Showing posts with label percutian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label percutian. Show all posts

In this post I'm going to talk about the Auckland City, The Hobbiton and Coromandel Cove. I will cover the rest in Part 2!

We decided to spend around 1 week in each part of New Zealand. Honestly, I think this 2 weeks journey is just not enough to fully enjoy New Zealand. We landed in Auckland and I can say we spent a total of 3 nights in Auckland. Auckland is a big and busy city, like Kuala Lumpur itself. There is traffic everywhere. We stayed in 3 hostel/hotel in Auckland - Jucy Hostel, Ibis Airport and Haka Lodge - all received good reviews from myself.

Auckland city form Mount Eden

The Mount Eden lookout

The main place to go in Auckland is the famous Queen Street which is a typical business district. They do have some cute cafes for cafe hopping and you can try to enjoy the wharf and the Auckland Tower. We did ventured out a bit to the best look out point in the city which is Mount Eden. There is a parking space near the summit where you can park your car and walk to the top. 
Author at Giappo
This is the highest point in Auckland and you can have the best sunset here overlooking the Auckland city. One place we did managed to visit is the famous Giappo Ice Cream Parlour. The price is hefty but it provides an unforgettable ice cream experience you will ever have. Their concept is that you will choose the ice cream based on taste rather than the visual effect we are used to every time we visit Baskin Robbins. Do take note that Hokey Pokey is not halal since it has gelatine in it. The ice cream is presented gourmet style, so pleasing to your eyes and you bet, it tasted amazing as well!

The next destination I am going to talk about is The Hobbiton. The place that shot to fame because of it being the filming location for both The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit series. The filming location is located in a small town called Matamata which is not far from Hamilton. The drive to Matamata took 3 hours from Auckland.


Bilbo is not home today

We booked our slot prior to driving, but you can just walk in to the Shire's Rest cafe to purchase the tickets on that same day. We opt to drive to The Hobbiton, which is an extra by 10 minutes from the Matamata i-Site. If you are the books' or movies' fans, by all means, please come here. The set in Hobitton will make you lose yourself wandering in the Tolkien world. I looks so realistic and the rolling hills are just beautiful.



Free drinks at The Green Dragon Inn

You will be on a guided tour and there is not much time for photography. Everything is a touch-n-go so you would have to be quick to get that killer instafamous shot that will make your friends back home die of jealousy. They do offer free drinks at The Green dragon Inn which is of course a pub in the movies. They offered a non-alcoholic beverage too in the options.

New Zealand is mainly famous for it's beauty and because of that a lot of movies had New Zealand in their filming locations. The next one is both and Instagram famous spot and a filming location. It is the Cathedral Cove in Coromandel. It was way further south from Auckland and took around 3-4 hours drive. The drive was full with S bents and curves. 

This location is used in the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, where the 4 characters arrived in Narnia from the London train station. To get to the cove, you will need to walk/trek for about 45 minutes. This is not a flat walk since there are inclination and stairs involved. It is doable for my standards - both of us walk in our normal clothes, for sure you can do it.
Yep, got my instafamous shot 
Beautiful cove

Parking space is very limited at the top and the beach will get crowded in the afternoon. Nevertheless, that fantastic walk-through cave was as I imagined and the waters are so blue. Sometimes, to get a good photo, you have to go through hell first. It was worthwhile. We then went to the next location famous to an unconventional beach.

Lots of people seeking heat from the cold wind
The reason I said unconventional is because the beach is situated on an active seismic activity plate. Which in turns, make the sand hot. It is like you will have a personal hot tub by the beach. It is call the Hot Water Beach on Mercury Bay. If you are interested in having your own jacuzzi, please bring your own shovel to dig up the sand to let the heated water comes to the surface.

On our way to Napier and Rotorua, we did passed through plenty of small towns that offers great FnC. I think the North Island is the best place to have fish and chips because the fish are fresh and the price is really good with the portion that we had. Till next time folks for Part 2!

Date: 19 October - 2 November
Type: Leisure Backpacking

Land of the long white clouds
Visiting New Zealand is one of the items in my bucket list. Ever since I went to Swiss, I have put New Zealand as my must-do list. I am embarking on a typical road trip journey with 2 friends - one who actually had been to New Zealand back in 2012! I am sorry guys, if you expected this blog post would be titled as "2 weeks in New Zealand for just RM XXXX", because it is not. If you have been reading my blog lately, you would notice that I rarely share on how low I can go for a particular trip. I mainly share on what is the experience and how to optimise your time and also tips on saving some cash for ones place.

Sure, budget is very important but please, do not make an impossible paper thin budget that you will loose the excitement and pleasure of having the fun of your life. Nuff said, I have been eyeing the flight tickets to NZ since 2015. When AA announced they would re-establish the KL-NZ route, I was so excited.  When should we go to New Zealand? Anytime. New Zealand is beautiful in every single season. The main plan we had - 2 weeks to spent in both North and South of New Zealand.

1. FLIGHTS

2 bookings: KL-Auckland and Auckland-Christchurch. We took Air Asia X for the KL-Auckland leg and we were a bit lucky for the 30% Raya Sale. As for the domestic flight, we took Air New Zealand which costs $59 with 10kg luggage.
TIPS: We get the Air NZ tickets via grabaseat.co.nz which is the partner of Air New Zealand. They usually have promo seats for every 3 months. Do check for Jetstar promo as well.

 2. ACCOMMODATION

As usual, we fixed a budget max of $30-40 per person per night. Our accommodation options are mainly YHAs, Holiday Homes and Hostel. Based on experience, the hostel/backpackers in New Zealand offer a comfortable, clean facilities to their guests. We did not have any horror story from YHA or ant hostels in new Zealand. We rebooked every accommodation except the one in Waitomo where we just walk in. List of places we stayed:

Auckland - Jucy Hostel, Ibis Budget Airport and Haka Lodge
Franz Josef - YHA Franz Josef
Queenstown - YHA Lakefront Queenstown
Te Anau - Kiwi Holiday Park Te Anau
Aoraki/Mount Cook - Glentanner Holiday Park
Lake Tekapo - Tekapo Holiday Park & Motel
Christchurch - YHA Christchurch
Rotorua - Four Canoes Motel
Napier - YHA Napier
Waitomo - YHA Waitomo (June's Hall Backpackers)

3. CAR RENTAL & FUEL

 We rented from Jucy Rental for the entire trip where we had 3 separate bookings. Jucy do give out discounts for repeating customers. We email the Jucy HQ on the side and managed to get a deal for free GPS for our entire trip. The car rental costs around $600 for 2 weeks which includes a full coverage insurance. Please do not skip the insurance as you will be driving in multiple road condition and anything can happen.

Fuel is definitely expensive in New Zealand and prices varies from place to place. While we were there, Mobil actually have a promotion where you will get 6 cents off every liter if you spent fill up more that certain amount of liter. Total fuel for 2 weeks is around $550 - hefty right?

4. ACTIVITIES - COUPONS, COUPONS, COUPONS

 Most of the attraction in New Zealand are free and the only one we booked before arrival is the tickets for Hobbiton since they have scheduled time and the Milford Sound cruise. Other activities that required payment, we just bought it on the spot. Please took a copy of the Arrival magazine as it contains a lot of discount coupons for the paid attractions in New Zealand. We got discounts for NZone, Jucy Cruise, Wai-o-Tapu Wonderland, Whakarewarewa Maori Village, Waitomo Glow Worm Cave and FREE UBER!

From the list of accommodations above, you can pretty much guessed our itinerary for this trip. We visited a lot of places - really and I could not possibly lists everything. So below are the summary of start-end point location for each leg. We will discuss the legs in detail on separate blog post below.

NORTH ISLAND:
Leg 1 - Auckland-Hamilton-Auckland
Leg 9 - Auckland - Rotorua
Leg 10 - Rotorua - Napier
Leg 11 - Auckland

SOUTH ISLAND:
Leg 2 - Christchurch-Franz Josef
Leg 3 - Franz Josef - Queenstown
Leg 4 - Queenstown - Te Anau
Leg 5 - Te Anau - Queenstown
Leg 6 - Queenstown - Mount Cook
Leg 7 - Mount Cook - Tekapo
Leg 8 - Christchurch

5. FOOD

 We brought 3 packets of Brahim's instant rice, 1 box of Tom Yum cubes and M brought a homemade sambal ikon bills. Don't forget to make a list for food and medicine for easy custom clearance. Food was relatively easy to find in New Zealand. Lots of halal joints in the cities - kebabs, Indian food, fish &chips (F&C). Burger fuel have halal burgers too!

We rarely cook, but we bought our grocery supply from Pak'nSave or Countdown. Our staple stocks are milk, cereal, eggs snacks, fruits, water. Please try the Lewis Road Whittaker milk - it is to die for!

6. DOCUMENTS

 No visa required to enter New Zealand and you don't need to apply for Australia visa for the short transit. Our driving license works fine in new Zealand, so you don't have to apply for the International Driving License Permit. And, most cashier terminals employ the Pin&Pay, so get your card sorted out before flying.

7. CLOTHING AND SIMCARD

 We went during Spring-Summer transition, so the temperature fluctuate a lot. DO NOT underestimate New Zealand's weather as they can change rapidly. The lowest temperature we encountered was -1 degC and the warmest day was 18 degC. The wind can be violent at some places. Bring your thermal wear, fleece and 3-in-1 jacket for contingency.

We bought Vodafone Travel Sim at the Auckland duty free zone. There is a counter where you can buy the sim card for $45 which includes 3GB of data.



No. of Dives: 4
Dive Center: Turtle Bay Divers, Perhentian Kecil.
Accommodation: The Barat Perhentian, Perhentian Besar
Date: End of April 2016

This would be my first dive trip of 2016. Well, coming home from US, makes me longing to be underwater again. As usual, my parents are tagging along for my dive trip. And, because of that, I had to choose a suitable and decent accommodation in Perhentian. 

I choose The Barat for good reviews and it's location on the quieter area of Perhentian Besar. We booked the Garden Family Room, costing RM280 per night. This room has 24 hr electricity, with fan, A/C, hot shower, small fridge, safe deposit box and hair dryer. The room has a Queen bed with a bunk bed (4 adults). Boat ride costs RM 60 per pax for return journey.

Well, there was a lot of huge mosquitoes on the island, so we come prepared. We bought some mosquito repellant incense. The beach right in front of the resort was not suitable for swimming. Go to right side, where the Coral Bay was located. It was much nicer to snorkel and swim here. There were plenty restaurants next to The Barat. We ate at the in house restaurant as well as went to Mama's Restaurant next door. 

Turtle Bay Divers (TBD) were located nest to Panorama and both dive centre are the best in Perhentian. Bridget from TBD arranged my transport to and from the Big island for free. The dive shop is big, pretty crowded during surface intervals. The staff are friendly and very helpful. The dive group were small, consists of 4 divers max (pretty much common in Panorama too) with an alternating dive schedule. The price was the same as any dive shop on the island, but they charged extra for T3 and Tokong Laut.

I dived with Pascale, Daniel and Manu over the 2 days and met new friends. The equipment was well maintained and the boat was okay. As usual, if you're diving in Perhentian, please work out for your upper body strength to climb the boat after the dive. No ladder available, people. Well, let see where I dived this time:

D'Lagoon - last time I was here, this was my favourite dive spot due to it's amazing visibility. It does not disappoint this time too. Visibility was around 8 meters, I dived for 50 minutes with max depth of 11.9 meters. Spotted 2 huge Jenkin's Whip ray (It was so early on the dive, by the time I turn on my camera, they disappear to under the rocks). Saw small rays, blacktop reef shark, barracudas, batfish and of course a lot of corals.

Something weird

Anemone Fish


Tokong Laut - dream spot of everyone. The English translation is Temple of The Sea. It was famous for it's diverse marine life and amazing coral garden. Turns out to be the worst dive in my diving experience due to very very strong current and bad visibility. The visibility was around 4 metres and we lasted less than 30 minutes underwater at 18 meters depth. I managed to spot ray, treavlly and yellow tail. The vis gets worse at the end of the dive. So, I might repeat this next year since I'm not happy with this one.

Vis was bad. too bad it's a pretty site

T3 or Terumbu Tiga (maybe T2 as well)  - famous due to huge boulders laying on top of each other that creates a cave like dive to diver. Saw Flabellina nudi, Joruna nudi, glass shrimp, some reef fish. Nudi's are a lot here especially in the critters. Depth was 12.5 meters with 47 minutes dive time.

Nudibrancs

Goby Fish


Shark Point - Ironically I saw no sharks at all. LOL. Saw Hawkbill turtles, parrot fish. The visibility was poor also for this dive. The surface surge was bad, that I actually feel seasick while waiting on diver to climb the boat.



Overall, I will dive with TBD again. They are fun and very informative divers. We actually took the time to go over each other skills and how to improve them. If you have any concerns, they will help you to work on your skill - buoyancy, finning etc. For me, my problem recently was that I float during my 3 meter safety stop. I realised, I forgot to deflate once my air reached 80 bar. The resort was pleasant and I would stay here again for sure. See you next time, Perhentian!



After the harrowing journey to get here, I managed to find the Main Gate to the parking complex. I salute the USO management in handling massive crowds. The parking complex was huge and has multiple travelators. Parking fee was compulsory and the charged $20. Unless you stayed at a hotel the night before, you have to park here. I bought my tickets from the website and trust me, it was so expensive. It costs $156 for the entrance. I nearly cried while paying but considering this is my ultimate dream since I was a big Potterhead, I concede and pay.

There was a huge line at the parking entrance. I spent 20 minutes going through the counter. The parking lot was assigned to each character and I got the SpiderMan zone. Entering the park, they have employed security with X-ray scanner and metal detector. Just like other Universal, they have different Worlds and my eye was fixed on ONE - Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Diagon Alley/King's Cross. Getting through to WWHP, I passed through the whimsical and colourful World of Dr Seuss obviously for kids. Amazingly, the queue time was not bad at all! I don't have to buy the Express Pass like I did for USS.
Florida beaches

Whimsical World of Dr Seuss

I entered the gateway and there it was, the magnificent Hogwart's Castle. Walked through Hogsmeade and saw the Hogwart's Express station. Yes, there is only ONE Hogwart's Express ride and it is in Orlando. They don't have it in Japan. Being in Hogsmeade was so magical that is brings the memories of reading and imagining the famous JK Rowling fantasy that was a huge part of my childhood. I scream internally when I saw the Three Broomstick, the Ollivander shop. It was so magical and moving.
Hogsmeade

Hogwarts Express

Dragon Challenge Coaster

I chose two ride both Dragon Challenge roller coaster which consist of the Hungarian Horntail and the Chinese Fireball track. There was a locker, free for 1 hour and it was packed with people. I managed to squeeze and keep my bags. Well, the beauty of a Single Rider is that you get on the ride quickly. I waited for 20 minutes for each coaster. It reminds me of the Battlestar Galactica in USS. The ride was fierce and I think the Chinese Fireball was the fastest. Then, I went to the next ride which was the famous Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey. 1 hour queues.
Butter Beer. yes, it's non-alcoholic.


The luncheon at Three Broomsticks
We enter the Hogwart's Castle where the magic come to live. Literally. The paintings move, talk and there's magical spell and you can spot Dumbledore in the Castle. It was amazing! Just like I'm in Hogwarts! They even got the Madam Pomfrey's garden right to the detail. I mean, the details is just amazing! The ride? Well, I got stuck in the middle. Fair to say, I hate the ride. I got severe motion sickness that I actually closed my eyes the entire time. I had a Butter Beer and lunch in the Three Broomstick, just like Harry did!

I then went to ride the Hogwarts Express back to King's Cross. There was a very long queue since it was almost 7 pm. You will be seated with 5 other occupants and you can see experience the train ride as if the characters' are right outside your coach door. It is a real train you guys.

My last ride in WWHP would be the Escape From Gringotts ride in Dragon Alley. I got lost trying to find Diagon Alley. It was located behind the set of brick gates somewhere in King's Cross. This was the BEST ride among them all. Located well, in Gringotts, complete with a fire breathing dragon on top of the bank.

The fire breathing dragon on top of Gringott's

I attend a couple of shows including the Choir, the Ollivander shop, some singing in Dragon Alley. Also bought some souvenirs from both WWHP and Dragon Alley. The Weasley shop was colourfully decorated and magical - not interested in tasting the Puking Pastiles though.
King's Cross

London's Bus
At night, USO has a Mardi Gras parade along with a free The Script Concert. I was running out of time and do not want to spend too long there at night, alone. The last ride I took was the Hollywood Ripe Ride Rock It coaster. It was super fast and the thrill of being vertically carried to the peak was awesome. My song choice for this one was Kanye West's Stronger. I rode with a hype college dude who was very excited for the ride. LOL.

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit

My room at Best Western Orlando Convention Centre

After buying souvenir, I walked to the parking complex. The USO complex seems alive since they have a mall with cinemas and restaurants. I was greeted by a Muslim family on my way back and it seems they were very happy to see me. I am off to my hotel which was Best Western Orlando Convention Centre. It was cheap, located about 7 minutes drive from USO. The room was spacious and clean. They even let me use the printer and PC for free. For me, this was probably the best hotel since it was away from the crowd (I went there during Spring Break), very family friendly and cheap. On to next post where I meet Manatees!




This is my favourite places in Texas. This was our last stop in the road trip and we choose to spent the night at the Riverwalk. San Antonio Riverwalk consists of some small rivers and flood management system in San Antonio. Along the banks, they constructed hotels, houses and it was a walk away from one of Texas War Memorial called The Alamo for the Alamo battle.

San Antonio is located South of Austin and 3.5 hours drive from Houston. There were plenty of hotels at the Riverbank. We choose to stay at an old charming hotel called San Antonio Riverwalk O'Briens Historic Hotel. It was the cheapest option with excellent review. It is located in front of a parking bay and 2 mins walk from the Riverwalk. It was old but very clean and provide breakfast, except noises I heard coming from the road at 3 am during the commencement of Daylight Savings in US.
Very European vibe


The parking across the hotel is a private parking that charges $5 from evening to 6am. We reached the hotel quite late around 8pm. Checked in, and we went exploring the Riverwalk at night. There was a lot of people considering it was actually near to St. Patrick's Day. We walked halfway and basically trying to survey restaurants along the riverbank. We choose the Hilton's fresco restaurant right by the river and I ate salmon while RR had some salad. We were just people watching and just take in the environment. The Riverwalk reminds me of Venice in a lot of ways. But, Riverwalk was prettier and not smelly. 

We then took a walk and visited some flee market along one of the river's bridge. There was a lot of college kids on their Spring break and I think we fit in just well LOL. We found a souvenir shop and we decided to buy our Texas souvenirs here. Price was not that bad. I managed to buy loads of fridge magnets and a San Antonio t-shirt for my dad. We decided to take the river cruise in the morning instead and went to the hotel to get some sleep. We went to sleep at 11 and woke up at 6 to refill our parking meter.
This is where they shoot the film Selena

I'm the Captain for 2 minutes

Had a simple breakfast at the hotel (I just had pastries and coffee) and RR decided she was still hungry. So we went into a Breakfast Bar to had some breakfast. The food was blend and tasteless. We then went to buy tickets for the cruise. We sat in front and the boatman again, had lived in Malaysia row few years. Another small world. We talked and he invited us to take photo as if we are steering the boat. It was amazing and the boat man was super nice. We went around the river with the boat man told the history of the place and mentioned how the Riverwalk was build. The water was green because the dyed it for St. Patrick's Day.
Fountain garden near The Alamo

The Alamo

After the cruise, we went for a short walk to get to The Alamo. The Alamo is a war memorial for the Alamo battle. It was actually a church. We did not go in since the line was so long. We just read the brief history outside and left. A lot of people we chat with thought we were studying in Texas. I guess RR and I still got the college kids look.

We went off early to San Marcos Outlet to shop. Again. This time I scored some A&F shirts. We left quite early to make sure we reached Houston in the evening. San Antonio Riverwalk is an amazing short vacation spot. It was happening, pretty and so relaxing. I would go back if I ever be in Texas again. Perhaps I would stay longer here just chilling.
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