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To me it seems, the 'Boarding Gate' has got to be the second most intimidating part of the whole airport! (Beaten only by the customs desk). The only thing that guarantees safe transit here is your boarding pass, and even that only works for a limited and specific period of time.

It seems to work something like this ...
To start with you must wait. And generally wait for quite some time. Eventually your flight is called and you are allowed now to queue with the crowd and wait some more, and then swamp the two gate attendants.
At the gate you give your pass to one of the attendants, and he or she puts it into a machine that swallows it whole and spits it out again. Then they  look at you expectantly, and quietly wait for you to retrieve the remains of your pass yourself and step on through into the aero bridge.

This time was no different!

With that done, the main challenges are over and I'm actually on my way to board the plane. Through the big doors we all troop. Down the familiar blue/grey sloping walkway, around the corner and... What's this ? "Down a flight of stairs!" ...
Then another flight of stairs and along another corridor. Up ahead there's a guy at the end, and he's waving us all through. Smiling, he points towards a set of big silver mirrored doors and to our amazement, as if on queue, they slide open to reveal ...

Four low slung busses with giant wheels, looking for all the world like props straight off of a Thunderbirds set are waiting for us, and even as we watch slack jawed with amazement, their flat fronted 'noses' split open to admit us. As a group (or four), we pile in allowing the busses to swallow us whole, and enjoy a 10 minute scenic drive around the tarmac until we are brought before the gleaming 747 that is flight NZ182 to Christchurch.