Sunday 15th June
We were up by 05.00, and got ourselves ready in the dark of the early morning. Mum & Dad and I were flying from Brisbane to Auckland on two separate flights, with my Qantas flight leaving about twenty minutes later than their Air New Zealand flight. Marie-Therese and Seamus drove us to the airport and we said our goodbyes before checking onto our flights. It had been really nice to spend some time with everyone and I left with the hope that I would see them in Australia sometime in the not too distant future.
Brisbane Airport was jammed with people that morning, and the queues for immigration were crazy, with two long lines snaking their way from the check-in desks to the immigration counters downstairs. I boarded my flight about ten minutes before it was due to take off, which we did close enough to the schedule departure. The flight itself took about three and a half hours and we landed into a cloudy Auckland, flying over the islands and inlets that surround this city by the sea. There was no sign of Mum & Dad on the other side, despite the fact that they were due to land earlier than me. It turned out their flight had taken off later than mine, and they had also been delayed getting through customs.
After we were reunited, we got into the rental car and drove into Auckland to our rented accommodation at Prince's Wharf, located right in the city centre by the quay. There was a terrific view of the city and we even had a French naval ship dock below the window of the apartment. We had a good dinner at an Italian restaurant near the apartment but all of us were battling to stay awake, and it wasn't long before we were back in the apartment and heading for bed.
