Around Auckland 2015

It was our second day in New Zealand. We only had another half a day more to spend in Auckland before having to make a move to Cape Reinga, the most northern part of New Zealand. Read about Cape Reinga here. I will write another entry on Cape Reinga, Insha Allah.

We left early in the morning and headed to the Auckland city. Auckland city is vibrant like any other cities in the world. What sets Auckland apart are a few things. First is of course the weather. Masha Allah, it could be so awkward in Auckland. Trust me when I say you REALLY, REALLY have to read the weather forecast before you head out for the day.

One funny incident happened to me on that particular day. We were coming back from the Auckland tower and noticed it was raining. I was so busy opening my bag and fishing out my raincoat which took almost 1 minute. I was about to don on my raincoat when suddenly I looked up the sky and noticed, there was not even a drop of rain anymore. The rain stopped as quickly as it started. I totally looked silly with my full raincoat on and no rain :)

Another incident about the rain was when while we were walking, just at one moment, rain was drizzling on my head. I took a few steps more, the clouds shifted and it was all sunny again. Subhanallah, what an amazing experience.

Auckland is also a melting port of culture, races and ethnicity.  There are so many Asian races there, that you almost forgot that you are in New Zealand instead of Malaysia. This is due to the number of university students studying in Auckland.

Life is city means everybody is rushing, either for classes or for work. And comparing the behaviour of the people in other parts of New Zealand, where they are calmer and more courteous. City people tend to be more impatient and less courteous. Not everyone of course.

Another funny incident also happened to me while in Auckland. I was paying some stuff I bought in one of the stores in Aucky, (the terms used by most Kiwi's when referring to Auckland), when the kind and sweet cashier told me to fill in a promotional form. I smiled at her and took the form and was about to fill it in when I saw the word 'New Zealand resident's address'. I quickly told her I was unable to fill in the form and told her I was just a tourist, and she immediately looked shocked. She apologetically told me that she thought I was a student. Guess, I looked young huh or probably blended well with the rest?

Auckland also consists of old and new buildings, a balance between globalization and colonial era of England. And with every growth in cities, there must be urban poor people around somewhere. A phenomena quite common in most growing cities :(

Other interesting points to visit in Auckland must be the Auckland sky tower where one can observe the overview scenery of the whole of Auckland. It cost around only 28nzd to observe this spectacular view.

Looks like a scene from CSI Miami right?

Since we had a short stay in Auckland, we didn't have much time to explore other points of interest in Auckland, but do stay tuned to my next entry on 'Why I Fell In Love With Devonport'. Till next time...

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Kia Ora Aotearoa 2015

We were having a really prolonged time of haze in Malaysia when we left for New Zealand. After 3 months of inhaling smoked air, the breath of fresh air that greeted us in Auckland made us jump and down, literally.

Can you detect my overly excited face here?

No signs of haze, alhamdulillah

Our first stop was to meet with a friend who was studying in Palmerston North. She picked us up at the airport and booked us a shuttle bus. We received some negative greetings from the driver as soon as he knew that we were Malaysians. The driver apparently had some family in Ipoh, Malaysia and seemed very familiar with the Malaysian political scene, which clearly did not interest us at all (we were trying to have a vacation here dude!)

Later we were dropped at the car rental centre to pick up our rented car. The car was okay considering the price, comfy enough for the four of us. The important thing was that that the car literally took us around New Zealand, both North and South Islands, so thank you car!

My friends at the car rental centre

While I still cannot get over the euphoria of finally being there in New Zealand

We started our trip by of course heading to the supermarket, which later became one of the most favourite part for me throughout the whole trip, so much that sometimes I opted to stay in the car because it became so time consuming for us, hehe.

Being Malaysian especially me (first time visiting an English speaking country as an adult) I became too excited over the array of groceries and food that they have stocked at the supermarket. We went from aisle to aisle and snapped every picture of tomatoes, cheese, oh my God everything!

Adorable little ripe tomatoes

kiwi in Kiwi??

Drooling already...

After stocking our car with all the needed groceries, we headed to Auckland city where we booked our first accommodation. It took us awhile to finally reach there because believe it or not we were stuck in jam, in Auckland. It was as if we brought our KL vibes to Auckland.

Finally we arrived late evening to our small stay where we booked two rooms with a small kitchen area. The building was actually part hostel for uni students and part hostel for visitors like us. It was situated right in the middle of the town of Auckland, where from our window we could see students, and workers rushing to their daily lives.

We settled in and took a few minutes rest before getting ready to have dinner with my friend, Agkillah which I have not met for years. Agki was pursuing her doctorate and she is not even yet 30! Such a genius, that girl!

Later that night, I had one of the yummiest lamb shank ever in my life. It was probably the most expensive meal I paid during the whole duration of the trip but it was worth it. It was good to finally catch up with Agki and sharing stories of our life in the few hours that we had.

We went back contented and slept for the first time after our 11 hours flight (transited in Gold Coast for one night) and arriving in Auckland. What a blessing!

Was nice meeting Agkillah after so many years

The lamb shank I was talking about (lots of halal restaurants in Auckland, peeps!)

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Daydreaming of New Zealand

Besides the Holy Land, New Zealand was another dream come true.

Ever since visiting New Zealand, I can never seem to take it away from my mind.

Exploring New Zealand was like being in the worldly heaven. One can only imagine what would the real heavens look like, Masha Allah.

With the snow capped mountains and melted snows turns into cascading waterfalls and then becomes rivers of glaciers, such magnificent creation by Allah S.W.T., one can only imagine.

I was not only mesmerized by the beauty of the nature but also the kindness of the people. They are so naturally genuine and kind hearted. It must be the inner peace they feel surrounded by the calming nature all around them.

In short, it's no wonder that New Zealand is named the most beautiful country in the world.

Me here at Lake Pukaki, South Island (my favourite lake in New Zealand)

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Withdrawal Symptoms

It's been more than a week now after coming back from my 3 weeks holiday from New Zealand and Gold Coast, and I must say I am having a hard time adjusting back to life here in Malaysia.

Yeah, it was actually 20 days to be exact, including a few days of flights and airports. In all honesty, I was moping around and refused to leave the comfort of my bed for 6 days except on 2 occasions, one was a meeting and another was lunch with a friend. I know it's lame to give jetlag as an excuse when it was actually withdrawal symptoms kicking in.

But today, I've realized that I was going through a life changing process during these last 6 days. Somewhere along the way of my 3 weeks trip, I was altered and changed forever. It just took attending the court and going to work to make me realize, that it is time to act upon my life discoveries or forever be drown in misery like what I have allowed myself to feel whole of last week.

I was really lost last week. Felt like I somehow lost myself from this trip. Didn't know where to fit in, didn't find anything in my life worthy, finding my work and career stagnant and mundane, and looking at life in Malaysia as meaningless.

And then I truly realized what I needed to do in my life, and here I am just sharing that I am ready for my next adventure and looking forward to really catching my dreams.

This New Zealand trip has made me realize that I need to own up to my dreams, and start to run after  it.

Till the next post about the trip itself.. have a good week.

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Planning For A long Awaited Trip

It's August already, and soon we will be flying to New Zealand Insha Allah. Unbelievable how time flies so fast. 

My friends and I are scrambling to book our hotels now for the South Island. So relieved that we managed to book all the hotels in the North Island last week. Also so grateful for all the discount codes that I received from Digi and AirAsiaGo that have made our booking fees slightly cheaper.

I mean planning for an expensive and long trip like this makes every cent counts. So we are still in the midst of researching, reviewing and booking all these hotels. Glad, one of my friend from the trip, Julia has a credit card. It makes the booking process easier :)

I really never thought that I was able to make this trip a dream come true. But Allah's powers are magnificent. Always have faith and be positive.

The idea of flying to New Zealand came to me last year. I initially really wanted to perform umrah and go to Australia to work in gardens picking fruits for a month or at least 3 weeks, this year. But due to the strict visa policy imposed by the Saudi government of the ban against single women performing umrah without mahram left me with no choice but to alternatively plan another big trip this year.

Hence, that was when the idea of New Zealand came about. I thought the next best thing to do after not being able to perform umrah was to visit one of the most beautiful country in this world. Plus, my friend Nurul also informed me that she was migrating back to New Zealand after a few years staying in Malaysia.

I didn't have any idea who I was going with but I was determined to make this trip a reality one way or another. And on that one fateful day, while my friend Julia and I were catching up on our Beijing trip, she brought up the idea of New Zealand. I just looked at her with my mouth agape. Her bestfriend was studying there and leaving this year, And like everyone said, the plan between her and me was history.

We decided to invite another friend for the trip, my court gang, Aa.. and that makes the 3 of us in this trip excluding Julia's bestfriend who is already studying there.

So hence we have been planning for this trip since last year.  We have researched the places, we have studied the activities, we have planned our budgets, we have saved up money and bought flight tickets for months. It's so surreal to think that it is almost coming true now.

Well, I pray that we will have a wonderful and smooth trip, Insha Allah. We have a few more hotels to book, passport to renew, driving license to renew, visa to apply (since we are transiting in Gold Coast, Australia), traveling insurance to purchase, list of food to prepare and buy, luggage weight to add, and buy other essentials including toiletries and extra clothing, depending on the weather.

May all of this become a reality, amin.

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