Color-coded travellers! This was totally unintentional - neither of us knew what the other would be wearing as we spent our last nights in different places!
There were four legs to our journey - CT to Joburg, then Joburg to Perth on SAA, followed by Perth to Auckland and Auckland to Welly on Air NZ. For any SAfers flying this route, all I can say is that SAA has gone to the dogs - lousy food, unfriendly staff, tatty airplanes, very poor movie choices - in fact, Livi's TV screen was broken and we told three different people, all of whom brushed us off with a quick 'we'll look into that just now, it probably needs to be reset' - but it stayed broken the whole flight. SAA used to be very, very good but not any more. But Air NZ was absolutely stunning: beautiful, clean, up-to-date planes, warm and friendly staff, excellent meals (not served on plastic plates!), fantastic choices of movies and TV programmes and interactive games etc - and when the TV screen futzed out once, it was reset within three minutes and no more problems. We had a 7 hour layover in Perth, and the Aussies were great! One staff member collected all the passengers transiting to Auckland, checked us through and saw us safely into the transit lounge - no transit visas required! Livi kept herself busy with emergency nail repairs, sleeping, window-shopping and listening to music.
Doing nails in Joburg ...
Sleeping in Perth ...
We landed in Auckland at 5.15 am Sunday and cleared customs and passport control with absolutely no problems at all, then flew the last leg to Welly in a state of almost drunken euphoria - jetlagged after nearly 36 hours en route, unable to believe that the beautiful land beneath us was really and truly the New Zealand we'd been looking at pictures of for so long. 
The wonderful Air New Zealand plane out of Perth ...
And Wellington!!! It really IS the most amazingly beautiful city! On the shuttle to the hotel, I kept seeing things I'd spotted on Google Street View! The weather was amazing - sunny, light breeze, water twinkling in the sunlight ... but as soon as we got into our rooms, we hit the sheets and slept most of the next twenty-four hours!
Monday only served to confirm what we'd seen so far. Bank accounts validated within minutes and what fantastic deals and service we got from Westpac! We walked all over the place, drank iced coffees, explored the ins and outs of Lambton Quay and Frank Kitts Park, then discovered the Willis Str New World market and shopped for dinner. I guess last night I was still a bit hyped, couldn't get to sleep - and then at 4 AM, we were awakened by the most awful screeching siren - the hotel fire alarm going off! When I finally figured out what it was, we joined all the other residents staggering down the fire escape in various states of dress/undress (I even managed to grab my bag with keys, camera, passports and wallet - yay, go me! LOL!). Within three or four minutes, no less than FOUR huge fire trucks roared up and we watched as they sprang into action ... even though there was no sign of any fire. We later learned that they found a melted down lamp in the reception area ... so it could have been very nasty had it blazed up and spread, but kudos to the fire alarm system and the Welly fire guys who were amazingly calm and efficient.
4 am in Willis Street ... lots of sleepy folk and a few hunky fire guys!!
2 comments:
So many thoughts are going through my mind as I read your words and look at your pics.
1. Just look at my brave, beautiful friends!!! Seriously! You guys are such an inspiration, all three of you.
2. Perth!!!!
3. Whoo hoo! Hot fire guys!
Hey honey!!
Yeah, Perth!! ;-( I have more pix ... and as we took off and landed, all sorts of thoughts were right up front there in my mind. It's hot and dry and bushy outside - real Aussie kind of place!
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