Skip to content

Day 2 – Feb 1 – Arrive in Auckland, and make our way to Devenport

Day 2 – Feb 1 – Arrive in Auckland, and make our way to Devenport

Day 2 – Feb 1 – Arrive in Auckland, and make our way to Devenport

You will notice that the date of this post is Feb 1, not Jan 31, since we crossed the international date line, we lost a day, which we will get back on the return to the U.S.

Auckland is 19 hours ahead of Dallas, or you can think of it as 5 hours behind Dallas, the next day – confusing isn’t it?  Our arrival was quite easy – despite the dire warnings not to bring any food, fruits, dirty hiking boots (really) or wool, they let us through quickly with only mild questions about Sally’s knitting yarn.  Their passport and visa checking is very automated (no people) and efficient.  You scan your passport, answer a few questions on the screen, step forward, and a camera performs facial recognition with your passport.  Very slick.  The next day, they announced they were suspending the automated clearance, to allow for personal screening due to the virus.

Our shuttle van was right outside the doors, our bags were loaded in the trailer behind the van, and we off to Devenport, with two stops for other passengers.  Two couples from France and a family from Tahiti (who vacations in New Zealand when you live in Tahiti?) shared the shuttle with us.   Devonport (I learned it is a short “e”, despite local tendencies toward long “e”s. is at the tip of a peninsula, a short distance across the bay from Auckland’s central business district – a 10 minute ride by ferry, or 35 minutes by car, around the bay.  We chose the long way, via shuttle since it would be difficult to manage the luggage on the ferry and on the walk to our house.

 

IMG_0127 (2)

 

The driver found our house and after some struggles with the lockbox to get the keys, we were in our home for the next month.

 

IMG_0130IMG_0133

 

This is from the street in front of the house – view down to the bay and Auckland.  The map shows our house (the red pin) and the ferry landing, about a 10 minute walk down to the bay and west to the main part of town and the ferry landing – she looks pretty perky for not having slept in two days.

IMG_0102IMG_0129

We began to unpack and familiarize ourselves with our new temporary home – first item on the list, electrical plug adapters, I didnt bring enough of the right kind.  The home is one half of a duplex, with a living room, bedroom, dining room, kitchen, bath and two patios – compact, but very nicely done and furnished with everything one would need.

We had learned, on a previous trip to Australia, that the best way to adjust to the jet lag, is to stay up the first day upon arrival.  Even though we have been more or less awake for two days.

We stayed up until about 8:00 pm and fell asleep.

1 thought on “Day 2 – Feb 1 – Arrive in Auckland, and make our way to Devenport

Leave a Reply to Barbie Barta Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *