Previously:
Six days (was eight, but FA strike) after arriving in Wellington (August 22), I had scheduled a trip to Auckland to referee at the Judo NZ North Island Championships, leaving Thursday night (August 28) and returning Sunday. Immediately afterwards, I was off to the South Island for ski touring, and then back to Auckland to present at SCAM.
- Thu Aug 28: WLG-AKL, delayed 1 hour
- Sun Aug 31: AKL-WLG, cancelled
- Mon Sep 1: AKL-GIS-WLG, delayed 40 minutes, arriving at 1725
- Mon Sep 1: changed WLG-CHC to Tuesday
- Tue Sep 2: WLG-CHC, no issues
- Sun Sep 7: CHC-WLG, two same-day changes; WLG-AKL no issues
- Tue Sep 9: AKL-WLG, left for the airport at 1930 for a 2040 flight; no issues
Trip 1: Auckland, Judo NZ North Island Championships
WLG-AKL (Aug 28)
After-work flight on Thursday to Auckland with MP, leaving at 2000 and arriving at 2105. Unfortuately, due to a 1 hour delay, we arrived at AKL at 2156, at which point public transit to Ellerslie was not useful. Took an Uber to the Ellerslie B&B.
AKL-WLG (Aug 31), first try
We meant to get back to Wellington on Sunday evening with the last flight of the day (cheaper)—this one at 2100, arriving at 2210. Sunday in Auckland had some bursts of rain and I waited inside a café while MP visited the aquarium. Then we went to St Helliers, checked out the library and wandered over to La Vista for some patatas bravas before heading to the airport.
nope! Best Western Ellerslie.
There were a ton of flights to Christchurch which were delayed; most of them managed to leave around 8pm. (The lounge was full and MP had to wait outside until they left).
Air New Zealand announced the equivalent of Air Canada’s “revised ticketing conditions” allowing space-available flight changes. At that time, the 0800 AKL-WLG was available. But we’d have to pay for accommodation in Auckland. So I thought we’d play chicken.
We boarded the 2100 flight at 2300. Unfortunately, they had trouble removing the jetbridge, and so they cancelled the flight when it was clear that we wouldn’t make it to Wellington by the 0030 curfew. There was a long line for accommodation and rebooking, so I got on the Air NZ customer support chat while MP found a place to stay.
The initial rebooking was on a flight on Monday evening which would be after my CHC flight departed. The agent managed to find a connection in Gisborne which was scheduled to arrive at 1645. That should work.
The problem with making a booking at 11pm is that you can’t really book on airbnb: hosts are asleep. And by that time most hotels were full (or expensive). Still, MP found a room at the Best Western Ellerslie. Back to Ellerslie by Uber again.
AKL-GIS-WLG (Sep 1)
We could have stayed at the hotel until check-out, but MP was hoping to get onto an earlier flight. Unfortunately, if you get on Air New Zealand’s formal standby list, you lose your place on the flight you’re confirmed on. It’s not like Air Canada, where you can be confirmed on flight X and on standby for Y.
I still tried to make informal inquiries at the gate, but that didn’t work at all. Flights had standby lists of length 10, and people were not missing their flights. Still, if it had been Air Canada, maybe it would have worked.
Well, at least I could get to the dentist (taking the bus from the airport). Apparently I had gotten a tooth concussion on Saturday morning eating a quiche. Should resolve itself over 10 days. Not a crack, nor something likely to get infected. Whew.
Trip 2: South Island ski touring
I had been talked into a Craigieburn Haute Route ski tour. That one got cancelled due to lack of snow. But Will found a Glacier Ski Touring trip by Wanaka Mountain Guides. Fortunately, leaving for CHC at 7am Tuesday would work.
WLG-CHC (Sep 1 » 2)
Unfortunately, we had more flight delays, and the flight from Gisborne to Wellington arrived at 1730 instead of 1645, with outbound flight at 1935. The rejected landing on AKL-GIS didn’t help (wind gust). On arriving at WLG I had to choose: 1) try to talk Air New Zealand into making a flight change, even though WLG-CHC was on a separate booking; or 2) rush home, pack for skiing in less 1.5 hours, and rush back to the airport. I picked 1, which needed manager approval. There was a bit of resistance but I managed to convince the manager, fortunately. So I got the 0700 flight the next morning, giving me all evening to pack.
The Premium check-in agent was quite helpful in advocating for the change.
CHC-Mount Cook Village (Sep 1)
Will met me at CHC and then we drove to NZAC’s Unwin Lodge in Mount Cook Village, arriving half an hour after the rest of the party, coming from Wanaka.
We then found that the plan was to leave ASAP for the Tasman Glacier. There was a short weather window before the storm which would leave us stuck in Kelman Hut if we didn’t get out soon enough.
MON-Tasman Glacier (Sep 1)
So, repacking, and then a flight from MON to Tasman Glacier. We skiied a bit and stayed in the chilly Kelman Hut (4° indoor temperature).
Tasman Glacier-MON (Sep 2)
Less than 24 hours and 23km of skiing later (+900m/-2000m), we were near the toe of the glacier and caught the same helicopter back to MON.
Wānaka-CHC (Sep 6-7)
Off to Wānaka, and then another day of backcountry skiing at Treble Cone on Saturday, September 6 (great snow!), with a couple of trips up the chairlifts (terrible lines) and then touring to Wedding Cake from Saddle Basin.
Then it was back to WMG HQ and, we decided, towards Ashburton. There were a couple of road transport issues here. (1) The car wouldn’t start. Fortunately, someone had jumper cables and we managed to start the car. (2) Finding food at 8:30pm at Lake Tekapo is difficult; the first place had a 25 minute wait posted. Tekapo Ramen came through. (3) Gas stations may close early. We arrived at Geraldine at 10pm, which was the posted closing time of Z. It is possibly the case that all Z pumps are 24 hours, but we didn’t know that.
Back to content about airplanes. I had anticipated wanting flexibility on the flight from CHC to WLG, so I’d purchased an Air NZ flexichange ticket. These can be changed for $0 on a space-available basis on the day of travel, i.e. starting at midnight.
I’d been looking at availability for CHC-WLG flights and figured that the afternoon flights might get full (“5 or fewer seats left at this price”), but the morning flights should have some availabilty.
As it turned out, at 0000, it would have been possible to get onto most flights. I changed from the 0700 flight (which I definitely wouldn’t make) to the 1050 flight.
Then, we managed to leave Ashburton at 0715, and I had time in the morning to repack for flight mode. So we got to CHC at 0813 and I could change to the 0850 flight, checking in my bags by the 0820 check-in deadline.
I made it to Wellington in time for brunch! Had to take the Airport Express bus to the CBD.
That was pretty much all the flight shenanigans.
Trip 3: Auckland, SCAM
Walking up the hill to Kelburn with the ski gear was surprisingly tiring. I had time to repack again, this time for two days of conference. Then I biked to WLG.
WLG-AKL (Sep 7)
The Sunday evening WLG-AKL flight at 1855 went smoothly: zero issues. I managed to take the bus and train to my hotel in central Auckland. A bit slow, but I would rather take transit than Uber.
AKL-WLG (Sep 9)
Finally, my return AKL-WLG flight was scheduled for 2040. But! I got invited to an organizing committee dinner starting at 1830. Bivacco brought my tasty food out quickly and I could dine and dash by 1930. I tried to negotiate with the taxi that was sitting there on the street, but I ordered an Uber and then the taxi driver lowered his price to $55 and then $50. The Uber turned out to be $54, so I’m not sure I would really have won. It is true, though. You get the deals when you walk away.
I got to the airport by 2003, stepped into the lounge, ate a cookie, and then right onto the plane. Landed in Wellington, where it was not rainy, and biked back to Kelburn. No stress.
