January 20 - I’m finally in a Land Down Under

My last entry was on January 18 and I didn’t miss a day.  Nope, the time is 18 hours ahead of EST so I arrived her Saturday morning, January 20.  I lost a day of my life!  (No worries though because I’ll eventually get it back when we cross the International Date Line later on my cruise.)

I feel lucky to be here because things didn’t look too bright in LAX on Thursday evening. My flight from Dulles arrived early and I transferred to my next terminal and went to the Polaris Lounge for a little while.  (It can’t hold a candle to the one in DC.)  When it was time to board I went to my nearby gate and got on our 787 bound for Auckland.  All the passengers boarded, up in business we were offered prosecco or water, and the chief flight attendant came around to confirm our dinner orders.  That’s when the problems started.  First our pilot came on and told us there was a light out on one wing and it would be just 15 minutes delay to replace the bulb.  Half an hour later he came back on and said they had found a whole light assembly out and it would take longer than expected if it could be fixed quickly at all. So he asked us all to deplane and take everything with us.  He further said if the lights couldn’t be fixed promptly, HQ in Chicago would have to see if they could rustle up a substitute aircraft that was nearby.  

We all dutifully got off and then hung out at the gate for a couple of hours. Things looked bleak because ours was a full plane and there just aren’t that many flights going to Auckland to rebook us.  Someone was looking out for us though. There was a spare 787 in a hangar at LAX!  Yay!  The plane got moved to the gate, the luggage was transferred, the plane was cleaned, fueled, and provisioned and at about 12:30 AM (3.5 hours late) we departed.  

The flight was uneventful if long.  It was around 12 hours of flying time which was less than I thought but still seemingly endless.  I watched several movies and might have dozed for an hour.  Thankfully the car and driver I had arranged checked and knew we were delayed.  In Auckland we had more fun.  I thought going through US Customs and Border Control could be difficult sometimes, but let me tell you, we look great by comparison. While in line I did meet some of my future cruise mates which was nice, but it was a long wait and we were in a line for people with nothing to declare.  I had to go in an additional line because one of the questions asked was if I had more than 3 months’ worth of medications with me.  Of course I do; I’m going to be gone for nearly 4 months.  When I told the official why he told me “next time make sure you only have 3 months with you.”  I looked at him in disbelief and said yessir.

I got to my hotel around noon and had to wait a little while for my room to be ready.  Despite knowing better when I finally got in I took a shower, brushed my teeth and took a nap.  I’m just too pooped to do much today.  My hotel is located on a yacht harbor and it’s a beautiful sight.  It’s about 80 degrees and sunny – quite a change from home.  Here are a couple of pictures of what I see from my balcony.

This is the inner courtyard of my hotel and I thought it was pretty.

Here’s a little about Auckland.  It’s  on the North Island and the largest city in New Zealand with a population of close to 1.5 million as of June 2023.  It’s also very diverse in the central city with 39% of the population being from countries other than this one.  Apparently in the late 20th century the country opened up for immigrants and now has a large population of Asians and Pacific Islanders.  The area was originally settled in the  first part of the 14th century by Polynesians who developed the Maori culture.  The first European to record seeing New Zealand was the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642.  In the 1840’s the British came along and signed a treaty and claimed sovereignty of the country.  In 1907 New Zealand became a dominion and in 1947 it gained full sovereignty.  It does still retain the British monarch as the titular head of state.

My first impression of Auckland is that it's a very modern city as you can see from the few photos above.  The tower is the Sky Tower, a telecommunications structure that’s about 330 meters tall.  My driver told me you can up to the observation platform and walk around outside.  So sorry, but I don’t think I will do that.  The last time I went up in something like that I hugged the wall the whole time.  I was surprised to see that it’s hilly too.  I don’t know why I should be, but somehow I thought it was flat in my mind’s eye.  It reminds me a little in this respect of Seattle or San Francisco.

Today about all I’m up for is a little walk around the harbor.  Tomorrow I have a tour booked to see the major sights.  Tonight I’m just grateful that I made it here sort of on schedule.  So ta-ta for now.