Auckland, New Zealand - Day 1

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

I spent the morning packing our bags for travel. Our time in Adelaide has come to an end. Next stop: Auckland, New Zealand.

It doesn’t matter the mode of travel or how long we stay, it takes about the same amount of time to pack our things. While I packed, Andi had conference calls from 6:30am - 8:30am. Both Tory and Aden slept in until then.

At 9:00am, the four of us hopped into an Uber and drove 20 minutes to the Adelaide Airport. The airport was fairly small and easy to navigate, but since our flight today was international, we had to queue for two different security screenings. It ended up taking over an hour to get to our gate.

Luckily, we had about 40 minutes to spare; just enough time to grab something to eat. There was only one cafe in the international terminal, so Andi and I settled for sandwiches (called toasties in Australia). Tory was happy with the personal pizza she ordered, and Aden had popcorn chicken. Australians love avocado; every piece of bread in this country seems to be accompanied by a large serving of avo.

We flew Air New Zealand from Adelaide to Auckland this afternoon. Last time we flew to New Zealand in 2020, we also flew with the Air New Zealand airline, and were very pleased with their level of service. Today was no different with on-board meal service and free drinks. The TV screens on the back of the seats had an ordering feature to request food and drinks on demand — that was pretty cool.

Afterwards, Andi and I laughed at how beat-down we get by traveling. “Ooh, TVs on the back of the seats!” Aden squealed the minute we sat down. “Think we get free drinks?!” Tory asked with a hopeful tone to her voice. It’s true that we do fly plenty of bare-bones budget airlines, so when we fly with airlines like Air New Zealand or Delta, their service often feels like a treat.

We changed time zones again. Auckland is two hours ahead of Adelaide, and 19 hours ahead of Wisconsin. Our poor circadian rhythms! We’re only in this time zone for a few days before returning to Australia. Good thing we can Google it, because it’s really hard to mentally keep track of the time in various places across the world.

Andi rented us an airbnb apartment in the Auckland suburb of Sandringham for three nights. This house is sandwiched between Indian and Asian neighborhoods and is known for its quaint, classic-style homes, leafy streets, and culinary diversity. The owner of this airbnb was so welcoming, sharing several suggestions for things to see & do in Auckland, as well as leaving us a delectable treat of the famous Whittaker’s chocolate on the kitchen counter.

Andi and I have decided that it’s worth it when possible to get an airbnb with three bedrooms so Tory and Aden can each have their own rooms. The kids are old enough now that they like having some personal space. We’ll have to share rooms plenty of times on this trip, but having their own room goes a long way with them when it’s possible.

This airbnb is a single-family home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, laundry, and a cute little fenced-in backyard. Andi was most excited about the propane grill which he fully intends to use during our stay, he said.

We’re wondering if the owners actually live here, or have recently, because this airbnb is well stocked with kitchen gadgets, shampoo, towels, and even a junk drawer. You don’t realize how much you miss having a simple scissors until you don’t have access to one.

We don’t have a car in Auckland, so Andi ordered dinner & groceries delivered from Uber Eats. What a treat not to have to leave again once we got to our airbnb! For dinner, he ordered a rotisserie chicken, roasted broccoli, and french fries for the four of us. He also got yogurt, granola, bagels, cream cheese, and a few drinks for tomorrow.

Unfortunately, sitting on an airplane for half the day meant Andi and I still had quite a few steps to get in before the end of the day. We didn’t want to, but we headed outside for a walk around the neighborhood after dinner. It required us walking home in the dark, but we met our 10,000 step goal for the day.

We have two full days in Auckland, and are looking forward to exploring the city. The last time we were in Auckland was March 2020 — the day before New Zealand went on a four-week COVID lock-down — so our experience here will be much different this time.