May 30, 2018
We skipped a day over the International Date Line so I missed May 29, 2018!
Landed around 5am local time in Auckland, it was still dark and cold-5°C!! But I felt good after my 9 hours of restless sleep. Headed straight to the Air New Zealand Lounge for a recharge and relaxation.
We found a great area for all 12 of us that was warm and cozy and all flopped down!
Coffee was next on the agenda, made to order and nothing like Starbucks swill. After that it was time for a shower, wow, never feels better than after a long flight. We all sat together and got to know each other. Then everyone started working… it’s inevitable that Travel Agents always work! 5 hours in the lounge turned into 5 hours of work….
Breakfast was great, especially with a well earned Mimosa. We got to watch the sunrise in Auckland and by the time we had to board our next flight at 9:30am it felt like 2pm….probably because it was 2pm in LA!
We boarded a 787 Dreamliner for a 7 hour flight to Perth, Australia. I managed to get a better seat by asking the attendant and he found me an aisle seat with no one next to me. It’s a 3-3-3 configuration.
We didn’t fly Qantas but loved this aircraft because the nose said “Ningaloo Reef”-where we are going to swim with whale sharks!
Lunch was served and I watched some movies. I also had to do some New Zealand wine taste testing! But need to sleep because we have things to do in Perth when we arrive at 2pm local time after 26+ hours of traveling!
Somehow I slept well again, about 5 hours out of the 7. Was just awake in the beginning to eat and the end to eat again. I couldn’t eat when I woke up but just had coffee to wake myself up. I kept the panini on the side in case I get hungry, we start work right from the airport when we land.
We were picked up from the airport and went to explore the city. As tired as we were, we were still excited to see everything. Walking around really helped keep us from falling asleep because we had a whole night front of us. We went to King’s Botanical Garden and that had beautiful views of the city, nice walking paths, beautiful plants and it was very peaceful.
From there we went to Elizabeth Quay which is an area on the Swan River that just started redevelopment about two years ago. It’s really pretty and is going to be a great spot for restaurants, shops, hotels and activities. There was lots on construction and excitement about the area.
We finally made it to our hotel, Crown Towers, a brand new hotel that just opened. It’s absolutely gorgeous and our rooms were so pretty, so comfortable, and had amazing views of the Perth skyline. I loved that I could just lie in bed and stare at the changing sky during sunset with the back drop of the skyscrapers. The huge bathtub was very welcome after such a long travel day…..but I have to hurry up and change to go to dinner!!!
Made sure I left enough time to go to the Crystal Club at the top of the hotel. It’s like club level or concierge, they have a Happy Hour with Cocktails and Hors d’oeuvres which were very tasty. There is an outdoor terrace and the view from the top was amazing.
We went to a restaurant called Garum, the newest hot restaurant in Perth. It’s located in the brand new Westin not too far away from us. The hotel was really pretty too, and they brought us to a private dining room in the restaurant. It was fun, we went down a few flights of stairs and down some hallways until we reached it. They had a special menu prepared for us and some local wines. The food was very good and we had a lot of fun talking, eating and getting to know each other. Plus we had a local from the Tourist Board eating with us so we learned a lot about the area, how the city is exploding with people, jobs and tourism and the food and wine of course!
Finally time for a bath and bed! It’s been 47 hours since I was in a bed so I think I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow!!!
