Post #165 - March 25, 2013 - Wellington, New Zealand

What we did: plane to Auckland, NZ; plane to Guangzhou, China
Budget: NZ$150/$125; Spent: NZ$105/$88

We woke up relatively early this morning because we had some things to do, including checking out and calling the clinic in Taupo to get our test results. When we woke up around 8:30am our two other roommates had already left, which is always a relief since we never want to disturb anyone. It didn't take long to pack our stuff since we had already changed rooms the day before and everything was mostly packed up. We had some time before our 10am checkout time so we decided to go have breakfast before checking out.

We went down to the kitchen and tried to eat most of what was left of the groceries we had purchased, including eggs, yogurt, an avocado, a baguette, and a grapefruit. It was well past 10am when I went to grab our bags to bring them down, and on my way out of our room I encountered some of the staff who were coming to move our stuff out of the room for us so they could clean it. We weren't that late… Anyway, it was no big deal.

Patty called the clinic in Taupo and it turns out that we are not infested with parasites after all! Yippee. Unfortunately, Patty’s urine sample appears to have been contaminated, so we’re thinking we’ll do another test, perhaps in Bali. We also tried calling our travel insurance company to extend our insurance for two extra months, but the sales department had already closed for the day, it being a Sunday in Canada. We’ll have to call them back in Bali.

Then, I talked with my parents for a couple minutes. My mom’s surgery is coming up in early April and she seems very excited about it. It’s unfortunate that we have such long waiting times in Canada for things that are sometimes very much needed. Patty talked with her parents after I was off Skype, and then we ate a quick lunch before heading out the door.

Our flight from Wellington to Auckland was leaving at 3pm and we left our hostel around 1pm. The bus ride was ridiculous: it was a ten minute ride and it was $9 each. Just a blatant money grab. We were pretty disgusted by that.

Wellington is a very beautiful city, though. It’s right on the ocean in a very hilly area. It was a nice ride.
We decided to fly from Wellington to Auckland mostly because of the amount of time we saved, but also because it was only about twice the price to fly as it was to take the bus! The bus is a 12-hour marathon, and the flight is a quick and easy one hour. It wasn't a tough call to make.

The airport is quite nice. We dropped off our bags and then Patty bought some MAC makeup from one of the kiosks we passed while going toward our gate. Oddly, there is security only at the gate, not a general security area that everyone passes through. This was new to us.

Our flight to Auckland was short and sweet. No sooner had we taken off than we were descending into Auckland. Fantastic! We had over seven hours to kill in the Auckland airport before our flight to Guangzhou, China so we spent most of it in the food court where we could access free wifi. Around dinner time we grabbed some Subway sandwiches. A little pricey, but that’s New Zealand.

With just over 2 hours before our flight was departing we checked in our bags. A very cute older man gave us some advice about booking onward flights from countries we would be visiting and then proceeded to upgrade our seats, though we weren't sure what he had done until we actually boarded the plane. We have no idea why he did it, but we were thankful!

Just before we went into security there was a large group of people standing around crying and hugging one young man. It was actually very emotional to watch. The young man must have been leaving for somewhere for a long time because almost every one of the 30 or so people gathered there was crying, young and old. We couldn't help but stop and stare. We never did find out what was going on though.

Once we were through security, we just found some seats by the restaurant area and waited for our boarding time. We were flying China Southern Airlines and when we boarded the airplane we confirmed our suspicion that the friendly man who had checked our luggage had upgraded our seats. We have never had so much leg room on a flight before. And considering it was an 11-hour flight, what a great time for an upgrade!

As on our way to New Zealand, we enjoyed our flight to Guangzhou, China. Our plane left Auckland at 11pm, so after eating a decent meal and watching the Bourne Identity, Patty passed out. I then watched the Bourne Ultimatum before trying to get to sleep. I didn't have much luck with sleeping on the plane, but Patty was out like a light. Hopefully I get some sleep at some point on this journey!