It took over three hours to clear the airport terminal and board the shuttle for Auckland, such were the rigorous checks of our passports and baggage upon arrival. Understandable really when some innoculously imported nasty could decimate the farming based part of the economy, but at least we got our walking boots cleaned for free!
The shuttle dropped us off at the City YHA,, just off Queen Street, and soon we were heading off to re-acquaint ourselves with the 'City of Sails'. Little had seemed to have changed in the preceeding three years and we were surprised at just how well we remembered the city. At $2 an hour, the internet was almost as cheap as Bolivia and it was just as well because, after a visit to the art gallery and cinema, we spent what seemed like the remainder of our stay wandering up and down Queen Street and emailing. At least all the walking would be slowly building our fittness for the treks we'd planned during our stay in New Zealand.
On the day we were due to leave, time was getting short and the taxi had failed to turn up - half an hour after it was supposed to take us to the train station. After a couple of calls to the cab firm, we called another and waited for one to arrive. A taxi pulled up outside the 'Y' and, as we were pulling away, the cab from the first firm arrived, the driver scanning the by now empty pavement for a fare that was no longer there.
'That'll teach you, you lazy git' I thought, relaxing back into the seat, safe in the knowledge that we'd made the train - if there were no more hold-ups. Oh how the fickle hand of fate can deals you some truly crap cards at times. Apparently, we'd been blessed with a driver who's grip on the English language was minimal and thought, in our pannicked state, we'd prefer to go to the semi-decommissioned 'old' station for an overpriced beverage rather than the 'new' one which has all the trains.
After tearing across town from one station to the other, we burst into the 'right' station, bounded down the stairs to the platform, hurried along the line of coaches with various unidentified sharp protrubences in our bags denting my shins with every step, and collapsed, panting, into our seats. Phew! - and not a moment too soon as a mere ten minutes later, we began our journey aboard the Tranz Scenic to National Park.
charlie
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