After going through 2 different time zones in just a day, finally we've reached Auckland. The flight was torturing but the journey for the coming 2 weeks was awesome!
Day 1 - Auckland
We landed in Auckland at almost 10pm. It was almost 11pm after we settled down. There wasn't much good food to eat during the flight, so we were basically starving. We checked with the cute guy at our backpacker's counter and he pointed us to a so called famous Korean restaurant which is just nearby.
Well, the food was good, or was it because we were too hungry and too cold (as it as raining that night) so whatever we ate was just simply delicious.
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| Night view - Auckland |
Day 2 - Auckland City
The schedule we had for the day was Mt.Eden, Auckland University, Skycity Tower & Viaduct Harbor.
The hike to Mt.Eden was definitely worth it. Even though it was a long way up, but the view from up there was spectacular! A little shower caught us during the way down. The wind was so strong it almost blew away our umbrella. We had to make a stop @ Subway and waited for the shower to stop.
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| Mt. Eden |
We continued our journey heading to the Auckland University. As we couldn't find a way into the university's compound, so it was just a quick tour outside and a pit stop to St.Paul's Church. We made a stop to the Auckland Art Gallery as well. I'm not a huge fan of art but some of the works are pretty inspiring.
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| Auckland Art Gallery |
The sun sets pretty fast during fall. We head up to the Skycity Tower at almost 5pm. 722 feet above Auckland City, the lights are just pure stunning. We had a long walk to Viaduct Harbor after. Found ourselves a cozy restaurant call Jack Tar's. We waited 30 minutes for our table but the food and beer was worth the wait.
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| Auckland City Night View |
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| Viaduct Harbor |
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| Dinner for two @ Jack Tar's, Auckland |
Day 3 - Nelson
We booked an early flight to Nelson the next day. After meeting up with an old friend of mine and had a good look around the town, we head back to Motueka.
My friends came to the Kiwi-land holding a working holiday visa. We were arranged to stay in a huge barn with some of their friends. There was a party that night. Yeah, pretty much everyone was drunk that night.
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| Greetings from Nelson's Church |
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| Our stay @ Motueka, NZ (From the outside) |
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| Our stay @ Motueka, NZ (To the inside) |
Day 4/ 5 / 6 - Franz Joseph
We head off to the road with some of our new friends the next day. 2 cars, 7 people plus an 8 hours of non-stop driving. When we were only 30 minutes away from Franz Joseph, one of our cars broke down in the middle of the road. It was late night and dark. While waiting for the local car service, we had a great view on the sky full of stars and Milky Way. The night was pure beautiful.
Well, the weather wasn't being kind to us the next day. It was raining so we had to re-schedule the glacier hike. We took a walk into the woods and ended up soaking wet. After a good rest, we head down to the local bar for dinner.The bar tender was kind enough to offer us each a house shot, which taste very good =)
Finally the weather was good enough for us to proceed to the glacier hike. First time I got packed up with heavy gears, first time riding in a helicopter, and first time got surrounded by ice mountain. It was a long hike, but the experience was unforgettable.
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| A selfie with Oli, glacier hike guide ^^ |
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| A selfie with Orange in the helicopter <3 |
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| A view at the Franz Joseph glacier |
Day 7 / 8 - Queenstown & Wanaka
We got ourselves booked with Queenstown skyline Luge. We were lucky as it was sunny enough for us to enjoy the rides, as well as an awesome buffet lunch with spectacular view! We headed down town to a bar call Minus 5. It was only 4 in the afternoon and we all were having cocktails in an ice cold store room, never been good!
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| On the way up to one of the Luge lines |
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| Accidentally fell in love with Queenstown |
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| Me and Kah Yee on the way up~ |
With enough rest, we hit the road to Wanaka. This is where the big show came in --> SKYDIVE!! Although it took only hours to complete skydive (from briefing to gear up to free fall to landing), the experience and the view from 12,000 feet above Lake Wanaka was breath taking, and totally beyond imagination! I was lucky to get to make a last minute decision to join the dive, it was definitely unforgettable, once in a lifetime experience.
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| 12,000 feet drop with Rory ^^ |
Day 9 / 10 - Mount Cook
We had a little walk down the lake at Wanaka the next morning, then off to the road again to Mount Cook. It was a sunny day and we had the best sight along the road. The lake was surrounded by ice mountain all over and the color combination of both lake and mountain is just simply amazing!
We had a long walk to Hooker Valley, aiming for sunset. Unfortunately we were a little too late for that. Till night, some of us decided to check out the night sky at Mount Cook. So three of us took a short drive and made a stop beside the highway. Looking up into the sky was the best thing that ever happened to me.
We can clearly see the Milky Way with naked eyes. If we turn 360 degrees with our heads up, we can still see that we're surrounded by stars. We lie down on the road for a while, just to enhance the moment of this beautiful scene created by Mother Nature.
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| View @ Hooker Valley |
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| I can touch the Milky Way ^^ |
Day 11 - Lake Tekapo
After days & days of extreme excitements, finally we can relax and take our own sweet time on the road. We made a pit stop at one of the lookout points at Lake Tekapo. A little drive up to Mount John and witnessed the most breath taking view of Lake Tekapo from above, and then head back down to Shepherd's Church before it closes.
At 5pm, we drove back up to Mount John again to chase for sunset, like literally chase. Sky was burning red & purple. There isn't an angle in New Zealand that you couldn't catch the most amazing view.
After a satisfying Japanese dinner, we grabbed our gears and head out to Shepherd's Church. The weather was so cold we barely can feel our hands and feet. But the cold was worth the take according to the picture we took below =) Oh, I saw a shooting star. Made a wish <3
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| Church of the Good Shepherd.. Stunning! |
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| View from Mount John |
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| Sunset at Mount John |
Day 12 / 13 - Christchurch --> Sydney
We waived goodbye to two of our travel mates from HK, and from Lake Tekapo it was another 3 hours drive to Christchurch.
At Christchurch we waived another goodbye to my old friends.
We took a flight to Sydney the next morning. There were some issues at the airport. First it was my visa. Somehow something went wrong but luckily it got fixed.
Then there was an evacuation at the airport due to a fire. Now that's something new. The alarm went off and we thought it was a joke. Then suddenly everyone was requested to be evacuated from the building. We stood outside for almost an hour, freezing. Luckily there was no delay on the flight. We boarded the flight on tome and landed at Sydney safe & sound.
Day 14 - Sydney City Center
We woke up grabbing only some simple breakfast and head right to the city center early in the morning.
Since where we stayed was quite central, we did a lot of walking. From Circular Quay to the Opera House. We made a stop to the magnificent St. Mary's Church. Then we proceed to the Sydney Wildlife Center to "meet up" with adorable Koalas, and not to mention the 5 meters long Rex the crocodile!
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| Sydney Opera House |
We then made a stop to the beautiful Queen Victoria Building. Felt like stepping into the magical world of Harry Potter. My friend gave me a brief intro about the building. Then we decided to have ourselves a little high tea before proceed to the Sydney Tower. I personally prefer the view from Auckland's Tower, but hey it is pretty amazing to look down at Sydney like it's in your hands. We were lucky enough to catch up with the light shows at Darling Harbor. It was totally stunning!
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| A little high tea @ Queen Victoria's Building |
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| The vivid Sydney light show |
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| St.Mary's Church up close |
Day 15 - Blue Mountain / Sydney City Center
We caught the 8am train to the Blue Mountain. It was a 2 hours ride to the destination. Like stepping into a time machine, we stepped foot in a small town below the mountain. Old cowboy style buildings can be seen everywhere.
We took a shuttle bus up to the mountain and got ourselves a multi tickets to unlimited rides if cable car and railway. The railway is steep at almost 45 degrees like a roller coaster, but it was a very short ride.
The scene at Blue Mountain isn't as impress as what we've seen in New Zealand. However it was a good walk into the woods for some fresh air.
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| The famous Katoomba waterfall |
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| The Three Sisters at Blue Mountain |
It took us another 2 hours ride back to the city. It was our last night, so we just kinda took our own sweet time walking around.
Our plan for final night in Sydney was to enjoy a fine dinner at the Sydney Opera Bar. The bar was crowded but we were lucky to get a table from 2 Chinese ladies. As mentioned earlier, it was vivid Sydney so that makes our final night goes with a fine meal, wines and a spectacular view.
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| Fine night @ Sydney |
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| One of the vivid Sydney light shows! Jaw dropping! |
That pretty much wrapped up our 15 days of journey to the kiwi-land and OZ. Quite an amount of first times. I had more than enough of excitements as well as alcohol for the past weeks. Beer and wine were basically out main beverage everyday.
Here I dedicate this blog to my lovely new friends - Vancci, Orange & Kah Yee. It was really nice getting to know you all and hope to see you guys again really soon. xoxo
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| Lovely Kah Yee =) |
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| Crazy mates Vancci, Orange & PK ^^ |
PK & TM my dear old friends, thank you for having us with you during the whole trip. It was unforgettable and I love you guys <3
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| The cute couple - PK & TM |
And a big thank you to my travel companion of the year -- Fai. Thank you for being such a great guide for the past weeks & a whole lot more. Big hugs. xoxo
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| A little snap before leaving Sydney - Fai |
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