Continuation of my great NZ trip

---

Here's our most basic itinerary:

KL - <<3.25 hrs flight>> - HK Airport - <<~13 hrs flight>> - Auckland - <<1.5 hrs>> - Christchurch - Aoraki/Mt. Cook - Kaikoura - Picton - <<3.5 hrs Ferry Ride>> - Wellington - Wanganui - Taupo - Rotorua - Waitomo Caves - Auckland - <<~13 hrs flight>> - HK Island - <<3.25 hrs flight>> - KL

There you go; it all took place during the last fortnight for 12 days. How sad such a great time ended rather very quickly, leaving behind a trail of wonderful memories… and more unforgettable moments. What do I love best about NZ? Lots! It’s breathtaking vistas of its amazing nature, warm+friendly folks, extraordinary experiences it can offer, Maori cultures, its uniquitous Pak'N'Save and New World supermarkets and..and…can I repeat all over again?

Day 1: Nod, nod, nod..yes, on the plane the entire time.
Basically at the window seat, I was gazing out (blankly for a while, still in disbelief..) the window as the plane took off from it’s platform.

Day 2: Auckland + Christchurch
While waiting to board flight to the second largest city of NZ on the south in the evening, we strolled around Auckland City. One highlights being Skycity Tower which stood at a height 328 metres; People might opt for a chance to bungee jump here in the heart of the city but we thought of doing it somewhere nestled in the pristine nature instead. Skycity tower offers the bird eye’s view of the Auckland City but we didn't have the rigour to that early in the morning especially after our exhausted day. Next, the Auckland Harbour where we took off in an hour’s ferry ride to one of the most enchanting island - Waiheke Island! In Waiheke, our amiable tour guide, Dave, related all necessary historical+present information as he took us around in his ‘SCENIC’ van. Not forgetting our visit to Te Whau vineyard with its one of the world’s topmost recognized dine-in restaurant. We reached Christchurch at around 10.30pm that we took a cab to BBH’s Foley Towers hostel where we called it a day. Zzz.

Day 3: Christchurch + Aoraki/Mt. Cook.
Well I talked about Christchurch a bit in my previous post, now more on Mt.Cook then. :p Trust me, out of so many driving routes we made, the journey to Mt. Cook in my opinion has triumphantly be the most scenic one ever - passing by two huge and beautiful lakes, namely Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki, having latter the bigger one. Along the way, all we saw was the long wallpaper-like mountains, the red-pink-white-yellow purplish wild lupins carpets and the herds of baaa-baaaa white sheep.

Yeah, sheeeeeeep everywhere! From afar, either they pooled up like a cotton-like bunch or they were dispersed on the hillsides like little disgusting maggots. Besides that, we were pampered with sights of ostriches, deers, horses, ponies, lambs, goats and cows - aha, not merely animals…but animals in the wild. Truly awesome! Arriving at YHA hostel at Mt. Cook, some moments of silence were spent standing in the tranquil and serene surrounding of snowy mountain tops. So peaceful that I wished to stay on longer.

Day 4: Tasman Glacier @Mt.Cook + Kaikoura
Tasman Glacier was absolutely a lifetime experience with the 100-definite-nods kinda cold water melted from the glacier - mainly humongous ice-bergs; as we set off in a motorboat of ten people in one go. I am glad given the opportunity to view the real glaciers right before my eyes. 5-hour drive to Kaikoura was a tremendously tiring one for me as I slept thru the second and third hours, while was still between sleeps as we drove past the coastal area approaching Kaikoura town. We spent the night at YHA Kaikoura.

Day 5: Swimming with seals+Whales-cum-Dolphins watching @Kaikoura + Picton
We swam with seals - yippee - yes, in the prussian blue-blue ocean! Great, everytime I talked about seals, it reminded me of the ‘kepoh’ seal, which craned its ‘neck’ as we pushed our way in the waters passing some rocky areas in the middle of the sea, where all the seals were happily grunting and snorting away. There were so many seals ranging from papa, mama to baby seals. Maybe gramps too, let’s not be too childish over that. :P I had to scribble here the fact that I have eaten a cold Tortilla Wrap for a quick lunch at Why-Not Cafe.. yes, that’s the name of the place where you even required to pay 30 cents extra for tomato sauce..but simply free if you happen to pick chilli sauce - uh-huh, weird! I knew it right away I would not be able to finish that piece of thing from my first bite - although I was hungry - because it somehow just did not taste right for me! 😞 From Kaikoura airport, the female pilot took us on a small aircraft to above sea levels witnessing huge sperm whales, diving and flipping their strong tails! As the plane took a 45-degree swerve for a closer looks at those whales, the funny feeling started to churn in my tummy causing terrible upsets and dizziness. Holding the paper bag, the rest was history. Luckily I didn't lose sight of close 60+ dolphins swimming and jumping in the ocean, just was slightly weakened to take more snapshots of the wondrous sight. Our initial plan was to swim with dolphins but however it’s fully booked, depicting the peak season in summer come Yuletide. It was then a 2.5 hrs drive to Picton town. We had been YHA fans ever due to it’s facilities and cleanliness that we ended up at Wedgwood House in this simple yet authentic little harbour town where we would be taking the ferry to the Northern NZ - which also means our stay in South had come to an end from then.

Day 6: Around Picton + Ferry Ride to Wellington
I woke up after the crack of dawn and walked around the town by myself. I also revisited the park we stopped by the evening before which overlooks the harbour itself - and yup, a lot of the snapshots were taken. Yeah, the ferry ride as the crossover from South to North was a not-so great one as I was slightly bothered by the sea-sick but yet to the extent of throwing up. We sat in a restaurant in the ferry and engaged in some crappy conversations for the almost 3.5-hour ride. We had a quick shopping at New World (located opposite of YHA Wellington actually) for the next meal preparation at YHA Wanganui. I requested to both my travel mates that I would prefer to take a brief tour around the capital before leaving for Wanganui. To my opinion, somehow I would choose Auckland to be NZ’s capital rather that Wellington considering the fact that it does not seem to be any better than Auckland except for the Parliament building? Anyway, none of my business here - perhaps just a state of mind. We reached Wanganui after another 2-hour drive where we were right on-time for the final check-in at Braemar House, a unique+traditional, well-maintained English home built in 1895. After putting our backpacks in the dorm, we were sooo famished that we could not wait for our pork chop with vege and eggs to be served. You should take a look how the trio put in their utmost co-operation for this fulfilling dinner!

Day 7: Paddle Steamer of Wanganui + Taupo
As usual I was the earliest of all, and I began thinking staying in Braemar House was a great experience as I love this ‘hut’ too much. We went up the Wanganui Tower to have a 360-degree view of the town while in the afternoon, we cruised for 2 hours along the Wanganui River on the restored paddle steamer ‘Waimarie’ built in the early 1900. It was damn freezing cold that I wished it neared the shore the soonest feasible, although my heart hummed for a longer enjoyable cruise. We then drove to Taupo and arrived at YHA as early as 6+pm that we utilized the free meals coupons given at Finn’s Mac Cuhal’s Irish Pub. The Fish&Chips I ate was great but the serving of the fries were slightly oversized. On the way to Taupo, we did stop at Chateau Tongariro for a few pictures as this is seemingly a high class hotel with a fine golf course overlooking the scenic volcanic view around it. We stopped at YHA Taupo for the night's stay. Taupo is also the place where we began our ‘hot+smoky+stinky’ experience of geysers, thermal areas and mudpools.

Day 8: National Park+Taupo Bungee Jump @Taupo + Rotorua
After our breakfast , we set off for the first destination of the day - driving towards the National Park. Along the way, we managed to stop at one farm where hundreds of sheep were kept together! Only one curious sheep constantly looking up at us or rather seeking for attention while the rests of the herd steered away from us. Next - "1,2,3...BUNGEEEEEEEE!" Oh my oh my, the bungee site was great, 47m above Waikato River with lush greeneries surrounding it - such a cool place to bungee jump really! First 2 seconds were kinda scary and I was hollering at the top of my lungs coz it was free falling from the top and all I could think was - OH MY GOD…am I dying?! And when I opened my eyes wider, I realized I was going against and towards the gravity force due to the secured+tightened latchof the rope at both my feet. Woo-hoo, I was then hearing myself endlessly laughing! An unforgettable experience! We spent the last one hour or so at Taupo that we left for the famous thermal town of the North - Rotorua after approximately 2.5-hour drive. Yeah, once again checking in at YHA Rotorua - called Kiwi Paka. We made our way to see the majestic Rotorua Museum since it was still early after dinner before we reached home only to realize we were caught in a 2-hour discussion with a German couple who shared our room.

Day 9: Craters of the Moon (Day 8 actually @ Taupo)+Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Area+Huka Falls+Te-Puia Maori Cutural Village @Rotorua + Waitomo Caves
Craters of the moon Thermal Walk and Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Area - both have the word ‘thermal’ to explain it all. In Wai-O-Tapu, we witnessed the Lady Knox Geyser erupted as high as 2m! In this two places, we basically had hiked too much under the scorching sun (this time it’s really hot!) that it felt like my legs were aching after that. Not forgetting our excursion to the amazing rapids of Huka Falls! Shooo-oot - the waters are so crystal-clear blue! The sight has left an indelible mark in my mind! Last but not least, a taste of the Maori’s culture at Te-Puia where we were entertained by the Maori cultural dance and performances.

Here’s where we saw the male and female KIWI birds!!Due to their sensitivities and the opposite sleeping timezones compared to humans, they somehow are nocturnals. Great to see the real kiwis! Cute~~ After bidding farewell to the village, we embarked towards Waitomo town. Haha, hate to mention again but it’s YHA Waitomo - a.k.a. Kiwi Paka. (yeah..same as Rotorua for some reasons.) After checking in, we seriously needed food as we were FAMISHED. The nearest town we could think of was Te Kuiti - about 20km away from Waitomo. Here, we bought our 'gigantic' takeaways from a Chinese operated shop. The meal was adequate for both dinner of the day and breakfast for the next morning! Whata serving size!

Day 10: Ruakuri+Waitomo+Aranui Caves + Auckland again!
At first I personally thought Waitomo Caves would not be thrilling for me as I have seen Niah and Mulu Caves, but I was awfully wrong as these caves has even greater appealing sights to all who went. The glow worms in Waitomo Cave- goodness gracious - was tremendously an amazing one. It was true when they described that it was almost like gazing up at the star-lit universe except for the fact that they never blink! It’s here we met the old couple whom we swore the old lady was the one at Te Puia asking about the Kiwi birds! She was soooo cute that she sang like an Opera singer inside the caves where her voice went echoing throughout which could be heard even when we were already at the exit! After a long cave-ing morning, we sat at the table outside Aranui Cave to have our peanut butter bread and finished the bag of chips we bought over cups of lemon juice. We kept expressing our relief for the smooth+great journey so far, at the same time, grieving that it would end very soon. I was already missing NZ!!! :’( Arriving in Auckland, it was a gruelling-cum-amusing hours trying to find our way to YHA Auckland City Hostel. Braving through the busy Queen Street that gradually, the building loomed into sight and we could not find any parking space except for the one down the slope! We slapped our backpacks to ourselves and walked in tremendous effort up the hill towards the hostel. After checking in, we decided to treat ourselves a good dinner that we settled for Patio Steak House. The distance from Patio to YHA was good enough for us to move a bit after the heavy yet sumptous dinner. On the way back, we managed to shop for some souvenirs to bring home with.

Day 11: Auckland + Long flight to HK Island
We met up with Ms Doppelgriff’s online friend at Starbucks where we had our breakfast - muffin and coffee. We went strolling around the city, mostly around Harbourside before leaving for airport from YHA at 11 am. After returning the car to EzyRental, we got a lift to the airport. That marked the end of our NZ tour after we stepped into the plane for a 13-hour flight to HK. It was this particular long flight that I was constantly hoping to see HK soon. The food served this time around never suited my tastebuds, and I was feeling all-lll queasy….Reaching at HK around 10.30pm....

---

Photos

Wild Lupins
More wild lupins on the way to Mount Cook

Huka Falls
Look at the blue waters of Huka Falls!

Taupo Bungee Jump Site
Here's where we bungeeeee-ed! Overlooking Waikato River~

Lady Knox Geyser @ Rotorua
Before it erupted...

Lady Knox Geyser @ Rotorua
When eruption occurred....as high as 12m!

Ruakuri Cave @Waitomo
You will see more of these staglatites in Akarui and Waitomo Caves..