Excitements engulfed all eight of us, getting ourselves prepared for the journey to the North. Second week of my university winter break, which fell in mid-Winter, temperature hitting -3degree, tests coming up after the break didn’t deter us from making our way to the second longest (distance) trip I’ve ever had. The longest one would be my south island trip last year but who knows, the North Island trip might give us more experience and the scenery might have been better than the South Island trip. However, after the completion of the trip, I’d have to admit that the South Island trip is still the best. Still, the north island trip would be more comfortable, as for a driver without ice and thick fog covering the whole car windscreen. Visiting New Zealand’s Largest and Oldest National Park, the most colourful Geyser Wonderland, the mighty Bay of Islands, the City of Sails (Auckland) and the largest lake in New Zealand (NZ) were some of the attractions we went for the trip. Thanks to all my dear friends who had been giving me mental as well as Lift-plus support throughout the journey.
And thanks for giving me loads of beautiful photos as well. All the photos in the blog are mainly from Jia Ji, Shirley and Shin Hoon.Thanks..
DAY 1
The day before the trip began (3/7/10) was full of all the surprises and stress! The journey plan had got nowhere. A lot of the bookings were not confirmed and there were lots of last minute preparations going on. However, the whole plan was finally drafted completely but it was done only less than about 6 hours before the trip began. Early morning (4/7/10), Isaac drove me to collect the Toyota Estima – our only car throughout the trip. Shocked, they wanted to freeze about a thousand over NZD in my credit card due to insurance policy but my card definitely wouldn’t have enough credit for it. Even Isaac did not have that big amount in the credit in advance. This was not stated in the online renting process at all. No choice, I’ve to agreed increasing the insurance payment per day, an additional 17dollars per day which wouldn’t need any credit to be frozen…okay, fine, this meant the car was fully covered. I wouldn’t have to pay any cost if the car got hit. After packing up stuff, we departed at around 10pm, driving on Waimairi Road heading up North to the Main North Road which led us to the Christchurch Northern Highway.
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Ting Feng was sleeping almost all the time.. |
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Scenery along the road... |
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Me... drivin'.. |
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A signboard on Alpine Pacific Triangle at Cheviot |
The first leg was initially planned to drop by Hanmer Springs but when we arrived at the Waipara town junction, we didn’t have enough time to reach Kaikoura and got the key for the holiday house. So, we changed our direction, just straight up North passing by Cheviot. We stopped by Cheviot, near the Hurunui District Council, getting off for a break at the public toilet. There was a statue showing a boy being nude with hands up which caught our attention. It was just in front of the toilet, which was situated in a park at the junction of Hall St and Cadman St. Passing by Waiau River and Oaru town, we drove into the coastal highway, looking right the Pacific Ocean. It was noon and not much more interesting than just clear blue sky and the deep blue sea. The coastal then led us to Goose Bay.
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Heineiken @ the back |
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A statue of a naked boy in front of the toilet... |
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Jiaji taking photos... |
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A really long straight, yet narrow 'highway'.. |
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Zzzzz.... |
We stopped by the bay, trying our luck to find New Zeeland fur seals on the rocks but failed. Surprised! As the Goose Bay was well-known for the seals sunbathing along the beach. With all the disappointment, we hoped that we could see seals in Kaikoura. Driving along the coastal road, passing by several tunnels, somebody at the back screamed “Seals!!”.. Looking at my right (which was dangerous as a driver), I couldn’t see anything but just rocks n rocks n rocks. Passing by Peketa, we finally arrived at our place of stay called The fairways at Ocean Ridge. After making payment and got our keys, we unpacked our stuff. The holiday house was simply amazing!! Nice!! And Big!! 5 star bungalow stay with a beautiful golf course behind.
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Goose Bay - but we found no seals |
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Yup.. my car was still there..the police must be going toilet instead... |
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Nice view.. |
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Tunnels a long the coastal highway |
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Snow cap mountain.. |
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Railway is just along the road on the left.. |
After ‘exploring’ our new one-night house, we went to carry out our seal finding mission. I took the wrong turn, which I thought It was the Esplanade a recommended by Shirley. We got to the end of the South Bay Parade (Kaka Road), taking some photos.
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Not sure what was happening..:Loansharks asking for money back maybe... |
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@ Goose Bay |
Chilling out in that big bungalow..
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Being 'wen hua'..instead of having a nap |
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An artwork on the wall |
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Cooking indoo mee.. Is ting feng trying to find sth?? |
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Eating Indoo Mee with fried eggs.. |
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Adding seasonings.. |
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Specially made my Kia Xin |
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Wines + Juice + Indoo Mee + Eggs.. |
Next, we headed to the Esplanade, passing by Fyffe Quay going straight to the end of the road which was a carpark. Upon getting off the car, we encountered the first fur seal sitting just in front of our car. So amazed!. The seals were not that friendly as we were suggested to keep some distance away from them. My first time seeing seals in such a close distance. We were discussing a lot about the differences between a seals and a sea lions. I’ve browsed through the internet and found some articles about the seals in New Zealand. In fact, New Zealand has 4 species seen on the mainland: two eared seals (New Zealand sea lion, New Zealand fur seal) and two true seals (Southern elephant seal, Leopard seal). http://www.sealiontrust.org.nz/nzseals.htm. All the mammals we were looking at were indeed fur seals - Kekeno (species: Arctocephalus forsteri). The back drop was amazing, rocky sea sides and some seals sunbathing.
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Hey, don't block the scenery.. |
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Fiuhhh....Nice sun... |
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Can you see any seals?? There are more than 5 behind.. |
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Quickly take.. uncle seal is comin'... |
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Seals as background |
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Why the seal does this? Get more fresh air? Or just a pose.. |
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Put people inside, the view might be better i guess.. |
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The view is so nice.. |
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Add caption |
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Mr. Fur Seal.. |
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Sry guys.. this is not Esplanade, wrong place.. It's South Bay |
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Please, seals, come to me.. |
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Please, i;m not taking you guys.. |
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A picture before departing.. |
Some scenic views along the journey back from South Bay, kaikoura...
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Lobster Inn |
Next, dinner time…As planned, we went to have Crayfish at the Lobster Inn Motor Lodge near New World supermarket along the beach Road. The crayfish resembled the king prawn. It was quite delicious and creamy… we ordered Mussels as well as side dishes. After dinner, we headed to Fyffe Quay stargazing place. Lying on the road, looking up the sky with the help of my Star map was really amazing. The place was dark enough for us to see millions and millions of stars and some occasional shooting stars…The best star gazing I’d ever had. After the ‘5 star’ gazing, we headed back to our lovely house and had a stay overnight.
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Mussels.. |
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Waiting for dinner.. It took quite a long time..Hungry la... |
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Still waiting.., |
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Yummy.. |
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Lamb chop |
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Lamb chop (Combo Version) |
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Super big size pasta |
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Reconstructed crayfish shell |
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Mussel Shells Collection |
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Let's Fight.. see who wins.. |
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The deco outside Lobster Inn |
Star gazing at Fyffe Qy.. The stars were way more than that in the photo....
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DAY 2
Our second leg of journey started with the morning sunset accompanying us driving along the coastal road heading to Blenheim. Passing by Wharanui, we drove about 2 hours and reached Blenheim. We stopped by McD toilet before heading to our next destination: Wither hills Vineyards.
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Front door of the Fairways bungalow. |
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Reaching Blenheim soon.. |
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On the way to Blenheim.. |
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WIther Hills Vineyeard Entrance |
Blenheim was situated in the Marlborough region which has tones of vineyards stretching from the Alpine Triangles to the east coast. Why did we choose Wither hills? Simply because it is famous and nearer to the city centre. We had a wine tasting and bought some cellar door wines. Colin and I each bought a dessert wine Noble Riesling 2006 and JiaJi bought a Pinot Noir. Looking out the vineyards was pretty nice, the whole stretch of vineyards across the Marlborough plain was awesome…
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Vineyard |
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Walking to the Cellar Door.. |
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Marlborough View |
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Cellar Door and Cafe |
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Cellar Door... |
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The vineyards owned by Wither Hills |
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Oh really.. yea..yup..tht's nice..oh.. |
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Enjoying the wine.. |
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I was supposed not to drink.. But.. i tried as well.. Drank more water cleaned my breath.. |
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A range of different wines available |
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Awards won by Wither hills |
Next, we dropped by Dicksmoth along Maxwell Street to buy a multi-inputs AC to DC adapter which had been a problem for me. I brought the whole media adapter player with all the remote controls and cables but just forgot to bring the main cable (power cable).. How stupid I was… Haiz… but the multi-purpose adapter was quite useful in my electronics project in future. Good for travelling usage as well.,......
It was time to go across the sea (Cook Strait), Picton Interislander Ferry Terminal ) was our next stop. After about half an hour of waiting at the terminal with some poker cards and Uno accompanying me, finally it was our turn to enter the large ferry.. Oh, yea, during the wait, a guy approached all the drivers delivering message about the Didymo - a freshwater diatom that had been spreading in the lakes and rivers across the South Island. And it had come to the attention of biosecurity and people were urged to prevent them from spreading further…. Amazed with the size and the facility in the Waitangi Ferry, we had a great time exploring the whole ferry. This ferry took about 3 to 4 hours to reach Wellington.. it was our first time sitting a ferry which had a cinema, guest rooms, restaurants and viewing decks.. I’d say it didn’t look like a ferry, it was a Cruise indeed…
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Reminder for the drivers.. |
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Boarding Pass...to board the ferry... |
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Waiting to enter the ferry.. |
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Some entertainment.. The wait was pretty long.. |
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UNO (Draw Four) i saw tht.. |
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The queue.. |
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Queuing.. |
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Wow.. such a large ferry.. |
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Entering the vehicle deck. |
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Inside the car parking deck |
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Lift going up to sun deck.. |
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Scenery viewed from the ferry upper deck |
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Safety backup boats.. |
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Smile.. |
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Viewing deck.. |
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Another ferry beside.. |
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Viewing from the back of the ferry |
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Crusing... |
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The ferry is called Kaitaki as the name on the boat suggests |
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Arriving in Wellington soon.. |
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A sofa chair resting zone.. |
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No caption needed here.. so obvious..haha..lol |
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The route of the ferry is quite challenging.. |
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Eating cookie time for lunch.. |
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Wellington!! I'm coming.. |
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Yup.. Correct.. that's wellington over there.. |
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Hahahahahaha. |
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Feel the breeze..though it's so cold outside... |
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Cookie time dai yan ren.. |
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So random.. |
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Aiya.. shouldn't be inside..spoiled d |
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The Singles... |
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Shin hoon.. my expression looks weird.. |
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Staircase pose.. |
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Hey.. wait.. i'm not ready yet... |
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Resting on the playground downstairs |
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yup.. see that group of stars.. it's Cancer |
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Jiaji: what do u want? Cookie time.. don wan give u.. |
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Hey guys.. dont poke my nose and pull my beard leh.. |
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Haiz... My cheek so feng man.. fat leh... |
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Statellite and communication broadcasting |
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Helipad... |
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Aiya.. is tht shirley? |
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South Wing.. |
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Wellington city view |
Arriving at Weliington, the capital of New Zeland, we had a great time shooting photos at the sun deck, viewing the Wellington city skyline. At the Wellington Ferry terminal, we went along Aotea Qy, crossing Waterloo Qy and Jervois Qy, we arrived at the Te Papa Musuem ( the national Musuem) which is located along Cable St..The museum was going to close for the day when we arrived, so, we didn’t actually have much time to explore the whole historical artifacts in the museum. Some of the interesting stuff that caught our attention were the very big size squid - the colossal squid - the largest invertebrate in the world.. the one showcased was just a baby squid but it was about 2.5 meter long; the Paperskin created by the Maori which was used as masks during some religious dancing; and the beautiful night skyline of the city of Wellington.
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What building is that? |
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Just came out from the ferry |
Some snapshots inside the Te Papa Museum
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Biggest invertebrate in the world!!! |
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Colossal Squid description |
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Sea World.. |
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How come the dinasour looks like Maori statue.. |
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Yup.. we're in Wellington now. the capital of NZ |
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Hantu dalam underwater... |
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Why mine no effect one.. too fair i guess.. |
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Musuem Lounge |
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Wellington Night View... |
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Night view + nice guys |
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Entering Paperskin artwork by Maoris |
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A statue along the Esplanade |
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Google map of the Parliament Buildings |
Next, we headed to the Parliament Buildings along Molesworth Street, Wellington. The buildings consist of the Parliament House, the beehive and the bowen house. The Parliament House contains the Debating Chamber, Speaker's Office, Visitors' Centre and committee rooms. While the Beehive (Executive Wing) is occupied by the Cabinet room, Prime Minister offices and some other offices of individual ministers...The Bowen House is located just across the street and it is connected to the rest of the parliamentary complex by a tunnel under Bowen Street. It houses MPs' offices and support staff.
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Welcome all MPs... |
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The Parliament House and the Beehive |
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Might be the future ministers.. |
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The government of NZ |
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Standing tall in NZ politics.. |
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At the Beehive (Excecutive Wing) |
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Welcome.. |
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Richard John Seddon |
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bronze statue of Richard John Seddon (longest serving Prime Minister in NZ) |
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The Beehive |
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The house was located at the far bottom right, |
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Passing by Rorirua, Paekakariki and Paraparaumu (SH1), after about an hour drive we reached our next accommodation situated at the end of the Colenso Place, Otaki… There had been a lot of stories behind this two-storey house… It looked nice during the day but it was simply a ‘ghost’ house when the night came.. The red diplaipted gate, shaky stairs, dingy living rooms and photos of little kids pasted all over the wall with some ancient style decorations were really a challenge for us..But, in overall, the house was beautiful with some artworks and a balcony but due to insufficient lightings, it was just ‘not livable’…
Cooking and some activities in the house..
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Making pasta |
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Fire Place |
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Real Absoulte Vodka.. |
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Fast! I'm starving. |
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DAY 3
The journey continued heading North passing by Palmerston North. We visited the Massey university which was really ‘ulu’..the university was like hiding somehwhere in the outskirt. The university has a reasonable size and it has lots of farms and grasslands surrounding the uni compound. The Palmey town is just a small town, nothing much.. We proceeded, heading straight to Lake Taupo.
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Massey University Entrance |
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Massey Uni Directory |
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Massy Uni Compound |
After about 3 hours drive, finally we arrived at Lake Taupo. It was indeed a really large lake, I just couldn’t the sea the edges of the lake. The house we rented was a nice one indeed. With good heating and beds with electric blanket really helped us a lot after several days of insufficient sleeps. After unpacking stuff, we headed North a little bit ,reaching the Huka Falls… The Huka Falls is really a big basin, directing water from the Waikato river to the Lake Taupo - the largest freshwater lake in all of Australasia. The large volume of water falling down formed a spectacular scene and visual feast of powerful falls.. As stated on the description board: Every second up to 220,000 litres of water gushes through the gorge and shoots out over 8 metres beyond to create a beautiful blue/green pool.
Along the way to Lake Taupo...
Arriving at Huka Falls.....
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I could feel the strength of the water fall |
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The water was like so clear green, blue colour.. |
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Some descriptions about Huka Falls |
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The water is so strong and rapid |
The trip then continued by visiting the Scenic Cellars - New Zealand's Largest Underground Wine Cellar..There was a whole lot range of wines sold there and most of the wines were stored underground..it was really fantastic..We then bought some groceries to be cooked in Countdown and ended our day by watching Hitler and had some red wines plus vodka..
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A glass looking down to the underground wine storage |
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The pear can be preserved so long.. The wine must be very fruity. |
Underground wine storage..
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The large one looks cool... |
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A fridge on the floor.. |
Photo shooting @ Lake Taupo
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Lake taupo as background... |
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Lake taupo at dusk... |
Eating "Fried Bihoon" with wines in our holiday house..
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HDD adapter - movie time.. |
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DAY 4
Day 4 was the day we got to experience one of the oldest national parks in the world which was listed as UNESCO world heritage site. It had 3 active volcanoes and a big area of conserved forest. As usual, forced to woke up early morning, we drove down along SH1 to the Whakapapa village. The village was situated inside the Tongariro National Park, and we parked our car near the information centre. Initially, we overshot the visitor centre as we thought the national park entrance should be deeper inside the mountain range. Some observations showed that the cars in front were heading to the ski side which was nearer to the volcanoes craters. There were quite a lot of scenic walks and climbs with different durations. We asked for recommendations and finally decided to choose the Taranaki Falls scenic walk, about 5 hours walk....
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By Ting Feng.. Before departing.. |
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Kia Xin looking after the dog while we threw rubbish// |
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The whole boot was full!! |
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Arriving at Tongariro National Park |
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Approaching Whakapapa |
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Approaching one of the volcanoes.. |
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Arriving at Whakapapa Village (visitor centre) |
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Short Walk (visiting Taranaki Falls) |
Taranaki Falls walk began......
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One of the smaller falls along the walk.. |
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Yea.. The chips were nice.. |
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Missing 2 people |
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Shin Hoon don't pull me... i wanna.... |
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Posing |
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Hey choon seng, why you throw stone to me |
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Act cure again.. |
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Be serious please.. |
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Taranaki Falls |
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Statue in front of the visitor centre |
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Hey.. dont mimick this pose.. dangerous.. |
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Looking at the whole 3D map of Tongariro National Park |
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Weather Forecast for the day |
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Nice capture.. |
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The locations of the 3 active volcanoes |
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KFC DInner @ Tau |
After a short drive up North, we arrived at Rotorua. This was my first time driving in the dark. The winding roads were really dangerous and flash lights (High beams) had to be activated every now and then for clearer view and to alert other drivers. As the motel was booked by me, I forgot to ask for the phone number and we could have arrived late, ended up not getting the key for the house. I tried my best to drive as fast as possible but of course with cautions. Arriving at the Motel reception office, I was so relieved that actually the uncle and probably his wife were waiting for us to arrive. So nice…initially, the one I booked was just a holiday house, not a motel but they gave us a motel and put additional beds for us, charging us the same price. We were so grateful to the Uncle Robin if I’m not mistaken. We could even access the thermal pool and swimming pool which were just beside the motel. Not eating much, we were just tired and had a rest early and got ourselves prepared for the adventure the next day o visit Geyser.
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DAY 5
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WaiOTapu Wonderland Map |
Day 5 was the day which had most excitements and first-time experiences. Early morning, Jiaji and I went to the reception desk to ask for some recommendations on Geyser visit as Rotorua was well-known for its geothermal areas and geysers. We were given 2 recommendations, one which was near but rather small and another one quite a distance away but was a large wonderland. Was it free? That uncle replied “nowadays, there is no free entry stuff, everything is about money…” Finally, we chose the Wai-O-Tapu Geyser which was a distance down south.
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Red Rock Thermal Motel Thermal SPa |
It took about 30 minutes to arrive at the Wai-O-Tapu village. From far, we could see steam flying up and sulphur-ic smell enveloped us. Sulphur could be seen all over the place. The entrance fee was $30 and we had a really great fun inside the wonderland. The colourful geyser with hands-on experience on the temperature of the geothermal natural water really amazed us a lot.
A video was created with clips compiled showing the whole visit in the geyser areas. We spent quite long in the area, since we’d paid so much money; we opted to choose the longest walk.
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Another large Geyser thermal spot in Rotorua (Te Puia) |
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Little Hobbiton House inside the cafe |
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Hobbiton Entrance |
The sky was turning dark; we rushed all the way to Auckland city, meeting all our Auckland friends. There were quite a bit of traffic jams along the Auckland Highway but we managed to arrive at The Empire apartments where KS was staying as well… Approaching Auckland city on the 3-lanes highway was like on the way going to Kuala Lumpur with highway road lights zooming passed.Auckland- A real big city.. we’ve arrived…KS brought us to have dinner at a Korean restaurants and we had a long chat there.
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DAY 6
The longest drive in the whole journey had arrived. An approximately 4-hour drive up North to the Bay of Islands. Driving out of the city, we entered the Northern Highway (Auckland Warwera Highway), passing by North Shore and Silverdale. We passed by the Northern Gateway Toll Road (tunnel) and headed up to Puhoi. The toll road uses electronic toll collection, utilizing sophisticated cameras and sensors to capture an image of the vehicle’s license plate and assign the correct toll. We paid the toll fee 2 x $2 return at the self-service kiosk inside the BP Connect at Dairy Flat just before we passed by Silverdale..we then stopped at Ruakaka beach for some photo shootings before heading to Whangarei on SH1..
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Toll Payment Kiosk @ BP Dairy Flat |
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Auckland City Sunrise |
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Auckland City at dawn |
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Ruakaka Beach View |
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Ruakaka Beach |
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Whangarei Junction |
At the WHakapara fork junction, we used the Russell Road heading to Russell town.. The road started smoothly with a bit winding, after a while, the road started to bend with sharp edges, winding which was really hard for passengers behind. The road was really winding and could be considered as off-road, passing by Kaimamaku…The winding road continued for about an hour driving 53 kms..
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Russell Road |
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Russell Scenery |
The road condition got worsen when we arrived at the junction between a ‘non-Tar road’ and Oakura Road. We were faced in dilemma whether to continue what the gps showed or choose the road the right.. After some discussions, we better kept to the Gps advice and it took us another half an hour to reach the destination. The road was covered with rocks and it was only one-way (my instinct – as there were no cars coming from front).
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Russell Road (no tar) |
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Arriving at Russell Ferry Terminal |
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A swamp near the Russell town entrance |
The winding road had caused us delays in arriving to catch the cruise. Fiuh….after a minor slip at a junction, we finally arrived safely at Russell Jetty. The plan was to have a walk at Russell town, but due to time constraints, we just couldn’t afford to waste any more time. We should have caught a ferry at the jetty and found out that there was actually no car ferry at that terminal!!!!! Shocked!! Looking at my watch: 45mins left…. Oh my god.. we were not gonna catch the $89 dollar cruise on time.....after browsing through some souvenirs, I drove as fast as possible to Okiato at which the correct car ferry terminal was situated. We sat the ferry, which was quite funny as it was so small that could only accommodate a few vehicles. Surprisingly, there were quite a number of vehicles in the ferry as I thought the ferry might have ‘no business’ as ithe place was really outskirt.. We reached Opua ferry terminal and tried to figure out where to catch the cruise. The tension and stress started to engulfed me as a driver.. 89dollars times 8 was a lot of money..
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Okiato - Opua Car Ferry |
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View from the ferry |
There was only half an hour left and Opua was nothing like a Paihia where there should be a town with cruises harboring or some sort marina. I got off the car and tried to ask people around and realized that I still needed to drive some 6km to reach Paihia without guidance from GPS.. Rushing as quickly as possible with some over-speed and over-shoots..Even jiaji who sat beside me didn’t fasten her seat belt at all, I was like drifting all the way, luckily there was no police ambush around. 10 mins left, we arrived at the terminal, I coudln;t find anywhere to park my car!!! Dropping the others, I rushed to the car park and tried to find parking bay.. No empty bay!! I tried to squeeze in between a tree and a two-seater car and yes, it was successful!! I didn’t care about scratching the car, just be brave enough drove in.. Fiuh… the small space fitted my Estima.. I then dashed to the terminal, and finally I was able to reach them and it was less than 5 mins before departure……
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Ferry Terminal @ Russell |
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Russell Town Centre |
Views from the cruise.....
After the afternoon rush, my eyes were abit sore with some dizziness.. but, still, I enjoyed the cruise. We got the chance to enjoy the view of the Bay of Islands. What special about the Bay of Islands? Around 700 years ago, a large Maori migration canoe came from Hawaiki. Maori then settled and multiplied. Then, in 1769, James cook arrived and named the place Bay of Islands. It was indeed an historic place where a lot of Maoris were born there. We got to visit some populat attractions like Cape Brett light house and Hole-in-the-Rock.
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Cape Brett Lighthouse |
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Bay of Isle Map |
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Bay of Islands aerial view |
It’s time to go home…On the way back to Auckland city, again, we drove in the dark. We passed by Kawa-Kawa to visit the well-known Kawa-kawa’s Hundertwasser Toilets, which is best in the world.
“It was designed in 1997 by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, famous Austrian architect, painter and print maker, these colorful restrooms feature smashed tiles and glass in curves and spirals reminiscent of Gaudi. Bottles embedded in the wall allow natural light to enter. The building is topped off by grass roof.” http://www.kawakawa.co.nz/
DAY 7
The visit had come to the end…before heading to the airport and returning the car, KS bought us to have Kaya and Toast, owned by Malaysian, visit the One Tree Hill Monument. and the Mission bay We bought some souvenirs as well before returning the car at Juicy rental. Some cleaning and vacuuming were done before returning the car…
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Auckland viewed from One Tree Hill |
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One Tree Hill Monument |
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One Tree Hill |
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Auckland City View |
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Auckland University Entrance |
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A fountain in Albert Park |
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Along the way to Queens Street |
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Civic Theatre |
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Kaya & Toast (lunch) |
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One of the buildings of Auckland University |
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Somebody broke my Heineken!!! |
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Mission Bay (Pose) |
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Mission Bay (2) |
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Mission Bay (3) |
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A toilet near Graham - just in front of the cemetery.. |
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The trip had been a successful one though it was quite packed and not well-planned. But, indeed it was a good experience travelling in New Zealand…
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