26 May AUCKLAND

When you wake up and realize that you were in the congested Auckland city and staying in a mouldy room with very little oxygen, you just felt like going back to sleep, so that when you wake up again, it was already time to leave. However, life was not always filled with negative experience, we witnessed the most beautiful rainbow we have ever seen when we collected our car outside the backpackers lodge. 

Well, beautiful thing does not last.  The rainbow was hanging in the sky for merely 2 minutes before it was covered by the rain clouds again.  But, the rainbow really made my day, what a great start for a morning in Auckland!

After breakfast, we drove to Ladies Bay at St. Helier Port.  This is a rich and famous housing area with luxury houses overlooking the great ocean.  We walked down to the seaside and it was very windy.  I was amazed by a seagull, which flew so close to me. The immediate thought that came to my mind was this was a golden photo opportunity.  Without hesitation, I pointed my camera at the bird, that was just about to fly over my head.  In just a second, I saw something dropped from its backside, and was immediately followed by a 'plopping' sound.  OMG, was this what the morning rainbow trying to tell me?  I was lucky to be able to take a few quick steps from the 'bomb' dropping point, thus successfully avoided the explosion.  But the camera bag that laid on the rock could not avoid the disaster.  Ironically, since my arrival in Auckland City, I always thought this city as dirty.  So, wasn't this incident the best example of negative thoughts attracting negative outcomes?  

Ladies Bay at St. Helier Port

Not so clean seaside

Since we were in the rich people area, subconsciously we felt like part of them as well. So, I decided to settle the speeding ticket at Westpac Bank at St Helier Port.  The whole process was quick and smooth, and not to forget, very friendly too.  There goes my RM 550, contributed to the future development of New Zealand.  Anyway, I was no longer feeling the pain, I thought I have finally gotten over it.  What was in my mind at that moment was "All right, I have done my duty.  I did not owe anyone anything anymore." RM 550? It was just a tiny amount in a long span of life. 

Made my traffic ticket payment at Westpac, St. Helier Port.

Since the sky started to shower, we went to the Museum at Auckland Domain to get indoor shelter.  NZ$10 donation was obligated for every visitor.  This is a serious museum, nothing like the fun and interactive Te Papa Museum in Wellington. There is an entire floor dedicated to Maori Culture.  Also, there is a big section illustrating New Zealands' participation in World War I & II; another big section explaining New Zealand's natural science and native flora and fauna.  This is a huge museum and it was crowded especially with school children, making the whole place very noisy.  After spending 2 hours there, we left the museum with a heavy and sleepy soul.  Personally, Te Papa is still my favourite.

Maori's traditional boat

Kakapo, a flightless native bird that is going to extinct.

Seal

The rest of the day was about eating expensive but ordinary food and driving aimlessly in a few suburbs.  What could I say about Auckland? Bye bye and no attachment!    

25 May AUCKLAND

We woke up at 7:15 am and decided to leave Verandah's mouldy room as soon as possible.

By 8 am, we were already driving heading to the city, hopefully to get hot coffee and hot chocolate to begin the day. However, same as other big cities in the world, finding a parking space by the road side during peak hour was almost impossible, unless you are willing to pay NZ$8 per hour for indoor parking. After a few rounds of 'patrol', we decided to drive out to the nearest suburb. Soon, we ended up having delicious hot breakfast in a small cafe at Parnell. 

A stroll at Parnell after breakfast was very enjoyable.  Shops are restored by maintaining the heritage architecture. This suburb reminded me of little towns in Europe, just like Salzburg. 

Since the parking ticket only lasted for one hour, we left Parnell and made our way to Kelly Tarlton's.  This underwater world was not in our list but since the sky started to drizzle, we have to find somewhere indoor to kill time.

Despite those bad reviews in Tripadvisor.com, we found this underwater world worth visiting. By presenting our YHA cards, we were given a 10% discount on the admission fees (usual price NZ$ 31.50 per pax). This is the 1st time in my life to see live King Penguin. The bulky body with vivid colours of black and white made them extremely adorable. The clumsy walking style was a big contrast to their smooth arrow-like swimming gesture. I was surprised to know that their chicks are furry and bigger in size than their parents. We took the Antarctica train for 2 rounds just to have a closer look to the 100 King Penguins on the snow ground

Entrance of Kelly Tarlton's

See the furry black chicks?

Other than penguins, like other big aquariums in the world, there were also giant sting rays, sharks and colossal squids.

The giant sting ray with a smiling face.

After spending about 3 hours in Kelly Tarlton's, Bernard suggested us to visit Queen Victoria Market in the city centre.  according to his memory when he visited Auckland 10 years ago,  Queen Victoria Market was just another Chatuchak Market in Bangkok.  It was filled with stalls that sold variety of New Zealand made souvenirs at cheap price. Unfortunately, things obviously changed drastically over a long period of 10 years.  There were very few stalls remained, selling old goods covered with dusts with price higher than the souvenir shops that we visited in the city centre.  The stalls' owners were more interested in watching TV or reading newspaper than greeting their visitors. Also, the hygiene level of the place was very disappointed. The ground was coated with bird droppings and falling leaves.  So, why spent time in a dead city?

We then drove to Davenport and Orewa, hoping to visit sandy beaches. Of course, who go to beach in late autumn? The wind itself froze you into ice.  Anyway, the beach looked like those in Tanjung Bungah in Penang, no white sandy beach nor crystal clear water,  thus not very attractive to both of us.  However Orewa was a clean, neat and low density suburb. If I were to stay in Auckland, this will be the kind of suburb I will choose. We went to Orewa's New World Supermarket to buy canned New Zealand corn beef for Papa.  I began to have the reluctant feeling when I saw all kinds of brands and products that I will not be able to access at back at home. 

Beach side at Orewa

Dinner, we had Subway Sandwich back in the city centre .  The sandwich was tasty but we spent an hour to search for parking before that.  Auckland city is definitely not my kind of place.

Night scene of Auckland Tower from our room, Room # 4, Verandah's Bacpackers Lodge

24 May WELLINGTON - AUCKLAND

At 7:45 am, we went down to the hotel lobby to wait for our 8 am airport shuttle, that has been pre-booked earlier via Ibis's reception.

By 7:55 am, the shuttle's driver personally came into the lobby to look for us.  The so called 'shuttle' was actually a van and not a bus which I thought in my mind.  There was a big metal luggage storage dragged behind the van.   

It was drizzling. The sky looked grey and heavy, garnished with dark clouds.  Since yesterday, the news has been announcing nationwide weather alert which indicated thunder storm for the coming one week.  Advice were given to the people especially those who are staying at the rural areas to stock up food, and prepared for floods. We were quite worried about our flight but at the same time feeling fortunate because the weather had been great ( even though the sun was a bit too strong for me) for outdoor activities for the past few weeks.  The clear days in Milford Sound, Franz Josef Glacier and even a day on foot in Wellington.  All the memorable moments was already well kept in our hearts and recorded by our 2 cameras.  We did not plan to do much in Auckland.  It was just a stop for us to rest and relax before our long flight back to Malaysia.

We reached the airport at 8:30am.  We were very impressed by the simple yet efficient self check-in system in Wellington's Airport.  Just after 2 simple steps, we were already able to put our luggage on the check-in conveyor belt.  All done by ourselves!  Wellington Airport was also another small but compact and navigation-friendly airport just like Melbourne's.   Shopping outlets caught your eyes almost everywhere, even just a few steps away from your boarding gate.  So, sometimes airport does not need to be big to be great. 

Step 1 - key in your particulars and print your own boarding pass.

Step 2 - drop you luggage here

Our flight that only took an hour went through a few times of turbulence.  However, we finally reached Auckland safely and on time, making flying with New Zealand Air another satisfying experience. 

Not so good weather

Another delightful experience was there were free Internet consoles at the baggage claiming area.  I took a quick check on  my emails when Bernard was waiting for the our luggage.  While we were waiting for Omega to pick us up to the car depot, Bernard noticed that we did not have the contact details of Verandahs Backpackers Lodge.  I ran in to the free internet console again and just within 2 minutes, I was back with the hostel's address and phone number. 

We picked up our car and drove into Auckland city.  More cars, more people and more highways, so we were back to civilization again.  Somehow, I did not feel good.  

Auckland Bridge

We drove past Verandahs to check out our accommodation for the next 3 days, a 2-storey white house by the main road. From the outlook, it seemed OK to us.  Since it was just 12:30 pm, we decided to have lunch first before coming back to check in by 2 pm.
 Verandahs Backpackers Lodge

  

We drove to the nearby Karangaphy Road.  It was hard to find parking.  We finally found a space by the road side and it costed NZ$ 4 per hour, and we were only allowed to park for 1 hour. 

The city was very dirty.  The streets were wet, filled with fallen autumn leaves and for the first time in New Zealand, I saw rubbish on the pedestrians.  There were also not too many friendly faces, people seems busier and colder here. 

We walked into a Sushi outlet, which was not well maintained too.  The toilet's door was detached from the hinge.  The whole door was just left leaning on the beam.  So, you have to carry the heavy wooden door aside in order to go into the toilet.  Then dragged it to cover the hole as much as possible.  So, while you were doing your 'business', you must keep an eye and get ready to scream : " someone is inside!" just in case someone lift up the door.  The sushi was tasteless and I felt uncomfortable to see the not so clean interior of the restaurant.  To me, Auckland city  is just like Frankfurt city. These two international big cities are obviously not my cup of tea. 

Verandahs Backpackers Lodge was another disappointment.  The situation was totally different from what was shown in their website and my most trusted Tripadvisor.com's review.  The setting of the room looked all right. However, the bed, carpet and curtain was damp and has a kind of mouldy smell.  The whole place was dark, there was only one neon bulb to light up the whole room.   The heater was only powerful enough to heat up itself. The path that lead us through a dungeon in order to get to the kitchen was a nightmare.  Immediately, we decided not to go to the kitchen for the next 3 days. I rather have no hot water to make drinks.  Ironically, this place has been voted with 100% satisfaction and labelled as clean, cosy and 'the best backpackers in Auckland" in tripadvisor. Two lesson learned here:

1. 
   
    When you read a review from tripadvisor or any other websites, you must check who wrote those reviews.  A review wrote by a hippie and an average traveller may show different angle of judgement. For example, there is obviously a great degrees of difference between the standard of cleanliness judged by a hippie and an average traveller, even though they both called themselves backpackers. 
2. 
   
   If you choose to stay in Auckland city and you are not a hard core backpacker, please get yourself a hotel instead of backpackers lodge. You may pay a little bit extra but ensured a basic safe and clean environment.  Things are expensive here, so do not expect cheap and good backpackers by paying peanuts. But if you choose to stay in suburbs, there are plenty of nice and clean guest house that suit every budget.

The only good point of this backpackers lodge was we can see Auckland Tower from our room.

Auckland city is built on a volcanic hill. We took 40 minutes to walk to the city centre, going down the slope, knowing that we would have a hard time climbing up the slope on our way back later.   We did not drive because finding parking in the city was a headache and getting a parking space at Verandah when we were back was another problem.  Since we already secured a space, we thought we better stick to it until tomorrow morning.  

Auckland city centre

Auckland Bay

While walking in Auckland city centre, there were a few moments, I forgot that I was in New Zealand.  Out of 10 people walking on the street, there were 6 Indians, 3 Chinese ( might be Japanese, Hongkie or Korean ) and only 1 Caucasian.  99% of the shops are run by Asian.  After gotten some New Zealand souvenirs from shops run by Japanese and Hongkie, we had an early dinner at Westfield's Food Court.  To our surprise, the price of the food was reduced after 5 pm. A NZ$10 medium lamb roast only cost NZ$7.50.  We were very excited by this little 'windfall'.  

As known earlier, walking back was tough for me.  Walking up hills for almost an hour to go back to a place that you already knew unpleasant really made me feeling depressed.  Anyway,  Bernard and I already had a great time in South Island for the past 3 weeks.  I would not care too much about this little disappointment here. 

23 May WELLINGTON

Woke up at 7:15 am, feeling fresh and kicking after a good night sleep.  Thanks to the comfortable bed and high thread counts sheet and quilt in Ibis Hotel. We got a very good deal (NZ$ 105) for a king size room from Agoda's website. 

Since the hotel is situated in the heart of Wellington city, we can almost walk to most of the famous attractions like Te Papa Museum, Botanic Garden, Bee Hive Parliament Building, and many shopping and eatery outlets.  After breakfast, we started our Wellington exploration by walking to Te Papa Museum along Queens Wharf.  It was a nice stroll.  The sky was cloudy and this was a day that I did not need to use my sun glasses when staying outdoor, a totally different experience from the days when we were in South Island, where the sun was notoriously aggressive. The outdoor temperature was just nice, 11 degree Celsius.  But like what every body knows, Wellington is always windy, making you feeling chilly when the wind blows.

Cloudy.
Modern art - Fruits Of The Garden.

We reached Te Papa at 9:45am , 15 minutes earlier than its opening hour.  So, more photo opportunities at the entrance of this world renowned museum.

What I could say about Te Papa is I LOVE this museum very much.  It is an inspiring museum telling us about the relation between New Zealand and mother earth.  Facts and history is explained in a lively and entertaining manner, of which even the most ordinary people can easily understand.  The exhibitions are interdisciplinary and interactive. Almost all the displays are presented with the support of 3D and touch screen technology.  The visitors are given the chance to participate in many case simulations such as earth quake, volcanic explosions, flood and many more. This is what I call making history and science innovative and fun. Kids should come here more often so the parents can save a lot of effort to answer all kinds of HOW and WHY questions.  I wish I could spend 3 to 4 days here just to go through every single display.  Also, most importantly the admission is FREE.  It was really impressive that being the youngest country on the planet, New Zealand owns such a world class museum.  Bravo for their great effort!

We also witnessed the exhibition of colossal squid, which was the world's largest squid at the weight of 495 kg.  It was preserved in a giant tank and being displayed in front of our very eyes.

Giant colossal squid, scary, huh?

By 1pm, we reluctantly left the Te Papa as our feet were getting very tired already.  We strolled to Reading Cinema's Food Court, which was not too far from the museum.  The 'All You Can Eat" signage at one of the Chinese stall instantly caught our eyes.  Well, the fun of stacking your own food based on the size of the plate of your choice is here! We paid NZ$10.50 for a medium plate and stacked as much food as we could eat (see, we are mature adult that would not stack as much food as we could, instead we stacked as much food as we think we could finish).  It was a satisfying lunch although the food did not taste superb. It was the fun that mattered!

Bernard's stack, inspired by jelly fish?
My petite stack

With a happy and full stomach, we decided to explore the Royal Botanic Garden next. The cable car that sent us up to the peak of the garden, which is built on a steep slope costed us NZ$3 one way.  The journey only took 3 minutes but since this was our first trip, we did not know about this.  The cable car stopped at one point after about 2 minutes to pick up and dropped off some passengers. We were happy to grab for empty seats when it stopped 2nd time, where more people got off from it.  Finally, everyone got off except us.  Only then we realized that we have reached our destination :)

Old fashion looking but airy and high speed cable car

The botanic garden is not as impressive as those we have seen in Christchurch and Queenstown.  There is no wide span of green like we normally see in conventional gardens as this particular garden is built on a slope.  But I think this makes it a good calorie burning point for joggers and hikers.

 



Flower or Leaf?
A living 'doll' rolling on the grass.

After an hour in the garden, we walked down the hill, heading back to the city.  Bee Hive Parliament Building was not too far away from the foot of the garden, so we managed to took some pictures of it.  Since it was a laid back Saturday, we did not bumped into the Prime Minister :)

 

By 5:30 pm, the sun started to go down and the sky started to turn dark.  We walked back to our hotel to take a rest.

At 7pm, I was still felling full after the All You Can Stack buffet lunch. However, knowing that if I did not eat something by then, all the shops would be closed very soon and most probably I have to take my dinner in a night club when I felt hungry later. We chose to eat in a Taiwanese Tea House that seemed packed of people.  We were assigned a little table near to the kitchen.  Anyway the food turned up to be very delicious.  That was one of the best Sze Chuan soup that I have ever tasted. Bernard's beef fried rice was tasty too.  After finishing our thirst quenching bubble tea, it was another long walk back to our hotel. 

Wellington obviously has more homeless people and smokers compared to South Island.  But this is a city that is far more convenient in terms of F&B, clothing and business opportunity.  Same theory as in life, there is always give and take!

Have to sleep soon, catching a flight at 10 am tomorrow to Auckland, our last stop in New Zealand.

23 May 2010

10:30 pm

Room 510, Ibis Wellington