Two Zero One Two

It's the time of the year,
when I reminiscence how well the year been for me.

Tried to look back in my Facebook, and realized it's not a really happening year for me
like what the year before did. Still, I'm very much thankful for everything.

Hers's some which are still fresh in my mind :)


#1  My 25th celebrated with close friends & families.

One of my fav shots with girlfriends

#2  Melaka trip with the girls I met at New Zealand.





#3  The backpacking trip to Cambodia with the girls again. Xue Ying actually said that we all have the "worry free" smiles we had in New Zealand. I do fall in love with the Cambodia, a beautiful country. I will blog more about Cambodia when I find the time to :)

Tried BALUT for the first time. Its yummy!! Call me daring crazy girl :P

Our best shot at Angkor Wat, Cambodia :)

Us in front of the Angkor :)

Our cycling trip in Siem Reap. It was a bit dangerous with messy traffic & FUN though!

# 4 Christmas dinner at Home.

My simple year 2012 without Hubby around. And I do miss him spending each occasion & travel plans with me.Thankful for him for always being there at my weakest times even though he is thousand miles away from me. He always give me hope & encouragement. He never hurts me. I couldn't ask for more, he's the best.

Thankful for my Family. My parents always shower me with love and care. Though we didn't sit down and talk much, I still can feel the love from them.

Thankful for my friends around me. Always find the time to have coffee sessions, movies, karaokes, dinners, etc. with me because they know I'm always alone without Hubby around. Thanks them for never fail to make me laugh and put smile on my face when I think of them. Thanks them for the advice & words of encouragement, appreciate that alots! You guys are priceless! 

A good 2012.

I'm looking forward to a new year, a new beginning.

Most of all, I'm looking forward to more travel plans & achieve my endless crazy dreams!

Do follow me at my instagram: ic3_amethyst [Sylvia Wong]

With Love, 

Sylvia

Home in Te Puke, Part I

From the Hairy Berry Backpacker, the worst accomodation in Te Puke, 

We moved to a cozy Cabin in an orchard.

Cabin at $90 per pax & week including water & electricity. 

This is our Cozy cabin

Pros:

1) Cabin can fits up to 4 pax but we allowed to have the whole place ourselves, so its more than enough. By the way, they provide two bunk beds. 

2) Surrounded by Orchard, we can pick up any fruits like avocados, lemons, apples, oranges, kiwis, etc.

3) A gas heater provided to us that can warm up the small cabin during cold winter.

Cons:

1) Shared kitchen & bathroom. Imagined the chill during the night if you want to use the washroom.

2) Too dark and quiet. No extra lightings or lampost in the Orchard. Another log cabin house is opposite us but blocked by tall pine trees. And another cabin next to us fits in 6 pax.

3) Wireless internet connection is poor to max! Even you have broadband! because we are in the middle of Orchard!

Didn't took any interior of the Cabin, basic with bunk beds & drawers dressing table. 

We managed to grab a huge carpet for the stone cold wood flooring, electric kettle and low table from a garage sale to furnish the Cabin.

Me with pines trees behind.

Autumn.

Staying at KIWI360 Orchard.

A stroll to the Orchard.

The fruits plants.

Fruits plants along the way.

Me with Kiwi plants.

The perfect round Green Kiwis.

Shed at far end.

A Dragon maze in the Orchard.

Avocados plant.

Me with Giant kiwi bird in the Orchard.

A CASTLE IN ORCHARD?!

Outside the Cabin & Kitchen.

Sadly, we only stayed in this Cabin for a month. 

As I often visit washroom during the middle of the night, not even safe to bath alone because the door lock is only a HOOK, anyone can push the door open anytime. 

Cooking in the kitchen after work hours is quite scary actually & too cold! We even encountered weird incidents.

I remembered there's one night, I was on the phone with Mum outside the kitchen while hubby is cooking around 11pm. A creature, I don't even get a chance to see clearly what it is because its too dark in the Orchard. I only know its fury and shinning eyes staring at me. A possum perhaps? I can confirmed it's not a dog because I don't see any around. That creature, after starred at me for 5 minutes and sensed my uneasy feeling, it ran out from the bush and towards my direction!!!! MY HEART RACING & I ran as fast as lighting to the kitchen and SHUT THE DOOR! Damn.

Another incident, we back from twilight shift at work & headed to kitchen to have dinner. We saw rubbish bag is torn and the LAMB BONES lying around with rubbish. I never seen LAMB BONES can be eaten so  "clean", not even a bit of meat stuck on the bones. Quite scary indeed! We never found out what kind of creature lurking out there in the dark.

Sometimes, my hubby worked twilight shift while I don't have any job assigned. I'll be alone at Cabin, alone in the Orchard. Twice when I was taking bath alone, someone tried to push open the door too!! THANK GOD I'm still alive and unhurt!

After much complaints from me, weird incidents & winter is drawing near, the Orchard will be more chilly than usual, my hubby decided we moved out from the cabin and to another place that we call Home. 

I'm very thankful that we managed to find a place in the shortest time and call it Home. An unique experience staying in Cabin surrounded by Orchard!

Autumn in the City Part II

I've spent the first entire week in Auckland!

Since we landed New Zealand on a Good Friday,

so, four consecutive days of holidays!

We got not much to do, only caught a bus to the city

and daily walk to Botany Town Centre, a small commercial area.

Empty parking spaces on Good Friday.

The good guy! HIM! LOL!

Botany Town, like abandon little town in the movie, House of Wax on Good Friday!

The MOST CHALLENGING time for us in Auckland, is to get a CAR!

I'm not talking about renting one, BUT buy one so we can conveniently travel around for the next few months in there.

We went to a Car Market situated next to Victoria Park, near to Viaduct Harbour, a huge open space carpark & only available on weekends.

Quite a few vans, MPV and station wagon around. And I've noticed that, people in NZ don't really prefer saloon car. 

The price of an used cars depends on the conditions of the vehicles, 

strongly on Warrant of Fitness (From Wikipedia: In New Zealand, a Warrant of Fitness (WOF; colloquially a warrant) is a document certifying that a light motor vehicle has passed a compulsory periodic inspection of safety and roadworthiness.) To renew the Warrant of Fitness every three months, and usually it cost around $30-45, depends on which workshop you get it done.

Mileage & year of the car is also a huge issue. Any vehicles, travelled more than 220,000km, price will be slightly lower because of unknown factor which will cost more in maintenance.

Price can be as low as a few hundred dollars (NZD) to $ 4,000 for common used cars I said above. And, it also depends on the season. You will get a low price during low season and vice versa.

If you got no luck trying to get a car that you least expect, another alternative ways is to browse the http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars OR you can check out every supermarket like Pak' N Save, New World, Countdown. They have a big notice board near the entrance, and people tends to put up notices, like cars for sale, flatmates wanted, etc.

WE bought a MPV from a lovely European backpacker couples at the price of $2,000. 

Transfer of ownership of the motor vehicles is easy as a pie! You just have to go to the post shop (any), get a form, fill in both buyer & seller particulars, paid $9.41 incl. GST (seller only) then drop into the counter or mail box, there you go! Ownership transferred! Unlike in Malaysia, so many procedures have to follow, waste of time, human resources & papers!!!

Actually not my love at first sight of the car. But, eventually fall in love with it. Good car.

OUR BABY!!!! Mitsubishi Chariot 1995 MPV.

Despite its old in age, but baby doesn't caused us problems and bring us safe all the way down to Christchurch (our entire NZ road travels!!) I miss it damn badly, and I promised myself, if I ever get  to settle down in New Zealand, I must find & get this baby back, REGARDLESS the conditions. 

BABY AFTER $12 CAR WASH & VACUUM!

BABY is awfully dirty before. And this is after car wash! HUGS!!!!!

And our first trip in this baby is to the Eastern Beach, Auckland.

Car maintenance is reasonable for this type of MPV 
and fuel efficiency, it cost us around 1km=NZD0.15

Fuel price in New Zealand, is around $2.49 (2011). Unsure about the current price of fuel.

SUNNY & CHILLY!

GORGEOUS UNPOLLUTED BEACH! I PICKED A FEW SEASHELLS AS SOUVENIRS (:

People looked at me like "SERIOUSLY? Short pants in Chilly Autumn?!"

HUBBY & I <3

The first takeaways shop we walked in!

Our first $5 Fish & chips for lunch!

And I never fail to love the green & blue, I miss you NZ.

XoXo

Autumn in the City

Autumn often associated with Melancholy.

But, I don't think so!

This is my first experience in one of the 4 seasons countries

and I love the yellowish of trees, bushes & dried leaves.

Its the beginning of Autumn,

temperature tends to drop a lots in the night. Chilly.

You wont see & get much the Autumn feeling in Auckland.

The sky is always grey, personally, I don't like it much there.

But, if you love city life, it can accommodates you well!

Lots of entertainments, fine dinings & adrenaline rush games!

We get to see Auckland city on the 2nd day!

I totally have no idea about Auckland before I came here.

My whole New Zealand image appeared in my mind is only the Skycity.

Yeah, I know I'm silly enough.

And I totally failed in "real life" geography.

Thankfully, the whole trip & my hubby taught me lots of real-life things.

So, I wish to share here to everyone

especially to those who never know about Auckland.

The heart of the city, is a dormant volcanic fields.

The Mount Eden & One Three Hill formed by the volcanoes eruptions millions years ago.

And Hauraki Gulf islands are parts of the Auckland city.

We caught a bus from Manukau

(its actually a Maori origin, means "wading birds") to the city,

dropped off at Britomart Transport Centre.

The bus fare cost us $6.80 each, one way.

So, the whole return trip for 2 cost us $27.20.

We actually feel it's quite expensive if converts back to Ringgit Malaysia,

and its only a bus service which may takes you some times to reach

the destination because of people hop on/off the bus the whole journey.

If anyone of you, want to know more about the bus fares, you can also check it out here:

http://www.maxx.co.nz/info/pricing-passes/bus-fares.aspx

Since its Easter Saturday,

no trains service & a few bus trips throughout the day.

A few shots of the City & the Harbour.

Updated:
I love BLOGGER better now!
Big photos to share! YAY!!!



Our breakfast :  a foot long from Subway. Never tried in Malaysia although we have it there!

Some photos of the beautiful harbour on a sunny day. Really, I don't see much blue skies in Auckland.

(:




I was so slim back then, LOL! but eventually increased in weight in 6 months at New Zealand. Good pay +
good sleep + tons of funs = No worries, no stress but SIMPLE LIFE!!! How not to gain weight? (:

Surprisingly, there's an old fishing boat at the beautiful city harbour. 

Too bad I didn't have a chance to hop on them since its a backpacking trip! Maybe someday (:

(:




Arts at the harbour front. You can catch the glimpse of tall tower in Auckland, the Skytower.

Apartments at harbour front. I wish to own one of them, someday too!

Our walks to the Skytower, and we passed TV NZ (Television broadcasting in NZ)

Here we are, at iconic structure of Auckland, the Skytower. An observatory tower itself too.

Interior of the Skytower.

Casino, restaurants, bars, theatre in the Skytower. 

I'm first timer in Casino, so I didn't gamble on anything except for the slot machines. LOL!

Cosy (:

By the way, Skytower also known for the famous adreanaline rush game in New Zealand. The Skywalk & Skyjump, which I didn't tried both of them. I don't have the guts to walk 360deg 192m from ground, I prefer jump! LOL! 

Skywalk for adult is NZD145, Skyjump for adult is slightly pricey, NZD225. I think these includes video, can't really confirmed about that.

They even have combo too, Skywalk + Skyjump.

Any further information needed, maybe you can try to check their website out: http://www.skyjump.co.nz or http://www.skywalk.co.nz/. 

By the way, either Skywalk or Skyjump is one of the MUST DOs in the Kiwis travel!

If you never try anything like that, why not for once in a while adrenaline rush?

GOOD LUCK!!

I was outside the building, waiting patiently for someone to the the jump! 

And here is it! 

Cool aye!!!!