New Zealand

I was a lot happier after my full-day tour of Easter Island on Wednesday. We got to see a lot of moai and got plenty of exercise in the sun. Toward the end of the tour, we stopped for an hour at the island's only beach, but the hotel owner hadn't told me anything about the tour so I was completely unprepared. I would have loved to go in, it had been a hot, sweaty day.

I flew back to Santiago in economy, but with the onward connection to Auckland in business, I could spend a few hours in the airport lounge. It was nice to have some functioning wi-fi again. We did get a hot meal on the flight from Easter Island, but it was nice to have some free snacks and drinks in the lounge too. 

The 13-hour flight to Auckland was fine. I watched the latest Star Wars movie, which I found rather disappointing. It not only revived most of the original actors, it also rehashed old themes. I've clearly outgrown this franchise. I love that the Boeing 787 has individual air-conditioning. I always feel warm and uncomfortable on long-haul flights where you can't control the temperature, but not so in this case. The food was OK, but they didn't have my favourite wine Shiraz on board, despite it being promoted on the menu. Breakfast was a little disappointing. The only hot options were omelette or scrambled eggs. No bacon, no sausage, and one tiny bread roll with no condiments. I did like the fresh fruit but wish the yoghurt had been flavoured.

We arrived in Auckland at 5 am on Saturday morning. Of course I couldn't get into my room so early, but I'd booked a single room with shared bath at a hostel so they did let me have a shower, which was nice. I then headed out on the hop on, hop off tour. NZ$45 for one day on two circuits, about an hour each. I got to see some places I didn't see on my last visit, and the weather was predominantly sunny. I especially enjoyed the view from the top of Mount Eden. At the end of the day, I was very happy to get my head down.

Today is Easter Sunday, and I've already been warned that all shops will be closed. I wanted to get a day ticket for the public transport in Auckland but have thrown in the towel. First you have to buy one of those wretched plastic cards that are now the norm pretty much everywhere you go. The card costs NZ$10, which you DO NOT get back if you return it! So that money is gone for ever. A day ticket then costs NZ$16, which is more than you pay for London zone 1-2 with Oyster! And the deposit for the Oyster card is refundable. In fact, NZ is pretty much on the UK level, price-wise, sometimes even more expensive. Haven't checked the price of a Big Mac yet, but will let you know. Anyway, you can also buy single tickets with cash, so I'll select a couple of destinations to visit today. I also want to take a ferry to somewhere, maybe Rangitoto island.

But there are definite signs that I am back in civilisation! Everyone speaks English, of course, and my mobile phone not only has reception, but it also tells me which street I'm on! Never seen that before on my old Nokia! There's also plenty of fresh milk in the supermarkets, something that was challenging to find especially in Chile, and the wi-fi in the hostel is really good. Also, there is plenty of printed information for tourists, something that was lacking in South America, as well as detailed and informative web sites.

I was in Auckland around six years ago, so I know there isn't a great deal to see or do around here. It can all be done in two days. Despite being New Zealand's biggest city with 1.5 million inhabitants, it does not feel like Stockholm or Amsterdam with similar population. The weather forecast for today is 24 degrees and 94% humidity...

Shortly after I started on this trip, I got an email from my credit card issuer about fraudulent activity. So I called them and they cancelled my card. They were going to send out a new one, so I gave them my address in Easter Island, but the card never arrived. I called them again and told them I'm moving around every few days so it's difficult to give them another address. They said they could send it to a British High Commission as an alternative, so I asked them to send it to Wellington. If all goes well, it should be there after the Easter weekend. The customer service people couldn't send me an email to confirm or give me a DHL tracking number, which I find extremely poor, and the only contact is by phone, which is costing me a small fortune by now. This kind of thing must happen quite a lot and they really don't have a good system in place to deal with it quickly and smoothly. 

So tomorrow morning, I'm taking the Northern Explorer train down to the Kiwi capital.  It's a 10-hour trip through the interior of the North Island, and the views are supposed to be spectacular. On my last visit, I drove a campervan along a similar route, so this time I hope to be able enjoy the scenery and take some photos instead of staring at the tarmac. 

Once I have my new credit card, I can start planning for the rest of my stay in Aotearoa. I was agonising how to spend my time on the North Island, but with the credit card situation, I just have to get down to Wellington as soon as possible, so that kind of solved my dilemma. I already visited Rotorua, center of maori culture in NZ, and the Waitomo glowworm caves on my first visit. I am not a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, so I don't mind missing Hobbiton. There are however a number of places I would like to visit on the North Island, but they really require a car and I've decided not to rent one this time. Guess that means I'll have to come back to NZ again then! I've been to Wellington before as well, so no point hanging around longer than necessary. Instead, I'll focus on the South Island. I'm loosely planning three weeks in NZ, and then two weeks in Australia to finish off this adventure. I would be quite happy to find a nice scenic spot and spend a week in one place. I've heard a lot about Queenstown, and it's also a good base for excursions.