City of Sulphur

Hello there...I'm back again^^v


Continued from my previous post, today I'll share with you my experience in Rotorua - the city of sulphur. I dubbed it the City of Sulphur because it smelt of sulphur pretty much most of the time. It is famous for its geothermal activities due to its strategic location in volcanic area I suppose.


If you head to Kuirau Park, you'll get to see mud pools and hot pools for free. Most other places will charge you an arm and a leg for to see almost the same thing, but probably bigger version. For example, Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland charge NZD32.50 per adult to see their hot pools, mud pools and craters etc.


Personally, after awhile, all geothermal spots kinda look the same already. It no longer held the wow effect. Especially when you paid to see the same thing over and over again. I have been to Rotorua twice afterall.


The weather was not really promising for us as it keeps raining. Raining means no outdoor activities for us. Luckily in between showers, we managed to squeezed in some activities still.


Despite the weather, we managed to go to Rainbow Springs to see kiwi and their nocturnal life at night. Besides Rainbow Springs, we also experienced the Skyline Rotorua - the gondola and luge ride. Luge is really fun and it's so simple really. You just sit there and hold the bar to manuevre left right speed and stop. Simpler than driving automated transmission car I tell you!


We even hold a illegal racing among the four of us and I came in second! Hahahaha I mentioned it's illegal because the sign there written no racing ;p Guess we just can't follow the rules to the dot afterall.


We also went to Wai=O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland to see more geothermal spots and geyser. We wanted to see the infamous Lady Knox Geyser which erupts daily at 10:30am. Fascinated isn't? Why 10:30am daily? Without fail? How do you do that?????


The answer is pretty simple really. Because it's controlled by human that's why. And how can human control such thing? Simple. Because long long time ago, some human accidently found out that the geyser will erupt when you throw a soap into it. The stories goes back to dunno how long ago, some people are doing their washing there and accidently dropped a soap which triggered the geyser to erupt.


There, the secret for the geyser to erupt at 10:30am is out now. It smelled wonderful too. Rotten egg smell -.-"



The rest of the trip in Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland was to see more and more of geothermal spot, hole, pool etc. And it rained too. Damn we had to carry an umbrella with us all the time. Such inconvenience!


We also went to Kerosene Creek, which is free natural hot pool for public. It's located in a secluded area in between Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and Rotorua town *the same highway to Taupo, I can't recalled which SH though*


It's really beautiful there as the nature beauty is untouched by civilization. The hot vapour from the creek gives the place a magical feeling. Like you were in some magical place faraway and out of this world. Truly exquite. You can dip your feet in the hot water or bettter still, you can just soak your weary, tired body there.



Too bad we can't as we went unprepared. We did not have our bathing suits with us and we didn't even had proper shoes on either. So we just take a look at it and go. Oh, and we even get to see a fantastic rainbow too. Really clear, full rainbow! Totally awesome!



One week in Rotorua come and go. In between rain showers, we even managed to do some shopping spree! I tell you, I think I spent the most here in Rotorua than in anywhere else in NZ. I think I bought the most things here.


Rotorua is also a place to pamper one self. We went to Hell Gate for their infamous mud spa. Trust me, this is really not to be missed! If I ever go to Rotorua again, Hell Gate will definitely be on my list. The top on my to-do list.


On our last day, we were really lucky to be able to experience white water rafting in Kaituna River - which were really popular for it's 7m waterfall. The adventure trip was really exhilirating and I don't even know where to begin. We were given wet suits and briefing before we reached the river and the next thing I know, I'm in the boat, paddling towards the waterfall!



I'll never forget my first ever water rafting experience for a long long time. I wished the whole adventure will last longer though. An hour in the water is way to short a time.



I think this summarizes my second trip to Rotorua. I didn't do the zorb though, although it's originated here in Taupo. I didn't visit the Maori's cultural village too as it's really very very the expensive and I can't really afford it. I'll probably regret not able to eat hangi *Maori's traditional meal cook in earth oven* but well, moolah IS a factor here baby!

Waitomo Black Water Rafting

Since I don't know when I can get by free internet again so i thought I will drop by and write a short entry or something just to keep everyone updated on my current status ^.^v

After our trip to Hamilton Garden, we head down to Waitomo Cave for cave trekking! No, I'm just kidding horhorhor. As you remember from my previous post I mentioned that we left Hamilton Garden as the sun sets hence how can I explore Waitomo Cave? We just went to Waitomo to book the trip and also looking for accomodation.

The sky is pitched black when we reached Raft, Rap & Rock. Everyone's tired and no one wants to look elsewhere for accomodation so we decided to stay at the hostel there since the price is really not too bad and we have coupon for discount! Seriously, this is one of the few time that we actually remembers to use discount coupons that we had. Most of the time, we won't remember and ended up paying for much more-.-"

We were practically squealing when the owner said the bed comes with electric blanket and a heater. ELECTRIC BLANKET!!!!! I have never use one and I really don't mind trying it;p

The place was really very tidy and clean. A charming house that consist of 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 toilet, dining hall and living room. We stayed there for 2 nights and on the second night, we practically have the whole house to ourselves! Isn't great???? Seriously, I think the rating on BBH on that place is way below par. I think it deserve so much better than 68%.

Apart from accomodation, we signed up the black water rafting at 9am. I like the fact that they organise small group only. Max is 6pax and we have nicely 6 people (plus UK couple). Our guide, Simon, was really a fun and fantastic guide. We couldn't ask for a better one. He's funny and interactive and he knows his stuff well.

The ride to the cave is bout 15 minutes, then we reached their hub where we get our wet suits and don it before we start the expedition. Seriously, donning the wetsuit is quite challenging. It's so tight that it fits snugly on your body which is good to keep you warm. But at the same time, wearing it is quite an art itself. Being a first timer, let's just say I don't think I look pretty wearing it. In fact, I quite think that I resemble some poor penguins-.-"

Anyhow, after donning the wetsuits and boots, we head to the cave. Before we enter the cave hole, we were given a lesson in correct way of tying the ropes and also all the safety rules to adhere. When this is done, here we go.

First thing to do is to abseil 27m down into the cave. I was really looking forward to abseiling because I have never tried it before. 27m seems quite short a distance as I managed to go down without a hitch. In fact, it was not what I expected. It was much easier than I thought!

Once everyone is down, we walked in the water into the cave and see glowworms, then black water rafting in the currents and rock climbing back up the same way we got down. The glowworms are really beautiful. It kinda like watching stars at night.

As for the black water rafting, it isn't anything that's super challenging like the white water rafting really. It's just tubing in the water. Since it's a cave, hence its dark so the name "black". It doesn't have any rapids, just water flowing by. But it was really fun though. I really like tubing.

Everyone is given a rubber tube like a tyre and sit on it then flow with the water. I always started last but somehow I always ended up first to reach! I have no idea why as I wanted to enjoy the experience more but I kept emerging at the finishing line way too quick-.-"

Climbing back to the top is not too hard as well. Even for people who doesn't have much stamina can do it so I don't think anyone will have any problem doing it. Once done, we went back to the hub to have a quick shower at their basic bathroom before heading back to the office to view the photos and drank complimentary soup.

The whole trip wasn't too bad. In fact, i quite enjoyed it. It was pretty fun. What surprises me the most during the whole trip is the camera. The camera that our guide uses to snaps photos of us. That camera is like, sooo ancient! Who else uses those kind of camera these days????? The fact that that camera is water proof is great but then the photo quality is not really up to our standard. Photos taken were not really crisp and clear hence we thought this is kinda a waste.

Then again, it's better than none right? We shared with the UK couple for a copy of the photos and this save us some dollar. It was then only I know that we can all share a copy to save some pennies. Not bad considering as a backpackers, we need to be frugal at all time!

Hehehehe so this is my experience on the Waitomo Black Water Rafting.

Hamilton Garden

When our business is done in Auckland, we headed down south. We made a stop in Hamilton and visited the famous Hamilton Garden. Hamilton Garden is a very huge park actually and it consist of many gardens. The most famous one has got to be the landscaped garden that features 6 different type of garden concept.

As I have mentioned that Hamilton Garden is a huge park, we kinda got lost. Well, I didn’t expect it to be so big that Landscaped garden was just a PART of it! It was getting dark as sunset in winter is much earlier than usual and we were walking around the park looking for the landscaped garden.

We accidentally covered a few other garden such as Rose Garden; which barely has any roses due to wrong season of the year and also we walked to the Waikato River, which is practically a dead end. We had to retraced our steps to find other routes that can lead us to the Landscaped garden.

Finally, we found it! By then, the sun has practically set so we had to rushed to all 6 garden and take photos in record time. They had the Chinese Scholarstic Garden, Japanese Garden, English Garden, American Modern Garden, Italian Garden and Indian Garden.

Each of the garden is beautifully designed and photo worthy. Finally the guard has to shoo us off as its getting really dark already. And the most foolish thing is, we realized that the Landscaped Garden was located just at the left of the Main Entrance. We missed it because we took a right turn at the entrance and we walked, circled the big pond with duckies in it!

That wrong turn actually wasted our precious time to be in the Landscaped Garden. Not that it was not beautiful along the way, it is. Just that we were pretty late reaching there hence limit is a factor to us. All in all, we still get to see what we wanted to albeit the short time. So, can’t complain.

If I get to visit Hamilton again, this time I will go there early and spend a couple of hours walking leisurely and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Trust me, it is really well worth a trip there again. The greenery will definitely appeal to you, even if you are not a nature person.

I know, because I am not too! ^^v

I might be wrong, but I think it is best to visit Hamilton Garden in the Spring. Spring is when all flowers are blooming so you get to enjoy the Rose Garden at its most glorious. Since I went in the winter, the Rose Garden was practically barren with only one or two miserable roses.

Back to Auckland Again

At one point, it started to feel that each time we were in Auckland, we surely made at least a trip to the car workshop. It was always one problem or the other. This time, I think we made three trips to the workshop to fix this and that.

At the same time, we renewed the WOF (Warrant of Fitness). WOF is compulsory in order for the car to remain on the road. It’s kinda like Road Tax in Malaysia, except that in Malaysia, we can renew our Road Tax yearly easily whereas WOF required the car to be inspected and certified fit on the road before WOF is issued. If I am not mistaken, WOF is done twice a year.

This time around, our stay in Auckland is pretty much free and easy. We spent most of the time shopping, eating and working on the car. Finally, I get the opportunity to visit the most happening shopping centre in Auckland – Silvia Park.

Well, it was nothing much to shout really. Malaysia definitely has much bigger malls everywhere. However, I think malls this size are norm in NZ. It’s not bad really. Apart from Silvia Park, we went to Dressmart too.

Honestly, Dressmart is my fav! It’s kinda like factory outlet stores where quite a few major brands – local or international brand will sell of out of season clothes or stock clearance stuff at dirt cheap prices. Big names that I’m sure everyone will recognize are such as Levi’s, Lacoste, Pumpkin Patch, Esprit and so on.

If you dig deep enough, you will get quite some great stuff that’s selling at a fraction of the original price. This is what I call great buy! Since haggling is not practiced in NZ, buying good quality stuff at a low price is the next best thing for me. However, the only downside is that the shop closes at 5pm.

It kinda limit your shopping time. Over here, shopping is done early as most shop closes at 5pm or so. In smaller town, shops does not even operate on weekends! Time like this make me missed my hometown all the more. Back at home, I can go shopping all day till nightfall.

On one fine Saturday, I managed to visit the biggest flea market in Auckland – Otara Flea Market. It was quite big and happening with live band and singings going on in the central court. The flea market consist of everything you’ll ever need. They sell from vegetables, fruits to clothes and souvenirs. They even sell business suits too, no kidding!

Watching movie in NZ is a luxury affair as well. Cinema in big city charges NZD15.00 for a movie whereas in smaller town charges varies from NZD10.00 – NZD15.00.

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but parking in Auckland will really cost you a bomb! Parking fees are so so so expensive that you’ll cringe at the amount and probably curse the day you ever thought of driving and parking in the town. They charges exorbitant fee on hourly rate. The parking rate here will put KLCC’s rate pale in comparison.

If you want to save money, my advice is don’t even dream of driving to town. Better take the bus or walk if you don’t mind walking.

Mishaps: good or bad?

As we were heading back to Auckland, things started to make a turn for the worse. Our car started to give us problems. Problems that can make your heart pump a little faster. What happened was, while driving we felt that the car was jerky, not smooth as it supposed to. The car started to jerk every now and then. The climax? Definitely was when the car battery died on us – while we were driving!

Fuiyoh! I tell you, that was really a close call! As the car was jerking and sputtering along, I’m pretty sure all of us were awake (we were sleeping before this;p) and praying to God that we can make it to Auckland in one piece.

To make thing worse, it was getting dark, all shops were closed and we have no one to ask for help. We were practically in the middle of nowhere! We have no choice but to drive slowly and maneuver the car all the way back to Auckland. Initially, we wanted to take the road less taken to explore the countryside but as we realized we have problem, we cancelled the idea and take the fastest, most direct route to Auckland.

As if the sputtering and jerking is not enough to make us turn green, the car decided to died on us right in the middle of the Harbour Bridge!!! Yes, I am serious!

The bridge was heavy with traffic hence we needed to brake more often. Each time Dinosaur press the brake pedal, the engine died. If that is not scary enough, try this: when the engine died, the brake system does not work too, due to ABS system locking and stuff.

Yup, the car was rolling due to momentum, engine died, and we have no control on the brake. Did I mentioned is was traffic jam then???? Yeah, cars in front, beside and behind us. I think that alone is enough to evoke terror in anyone’s heart. We have to cranked the engine every time it died, smacked right in the most busiest bridge.

Thank God Dinosaur was calm throughout and managed to maneuver the car despite the sputtering and jerking to Auckland town and we make a stop at a petrol station. Since the battery keep dying, we suspected the battery is the culprit.

We tried ringing Dinosaur’s uncle for help but he did not pick up the phone. Oh no!

Then we called a new friend who worked in the car workshop that sold us the car for help. We told him that the battery kept dying hence it might be that the battery is dead. And this nice friend actually finished work and reach home wanting to have dinner, bath and rest but as I have said, he is a nice person, he went out again to help us buy a car battery for replacement.

Finally after the long wait, he arrived. When he inspected our car, he didn’t think battery was the cause. Uh-oh, this might be something bigger and scarier than we thought. He spent quite some time fidgeting our car with limited light (Dinosaur’s torchlight) and in the cold too.

After some time, finally the car’s up and ready to go. Well, at least for temporary. Then we all had our long awaited dinner together.

After all the hoo-ha, it’s almost 10pm and we still have not got any place to stay. We tried searching some motel but it was super expensive and we can’t afford that. Lucky us, Dinosaur’s uncle graciously offered us to stay at his house.

After all that we have went through in a day, we were really tired. Both physically and emotionally.

This was definitely an extraordinary day for sure!

Still in North Island

Hi all!

Good greetings from New Zealand!

I have been spending the last two weeks traveling part of North Island here and currently stopping at Auckland again. After this, we will head down to Waitomo for black water rafting. After that, we will head to city of sulphur - Rotorua and continues to Taupo.

In the past few weeks, we managed to cover:

1) White Island - the only active volcanic island in NZ.

2) we went to East Cape lighthouse - to see the beautiful sunrise. East Cape is the the most easterly place in the earth.

3) We went to Gisborne - the first town on earth to receive sunlight in the morning.

4) Coromandel Region - we went to Hot Water Beach to soak our feet, we went to Coromandel town to eat fresh oyster and mussels. It was really delicious albeit a little expensive.

5) Northland - we went to visit the most interesting loos in land - Kawakawa. Also, we ate the world's famous fish & chips in Mangonui. For sure, we went to Cape Reinga and 90 miles beach. Cape Reinga is the most northen part of NZ^^ IT is also where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean collides.

Yup, that's about all. We will continue our journey and I shall update my travel log as soon as I get the chance. Well, as you know, internet is a luxury here so whenever I can online I'm like on cloud nine!!!! Trust me, I'm really that happy to get internet connection!!!

okay people, time for me to go sleep already as tomorrow will be a long day. Will keep you post soon!

Stay tune! ^^v

End of packing season

Hi All,

How are you?


I am good here. In fact, today is the celebration for our packhouse end of the season. We have finished our last bin of kiwis and the kiwi packing season is officially ended. The work ended yesterday, and today is the celebration.

As yesterday is the last day, we all brought our cameras and V-Cam to captures our memories there. We keep taking photos whenever we get the chance ^^v

Some westerners cannot understand why we Asians always take photos and lamented about that. It's kinda put off but then, since i don't have any explanation for our behaviour anyway so let's forget it. i don't care what you think of me anyway!

As usual, when we get any day offs, we will all gather together and have a big feast. So is today^^

Right now I'm at SJ and RX house to have a big hearty lunch^^ We are making kimchi soup, two varieties of fried rice (courtesy or Double S hehe) and desserts as usual^^v No wonder I'm gaining weight instead of losing weight-.-"

Anyhow, we will be moving away from Opotiki pretty soon hence we will have to say goodbye to our new found friends here any moment. It's sad to say goodbye as we really clicked well! It's not easy to find such nice bunch of people from different nationality and have so much fun together. I'll really miss them when the time to part comes.

We will start to tour around north island starting Wednesday. i hoped to cover the north island in 3 weeks then find another job. Doesn't matter if its in north or south island just so that we can make enough money to cover our trip to south island.

Everybody says that south island is so beautiful that it's like heaven on earth. I am so excited I can't wait to go there. The fact that now in north island is pretty cold already I can't imagine how I'll survive south island. Right now, it can get to zero degrees in south island at night and now is just the beginning of winter!

Whatever! I don't want to think all these right now. I shall just take it as it comes. Tonight celebration party everyone needs to bring a dish to a local bar here in town. Rachel is making man tao (buns) to bring over there and she is still making it at home.

I don't know how the party will be like, but I kinda really looking forward to it already. This is not something we get to experience daily so I really wanna see how it goes.

Will update more whenever I get the time and internet access.

Toodles!

Work and no work

Work is ending soon. We have reached our last week at the packhouse. Without realizing, we had worked at the packhouse for the past 2 months. Next week onwards, we will have to start worrying about where our next pay cheque would come from.

In my time working at the packhouse, I really quite enjoyed it. Really. Of course, at times, it can get so repetitive and monotonous that it gets so boring. Also, it can get so tiring that my shoulder ached like nobody’s business. Sometimes, it is so taxing to my body that my back ached so much that I can’t even stand and do simple job like washing the dishes. My fingers will go numb and I can’t even lift my arm properly to hold the dishes. It’s like the strength totally deserted me.

Those are the negative impact from working. At the same time, I also gained a lot here. I gained invaluable life experience that I couldn’t get it elsewhere. I gained many new friends from all over the world that I absolutely treasured. They are really a bunch of great people and working alongside them is truly fun and memorable.

For instance, I met a delightful Korean girl that taught us many Korean phrases and food. Never in my life would I thought that I could actually make kimchi or bibimbap. Now I not only know how to make it, I also know how to make Korean pancake, which I absolutely adored. My greatest regret is not being able to learn how to make teokbukgi. We can’t seem to find any shop selling rice cake so she can’t make them. What a bummer!

I am someone who don’t cook at home. In fact, I hardly enter the kitchen in my life. Ever. But over here, I not only found out I could actually cook quite decently, I also collected many recipes along the way. Many things that I never thought I could actually do, I am able to do it now.

Not to sound boastful, but I really am very proud of myself. Now, I don’t find cooking a torture. I actually quite enjoyed it. Cooking is made fun now with so many new recipes. Can’t wait to show off my newly acquired skills to my mom. She should be very proud of me hehehehe~

Now, my future kitchen has to be really big and well equipped in order for me to be able to fully utilize my new hobby ;p

Nowadays, we spent all and whatever day offs we get by cooking. We will cook something and invite some close friends for lunch, dinner and vice versa. Each time, we are so fully loaded that no wonder if we’ll gain weight.

Health Scare: Part 2

Okay people, just a quick update from me. I have since recover from my skin disease if you can call that. So you can now stopy worrying over my health. ^^

We all self diagnosed it as skin allergy most likely due to dust from environment. Read: factory.

My skin rashes has reduced to almost none now. My lips are no longer swollen. It's nice and perfect just as the way it is teehee!

So there, I'm fine once again! God bless us all^^

Health Scare

Work has been going smooth nowadays. Almost everyday we get to work in the packhouse already. All thanks to the sunny days we are having lately. Since the weather had been really accommodating lately, the pickers get to work and we packers get to pack.

It’s really a dream come true to us. We have dreamed about days like this God knows how many days. All’s well and we are happy and contented. Despite work gets boring (well, it is repetitive and monotonous after all) we will still go to work and money is really a great motivator.

I knew this is too good to be true. I just knew it!

Finally my deepest fear came true.

Sick. Illness.

Medication.

Doctor.

I never thought this will one day happen to me. God how I wish it wasn’t me. Why me????

Warning: don’t read on if you do not want to read my description of my illness.

One fine Sunday as usual after work we came back home, cook dinner and bath before sleep. While in the shower, I realized that my back is not quite the same and there’s patches of red spots on my upper body. These red spots were a little itchy as well.

But I shrugged it off and ignored it thinking it will go away the next morning. I wanted to tell others but then I don’t want to appear like a baby and whine every single moment I get so I didn’t.

The next morning, the red spots did not disappear as I hoped! Damn! What is happening to me???? Truth to be told, I was beginning to feel scared over it. I mean, what sort of diseases I have caught??? I just know it is a symptom of allergy of some sort.

At this point, I still keep mum about it and go to work as usual. It wasn’t until my supervisor noticed the spots I am having and asked me if I have some sort of allergy. Then I know this is really getting serious if she can see it even when I was wearing a sweater.

At that moment, I was like, “oh shit, this is really getting bad if it is showing on my arm and face” She says she saw red pactches on my neck and ear and that my face swell a little. We both tried to find out the cause of my allergy. Was is soap? Shampoo? Diet? Kiwi?

I don’t know. I seriously can’t pinpoint the cause of it. At this point, I am really getting itchy all over. To make things worse, my eyes swell and I can’t open my eye lid to the fullest!

This time, during smoko (break time) I rushed to the toilet and have a good look at myself in the mirror. (looking into the mirror is kinda a luxury to me as our house got limited mirror and most of the time, the mirror is steamed all over after shower -.-“

For the first time I had a clear view of myself. How my eyes are swollen and red spots begins showing a little on my neck, ear, forehead and eye lash area. Some red spots also appear on the cleavage area. Of course, the rest are at my back where you can’t help but feel like scratching it every moment you get.

This time, everyone spotted my problem already. Twister thinks it is “fong mok” which is allergy to dirty things or surrounding. The only things we can suspect is our workplace, which is dusty from the kiwi furs especially the grading table area which I currently work at. Another possible explanation is the bed I am using now is dirty.

With everyone’s help, I tried my very best not to scratch my body. Gradually, I feel that my eyes are not so swollen anymore as I can open my eyes completely and I take it as a good sign of recovery. I was so happy beyond relief. Hopefully my rashes will go away soon too. Even my supervisor notice my “recovery” She commented that my face is not so swollen anymore.

Boy, was I wrong!

Yes, my eyes are not swollen anymore and my face are not covered with rashes. BUT, my upper lip started to swell. SHIT!!!!!! By the end of the working day, my upper lip is half swollen!!!! If I wasn’t feeling any fear previously, I definitely do now. I was so so so afraid that I almost broke down crying.

Godzilla keeps suggest that we go see a doctor but finally I decided to wait for another day and see how it goes. I have some medication for swell and anti-allergy at home and I planned to see if it works.

Hence we went home, take a bath, eat medicine and apply dermatitis cream on my body and pray for recovery.

Twister says normally the rashes would go away in a day or two so I was clinging to the comforting words to sleep.

As you can probably guess by now, no the rashes did not fade away. My upper lip is even more swollen than the night before. This time, I really broke down and cry during breakfast. I am sure Dinosaur, Godzilla and Twister were uncomfortable to witness crying scene early in the morning. But I just can’t help it.

I also experience some stomach pain at this moment. Since I was not feeling my best and emotionally fragile, I decided to skip work today. Also I feel sad to lose my income for a day, but then I really don’t think I can go to work and act as though nothing happened. I don’t think I can face the curious stare and concern enquiries from colleagues.

No I definitely can’t face all this yet. I prefer to hide out and sleep away the morning. Hopefully this nightmare will go away ASAP.

I wonder how expensive it will get to pay a visit to the doctor here? This idea is starting to appeal to me provided the doctor can miraculously make all these rashes and swell go away in an instant. IN that case, I really don’t mind paying!