Antarctica trip Jan 2016 Part 1

AUS to NZ.
Had a problem checking in via the kiosk as Auckland was just a stopover not my final destination. The nice Air NZ lady had to enter some primitive command line hell and sort it out but I eventually got my boarding passes and they took my luggage away.
Then it was off to stand in line for awhile until they checked my passport and took the form that said I was leaving the country. Immediately on leaving immigration I entered a shopping mall with all sorts of duty free items available, no Stolen Spiced Rum however. I tracked down a quite nice coffee and sausage roll and relaxed for awhile before going for a walk to stretch my legs. I found a comfy out of the way spot and watched as they unloaded and then loaded my plane. Boarding was painless and I ended with a window seat just behind the wing and a spare seat beside me do that I can spread out a bit. We ended up leaving a bit behind schedule but with a tail wind we should make up the time. Leaving from Brissy we flew over Stradbroke Island and then past the Gold Coast which looked nice and sunny.
The inflight entertainment system is driven from a touch screen tablet in the head rest of the seat in front but the touchscreen is not real sensitive.  But they do have a USB port to charge up phones and tablets. After searching the in flight entertainment system for something to occupy me, I ended up with the best of Queen to drown out the roar of the plane.
I wasn't sure if I was getting food as not all economy tickets got anything to eat. I ended up with Caribbean chicken and rice but I don't think I could have dried it out anymore if I had taken  it into the lab and put it in a vacuum desiccator with a kilo of silica gel beads.
The trip was very easy with no real worries to speak of. Hopefully there is free WiFi at Auckland airport so I can post this to my blog.
Had to go through security again even though we just came off an international flight. Looks like I get 30 mind of free WiFi, hopefully enough to get this posted before heading off to a 12 hour flight.