Auckland airport was and still is a bit wierd. Firstly there is an army of very old people giving out free tea and coffee. The really old ones (probally too old to walk) man the airport information stations. One lady we asked about getting the shuttle had "Very well aged" on her lapel, she gave us completely the wrong information in a croaky voice.
I couldn't hear a thing at this stage the combination of cold and flight had left my ear un poped, I bought some Vicks sinus stuff and hoped for the best.
Once again we got a hire car to travel around. For two people this works out at about the same price as public transport making it a no brainer. When we saw the hire car however we marvelled at the complete lack of street cred. It is a Toyota Fun Cargo, and I was sure people were laughing at it. It had the wierdest controls I have seen. The handbrake is a foot pedal and the automatic gearbox is controlled by a large lever around the steering wheel that can only be moved by having your foot on the brake. I needed to get help to understand how to get the thing moving.
Auckland itself is a strange place, it proffesses to be the largest city in the world by area. I also want to add to this the most confusing road directions in the world. We were this time around avoiding staying there as it is also the most boring.
You come to NZ for the scenery and that is what we got as soon as we got out of the city. My ears were giving me a lot of pain and Liz was trying to keep awake as we entered Hellensville. We went into a pharmarcy to get something else to sort it out. We came out with two special candles, you stick the candle in your ear, light it and let the suction do the rest.
We found a lovely wood clad place as the 'hospital'. This place was closer to God going by the bibles and if you didn't see them the favourite psalms were framed on the walls. I lay on the bed whilst Liz stuck a lit candle in my ear. Would have looked a bit funny from where God was looking down. After the second candle and still in pain I started to pray that I could find something in the first aid kit that we lug around. Beecham powders and Sudafeds we instantly found (rare event). Within about 30 mins the pain had gone and my sinuses were clear - thank God it is a miracle.
I am now able to 'enjoy' New Zealand TV that I remember to be even worse than the dribble they show on Oz TV.