I think question #9 and question #14 may be related
Each company has it's own frequencys, this way a pilot can call the company directly to talk about issues ATC doesn't care about. This is usefull mostly at the dispatch stage, where a dispatcher can talk to the pilots when there already out at the aircraft and talk about any changes that may have happened to load, fuel requirements, weather, aircraft, or just about anything ATC does not have controll over. This is probably the frequencys you have heard them talking about how many passengers they have on board. Another thing they may talk about is how much fuel or cargo or how much the aircraft weighs (Zero Fuel Weight or Gross Weight). Weight is important in determining how much fuel is needed for a trip and how fast the takeoff and landing speeds are (V1 VR V2 Vref etc)
This is done on a seperate channel to Operational Air Traffic Controll who's prime concern is directing traffic, and keeping aircraft properly seperated while maintaining a good traffic flow.
on Question 11# it would actually be unusual to hear someone "Request Permission To land". Especially IFR traffic. IFR traffic is flying on a filed flight plan, and recieved clearance to fly that plan as filed when they recieved ATC clearance before they took off. After takeoff there is usually an unbroken strain of Air Traffic Controll they are in contact with. At some stage Enroute Controll (Centre, or in the case of NZ, "Controll") will hand them off to the Approach Facility (Usually "Radar" in the NZ) who will vector them if required (Qantas 62 turn heading 050 vectors for downwind runway 26 left), or simply set them on a Standard Arrival Route and controll their altitude (Qantas 62 you are cleared the MASSEY One Bravo Arrival, descend to Flight Level one five zero).
At the appropriate point (usually when the aircraft is alligned with the runway and between 10 and 3 miles away from touchdown) The Radar (or "Approach" or "Director" depending on what they call it in New Zealand) will tell the aircraft something like "Contact Tower now on 120 point 8" which the aircraft will reply "Tower 120 point 8 good day" and then switch their radio to the tower frequency and call in, which can sometimes be as simple as
"Tower, Qantas 62, for runway 23 left"
I'v even heard, in sydney (where I live) aircraft calling tower with nothing but their callsigns, for instance.
"Tower, Qantas 62"
Tower already knows that Radar controll has been talking to the aircraft, as he has just recieved the inbound aircraft's information from that other controller, he knows the aircraft has been positioned by the Radar controller on a position on the centreline and approaching and already descending with the ILS Glideslope, or in DME steps (or visually) to the runway, and knows, from the flightplan, that the aircraft is intending to land. Because of this
"Tower Qantas 62 is approaching runway 23 Left request permission to land"
is silly, since it's obvous that he intends to land on runway 23L, and it's not like the ATC will say "Qantas 62, this is Auckland, You may not land at Auckland because our prime minister has just declared war on Australia since you took off. please turn around and go back to Sydney"
The only options to the tower will be this:
Qantas 62, cleared to land
Qantas 62 continue approach, you are following another aircraft just about to touch down
Qantas 62 there has been an emergency and we are closing the runways, go around and contact Radar again 129.6
Of course if the airport was closed, usually an aircraft wouldn't get as far as final approach before he was told about it, as now he has burned much of his reserve fuel and will use even more of it climbing away from the airport, and will probably be forced to divert to Wellington (or Ardminton which I think is the Air Force Base?)
Anyway there are some charts for Auckland freely available on the internet, This shows the Standard Approach Routes, a map of taxiways at auckland, and a few frequencys perhaps...
It comes from the AIP New Zealand, which is official documentation.
it can be found at
http://www.aip.net.nz/NavWalk.aspx?section=CHARTS&tree=Aucklandand
http://www.aip.net.nz/NavWalk.aspx?section=CHARTSfor these kind of charts for every airfield in NZ.
Australia Airservices has a similar service on the internet also.