14-day NZ Trip :North Island

Finally, the day has arrived, and we were  excited to start off our journey in New Zealand! We purchased the tix from KLIA to Auckland, with little awareness on how the New Zealand trip should have been explored.

So after a while, I purchase the plane tix from Auckland to Christchurch, in order to pursue our plan to South Island part.

We have spent a few days in North Island. Little that we expected, we have covered almost entire New Zealand at the end of the day becos that was not part of our initial plan, actually.

So we arrived at Auckland Airport at 10 pm local time, with time difference by 4 hours ahead Malaysia time.

We rented a sedan car, just perfect for 4 of us including our bulky suitcases. And best part about renting from Jucy is that we are entitled for special discounts for some fun activities and cruises. We were lucky that I still kept the evidence of this rental to enjoy good price for cruise at Millford Sound about a week later in South Island. Yippii~

                                                        No, no. This estima is just for show. Not the car we rented ok.

The first place we went was to Rotorua, which is 3 hours away from Auckland. It was very calm and relaxing long drive that we kept ohh and ahhh on the scenery along the way. Being the first timer drving in this country, it was hardly to feel stressful on the long, flat road with little incoming traffics and rarely seen houses of the local people. All we saw were sheeps and cows farm and green hills here and there. Very beautiful.

In Rotorua, we headed to Whakarewarewa to visit Maori traditional village and to watch their cultural performance.

Afterwards, we were brought touring around the village that is full of natural wonders like hotspring and geiser.

We were so hungry after touring around the village, thus decided to have little picnic at the nearby spot before leaving to Rotorua city. Nasik himpit and sambal bilis from Malaysia are forever best meal for our late lunch.

And we went to Rotorua Night Market too. Despite surrounded with white people, the vibes received and atmosphere of night market are similar with one we felt at home.

Oh yes, it was my birthday! Some little celebration with piece of cake and packets of maggi.Epic kan? hihi.

On the next day we went to Agrodom Sheep Farm. Oh man, never seen the ship as much as this place, seriously! The farm provides tour to sheep farm as well as  sheeps acrobatic performance.

There is also beautiful Huka Falls on the way to Lake Taupo. Mind you, this is a must drop-by spot even just for a while.

The turquoise color waterfalls captured our breaths instantly. This is rare!

The extreme activity like rapid is also available here but we chose to pose here and there while enjoying the beauty scenery in dry piece before we resume our journey to Lake Taupo.

We arrived at Lake Taupo almost in midday. Apart from its beautiful view, this place is also well known for extreme activity like bunge jump.

Lake Taupo is one of the largest natural lake in New Zealand. The picturesque scenery is just too priceless to miss out if we arrived in New Zealand,

That's it for southern island of North Island.  As the land of North Island is not soooo vast to explore, we also took the opportunity to drive up to the northern part of North Island.

This is totally unplanned itinerary to drive up to Cape of Reinga. Things started on our first night in Auckland when I realized that the flight Christchurch-Auckland was later than Auckland-KLIA.Had I not realized it this soon(err isnt it a bit late already?duhh), we might ended up stranded in Auckland Airport  waiting the next available tickets to purchase with the cost of fortune! So the whole night was not for rest from our long haul journey, but was spent to call all airlines  hotlines to decide our resolutions. Alhamdulillah we managed to secure MAS tix at a reasonable additional price with extension of a few more days in Auckland, that made up total of 14 days in NZ. Hihi

Back to North Island exploration, we stayed one night in Paihia. It is just a small town that we stopped for one night after over three hours drive from Auckland.

The evening in Paihia is so peaceful for a walk.

We snapped pics here and there,enjoyed the quite evening, forgot all our exhaustion before we called it a day.

On the following day, we resume our journey ahead to the tip of New Zealand, Cape of Reinga. The drive was quite adventurous, mind you to ensure your tank is full prior the journey as it was quite hard to find gas station-thanks to GPS in our car.

The journey to Cape of Reinga took almost 3 hours. But when we arrived, it was really worthwhile. The place is beautiful and we can see the meeting point of Tasmanian Sea and Pacific Ocean. 

We left Cape of Reinga with full of satisfaction. Time to go home!

Places We Stayed in New Zealand

Just recently my friends and I went to New Zealand for 14 days. Yes it was the longest trip we have made so far, thus made it the most lodgings we rented throughout the journey. So this entry is served for overview of our lodgings, whihch is highly recommendable for budget backpacker, or luggage-er, for that matter.

Auckland, North Island

On the first day, we were greeted with Malaysian hospitality by Kak Anita who have been staying in Auckland for quite some time. The best part is that we were welcome with mee hailam in the midnight followed with nasik lemak for breakfast. That was the warmest hospitality received from a friend before we started our journey -all on expenses. Kui kui kui..

If you choose to stay at affordable guest house run by Malaysian, Mesra Guesthouse is the best option. We were greeted from doorstep, and they were even helping and guiding us to pick the 'must-go-places' in both North and South Island.

The guesthouse is on bed and breakfast concept. All you have to do in the morning is to get dressed and  while getting ready to launch the journey of the day, the breakfast is ready on the table.

And the location is perfectly situated at a scenery neighborhood, that surely we have to snap some pics before hop on the car.

Rotorua, North Island

From Auckland, we drove to Rotorua for its attractions such as Lake Taupo, which is well known for Bungy Jump activity and its vast scenery lake. And there is also Maori Cultural Heritage Center that is worth to watch when you are in New Zealand, apart from super gorgeous scenery  surrounding the village like hot spring, geyser and etc.

It took three hours driving from Auckland, thus we decided to stay overnight in Rotorua. We were lucky to learn that budget and yet comfortable hostel like YHA hostel is available in NZ land. They have a few common areas such as kitchen complete with cutlery and cooking utensils, rest area and etc. Most importantly the premise is clean! With the cost as cheap as 20 dollar per pax per night, the value we get is very worthy.

South Island

When we reached South Island, the trip was switched to a very independent mode. We rented a campervan! It was convenience in a sense that we didn't have to do repetitive packing and unpacking stuff, not to mention the idea of lugging our suitcase everytime we reached the accommodation. So we saved our energy from that hassle.

Unlike Northen part,South Island is campervan-friendly. All you have to be prepared is to reach the campsite before midnight for safety reason.

Every night the campervan need to  be charged, which its facilities only available at holiday park or camp site.  We have selected Top 10 holiday parks throughout this trip for its extensive facilities such as kitchen, laundry and washroom. Everything about the facilities is hygiene and well-maintained that made you forget the exhaustion of long drive instantly.

About the campervan, we hired this luxury vehicle from Kea.  The daily rate varies according to specific season, and we were lucky as we hired it during off-season. Yes, there is other budget campervan available on the intenet. But being the first timer behind its wheel, we didn't want to take the chance.

So we went to a few Top 10 Holiday Parks around South Island and one of  the best is in Christchurch.

We returned to Auckland from South Island to explore the northest part of New Zealand in Paihia. Staying one night in Paihia, we chose to stay again in YHA hostels as it is located very close to Paihia town. Just purfeccttt~

The Straight Path Convention

28-29th March 2015

So I heard about this seminar and again I was attracted to go all the way to Shah Alam to join the crowd. The Straight Path Convention is mainly focus on what good deeds that we should do in efforts to go to Jannah, the roadblocks from Jannah and many topics were discussed in related to Jannah. The interesting part of this convention is that one of the speakers is a prominent daie which is well known in FB, that is Mufti Ismail Menk. 

I was supposed to be in this seminar for two days, but things went wrong somewhere, I couldn’t make it to the second day. That was so sad. Huhuh..

Nevertheless, I managed to jot down a few key take away that I believe will be worthwhile for me to  share here. Please be with my writing this time around,  I didn’t do any photo taking at all during all day. Can you believe it! Must be so engrossed with the talks, and ehem-speaker perhaps. Duh~

Topic 1 :The Straight Path to Jannah  by Mufti Ismail Menk

1)The ultimate wish a slave should have is guide to the straight path; which is one of ayah in surah al Fatihah

2)With His permission, one will be guided on the straight path that is belonged to Him

3)Not the path for those who hold the anger, or those who lead astray.

4)They are people who doesn’t know, but embarrassed to admit will misguide any person who is asking him. Those people who earn the anger of Allah swt.

5)The straight path is the quickest path, that is belonged to Allah swt. with no jaggedness.

Topics 2 : Roadblocks to Jannah by Sheikh Saaed Rageah

Things that hinder you from Janaah are ;

1)      Companions: bad friends that bring us to sin, doing haram things

2)      Women: Allah swt is testing you  through world and women. Men are very weak in front of woman.

3)      Children : they are gift from Allah swt

4)      Parents : they can be roadblocks, but they also can be easy way to paradise.

Topic 3 : Building blocks to Jannah by  Mufti Ismail Menk

Ways to fast track to Jannah

1)      Conscious to Allah swt/ Taqwa

2)      Good attitude

3)      Seek knowledge. Allah swt is looking excused to give His workshippers to Jannah. i.e female with dog story

4)      You will be granted with Jannah if you serve your parents, provided the intention is pure. Because it requires great sacrifice and patience to do it.

5)      Whoever, for the sake of Allah swt, build a mosque, you will be granted a home in Jannah

6)      Whoever goes to mosque every morning and evening, you will have place in Jannah decorated for you.

7)      Greet each other with salam genuinely

8)      Maintain you family relationship

9)      Prostrate a lot. The closest slave with Creator is when in position of prostration.

Kiddos in Mini Zoo Kemaman

21st Feb 2015


It was long weekend so I decided to bring the kids of my family to visit Mini Zoo Kemaman.

The mini zoo has been established quite some time, but only now I felt called to bring them there. Bad sistah~

Of course all of them, my baby siblings including nephew Muiz were excited upon hearing the plan!The shuttle is available at the front gate to bring us further in the main zoo area.

 

The kids were excited watching the animals they normally saw in telly like elephants, tiger, crocodiles and etc. I was amused seeing their excitement, that I wished that I brought them here earlier.Hihi.

 

We explored over one hour to cover most of the zoo area, before leaving for lunch.

Some of them are a bit smelly, ah you know~. And it was funny that my Mak couldn't bring herself to have her lunch after seeing the animals there. Kui kui kui.

The excitement prolonged, that Muiz enthusiastically told his uncles and aunties on what he saw in the zoo as soon as we reached home.