The last day in Auckland started with torrential rain and hurricane force winds blowing cyclists out of the way. Thankfully, all the streets in the center are equipped with awnings and you can move around staying dry, but crossing the road was wet. There's a little bit of the museum in the post, and a lot of airplanes.

October 11th, I had to test the efficiency of New Zealand's transportation systems. From Christchurch to Picton by bus, then from Picton to Wellington by ferry, and from Wellington to Auckland by plane. I had bought the tickets in advance, but if someone was delayed by just an hour, the whole plan would fall apart... I didn't want that to happen. The morning turned out to be wonderful. I woke up at 6:00, had breakfast, and was at the bus stop by 6:45, where I still had to go through a simple registration for the flight and exchange my electronic ticket for a regular one. When I entered the office, I saw two women, one of whom was a pure-blooded Maori. I handed her the papers, and she suddenly asked me in perfect Russian, 'Shevchenko?' I didn't even have time to react, and she added, 'Russian?' I was completely amazed 🙂. Then she continued in English, saying that her husband is Russian 🙂. At that moment, the second woman in the office woke up and exclaimed, 'YOU HAVE A RUSSIAN HUSBAND O_O?!' In general, the morning turned out to be positive for everyone 🙂.

I boarded the plane to Sydney. Oh, if only I had more experience in travel, I would have realized sooner that I could have spent 3 days sightseeing in Sydney on a transit visa! But instead, I flew there just because I couldn't find a direct flight from Guangzhou to Auckland for $1020, and this one with a layover in Australia cost me $1032.

On September 27, I barely made it to 5:00 p.m. at work because all my thoughts were on what was coming up. I spent the next almost 2 days in the sky and in airports, on my way to the other side of the earth - New Zealand. 17,000 kilometers, 36 hours, including 22 hours in the sky… Yeah baby! Jubilant was my pent-up curiosity! And so it flew…