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NZ97, AKL-KIX (Long)

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  • NZ97, AKL-KIX (Long)

    Onto the second leg of the Christchurch-Kurashiki Sister city exchange program. We had some time for a brief duty free shot in AKL before we had to board our plane. Most people hadnt already brought film for their cameras as they wanted it duty free. So for our whole Duty free shop I was explaining the differences between film to all these people which in the end was rather annoying as I didnt get to hunt around my self and try find the viewing deck. So we all meet up once everyone had their film and one of the leaders went to pay our departure tax.

    The computers had broken down resulting in us having to wait for ages to pay this stupid tax. 10 mins after we were meant to be boarding we finally had paid the tax and moved on went through all the security with no problems and then people wanted to get their film. After everyone had got their film we moved on and found our plane.

    Air New Zealand
    767-319(ER)
    ZK-NCG
    [photoid=366667]
    Note all times are in NZ time.
    \Also note this is the most detailed trip report of the three as I was wide awake unlike the other two. NZ98 will be rather brief.

    We boarded the plane at gate 5 when it was meant to leave but it was pretty much empty. The captain made an announcement saying due to delays in the bank we would be delayed till after 0900. We found our seats which were at teh very back of the plane. I was in seat 38A. James was sitting next to me. he was one of the guys i got on rather well with over the trip. We both like GTA so that was a good conversation starter. The plane started filling up as time went by. 0900 passed and still no sign of leaving. Finally at 0915 we were pushed back. The captain explained that due to the bank having a problem we would not be leaving on time and during the course of the flight we would go faster than planned because in Japan if your late you miss whatever you were going to be on and about 50% of the people look liked they were going on a holiday and therefore would use the train to get out of the airport. Being late is not an option in Japan.

    As we taxied out to the active we got some good old AKL weather, lots of rain. I was annoyed as we had to taxi past lots of airlines we dont get in CHC. So after taxiing past lots of airlines and 747s we made it to the active. The rain still came down. The engines throttled up spraying up lots of water off the runway which look really cool from the back of the plane. So at 0930 we finally took off. The first movie Harry Potter 3 started off pretty damn quickly. I wasnt paying much attention to it as I spent more time looking out the window. We passed through some clouds and once we had got above them we could see the shadow of the plane. Once he had flew past the clouds the shadw had disappeared for a while. Then I spotted it but it was freaking tiny. But by this time we were at 10000m high.

    At 1020 the captain made an announcement which I didnt hear as I was just staring out of the window without my headphones for the movie. Turns out to be him explaining the menu. At 1030 food was served, since I didnt know what the options were, them having ran out of one suited me cause I didnt know what one to choose. We had some Japanese Noodles, Orange juice, warm bread bun and some fruit salad. I wasn’t in the mood to eat fast as I wasn’t hungry and slowly ate my way through the meal. For airline food I have to say it was pretty good. Not long after I finished they came through and collected the trays in again. I kept my cup and got some ocha (green tea). After that was finished I hit the Cabin crew button and they came, I asked for a coke, The crew guy told me to follow him and he just showed me where all the drinks and cups were, they proceeded to do the same with the Kurashiki group as we were keeping the majority of the cabin crew busy giving us drinks and taking away the cups.

    I kept myself amused for a while, payed a bit of attention to the movie, and also did some Jap homework. At 1140 we passed over New Caledonia, which was pretty cool. I took a walk around the plane to stretch my legs a bit and also took my camera (didn’t use it). When I came back to my seat one of the cabin crew saw the camera and asked why I had taken it on mym walk. So I replied “Im and aviation enthusiast and amateur photographer.” She said that was pretty cool and I mentioned how our plane had lost the Lord of the Rings decals. She said that it was a pity and excused herself to do something. So I took my seat and she came back with some Lord of the rings postcards. She gave them to all of us students and I got two because I knew all about the planes.

    At about 1225 we flew into some heavy turbulence and the seatbelt sign was put on. I didn’t seem to mind, nothing to drastic but the other people with window seats were very scared as they were watching the wing flex up and down. I was asked a few “Is it meant to do that?” questions asked at me to which I had to explain about wing flex. I pointed out to them that if they had watched the wing during take off they would have seen the same thing without it bouncing.

    Not much else happened for a while, So I did a bit more homework, listened to some music (Rancid’s album “And Out Come The Wolves” followed by No Use For A Name’s “Hard Rock bottom”). At 1345 we passed over more land, which I never identified as I was not expecting to pass over land and didn’t have a map to see where we were. Hellboy started at roughly 1400. I started watching it but it just didn’t appeal to me so I stopped watching. So I ended up reading a bit of War and Peace. At about 1400 we flew into some heavy cloud. Which stayed there for a while. At around 1405 we flew into very heavy turbulence, at which point in time the cabin crew were told to take their seats.

    Most people were very tense during the turbulence, and it lasted ages, about 15 minutes, during which the IFE was flickering on and off. Most people started getting worried about the whole turbulence and asked more questions like “Will we crash?” To which I laughed, which kinda loosened things up.

    Not much else happened for a while. More homework was done, more reading and more listening to music. I took another walk just to keep the blood flowing around me. I also got myself a coke. I continued with my staring out the window but this time I couldn’t find the shadow of the plane but when I looked up I could see the sun. So that explained why I wasn’t seeing the shadow.

    At 1540 Hellboy finished, much to my relief as I wanted to see if the other movie was very good. After the credits finished rolling the showed a map of where we were which ended up showing a whole lot of blue. It showed us some stats so at 1545 we had:
    Ground Speed: 916 km per hour (572 Miles per hour)
    Outside temperature: -43°C
    Altitude: 10,400m
    4:22 to go

    Just after I had recorded the stats they came around serving up some snacks. I grabbed a packet of god knows what but it was nice. At 1600, The Day After Tomorrow started which surprised pretty much everyone as it wasn’t on the play list. Since I enjoyed this movie at the movies I watched it again. It was rather entertaining, just before when they kids were flying to New York, we flew into turbulence. The part where the black guy was talking about a plane crashing because of turbulence had been edited out. Precisely when the girl said everything was fine and the cabin crew were still serving the captain came on again and told the cabin crew to take their seats due to heavy turbulence.

    At 1655 we flew over Guam with the Air Force Base being visible. I managed this pic.
    [photoid=373042]
    I took a close up but there were clouds in the way. Shortly after was passed Guam I spotted a bot all the way below us. I went back to watching the movie though. At 1750 the movie finished and dinner was served. I had beef Teriyaki with sushi, which was also a very good meal for airline food. The next movie (Name has been forgotten) was one of the movies you can watch for 10 seconds and tell it’s bad. So I didn’t watch it and spent more time staring out the window. Every now and tehn I spotted some boats so I figured we had to be close.

    At about 1940 I took some photos (Not uploaded yet, will do within a few weeks). At 1950 it was our first spotting of Japan. Most people went to the windows to see Japan. We flew around a bit waiting for some planes to land and take off. Resulting in some pretty damn cool views. I didn’t take photos as I had heaps of people crowding over me to see out the window. At 2020 NZ time we touched down, having been flying for 10 hours 50 minutes.

    We taxied to our gate and we passed heaps of new airlines and plane which I had not previously seen. I managed this photo.
    [photoid=370067]
    We got off the plane, got on the train, passed through everything needed easily. The Japanese Customs were very loose, we just said chocolate and some organics and they let us in with no more questioning.

    That’s the end of this very long trip report. Hope you enjoyed it.

    I will probably put some rail reviews from all the shinkansen rides and normal trains up on Railpictures later.
    Sam Rudge
    A 5D3, some Canon lenses, the Sigma L and a flash

  • #2
    Great Report
    - The baby will be back -

    Comment


    • #3
      Thanks. I should probably write the NZ 98 report soon.
      Sam Rudge
      A 5D3, some Canon lenses, the Sigma L and a flash

      Comment


      • #4
        Hi Sam, the mystery land mass may have been Papua New Guinea. There is an airoute that passes over Gurney before heading up to Guam that is sometimes used by Air NZ. Was it substantial land or islands?

        Comment


        • #5
          Hi,

          Land mass was lots of small islands. Not Papa New Guinea. But we flew the route you described on the way back but it was pretty dark. It didnt show up on teh small maps the airline show with your position though.
          Sam Rudge
          A 5D3, some Canon lenses, the Sigma L and a flash

          Comment


          • #6
            Interesting report covering an interesting route which is rarely featured.
            About the tax, New Zealand is among the still numerous countries where you queue up at airports.
            Thanks for this post.
            Alain
            Thanks for visiting
            *Avimage's Monthly Slide list *
            *JetPhotos*
            Airliners*Pbase.com

            Comment


            • #7
              Good report!
              Will F.
              Photos: JetPhotos.Net | Airliners.net | General Photography

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by uy707
                Interesting report covering an interesting route which is rarely featured.
                About the tax, New Zealand is among the still numerous countries where you queue up at airports.
                Thanks for this post.
                Alain
                There was a problem at the bank (Bank of NZ), the computers screwed up and they had to get them going again. So during that time, no one could pay the departure tax.


                To anyone who gave kind comments,

                Thanks.
                Sam Rudge
                A 5D3, some Canon lenses, the Sigma L and a flash

                Comment


                • #9
                  Nice report!

                  -Pete
                  Pete Ganabathi
                  Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

                  Fly Frontier Airlines - A Whole Different Animal

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