Getting to New Zealand

As I sit here driving through the rolling hills of New Zealand, dictating this post to Penny it is easy to look back and smile about the difficulties we had getting here.
But at the time, it didn’t seem so funny.

We arrived at the Bali Airport with plenty of time to spare.  We had a flight booked to Melbourne, where we had a 12 hour layover before catching a flight to Auckland.  At the check-in counter the agent took our passports, weighed and tagged our bags and then asked, “Can I see your Australian Visa?”  Penny and I looked at each other,”What Australian Visa?  We’re Canadian.”
The agent shook his head like he’d seen this many times, “People from all countries except New Zealand need a visa to visit Australia”.

We had foolishly assumed that there was no way Canadians would need a visa to visit our Commonwealth sister country.  There was 2 hours before the flight left and it was 9 PM, no chance of getting one from the Australian consulate.  Then the agent said, “You can get one online, here’s the website.”  We found a car rental counter that had Internet access at the late hour and completed the application form online.  It was a total money-grab, both by the Australian government and the scamming car rental place.  The Australian government charged $20/person for a
“visa” and the Internet guy charged a rate that would have normally paid for a full day of access for only 25 minutes.

As we were in a rush and hadn’t eaten we ordered food at what looked like the only restaurant past security in the airport, McDonald’s.  The eating area was overrun with cockroaches so we took it to go and ate the hamburger and soggy fries at the gate.

We arrived in Melbourne after an overnight flight in which we got almost no sleep.  As we got off the plane both Penny and I started to get serious stomach cramps.  After
4 months in Asia with stomachs accustomed to the less than sanitary conditions, it was McDonald’s food that made us feel ill.  We tried but failed to get onto an earlier flight to Auckland and then crashed onto some sofas and slept for a few hours.

As we checked in to the Auckland flight the agent asked us, “Can I see your proof of onward travel?”
Again we looked at each other and sighed.  New Zealand (apparently!) requires foreigners to show they have a ticket out of the country before they let you in.  We had checked in early so we started to run around the airport looking for a cheap fare from Auckland to Cairns in Australia.  Finally, after checking with all the airlines and online we got a good fare with Air New Zealand and rushed back to the check-in counter.  This time we had the e-ticket printout in hand but neither the check-in agent nor the New Zealand immigration officer asked for it. 

The only other country that has had that requirement has been Indonesia. In Indonesia we knew about it but decided to risk going in without an outbound flight anyway.  At the immigration desk the officer helped us cheat the system by asking us to “pretend” to buy a ticket and return to the counter after his boss had left.
Who would have thought that it would be easier for Canadians to enter Indonesia than Australia or New Zealand?