I had an couple of days here last month. It`s not the busiest of places but the main reason for visiting was the Air Force Museum just a long the road & to fill a few more commuter gaps from what hadn`t been seen at Wellington & Auckland.
Having arrived on a domestic flight the views from the domestic terminal are fine & anything that moves will be seen. The flying clubs are on the far side of two runways which cross each other. I expect some of the inmates could be read from the terminal. The biz parking area can`t be seen from domestic. To see the biz you have to exit the terminal to the left towards the car hire area & courtesy bus collection/drop off zone. Don`t expect to see many biz but they can be read off from this area along with any USAF Hercs which might be present. The USAF Hercs operate to Antartica. I noted 3 Hercs during my stay.
It`s also worth mentioning that a boarding pass will be required to go airside(unlike OZ).
I picked up a car via a courtesy bus. Car hire was very cheap & booked through Holiday Autos. I stayed at Academy Motor Lodge which was about a 15min drive from the terminal. As in previous motels I`d stayed in this was of a great standard & as good as or better than many hotels.
The Airforce Museum was roughly 10mins drive from the airport & pretty easy to find. If going to the museum be sure to book yourself on the tour to the restoration area. They run several tours daily but I was too late for the day I visited. That wasn`t a problem, I just went back the next morning as I new nothing much was being missed at the airport! If you miss the restoration area you won`t see aircraft like the Andover, Vampire, Bristol B170, Strikemaster & several others including choppers. There was an entry fee for the restoration area but the main museum was free.
Back at the airport I spotted from the perimeter road. If runway 29 is in use good photos https://flic.kr/p/rtEedn can be obtained from late afternoon when the sun has moved round. For those who don`t realise the sun moves round anti clockwise! You can drive round to the light aircraft mentioned earlier & a reasonable load of tin will be logged if that`s your interest along with some choppers.
International services are operated by Air Fiji, Air New Zealand, China Airlines, Emirates, Jetstar, Qantas, Singapore & Virgin. The commuter carriers operating under the ANZ brand send in all types. It was nice to see a B1900 painted in the black scheme https://flic.kr/p/rvyE7m I was surprised at this as the type is being retired soon.
Spotting from the International terminal is fine with windows running the full length. Not much good for photos as looking through 2 layers of glass. A6-EGC B77W returned me to SYD in just under 3 hours. Info on Sydney will follow this mail.
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