Arriving in Auckland... why are things never simple?

Having had a couple of enjoyable weeks in Australia, even though we had been thwarted somewhat by the fires, it was now time to move on.

Now, I am all for transparency but, I have to say, transparency has a place. That place is not in an airport lounge when you are waiting to board a flight to Auckland. I don’t know about you, but I am not overkeen on being informed that the plane you are about to board has a technical issue. Can’t they just make something up? Can’t they just tell a little white lie? For example, and this is not a great stretch, couldn’t they just pretend that they had lost the plane? It would make me feel happier, after all, there must be hundreds of planes loitering around Sydney Airport, so to mislay one for two or three hours must be a real possibility.

I think I would much prefer someone in a jocular voice saying something like, “Customer announcement: I am really sorry for those of you flying Qantas to Auckland in New Zealand, but we seem to have lost the aeroplane. As soon as we find it again we will let you know. One of our staff will be shortly passing among you with the claim form for the delay.”

Instead, in some sort of parallel world, the announcement went something like this, in a sombre voice like a newsreader telling us of the death of the Queen or whatever, “Customer announcement: I am really sorry for those of you flying Qantas to Auckland in New Zealand but the plane you were meant to be flying on has developed a fault. We will keep you informed as we get more news.”

I don’t need to be kept informed, thank you very much, you’ve already said enough, my mind is already working overtime. In fact, you didn’t actually need to say anything at all! Technical problem? Lost a wing, mislaid an engine, a door’s fallen off? Who cares? Not me.

“A member of staff will be passing among you shortly with claim forms for the delay. You can fill these in and get compensation if we don’t crash first.” They might not have used those exact words but it didn’t make me feel comfortable. How about a bit of good old fashioned opacity from time to time. I for one would feel a lot better!

In the end, they couldn’t mend the plane so called for a replacement. This was too much for one frazzled customer. The trouble was the aircraft that was due to depart after us actually took off before us. He ranted and raved about how common sense suggested that we should have been put on the second plane. It was pointed out to him that all the passengers scheduled to fly on the second one had all had their luggage loaded and it would be the devil’s own job to swap everything around. He wasn’t having any of it, the airline was inept and he was being inconvenienced and they would be hearing from his lawyers. “What did he expect,” I said a little too loudly to Jane. “Maybe they should have just stuck us on the original flight and let us crash?” Apparently, he gave me a withering look but it seemed to do the trick, he returned to his chair and wound his neck in. Clown!

One jolly little tale before we leave Manly. Jane and I went down, on our last evening, for a final meal at Hemingway’s, our favourite little restaurant on the front. We struck up a conversation with a British couple on the next table. The server had got to know us pretty well and proclaimed that he was an expert on English accents… The other couple rolled their eyes, apparently, before saying, “Whereabouts do we come from then?”

“Ah!” said the waiter. “That’s easy. You’re from London, not sure which part, though.”

“Swansea,” the proud Welshman answered.

“So,” I said. “Where are we from?”

“Leeds,” he replied with absolute certainty.

“Close. Norfolk.”

“Is that far from Leeds?”

“Don’t give up the day job!”

Talk about burst someone’s balloon.

First thing we noticed on arrival in Auckland was how clean the air was. I’m not sure we realised it was so polluted in the Australian cities but we must have grown used to it. It was incredibly clean, the air I mean.

The second thing we noticed was that every road and street had massive great excavations going on. What the hell? It transpired that, in their wisdom, Auckland had decided to install an underground railway. I’m not quite sure why as it isn’t the biggest city in the world and, for the duration of our stay, I was not really aware of massive traffic disruption, even with the massive civil engineering works going on.

Perhaps locals might tell us different and that this was a welcome development. When we spoke to a few people I think it was safe to say that opinions were split. Our little research suggested that most thought it a huge waste of money. This is based on a pool of about seven so probably wouldn’t pass the usual opinion poll litmus test.

I thought I would take a little peek, at this time of writing, to see how well it was thought of now it was open. Guess what? It still isn’t open. Wow! It should be completed later this year, which will be nearly six years after we were there. And, it is only 3.45km long. I wonder if the same mob are available to build our HS2? We should see it by about 2175!

Of course, many of the delays were down to our old friend, Covid. Good to see that we haven’t forgotten! Thing is, works actually commenced in December 2015 although a substantive start was not made until 2018.

I suppose that after all that it had better be worth it!

Thailand Taster

If you have been to Thailand you will be well aware of how important Buddhism is to its people and the role it has played in modern times and, indeed, throughout history.

One of the excursions we took from Bangkok was to the old Siamese capital of Ayutthaya, now a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Here you will find many examples of how the Buddha is venerated.

On visiting the archaeological site we were able to learn much about the significance Buddhism has played in the everyday lives of royalty as well as the ordinary man in the street.

We did learn that much of the old city was razed to the ground during a war in the 1700s between Siam and its ancient rival, Burma. I suppose a similar comparison would be the friendship we have enjoyed with the French over the years.

I will cover this in greater detail when we cover the 2025 trip.