Tuesday 10th April - The Long Road Home

We woke up to find a message on our email telling us that or flight from Nadi in Fiji to LA had been cancelled. This was due to the fact that TD13F had morphed into Cyclone Keni  and was battering Fiji, closing the Nadi airport. Fortunately, our incredible tour operator, Aspire Down Under had spotted this and managed to re-book our flights home via Honolulu. The new flight would lave at 2055 this evening, giving us an extra day in Auckland. We called the hotel but they could not give us a late check out so we had breakfast and checked out storing our baggage at the hotel to pick up later. It was a rather changeable day with heavy thundery showers interspersed with sunny intervals. 

So we decided that the best way to spend the day would be on the hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the city. We signed up with the tour which is divided into two parts, red and blue. We started on the red tour which took us to the south to Bastion point where there is a monument to the first Labor Prime Minister of the country, Joseph Savage. Here the rain was very heavy and the wind strong so we could not get off the bus. 
The Savage Memorial
We continued the tour up through Parnell until we reached the War Memorial Museum which we had visited before. Here we were able to transfer to the Blue tour which took us up to Eden Park and also to Mount Eden where we had hoped to get off but the bus did not stop long enough to get off which, in view of the weather was probably a good thing. We continued on past the Zoo and eventually got off at the Museum  of Transport and Technology (MOTAT). This is an interesting place which is divided into two parts. The first part has an old pump house with the old steam pumping machinery as well as some other exhibits such as the history of cycling in NZ and the adventures of Sir Edmund Hillary in Antarctica. 
We took an old vintage tram to the second part of the museum which houses the military and aeronautical exhibits. The tram went along the side of the road and the tracks were occupied by a flock of geese who is ignored our presence but eventually wandered out of our path. 

The vintage tram at MOTAT


The huge pumping machinery in the Pump House which forms the hub of MOTAT. This machinery was the source of water distribution in Auckland.
At the second part of MOTAT there is a large collection of aircraft, most of them very old and including a Lancaster bomber, Sunderland Flying Boat, DH Dragon Rapide, Mosquito and many small biplanes and a couple of later jet fighters. 

The mighty WWll Lancaster bomber


The huge Sunderland flying boat





A selection of the many airplanes on display at MOTAT.
A DH Dragon Rapide - this was the type of plane in which I first flew many years ago at Croydon Aiport in UK.
After viewing this exhibit we took the tram back to Part 1, saw some more of that and had a snack and then made for the hop-on-hop-off  bus to return to the War Memorial Museum and transfer to the Red Bus to conclude the tour. 
The Auckland War Memorial Museum
This brought us back to the vicinity of the hotel. We made a quick detour to an ice cream parlor and then to a souvenir shop to buy a souvenir 'All Blacks' duck and then waited in the hotel for our transfer to the airport scheduled for 6 pm. The Super Shuttle arrived a bit late but got us to the airport by 7 pm. Check in and other formalities were very quick and efficient an despite a bit of a scare about losing a bag at security we were soon at the gate. Boarding was quick but then things took a turn for the worse. Some connecting passengers from Nelson were delayed and in the time it took waiting for them, the wind increased to 90 km/hour and garbage started to blow across the runway and the airport was closed, leaving us sitting on the ground in the aircraft being buffeted about as if we were in turbulence in the air. The amount of delay could be two hours or more. 

The plane was rocking in the high winds as if in turbulence in flight. Rain clattered against the windows. The pilot told us that some refuse from the airport had been blown onto the runway making it dangerous for planes to fly for fear of them sacking this detritus into their engines. In addition one runway lights had been damaged and it was too dangerous to get them fixed and too dangerous to fly without them. This would have been a good time to save dinner. However, the pilot was anxious not to have trolleys in the aisles or trays on tray tables lest ATC gave him a short notice go ahead to take off. As a consequence of this all the dinners on board spoiled and could not be served. Perhaps easy to second guess the pilot's decision but that was how it was. At about 2 am we got the go ahead to take off and were in the air around 2.15 am. Breakfast was served at about 3.30 am!!! Still, everyone was hungry so they didn't seem to mind. 

The flight was generally smooth save for one rather rough part, perhaps in the vicinity of Cyclone Keni. We landed at Honolulu at 12.30 am local time. Honolulu airport is underwhelming and unimpressive. Coming from Auckland, it was a rude shock. The buildings look shabby both inside and out. There is a dearth of signs or directions. Much of the airport is not a conditioned. The food selection is very poor and even the Visitor Information desk was unmanned. Frankly, this resembled an airport in a poor Asian country. The gate lounge was air conditioned which was a relief. We bought a couple of salads and ate those while awaiting boarding, this avoided having to buy it on board the plane. United Airlines now has a Mickey Mouse entertainment system in board and does not serve free meals, even on flights over 8 hours as this one would be. The flight time from Honolulu was 8 hours and 50 minutes getting us into EWR at about 6.30 am. 
Boarding for the flight to Newark was quick and the flight left on time. 

The plane managed to pick up some time en route and arrived At Newark Liberty International at 6.15 a.m. about 30 minutes early.

A NJ cab managed to get us through the morning rush Holland Tunnel reasonably quickly and we were home before 8 a.m.

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