CHINARA S., MAHARA AVE, BIRKENHEAD, AUCKLAND 0626, VIA AIRBNB
Sydney: overcast
We were in Sydney on time, and I had had a bit of a sleep after the beef with fried rice, and The Words with Jeremy Irons and John Malkovitch, a couple of episodes of The Big Bang Theory.
After security and a random exam of me for explosive remains, there was an extra long wait for the further boarding pass to Auckland, which was with LAN on its way to Santiago de Chile. Had a bit of a surf on the internet and have managed to get most things ready for a quick pass through arrivals at AKL (otherwise I might have to wait an hour for the next bus connection).
Auckland: cloudy, warm, windy, drizzle in the evening, and rain at night
The airbus A340 from SYD was very quiet and had more a bit more legroom than the jumbo. Had a bit of an itch around the small of my back, the outer buttocks and upper legs, but the flight was over very quickly, as was the ham and cheese sandwich. Shot through passport control using the automatic system, and also through biosecurity because boots and chocolate didn't require an X-ray. As I was standing around the rather empty luggage carousel for our flight, noticed that my case was on the adjacent one, so grabbed it and headed for customs. Because the flight had been on time (only just, but they'd told us we'd landed at 14:05, which would have been half an hour earlier than schedule) I was able to catch the bus that I had envisaged, and was able to buy a ticket with my $50 note from the kiosk outside the terminal (later passengers were left in the queue with notes that large because the bus driver couldn't change). Changing buses in downtown was unproblematical, the only problem was getting off the suburban bus at the right stop, as the stops were not numbered according to plan.
Once off at the Highbury shops (fairly certain that this is where Tom and Cather took me for brunch in 2009, Tongue and Groove), the next task was to identify Chinara's abode at the address given. After a bit of asking around I found her at her next door neighbour’s and then set about carrying out my plan: get some details about the house and its rules, shower, get the laptop fired up, contact Tom and Rayna, settle everything for tomorrow night's talk. Chinara offered me some noodles, meatballs, beans and salad for dinner, together with a cold beer.
No electricity downstairs, but got Chinara to install a lead, am trying to charge the batteries that failed. Internet is a bit iffy, and my Skype test call was very broken up. Went down to the shops and got my own beer, and am now sitting in the lounge room with the diary and computer going at the same time.
Other inhabitants here are a little boy I., starting grade 6 tomorrow, and a Brazilian woman from Rio, Camila.