New Zealand...agaiin
Jan. 28th, 2010 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rogerdogerYa! back in New Zealand, of waving flax plants, green fields dotted with white fluffy sheep, cone shaped hills of extinct volcanoes and Maori women with full tattooed faces. Kiora!
I arrived back in New Zealand after a bit of a fiasco in melbourne and then another in Gold coast Australia. In melbourne i thankfully arrived early and after a bit of confusion over just where in the hell they put the check in desks at this dumb airport and then trying to find out of the line of staff which one is trained for international check ins! I was told almost in a snide satisfied voice that I wouldnt be allowed on the plane with the return ticket i had. The reason they claimed was because my electronic visa for Australia would expire before the date Id be flying back on. New Zealand requires you have an onward ticket from NZ. The electronic visa for Australia has resently changed. It went from costing $10 for 3 months to being free for 3 months, but it seems to have also changed in that instead of stopping racking up the time of your 3 months when you are out of the country, now the clock keeps ticking. This is ridiculous. It means if someone comes to Australia for a couple of months, they only have one month allowed in New Zealand. This bitch at check in was playing the "oh those are the rules, you should have read them" game. She wanted me to cancel my ticket and buy a new one with a date in march so id be able to get in to Australia under the existing visa. i tried to explain to her that all i was going to do was re apply for another e visa closer to my arrival in Australia the same way its always been done. "oh but what if they wont give you another visa" "well thats always a chance with any travel" It didn't matter she made a ficticious call to someone who "verified that you cant board the plane with this ticket".
Thankfully she left at that point and a nice girl took over who understood how stupid this was. Then I got the idea to keep my existing ticket, but the premo refundable ticket in the date in March then just cancel it when I got to NZ. It will still cost me $50A. But heres the kicker. just as i thought, when I came through immigration in NZ they dont ask when does your visa for Australia run out. They only ask can i see your onward ticket. So bitch email time to Virgin Blue yet again.
After an hour and half of dealing with these idiots I was finally checked in. The flight landed for a layover of an hour in Gold Coast, north of Sydney, but a huge tropical storm was blowing up as we landed. We were actually the last plane allowed to land and we caught some major cross winds that had the plane going sideways as we landed, making the landing thump and skid and veer to one side. We then were delayed for 3 hours until the storm passed. So I didn't arrive in Auckland until 2.00am. Ok by me since i had to hang around at the airport until my 7.30am bus to Rotorua.
I finally got to Rotorua and my campervan this afternoon. Its in surprisingly good condition. Still needs some cleaning up, but tonight I went for a walk along the lake under the full moon, then came back and moved around the van in the old ritual pulling all the curtains and making the bed as if Id never been away. i only know I've been away by the Indian bed sheet that i bought in Goa and mailed here along with some other things that were waiting for me when I arrived. it does all feel very much like home.
I arrived back in New Zealand after a bit of a fiasco in melbourne and then another in Gold coast Australia. In melbourne i thankfully arrived early and after a bit of confusion over just where in the hell they put the check in desks at this dumb airport and then trying to find out of the line of staff which one is trained for international check ins! I was told almost in a snide satisfied voice that I wouldnt be allowed on the plane with the return ticket i had. The reason they claimed was because my electronic visa for Australia would expire before the date Id be flying back on. New Zealand requires you have an onward ticket from NZ. The electronic visa for Australia has resently changed. It went from costing $10 for 3 months to being free for 3 months, but it seems to have also changed in that instead of stopping racking up the time of your 3 months when you are out of the country, now the clock keeps ticking. This is ridiculous. It means if someone comes to Australia for a couple of months, they only have one month allowed in New Zealand. This bitch at check in was playing the "oh those are the rules, you should have read them" game. She wanted me to cancel my ticket and buy a new one with a date in march so id be able to get in to Australia under the existing visa. i tried to explain to her that all i was going to do was re apply for another e visa closer to my arrival in Australia the same way its always been done. "oh but what if they wont give you another visa" "well thats always a chance with any travel" It didn't matter she made a ficticious call to someone who "verified that you cant board the plane with this ticket".
Thankfully she left at that point and a nice girl took over who understood how stupid this was. Then I got the idea to keep my existing ticket, but the premo refundable ticket in the date in March then just cancel it when I got to NZ. It will still cost me $50A. But heres the kicker. just as i thought, when I came through immigration in NZ they dont ask when does your visa for Australia run out. They only ask can i see your onward ticket. So bitch email time to Virgin Blue yet again.
After an hour and half of dealing with these idiots I was finally checked in. The flight landed for a layover of an hour in Gold Coast, north of Sydney, but a huge tropical storm was blowing up as we landed. We were actually the last plane allowed to land and we caught some major cross winds that had the plane going sideways as we landed, making the landing thump and skid and veer to one side. We then were delayed for 3 hours until the storm passed. So I didn't arrive in Auckland until 2.00am. Ok by me since i had to hang around at the airport until my 7.30am bus to Rotorua.
I finally got to Rotorua and my campervan this afternoon. Its in surprisingly good condition. Still needs some cleaning up, but tonight I went for a walk along the lake under the full moon, then came back and moved around the van in the old ritual pulling all the curtains and making the bed as if Id never been away. i only know I've been away by the Indian bed sheet that i bought in Goa and mailed here along with some other things that were waiting for me when I arrived. it does all feel very much like home.
