Chapter 4

Trip Day 19 - #2

February 25, 2010
Aboard Qantas 56, AKL-SY
Chapter 4 begins.

We'll arrive in Sydney in an hour and a half. I've had the first semi-serious wrinkle happen. Involved my baggage. I booked the AKL-SYD flight separately from the international and the internal Australian legs. That queered everything. I was told it would cost an additional $200 for my second bag. The agent then looked at the rest of my itinerary, saw it was pretty extensive on Qantas and asked for some help. They excused the fee, but he warned me that I could expect trouble on the other legs. I've sent an email to my travel agent to see if she can help. Maybe, maybe not. We used to joke about the Delta department whose mission was to develop policies that would piss off customers. Guess Qantas has one, too.
So some thoughts about what I've just experienced:

• It's good to be in a place that's not a target. As I've mentioned before, the atmosphere in airports is much more relaxed. Security people are vigilant, but have a naturally different perspective. It's palpable to a yank.
  
• My perhaps unkind reference to Kiwis as a whole as not being particularly distinctive looking is overshadowed by their friendliness and warmth. I still wish I had a picture of the shoes, though. One of the flight attendants on the Queenstown to Auckland flight had some on. Long thin toe boxes that turn up at the toes…think Santa's elves. Maybe the Aussies wear them, too. One can always hope.


• NZ has 4 million people and about 3 million reside on the north island. Imagine what that means for the south island nearly 1000 kilometers long. Want to get away from people?


• I didn't have a truly memorable meal. Memorable beers and wines, yes, but not cuisine. The worst was a lamb dish described in the menu as: shredded, spiced and compressed. And breaded. It presented as something resembling a narrow bar of soap. [Actually, I didn't have it, but several of my hiking friends did. Not much of it got eaten.] Meats were offered braised, slow roasted and/or crusted. The closest to grilled was pan-fried. I had a pan-fried 'Hereford' [They're outnumbered, I think, I think by Angus, but make for good eating] porterhouse last night that was pretty good, but still didn't measure up to what I think most of us would expect. I did eat some seafood but it, too, lacked distinction. Vegetables were good. Fresh, as they should be, but not very much in evidence.


• Signs. There were some memorable ones and I've got the pictures to prove it. My favorite was a type of sign…the license plate in Wellington reproduced here despite having included it earlier. But then there were the billboards that read: "Drink-DrIvE"; the wonderful place that had all the essentials; the names of bridges, culverts and streams: Gout Creek, Imp Grotto Bridge; Solitude #2 Bridge (don't you just wonder where #1 is?); Prospector Flat Culvert; a shop that had an interesting business plan . Like beer? Me too:
  And then there's my favorite representative of that wonderful food group known as crisps:
  . Eat your heart out Frito Lay!


• I've already written about the outdoors culture. There's no surprise there, it's just a fact. One could spend a lifetime taking a drives to trail heads and going for walks, never doing the same one twice.
  
• The extravagant scenery (Mounts Tasman and Cook) and unforgettable skies both day and night. My friend Dana shot all three of these...she's getting good with that Canon Rebel. This was sunset on the Tasman Sea: And here're some cirrus clouds the likes I've never seen before. Note the two distinct patterns and directions. Must be at least two layers with winds about 90 degrees to each other.

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