Goodbye New Zealand, Hello Australia

On Saturday I said my goodbyes to my roommate and dear friend Gabrielle, boarded a bus and headed for the Auckland Airport. I arrived 3 hours early to make sure that I wouldn't miss my flight to Sydney. I have been known to have airport travel drama so I wanted to allow extra time.

With me was my backpack, big suitcase and little suitcase. I went to check into my flight and the woman informed me that my bags were overweight. The weight limit was 20 kilograms. I had 13.5 K in one bag and 34 K in another. So I went to the scale and proceeded to repack them to balance them better. I figured I would just throw a couple items away and repack the remaining items. The fee per extra kilogram is $18.60 and I was willing to pay a little extra. I went back to the woman and now my bags were 16.5 K and 24.5 K. I thought it would alright but was shocked when she informed me that I was only allowed one 20 K bag. That meant I would have to pay over $350 extra!!! I explained to her that I had travelled internationally from the USA and was allowed to bring 2 bags at 20 kilograms each. She asked if I had proof and luckily I had kept my ticket from my previous flight. I went to the customer service desk and talked to the manager there. After 10 minutes of using my Midwest charm and batting my eyes, he agreed to waive the fees for me.

After checking in my bags, I proceeded to pay my $25 NZ tax and then got into the security line. Let me point out that during my repacking of bags, I had layered as many clothes on as possible to cut down on weight in my suitcases. By this time I had added two sweatshirts, a hat and a belt (keep this in mind because the belt shows up later in my story). At security I put all of my bags on the conveyor belt, took my hat off and the guy asked for me to take off my belt. I tried to get it off but it was stuck. Then he asked for me to step aside and a woman security agent would need to take a look. Well, silly old me hadn't even considered that wearing a belt that has bullet shell cases and a gun on it probably isn't the smartest idea at an international airport. The woman just took a look and nicely asked me not to wear the belt during my trip. I took the belt off and put it in my bag. I will post a picture once I have access to my computer. Duh!

I arrived at my gate with 25 minutes left to board. The flight was quick and at 5:50 PM I arrived in Sydney. I took a taxi to the Holiday Inn Potts Point and enjoyed a nice evening walking around and relaxing.

Today I went down to see the famous Sydney Opera House and Sydney Cove. The city is clean and there is great shopping and food. Unfortunately I am at capacity on my luggage so I will have to make a trip back just for shopping. Tuesday I fly to Albury and my friend, Nathan, who also worked for Oyster Bay is picking me up. Wednesday we move into our new house in Mount Beauty. I begin work for Annapurna Estate sometime next week or weekend.

As they say in Australia, no worries.