Went to New Zealand, Oct 2003. The flight was horrible, 11 hours journey and we took the worst airline which is Air New Zealand. The service was horrible and the seats was our nightmare. You can even adjust the seat, therefore towards 11 hours we got to seat straight.
We flew from Auckland to Christchurch. Each time when we reach the city, we definitely get lost to look for our hotel. Took an hour just to look for our hotel. We went around the city and wanted to visit the casino unfortunately we are not dress properly...no jeans and shorts allowed.
We had a great dinner at one of the restaurant and the food portion was huge.
We left Christchurch and drive to Dunedin. We stop at cheese factory, the factory is so run down and only one man working. I able to buy my cow watch there...ha!ha! so happy...of cos we did eat the cheese samplings....and we also bought some cheese for souvenirs.
We visited the tourist information centre and they recommend us to see penguins and seals. So we drove along the coast and reach the light tower. We are freezing cos the wind is so strong. We took the Natural Wonders buggy and it was fun....we only manage to see 5 penguins and got to use a binoculars to see...so pathetic.
We woke up at 4am the next morning and i could hardly get any sleep due to my heartburn. We need to arrive to Doubtful Sound, Te Anau by 9am as the boat will leave by then. Everyone was so sleepy except the driver need to concentrate on the road. We saw a trailer and thought we could follow cos was total darkness, unfortunately the trailer speed so fast...unbelievable. Do you know there is no emergency lane in NZ.
We reach Doubtful Sound, took a boat and only 11 of us. The guide cum driver name George, he is one man show, he do everything. The lake was so calm that we stop our boat for coffee and biscuits. We saw dophins chasing behind our boat, seals and penguins. This is really paradise. Worth waking up early.
We finishes our tour at 5pm then we drove to Te Anau to check in to our hotel. We ate in one of the restaurant where the cast of Lord of the Rings was there before, the food was ok and pricey. The portion was small.
We went to Milford Sound the next day, we board on a Ferry and is two different experience for milford sound and doubtful lake. Milford sound u can see alot of waterfalls.
We left Te Anau and went to Queenstown. Visited Gold Field Mine and we try our luck to see whether we find any gold nuggets....nope...so sad...We went for 360 degrees Jet Shotover and it was fun....all of us nearly get wet and our guide is so cute, his name is DANIEL.....you must try JET SHOTOVER, is really an experience. We arrive to Queenstown, we visited Arrowtown and was really disappointed. Cos is just few shops only and nothing much to do. We went to Puzzle House which is nearly 2 hours drive from Queenstown. This is a like a mini science centre and all of us really have fun. We also try to complete the gigantic MAZE.
We arrived NZ early in the morning and straightaway we went to collect our car - Toyota Estima that fits 6 of us. We head towards Auckland and first think is to look for our hotel - Copthorne. We went around the city for more than an hour looking for the hotel and everyone was so tired. The map doesnt work at all. We stopped to ask for direction and guess who we ask, the police. The police dont even know where is the hotel. Cos the hotel just change to this new name. Finally we found our hotel and quickly chuck our bag and went around the city. One of our family friend came and took us around. We visited Sky Tower and it was amazing. Then inside the sky tower there is a casino...so we hang around there and had our lunch.
We slept early cos next day we got to leave the city and got to drive ourself to Rotorua. We had the best dinner and dance performance by the Maoi. Visited the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves and it was amazing. It looks something like our fireflies. The worms glow in the dark.
We visited Agrodome where u can see different type of sheep's performance. The famous breed is known as MERINO...:)
Next stop is our Farm Stay, it was fantastic. The land was huge and the host was so nice. They prepared dinner for us. Only one thing is that the weather suddenly change and it was freezing. I could not sleep cos the electric blanket only works one side. Therefore I was freezing in the middle of the nite and I sneak to my sister room and sneak on her bed..ha!ha! The next morning my friend only realise that i was missing. She slept well, didnt she..ha!ha! The best thing is that we got to shower and it was freezing, you can see everyone spent less than 5 min in the washroom. You can see your legs and hands shaking. Damn cold and i told my friends that i want to go back to Malaysia...just second day of my trip and i miss home...terrible of me.
We happily feed the animals and there is one annoying and so called adorable parrot name BOW in the living room. This parrot will start to chase the cat in the living room and sometime even chase me. I hate pets. Time flies and we got to said goodbye to our host and head to Christchurch.
We flew from Auckland to Christchurch. Each time when we reach the city, we definitely get lost to look for our hotel. Took an hour just to look for our hotel. We went around the city and wanted to visit the casino unfortunately we are not dress properly...no jeans and shorts allowed.
We had a great dinner at one of the restaurant and the food portion was huge.
We left Christchurch and drive to Dunedin. We stop at cheese factory, the factory is so run down and only one man working. I able to buy my cow watch there...ha!ha! so happy...of cos we did eat the cheese samplings....and we also bought some cheese for souvenirs.
We visited the tourist information centre and they recommend us to see penguins and seals. So we drove along the coast and reach the light tower. We are freezing cos the wind is so strong. We took the Natural Wonders buggy and it was fun....we only manage to see 5 penguins and got to use a binoculars to see...so pathetic.
We woke up at 4am the next morning and i could hardly get any sleep due to my heartburn. We need to arrive to Doubtful Sound, Te Anau by 9am as the boat will leave by then. Everyone was so sleepy except the driver need to concentrate on the road. We saw a trailer and thought we could follow cos was total darkness, unfortunately the trailer speed so fast...unbelievable. Do you know there is no emergency lane in NZ.
We reach Doubtful Sound, took a boat and only 11 of us. The guide cum driver name George, he is one man show, he do everything. The lake was so calm that we stop our boat for coffee and biscuits. We saw dophins chasing behind our boat, seals and penguins. This is really paradise. Worth waking up early.
We finishes our tour at 5pm then we drove to Te Anau to check in to our hotel. We ate in one of the restaurant where the cast of Lord of the Rings was there before, the food was ok and pricey. The portion was small.
We went to Milford Sound the next day, we board on a Ferry and is two different experience for milford sound and doubtful lake. Milford sound u can see alot of waterfalls.
We left Te Anau and went to Queenstown. Visited Gold Field Mine and we try our luck to see whether we find any gold nuggets....nope...so sad...We went for 360 degrees Jet Shotover and it was fun....all of us nearly get wet and our guide is so cute, his name is DANIEL.....you must try JET SHOTOVER, is really an experience. We arrive to Queenstown, we visited Arrowtown and was really disappointed. Cos is just few shops only and nothing much to do. We went to Puzzle House which is nearly 2 hours drive from Queenstown. This is a like a mini science centre and all of us really have fun. We also try to complete the gigantic MAZE.
We visited the casino and never try our luck on anything...ha!ha! We bought chocolates, face cream, black mud spa product and etc. Our next destination is Mount Cook. Unfortunately it was raining and we got to rush to Christchurch before its too late. Therefore we skip Mount Cook and on our way we stop at Salmon Farm and we never ate any salmon so fresh before. We bought one salmon and will eat it at our hotel at Christchurch....so we stop at the mini market to get lemons...ha!ha!
We got to fly from Christchurch to Auckland. It was raining and the airport shuttle is every 20 mins. We need to catch our flight back to KL. At the end every body try to squeeze in to the shuttle bus and ran into the international airport to check in and pay for airport tax. We are the last group to go on board. The Air NZ staff is so rude and we swear we never want to follow this airlines anymore. Each time we request for hot chocolate or biscuits they never come, at the end we got to go to the pantry to request. What kind of services is this?
That's the end of our trip and all of us really enjoy ourself despite of me having heartburn for the few days. I only start to enjoy at the end of the trip...so sad!! NZ is really a nice place to visit.
