Diary 2

It was a crisp but clear start to the day in Christchurch this morning. Perfect weather for arriving into New Zealand on a plane!

New arrivals

Today you made your way through the airport terminal as a newly arrived international traveller. It sure was exciting! As you stepped off the plane and into the air bridge, you were instantly surrounded by a lush, west coast forest. These South Island themed walkways are a wonderful way to spend your first moments in the country. As you make your way up the air bridge your senses come alive, because you can not only see the forest, but you can hear, feel and smell it as well! People who arrive here after having been overseas must feel like they are really back home in New Zealand. It’s a taste of home.

Check out these very cool interactive air bridge experiences!

A smart way to breeze through passport control

After the air bridge there are some important border control procedures to go through. The first of these was passport control. At Christchurch International Airport, you can now use SmartGate. SmartGate is a cool new piece of technology that recognises your face and matches it to your ePassport. By using SmartGate you can take yourself through passport control – but only if your face matches the one in your passport photo! SmartGate was so smart it saw that I looked a bit different to the photo that was in my passport – so there is no cheating the system! No problem though, I just went through the old passport control channel and was processed by an actual person. Find out more about SmartGate (now called eGates).

Forbidden objects and smart dogs

It was then on to collect my luggage. Suddenly a detector dog came by with a Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) agent. The dog was quite keen on my back pack. You soon found out why – I had forgotten about a banana that was in there! Any kind of fruit is not allowed to be brought into New Zealand. You never know, there could be a strange disease or insect on it. Read more about detector dogs. 

The final part of the process was to have my Passenger Arrival Card checked. I had declared some food items, which were given the OK. You also saw that my luggage was x-rayed. Unfortunately I didn’t know that mum had packed my good luck snake and scorpion into my suitcase. The x-ray machine picked these out and sadly they were taken from me. It was a good lesson learned – never let someone else pack your suitcase! (Oh yeah, and make sure you declare all these sorts of items or don’t bring them in the first place!) Remind yourself about items you need to declare by reading Customs and Immigration. And take a look at what the border control area looks like in Panoramas.

After finding out all about arriving into New Zealand, you were then given your special “airside” security pass. First of all you got a look behind the scenes at customs to find out about the sort of items that are taken from people. From swords disguised as walking sticks to snakeskin shoes - it was a fascinating insight. Make sure you check out the video to see for yourself some of the confiscated items.

Aprons and melting ice

The last part of your day was spent out on the “apron”. This is like a parking lot for planes. Mike Parker showed you how NIGS works (Nose In Guiding System) so that the big planes park in the right spot for the air bridge to be connected. And you also learned from Janet Vincent a little bit about de-icing planes before take-off. Taking off snow and ice on the wings and tail of an aeroplane is really important for a safe take-off. A plane's wings and tail are made with a certain shape to give it proper lift for flight. Snow and ice on these parts changes their shape and stops their ability to create lift. There is a lot of action out on the apron that you generally don’t see – all for your comfort and safety!

But wait, there’s more!

Of course we also had two audioconferences today. Our speaking school for the morning audioconference was Flaxmere Primary School, with Ellesmere asking questions in the afternoon. If you didn’t manage to listen live you can catch up by visiting Audioconference Recordings.

There is also a video to watch where Lachlan Falconer talks about what goes on in the control tower. Being an Air Traffic Controller (ATC) certainly sounds like an interesting job so watch the video for some career inspiration!

It was a great first day at Christchurch Airport. Make sure you check out what the ambassadors thought about it all. And get some rest for another action-packed day tomorrow.

See you then!

Andrew.