Just follow me sir…

28/08/11-

Boarding the plane late on the 27th we were treated to a fab inflight safety video which confirmed just how rugby mad the New Zealanders are. In essence the safety message was based around the game of rugby. We were also given score updates for the Australia New Zealand rugby match that was taking place whilst we were in the air.

Upon landing in wellington at 12.05 on the 28th August we disposed of our contraband cheese sandwich in the biohazard bin and proceeded to immigration. As entering Australia had been hassle free we had not bother to print off the visa. Mistake one. This did not please the immigration official but after some suspicious looks and questions we were allowed into the baggage claim hall. Whist I was collecting a trolley a customs official specifically sought out James and began to question him. He took our landing cards and with a flourish marked our cards with a red pen and told us he would see us once we had collected our bags. Ominous.

Thinking the official was just being officious we were fairly calm as we waited to exit the baggage queue but upon doing so we heard those dreaded words “please follow me sir.” The customs official had reappeared and directed us to the searching room and directed us to put the contents of our pockets on a table the James commented looked like an autopsy bench. Oh shit. We were going to be searched. The signs and environment mead out that the authorities were happy to turn us away for an infringement, of which there were many listed

The officer then proceeds to check our passports and write things in his note book. Things were not looking good and we are beginning to become worried and everything feels a bit official. Next up he begins questioning us about where we had been, whether we had contraband, what tablets we had, what drugs were in the bags all the while recording our answers in his book. He then decided that he is going to swab our personal possessions for drugs residue and gives us one last chance to confess ito carrying a kilo of heroin or such like in our bags. By now I am a bit shaky and the colour has drained from James face. Why us. What have we done. Thank god we did not have any free booze on the plane. Oh we don’t like this…

The officer asked us whose iPod is whose and does anyone else use it. Always being together we say we are sharing everything. This is not what he wanted to hear but it the truth. The swabbing takes place and when feeing the cloth into the reader it makes a hideous beeping sound and paper shoots out of the printer. This does NOT look good- we are NOT going to getting in!
We knew that we had not knowingly been in contact with drugs and there were none in our bag. Without this knowledge I think we would have fainted. The officer came back and again questions us again about our drug use whilst on holiday and in the UK. Had we bought drugs in the golden triangle (the Asia back packing route) were we sure there were no drugs in our bags etc. “Would you like to tell me what drugs you are carrying in your bags guys?” None we stutter. We are not sure he beleves a word we are saying.

Ominously he takes our passports into the back leaving us to sit outside in front of a two way mirror. Despite not having done anything wrong we are becoming nervous. Will our time in New Zealand end before it starts. Will we be cavity searched? Will we be put in a holding cell, will the round the world ticket cover a trip home, how quickly can we organise flights back… Our minds were racing. 10 minutes later he returns with our passports and is satisfied that they are genuine and we have not been in trouble. He then goes on to ask could we explain why there were small traces of MDMA (ecstasy) on the IPod and high traces on the money belt. We could not and our denials must have been akin to watching a teenager deny what appears to be the truth. Something must have convinced him as he then decided to let us into NZ - we did not need asking twice to leave the airport, after passing through the bio-security scanning machines of course.

Once at the hotel we were somewhat shaken up. We knew that we did not have a kilo of heroin or some such but never the less it was not a pleasant experience. We deduced that one of the lockers in which we had been storing our valuables must have had MDMA residue inside it but knowing this did not make us feel any better. What a nice welcome to New Zealand- the place of the friendly people. Well everyone but customs officials.

Oh god its 8am and time to get up again for our next flight. Sleep had not come easily the night before so we were not exactly refreshed. That said we were soon boarding a small plane for the hop over the Napier. Our initial impressions were that it was beautiful from the sky. That said the less then optimistic outlook of the taxi driver combined with our tiredness and the route she took left us worrying that we had made a massive mistake. Was Napier just too small??

After check in we went to explore and found that Napier was not as quiet and small as had been suggested. A second hand market soon cheered us up and before long we were buying mismatched plates and glasses. The afternoon was spent searching out rental properties, visiting food shops, buying simcards and having an early night. Still a bit jittery though.

In all the last 24 hours can certainly not be described as boring.