Review of Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Melbourne in Business

Hi
Warning: yes I know, some pictures have wrong shape and size; my camera was out of order and I had to manage with ipad and iphone.
Reminder: this flight is one leg of the following itinerary:
CDG/NRT on AF, december 14th 2015, business class, no report
NRT/NOU on Aircalin, december 15th, business class, no report
Nouméa Magenta/Ile des Pins on Air Calédonie december 19th: no report but onward journey of the following
Ile des Pins/Nouméa Magenta on Air Calédonie december 20th,http://flight-report.com/fr/report-13147.html
NOU/AKL on Air Calin, december 22nd, business class, http://flight-report.com/fr/report-13154.html (in fench only)
Christchurch/Wellington, Air New Zealand january 12th, 2016, coach class, no report
Wellington/AKL january 17th, Air New Zealand, coach class, http://flight-report.com/fr/report-13163.html
AKL/Melbourne january 21st, Air New Zealand, business class, you are here
Melbourne/SYD january 26th, Qantas, coach class, no report
SYD/Canton january 31st, China Southern, business class, report under construction
CAN/CDG february 1st China Southern, business class, no report.
Once more, we call Uber; driver is indian or pakistani and I can't understand the language he speaks; it seems it's supposed to be english; but he is very efficient and we get to AKL international terminal well on time.
We travel light with one carry on case and a roller bag each.
We check in the case even when allowed two pieces on board, we like to be at ease.

Walking to the Premium check in area; sort of a long and narrow hall with low ceiling;
no photos! lots of self check in machines and two desks with staff, we choose one of them;
quick and pleasant check in with nice person; no other pax, just the two of us.

Not many people on line for coach class check in either.

Let's get upstairs and fill the emigration document

No photo at security and emigration controls; it will go as a breeze, priority lane for biz pax.
One more floor up and we get to the lounge; a staff member at desk just outside of the entrance; nice welcome and we enter what seems to be a bright new lounge or at least recently refurbished area.

These small tables will be very convenient with usb port and mains socket

On our way to the lounge I take some pics of the inevitable Jetstar

But let's get back to the lounge; we choose some of the black armchairs pictured here above;
some australian grannies sit next to us; they look very newtech geek!

But these large windows are very tempting

Now let us care for food and drink: I could not take photos but coffee order is worth telling about; there is a special counter for coffee; an ipad is on the counter and in a few clicks you can order coffee, with or without milk, with 1/3 or 2/3 of milk or water, capuccino etc…then you enter your first name, and a few minutes later you collect your coffee at the other end of the counter, your name is printed on the ticket laid on the saucer; at least this is what I could understand from what I saw; because I am tea addict; tea machine is behind the wall; facing the entrance of restrooms; but tea is diuretic after all…
Next to the tea machine, cold drinks

At the far end of the lounge you can order eggs any way and waffles.

A nice choice of bread

My choice, with a second cuppa and another waffle in waiting

Another view of the lounge; it's not huge but quite roomy, and very busy at this time.

But I am attracted by the large windows airside; unfortunately they are very dusty; which seems to be a general condition in NZ airports.

CZ just landed from Guangzhou where I'll have a long transfer a few weeks later (report under construction)
In a previous report I said that NZ was the Hobbit land…

Yes they dared! This 777 just arrived from LAX

But my favourite one is that one, same livery as the 777 we'll fly to Melbourne

Let's have another one.

Did anybody said "Encore" ?

Let's have a look at the restroom

Clean and bright

No announcement; we watch the screens
I like the way they invite you to wait in lounge, don't you?
Btw, if you've ever been to APIA, please let us know!

There was no gate information downstairs, but BP says G10

What an ugly and dreary picture, almost as unpleasant as concourses and corridors

Indeed there seems to be no real boarding room,pax are crammed at the far end of the corridor;
we can't see our plane from any place.

But this korean 747 seems very friendly and will she go through window panes like they do in movies?

Passengers'blurred faces seem right out of The Lord of the Rings.
All aboard

My seat for just over 4 hours; will be comfy but I do not like the angled lay out
especially when I have a fellow traveler.

Menu is lying on the ottoman; I'll see that later

We get a nice welcome from a female FA and from the male purser; a drink? No thanks
I can't say our FA has very fine shoes, but I've seen much worse on Air Canada.

And she will be so pleasant all thru the flight; asking where we come from, she will make a great great effort to try to speak french, thus showing great consideration to us.
While the FA is talking with my wife,I explore my seat features and controls.

No leg rest but the ottoman is pretty close; feet underneath

Shoes off to put my feet on;

Seams and leather are getting old

The huge table will spring out off the panel along my legs;
white button on panel is the bed control;
the seat folds over forwards to become the bed,so the back side of the seat is padded.
A comfortable, thick foam mattress is also provided on long haul flights

Extra table and lamp

In the meantime, we are leaving NZ

No mistake, it's a 777-300

Well now, what about food and drinks?

I'll start with the energizer drink, delicious

Some toasts, very crispy; I like the small salt and pepper dish;
marmalade was nice but would deserve a better container.

Then a yoghurt and fresh fruit; all thru breakfast one of the FA will go round
the biz cabin with a teapot in one hand and a coffee pot in the other hand;
plenty of refill! in a mug! I like that; and I think on my last longhaul flight
with a large european airline we had a shallow cup for tea and FA wanted
to take away my tray without offering at least one refill! Just appalling.

I keep to the basics

It was so so; eggs vere fine but pork flavour was really too strong;
but I discovered that NZ food was very often a mix of US food
and British food from the 60's; so after all this hot breakfast main course was not so bad!
I like the buttonhole on napkin; hardluck though; I always wear shirts
or poloshirts but on that day I had a T shirt; I managed to stay spotless though!

No trolley; fruit juice was served from a tray, then table cloth
and little tray with cold orders came with cutlery and mug; hot dish was served one by one to each pax.
Tea addict, means restrooms; but "they" are gonna see me…

Didn't I tell you? …

Am not joking, this "window" is facing the real one!
I like these small cotton towels

I'm not much into IFE but screensize seems great.

In the meantime we are getting to Melbourne; clouds were so low and it was so misty that we could make out ground only a few seconds before touch down.

Nice Garuda aircraft

We don't see much of these ones overhere

United, Air India maybe, and Vietnam Airlines

End of flight is very quiet; the purser goes round shaking hand and having a little chat with every pax; obviously NZ FA keep in mind that we are their jobs; we shoult import this to France
Immigration and quarantine go as a breeze; NZ gave us a priority card, but getting to immigration line, we are advised to use the machines, it will be quicker; though they mention Uk, Eire, US, NZ, Japan, Singapore and a few other kind of passports only are accepted, we can also use machines with a french passport; so we read passport, take a ticket go to a gate, take off glasses, have a photo, collect passport and ticket and this is it; then pick up luggage, give ticket to quarantine staff and are immediately allowed to get out; this is it.
A nice red double decker, with plenty of space to store luggage, will take us to downtown Melbourne for a reasonable price

Departure every ten minutes; drop off at the main bus terminal; our place in Melbourne is just across the street;
There it is:

!!!!!sorry, no this is Captain Cook's cottage, shipped from North Yorkshire to Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne
Our place is on 31st floor in that blue building with yellow stripes, left of picture

But australian bonus will come with another FR
Ladies and gentlemen, The BONUS, South Island, NZ
North Island is in FR http://flight-report.com/fr/report-13163.html
On a ferry from Wellington

Amid the islands

to Picton, railstation

If most of NZ is very green, north of south island, Marlborough land is very dry;
vineyards and sheep; it could be Greece

Kaikoura, the town itself doesn't look nice, but the area is wonderful

It's on a peninsula, stuck between the sea, green valleys and the mountains

A coastal walkway goes round the peninsula, 12 km

This peninsula, is for me, one of the most beautiful places in NZ

Black spots are seals
Our bed and breakfast is quite stylish

A nice view from our balcony

Kaikoura is a famous whalewatching place, here a sperm whale

Nice tail

I like that

Another one a little further away, sort of a pressure cooker

With a dolphin flirting around

Did I say dolphins?

I like that one

I just had to be patient as there were hundreds.

On the way to Mt Cook -AORAKI- highest mount in NZ

I did not mean it, but I like the shades and colours of these two pictures

A wild area, used to be a gold mines area.

This little town looks so british, don't you think?

AS everywhere in NZ, pavements are covered

A geological wonder, on the shore just off Dunedin

Dunedin, the most scottish city in NZ; railstation

An albatros

Dunedin is nestled at the far end of this long and narrow bay.

Wonderful Milford Sound

The long way down to Queenstown

along the shores of Lake Wakatipu

Nice walk around the lake

Across south island, NZ Alps

Christchurch, devastated by earthquake; some artists "fill up" ruined places with paintings, sculptures or trompe l'oeil.

They started rebuilding with ship containers; this shopping center has definitely adopted this style of building

A famous street, spared by the tragedy, praised by tourists

Christchurch has preserved places totally spared by earthquake; some new high tech rebuilt buildings, and lots of no man's land beated by strong winds; the general atmosphere is rather weird
So let's finish with some pastoral vision! From the rose garden in beautiful Hagley Park

That's all folks!