I decided to try something different and take the train to Southern Cross and then an airport bus this time (also because there was nobody to drive me). It went pretty well and was even fast, so maybe we don't need that airport monorail after all... Due to the time difference the flight was from 10am AUS to nearly 4pm NZ, and by the time the airport bus at the other end had reached Auckland downtown and I'd found the hotel it was more like 5:30pm.
After quickly unpacking it was down to Queen Street to find some dinner. Again due to the timezone difference it was a bit weird to be having dinner at 4pm AUS time (some people are still just finishing lunch) but the basketball was starting at 7:00pm so there wasn't much choice (since nobody likes sports stadium food, and they definitely don't like paying for it). After a quick look at the options close by, one (of the many) kebab places looked alright. I think I may have also eaten some foil as a bonus, then it was off to Vector Arena.
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| Vector Arena, not sure what they did for entertainment before it opened in 2007. |
On the way I had a look in a couple of convenience stores, and was surprised to find that everything in NZ appears to be a bit more expensive than it is in Australia. We probably have the poor performance of the AUS dollar recently to thank for that, as the exchange rate I got at the ATM before leaving was exactly one to one. Vector Arena was pretty easy to find, and we made it in time for the game start - the seats were pretty good too, second row in the upper deck.
The match was between the New Zealand Breakers, winners of the last three NBL championships, and the Melbourne Tigers. I don't like the Tigers so I'm prepared to support anyone else, even a New Zealand team evidently. The match start was a bit poor, with the Breakers not scoring for about five minutes, but finally got things going and controlled the second and third quarters to be leading comfortably by about ten points. Somewhere towards the end of the third quarter they fell apart completely though, and hardly scored in the final quarter to go down by about ten points at the end.
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| I think this is CJ Bruton's entrance. |
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| Game time. |
The Breakers needed to win this game to have a realistic chance to make the finals, but being down ten points with less than a minute I'd say it's time to just give up, yet instead they kept fouling and trying to catch up those points all the way to the end. Overall not a bad venue and match, the only downside being the stupid kids in the row behind with their crappy thunder sticks. These thunder sticks are the worst invention since the vuvuzela, and it took them about three quarters to lose interest in constantly clapping them together - coincidentally about as long as the NZ Breakers were winning.
On the way back to the hotel there was just time to stop in at Woolworths before it was closing, only it's called Countdown throughout NZ for some reason - what kind of name is that? I've also learnt that they have instituted the combined crosswalk strategy over here, where all traffic stops so that pedestrians can cross the intersection in any direction. I don't know why they do this, it just seems to be slower and less effective for everyone involved.
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| Back at the hotel. Get ready for lots of Sky Tower. |
First impressions of the hotel:
- The free internet is capped at 256k - I heard New Zealand internet was bad, but 256k?
- The free internet is not only slow but the wifi connection keeps dropping out
- The TV channels are a bit limited and the two sports channels always have rugby!
- There is a phone in the bathroom next to the toilet, not sure why that is necessary
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