Tramping New Zealand

DAY 1 - Travel Travails

Things start well at the Amtrak Station, where it is decided that I actually will be permitted to use a suitcase with wheels on it as part of my luggage.  Dave and I each have a backpack in tow as well.  These will be used in the second half of the trip, on three of New Zealand's famous Great Walks.

While awaiting the train, a tiny oriental woman with limited English skills approaches and hands us her itinerary, which shows that she wants to go to Fresno; but her train is just disappearing from view.  Some relative or other really should have helped her out, and she probably cannot catch another ride before tomorrow.

We're just waiting for the doors to open

At Emeryville, just four train passengers hop onto a giant bus that takes us over the Bay Bridge to the Hyatt Regency, where we grab a ride on BART to the San Francisco Airport.

On board the bus

I had not seen the New Bay Bridge until now

As soon as we start moving, a guy with healthy lungs enters our car and announces that he is homeless and needs just seven dollars to have enough money for a room for the night.  Of course, this scam is immediately exposed by the fact that it cost the man $8.50 to get onto BART in the first place.  I guess he made a few bucks, though.

My very first ride on BART

So far, so good.  At the airport, the first hurdle is at hand.  Dave had purchased our airline tickets before I figured out that I could not find my passport and was compelled to have it replaced.  The new ID# is different, but the machine seems happy with the matching birth date; so my boarding passes are issued without complaint.

Now it's time for Hassle #1.  Unbeknownst to Dave in advance, we must pay an extra $150 each for our second luggage bag.  Bummer.  It seems that although Dave had made the arrangements through New Zealand Air, the actual flight will be on United Air Lines, where the rules are different.

Because Dave flies so frequently, we zip through security in "preferred" mode; we even get to keep our shoes on!  Mission accomplished, right?  Nope.  It's time for Hassle #2. 

The tickets are supposed include one window seat and one aisle seat; but now, one of them is in the middle, which is unacceptable.  Dave takes off down the hall and complains.  The clerk tells him that, "New Zealand Air can't give away our preferred seats!"  Dave responds, "But they sure can sell them".  Eventually, he sweet-talks the lady into issuing us two aisle seats, which is where I always want to be anyway.  Dave claims to have long-hated United, and I can see why.

SFO mural

Once we have boarded, Hassle #3 is upon us.  In order to accommodate a threesome from a connecting flight, departure will be delayed fifteen minutes.  The pilot assures us that we will arrive early anyway, which would prove to be yet another error. 

That's not our plane, I hope

The non-stop flight to Auckland takes 12 hours and 20 minutes, which is easily a record length for me.  Having departed at about 11 p.m., dinner is served at 1 a.m.  The entree of chicken in a bed of spinach is delicious; but as expected, I can eat only about half of it.  Still in the throes of recovery from the latest local virus, this is my first food in five days other than a bit of yogurt.  The breakfast meal is better, because it includes some more yogurt.  One cannot have too much of that.

Breakfast is coming shortly

At Auckland, we must deal with the BioSecurity Screening, because we have brought some dreaded hiking equipment into the country.  Although I had properly cleaned my boot soles, the attendant wipes the laces with a little cloth anyway.  Because Dave is wearing his boots, they seem to be exempt.  Our walking sticks also are checked; Dave's poles pass muster, and mine is brand-new.

Now we must tote our luggage along a painted green line for nearly half a mile to another terminal for the trip to Queenstown, for our entire visit will be spent down on the South Island.  As soon as we get over there, I promptly leave my pouch — the one with my driver's license, credit cards, and whatnot — in the restroom.  Discovering that fact within a couple of minutes, I rush back just in time to grab it as another guy is entering the stall.  That's Big Mistake #1; let there not be another one of those.

It's not over yet.  The delays at this airport were time-consuming, of course, yet unavoidable.  The aforementioned Hassle #3, however, has caused us to miss our connection.  It it is most fortunate, though, that we are delayed less than two hours.

My first view of New Zealand

We're supposed to hike in that?

I guess so

In Queenstown, our luggage is available to us almost as soon as we depart the plane.  They know how to do it right down here.  A shuttle takes us right to our hotel, where the clerk graciously declines to charge us another $55 for a roll-away bed.

Mission Accomplished, finally, in just 25 total hours including two plane flights, two train rides, and two bus rides.  Because it is only 3 p.m. here (21 hours ahead of Sacramento), there is time for a walk downtown, through the city park and straight into the big ice cream parlor for a well-earned treat.

View from the hotel

Queenstown lies on the shore of beautiful Lake Wakatipu

Practicing her high-lining technique

William Gilbert Rees (1827-1898) was an explorer, surveyor, and early settler in Central Otago, New Zealand.  He and fellow explorer Nicholas von Tunzelmann were the first Europeans to settle the Wakatipu Basin.  Rees is regarded as the founder of Queenstown.

William Gilbert Rees in the town square

Later, I discover that my recently purchased laptop has a defect that apparently is related to the touch-pad.  I won't even use one of those infernal things anyhow; but it nevertheless is causing the cursor to jump to random screen locations as I type.  This Hassle #4 is huge; because unless I can fix it, there will be no postings for any of my loyal followers to read, and I would consider that disastrous.

Being unable to figure out a way to disable the device, I attempt to research the problem on the Internet; but my access is terminated, the allotted bandwidth apparently having been reached — Hassle #5.  I will have to wait until tomorrow to try to resolve this most disturbing issue.

Meanwhile, because our room has a kitchenette, Dave is enjoying a home-cooked concoction of two lamb steaks with garlic on a giant bed of brussels sprouts, while I can only stare, green with... envy, having just a banana on my own plate.

I guess that it was a good day, though.  No luggage was misplaced, no passports were lost, and no planes landed in a river.