Sydney to Auckland

We arrived back into Auckland on an Air NZ flight about 11.30pm with the intention of picking the car straight up from the airport long term car park and driving back to the Mount where Debussy had been parked, plugged in, for just $10 a night while we were away. This was great as it meant I didn't have to empty the fridge before we left and we expected to be able to climb into bed about 2.30am which Sydney time was 12.30am so not as late as it sounds.
However we were not off to the flying start that we expected as when we got to the ticket gate where Len needed to insert the credit card that he had booked the parking space with so we could exit the car park lo and behold the said credit card which he insisted had been in his trouser pocket right through the flight, ready for a quick insert and exit was no longer there!! Had it fallen out on the plane?? in the airport toilet?? or been pickpocketted in the jostling customs queue?? Perhaps we could find out if they had found it on the plane??
Yeah, right! -- We went from the Air NZ help desk to the baggage area to the check-in area to the customs pick up area to the lost baggage area (no one home) to the help desk to another airlines lost baggage area who would arouse someone from the Air NZ lost baggage area where we waited and waited and waited - do you get the picture yet??!! The minutes were ticking by ----------

I had asked Len early on in the process if I could have the ticket folder to check if the lost card had somehow got in there but was assured that there was no way it could be as it was always in his pocket. But the wait for a person to appear was excruciatingly long and after ruminating and  pontificating on how we would need to cancel the credit card and ring for help to get out of the carpark, for something else to do, I just had to rummage in the bag to check the folder where I removed paper tickets, boarding passes and passports one at a time to see the most joyous sight of a credit card half falling out the inside of a passport. You will have no idea just how that felt!! Such a beautiful sight!

No need to wait in the open air outside that office any longer - we practically skipped and whoopeed our way back to the booth for our exit ticket trying not to even bother too much about the extra $25 we were charged because we had gone a couple of hours over our exit time!!

When Len had time to recollect his thoughts he could vaguely remember that when his bag got stuck on the runners coming out of the Xray machine he had shoved the passports quickly into his pocket while he grabbed the bag. And guess what had found it's cosy way between the passport pages!!

Anyway we had a safe and quiet drive home apart from one instance when the hoon alongside us on the motorway seemed to be itching to have a drag race with us - bit scary! It was about 4.15am before our heads hit the pillows but at least all was well!