We had a very early flight out of Cairns. The cab picked it us up at 4:30am. We flew first to Sydney, and then to Auckland.
Travelers' tip: If you're connecting from a domestic flight to an international flight at Sydney's airport, you'll need to transfer to another terminal. If you're traveling on Virgin Blue, you can catch the transfer bus at gate 37. If you're switching carriers between flights (e.g. Qantas domestic to Virgin Blue international), you'll have to pay $5 to ride the metro to the other terminal.
When we arrived in Auckland, our first step was to get through "Quarantine and Customs". They take this very seriously. New Zealand has been cut off from other land masses for millions of years. They have a fragile ecosystem. Invasive species could easily destroy it. They cannot risk foreign diseases spoiling their agricultural industry either. There was a customs official walking around near the baggage area. She was leading a cute little beagle on a leash. The beagle signaled to her mistress that Ma was carrying something suspicious. The woman was very nice and asked Ma if she was carrying anything edible. Ma replied that she had had an apple in her carry-on while on the plane, but that she had eaten it already. The woman rewarded the dog with a treat for being so perceptive. She inspected Ma's bags, marked her card as having passed inspection, and let us go on our way. That was one smart beagle!
We took the Airport Express bus from Auckland's airport to downtown Queen Street. Our hotel, Best Western The President, was around the corner and straight uphill on Victoria. Strangely, it is named after U.S. President Richard Nixon.
I could use many adjectives to describe the streets of Auckland. Hilly. Narrow. Congested. Chaotic. They weren't especially clean, but they weren't filthy either. Ma and I found the crosswalks particularly interesting. Traffic would get a red light in every direction. And then pedestrians would get the walk signal in all directions. You could cross one street, or you could cross two streets (diagonal). It was quite a sight to see.