Another plane flight over, another immigration process successfully negotiated. And score one for New Zealand for not having any stupid questions on their forms. People coming here don’t have to lie in order to get into the country.

On the other hand, things here are very expensive. $36 for a 5-minute cab ride from the airport to an airport hotel (and no shuttle bus). Internet access is metered, and is so expensive I’m reluctant to open my email just in case I have messages with attachments. I think I’ll be covering this event mainly on Twitter.

The con is open and I have my registration packet. We’ve been allowed to pick our own membership numbers, so I am #666. I also have a badge that says I am a biohazard, which after all of the nonsense I have been through in the past few days is entirely appropriate. No sign of Julie Czerneda yet, but there are opening ceremonies and an ice cream social later today so I’m sure I’ll find her.

The con program is full of the usual stuff. I suspect that the panel you folks will be most interested in is Norm Cates talking about what is happening at WETA these days. In the program it says that we’ll be required to eat our notes and have our brains wiped on the way out, but Norm doesn’t know that I have an iPhone and Twitter. Stay tuned.

The good news for you folks is that the Super 14 final is in South Africa and will take place at 3:30am, NZ time – and yes that’s despite there being an NZ team in the game, UK TV schedules are much more important than local fans here – so the only part of the con I’ll be missing for that will be the 24 hour bad movies track. Having jet lag may prove useful for watching it.