Adventure.

Well hello there! after over a month, I'm finally here to blog about my trip to New Zealand! How was it? It was spectacular! I'm so blessed to be able to see what Allah has created in this world. It's just a stepping stone to more adventure ahead. Things didn't turn out well in the end between me and friends but the experience still worth while. At least one of them came and talk to me and agree that we shouldn't just end our friendship like that. I've come to learn people come and people go. I always have a bad judgement of who was or is worth it. Merr sure is one of those who i definitely worth to keep.

So basically, on the 9th at 2000HR was my first flight but it got delayed to the next morning. Me and Huda (the picture above) were so stoked to be at the airport! I'm travelling out of Asia, without my family. HOW FUN IS THAT??? hahaha It was a freaking long flight an most of the time i force myself to sleep because there is nothing else to do for me. When we land in Auckland. I was speechless, I just cant believe I am finally here. Merr and I been friends since 2013 but we dont hang out much since she move back to NZ after her break after high school. But we still keep in contact through Skype, Whatsapp and even snail mail! it was fun, as if I had a penpal to write to. First thing i did was to get a sim card so I could reach Merr and tell her we're here. The thing is, Merr wont be flying in till the next 2 days. She lives in the Southern Island of NZ while we're at the Northern Island of NZ. Its only Huda and 1 for the next 2 days.

So we cabbed to our first hotel. which is like a backpacker's place. They really have great service. We booked for 4 nights but since our flight delayed and everything i pushed forward, we wasted a night but the staff only charge us for 3 nights despite the last min cancellation. So we landed around 2-3am. Cabbed to the hotel, which i'm pretty sure the cab driver cheated us by going the long way until it cost like NZD$80+ but heck. I just wanna get there and I'm good. We couldn't check in till 2pm so we left our bag and chill for a moment and head out to explore and adore the amazing sunrise. Oh, by the way. It was summer then. and their summer is like our own air-con room. cold. unless you stand under the sun, u can feel the warmth but the wind will be as cold as the air-con in Singapore. I love the weather there even though i packed the wrong kind of clothing. I throughout it's gonna be like Singapore hot. but its not. luckily i brought my jacket with me which i wear it most of the time cause it freaking cold out there.

So Huda and I explored the area a little. then we had breakfast. The thing is. When you travel, you cant be picky about food. At least for me. I'm the kind who just wanna try what they got. But only at the 3rd day where i miss comfort food. SPICY FOOD which i eventually found a "kopitiam" kind of place that sells Asian food, So when we checked in into the hotel, we basically share a room with 6 other people. some were nice, some were just quiet. There's this guy which was quite cute though. hahah. Same room with us but such a quiet person, not sure if he's shy or just arrogant. First day and he just change his clothes in front of us like as if its nothing. alright, maybe its the culture difference but damn.. i can never get use to that hahah. I also got a Pandora charm of a Kiwi to represent that I've finally been to NZ!! cute little kiwi bird charm!

Alright, here are few photos i took in Auckland. We stayed there till the 14th, so 4 days.. they have this gAyTM machine which is cool. The Groove store which is the best store i ever been to! there's a lot of cool stuff and their vinyl cd are like NZD$4 each. WTF right? there's thrift shops and Asian shops. So.. Asians shops, why I called it that? because it is. the only cheapest store you can find is those Asian shops own by some Asian people. their stuff is really cheap as compared to the rest of the shops.. which reminds me. THE FOOD THERE ARE EFFING EXPENSIVE!! a bottled of mineral water, cheapest you an find around the corner is like NZD$3! yea, it's expensive alright!

But we manage to find a supermarket that sells the 1L bottle for NZD$1+. came across that supermarket by luck. Huda was finding rest room and I was waiting then some homeless lady ask if I could buy her just bottle of water. I mean, why not. She ask nicely. I doubt she's rob me cox I don't think she have the physical ability to outrun me. She was with a guy so i decide to buy 2 bottles. how nice of me.. haahaha.. but living there for only a night and i can see that there are a number of homeless people. Auckland shops closes in the evening, so by 6pm or so, most store are closed and you can see all the homeless people appearing out of nowhere. Huda and I decided to just stay in after 6 cox it kinda scary walking down the street with this people you don't know that might hurt you. So yea, that's Auckland for you

So this place is at Waterfront, habour. Its where all the yacht and ships are and may I say, I just cant get enough of the beautiful environment, It's a concrete jungle like Singapore but are nicer although it doesn't feel safe to walk on your own. In SG, i can just walk on my own at midnight or past midnight but in Auckland, after 6pm, I rather stay in where I now I'm safe or at least feel a little safer. The habour place was awesome and beautiful. they have this bridge where it can just siren people to clear the bridge so they can rise up and let the boat pass.. So far I am loving the place. When I say the people are nice, they are genuinely are. I saw this 2 lady accidentally bang onto one another. Typical Singporean reaction is that there will be eyes rolling and the "tsk!" but here its not. The younger lady literally hold on to the older lady and rubbed her shoulder ( like how you wanna comfort someone ) and apologizes to her multiple times before she continue her journey. She even look back again and smile to her before she was rushing off somewhere. I was in awe when that happened. this kind of thing will never happen in Singapore, at least not to Singaporeans.

Another thing. their traffic lights are interesting. you know how we have the 4 junctions road. so basically how it works here is that pedestrian that parallel to one another will cross the road at the same time and its only one way while the car on the road that was on the same way can drive off.. But in Auckland is different. All cars will stop and pedestrians and all 4 corners can cross wherever they like, even diagonally!! We were a bit lost when this happens. Usually if we wanna get some place diagonally across, we have to cross 2 times. But in Auckland. Once all the cars are on red light. Pedestrian can cross which ever direction they need to, which is to me, i find it very interesting!

On the third day. We went explore an shop again. We also went to catch '50 Shades of Gray' at the cinema. their ticket were twice as much as it is in Singapore an the popcorn is basic butter flavor which i prefer!hahah It was M18 there and after i watched the movie. I told Huda, I'm pretty sure its gonna be R21 in Singapore. AND IT WAS! hahahah.. we also watch some soccer match the day before. There was like a street soccer competition just outside the cinema building. I record the game and for the first time i watched soccer live. well, the cute college guys who were playing the game might have something to do with it! hahahah. Adorable! guys there are like, oh am gee! even the freaking construction dude are ain't bad looking either!! hais, i always have a stupid weak spot for that! Don't ask, I'm just to influenced with American culture.

So after few more shopping we did on that day, Merr was flying in at the same time! haha, I was super excited to meet her! although it's only been like half a year since we met but I finally flew in to NZ like i promised and like we plan to! Sad thing was she wasn't issued the same room as us even though we mailed to the hotel and request for the same room. But it's alright I guess. I was stubborn still wishing we could be staying in the same room but nahh, its only for another 2 nights anyway. we rent a car so it's easier for us to get around. or so we thought! the parking there is ridiculous! ITS RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE! NZD$7/30mins? but somehow we manage to find a way somehow. which means, getting up at 6am just to find another parking space. hahahha its just ridiculous but funny too.

the next day, all 3 of us drove around! we went to i-forgot-whats-the-name-of-the-place and walk along the beach and must i say, we went to a lot of beaches while we're there and it's beautiful everywhere!!! So that's the photo of us at the beach where the dogs and puppies play catch and walk along the beach. adorbs!! they even swim into the water which was so cute!! but was terrified at the same the co they're wet and they're friendly. I don't wanna go through the trouble to clean myself afterward. and there are houses by the beach. like those beach houses you seen in movies, exact same thing, lucky rich bastards! each and every house has a different feel and each and every one of it is so pretty! argh! i wish i had a house by the beach where your backyard is the freaking beach itself! i don't know why i never took a photo of the houses but I did took a video of me swinging on the swing from one of the house that made just by using rope and plank and hang it on a big tree and its nice because that house has a swing at their backyard and a tree house and they also build a swing on the extended tree for anyone like us to play. cool huh?

After the beach,we drove up somewhere in town to find the view of Auckland City. We were basically not in Auckland at that time, we were at another small town close by. and look at that view, you can see the sky tower and from where we stayed the sky tower is just 15 mins walking distance. and Merr went barefoot cox she said its a beach town people basically walk barefoot sometimes. which was true. I saw some people in town just walking down the street BAREFOOTED! hahahahha how cool is that?

I remember we drove to this place and get a frozen yogurt, the DIY yogurt place which was AWESOME!!! Love that yogurt store, tons of flavor to choose from and tons of topping to pick and they charge you by the weigh which is cool cox you get to swirl you own yogurt! haha. after that, we rent a bicycle and a rock board for me. Initially we wanted to rent a kayak but the vendor wasn't there but the bicycle vendor was so why not. we cycled (i scootered) along the beach and reach to another beach, Kohimarama Beach. you can watch the video montage i made at the end of this entry. Its somewhere in that video and the view. still. its just breath taking! Mashaa Allah! its just too beautiful!

after the long journey, which was like and hour or so, we return and make friends with the person who was in charge of the vendor. so we tool a welfie with him! he's nice and friendly.

So the next day, Merr brought us to Sylvia Park. A place to shop. Huda and I already shop a lot at this point cox we just wanted to get everything for people back home first before we shop for ourselves. Litte did we know, Sylvia Park has a lot more to offer! dang it! we took a train there (Bitromart) and boy its interesting. you know how MRT, every station had this barrier where we tap in order to enter? but over there, some places you don't. The government must have really trust their people to pay for their ride. Its like you can just enter the station llike that cox its open but there's like this tap machine too to tap your card for payment. you can actually just walk in and take the ride and not pay for it. that is how much the government trust their people over there. Sylvia park is like the biggest shopping mall they have over there. their biggest is not as big as out VivoCity, so you can imagine how "big" is their biggest.hahaha but the stuff there are cheap! I love Sylvia park! they even have free wifi at that freaking mall!! Then I came across this customized printing shop. Mas (business partner and also one of my best friend) and I are doing some business thing back home, well on the verge to.. once its out i will update you guys too! So i remember how how he wanted a customized cap with our brand name on it. I saw the store having a promotion, buy plain back cap and get the printing for free.. so, i did!! its heat press printing so i collected in 30 mins time. i bought 2, one for him and foe me since we're the founder of the brand.

after that we shop. at this point i'm almost broke. not really broke broke but i still save some money for the next 2 days, enough to survive and i also had some to get my mom something. she was the last person cox i couldn't think of what to get!! but finally in Sylvia Park, they have this GIANT-like store where they sells almost anything.. so i got her a bag. haha and i was done shopping for people then. and so i thought! haahhaha. usually its like that.. when i travel, i'm more concern to get people back home some stuff then shopping for my own. i always think, i already have the experience being there myself so might as well get something for people back home right? after shopping, we took a train back to Auckland city... thinking of the view we saw during the train ride, its too beautiful to even forget! MRT here, the view you get are buildings after buildings or just nothing at all since it underground. hahha

when we're back at Auckland, we drove to Mount Eden, a dead volcano area. the view there is AMAZING!!! you can see the whole Auckland there. we went right around sunset or just before. their sunset are quite late there. it only gets dark after 8+, gets dark ah, not even sunset yet! so we stayed for about an hour there? and its FREEZING COLD! i swear. i was shivering at some point and my teeth were chattering for real! even with my jacket one! i was trying to capture the sunset and place my gopro on my knee while i sat but even my knees we shivering at some point hahahah... we even saw a few people did the HAKA DANCE up there, which was very interesting to experience that while i was there. the place reminds me of Hawaii. the maori people are interesting. and it seriously reminds me of Hawaii even though both of the country have different natives. but both country are an island kind of country, so its somewhat similar.

after checking out from our hotel the next morning, we went to a big super marker, like giant but only food.. its called PAC 'N' SAVE. they have wide variety of food there! i love that place! many interesting food and brands. we bought some NZ chocolates to bring home and i bought a lot of beef jerky. which we have here in SG, the halal one. its cheaper there cox its made in NZ, duhh.. and the pastry bread there are big and delicious, we bough a few for our to go snack for our road trip to the next town which is like 2 hours drive. speaking of which, i need to get a licence before i fly there again (yes, definitely going NZ again but different parts of it since Merr lives there) so Merr and I can take turns driving the car. throughout the trip, she drives cox she's the only one that could. bummer, i wish i can drive though. so we bought a few groceries cox the next 2 places we're staying is like an apartment with kitchenette kind of thing so we can cook instead of buying food. which is a fun idea.

we drove up to this area (above) to see another view of Auckland. its just like Mount Eden. but it's not a dead volcano, its just park with a a top view of the whole city again. its amazing! i just love it there!! and we could see Mount Eden from there. not exactly see it but we know where it was. and we're lucky we can drive up to this places instead to walking up to the top. we're not lazy, maybe we are, but we wanted to save time. and yea, in NZ there are just sheep, cows, chickens and even bunnies everywhere! they roam freely and we did stop once so i could get near the sheep but they were scared and just run away. that point i saw something rustling though the leaves when i saw a baby bunny just hopping around. which was so adorable!!! it was a tiny bunny! but it too ran away from me hahaa

NEXT STOP: WHITIANGA (pronounced as fi-ti-yang-nga, their 'WH' is an 'F') I've been pronouncing it wrong all this time until Merr corrected me, the place we stayed in at Whitianga was fabulous! its a 2 story apartment and just 5 min walk to the beach!! how awesome is that! and at night, i just chill at the balcony with some blanket, cox its freeing cold!, and just admiring the stars! this is a place i would go for a get away, away from the busy city and people. definitely a good place to go for a honeymoon just to relax and spend quality time with you partner. i watched the sunset and the sunrise the next morning. too beautiful i must say but its sad that we only stay on for 1 night, we wished we could have stayed another night, same thing with the next place we stay. we stay in the city too long. we should have taken 2 nights each for each town. but they are quite expensive, although, worth the cost!

the next day, after we check out, we drove to Cathedral Cove. to to the beach exactly, to the place and we have to walk through the forest to get down there to the beach. its like trekking in Macritchie, so i was up for it. People there are amazing. they are so friendly. why? lemme side track for a moment.

i use to go trekking at macritchie or bukit timah nature reserve. and while i trek there there will be white people too.. the ang mos.. they were the one that usually greet you 'good morning' kind of thing. when i first experience that i was shock for a little, that's nice of them to greet me. but i realize most of the white people does that while i go trekking.

same thing happens, almost everyone we walk past, they greet with a 'hello' or a 'good morning' so we also start to greet everyone we walk past. its a great thing. no matter how old or who they are with, most of them greet us with a smile, how can i not love the kiwis?! they are so fucking friendly!!

when we reached to the Cathedral Cove, this place reminds me so much of my secondary school geography teacher, also the teacher that changes me during my teen years. the place so much reminds me of her class and her lessons teaching geography. about headland and bay and how this cove can be formed and those such of things. i don't remember the details but i know i learned this shit before which score me an A in my O levels which i am so proud of myself!!this place is a must go! its warm up there cox we're away from the city and going to another area of NZ but when you stepped into the cave, its like you stepped into an air-con room. its cold even the sand are cooling! hahaha. i found a mini cave on the other side and decide to enter and its so cool! the picture above, bottom center is the picture i took from inside the cave. cool huh?

its a beach place, you can see people sun tanning, picnic and even swim in the waters.this place is just wonderful! definitely a place to go in NZ!

So around the afternoon we drove to our next place to stay. a town called, WHANGAMATA ( pronounce as fang-gar-ma-ta )we were early cox check in is not until 2pm as usual. and our room is located on the 2nd floor but it wasn't ready. so the person upgrade us to the first level room for free. and we were stoked. why? 1st of,we don't have to walk up the stairs even if its a short one. 2nd, we can just park our car outside our room. 3rd, the swimming pool is just outside out balcony! hahahah how awesome is the upgrade?! we only we there for a night anyway.. we had a bubble spa Jacuzzi bath, which was freaking awesome! i feel like a kid! bubble bath, who doesn't love that??

Huda and I walked around the town for awhile, we got hungry so we got subway sandwiches. and its a quite a peaceful town. not a lot of people there i guess. and the houses there were all different. we came across this house which was like a gypsy kind of house which was purple in color. so cute! its in the picture above. far left center. couldn't see much but that was the house. and we see kids walking home from school. i don't even know where the school was hahaha. but there were signs stating its a school zone kind of thing. so yea, we just pretty much chill at this point cox there isn't much to do. its a town and not a city in Auckland where there's tons of stuff to do in the area. but i did walk out on my own to explore the place during sunset and came across this habour place where there's a lot of yacht parked on. its a beautiful place indeed...

last day, after we checked out, we head to OWHAROA FALLS. which is definitely a good place to have a nature photoshoot if you wish to! best place for sure!! Merr & Huda got chased by a chicken which was hilarious! and we got close to some cows which i try to fed garlic bread but no interest in that. animals are basically ignoring me most of the time. hahah. the pictures taken are all original photos taken with no filter and such. i use my gopro hero 3+ to capture every moment! and this trip was almost over. i'm a bit sad its ending but i'm glad we're heading home cox i have some issues with some people. specifically the people i travel with. just reach to the point where i just had it and i'm just gonna enjoy myself as much as i could. didn't thought i would be left out most of the time but it's okay. smiles in the photos are just few seconds shot. you've yet to see how i was at that time.. lol... but no explanation intended. Merr and I are still good friends, i think.. haha. Huda and I go our separate ways after we land in SG.

before Merr drove back to us back to the airport that night we head to KARANGAHAKE, its an awesome place i tell you! but i could capture much cox my memory card was full!!!!!!! i was so upset at that moment! we went to like a railway place where we could not see a thing except for the light at the end of the railway and sang our hearts out in that echo tunnel and went into a gold mine place and many more amazing scenic places!! which i only manage to capture some of it with my Polaroid camera! after that we had like a late lunch at a nearby bistro cafe kind of place which i had seafood chowder which was homemade and i love it! so yummy!!

above are random pictures taken while we were on the road from different days. Merr drove us to the airport where we overnight at the place since our flight is like 7am and we have to be at the airport by 4am. might as well we sleep at the airport. Merr friend pick her up afterward cox her flight is not until 2pm the same day as our flight. she have a friend in town too who'll be flying back at the same time so she went and stayed with them for that night. so yea, we stayed at the airport. sleep there in fact. which was quite an experience! amazing trip and the best holiday i had by far. not with the best company but best experience.

its another 12 hours or so kind of flight and i'm definitely jet lagged, when i land mt parents come and pick me up! dad was waiting at the baggage area since we has the staff pass to go through security ox he works there now. then i had lunch with my parents while dad went to work from there and i head home with mom. when i get home, little brother is the sweetest thing, he whispered to me for a hug! hais.. that was the first in my life!!! hahahahhhah ADORABLE!! i'm glad i was home but at the same time i miss NZ already after that!

Overall the trip could have gone better with the people i travel with but sometimes its better not to say anything if you got nothing nice to say so i kept quiet most of the time. but Merr wishes that i could have talked to her. she's open about it and she feel bad for what happen that she didn't realize it was even happening. but it's alright, we settle things out after that, she's such a good friend. i'm pretty glad she's someone in my life who i can call a friend. we don't even see each other all the time or contact one another. we meet like at most few days every year depend if she fly in SG or I fly back to NZ again. she's great, crazy weird some times but that's how most of my friends are anyway...

this were shots taken by Merr herself. Beautiful aren't they?

so here's the video montage which was up on YouTube for quite some time already. enjoy! there are parts which are too fast, but cox i'm using an old laptop and the playback always jam when i edit it, i did my best and this was it. So, i might fly back to NZ in 2017! who's up for it? or i might just travel alone this time! haha