#4 NZ travelogue

OK since mood untuk update blog is here, so might as well i just type till i get bored

Day 3
the night we reached Qtown as we went out to find some dinner, it was very cold and windy. berlapis kami pakai. tak mandi again. haha. but balik from dinner, yes me mandi. coz normally 2hari sekali me wash hair. and at night the cold was not menusuk kalbu than pagi. of cozla they had hot water in the bathroom, giler if takde. in fact the Flaming Kiwi Backpackers was so cheerful, friendly and has welcomed us with warm. Most of them that stayed there are mostly teenagers aged between 18-27. and some of them are back packers. you all should try staying here if you're ever plan to visit Qtown. you either can book thru hostelworld again or  book directly, which i preferred.  we slept soundly that night.

motel depan our hostel

brekky

more info centres, u wont get lost

i-site

after discussed and surveyed and checked our map on where shall we go, we have decided to go to Arrowtown, 45mins driving from Qtown. As usual HM slept again after been fed. And we both were so stunned by looking at the breath taking view and scenery along the way. We were like WOW..WOW and more wow from us. hahahah. it's just so pleasant to have such a nice view and a nice weather accompany us, but it was a bit cloudy tho. 

and here some of the pics of Arrowtown.  A bit quite kind of town but the people are lovely

HM at the park

like in the postcard aye?

and so later we decided to go Te Anau ( pronounce as tee-ah-now)

Te Anau is famous with the Gloworm Caves . 
Explore a mysterious underground world of rushing water before drifting in silent darkness beneath the luminous shimmer of thousands of glowworms. 

We left  Arrowtown was about 230pm and the journey took about 1hr45min supposedly.
so guess whatime we arrived Te Anau? almost 5pm and we were so hungry so we rest and this Grill and BBQ place and had our lunch. It was so yummy and rich especially the nachos with cheese. Since the portion was quite big so we shared most of the meals.

And guess pulak whatime we all habis makan?

around 6pm and most of the shops by that time are going to close and the it's started to get dark soon. So nak balik ke Qtown ka? NO la kan jawapannye, marah my main driver.

It was ou of our itinerary but decided to stay a night at Te Anau, right after we checked that this one thing is sufficient. GUESS?
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 HM's milk powder. YES that is very sanely important. You know why? If her susu tak cukup how we can ever stay and let her drink other susu, which i doubt whether she's gonna ok with other brands than Wyeth, dahla tak jual kat NZ ni. So susu cukup bekalan, pampers smua boleh beli at supermarket (ofcoz we tak packed the whole luggage for daily trip kan tp nasib we packed her milk sufficiently, get it?)
Another reason kitorg stay pun because nak sgt tgk the Gloworm Caves which slots at 230pm dah full so next slots only at 7.30pm. Buat booking, paid all settled baru gelabah cari place to stay. malas nak cari jauh2 we stayed at this one Clearwater Motel at NZ$100/night. + dapat free satu botol fresh milk and the owner was so nice treated us, siap offer babycot for HM, tp tak pasang pun.

this bed ada heater underneath, best!

Te Anau lake

And that night was very very cold, i guess it drops to 0'C.
heater lambat berfungsi so gigil kami, the bed pun sejuk. but later on its getting warm so we slept soundly again. 

#3 NZ travelogue

lepas lepak kat twizel. kitorg proceed kan driving. harus sampai ke Qtown by 5pm or sebelum gelap. dah gelap susah nak jln, dahla road tu towards ke Qtown mcm ular sket, challenging. while on the way, ku dah terlihat mountains yang on top nye ada snow dah. dlm hati sure sejuk ni, best. dpt gak tgk and merasa snow (padehal winter start on June, jakun punye pasal kan)

sudah ada snow la

akhirnya!

pastu tak puas hati punye pasal, asked hubby to stop kejap coz me nak pegang what are the white thingy by the road side ni. ni rupenye and rasanya on the earlier stage of snow. i bet if lagi byk and bertimbun lagi sejuk. rasa pegang snow flakes ni mcm kering sket (coz maybe tak byk lg kot), and its very fine. so glad i have this experienced. grin

then next signage was Wanaka.

terus pergi Puzzling world. It's an amazing place to be. full of puzzles haha. and some other weird stuffs too. we had another makan here. 

budak kecik ni banyak suka

pumpkin soup kot. tak ingat, makan ni je dah kenyang with butter. very the rich

dah dekat 2 jam kat Puzzle world, this time tukar driver plak. it was ME who drived
main driver need a nap and rest. so okla, that's why kitorang amik auto car, so both of us can do. tapi the road that we lalu a bit challenging la, coz we reached one part ni yang by the road side memang dah penuh with ice/snow flakes/grit. so i drive with more careful dah. tapi bila sampai to one jalan yg banyak beno selekohnye and a bit slippery, ku dah tak confident. stop tepi jap suh main driver ganti. takut oooo

me drove.  hehe

see, ices sudah everywhere

signage tu pun ckp "please drive carefully"

brbrbrbbrbbbbbbrrrr

this is my inner, warm. tapi keluar kereta jadi cold

mountain with snow. woweee

so main driver took over the steering. we managed to go through that slippery roads. and i can see Qtown dah. tapi roads nak ke sana as i said earlier macam ular plak. konah sana sini then baru sampai. we reached Qtown about 4/5pm, cari hostel lagi. nasib asked around while isi minyak, grab the map and we found. Hello Queenstown!!!!

#2 NZ travelogue

there's the moon and our GPS, its 530am

morning HM

Day 2

as early as 530am, we all dah gerak dari hostel. excited to go Qtown ni. Coz been hearing sana lagi alive and best than CHC. ye ke? mari check it out. the road map will be as below

CHC- lake tekapo- twizel town - Wanaka - Qtown

breakfast dalam kete je, McD drive thru paling senang. first time drive di negara org, nervous jugak tho dah ada GPS. but bila dpt tgk the view and surroundings scenery, halamek mmg lupa semua stress and problem. BREATHTAKING. GREENERY. CUN. CANTEK

since NZ famous with their sheep, so mmg banyak sheeps kat tepi2 jalan. ada yg  jugak yg all brown and all white color sheep. and also cows with sorts of colors. very the jakun.  tengok the road are all clean and straight je most of the time. memang senang, just that some of the colder part dah ada grit/a bit berpasir. some of the mountains we can see its started to snow. ku teruja noks!

we reached the signage of LAKE TEKAPO

mulut melopong bila sampai sana. there's one huge lake yg saaangaaattt cantek. 

tapi bila keluar je kereta, terpaksa masuk balik. HAHAHAH. because it's so so damn windy and sgt chill. dah meraba cari gloves, snow cap and sweaters. sampai menggigil- gigil and mulut terketaq2. kami berdua dahla kurus kering. sejuk noks. bawak HM keluar 5mins je pastu let her sit inside still with heater on.

dah berlapis- lapis baju

2lapis baju, gloves, socks and inner pants

 

takde kene mengene ngn Hachiko the story

nak kejar masa, so takleh stay lelama. 20mins je cukup. kat sini pun ada accommodation if u all nak stay. motels.hotels. smua ada. no worries

next drive we reached to Twizel town. sampai sini lepak for lunch jap

kami makan soup and muffin je kot and air wajib for me is hot choc/tea. Hubby must have his latte.

its like a small town macam yg korang tgk dlm cerita omputih kat tv tu. but very clean, again. org2 NZ mmg very helpful and friendly, reti and paham cakap omputih so anda selamat. heh.

being skinny me, i must admit that i can't stand the coldness, tho ada sunshine but it's still cold. the wind and chill that's killing me. i have very dry skin on my fingers, so nasib town ni ada pharmacy, market, cafe etc. so i went and looked for hand cream. and so i picked the-so called the best one. Rosken Skin repair dry skin, $7. amik je janji kulit ada protection. my finger dah tahap yg kulit kering and if its getting worse it can bleed. ha macamtu la rasanya, kering tp pedih. belum lagi ngn lips drying. nasib bawak lip balm. (nanti wa citer part packing ok)

#1 NZ travelogue - The celebration

the moment i'm typing this, still bleh rasa the coldness while there.

sheesh, i miss NZ

ok my trip details as  below :

flight : by AA, everyone can fly (almost 10 hours each)

stayed : CHC- booked thru hostelworld, Kiwi basecamp, NZ$30/pax/night

Queenstown - stayed at Flaming Kiwi backpackers, NZ$62/room/night - recommended. neat, cheerful and clean

car rental- Go rentals. toyota corolla, NZ$40/day. 

GPS NZ$8, snow chain NZ$32, car seat NZ$32 (snow chain for driving in snow/slippery road- lum sum charges)

currency conversion : NZ$1 = RM2.42

 advisable you all Google dulu nak pegi on which season and get prepare. 

Day 1

Immigration is having thorough checking. My sandwich tuna dapat dihidu oleh anjing pengesan, but they're friendly. anjing kecik2 je, not like at Spore immigration. itu pun kene sebat ces

weather been so so windy. and NZ is 4hours ahead than us. pukul 5 gitu dah start nak gelap. pukul 7pm dah mcm 9pm di malaysia.

tunggu pick-up takde plak, setengah jam dah fed-up, naik cab that cost us NZ$20 then sampai. so glad we arrived. boleh relax. kitorg tido jap kepenatan dlm flight. about 7pm NZ time baru terjaga. lapar. haha. infact we all tak mandi pun. dah Googled earlier that weather on May is a bit chilly as it towards the winter on June. we went to supermarket nearby and bought bread, butter and mineral water. oh btw, our rental car is waited for us while we reached the hostel. so senang, jalan guna GPS and map and ask around.

morning darlings

we're almost there

sejuksss

CHC airport

we're here!!

our luggages

Skipped to 11months

Oh em Gee! bak kata sepah dalam maharaja lawak hahahah

i missed out updates on HM's monthly development/milestone, for 10months

and she turned 11months semalam. so that 2 months apart, here's what's new with her

• few days she turned 9mo, she's at 8.5kg. Now dunno yet. wait till her 12mo check up next month
• a week after returned from nenek house at ampang, she knows how to clap her hands with wide palms.
• while at New Zealand, from 16-23 May 2011,  we've discovered that she had an allergic eating tomatoes. so for 3 days red spots spotted at her body, and  we put a calamine lotion. Syukur, she's  OK
• we also spotted 2 new teeths at the bottom, keluar sekali gus at 9mo +. yeah she is that late. And were so grateful that she don't have any fever comes with. As healthy ever
• towards to 10mo, she has managed to stand at her own. basically when she's on carpet/mattress and once she did, she'll clapped her hands proudly. Small encouragement for herself maybe
• she has no problem crawling here and there. Even a week before 11mo, she has the ability to climb the stairs and our sofa. I don't know where it comes. 
• and now she had another 2 teeths coming out from the upper side. And again, no fever with.
• holding her own bottle is not a problem now, which makes life easier bit.
• at 10mo, started to practicing walking with supports. i've tried with her shoes and on the grass, she has no problem with that too. in fact she's enjoying it
• i introduced her to sippy cup when at early of 10mo using Avent's, she knows how to suck. BUT ikut mood. sometimes she can just tolak the bottle as in she don't want that but when she's very thirsty, she use it. Haish, susah sungguh mau train
• sometimes she's behaving like a boy, sungguh kasar and ganas when we're playing together. siku me at my eyes :(

her pics of 10mo was mostly at my NZ album at FB. 

something wrong with the server that i cant upload her pics here

Between a housewife and a mummy

For some, they knew that i have officially moved to my own house at Bukit Kemensah last weekend

after all the hard work, the renovations and etc

And there, my real life begins

i was adapting myself between being a real mummy and a housewife. real means that i'm all by myself now.

cleaning the house, mopping, laundry, taking car of HM, cooking (soon) and re-arranging 

i am still figuring out on where to place of all my pinggan mangkuk in the cabinet, those boxes, my groceries and etc

need more time to sort that out especially  boxes with stuffs in it. well, we still short of this and that, the house is NOT fully completed yet (basic stuffs like sofa, washing machine, tv, fridge etc are all in place)

and i'm trying to put what's my daily routine gonna be, on weekdays and weekend. Since HM will be at Keramat, so i also have to plan my route and time in the morning, dropping her and picking up at the evening.

Being a clean freak ( i cant stand off seeing a dusty table and a dusty and sticky floor and so to others)so i tend to sweep and mopping the floor frequent. And so does my bathrooms. and just by doing that, i am that sweaty. Imagine if you're running a bigger house, i can understand you. Plus with all the cooking, i am so salute mothers out there who've had more than one kid and did all your house chores by your self and plus if you're a working mother like me. That's even more. Time management is important, so once that sorted out, all should be in place  and OK, insya-allah.

on HM part, she's adapted well. she play at her own, watched cartoon more often ( as usually i put on the PHDC whenever i'm stucked with something to do while she in her playpen, her pagar at the staircase has not been installed yet. till then she stays in there ) and not to forget her usual nap and weaning time, it's all still the same. Just that her separation anxiety is a bit more now but it's still manageable. She's not clingy pun. Just mengada i think. 

I am so thankful and grateful of having a helpful and understanding hubby. Before off to bed, which usually me will pengsan first, he will ensure stuffs at the kitchen are all clean and he'll prepare HM's bottles and milk for the night. Understanding, sharing and communications are part of a healthy relationship kan, chewah

Other than that, i need to do a ice-breaking session with my neighbors (other than those that i knew). i have kinda small neighborhood, and most of them are pakciks and makciks. But they were quite friendly. Just throw a smile wouldn't be that harm kan.  

That's a quick update on my recent life. despite being hectic and busy, i am loving the new life. Just me and my lil family :)