasonable (About 120 Euros a night, breakfast included, which is ok for Australia and in a central location like that one, especially during the week of the Australian Tennis Open) and the staff very friendly.

Day 1 (well... it was more like "evening 1"): Walking in Melbourne's CBD and some of it's "lanes", evening with a friend along the banks of the Yarra river and on a roof top cinema.
Melbourne is known for its street art and I started my afternoon by walking in the several "lanes" where you can see more or less freshly made graffitis. The touristic lanes, such as Hosier Lane were quite busy (it is said that Banksy was seen once in that lane).




St Paul's cathedral














Later that day I met one of the friends I made in Tasmania for a couple drinks, dinner and some extra couple drinks on a roof top bar/cinema. The weather was so lovely that day...






Along the Yarra river


Federation square in Australian Open mode


Flinders street station




Elisabeth street by night



Enjoying a few drinks on a rooftop bar...

Day 2: After a relatively short night, I was excited to see the great ocean road...

I booked this tour with a company called "Sightseeing tours Australia" which had quite good reviews and after a pickup near my hotel in th early hours of the morning I was lucky to score the front seat of the Toyota minivan which accomodated 15 other tourists (I got the front seat after promising the driver that I won't be sleeping during the drive :-)). The driver/tour guide that day was a guy who immigrated from Czech republic something like 20 or 30 years ago and who has been living in different parts of Australia since them. I have to say that I really enjoyed his tour, of course we visited the touristic hotspots but I felt we also had some experiences outside the regular tour bus track. Our tour guide was passionate about nature and wildlife and also about the Aboriginal culture and Australian history in general and the entire day was one of the best experiences of my overall trip !
Obviously, I would have got more freedom by visiting the great ocean road driving by myself, but being my first time there, and in light of the short amount of time I had, I was happy having booked an organized tour and I am not convinced I would have seen more by myself. Hopefully, the world would go back to normality soon and I would like to go back to Australia with my girlfriend, and in that case a rental car and a couple days there will be ideal...
Another reason I liked participating to some organized tours once in a while is because I was able to meet some fun and interesting people while doing so (remember, I was travelling alone), and one year later, I am still in touch with some of them.
Our first stop after a 45 minute drive was Point Addis where the sky started to open a bit a few minutes after we arrived and a coffee and a light snack.









A bit of ocean mist in the morning hours...


The world's famous sign






View on Lorne scenic beach

At this moment our guide decided to go a bit off the main road in a quest to see some koalas, leaving in the wild. He emphasized that there was no guarantee of seeing any, explaining that their habitat was endangered nowadays. He also complained about all the private organizations who take advantage of the koala business as he indicated that those animals were extremely sensitive and actually afraid of humans, and that close contact with us immediately doubles their heartbeat and reduces their life expectancy. We learned quite a bit about this marsupial during this tour, like the fact this was the only animal who could survive by only eating eucalyptus leaves (they typically don't drink either, unless necessaryas the water intake is coming from the leaves), Eucalyptus leaves are actually the exclusive diet of the koalas, as no other animal could survive given the toxicity of those leaves at high dosage. We also learned the way the koalas reproduced and I learned during this tour that male koalas actually had two penises and females 2 vaginas and uteri, the explanation given was that since they do not mate very frequently, it would maximize the chances of keep the species alive... What a life !
We got very lucky and actually found a koala in one of the county parks we stopped after our guide looked for it for a good 10 minutes. He insisted on the fact we should stay far away from the koala not to scare him, so the pictures you can see below were taken with my teleobjective lens, using maximum zoom.






Hello dear!



At Teddy's lookout



We continued our trip towards Apollo bay where we had an uneventful lunch and this was followed in a nice "digestive walk" in a fern forest


Ready to start the digestive walk in the forest !




Those fern trees are actually growing very very slowly


This tree must have been a few hundred years old !

The highlight of that day was the view on the 12 apostles, together with thousands of other tourists and it's clearly the most touristic attraction on the great ocean road. For the record, the "12 apostles" are actually consisting of 7 limestone stacks (there used to be 8 but the 8th one collapsed 15 years ago) created by erosion.











We finished the day by walking near the Loch Ard Gorge and the different lookouts surrounding it...



The razorback





Loch Ard Gorge




On the drive back, and since we used some smaller local roads across the eucalyptus forest, we got invited to look around to see if we could spot some other koalas, and we did...




Last encounter before going back to Melbourne

We came back in Melbourne in the early hours of the evening and I enjoyed a dinner and (several) drinks after with a couple participants of this tour. I got to tell you that the next day started... pretty late :-)

Day 3: Sleepy morning; cultural afternoon in Melbourne.

My third day in Melbourne started in the early hours of the afternoon with the visit of the National Gallery of Victoria on Federation square, and some more walk in the city.
The year before, I was able spend 3 days in Melbourne and got to see the royal botanic gardens, St Kilda, Fitzroy and Carlton districts and the Fitzroy gardens so I wanted to see some other places this time.







Cloudy day on Melbourne






Federation square


The National gallery of Victoria - Ian Potter Center







Aboriginal artwork



And I also continued visiting the lanes featuring some more or less recent street art





AC/DC lane















Carlton gardens



And I finished the day by spending it at the Eureka skydeck, the tallest observation tower in Australia


The Eureka skydeck tower entrance







You can pay extra and get into an extending glass platform (I did not do it)



View on Federation square and Flinders street station



The royal botanic gardens



Melbourne's CBD

I was there during the Australian tennis open week








Day 4: Basically half a day, wrote a few postcards for the family and friends and just wanded around the Australian center for contemporary art (pretty disappointing btw) and the National Gallery of Victoria (main building on St Kilda road) before heading to the airport...




Walking along the Yarra

National Gallery of Victoria





I have the same le Corbusier LC4 chair at home ! (although mine is with black leather)

After 2 trips to Melbourne, I certainly understand why this city always topped the UN rankings of the best living cities in the world. The cultural scene is present, the city is safe, open, multicultural and green (there are plenty of parks, not even considering the nature present 30 minutes away from the city). That is certainly a place I would consider living if I was to move again. I liked Sydney, but preferred Melbourne without hesitation. Having lived for a short period of time in California 12 years ago, it's like if Sydney was Los Angeles and Melbourne was San Francisco, and I definitely prefer the vibe in the latter 2 places !

palmanfr

The skybus ride from Central Melbourne to Tullamarine airport took about 30 min, and the stop was right next to the international terminal entrance. Considering I wanted to extensively test the Melbourne QF First lounge, I planned to arrive at the airport a good 3 hours in advance, but since the traffic was better than I thought, I got there a bit earlier than expected.



The terminal was actually quite busy, with a lot of departures to South East Asian destinations in process.








MEL International terminal check-in

On a side of the crowd was located, inside a small and quiet lounge the First class check-in counter, where OneWorld Emerald customers travelling in any class are invited to use. I indeed used that privilege to check me in for my flight to Auckland and was immediately taken care of by the two attendants working there.


Peace and quietness is on the right side of the picture :-)


Inside the small lounge/check-in area

Although I was alone in there, processing my bag took a bit longer than expected as I arrived a bit too early (seems like QF has a 3-hour advance limit for trans-tasman flights at least, maybe to avoid cheapo passengers like me to enjoy the lounge for too long ? :-)). At the end the agent managed to check my bag in, and I was also asked to show a proof of onward connection out of New Zealand given I booked a one-way flight for this itinerary, which I had on the AirFrance app on my phone.
The agent then provided me the luggage receipt, my boarding pass and the fast lane card, and indicated me that I could use the First class lounge of Qantas located upstairs.




Best wishes !



I then proceeded towards security and emigration. I don't remember the process to be particularly painful though, emigration was automated and security went reasonably fast thanks to the enforced fast track.





Fast track with the crews !

Automated passport control for emigration procedures


As you can imagine, I immediately proceeded towards the lounge for a very late lunch !


Here you go !

A bit of a disclaimer first : Although the day was not very sunny, it was very light outside and the lounge features nice tarmac and runway views, but is also equipped with some tinted glass, making the pictures look very bizarre when taking one next to the windows.

I was greeted by the lounge staff upon entering and immediately went to the restaurant section located on the far right side of the lounge.


I love those flip boards !


The restaurant entrance, also acts as a bar obviously...


The lounge restaurant.

A nice waiter immediately gave me a table near the windows featuring a nice outside view and provided me the menu as I sat down. I think that the Accor group (a French company) and their affiliate Novotel is in charge fo the catering of this lounge


QF First lounge menu MEL airport


Bubbles to start (Pommery brut royal)

The gentlemen came back to take my order and I opted for the signature salt and pepper squid (tried in at the QF lounge in LAX a few years before and liked it a lot) and the hamburger (don't judge me, I was starving that day :-))
He immediately came back with my drink order, a glass of Pommery champagne and sparkling water with slice of lemon...
I took this opportunity to visit the restrooms during this time, located within the lounge. The condition of the facilities were as good as you could expect from a First class lounge. Note that showers are also available within the lounge.

Shortly after I came back, my starter arrived and the waiter also brought a pork belly bao bun in case I wanted to try "something different".


Salt and pepper squid with pork belly bao bun. Tasty !


Lunch with a view

As I was finishing the last pieces of fried squid, an Emirates 777-300 was going to park just below me...




I certainly did put some fat on my phone screen when I took this picture !

My hamburger, cooked well done as I wanted, arrived right after, with some french fries. Because if I have to do a big fat lunch, I go all-in...



The burger was good, but we should tell the cook that adding extra butter on top of the bread is a bit too much...

To finalize this lunch with a sweet touch, I opted for the passionfruit and pineapple pavlova. It was very sweet...

Good, but a bit too sweet...

At the end of this feast, I was able to roll like a barrel to the other end of the lounge to drop my belongings and visit the place...
This lounge was very nice, I like the furniture and the outside views it offered. Different sections, like a business center and a couple conference rooms are available and besides the bar, you can get a drink from the couple of self-serve areas available. I do not recall seeing a self-service buffet though, most of the food has to be ordered at the restaurant.
This lounge is also famous for having two "old-fashioned" flip-board displays. Only one was working when I was there, but I just love the sound of those things when they actuate...


The bar and the open kitchen behind






One of two flip-boards








One of the private conference rooms you can book


The business corner


Choose your side : Mac or windows

I was able to get some work done for the 1 hour 30 minutes I stayed at the business corner. The lounge hardly got many visitors that afternoon.
By 17:45, I decided to leave the lounge to head to the gate downstairs for my Auckland flight.


Did I tell you I love those old-fashioned flip-boards ?

Although not very big (certainly not as big as their flagship first class lounge in SYD - to be reviewed later), I think Qantas did an excellent job with the place. As a economy or business class passenger holding a OneWorld emerald card, I think this would be one of the best lounges around. If I was travelling on a First class ticket though, I would find it a bit underwhelming, but this is the case with all the OneWorld "true" First class lounges anyway, maybe with the exception of QR's Al Safwa lounge.

It took me only a few minutes to reach the gate 8 downstairs, where the boarding was just about to start for priority passengers. A separate lane was available for this priority boarding.


Gate 8






My ride to Auckland

Qantas QF155 – January 17th 2019
MEL Melbourne Tullamarine Intl - 18:15
AKL Auckland Intl - 23:55
Boeing 737-800 – VH-VZV – Seat 5A - Window seat



This trans-Tasman flight was almost full and my seat neighbours were a couple of friendly Australian pensioners on vacation. We talked a bit during the flight so the 3 hour journey felt a bit less long.
Since I was able to get a first row seat, the legroom was pretty ok, and since this aircraft was equipped with personal IFE screens, those were located under the armrest for our seats. the bump on the aircraft's roof indicated that WiFi was available, at a cost, on this trip. A set of headphones were also present in the seat pocket.


Legroom was pretty good


View on Jetstar's dreamliner


WiFi was available, although I did not try to use it.

We took off on time after the safety video was broadcasted on the IFE screens






Take off from MEL

The inflight service began shortly after with take off with the usual bar service, with a warm meal. I don't remember the exact options proposed here, but I obviously got the vegeterian tofu option. Given the meal I enjoyed at the lounge, I cannot remember how was this one...


QF economy class meal MEL-AKL

One thing I remeber for sure is that an ice cream was offered as a dessert !




I visited later on the lavatories located at the rear of the aircraft and those were one of the smallest airplane lavatories I've ever been. I can understand that you cannot fit the front upper deck A380 bathrooms in there, but still, someone a bit in over-weight could have issues entering in there... (Or was it the burget I ate a few hours before ? )




Well... airplane bathroom selfie !


Full cabin


Power socket and USB plugs were available


Personal IFE was available, although I did not really use it.


Moving map MEL-AKL

While I was in the back, the crew handed over the New Zealand customs and immigration forms but htey ran short of those by the time they reached the last row and forgot to give me one. After asking the FA if she had an extra one, she give me the one shoe would have got to fill for her. A nice touch I would say, although I am surprised the flight crews also had to fill immigration forms too.

We landed in AKL on time and parked in the international terminal, a bit far from the immigration area.




AKL Intl.

For 73 euros and 10000 BA avios for this on-way flight, I could hardly complain about it. Flight was ontime, OW Emerald benefits on the ground and onboard were more than satisfactory, this was certainly a good use of miles I think !


Kia Ora




Immigration area : I did not use the automated kiosk although I was eligible to it as I wanted to get my arrival stamp as a souvenir ! (and also because there was no line at the regular immigration lane)


This one is for tobacco illegal imports, but there are some other bins throughout the terminal for food and seeds...

New Zealand has very strict rules when it comes to customs and quarantine and bins, located before the customs area are here to remind you about those rules. Each and every passenger has to face a short interview with a customs officer after retrieving their bags (separate from the immigration check). While I really enjoyed my 3 week stay in New Zealand, and most of the Kiwi's I've met were very lovely and friendly, Auckland airport had a concentration of grumpy individuals working there I thought. I had the chance to meet two of those that evening. At the immigration check point where the lady argued with me when I asked if they were considering chocolate bars as food (that was a question on the customs form - and depending on the country, an industrially made cereal bar is considered as "food" and some other countries do not see that as a threat) - to which she replied on a pretty rude tone that "if I was putting it into my mouth to eat it, then it was food", adding to this the fact I did not want to use the automatic immigration kiosk as I wanted to get an immigration stamp on my passport (what a crime)... The second winner that evening was the customs officer who welcomed me in the country buy having me go through secondary screening to desinfect my hiking shoes and verify if the above-mentioned cereal bars from Australia were considered as a threat to the island nation. Anyway, I guess they were just doing their job, but certainly, their tone could be nicer, I thought for a minute I landed in a US airport (minus the waiting queues)


Souvenir from NZ Customs


Finally went through the circus, time to rent the car and get some sleep !

Anyway, from the time I disembarked the aircraft to the time I was a the rental car, about 1 hour passed, so I was ready to hit the nearby hotel I booked for the night.

nequine

Melbourne
Great Ocean Road

After watching the Nothing to Declare and the Kiwi equivalent, I have learned if in doubt tick the box!

IAD_flyer

CX has these as well. I am curious if it is running an MS Windows VM, rebooting to a partition with MS Windows, or connecting to an MS Windows VDI. I guess I will have to test it out next time.

palmanfr

You're right, I also saw this in a few hotels. I cannot comment on the type of partitioning they are using in this case, as I only used my laptop (macbook) during the time I was at the lounge. I am tempted to say that it's a separate partition on the HDD so if the user selects Windows, it reboots the computer and boots on the Windows 7 partition, maybe using Boot Camp ?

palmanfr

Yeah, you're probably right on the customs thing. I am more in asking the agent if I am in doubt. I used to travel frequently to the US (like a few to several times a year) from Switzerland and was always bringing to my California friends and colleagues some chocolates, sometimes with nuts inside. After asking different CBP agents in different US points of entry how they would consider chocolate bars with hazelnuts to be, I have to say I got all types of answers. Some said at the immigration booth that it had to be declared and then the other agent at customs said it did not have to, sometimes I had to show the contents voluntarily to the customs check point and some other times, they just did not care in both cases... I understand that bringing a whole salami or fruits and seeds to another continent could be problematic, but for processed foods like cereal bars and chocolates, it's different.
Anyway, the whole point is that I met only 3 rude, angry and grumpy kiwis during my 3-week stay in NZ and they were all in AKL airport ! (The ratio would have been higher in Europe or the US I am sure ! )

palmanfr

It was my first time in New Zealand, and this was a place I really dreamed going to for something like 20-years or so. I simply could not miss the opportunity to include this destination in this round the world trip and dedicated almost 3 weeks there, which was - by far - the longest time I would spend in a country in this overall adventure.
When it comes to organizing my trips, I am kinda old fashioned and still carry travel guide books (there was pretty much one guide book for each country/region I visited so, that added a bit of weight to my luggage !). Being French, one of the best guide books I can think of is called "Guide du routard", that's like the French version of the lonely planet and is very well organized and useful when it comes to (1) plan the day with the highlights to see in the region you are - and avoid speding time in the not-so interesting places and (2) find the best and most authentic spots to have lunch/dinner and try local specialties. Since this guide is originally targetted for backpackers (although it's not fully the case anymore), it also helps finding the best quality/price ratio places. Unfortunately, this guide is not available for all destinations worldwide, and New Zealand, such as Taiwan, Oma, Namibia or some parts of Australia are not covered, so I had to use my second (and more expensive) choice of guide book, the more universal Lonely Planet to plan my NZ discovery journey.
For this particular destination, I was lucky to make some friends from Australia and NZ during my first visit in Thailand and south east asia in november/december, and they all gave me good tips for my planning. There was a clear consensus that I should dedicate more time on the South Island in comparison with the North island as 3 weeks is actually not that much to discover NZ.
So at the end, I organized my trip as such :

• Hire a car after my arrival at AKL airport and drive 4 days across the regions of Waitomo, Taupo and Rotorua
• Bring the car back to AKL airport and fly for Wellington where I would stay a few days
• From Wellington, fly to Christchurch in the South island, spend a couple days there and take the Tranzalpine train to cross the island from East to West to reach Greymouth
• Hire a car in Greymouth and sspend some time in Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers area, then Queenstown, the region of Fjordlands NP, head to the southernmost region of the south island and spend the day in the not so well-known "Third NZ island" of Stuart Island.
• Drive back to Queenstown and fly to Auckland where I would spend my last day in NZ before flying to the French territory of New Caledonia.
• And eventually, catch some sleep between those places !

After a pretty uneventful night in a mediocre hotel of Mangere, the city near AKL Airport, I decided to hit the road and escape the city towards the south, and the first stop would be having some lunch near Raglan, on the West coast of the North Island. On the way I stopped for my first nature visit at the Bridal Veil falls before Raglan.


North Island countryside...


Bridal Veil falls entrance




Bridal Veil falls



Long exposure of the falls

After this refreshing visit I drove a bit along the coast, but did not dare to use the drone due to windy conditions.


The coast near Raglan

At the end of the day I ended up in district of Waitomo where a nicer motel was waiting for me for that night.
The next morning I went to visit the Waitomo caves nearby. 3 caves are open to the public with the main one, called the Glowworm cave, being the most touristic, and you visit most of the cave on board of a small boat for about 30 min. I was not felling like going with the masses, so I opted to visit the second cave a bit futher way, the Ruakuri cave, which had the benefit to be visited walking in a small group, and for about 90 minutes. Glow worms are also present in the Ruakuri cave. The day I was there, it was not possible to visit the third cave, the Aranui cave (This one does not have glow worms due to the lack of water). Given the low light conditions in the cave, taking good pictures without a tripod is a bit of a challenge and I unfortunately was not able to take good pics of the glow worms (but google has plenty in stock for the ones interested !)



Waitomo main cave entrance




Inside the Ruakuri cave

I spent the rest of the day driving towards my next stop for the night, in the small town of Taupo, right along the lake fo the same name. I however stopped multiple times on the way for short nature walks, point of views as the opportunities were definitely there !


On the way to Taupo


Taupo lake


Taupo

Taupo is a relatively small town and the accomodation that day were extremely expensive or completely booked. For the first and only time of this 6-month trip, I booked a hostel instead of a hotel (but still booked a private room) and got to meet some interesting people there, the majority being the usually targetted population of hostels i.e guests in their early 20's, mostly Brits, Australian, French and German but also and more surprisingly this British couple of pensioners on a 2-month vacation in NZ with whom I was sharing the patio across my room...

After a restful night there, I had breakfast at the coolest McDonald's restaurant on earth (not only according to me, but also according to a survey) and visited the Huka falls nearby per the recommendations of the local touristic office and drove towards Rotorua where I stopped at a geothermal park on the way. New Zealand has became in the last several years a very popular touristic destination and the governement invested quite some money in developping the touristic facilities, including the information centers, called "i-sites" over there. Those i-sites can be found pretty much all across the country and on top of providing helpful tips and maps to organize your day and your trip, can also book tickets for day excursions, museum visits and cultural centers. I took this opportunity to book my entrance to the Wai-o-tapu geopark and a "Maori cultural experience in Rotorua (dinner included)".



Taupo lake

The world's coolest Mc Donald's ! A former DC3 converted in an eating room


Inside the former plane

Cockpit (you cannot access it)







Taupo



Huka falls

I read somewhere that there were only 4 places in the world where you could admire the geothermal wonders of the earth. Together with Iceland (Where the word Geyser comes from the Icelandic town of Geysir), the area of Yellowstone NP in the USA, and Kamtachka region in Russia, the region of Rororua is well known for it's geothermal activity and springs. You can visit a few different geothermal parks in the region but the Taupo i-site recommended me the Wai-o-Tapu center, on the way between Taupo and Rotorua. Different walking tours are recommended, and I opted for the full walking tour which took me a good 2 hours as far as I recall.



















I was lucky to visit 3 out of the 4 places I mentioned before having similar geothermal activity (The Kamtchaka region in Russia is the one I miss), I have to say that this place was not the most impressive of the 3 I visited. From what I've seen I would rank Yellowstone #1 without hesitation, although I haven't seen all the places in Iceland and NZ. But if you visit the region of Rotorua, this geothermal park is a good place to visit nonetheless.

After checking in at the Ibis hotel Rotorua, I walked around the deserted city (It was sunday) before the organized bus picked me up for my "Maori cultural experience - dinner included". The region or Rotorua is well known to be the heartland of the Maori culture, and with tourism rapidly devolping in the country, numeros cultural associations created touristic centers explaining with maybe more or less authenticity the history of the Maoris. I was interested in knowing more about it and asked the i-site in Taupo which one they would recommend. It was too late for me to book her first option (sorry, I cannot recall names) but one spot for her close second choice was available for that evening at the Tamaki Maori village.
The evening was nice as I met some fun people in the group I was in, but obviously I felt this was more a theme park with traditional shows rather than a real cultural experience. And the dinner was good too - sometimes it just feels good to take part in a "gringo-tour" once in a while !


Welcome in the Tamaki Maori Village !




After being splitted in different groups, different exhibits are presented about the traditional habitat, canoes, dances or crafts...




And of course dinner was cooked thanks to the geothermal activity of the region.


That is what I am calling a "gringo-tour".

I spent the next morning walking across Rotorua gardens (unfortunately the Rotorua museum inside the gardens were closed for renovation) before leaving towards Auckland airport.




There is some geothermal activity in the city center too !


Rotorua government gardens


Rotorua city museum (unfortunately closed for renovation, would have loved to see the inside of the building)

palmanfr

I am well aware that spending 4 days only in the North island is quite a stretch, but this will give me the opportunity to go back there someday (and not alone) to do some of the things I was not able to see, the Tongariro and Egmont NP for example.
Nonetheless, I was looking forward going to my next Kiwi stop, Wellington, New Zealand's capital city (although Auckland is by far the biggest city in the country, it is not the Capital city). Wellington being located the southernmost part of the North Island, and facing the South Island, I was expecting to have nice aerial views of the Cook's straight during the approach and booked a front window seat (2F) as soon as the Air New-Zealand online check-in opened. As an Av-geek, I was also looking forward flying with ANZ for the first time, I have always been a big fan of their safety videos !

I arrived at the domestic terminal of Auckland airport about 2 hours before the departure of my flight to Wellington. Since I was still a Turkish Airlines Elite card holder for one more month, I could enjoy the Star Alliance Gold benefits for one month, and therefore use the premium check-in desks, access to the NZ domestic lounge and select a preferred seat onboard for free.



AKL Domestic terminal


Left for ANZ, Right for Jetstar


NZ domestic check-in area

Checking my bag was swift, such as clearing security. It seems that not all domestic flights in New Zealand need to clear security, it appears that to board smaller regional planes, it is not required to my greatest surprise. Anyway, since my flight was going to a major domestic destination and was operated by an Airbus 320 and not a regional aircraft, I had to clear security, but this is was a formality, with zero waiting time.


Security clearance only for 4 main NZ destinations


First encounter after security. I love the NZ livery !

There is not much to do or see in the domestic terminal to be honest. I was happy to have lounge access for this flight so I could spend some time in a comfortable waiting area rather than in the terminal which looked like a big hallway.



NZ domestic lounge AKL airport

The lounge access is mostly automated and by just scanning my boarding pass I was granted access, there was no need to show my TK*G card.
Note that since there is no business class on board NZ domestic flights, the lounge access criteria is purely based on *G status or if you are coming from or connecting to an international Star Alliance Business or First class flight. I also think that NZ sells separate lounge access with some domestic tickets in the form of a "package" including flexibility in the ticket use and checked-in bags.
The lounge was busy when I arrived (It was on a monday end of afternoon) but i was able to find a seat. The lounge is not the most modern I visited but was comfortable. I was however, very pleasantely surprised by the food and drinks selection, especially considering this is "just" a domestic lounge - and the quality was very good (Being French and pretty much partly made of cheese, I loved the cheese selection they had in NZ lounges I visited ! ).
The lounge is equipped with restrooms, a business center and also a staffed bar.
Finally, the lounge is accessible to all eligible domestic NZ passengers, although you need to clear security to access the lounge. In case your flight departs from one of the regional gates which do not require security check, you can reach this gate from the lounge using a secured one-way automatic gate to get out.


NZ domestic lounge AKL








Food selection NZ domestic lounge AKL




Beer and beverage selection


The place was a bit crowded though


Snack...


... with a view !

I left the lounge about 40 minutes before departure to do a bit of plane spotting and make sure I would board at the beginning as I had my carry on bag and back pack to place on the overhead bin given that I was seated in the first row.


New livery


My flight to WLG will be on the "All Blacks" A320


Gate 29 to WLG

Boarding began at 17:10 with priority boarding first. Although this flight was operated on an Airbus 320, the boarding procedure was improved using the jet bridge for the first 15 rows and some stairs in the back for the last 15 rows.





ZK-OAB to Wellington

Air New Zealand NZ447 – January 21st 2019
AKL - Auckland Intl 17:30
WLG - Wellington Intl 18:35
Airbus A320 – ZK-OAB – Seat 02F, Economy, window, first row

Boarding a domestic airbus on ANZ is like boarding a flying bus, the entire space is used for seats and the first row is actually directly facing the door 1L. The galley is therefore pretty small but I guess this is enough as the longest domestic flight operated by those birds is less than 2 hours long.



The flyingbus !


Seats 02D-E-F


Row 1 is directly facing door 1L and the 2 front crew members


Legroom seat 2F


Pushing back from AKL

The "Kiwi rap safety video" was showed on the overhead screens before push back ( )

And as I usually do when flying a new airline, I opened the inflight magazine before take off.


NZ fleet


NZ domestic destinations


NZ International destinations, although they unfortunately stopped flying to London LHR

We took off at 17:48 with a nice view on the other aircraft taxiing...




NZ maintenance hangars


Taking off AKL

Air New Zealand markets some domestic flights, operated on weekdays at the end of the afternoon/early evening as "Koru hour" meaning that the inflight service is adjusted so that passengers can enjoy their early evening flight with a selection of white and red new zealand wines and served with cheese as a snack. I think that ANZ has always been an innovating airline (think about their skycouch on long haul flights for example, they were also the first ones to have funny safety videos which proved the fact that passengers are more prone to follow the safety video if it is no boring to watch...), and this Koru hour concept is another example.
So I opted for a glass of white wine (was not thrilled by it though) which came with a piece of cheese. Trivia questions were broadcasted during this full flight as in flight entertainment.


Koru hour snack



As we were approaching Wellington, I could enjoy the views on the Cook's strait...


Cook's strait, view on the south island

We landed in sunny Wellington at 18:40 and reached our parking position a couple minutes later.


Disembarking in WLG


View on some regional aircrafts in WLG


WLG terminal


WLG terminal

By the time we disembarked and I was taking pictures of the terminal (this is the public space of the terminal, with some regional flight gates directly connected to it), my bag was on the belt.

I then took the skybus service to downtown Wellington where my hotel, the newly opened Doubletree by Hilton was located.
The building where this hotel is located in a former insurance building from the 1920's and it was renovated with taste. I was lucky to get upgraded to a very nice junior suite as a Diamond member. I don't think I ever did put 10/10 to a hotel, besides the Conrad Macau, but I did for this hotel. The rooms was very comfortable and clean, the staff very welcoming and friendly and the location could not be better and right across the street from Wellington's cable car. I partially paid this 2-night stay with points (20000 points) and added 170 Euros as a copay. Breakfast was included as part of HHDiamond privilege.


Doubletree by Hilton Wellington




My junior suite at the Doubletree by Hilton Wellington


The plastic duck got a free trip to Europe :-)

palmanfr

For whatever reason, I always liked to visit capital cities across the globe, especially when the capital is not the biggest city of the country, region or state. Think Washington DC, Quebec city, or Den Haag (Which I consider to be the capital of the Netherlands, there is debate about this even with my Dutch colleagues). I never got a chance to visit Ottawa, Canberra, Bern or Ankara but this time, based on the recommendation of some Kiwi friends I made in Thailand, I included a couple days in Wellington.

Right after checking-in at the Doubletree hotel, I decided to go outside as the weather was just lovely.






An old France Telecom phone booth. How odd is it to find this in Wellington !





The hotel is located minutes away from the waterfront, and this is where I met the young NZ entrepreneur Jake Millar playing with his drone, a DJI Mavic Pro (I did not knew him before to be honest) and chasing with it a cargo ship leaving Wellington (and with a bunch of seagulls following the drone ). I am a drone owner (although I just have the small and now obsolete DJI spark) but I am very conservative in using it, especially after the Bali crash I experienced a couple months before. So we chatted a bit, exchanged instagram details, talked a bit about aviation and then separated ways.


Wellington's waterfront






Jake's DJI Mavic Pro coming back

After a restful night and a great breakfast at the Doubletree, I just had to cross the street to get to the cable car. Wellington is surrounded by hills and there used to be multiple cable cars in the city, but I think this is the last one still in operation. At the top, a small and free museum shows the history of the cable car. You certainly enjoy a very nice wiew over the bay from the top of the hill !


Cable car entrance, right across the street


Welington's cable car. Reminds me a bit the one I have in my hometown of Lyon...






View from the top of the hill


Cable car museum


Cable car museum

Right next to the cable car upper station are located the city's botanic gardens. With such a lovely weather, I had no other choice but to spend a couple hours there... (it was easier going donwhill )









Short hike in the gardens







I eventually exited the gardens to go back in the city and arrived right next to the New Zealand Parliament building also called the "beehive".



The "Beehive" (NZ Parliament building)


After enjoying a quick lunch in a japanese restaurant nearby, I discovered that it was possible to visit the parliament so I enrolled in one of the few free tours offered daily. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside the building but the visit was very interesting. I also met during this tour Eran, an American guy from Boston, also on vacation and we spent the rest of the day together before we both continued our trip.


NZ parliament building






In case you forget that New Zealand is still sort of a British colony ;-)

The visit lasted an hour or so and after exploring on foot the city with Eran, and a couple beers later, we went to see the sunset over the city at the mount Victoria.


Outside the parliament


Monument to Rugby, the national sport of the country


Reminded me San Francisco so much...


Mount Victoria



You can distinguish WLG airport runway







Wide angle version




Add a cable car and you're in San Francisco !

We finished the day by enjoying a good pizza on Courtenay place at Pizza Napoli (sounds cliché but they use the same type of oven as the authentic Napolitan pizzerias).

The next day was my last day in Wellington and given that my flight was at the end of the afternoon, I spent most of the day visiting the Wellington museum, on the waterfront and the National museum of New Zealand, which I both highly recommend.






Wellington's waterfront by day


Wellington's museum








The Cook strait used to be a quite dangerous passage...



Walking along the bay

Using the bay as a swimming pool !

Some have to park downtown their car or bike, and some others, their canoe...

Museum of New Zealand - (Te Papa)

Te Papa, the national museum of the country offers very interesting exhibits about the country's history and art work, from the native Maoris who were travelling across all pacific islands, to the first settlers and the different immigration waves until today. There was also a temporary exhibition about the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand who came in Europe during the second world war.


There was a nice exhibit about the different immigration waves in the country


Looks like I would have got to pay for my trip :-)




















Surprisingly real exhibit about ANZAC soldiers during the WWII

At the last floor of the museum is located a balcony everyone can access and enjoy views over the bay...






View from the museum rooftop

It was soon time to head back towards my hotel, about 20 min away and then Wellington airport. I could enjoy the last moments of Wellington's sun during that time...







Willis street, one of Wellington's downtown shopping streets

Having lived in the San Francisco area for several months back in 2008 and having worked of a company headquartered in the SF bay area for 8 years, Wellington made me think of a cleaner and smaller San Francisco. I just loved it and I am glad I spent a couple days there. Next time, I would like to visit the places around the city as I think the region has a lot to offer...

nequine

Glad to see they've not done away with the Gallipoli exhibition at TePapa - it was absolutely superb. There was a great one too up beside the War Memorial that I came across by accident. Wellington is a fantastic city to visit and so easy to get around too.

The Tamaki Maori Village cultural night is really good and you're right, the food was very nice too! Did you sing on the bus going back to your accommodation?

palmanfr

Definitely agree on the first comment !
For the bus ride back to the hotel in Rotorua, yes indeed, we had to sing... Fortunately (for me) there was another French onboard the bus and she was the one singing. The driver was asking a song from every country. Looks like you had the same :-)

palmanfr

I reached Wellington airport thanks to the skybus service between dwontown Wellington and the terminal and checked my luggage in swiftly using the premium NZ counter.



Wellington airports features very nice tarmac views from the public area, and just like domestic airport in New Zealand, most of the space is public, such as some gates for regional flights. Just like in AKL, main New Zealand destinations, such as Auckland, Dunedin, Christchurch and Queenstown, and operated by Jet aircrafts require to go through security. After security is also where the Air New Zealand lounge is located.



Indoor...




... and tarmac views, all from the public area.


Departures of the day... 20 min delay announced for my flight.

Clearing security was an easy formality, with no waiting time, however, my carry-on bag had to go through secondary screening due to the amount of electronic devices inside it, and particularily because of the drone. As the friendly security agent noticed from my accent that I was not from the neighbourhood, we started to chat a bit about travels etc... That chat lasted a good 15 min, to give you an understanding of how not busy the security was that day !

There is not much to do after security and I immediately went to the NZ lounge upstairs.



After security


Spot the American


NZ lounge WLG

The Wellington NZ lounge is about the same size as the Auckland one, but I've found the catering the outside views to be better than in AKL. I was still very pleasantly surprised by the quality and variety of the food and beverages offered on this domestic lounge. Great job NZ !











NZ lounge - WLG airport



















I managed to find a spot with a window view to get an early dinner...


Starters with a view...








Main...


It was quite windy outside...


Dessert

In case you haven't noticed, Wellington airport is located on a stretch of a peninsula surronded by the bay, and therefore quite exposed to winds. It started to be very windy by the time I arrived at the airport and I could observe while being at the lounge multiple announcements of delays due to weather conditions, especially towards the south Island. My flight to CHC was indeed one of those.
After having enjoyed by dinner, I moved to a more comfortable location with another view.




One regional aircraft appeared to have called the fire brigade as a precaution before landing.




My aircraft (ZK-OXL) with next stop CHC just landing...


...taxiing...


... and at the gate

By 18:35, the initial time of departure of my 20-min delayed flight, I went downstairs, where the boarding get was yet to be staffed, indicating that the delay could be longer than expected.





ZK-OXL at the gate.

Boarding began around 18:55




Air New Zealand NZ379 – January 23rd 2019
WLG - Wellington Intl 18:35
CHC - Christchurch Intl - 19:30 (scheduled but we departed 1 hour late and arrived 1h20 min late)
Airbus A320 with sharklets – ZK-OXL – Seat 01A, Economy, window, first row

I opted for seat 01A for this domestic and relatively short flight, and did not have to pay for it thanks to my TK *Gold status. As mentioned on my previous flight report between AKL and WLG, there is no wall in front of row 1 and you are directly facing the front cabin crew seats when seated in this first row. Because there is no overhead video screen visible on row 1, the flight attendant needs to come and explain the safety instructions to the passengers seated on seats 1A-B and C. I tried to be polite and follow what the crew member was telling us but my 2 seat mates did not really seem to care much.


Seat 1A, with a prime view on all passenger shoes during boarding.


Directly facing the 2 front cabin crew seats


Leg room with door open...


... and with the door 1L closed

We eventually left the gate around 19:25 and took-off about 10 minutes later. The take-off was quite bumpy such as most of the flight and the crew decided not to perform any beverage service during the entire flight based on instructions from the flight deck and remained seated for the entire flight. Although the ride was bumpy, the views departing Wellington were great !







Taking off from WLG




Wellington bay


WLG airport from above




Crossing the Cook's strait

About 30 min after take off we started to see where we were heading into. And the views were quite different than at the beginning of the flight...




Started to understand where we were getting into at this moment...

The descent got bumpier than the rest of the already bumpy flight and we soon started to see some rain and a few storms...



Approaching CHC

About 1000 ft above ground (at least I was guesstimating), the cockpit crew decided to perform a go around and full thrust was applied to both engines for another try 15 min later. The crew was quite communicative about their actions.



Go around procedure began




And we got a second approach free of charge

We touched down safely at 20:40, which was 1h10 min late and could see that the weather was pretty bad (rain + wind) in Christchurch.









It took about 10 minutes for the ground team to be able to position the jetbridge properly as the wind was giving them trouble looks like, and the luggage arived only 35 min later as the strong winds were preventing the handling staff to safely operate the equipment and open the cargo door of the aircraft, according to a NZ employee on the ground.


CHC arrivals hall






While waiting for my bags to arrive...

Luckily for me, the rain stopped after receiving my bag and while the temperature dropped of a good 10 degrees after the storm left, I reached my downtown hotel using the citybus safely, in a completely deserted Christchurch...


Arrived downtown around 10pm.

roadwarrier

Are those fish fingers between the greenery and sandwich?