Today I left Cairns and flew back to Auckland where I will spend the night before departing to Nadi, Fiji in the morning.

There was virtually no line at the Cairns airport but for some reason Air New Zealand was not able to see my Star Gold status (Hey–I wanted that priority baggage handling to get ahead of everyone in the customs line in Auckland) I showed my (expired) US Airways Chairmans card to the agent hoping she wouldn’t notice the expiration date had passed (Thanks US Airways for sending me a new card on time :rolleyes:) The agent did not notice the expiration date and I got my priority tags. (Yes!!)

On the flight I had a nice conversation with a young girl from Berlin who was on a workers permit in New Zealand. She said it was very easy to obtain and she did not have to find or arrange a job before coming to New Zealand. That is something I just may have to consider after graduation!!

I am now at the Kiwi Airport Hotel where I will be getting a few hours of sleep before returning to the airport at 5am!
On a side note there seems to be several cats living in the parking lot. I had the balcony door open and heard an awful screeching growling sound. I looked outside to find two of the cats fighting in the middle on the parking lot!!