Goodbye Sydney, Hello Auckland!

The day finally arrived for us to fly out to New Zealand. We set our alarms for stupid o’clock so that we could drive to Sydney airport. We had umm’ed and arrr’ed over what was the best option for airport transfers and in the end, the best fit for us was to book into the P7 carpark via the Sydney Airport website. This was going to cost less than having to hire a car down, or to secure a shuttle, also cheaper overall than a taxi or Uber. The Emu Blue parking is cheaper but requires a shuttle bus to that carpark. Wanting to minimise the opportunity for stuff to go wrong, we stuck with the P7 parking that is a very short walk from international departures and arrivals.

Arriving with plenty of time to spare, I was looking forward to FINALLY being able to start reading my Radical Candor book that I had purchased over the Christmas break. Uni work and exams had gotten in the way of me being able to launch into the book, as I needed something to fill the void of the podcast going on hiatus. The book is everything I needed it to be and then some. I do still read the book in Kim Scott’s voice, which is fortunately kept in my head, but is amusing for me nonetheless.

We had flights booked with Air New Zealand but when it came time to board our flight, we could not see a branded Air NZ plane. Instead, our aircraft was all white. Alert but not alarmed, we boarded the plane and took to our individual seats (Mr Harrigan and I were not able to select seats on this flight and therefore were a few rows away from each other).

After our trip ended, I searched for some information about Hifly, and found an article about Air NZ leasing some planes off them while they resolve some mechanical issues with their own planes. While very happy that our plane took off and landed without an incident, it is worth noting for anyone booking a flight between Sydney and Auckland or Auckland and Perth through Air New Zealand that they may end up on a Hifly plane, which has limited entertainment options (approx 3 English movie options and movies cannot be paused) and a rather dated flight experience. Again, grateful that we did not experience any disasters, I would have been rather miffed if I had of shelled out for a first or business class seat, given the significant difference in the look and feel of the plane compared to an actual Air New Zealand plane.

Landing two hours into the future, we collected our bags and hit the Europcar stall. As proud tight-arses, we normally would have booked the smallest, cheapest car available. But given the amount of driving we were planning on doing, we took the advice of the travel agent man and booked the Nissan Qashqai (or similar). Lots of signatures and threat of several thousands dollars excess if any fault or at fault damage, we ventured outside and into the stinging Auckland sun to find our automobile. Right down the back of the lot sat our trusty stead, a Mitsubishi ASX. Excitedly, we opened the vehicle, only to be hit with what smelled like a dead animal, actually, more like an animal that had shat itself to death. I was instantly concerned that the stink of the car would permeate onto me… you know….like that Seinfeld episode with the stinky car. There were weird spray marks on the inside of the driver side door, passenger seat and marks all over the outside of the car. For a poor lil vehicle that had only done about 7,000 kms at this point, it had experienced a rather hard life! So with the threat of several thousands of dollars being due if the car is damaged, I undertook an impromptu photo shoot with the smelly car, to try to capture the extent of its “character”. Fortunately/unfortunately I was not able to capture the stench, and so my description will be the best I can give to you. I do believe that the stench was in fact a stale cigarette smell, not just a hint of someone may of had a sneaky smoke, but a two pack a day smoker chain smoking in the vehicle for an extended period of time. As we never found a carcass, this is all that we can assume.

The trip from the airport into Auckland was pretty painless. The thing that struck me about the drive was just how familiar everything was. It was like an ‘identikit’ of places I have been and seen, all put together – part Newcastle, part Sydney, part San Francisco. We had to GPS set to our motel, which the clever Mr Harrigan had booked prior to flying out (see my previous blog post). When we arrived at the Best Western President Hotel,  I was pretty judgey about the outside of the motel. It looked kinda old and tired, but was in a fantastic location, about half a block from the Sky Tower. The carpark is particularly snug, but it was off street and still attached to the motel. We jumped in the lift and headed to our room. As we got out of the lift on our floor, I was eating humble pie. It was so clean and fresh. I am not sure if it has been recently cleaned, or painted, but man, it looked good! Our room was on the front corner of the building, and I was a little worried at first about facing a busy CBD street but with the aircon on, I honestly could not hear a sound. The room was huge and featured a wonderful little kitchenette just in the entry to the room with kettle, microwave and fridge.

Friday evening in Auckland

By the time we checked into our hotel, it was mid afternoon and so we decided to make the most of the remaining day and hit the town. We started with heading up to the top of the Sky Tower to take in the city. I am not the biggest fan of heights, so the glass floor in the elevator and around the tower platform itself did not thrill me, but looking out to the city gave a new comer the opportunity to survey the lay of the land. Following this, we walked down to the viaduct and wharf. As it was a Friday afternoon, this place was going off! It felt like every person who works in the city was down here having a TGIF celebratory beverage, it felt so alive and just had an awesome vibe.

Stayed: Best Western President Hotel, 27-35 Victoria Street West, Auckland. Friendly staff, large, clean rooms, great, central location.

Ate: Andy’s Burgers & Bar for dinner – I had the Texas Beef Brisket burger and Mr H had the Chicken Burger and some wings. All were very good. Staff were amazing. I would eat here anytime based on the naturally friendly and attentive staff alone, but luckily the food is divine too.

Did: Traveled to the top of the Sky Tower. Yeah, I understand this is a tourist trap but it really does give you the most comprehensive view of Auckland and beyond. We purchased the sun and stars deal, so we got to view from the top during the day and then return that same night. Compared to Centrepoint Tower in Sydney and Stratosphere in Las Vegas, it was a relatively cheap activity.

View of Auckland Bridge from Sky Tower

Overall, my first impressions of New Zealand and Auckland are that it is a beautiful place that is familiar enough to feel safe and comfortable yet foreign enough to feel like you are away from home.