Yes, I'm finally blogging about this New Zealand trip of mine. Seems like I have disappeared right after the exam as I had been busy having fun, relaxing, partying and packing for this long trip =P
This trip lasted for 12 days and 11 nights, spanning through cities on both North and South Island, including the cities of Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington, Queenstown, Dunedin and Christchurch, consist of 1 guy 3 girls, and much much loads of fun.
THe journey started a night before when everyone gathered at my house in Clayton to wait for the taxi. As our flight is 7:15am, our check in time is 4:15am, which means we have to depart from my place at 3:00am. We thought of taking the train then the Skybus to the airport at midnight (the last train) and spend the night in the airport, but after calculating both the cost, we decided that it is almost the same to just take the taxi thus resided to that.
First picture of the trip - my house =P
As expected, no one got any sleep that night and we waited patiently while playing cards and chattin. Finally 3:00am struck, we got downstairs, hopped on the taxi, and is on our way to the airport.
The taxi cost $108.00 including the after midnight extra cost, and sleepily we headed to the check-in counter, surprised to see that quite a long queue has already been formed. We checked in, waited for boarding, which was on time, and was on the first plane to depart Melbourne Airport that day, heading towards Auckland.
SH, Jia and Me
Jia trying out the Wii in the airport shop
Our Emirates flight to Auckland - reason for choosing Emirates is because they give the cheapest fare to Auckland, compared to Qantas, Jetstar, and Virgin Blue
Me n Jia while waiting to board
The flight took 3 hours plus but when we arrived in Auckland, its already 12:30pm due to the time difference. After collecting our baggage and getting through custom, i called the car rental company,Apex Car Rentals , to pick us up in a shuttle bus to bring us to their office near the airport.
In-Flight
Apex Car Rental. Was planning to go with Thrifty when i only know Hertz, Europcar, Thrifty, Avis, and Budget. But upon discovering Apex, i decided to go with it as their cars are still not too old and the price is much cheaper than those big companies.
Our luggages, in the car rental office.
Our car, a Camry. I booked a Corolla but somehow got upgraded for free to a Camry, for both islands.
Camry rear
"Apex Car Rentals"
First destination would be our place to live, Oaks Smartstay on Hobson, when the first of a series of unfortunate events starts happening.
The first would be due to the total blurness and carelessness of mine. I booked the hotel on a wrong date. As i walked up to the reception, telling them that i have a booking, they got my name but cant find anything. After showing my booking number, i realized i booked the hotel for the same date next month.
You can feel me panicking from far far away
I guess in a way we got lucky as well as there is a same two-bedroom unit available for the two nights we are gonna be staying and the lady is kind enough to give me the same rate as i booked a few months ago (which is NZD 149 per night). We went up to our unit relieved and dropped our luggage, in the same time awe at how much nicer the apartment is than expected.
The living room
The view from our apartment, which is not much
One of the bedroom
Another bedroom
The kitchen
The bathroom
Money money money
We settled down, went downstairs to put more money into the parking meter, and started exploring the city in search of a Vodafone retailer for a prepaid SIM card. It wasnt easy. Having Telecom and Vodafone as the only two mobile network provider in the country, and with the majority using Vodafone, Vodafone has basically monopolized the mobile network market in NZ. Thus, unlike Melbourne or Malaysia where every 5 shops is a mobile phone shop, we had a hard time finding a place to get a SIM card, and finally saw this small Chinese shop on Queens St. that says it sells prepaid SIM card and got one from there, only after walking for approximately an hour.
The Chinese shop, which the lady asked me in Mandarin: "Do you have internet to register your number? I can do it for you here for 3 bucks!" -__-|||
Wanting to get lunch in Sky City then visit the Sky Tower, we walked back to our car planning to drive there, only to find, nothing, at the parking lot. Why? Coz our car got towed. After enquiring the reception desk, we only got to know that Hobson St. is a 4pm-6pm clearway zone, which means from 4pm to 6pm Monday to Friday, any car that is parked at the curbside will be towed, no matter what. I got the phone number of the tow yard, went back to the room, called them, got the address of the tow yard where my car is held, and started reading the map to determine a way to get there.
Where our car supposed to be, and is not
With no other transportation means and not sure how to take the bus to the tow yard, we decided to walk there, a very very long walk, which we finally arrived after approximately an hour.
Where we are supposed to go
Where we ended in, Auckland Tow Yard
I showed my driving license, my keys to the car, and was handed a fine to be paid at the city council and showed where my car is. On one hand we are glad that the car is back in our hands, on the other hand, we know that we are gonna be 30 dollars poorer each as the fine is approximately NZD 120.
Another study of the map, trying to navigate our way through the complicated roads of Auckland, when we finally arrived back to our hotel, parked our car at the same spot (its free after 6pm, we checked), then walked to a nearby Ramen shop called Mentatz for our dinner, which is also our first meal of the day. Not sure is it due to the hunger or is the food really that good, but i think that was one of the most satisfying meal we ever had.
Mentatz
Jia and Me with ramen and gyoza
SH and HY with don and ramen
After dinner we walked back to the hotel, on the way bought bread for breakfast, and settled in for the day. A wasted and tiring day it is, but lesson learnt indeed, which made us paranoid of parking for the rest of the trip.
More to come on Day 2. ;)
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