New Zealand Trip (11-30 July 2006)

Report written on 1 August 2006:

First, some random stuff bout NZ:
- at winter time the stupid sun sets at 5 something, so when it got dark, with nothing to do, it was like, "i wanna go to bed. what time is it?".. "8 something".. "WHAT?!?!"
- most of the sinks there have 2 seperate taps: hot and cold. And let me tell you.. hot means burning hot and cold means freezing cold.. so a bit the difficult to brush teeth and wash your face!! Most of the times you need a cup or something...
- speed limit within a town or city is 50.. and that is super slow because EVERYONE keeps to the speed limit (unlike Msia =P)

Day 1 (11/7/06 Tuesday) - KLIA to Singapore to Auckland to Christchurch
Today we left for NZ. We had lunch with Chung Wei, Sim Ling and Mich's friend Yan in Nando's, Bangsar before taking a van from Sentral to KLIA. Thus begin our 15 hours plus of travel time including a stop in Singapore and Auckland. Mich spent most of the 15 hours sleeping!!! Dont think she was awake for a total of 1 hour even!!! Even when waiting in Singapore and Auckland airport for a few short hours, there she was.. sleeping away =P MY hardly slept at all... Ade typical la.. got sleep but not as much as Mich tho... Btw, at the start, Ade had the heaviest and biggest luggage while (surprise, surprise) MY had the smallest and lightest!!! (and yes, MY did bring her hairdryer!!). Thanx to the Oh's mum, we never ran out of food as we had a whole load of maggi cup, instant pasta, milo, and instant campbell soup all to be consumed throughout the trip.

Day 2 - Arrive in Christchurch
We arrived in the afternoon.. First stop was YMCA where we were to stay the night. The room was quite nice.. 3 single beds.. those electric ones where you can make your beds warm... Since its winter there, it was super cold... the bad thing about this room was that the toilet was outside our room to be shared with everyone else. But not many people were at our floor so it wasnt too bad.. We spent the rest of the day walking around the city centre of Christchurch with Ade as our map reading guide (she didnt trust Mich or my sense of directions).

In Christchurch

Day 3 - Christchurch to Punakaiki to Franz Josef
We left early in the morning by coach to a place called Punakaiki to see something called Panecake Rocks.. These are just some rocks created by mother nature through years of erosion in the ocean. Then we were off to a place called Franz Josef, famous for their glaciers. Stayed the night at some backpackers called Chateau Franz. We booked a dorm room of 4 beds. Thankfully, the guy said he wont put anyone else in the room so we got our own bathroom. But the beds were not the electric ones...

Pancake Rocks

Day 4 - Franz Josef
We went up to the glaciers in the afternoon by helicopter. From this experience, we have discovered that Adeline gets nauseous while riding a helicopter. Thankfully she didnt vomit or anything... althought she was pretty close to doing so. There were 6 of us in the group going up to the glaciers with one guide who will bring us walking around the ice and snow. We were actually hot at first cos wearing so many layers and moving around a lot. but as we went along more, it became colder... Stayed the night at the same place. Here we actually got to know 2 friendly guys from UK who travelled with us on the same coach the next day.

On the glaciers

Day 5 - Franz Josef to Queenstown
Today had a very long coach ride to Queenstown.. Arrived when it was quite dark (since the sun sets at 5 something!!). Queenstown was one of the coldest places in NZ so some nights actually got to negative temperature.. We stayed at a place called Black Sheep Motel.. Now this is one stupid place that we stayed for 3 nights. First of all, we booked a double bed room to save money.. So we slept in different positions every night because someone was not having enough blanket, having too much space, falling off the side, etc... And the toilet for this place was down the hallway outside our room. Now this wouldnt be a problem if it were all indoors (like YMCA).. BUT NO... to get to the toilets, we had to walk down the hallway which was exposed to the extremely cold air outside.. so yeah, a very difficult time we had to go shower and brush our teeth and to pee... The only good thing bout this place compared to the rest was that it had a TV.

Day 6 - Queenstown
Today we had a full day out.. First we went on this Lord of the Rings tour which brought us to a few places the film was shot. Only MY was interested since Ade & Mich are hardly fans (tho they insisted they really wanted to go). The tour wasn't so great cos didnt go to SO many places but ok overall cos of the scenery... Then went on this jetboat ride called Shotover Jet on a river.. Went super fast so the wind was killing our eyes.. luckily didnt get too wet.. but my hair got quite messy la after that =P Next we went up the mountain by a gondola (similar to that thingy you ride to go up to Genting). Mich & Ade rode this thing called a luge while we were up there.. One funny thing happened: we were walking round the mountain on a path, when ade decided to take a small shortcut and walk down a small slope.. but it was slippery cos of a little ice and snow.. so she gave up.. Then Mich went down the same slope with no problem at first, going "Che, you very useless la". And at that very moment Mich slipped and fell on her butt >_< Haha.. sorry Mich, just had to type that =P

After riding the Shotover Jet


On the mountains

Day 7 - Milford Sound
Another long day today.. from 7am to 7pm. From Queenstown we took this coach tour thingy to go to a place called Milford Sound.. the coach ride there was more than 4 hours.. but there were stops along the way at many beautiful places with amazing scenery along the way. At Milford Sound, we took a 2 hour cruise to see the area which was very gorgeous!! Saw this baby seal on a rock, enjoying the sun, plus a lot of dolphins as well!! Went back to Queenstown for the night.


Day 8 - Queenstown to Christchurch
In the morning, we took a short bus ride to a place called Arrowtown, an old gold mining place. The town was so small it only had like, 3 streets. Ade decided she wanted to search for gold in the river -_-'' .. with MY saying it was a waste of time.. So we had to rent some bowls thingy. Went to the river while we were freezing our butts off.. Ade so semangat kneeling at the river trying to look for gold which is near impossible since all the gold would have been found years ago... She gave up after 10 mins btw =P .. Later on we took a 7 hour (!!) coach ride from Queenstown back to Christchurch. Stayed the night at YMCA in the same 3 single bed room.

trying to search for gold -_-''

Day 9 - Christchurch to Auckland
Our last day in the south island. Took a flight to Auckland from Christchurch. There we met MY's mum's friends, Aunt Melisa, her husband, Unc Ronnie and their son Adrian, plus Adrian's friend, Kai (also met their tempermental dog, Sparky). We stayed at their house for all the time we were in Auckland. And it was a very beautiful house on a hill with an amazing view of Auckland city. Ade and MY shared a double bed room (with a bathroom attached and electric bed!!) while Mich had her own little single bed room across the hall.

Front of the house


Back of the house


Sparky the dog

Day 10 - Auckland
Adrian took us out the whole day to see Auckland. First was a place called One Tree Hill (no, not the show). There was suppose to be a huge tree on the hill but some Maori (NZ natives) guy chopped it down. Then we went up the famous sky tower in Auckland city. From there we actually managed to see some of the buildings of the big 4 firms >_< Ade wasn't too pleased =P Next went to "Kelly Tarlton's Antartic Encounter and Underwater World". Saw penguins, sharks, fishes, sting ray.. bla bla.. We went home for dinner, where Unc Ronnie cooked us lamb and they served it like some fine dining restaurant!! At nite we, with some of Adrian's friends, went to this bar made of ice, called Minus 5.. cos its -5 degrees in there.. Drank this weird orange cocktail thingy out of a cup made of ice. MY actually sipped a bit even though she sworn off alcohol.. Then went to another bar cosonly allowed half hour in Minus 5. By the end of the nite, Mich wasn't feeling too well cos drank too much cocktail..

at One Tree Hill


a very big sting ray


Minus 5


ice statue of a naked man =p

Day 11 - Auckland
Adrian, with Kai brought us round Auckland again.. First was Devon Port. Met up with Aunt Melisa & Unc Ronnie in the afternoon for dim sum!! and the dim sum was actually really good!! better than most places i've tried here.. Then went to Mt Eden and saw a huge crater which used to be a volcano.. Then we went to this beach to see the sunset. Along the way, the road was quite winding and Ade with her motion sickness, felt like throwing up a lot (we had to stop a few times just in case). At one point when Ade was having motion sickness, Adrian allowed her to drive his BMW!!! hahaha.. Ade happily drove while the rest of us in the car holding on for dear life cos she was zooming round the winding roads... The beach had a huge rock there where we ended up climbing. Got a great view of the beach and ocean. Then we decided to go to this other beach, apparently famous for its black sand. But the road to this beach was just as winding and our dear Adeline couldnt take it (there was 9km more of the winding road to go). So we stopped at this spot that was "close" to the beach. Only problem is, we had to cross a small river, and walk a long way to the beach. Plus it was getting dark. So we very reluctantly took off our shoes and socks to cross the river, lead by Adrian, then Ade, then Khai, then MY (i didnt want to remove the shoes at first but no choice). Now being winter and all, the river was freezing cold.. We would have very much liked to run across it with minimal amount of time in the water... BUT the river had stupid rocks and stones in them which proved very very painful on our feet.. so to add to that pain, the water was so darn cold.. Kinda funny if you were watching us.. Then it was Mich's turn who at first refused to take her shoes off. In the end she did and.. Adrian took a whole video of Mich crossing the river. haha.. so yeah.. you guys can watch it soon =P So all 5 of us across, we walked towards the beach... Only after some time did we realise the beach wasn't as close as we thought. It was already dark by now.. and we couldnt take anymore of the walking barefooted in the cold so we decided to turn back, blamming Ade along the way!! Yes, across the stupid river again.. and went home.. still blamming Ade..

the huge rock we climed



Day 12 - Auckland to Taupo
Took a few hours coach ride to a place called Taupo where Ade & Mich's dad had a time share resort we were going to stay at. Arrived when it was almost dark. Went to collect our rented car that Aunt Melisa helped us book the day before.. Yes, we have the freedom to drive!!!!!!!! Ade was our driver since the car was manual (MY cant drive manual) and we didnt trust Mich driving =P The resort, called Ika Nui, had a living room with TV, kitchen, 2 rooms and 2 bathrooms.

Day 13 - Taupo to Hastings and Napier to Taupo
Drove almost 2 hours to a town called Hastings. There we went to this farmer's market where we got to sample a lot of food. Ade was most enjoying herself. Besides that just went to see a vineyard.. although there was no point because it was winter and there were no grapes so all we have are pictures of twigs.. Then went to a honey factory where we could sample all kinds of honey.. Next we drove to another town called Napier. Saw this beautiful garden, went to a museum and an old prison which they turned into a backpackers place.. Went back to Taupo in the evening.. on the way home Ade actually almost nodded off while driving -_-''

at the vineyard

Day 14 - Taupo to Rotorua to Taupo
Drove an hour plus to a place called Rotorua. Went to a farm called The Agrodome. It was quite commercialised and didnt really feel like a farm.. There we saw a sheep show. At one point they were asking for volunteers and Mich got picked to go on stage!! She went up where they gave her a milk bottle to feed little lambs.. After that went on a farm tour where we saw more sheeps, deers, llamas, pigs, ostriches, etc.. Also got to feed some of them!! Mich wasnt feeling quite well so we decided to head back to Taupo early. Now while driving back, the speed limit in the town being 50km/h. Our Ade was going above 60. A police car happened to be coming in the opposite direction and ade could not slow down in time. The police car U-turned and followed us and flashed us to stop. A policeman came down and actually went, "Hello, good afternoon. How are you doing?". Apparently we were going at 68 and even though Ade tried to sweet talk the guy, he gave us a ticket.. and before he left he went, "Have a nice holiday!" -_-'' The summon cost us NZ 120 (!!!!!!!!!!!) which we paid the same day. Btw, Ade still cant get over the summon so she's going to complain bout it a lot if you see her!! Since we had plenty of time, Ade wanted to try out this spa thingy in Taupo while MY was VERY reluctant to go. We ended up dropping Mich at the resort for her to rest while the two of us went for the spa (MY gave in).. The spa was ok.. we used swimsuits that Aunt Melisa lent us.. The pool was filled with some sort of sulfur water at like 40+ degrees. so it was pretty hot!!


Mich on stage

Day 15 - Taupo
Went on a cruise round Lake Taupo (one of the largest lakes in NZ). Then for lunch decided to go to this prawn farm place.. Ade & Mich had prawns while MY had fish =P After that we found out that the prawns they were eating were actually from Malaysia... Yes, we went all the way to NZ to eat Msian prawns.. hahah.. Ok, actually the initial batch of prawns when the farm opened was from Msia. They have been breeding for many many years, producing a few million praws every year. So technically it was Msian prawns, bred in NZ =P Then went to see some waterfall called Huka Falls. Then to a place called Craters of the Moon where we went on this 45 min walk to see a lot of these thermal craters and mud pools. A whole lot of steam comes out from the ground.. After walking bout 30min or so, we had an option to walk another 15 min or take a 5 min short cut back to our car. Mich & Ade being lazy, opted for the short cut, while MY very semangat went for the 15 min one.. And it was VERY tiring.. Had to walk up a hill.. Ade would have died =P

Malaysian prawns


Huka Falls

Day 16 - Taupo to Rotorua (again) to Taupo
As we did not complete exploring Rotorua in day 14, we went back today. First went to a place called Te Puia (some sort of park), famous for Maori culture shows and geysers. Te Puia is located at a place in Rotorua called Whakarewarewa. This is actually pronounced as fa-ka-re-wa-re-wa.. so the first part sounds kinda vulgar =P Saw a short concert by Maori people and ran a long way to catch the geyser erupting.. very 'zha dao' since the stupid thing was erupting for like another 5 mins.. Then we drove to Paradise Valley Springs and saw more animals (lions, trouts, walabies, pigs, deers, etc). Also saw a lion feeding. Next we went up a mountain by gondola and this time, Ade & MY went for a luge ride. After that Ade & Mich went for this zorb thing where they're in this huge ball thingy rolling down a hill!!! MY didnt go on this cos it involved getting wet =P Went back to Taupo in the evening and returned our rented car.

geyser erupting


Maori culture show


we hung SL's gift to us there.. hahahahhaha


Zorb

Day 17 - Taupo to Mt Ruapehu in Whakapapa (pronounced fa-ka-pa-pa =P) to Taupo
Took a van up to the mountain for skiing and snow boarding!!! First we had to buy our tickets for the beginners lesson. They had different prices for youths and adults, Youths were 16 years and under.. So we tried our luck as 3 youths =P The lady at the counter asked for identificaton. We gave her our IC.. and since these Kiwi people cant read our date of birth on it, she just asked for our birth date.. and there we went.. stating our birthdates with the year 1990 and she believed us and we saved more than NZ 20 each =P So yeah, we all were 16 that day!! Ade went for her snow boarding lesson while Mich & MY went for skiing.. The lessons lasted an hour. Mich found it very difficult to stop and always banged this mound of snow. I was ok at stopping. The ground where we had our lessons were slightly steep only so quite easy to stop.. then after our lessons we met up with Ade at the beginner's slope which was slightly more steeper. so we decided to try our skills there.. For me, the stupid slope was too steep and i was going super fast so when i tried to stop, i fell down.. many times.. a very painful experience!! Both Ade & Mich weren't doing so well either.. so we gave up after an hour (most of that time spent trying to get up after falling and trying to walk cos of the stupid heavy ski boots and skis). Spent the rest of the time on the mountain taking pictures and looking around.. Before we started our lessons, we had to put out bags and stuff into a locker.. unfortunately, i left the camera in the bag and we already paid NZ 2 for the locker so couldnt open it.. haha.. sorry, no pics of us falling on our butts.. hehehe.. Went back to Taupo for the nite.


Day 18 - Taupo to Auckland
Took a coach back to Auckland. Arrived in the evening where Unc Ronnie cooked us pasta for dinner and Aunt Melisa made dessert!!

Day 19 - Auckland
Adrian took us to the Harbour Bridge where we went to 'climb' it. Btw, no we did not go bungy jumping. The 'climb' was just a lot of walking up stairs.. had a great view of the city from on top of the bridge!! Then we went to Victoria Market where we did our souvenir shopping!! At night Aunt Melisa and Unc Ronnie took us for Chinese food. They are very proud of the chinese food in Auckland because apparently its better than KL's one =P

Day 20 (30/7/06 Sunday) - Auckland to Singapore to Malaysia
Aunt Melisa, Unc Ronnie, Adrian and Kai sent us to the airport in the morning. After weighing our luggage, we found that Ade's was the lightest and Mich's was the heaviest.. MY's got real heavy cos bought so much chocs =P (in my defense, mine was only 400g heavier than Ade's!) And on top of each of us having our own very heavy backpacks, we had to carry an additional hand carry which was darn heavy cos the Ohs bought a few bottles of wine!
Another long journey back to KL. When we arrived in KL (after a half hour delay in Singapore - stupid MAS).. we had a nice surprise.. we almost bought tickets for a cab home when Mich pointed out to me there was some girl waving outside. I turned to see Sze Yin there (Mich couldnt recognise her)!! CW and Zynn came to pick us!! haha.. Thanx guys!! so thats it.. CW drove us all home.. with 2 huge luggages in his boot and one huge one in the back seat (wasnt easy for Ade cos she decided to sit where the bag was)..

l-r: Unc Ronnie, Aunt Melisa, Mich, Ade, MY, Adrian, Kai


Our recorded expenses.. haha

Also... I have forgotten to mention that wonderful Michelle had to wake Ade & me up almost everyday.. and it usually takes her about 10 times to call us before we got up =P

And wonderful Mich also prepared most of our breakfastes...

Hahahaha...

Yes, Mich ask me to type that =P Kidding.. kidding.. i type myself... (sorta)

And many thanx to Sim Ling for messaging us everyday... even though i didnt reply her everyday (one sms from us is RM2!!!)

So thats it.. any of you actually read the whole thing??? =P hahah..