NZ Part 2 : Familiarizing the Unfamiliar @ Arrival

Semoga dipermudahkan Allah. Tiap2 hari sebelum dan semasa berada di NZ, itu saja yang saya doakan. Mana kan tidak. After all, we are travelling thousands of miles to a land we dont know anybody and which is totally alien to us. Apa yang ada semuanya dapat dari internet dan juga dengan bertanya sedikit dengan kawan2 yang sudah ke sana.

(the magnificent Mount Cook)

Alhamdulillah Allah permudahkan. Tiada daya tanpa pertolongan Allah. Hanya itu yang dapat saya ucapkan bila kembali dengan selamat ke KL.

NZ is sort of in the bucket list. It seem like a dream destination. Macam something so out of reach. A place worthwhile visiting. And indeed it is.

I am lucky sebab anak2 yang gagah2 pun travel sekali. MasyaaAllah. So, that sort of spread my worries out a bit.

(they are the enablers; in Auckland, on the way to One Tree Hill for a 360degree view of the city)

Saya terfikir juga nak ikut tour campervan kat internet tu - is it called  berjalan dengan kawan2? - something like that. Tapi macam tame lah pulak (we wanted to be wild I suppose!) Hmm.. mungkin kurang challenging. Dan that tour only does the South Island and does not cover all the places we wanted to go. This is after all my one and only trip to NZ so I have to do everything I want to do. Lagipun berjalan ramai2 tends to slow you down and restricts freedom. So that's that.

Dan ada juga yang bertanya, is it cheaper to travel on the campervan? I did some simple calculation before we fly. Entah betul ke tidak pun tak tahu. But it seem almost the same in terms of cost. Tak banyak beza (mungkin depends on the type of camper you take - high end or otherwise). But we consciously made the decision that we want to travel in a campervan. Bila lagi? Kalau travel masuk hotel, itu dah biasa buat pun. And we read that NZ is the friendliest campervan country. And so yeah, that was that.

(our first sunset in NZ; we did freedom parking at Lake Karapiro in Keeley's Reserve near Cambridge, 3 hours or so south of Auckland. It was dark, quite lonely with only a handful of other campers. The only facility we have is the toilet. It was FOC, of course!)

So much words! Tak suka menulis bila meleret. Reading is supposed to be interesting; a joy in fact (sebab itu saya selang-seli dengan gambar to make it seem like I have less words..J)

Masuk ke New Zealand amat senang. Tiada perlu visa (at the time of travel). Namun, they have the Declare or Dispose law.

They are very strict about bringing in food and other stuff into the country (baca habis2 di website dia). Kalau bawa makanan, declare saja lah. Sebab kalau tak declare and they find out about it (and believe me there is a high chance that they would. Sebab dia ada officer yang buka beg, mesin scan beg dan juga anjing penghidu di sekeliling airport), you will be slapped with an instant NZ$200 fine (kalilah dengan 2.86; ie lebih kurang RM600 dan makanan pulak dibuang). Paling senang letak semua makanan dalam satu beg. Jadi bila officer nak check bagitau je makanan semua di sini, tiada di dalam beg lain. They will give you two thumbs up and a relieved Cool! Dia pun tak ada keinginan nak buka beg kita dan selak semua jenis pakaian yang ada di beg (in my case at 1:00 in the morning).

Ada penumpang di hadapan kami diperiksa amat lama kerana semua beg terpaksa dibuka. Kami perhati saja semasa queue. Habis botol cili dibuka dan dihidu dan pakaian dalam diperiksa! Agak kecut perut menanti giliran.

The inspection officer took away my serunding daging yang dimasak kasar. Serunding daging yang disiat kecil dan serunding ikan dimasukkan semula ke dalam beg. Other food we have like bilis, sambal, sardin, spices and noodles are also put back into my case and declared save. Alhamdulillah.

(we had beautiful, fresh deep fried fish, scallops and Bluff oysters at this place in Kaikoura, north Canterbury. Tak pernah makan fish and chips sesedap itu rasanye)

We booked at the Ibis Budget hotel for the night. Hotel budget (sebab nama pun budget kan). Kata anak2, we should just spend the rest of the morning at the airport until the camper office opens. We parents are baby boomers and the idea to lepak, tidur and shower at the airport seem to be beyond us! Jadi kami mencari juga transport paling murah ke hotel (the budget hotel does not have shuttle service).

Independent shuttle service we asked wants NZ$15 for each person (kiralah untuk 5 orang dalam RM. Itu je lah kerja kami bila nak hulur duit). We thought we would walk. Kata internet, hotel cuma 5 minit dari airport (entah berjalan kaki, naik kereta atau roket). That was the reason why I chose the hotel. Kata the friendly cafe attendant, it isnt that far, maybe 15 minutes walk. But with the luggage and all you should take the yellow bus.

(Aww -- hate too many words!)

(Hobbiton; kalau dah sampai ke Auckland jangan tak pergi ke Matamata dan visit Hobbiton. Amat rugi kalau tak pergi. Serious!)

Yellow bus? We were determined to walk; tapi jalan yang ditunjuk waze agak2 jauh. And it is close to 2am after all. Dalam mencari2, tiba2 dari jauh ternampak yellow bus. Kata driver, I have to leave on the hour (at 02:00) and the next bus is at 430am. You should hurry and take this bus. Do you have change, tanya saya. I only have big notes and the machine does not return any change. Driver keghabat turun dari bus. Minta credit card saya dan swipe card di card reader. Oh, naik bus pun pakai credit card rupanye. Tidak lah saya tahu.. (sheepish) We made it safely to the hotel. Memang dekat sebenarnye. Tapi kalau jalan dengan beg bagai entah berapa lama.

Bilik hotel kecil tapi amat bersih. That's one of the many things I admire in NZ, everything is so clean and perfect. I will continue (yawn).





~ xoxo