Down Under 2008

Welcome back to our blog. This year we will continue from where I left off last spring. We had a number of requests to continue the practice we started a few years ago. I will try to add to the blog every few days. The entries will include tourist items, such as places to visit, local customs, prices, weather, golf courses and maybe a few rants about things that seem wrong or difficult to understand.

I am writing this from Auckland this morning. We left Edmonton on January 3rd and spend 3 nights in Langley British Columbia. If you ever need to stay in Langley then I recommend the Coast Terrace Inn an Casino. Rooms are very nice and the casino is a decent size. The only fault I could find with the hotel was the quality of the food in the restaurant.

Vancouver was 7 degrees with clouds and rain. To me it is colder then Edmonton at -7. I once thought I would retire in BC and golf year round. It is not worth it. Who wants to play with rubber boots and get wet and dirty each time you hit your ball. No thanks you can have it.

Our fight this year took us to San Francisco with AC and then on to Auckland with Air NZ. The flight with AC was good to San Fran and their were no line ups or problems with customs and security.

This is our 8th trip down under and we have flown with a number of different airlines. We have used AC , Malaysia, JAL, Cathey Pacific, Singapore 3 times and now Air NZ. With out a doubt the Asian carriers are the best. Singapore is in a class by itself, then Malaysia with JAL and Cathey Pacific close together and then Air NZ with AC bring up the rear.

Air NZ had a new plane with a great entertainment system. The sound was good and the personal DVD player had a larger screen and lots of movies.

The food was ok, but they ran out of the dish I wanted so had to take what they gave me. The wine was excellent with at least 3 whites and 3 reds.

It took 12.5 hrs and went not too badly. Seats are too close together for my liking. The total time from Vancouver was 17.5 hrs. This is about the same as going form Vancouver to Singapore.

A few people thought about taking the Premium Economy but from what I saw it was not worth the extra $1900 per person. Leg room was better but that was about all I could see. Save the $1900 and use it for tours, and entertainment.

Arrival was a little different. They had sirens going off and they evacuated us to the runway from the customs hall. When it was safe we had to go back in and line up again to clear customs. They are just as strict as the Aussies regarding food and sporting goods. So make sure you do not bring any food into the country and make sure you clean your golf clubs, shoes and golf balls before leaving home.

You can check bags at the airport for $7 a day per bag.

We phoned Warren our car rental fellow and he picked us up at gate 6 after about 15 minutes. While waiting for Warren I used an ATM at door 8 to get some NZ dollars. It was a short ride to his place and then we were on our way.

I noticed a number of Airport bus going and coming. They claim to get you downtown in 20 minutes. Check it out before taking a cab. Warren did mention that cabs were very in expensive.

We are living only about 15 minutes from the airport in a very nice district with lots of shops and restaurants. It's very close to downtown.

Checked out a few prices for those that are stopping in NZ this year. Petrol is $1.76 cents a litre. Beer is about the same price as home and a decent wine can be found for 10 to 15 dollars. Thai restaurants run $10 a dish in normal diner and $22 at a more up scale place. Fish and Chips for Snapper is about $8, and good restaurant has mains from $22 to $33. GST and tips are built in. We had a breakfast, good quality for $12 this morning.

Today at lunch the temperature was 24 and overcast. It is very pleasant and a real treat after the snow and cold in Canada.

Will go to the grocery store later today so I will have a few more prices for you. Remember their dollar is worth about 76 cents and everything is metric. When purchasing fruit and veggies the price will look very high because you are getting a price for 2.2 pounds not one pound like in Canada.

Driving on the left came back to me right away and I did not turn on my window wipers by mistake yet.

Remember to look to the right when crossing the street and automobiles have the right away unless the cross walk is posted.

I will not have a computer for all my stay this year and that may limit the number of times I can get new material posted to the blog.