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http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8484/8...b50a5233_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8207/8...dc161d1e_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8062/8...d97fb56c_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8197/8...71a9beb4_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8...7e32cb0f_q.jpg November 29, 2012 Air New Zealand NZ417 AKL-WLG ZK-NGJ B733 Seat 13F On-board the classic http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8206/8...1d6af59286.jpg Air New Zealand’s new “The Hobbit” safety video was played which is hilarious! We were then taxiing out to RWY23L for a departure down south to Wellington. International Terminal down there http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8...2381d6f4e7.jpg Making the turn to the south, the B733 sure is an awesome aircraft, had quite a steep climb out! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8346/8...efffbf6924.jpg Getting above the clouds http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8...79a738187c.jpg Passing an awesome snow topped mountain down below http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8349/8...44163e042c.jpg Descending into Wellington http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8066/8...e9bcd3b178.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8067/8...d772de1751.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8202/8...e18bba0daa.jpg On finals for RWY34 http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8489/8...8c69856efb.jpg |
Taxiing to our gate
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8058/8...892d5b1e4d.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8070/8...4286d83fb6.jpg Interior shot http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8202/8...70ff677232.jpg Middle of Middle Earth! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8059/8...cdd927b1c5.jpg ZK-NGJ! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8344/8...a4c02595a0.jpg WELLINGTON AIRPORT We made our way to our gate for the flight down to Queenstown seeing as we only had an hour connection. I managed to get a few photos from our gate; I finally managed to catch Vincent Aviation’s BAe-146 ZK-ECO. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8478/8...22421e07_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8340/8...4ae648f1_q.jpg Our aircraft arrived about 30 minutes before we were due out, it was ZK-MCW. Boarding commenced on-time so we made our way out to the ATR72! November 29, 2012 Air New Zealand NZ5401 WLG-ZQN ZK-MCW AT72 Seat 9D On our way out to ZK-MCW http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8208/8...bc6d74bf08.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8066/8...d7b846667d.jpg Interior, it certainly looks out dated compared to the Virgin ATR72s in my opinion, it was still comfortable. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8489/8...239658de5d.jpg It was definitely a full flight, and the captain went on the p/a system and said there was a problem! Because of weather in Queenstown the plane had to take on extra fuel, meaning that the aircraft was now over its MTOW. So he said there was two options, option 1 was to unload 150kg of bags which would get us under the limit or two passengers could volunteer to hop off and be put on a flight to Queenstown via Auckland, with access to the Air New Zealand lounge in Auckland and a $200 Air New Zealand voucher. I was interested! I asked Josh in front of me if he wanted to do it as well, but before he could say yes, two passengers at the back volunteered! Oh well. So the two passengers got off the plane to the applause of all the other passengers and the crew on-board! So after that, we were all clear to go to Queenstown! Lining up on RWY34 http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8343/8...8020dbabcf.jpg Beginning the 180 degree turn to the south http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8343/8...a43e73c60a.jpg Wellington Airport http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8199/8...bf6d82dc3f.jpg Wellington City and Airport http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8205/8...41f7807e48.jpg Mountains of the South Island http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8207/8...abbb6eed3a.jpg |
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The first half of the flight was nice and smooth; however the final half was very bumpy! And when we began our descent into Queenstown it didn’t get any better! But once we made it under the cloud cover it was fine. Finals for RWY23 http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8...fe8e4dbf49.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8206/8...e2a4e3463d.jpg And we’re here! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8485/8...82ea2f4b6a.jpg Interior http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8198/8...705d33e29a.jpg QUEENSTOWN I was amazed by Queenstown right away, what an amazing place! We caught a taxi to our hotel, the Discovery Sherwood Hotel which was very nice! It is half way between Frankton and the airport and Queenstown which was very convenient. Transport was easy with regular buses both ways, $4 to Queenstown, $5 to Frankton and $7 to the Airport. Once we settled in to the room we caught the bus to Queenstown and had a look around and also went up the Skyline Gondola which is amazing! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8198/8...24c767b5_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8485/8...4304b173_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8061/8...89ca7fbf_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8209/8...4a8f74e9_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8...81c90038_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8348/8...f4ae4a90_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8061/8...2bdfeb2e_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8478/8...092a8709_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8343/8...220fa0c9_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8065/8...07aa570a_q.jpg |
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http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8487/8...e1bdee91_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8477/8...09570908_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8481/8...10e5584f_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8...dc17f7f0_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8342/8...53b9df57_q.jpg DAY 7: NOVEMBER 30: QUEENSTOWN AIRPORT Well today was meant to be the day we do our Milford Sound Fly/Cruise/Fly tour! I called 10 minutes before pick up for the weather to find that the tour has been cancelled due to bad weather at Milford Sound!!! I was very disappointed as I had really been looking forward to the tour. I asked what my options were and they said that they would put us on the 12:30pm tour. At 11pm I called for the weather check and the 12:30pm tour was cancelled!!! They said that there would be no flights today because of the weather so I rescheduled for the following day at 8am and hoped for the best! We hadn’t planned what we would do if the tour was cancelled, so we just decided to go to the airport for a while, we ended up spending 3-4 hours there, time sure flies when you’re in such an amazing place like Queenstown. Queenstown Airport was pretty good, there always seemed to be a commercial plane on the ground whilst we were there, the most we saw at one time was three planes, there was also a lot of Helicopter and light plane movements. Here are some of my photos. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8345/8...438c4db1_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8201/8...3a58f03d_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8344/8...933df099_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8485/8...f3932f29_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8345/8...fcb6e17d_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8057/8...7011f88f_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8481/8...0572a24f_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8070/8...3eff23b9_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8206/8...ea627940_q.jpg |
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http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8059/8...47fe8ba1_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8208/8...82be94ed_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8057/8...38f54338_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8198/8...d38ab28d_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8058/8...7fa6e428_q.jpg Frankton Golf Course is right next to the airport and certainly makes for a good spotting location. We just made sure that when people playing golf came along that we got out of their way. After an awesome time spotting we went back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day. DAY 8: DECEMBER 1: QUEENSTOWN Got up at 6:30am and got ready for the Milford Sound tour, called at 7am for the weather check, and again, cancelled! I asked if there would be any flights later and they said that they would not be flying to Milford Sound today! So we had to cancel it, because the following morning we would be off to Brisbane! I emailed the company when I got back to Brisbane and they have fully refunded it, I guess will have to try again some other time :D We went into Queenstown for the day and had a look around, bought some souvenirs and what not. We had a look around Queenstown Bay and saw that there were one and a half hour cruises around Lake Wakatipu and the Frankton Arm for $25 which I thought was good, so we decided to do it. Turned out that we were the only two booked on it, so we had the whole boat to ourselves! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8480/8...ed67cdd1_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8067/8...4b6dff57_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8345/8...d4449a07_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8480/8...54e98a02_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8350/8...4e81de0a_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8482/8...4741daa0_q.jpg After a great day in Queenstown we made our way back to the hotel! Tomorrow we would be going home :( |
DAY 9: DECEMBER 2: QUEENSTOWN TO CHRISTCHURCH, CHRISTCHURCH TO AUCKLAND, AUCKLAND PLANE SPOTTING AND AUCKLAND TO BRISBANE
QUEENSTOWN AIRPORT We got to the airport just after 7am for the 8:45am departure. I certainly didn’t want to leave Queenstown; it is such a stunning place! Check-In http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8348/8...fc0a831f99.jpg Control Tower http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8064/8...4bc9b0a5d0.jpg Our aircraft overnighted in Queenstown and it was ZK-MCY http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8210/8...150b3cea3f.jpg Boarding commenced on-time and I was first in line! December 2, 2012 Air New Zealand NZ5370 ZQN-CHC ZK-MCY AT72 Seat 9A Interior http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8482/8...0bc59d8547.jpg The view! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8488/8...66af8047b5.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8477/8...6b14a0aa74.jpg Backtracking RWY23 http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8060/8...e01d6e415a.jpg And we’re off! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8485/8...82c3c070ed.jpg 360 degree turn, to gain height I would assume http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8481/8...ff2c45079a.jpg Goodbye Queenstown :( http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8206/8...44b43a6307.jpg We had some amazing views as we made our way over to Christchurch http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8063/8...334cff6a3d.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8343/8...1a7b3a66b3.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8339/8...94d92f199f.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8207/8...ded7768def.jpg |
Descending into Christchurch
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8484/8...971199a58a.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8066/8...7f77e53974.jpg On finals for RWY02 http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8349/8...2f2ffe24f8.jpg And we’re in Christchurch http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8490/8...29659f4a47.jpg Taxiing to our gate http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8...23e40f6845.jpg CHRISTCHURCH AIRPORT We disembarked the aircraft and made our way over to the main terminal for our flight up to Auckland. Again we only had an hour connection. This flight I knew we had the possibility of getting an All Blacks aircraft! I couldn’t wait so I went on flight radar 24 to see which aircraft we would get. NZ509 was inbound from Auckland so I knew this would be our plane and its rego was…ZK-OJR! We would be getting an All Blacks livery plane :D Coming into our gate http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8061/8...67e66695e6.jpg ZK-OJR arrived about 30 minutes late so that delayed our flight, no need to worry though because we had a 6 hour wait in Auckland for our flight to Brisbane! December 2, 2012 Air New Zealand NZ510 CHC-AKL ZK-OJR A320 Seat 16A Boarding http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8059/8...fe48506f32.jpg All Black Interior! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8210/8...13350890e9.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8482/8...a09b61453e.jpg Love the Black wing tip! http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8...c3215c5865.jpg We departed off RWY02 beginning the quick hop to Auckland http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8198/8...84fe183347.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8198/8...b4f1364b65.jpg A young boy at the front of the aircraft said to one of the flight attendants that he wanted to be a flight attendant when he grows up. So the crew said they would give him some training and let him help them out with the snack service, which I thought was extremely nice of the crew. Cruising http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8484/8...cf13a4b9a5.jpg |
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Crossing over to the North Island http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8057/8...f509da2099.jpg Descending into Auckland http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8207/8...de51fac747.jpg Finals for RWY23L http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8058/8...4c04dd9d01.jpg Back in Auckland http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8198/8...8ab6acf8d7.jpg At the gate, just across from the other All Black A320 (ZK-OAB) http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8064/8...497b74e4d3.jpg The awesome interior again http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8197/8...b82ce79a5e.jpg AUCKLAND AIRPORT We arrived only about 20 minutes late. We collected our bags and walked to the international terminal. Since check-in didn’t open for another 2 hours, we grabbed some lunch and went up to the observation deck. Saw some good movements whilst there, my favourite would have to have been Air Tahiti Nui. I had always wanted to see Air Tahiti Nui; it is definitely one of the best liveries out there. Our Emirates Boeing 777-300ER arrived and it was A6-ECQ. Here are a few of the photos. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8349/8...c1114360_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8...ffb2769f_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8...f77a3c97_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8204/8...6e0c4b87_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8486/8...bef301f3_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8068/8...a1f9c3f9_q.jpg http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8...d93b7a95_q.jpg |
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