Thursday 10 March 2011
I must start with an apology for a lack of update, they are written but not necessarily updated as lack of internet connection.
Today worked out rather well to be fair, we had missed the sky tower yesterday so decided to do it this morning. It was one of those things you don’t really want to do but must as it’s like going to Paris and not going up the Eiffel Tower, i imagine the Aucklander’s feel the same as we do about the London Eye. Totally rubbish that is, over priced and not worth doing, for a tourist though it’s fantastic.
It had all the usual bits and bobs, the floor that was see thru with 37mm glass, a lift that rushed up in about 3 seconds, well perhaps 43 seconds. There was also the usual fake photograph standing against a green screen which made it look like you had been up the tower before you’d stepped foot in the lift. Needless to say we didn’t buy any. It was all rather plain up there, don’t get me wrong i enjoyed it, I would do it again, but only if next time my mother comes and agrees to do the jump off it! At the end of the day you are simply seeing a city from above and frankly if you put the skytower in Redhill tourists would flock and say wow! Ok there is no see in Redhill and a lot less white faces than in Auckland, ok that’s not true but i saw no teenage girls with buns in the oven.
I feel i have slagged off the sky tower, not my intention as it was great, we had a lovely drink up there and i took many photos (how many are now reading that sentence in chinese accent?). I guess what does it for me is its a once only thing, its not really sustainable should for instance the same tourists visit again and again, it’s a been there done that attraction, I’ve been there, done it and enjoyed it.
So we lunched obviously afterwards, quick salads and it was time to get a cab onto our next destination. I wasn’t in the least bit phased, after all i love a good natural disaster (in the nicest way possible) so going to Christchurch was an exciting thought. We got our cab and off we went to Auckland airport, arriving about 3 hours early (well 1 hour early) having had a rather interesting cab driver, not like the miserable types you get in the UK, but of the same ethnic background.
The flight was plain (ha ha aviation joke), although we did get offer a packet of crisps, so it beats easyjet. I am starting to sound incredibly prejudice of anyone not Caucasian, but anyway the guy sitting next to me had 3 mobile phones, hmmm interesting. We did land safely so the afar mention is semi irrelevant. Flight time was just over 1 hour.
Domestic flights in NZ are incredibly laid back, you waltz through security and that’s it nothing else, quick show of a boarding pass and bob’s your uncle. Next thing we know we are trotting down the stairs to meet Keith, at this point the excitement heightens. Those that know Keith will know his sense of humour is great, it matches mine very much and both He and Fiona are ever so kind too.
Well off we go to the hire desk, I had some pre arranged thing with Avis through booking the flight so went to pick up the little compact i had booked. Paperwork done, now to get the car, unfortunately it sounded like the guy in the car park was on lunch so we just got given what they had the keys to. Now what they had the keys to was a Ford Falcon XR6 and this car is not slow, it has an auto box on it and the speedo goes up to 240kph so i guess it can hit the 140mph mark. Well I have to behave, understanding that if you even think of speeding you may well be caught and castrated, so i behave. Keith guides us back to the motel where we are to stay the night and I park the beast up. Keith and Fiona had a friend Trevor staying, a lovely man from Wellington who has been working to help those effected by the quake.
So all of us had a lovely chicken dinner and a good chat about everything from the US to NZ and all that in between, although at around 8pm we were rudely interrupted by a 4.5 earthquake, but that was soon laughed off and back to the chatting it was. I must admit it was quite remarkable to feel an earthquake but really quite short and sweet. That was realy it for today, so Keith dropped us home and to bed we went. There was one more aftershock that night but nothing spectacular.