Auckland, New Zealand..
25 degrees c and clear skies in Auckland as the Airbus bounces along the runway. Local time here is 2pm Friday. Body clock time, something like 11pm Thursday. Formalities at the immigration are quick and efficient, in my case anyway - a 6 month visa stamp in the passport. Baggage collection, then it's a queue for 45 minutes as customs check and interrogate passengers on the contents of their luggage. another x-ray, a customs dog bounds up to a passenger excitedly sniffing around their bags - trouble for someone!
Instructions to Fat Cats are to get the airport bus to downtown then the train to Sunny vale. Chap in the ticket booth suggests getting bus 01 and getting off at Mount Eden railway station, catching the train from there will be a little cheaper. A good plan, and the bus rolls up 20 minutes later. Jumping on with my $16.50 one way ticket to Mount Eden, that's about ￡9 for the 50 minute ride.
Mount Eden station consists of a ticket machine and a passenger shelter. It's quiet, only about 3 passengers getting on the waiting train. $5.60, about ￡2.70 to Sunnyvale, but I'm going nowhere yet as the train starts to pull away. The Machine has no change, I don't have the exact money so no ticket! Credit card to the rescue though - yes, I can use my card to purchase a ticket, thankfully. 9 stops to Sunny Vale, about 35 minutes I would think. Next train in 10 minutes says the electronic scoreboard.
30 minutes to Sunnyvale on a spotlessly clean Kiwi train. Quite a few passengers making the journey out to suburban Auckland on this warm and sunny Friday afternoon - warm from my perspective having arrived from 33c, but pretty hot for the locals! Another quiet station in suburbia as the train rolls to a stop and a handful of us get out.
Following the directions carefully, back towards Auckland, cross the railway and along a minor road. A camper van stops, the girl asks me if I'm going to Fat Cats, of course where else would a backpacker on this road be going!
25 degrees c and clear skies in Auckland as the Airbus bounces along the runway. Local time here is 2pm Friday. Body clock time, something like 11pm Thursday. Formalities at the immigration are quick and efficient, in my case anyway - a 6 month visa stamp in the passport. Baggage collection, then it's a queue for 45 minutes as customs check and interrogate passengers on the contents of their luggage. another x-ray, a customs dog bounds up to a passenger excitedly sniffing around their bags - trouble for someone!
Instructions to Fat Cats are to get the airport bus to downtown then the train to Sunny vale. Chap in the ticket booth suggests getting bus 01 and getting off at Mount Eden railway station, catching the train from there will be a little cheaper. A good plan, and the bus rolls up 20 minutes later. Jumping on with my $16.50 one way ticket to Mount Eden, that's about ￡9 for the 50 minute ride.
Mount Eden station consists of a ticket machine and a passenger shelter. It's quiet, only about 3 passengers getting on the waiting train. $5.60, about ￡2.70 to Sunnyvale, but I'm going nowhere yet as the train starts to pull away. The Machine has no change, I don't have the exact money so no ticket! Credit card to the rescue though - yes, I can use my card to purchase a ticket, thankfully. 9 stops to Sunny Vale, about 35 minutes I would think. Next train in 10 minutes says the electronic scoreboard.
30 minutes to Sunnyvale on a spotlessly clean Kiwi train. Quite a few passengers making the journey out to suburban Auckland on this warm and sunny Friday afternoon - warm from my perspective having arrived from 33c, but pretty hot for the locals! Another quiet station in suburbia as the train rolls to a stop and a handful of us get out.
Following the directions carefully, back towards Auckland, cross the railway and along a minor road. A camper van stops, the girl asks me if I'm going to Fat Cats, of course where else would a backpacker on this road be going!
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