Wow what an experience! but I'm glad you still had a great time in New Zealand. It would be great if you could post about your 2.5 month travel in NZ! I will be travelling from my home city (Sydney) to NZ (Auckland) in October for the first time with my family and looking for places to visit. Unfortunately I have yet to experience any funny experiences at the airport.
I really enjoyed reading this post and upvoted and started following you. I also share my travel stories and photos on my blog- please feel free to have a look and hit follow/upvote if you enjoy them :)
Looking forward to your future posts.
RE: Crazy border control at airports!