New Zealand (D1)

I’m in New Zealand at the moment for work so I thought I’d post an update for you.

My boy dropped me off at the airport at 5pm last night, on the way home from a fun weekend with friends. There was no traffic so I got to the airport fairly quickly. It was surprisingly dead at the Brisbane International Airport – being a Sunday afternoon and all, I thought a lot of people would be coming in or flying out to other countries… but there were only 2 others in the line in front of me at check-in.

By 5:30pm I was through customs and waiting in a fairly empty terminal for a 7pm plane. Luckily I had plenty to do – magazines, the lappy and the MP3/video player. Time flew by, but I soon realised I was hungry The Brisbane International Airport finally has some food options on the *other* side of Customs – but The Coffee Club is… well, it’s the Coffee Club, haha.

We boarded on time & early and were up in the air in no time! I took advantage of the food trolley when it came by, buying the traditional ‘cheese & crackers’ (that my boy & I always get ), a blueberry muffin and some Pringles. It was a quick flight thanks to the tailwind and we arrived in Auckland airport about 30 minutes early.

Customs and baggage was also quick (everything’s been quick lately ) and I was soon into the main concourse using the courtesy phone to call the hotel’s 24/7 shuttle bus. I headed outside (mind you, it’s now 1am on Monday morning in Auckland – they’re 3 hours ahead of Brisbane)… and was surprised at how cold it was (but I like cold, so all good ).

While I was waiting for the bus, I felt a tiny vibration in my hand – coming from my suitcase. This is odd?! Oh, I betcha I know what it is! So I opened my bag and just as I’d guessed – my electric toothbrush… cleaning the inside of my toiletries bag for the last 3 hours. Needless to say it was sounding a bit sick and has almost run out of charge, LOL.

Unfortunately, as I was going through my suitcase outside to find and turn off my toothbrush my shuttle bus went past. Actually, I think it had been parked across the road – but it was dark, I wasn’t wearing my glasses (yes, I have glasses for viewing things in the distance ) and I was going through my suitcase at the time. Thankfully the hotel’s only 5 minutes from the airport, so while the bus had left, I just wandered back inside to use the courtesy phone (again) All good; another shuttle arrived a few minutes later.

I checked in and finally got to bed at around 2:30am. A nice, new hotel room too – there was even that “new paint” smell (thankfully not too powerful ). At 7:30am, my requested wake-up call came from reception and I had a shower, breakfast and my NZ boss picked me up at 9am.

I had a great day at work – getting heaps done on our software screens and enjoyed a nice lunch with the boss and some of the staff at the local Westfield (a few minutes walk from work). I’m currently sitting on Rob’s couch (I’m staying with Rob & his wife for the week; they’re great) blogging and a lovely roast dinner is ready, so I’d better go. Talk soon

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