Australia- New Zealand (Part 5) : Te Anau Glowworm

Day 5: From Queenstown to Mildford Sound.

We started off our day early in the morning.  Kids were still at their bed. Filled up fuel (cost us around NZD 93.23) fulltank at one of the pump station at Queenstown. For today journey, we were heading to Milford Sound and make a stop Te Anau for glowworm cave activity.

According to google maps = 4 hrs but it wont works that way. Just plus 1/2 hrs. Depending on how many stop you make. Ours around 4 stops.

Our First stop at Kingston (refer love sign on the map above). Kids just woke up. So, we decided to stop for a light breakfast. What I love most about NZ is about their tourist friendliness. Every pit stop will always have  toilet and playground. We used "Might NZ road trop" app to find place to stop. Please download them while you still in Malaysia and plan your trip ahead. Those who plan to do campervan, it's a MUST to have. As it will advice you where is the next dump stations, toilet and campsite. Campsite ada yang free and ada yang paid. for paid, normally with minimum charge. To help them maintenance all the facilities. The choice is yours!

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Table and chairs are inclusive in campervan package.

2nd Stop at Braken Hall, Mossbourn. Braken hall is small shop selling souviners, coffee, pie and ice cream. Its very nice and cozy. The owner is very friendly too. Its a good place for quick stop or longer! relax minum kopi and baca magazine ke.. The fuel price at that town is the cheapest! and I forgot to mention, fuel price is differs from town to town. or from one pump station to another. kadang-kadang selang pump station pun price dia berbeza. Anyway, we are a fanatic coffee lover. almost every stop/pump station. kami mesti cari coffee..:) cost us around nzd 4.

Braken Hall. Juicy Ice cream!! 

The 3rd Stop (3 hours): 

Te Anau for glow worm cave trip. After 3hours ++ of driving. we arrived at Te Anau. We bought rice (beras) from the nearby convenience shop. Just like 7eleven here in malaysia. Its around 2 NZD per kg. So, my advice don't bother to bring all rices etc caused you can just buy them later. save hassle on luggage etc. easy peasy!

Kids having fun while mummy cooks.

We bought glow worm's ticket from real journey. You can buy your ticket at the counter once you reach at Te Anau. They will have few trips in a day so you have check their schedule first. we called them before we departed from Queenstown. 

Trip to the Te Anau Glow worm caves began with a cruise to the lake Te Anau - scenic cruise vessels. After reached at cave entrance, they will explained about this wonders before we went in. While inside, the explanation will be a little bit limited due to sound of the waterfall. 

 

The playground activity was after glow worm . I put it here because of the pic size(:p)- gambar dia menegak kan.

We unable to take pictures inside the glow worm cave as according to our guided tour, that will scare the glow worm and it will stop them from producing these amazing lights. so these pictures are courtesy of google :) Personally, I think this experience was amazing and I really recommend this! A must do! price wise. standard rate for all nz entry. 

So next stop?.. we going to Milford Sound.. The view on the way.. masa ni dah start hujan menitik2.lama-lama lebat... actually, what we did - kami memang tgk weather forecast everyday since our trip was during early spring. Change of season. so rain is expected. 

The journey to Milford was rainy and hazy. Driver need to be extra careful while driving. Milford Sound is a fiord in South west of New Zealand. Its within Fiordland National Park. Kids slept on the way.

tapi lepas je terowong tu... all of them awake n cranky especially ameera. Memang mencabar. We reached there at 7 pm ++ . Day was getting dark. Overnight at Milford Lodge. Ahamdullillah. Penat but happy!. Dinner pun x sempat snap. Kalau tak silap, makan pasta lagi. with salmon of course. kids makan sebanyak2nya sebab lapar! but we did used the kitchen facilities inside the campsite. Anyway, its paid campsite ya. Anyway, we do laundary here. Baju basuh, dryer etc. so settle. Baju pun dah wangi kembali. After shower/ dinner and Solat.. All of us went to sleep without making any sounds. Alhamdulilah.. 

and Tomorrow, another big journey awaits!!

Australia- New Zealand (Part 4) : Around Queenstown

Day 5: Around Queenstown

Early morning after breakfast and clean up everything. we packed our things and ready to gio. so the first visit to Skyline Gondola Queenstown. View at the back is the famous Lake Wakatipu...

Max 4 persons per gondola.. so split lah :)

At the top of Skyline hills. had lots of activities. Things that we did.. Luge! "One that never enough" Kids and adult enjoyed it very much! boleh beli banyak2.. and share amongts us. ada package gondola+luge. mine was 111nzd for 6 with 10 luge session. Baby pun boleh join. Mummy pegang

To the location. put up gears and all..

Ready.. up we go...

Ni first session.. mcm sure x sure.. after that semua nak bawak laju2. hehehhehe.. its like riding a go cart but better! from turun ke bawah bukitt... sampai bawah naik lagi guna clift tu.. turun lagi hehehe. so like their motto "one that never enough"

Pastu tukar2.. Norman plak ride with Ameera. Me with Iman.. Tu iman ckp best!

Dah penat.. w had quick meal at nearby cafe while Dilah para glided with handsome guy? hehehe. 

Paragliding cost her around 99nzd if I not mistaken.

Next is.. Kawarau Bridge..

cuba teka nak buat ape???

ha yelah ni.. aku tak berani! hahhahahahhahahha.

we did zipride as well.. ni package with bungy so around 20nzd for 4 of us! murahla. 

Then after a long day.. break for meal here.

 So basically, if we break for meal. we'll find place with. good view! While mummy masak .. kids main kat luar. masak pun yang senang2 je lah!

contoh.. egg sandwich with cheese! :P

so dah kenyang?! ape lagi ye...

Queenstown at night.. Night walk around the city. Buy souvenirs and eat fruit ice-cream!!Most cheapest souvenirs sell here! beli je la banyak2.. memang dah survey. menyesal korang x beli kat sini..

DF souviners   32 Mall St, Queenstown 9310, New Zealand 

So dah penat.. we need to find place to sleep.. here we go..we slept at 12  delta miles (Twelve mile Delta Latitude: -45.06744151, Longitude: 168.54651706). Its a location for LOTR flim shooting! ada toilet n nice view... masak makan.. tido! Tomorrow will be along journey... 

Bayar kat dalam box je.

Australia - New Zealand (Part 3) : Wanaka to Queenstown

Day 4: Lake Wanaka to Queenstown

Wake up the next day with this view. We are so lucky with the beautiful weather that morning. mirror lake and icy mountain...

This is Lake Wanaka.

Cooked with the Lake and snow mountain view. Brunch menu Nasi Lemak :P. Sedap & Cepat!.

Our next stop:

 

Puzzling World, Wanaka. Lots of games : Its fun and very educational as well.

 

Yang atas ni free.

Its a Maze. Basically, the game is you have to find the huts in sequence and find the way out :)

Dila?? Buat ape ni.. Mak marah nanti? 

us..inside the puzzling world 

This one too...Illusion room. Smaller kids will look bigger. bigger guy will look smaller.

and this one too...tempat ni memang senget. They around with gravity make it looks ok. but physically we need to put effort to climb up!

 Still outside the puzzling world.. lama juga di sini.. around 2hours++

Distance from Wanaka to Queenstown is very near. Its around 1.5 hrs only. After Puzzling world we headed to Queenstown through cromwell route. Actually there was  2 route. Cromwell is a bit far, since we are not rushing and we would like to see more!

The view on the way..

We stopped here too..

Cromwell. Small town.. Cromwell famous for the fruit ice cream. There is fruit shop after cromwell town. around 5 mins from Cromwell. You'll see it. The apple is so juicy! love it!

Ameera.. She just woke up!  Layan die kejap.. 

Here is our place for tonight. We slept at Shotover Top 10 Holiday Park. 

Our Dinner : Curry salmon , Rice , Telur dadar and Salad. Yummie! Alhamdulillah..curry paste from Malaysia :) On every top 10 holiday park, We took bath and do laundry. Please jangan kira  berape kali kami mandi? :P

Australia - New Zealand (Part 2): Christchurch to Lake Wanaka

Day 2: To Christchurch

Us  with luggages

Landed .. The security checked was smooth and the staff were friend ly.. Alhamdulillah. If comparing OZ and NZ on security check. NZ is more kids friendly. :)

Ameera, while waiting for our campervan.

We took Apollo 6 berth. Tips: please check everything properly during before signing. For peace of  mind, take full insurance. If you are with kids, please check the car seat and baby seat properly. Make sure your kids can seat there comfortable.  It can be a major disaster if it's not!

We paid NZD 940 (inclusive insurance) for 9 days - It early spring season so the rate is lower than summer. Different seasons, different rate. They applied supply and demand concept :)

At the campsite : Top 10 holiday park 39 Meadow Street,Papanui. Nampak tak duck tu.. boleh terbang! haha.

We applied 10 top holiday park membership from Malaysia and get 10% discount. There are other advantages as well. Refer to this link : https://www.top10.co.nz/members-benefits/. Price is 49NZD. Actually there is another alternative : KIWI holiday park members. but after look into details/review, we choose this one. 

Later, I'll make a separate entry on campervan only. InsyaAllah. If you must know, price using car is much cheaper but the fuel is pricey compare to campervan. campervan is using diesel.

Kids had a good time. They had a supercool playground as well. There was super big giant balloon that you can jump on it! I wish Malaysia can have that as well. Outdoor games are so nice and different. It's good for the kids brain. mak ayah nye pun ok :). Make sure choose a pit stop with a playground. It helps! a lot! almost all top10 holiday park have a supercool playground. Nice right? :D

Forgot to mention, At night we went to 'countdown' to buy some groceries! for halal chicken. please look for brand turk. sausages pun ada. we bought some fruits, roti etc.. beras boleh beli kat sana je. tak mahal mana pun :) So, save the hassle on luggage. The next day, we went straight to Lake Wanaka.

3rd Day : To lake Wanaka

Our route : Christchurch-Lake Tekapo -Lake Pukaki -Lake Ruataniwha(Mt Cook)/Salmon - Twizel - Wanaka (Hours with all the stops? depart at 10am and reached Wanaka at 8pm.)

 
one of the supercool playground on the way to Lake Tekapo


Bila orang dewasa menjadi Kanak-kanak!

The first view! Muka terharu kan? Apesalla Mr N share gambar ni je dlm google+ die.. hehehe.. so we made a quick stop after saw the snow mountain

Dah sampai Lake tekapo. it's a small church with nice view behind.

nah belanje satu lagi gambar Lake tekapo! cantikkan! SubhanaAllah. nak dapat pahala cakap subhanaALlah selalu ye.  This is  a place to do stargazing and aurora watching..but aurora watching ikut nasib tau.. 

Our next stop at :

HIgh country Salmon. To all salmon lovers!? Please stop.. sedap giler.. so freshhh and juicy! Kat sini boleh tengok salmon, feed them for free! nice view, nice whether.. can see mt cook from here, best kan. very relaxing..

And yes! we bought a salmon, the whole salmon weighted around 3kg! hahaha.. ni la rupa beso ikannya!If I not mistaken, it cost us 49nzd. 

kene siang dan bersihkan sendiri.. Kalau beli fillet pun boleh tapi lagi mahal! This one we cooked 3 times! lupe nak bagitahu. ada fridge dalam campervan ye . 

ni la hasilnya.. TADA!! salmon soup. sambal ikan bilis! and nasi and kicap kipas udang!  Purposely besarkan gambar ni . hehhehehehehe

So thats sum up all for 2nd day..Once arrived at Lake wanaka terus masak etc.. Basically we stopped several time. You can just park your campervan anywhere for non-city area as long as you dont block the road and others can pass by. The view are superb! We mostly stop for coffee, pictures and toilet break . Kami memang hantu kopi! driving a campervan is not difficult at all. My sister yang 20 yrs pun boleh drive. Mind you driving in town, the speed limit is 50km/hr. Its applied for other cars as well. For non-city the speed limit is 100km/hr. The Policeman are everywhere. They're quite strict. Kalau kene saman, bayar on the spot ye. :) Nangis! Alhamdulillah. we dont receive any. Satu lagi, kat sini kalau kite drive slow, please stop and give way. One thing that I observed, people there are very considerate.. extremely nice! So be friendly, you may make new friends along the way :)

Suhu malam tu.. -2 Degrees. But,we slept soundly inside the blanket. Its warm inside and very cool from the outside. We overnight at Lake diamond next to lake Wanaka. Tidur berjirankan snow mountain and beautiful lake.  Alhamdulillah. 

Info for campers: 
Our options that night:
1)Diamond Lake (Wanaka) - Free Overnight ,1x toilet. 
2) Albert Town Camping Ground - nzd 6/pp

Australia - New Zealand Trip (Part 1) : The Flights & Sydney

Here is how our flight itinerary look like. Our flight ticket is not so cheap because we bought them during non-sales period. Its around 2.2k per person (return). You can get lower than this. Since we wanted to cover different places, we cant go back to the same route. I don't want to go to the same route.

So total flight duration was 18 hours. Additional with kids? like forever haha. See? mengaku ok. bukan la semuanya indah sahaja..but overall journey? PRICELESS. So,... need to focus the end in mind to keep your motivation up :) Then only it works. I cant deny the facts that its not easy to travel with kids, especially baby. So need to do some preparation. Don't forget to bring snacks, toys, books..it helped a lot :) 

KL- Sydney : Airasia (6-7 hours)

Sydney - Christchurch : Jetstar (3 hours)

Auckland - Brisbane : NZ Air (3 hours)

Gold coast - KL : Airasia (6 hours)

About flights. NZ airline was the best! I think its because of the flight attendance, spacious seat and LCD panel :) so you can watch movie and play games throughout the flight. But for any Airline pun, you need to be extra careful on luggage weight ya. follow the rules especially your hand luggage.

Jetstar is almost like Airasia. Nothing much to complaint. you get what you are paying for. For our Jetstart sydney-christchurch journey, mine was ok .Early morning flight to Christchurch had lot of empty seats. Ameera slept throughout the journey.. Alhamdulillah 

Day 1: Sydney

I will let pictures do the most talking! - By sequence ye ...

Departed at night from KLIA2 Airport using Airasia-X

Just Landed at Sydney Airport.. Athirah 8yrs & Ameera 2yrs.. Mak berdebar ! : coz first time bawak si kecik keluar jalan jauh camni

Time for lunch! at "Its Time for Thai" restaurant
https://www.zomato.com/sydney/its-time-for-thai-kingsford. Price wise, around 10aud per plate. Pricey for malaysian.If its help,dont convert! makan je!

Inside the restaurant..nampak tak? lama tenung menu tu. haha tapi portion die besa la.. dasar cheapstake kahkah.. tak sempat nak masak masa tu..nak cover sydney kan..

Sydney opera House : Checked!

with Merpati at Circular Quay. Waktu ni ada orang show - acrobatic scene. Its a nice walk and I love the weather! 

we headed to Guylian belgian choc cafe. Tried their coffee & chocolate.  sedap! coffee around 3aud. Their chocolate was extremely nice!. highly recommended.. tade gambar je :) http://www.guyliancafe.com.au/

Almost maghrib, we went to harbourside. Watched the firework at Darling harbour (Gambar ehsan Google je).  Sangat best melampau sampai lupa ambil gambar ! A must do! It happens on every saturday. Lucky for us as we were there on Saturday.. Check out their website http://www.darlingharbour.com/whats-on/fireworks

At Harbourside Hardrock Cafe. I'm not  a hardrock fan but I planned to buy a t-shirt but unfortunately no size available. 

Bought some souvenirs and food! for tomorrow preparation

to NZ! I cooked nasi goreng :P

Image: Google. Market City Day time

wooohoooot Anyway kat sini souviners die murah sangat as compare to melbourne or brisbane. Talked to Malaysian students and few friends, here is the australia most cheapest souviners. So belila banyak2 ye. nak repeat balik memang tak la. 

Oh lupe nak cerita, we went to sydney mosque as well to perform our solat maghrib and Isyak. Alhamdulillah. Actually memang dah pasang niat nak singgah mana-mana rumah Allah sepanjang perjalanan kami.. Can use this one to find mosque around oz : http://mosque-finder.com.au/directory/

I think that's why for the 1st day, TQ to Obam for all the arrangement.. TQVM ye.. semoga murah rezeki awak dan success dunia wal akhirah.. Obam ni student kat sana, kawan dila. dia ada buat services tourguide with transport. So Kalau readers ada yang nak guna his service, please pm me then i'll direct you to him eh :) Selama dia masih belajar di sana lah kan..

So next entry....? Christchurch and Lake tekapo. InsyaAllah..