So, as I arrived at Auckland airport, I found it hard to shake my seat buddy. We worked out that I'm on a different flight from Auckland to Sydney from him, however, we are on the same flight from Sydney to Melbourne. Although, a bonus for me, we are not sitting next to each other!!
I say goodbye to him, as he joins the queue to make a direct international transfer. I, on the other hand, as my bags were only checked to Auckland, I have to go through the whole process of immigration, customs, and baggage claim.
I collect my bag from the carousel, and go to leave the arrivals section of the airport. As I'm almost at the door, a customs man with his dog come up to me, and the man instructs the really cute black lab to 'sniff the bags'. He almost said it in the way that someone says 'release the hounds', with every intention that they want their dogs to maul the person before them!
So the dog starts sniffing around, and he takes a liking to my little satchel, containing my wallet and passport. Holy crap.... he really isn't giving up. I start to think of all of those stories I've seen on banged up abroad, where the money in the passengers wallet has been rolled up and used to snort cocaine, triggering the sniffers dog sense of smell!! I mean, I have been to Colombia, so it's a completely viable scenario. I may have started to get a little nervous, however then the custom guy asks me if this is where I keep my money. I said yes, and I give it up straight away, I couldn't ask him quick enough if he wanted to look. I had nothing to hide, as at this stage, all that's in my wallet is a sole $50 Australian note, my debit card and a key to my luggage lock. He must have seen by the way I was dressed, just like a backpacker who's been away from home for 4 months, that I wasn't carrying over $10000, so he said that it was cool to go through!!! I think the $2.80 watch gave it away!!
I then made my way to the next stop.... Customs. Now here is where my decision to leave my mud covered, brown converse shoes paid for itself. There were signs everywhere, 'do your shoes look like this?', along with a picture of hiking boots, that honestly, actually looked in better condition than my converse. Pair this poster, with a question on the customs declaration card, asking if I had been hiking in forests, jungles or on any farms..... check, check and check, I have been on all three, so I ticked yes. The customs officer asked me where I had been, looking down at my shoes, and then backing up with a question about footwear. I told her that I had been hiking in forests, trekking through jungles and traipsing around on farms, however I was happy to report that I had left my footwear in Chile. Happy with my answers, she said that I had made a smart decision, and she let me straight through, which was a bonus!!
I then headed all the way down to qantas checkin, where I took my bags directly to qantas bag drop off. Thank goodness I didn't have to join the huge queue, it was a fairly quick process which was good!!
I had to wait for a short period of time before immigration opened, however once it did open, it was a fairly quick process. It was brilliant that, for the first time in a very long time I had made the New Zealand/Australia priority line!! I was actually in the queue that was being processed before the foreigners line, which is so different from all of my journeys in South America, where I was that foreigner.
I then made my way down to my boarding gate. Again, I only had a short wait before they started boarding my plane.
It was so nice to be getting on to a qantas plane..... where everything is in English. The familiar Australian twang was heart warming to hear!! Even Captain Garry, was a nice change from the Captain Enrique or Captain Rodriguez that I've had for most of my Latin American flights. The Australian sense of humour soon filled the plane, when the captain explained that the weather conditions were perfect for flying, and it was 'now time to get this baby up in the air, and time to rack up some flight hours'.... yep, that's a direct quote from captain Gazza!!!
We made our way from New Zealand to Sydney, and as captain Gazza had promised, it was a perfect flight, with very little turbulence.
I again make a planned stopped through duty free, let's just say my vodka supply has been nicely topped up, as has my perfume collection!!
Now for the good part, immigration and customs. I get grilled by immigration about the countries I have been to in the last week.... in particular Bolivia was one country they kept asking about. I asked him if there was something going on, and he said it was just a precaution for yellow fever. Immigration = pass.
I collected my bag from the carousel, and then headed onto customs and quarantine. I had a few boxes checked on my customs and immigration card (much like New Zealand), and again I was directed through to quarantine for further questioning. I explained that I had Colombian coffee beans, and that I had thrown out my shoes in Chile, and they were super stoked.... letting me go straight through. No need to open up the beast, which I was half expecting to do. Customs and quarantine = check.
So with all my bags in hand, I head through to qantas domestic transfer, which was only about 2km from where I exited out of international arrivals. Finally, I arrived at the qantas bag drop, and then went through security. I'm actually surprised that I'm not glowing from the amount of security checks that I have been through!! Security passed again, I weaved my way through the roped off areas, filled with queues of people waiting to board the bus that is to transfer me from the international to domestic terminal. Packed on the bus like sardines, we are driven to the domestic terminal, where I disembark and make my way to my gate to board my last flight..... final destination Melbourne!!