Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 9V-SKL - the tail of this massive aircraft
At this point we were squeezed in between a taxiing EK A380 and the parked SKL!
We then drove between the international and cargo terminals and headed back landside before arriving at the drop-off zone of the international terminal itself.
My first impressions of SYDs international terminal were that it was huge! The check-in hall spanned as far as the eye could see, and it was quite a long walk to the J check-in desks. As we didn't have our checked luggage with us (they were checked through to ZQN) check-in didn't take long at all. We had to walk all the way back to where we started as the line for Customs was huge! It moved quickly though for a line that large and within thirty minutes we were airside. There was no time for dawdling around the massive duty free stores around the terminal - we had to rush to gate 55 to board NZ832.
NZ832
DATE: 17th September, 2011
AIRCRAFT: Airbus A320-232
REGISTRATION: ZK-OJC
SECTOR: Sydney (SYD) - Queenstown (ZQN)
SEAT: 17A
ETD/ATD (Gate, Local): 1000/1000
ETA/ATA (Gate, Local): 1500/1445
Boarding Pass
Catching the travelators down I saw OJH taxiing out - so close to getting her!!! Our A320 was parked between a Delta 77L and a China Southern A333 - it turned out to be OJC! New rego at least - it not being OJA is good in my books!
After sitting around the gate lounge for around fifteen minutes we started to board the flight to Queenstown. It felt good to be back in the comfortable NZ A320 cabin as we took our seats and fiddled around with the IFE before pushback. I was assigned 17B but the person in 17A pulled out of the trip so luckily I was able to grab his seat - unfortunately no movies were offered on the IFE in this seat but I could still access television shows, so I settled with some Big Bang Theory while taking a few snaps of the China Southern A333 out the window.
Shortly after the A333 was pushed back (as seen in the photo) and a SQ A380 promptly took its place five minutes later!! That thing was so big compared to our little A320!
Now it was our turn - the Crazy About Rugby (my favourite) safety demo was played and we started to taxi for a RWY 16L departure. When passing the mound I spotted Andrew spotting my flight!
We rolled straight onto 16L but held on the centreline for quite a while, probably due to traffic in front of us using the runway for takeoff.
It was a beautiful day in Sydney - couldn't have asked for a better looking day to grab our last glimpses of the country. Soon enough we had left Australia behind us, cruising over the Tasman on our way to ZQN. Lunch was served shortly after we levelled off - today consisted of a beef casserole or a chicken salad - I chose the beef casserole as I preferred the hot option, and it tasted very nice (as always for Air New Zealand!). The cabin crew were friendly throughout the duration of the flight, which was around two and a half hours. I spent this watching TV and playing games on the IFE before retiring for a Mario Kart tournament via Nintendo DS wireless connections with my classmates on the flight! As we got further to New Zealand the cloud cover over the ocean became more pronounced - this was quite worrying as it meant we wouldn't get a great aerial view of the mountains when we made landfall. Sure enough, when the First Officer made his pre-descent announcement, he said that it was overcast around ZQN...oh well
Cloud cover!
Nearly there!
The hard candies were handed out by two kids wearing the captain and first officer's caps, nice touch by Air New Zealand there
These helped with the descent, but my right ear would still not pop! I was beginning to get a hot drilling sensation in the ridge above my eye too, but this was all due to the cold I had which blocked my sinuses. We were in clouds for most of the descent, but through some patches we could just make out the snowy peaks of mountains covering the area.
We had quite a bumpy touchdown, but it wasn't that bad, and we braked to a stop as random corny music was played with the usual welcome speech. First impressions of Queenstown were what a view! The Remarkables totally dwarfed anything on the ground, looking quite intimidating as they stretched into the cloud layer above them. One of the best arrivals into a country I've ever had!
The Remarkables upon arrival
We parked next to a Qantas 738 and went into the small terminal which was suitable enough for the volume of flights the airport currently handles. The inbound screening would have enough room for one flight at a time! Everywhere I looked there were flags from across the world hanging on any elevated object imaginable - it was definitely Rugby World Cup fever here in NZ! Screening took no longer than twenty minutes and we were on the bus, ready to be transferred to our hotel in no time. About this time I could properly pop my ear, and could focus on the mountain scenery we passed, heading to the centre of town. We had an early dinner and stocked up on groceries for the start of skiiing the next day - it goes without saying that energy was required so alot of chocolate was in order! We were extremely tired after the long day, so it didn't take long to get to sleep, unless you were excitedly thinking of skiiing at Coronet Peak the following day!
Skiing
Skiing, which took up half of our trip, was at Coronet Peak, Cardrona and Mt. Hutt. I got the hang of it by the end, and Cardrona was in my opinion the best field to ski at! I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to head into the alpine region of New Zealand, as it is alot of fun! Our day at Mt. Hutt was punctuated by intermittent closings of the chair lifts due to strong winds which tend to occur on mountain peaks, but that was fine as it was our last ski day and we weren't really into it, and the weather was great on the first four days! The trip was also filled with a few side trips including the Skyline Luge in Queenstown, jetboating and Puzzling World in Wanaka.
Here's a photo of me skiiing - I only fell over once...or twice
Soon enough, it was Saturday again and we began to pack one last final time for our bus trip to Christchurch and then our flight home. I had mixed feelings of the flight home as there was no IFE system on board JQ flights, but I had done the same thing before with Freedom Air when I was younger
So we got on the bus in Methven and passed huge expanses of Canterbury farmland on our way to the main city of the South Island. Needless to say, we saw alot of sheep!
Sheep!
Our bus driver decided to take us for a detour around the earthquake-affected zones of Christchurch - the ones that were open anyway. As we drove closer to where it all happened, we started to see supports for residential brick walls, and then we passed through a street that had gutted buildings on both sides. The spray paint on building windows saying things like "LIFT CLEAR 25/2" added to the scene as well. Cars were piled up in wreck yards as we drove along, and it hit me that even buildings which looked like they sustained hardly any damage were not occupied at all due to structural hazards. Here are some photos: