THE LONGEST "DAY": MOOREA TO ROTORUA (NEW ZEALAND)

∙ I depart from my usual format to describe what has to be the longest “day” of my life to date . . . and, in fact, spans three dates on the calendar (February 19 to 21, 2012) and a true “day” which has lasted 38 hours, and counting . . .
          ∙ 10 a.m. February 19 (Last Look at Moorea):  We awoke in Moorea, French Polynesia to pack for our 11 a.m check-out.  From there, we encircled the island by car for a “last look” before departing the tropical oasis.  We stopped for another Polynesian (lunch) buffet, at Pineapple Beach, before heading to the pier to board the 2:40 pm ferry back to Papeete.  It was the last ferry off the island since it was Sunday.

 
          ∙ 3:30 p.m. February 19 (Papeete to Auckland):  In the latest installment of “small world”, we hopped in a van headed to the Papeete airport with another couple – who were also from San Diego!  It was their own private taxi van, and they let us ride along.  Nice.  We got there 2 hours ahead of our 5:30 p.m. flight to Auckland, New Zealand.  Perfect.  I dreaded the 2-hour wait, followed by a 6-hour flight (8 hours without a cigarette).  My fears were for naught – this airport, as with everything in French Polynesia, is all outdoors.  So they had a bar, right next to a set of chairs, right next to the gate!  Awe-some!!  Bill and I sat there, drinking a Tahitian rum punch, while I (and others) smoked freely and happily!  What a great place!  And the non-smokers didn’t care, because it was all outdoors.  The flight itself was amazing.  We were onboard New Zealand Air, my new favorite airline!  The plane was huge, with two aisles.  The plane was new and as modern as could be.  They had in-flight entertainment, with good-sized seat-back screens and options for movies, TV programs, music, games, destination videos and flight information.  Each unit came with is own remote control, with game controllers!  They gave us (airplane) pillows and blankets – not the usual thin airplane ones, but real blankets.  They served dinner, drinks and wine (in wine glasses, made of glass).  They even came along to refill our wine glasses during dinner!  The flight attendants wore nice, formal suits.  It was like I’d been beamed back in time to the day when air travel was “special”.  Oh, and they didn’t charge extra for anything – not even the drinks, movies or checked baggage!!  The two flights (6 hours from Papeete to New Zealand, and 3.5 hours from New Zealand to Australia, cost $930 each – booked last-minute.  It was well worth the money!)  Hey, America – could we learn, please?!

 
          ∙ 5:30 p.m. February 19 to 10:30 p.m. February 20:  Our travel time was only about 6 hours, but because of the International Date Line, the date automatically “flipped” from February 19 in Tahiti to February 20 in New Zealand (and it was an hour earlier in New Zealand).  By the time we cleared customs and got our rental car, it was about 11:30 p.m. to 12 a.m.
          ∙ 12 am to 1 am February 21 (Adventures in Driving; Hotel Locked Down):  When we got to New Zealand, we learned that they drive on the left!  The steering reel is on the right.  The turn signal is on the right.  Oh my!  We headed off, en route to our hotel (“Auckland’s Waitakere Estate”), which I had found on Expedia.  Bill drove at first.  To add to the challenge of driving at night, in a strange country, in a new vehicle, on the left, it decided to pour down rain.  The deluge made it difficult, at best, to see where we were going.  Bill did great, but didn’t like driving here.  So I took over.  Fortunately, the rain let up.  Our hotel was about 40 minutes out of town, in a rainforest.  I headed up the narrow mountain road and finally reached the hotel.  But it was dark, and there was no lighted entrance – only a turn-in to a iron car gate that was closed.  A sign gave a number to call to “schedule an appointment to enter”.  What?!  Bill got out of the car to open it, and we headed down a narrow road that was paved, but harrowing since there was a mountain on the right and trees and a cliff/drop-off on the left.  There were no lights other than our headlights.  We kept on going until we reached another gate, this one a large entrance gate.  But it was padlocked!  See photos.  We sat there for a moment, wondering how we were going to get out of there.  Sleep in our car?  Back all the way up the hill?  Yikes!  I ended up backing the car a ways until I got to an area in the road that was just wide enough to turn around.  Whew.  We located a casino on the GPS (Skycity) and started looking for another hotel, since the one I booked wasn’t going to work.  (Expedia helped by calling the owner.  He agreed to cancel our 2nd and 3rd nights, but not to refund the cost of the 1st.  Yes, he will . . . .)

 
          ∙ About 2-2:30 a.m. February 21:  We pulled into the Skycity Grand Hotel in downtown Auckland.  When we told the men what happened, they were kind and apologetic and tried very hard to help us.  They called our hotel, who told them we had to check in by 8 p.m., and we could not check in until the next day.  We were not told about this and would not have booked this hotel had we known.  Our plane didn’t even arrive until 10:30 p.m.  Besides, what kind of hotel doesn’t keep someone there to admit late arrivers, and then padlocks its gates so you can’t leave at night (even if there’s a fire)?!  The Skycity Grand desk called 24 hotels in the area, trying to get us a room, but Roger Waters (from Pink Floyd) was in town doing a series of concerts, and the city’s hotels were all booked.  They were so kind, apologetic and kept emphasizing that Auckland usually isn’t “like this”.  We were still “out of luck”.
          ∙ App. 2:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. February 21:  We decided to hang out at the casino (Skycity) until morning, since we were “homeless” for the night.  It was a long night, and we were getting really tired.  We returned to get our car from the Grand Hotel, and they suggested we go to Rotorua, 3 hours away.  They said we could find hotels there, and it was a tourist area.
          ∙ App. 5 a.m. to app. 11 a.m. February 21 (New Zealand Countryside):  We drove along the New Zealand countryside at daybreak, with its rolling green hills – and cows and sheep – and more cows and more sheep!  It was a beautiful drive, though difficult since we were so tired.  We stopped a bunch of times along the way to take photos and get air to stay awake.  We even stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast.  We found the town, gathered some tourist information and then found a hotel!  Hall-e-lu-jah!

          ∙ App. 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. February 21:  We took a glorious 4-hour “nap” and awoke with most of the day already gone.  We have two days (February 21 and 22) to see New Zealand, before flying to Sydney mid-day on February 23.
          ∙ 3:30 p.m. February 21 to midnight February 22 (Rotorua):  Alas, we emerge to see our first bits of the town of Rotorua.  In a short time, we visited the Lake Rotorua Wharf, the War Memorial Park and the stunning Rotonua Museum.



          ∙ While at the museum, I noticed a bunch of people entering a nearby building housing their sulfuric “Blue Baths”.  Curious, I went over to see what they were doing.  Outside the building, it said “Theatre, Live Band, Dance & Lots of Laughter” – just what we needed!!  We followed the crowd in, bought tickets and saw this really fun and amazingly well performed vaudeville-style show, featuring eight excellent local singers/dancers/actors!  Our bad luck had turned to good, as we just “happened upon” this local event!  The people we met were super nice!  (Funny – they say I have an accent.  Yes, I’m seeing the world from a whole new perspective, and it’s great!)  We plan to arise early tomorrow (February 22) to take in more of the culture and sights of New Zealand!  For now, we must sleep!