Day 2 – Tuesday (Part 2)

We make our way outside the airport to catch a cab into the city. We are greeted by Rayson, the taxi driver (who looks a little bit like Mr. Miyagi) and we load up and get going. Mr Miyagi take us on the scenic route to our accommodation. After a journey that takes longer than the plane flight here and with a $103 cab fare to boot, we finally arrive at the Barclay Suites in downtown Auckland. The lovely receptionist at Barclay’s informs us that they have given us an upgrade and we are also being given free wi-fi, YAY. We dump and run (our gear that is) to head out and grab a feed. We are all very tired and hungry. After a feed we head back to the apartment to put the feet up (snooze on the couch) before heading back out for dinner. We stumble on “The Viaduct” area which is down near the marina and jam packed with pretty good looking restaurants. We settle on Portofino, an Italian restaurant and it was a good choice as the food was great. The sun doesn’t go down around here until about 9pm which we like so after dinner we wonder around the city a bit. As the sun goes down and the night arrives we quickly realise that Auckland has it’s far share of freaks as the city starts to resemble “I am legend”, that movie with Will Smith and Mia is starting to show signs of that sheltered life she’s been living as her eyes are like dinner plates. We quickly dodge the freaks and escape back to the apartment and hit the sack around 11. We’re looking forward to getting out and about tomorrow.

Day 2 - Tuesday (Part 1)

It seemed like the flight to Melbourne went really quick, we stop for a couple of hours in Melbourne before waiting to board the Emirates flight to Auckland. So we’re sitting in the departure lounge waiting for the boarding call and we here over the loud speaker “Would the Scroop family please make themselves known to an Emirates representative”. I’m thinking “after all these years we’re finally getting that upgrade to business class”. So we head to the desk and get ushered downstairs to where the boarding gates are. We get asked for our boarding passes (which the rep takes) and then we’re asked to sit and wait. After about 10 minutes an Emirates rep comes over and says “Ok then, we just needed to change your seats and you will now be sitting 3 on the window side and the other is across the aisle”. We originally had 4 seats in the middle like always. Obviously, I’m not overly impressed with Emirates little change so I go back to the desk and ask for an explanation. The rep said that someone was unable to sit at their allocated seats and the Scroop family needed to change to accommodate them. So I explain to the rep that I booked these tickets back in March and I also picked my seats back in March and we are a family of four so why in hell would you ask us to move? The woman starts rabbeting on about a load of shit that I don’t really care for so I said “Not happy, change us back!!” So she rings a supervisor and says over the phone”Mr Scroop isn’t happy, can you please come down”. So about 10 minutes later, down comes Perry, “the supervisor” (or dickhead to me) and person who made the change. So Perry starts doing the usual apologising and telling us the plane is full we had some seating issues, blah, blah, blah. “I don't care Perry, how has your problem become our problem? I ask. “The people who cant sit in their designated seats have a problem, Emirates have a problem, not sure how that translates to us having a problem, PERRY” I said. “You would really be doing us a favour if you could help us out on this one” Perry says. “Mate, since when is it my obligation to do you a favour after forking out a heap of dough for four airline tickets and being organised nine months before the flight? By this stage Kris and I are starting to get loud and argumentative with Pez and the other passengers can see a brouhaha about to break out. I bail out before that happens and grab the kids and start walking toward the boarding gates. I’ve seen those airline shows and it never ends well for the poor old passenger. But Kris ain't letting go, she’s giving it Pez. I call for her to give it up because we are needing to board the plane and I give Pez one last serve as I’m walking out. We managed to arrive in sunny Auckland without any further issues……

Day 1 - Monday

Today is the first day of our holiday. We don’t fly out until 11:40pm so the day is spent getting organised and packing. It starts off as our official Xmas morning where we get under the tree and give out our presents. We will still do the proper Xmas morning but it will be low key. On our past two holidays through Europe I have been extremely organised having plane tickets, accommodation details, train tickets etc all printed and organised in a travel folder three months in advance. This time I’m rushing around printing stuff a couple of hours before we’re about to leave and shoving it into a crappy file I found at the back of the drawer. We have been so busy this time with work, with me now coaching two cricket teams and Tyler’s cricket consuming most of our time we feel a little unorganised this time around and we’re thinking “bloody hell, where did the time go”. Before we know it, 8:40pm has rolled around and it’s time to get in the cab and get to the airport. We check in and make our way through to the departure lounge. While we were waiting we decide to look through the news agency and Mark Waugh walks in. I find Tyler and give him a nudge and point over to where Mark Waugh is (he was looking in the “personal development” section of the books) thinking Tyler might go over and ask him for his autograph but Tyler is too scared so Mark Waugh walks out. Opportunity lost! We get the boarding call and jump on the plane. The adventure begins!