Elizabeth fell asleep an hour before boarding and Alex just before boarding. This time I gave Alex a dose of Dramamine to help with the sickness. The steward during meal service referred to the girls as sleeping angels and at that moment they were. I had dinner and the dozed until about 3 hours before we landed. I think David may have done about the same but maybe dozed less. The plane's entertainment system was broken but they put the films on loop which was something at least. At some point in the flight I was awoken by stuff going on and noticed a fellow passenger was being given oxygen, no idea what was going on but this morning she seemed to be OK. The girls woke up around the same time I did and sat entranced by kids TV. Elizabeth finally melted down just before we landed but fortunately Qantas showed their worth by giving me an extension for her in case this happened. After we landed I popped into the loos with the girls and got them dressed.
As we approached immigration we were waved through to a fast queue as we were travelling with the girls. The entry lady was interesting as she was quite probing in her questions about what we were doing but not in an officious way and not in a way to make us uncomfortable. The baggage took an age to collect and not a trolley to be seen. I suspect I looked like a waif and stray as a lovely lady asked me if I was OK, I asked about the trolleys and as if by magic she arrived with 2. Bioimmigration took a long time and I think we were the last to be cleared.
We were met by John who handed over the paperwork and Chris the driver. John as we were warned did talk and lot and did give lots of useful information. Chris loaded the van and drove us the 30 mins to Auckland.
Auckland airport was a completely different experience. The staff managed to achieve all they needed to and be polite about it. There was free tea and coffee in the baggage hall. The area around the airport was SO quiet.
Arrived at Quest on Eden, no room for us ! a quick call sorted it all out but the room was not available until 11. As we were only at 8:30 we decided to visit Kelly Tarlton's on the advice of all. Headed to the Skyplaza to get the shuttle bus but David needed to get a coffee so we stopped on the way. This resulted in being asked if the girls were twins as they were both curly. Pushed the pushchair up very steep hills to get there. Got to the plaza but we had missed the 9am bus, toyed with going up the tower but by the time we had faffed about it was nearly bus time. The bus arrived but there were not enough seats so we were shoved out of the way by the old biddies and had to catch the city buses at a cost of $7 but more to the point had the faff of folding the pushchair up and trying to avoid it falling on my head. I was not a happy camper about this.
Kelly Tarltons was $63 for a family pass of 2adults and 1 child. It does need a lick of paint but the girls really enjoyed it. We entered through a penguin viewing and information area and both girls enjoyed comparing themselves with the pictures on the wall. I was surprised at how big some on them grew to. We then walked through a replica of Scott's hut. Into the main section which had a great kids play area, the girls were in heaven. We grabbed a bite of lunch around 11:30. We then went on the snowcat penguin viewing ride which was well done and you did get to see the penguins pretty close up. The girls enjoyed it so much they insisted on going on again but this time they were experts and were telling the other passenger which were real and which were not. This was fine until Elizabeth decided the film of a whale was a real penguin.
We then wandered round the aquarium and all in all had a nice time, perfect to keep the girls going to get them on time zone. We left at the point the girls began to melt. It also meant we were able to queue early for the bus to make sure we got a seat. The couple we met who were also bumped off had the same idea. Had a nice chat with them, they are travelling for the next 6 or 7 weeks before going home to find jobs. They pick up a hire car today so we may well see them on our tour.
The shuttle bus fit car seats for the journey back and Elizabeth stayed asleep during being put into the seat and the journey and only woke up when we arrived back. We then walked back to the apartment and called at a shop for food on the way. A very limited selection of food but I picked up tuna and pasta for dinner and the makings of cheese sandwiches and breakfast tomorrow.
Explored the apartment, it is small but adequate and it has washing facilities so we will do a wash while we are here. David went to bed, the girls watched the Jungle Book and I updated my journal. The girls really played up for me in a major way including climbing in the drawers. I will confess that David did not get gentle wake up but a please get up before I melt too. We both had a shower and felt more human. We decided to feed the girls early and see how they went before deciding if we would go to the tower. In the end it was a good job for two reasons. One being major, major children meltdowns and two being is that my watch was an hour slow. I do not know how we thought it was wrong but we did and then we changed it which meant I changed from right to wrong - follow that ? Me neither.