Not all those who wander are lost ♥: Taupo

Showing posts with label Taupo. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

My travel mates

My point of view: Friends is totally different from travel mates.

Friendship formed is usually from common background (school or work) & interests.
But I have to say, not every friends, have the same travel interests, opinions, funds to travel.

I never travel together with my friends before. Yes, its true.
And my first travel companion (other than my family) is my hubby to Taiwan.
The pros of travelling with him, I don't have to worry about anything as I know he take care all of them.
The cons of travelling with him, he always have his points of view but of course he always give in to mine :)

How I met my travel mates?

2011

Hubby & I travelled to New Zealand together in 2011.
Along the way, we met different travellers from all around the world
but we never have chance to travel with them.

Then, fate brought us to this group of friends from the same Kiwi packhouse.
Since all of us on working holiday & tight travel fund, we share cost of travel.

We don't mind dorm sharing with other travellers. We don't mind shared bathroom too. We walk instead of taking taxis in the cities. We don't mind go on a public transport (Bus) with the locals on a roadtrips. We always have fun time going on our own & more interaction with the locals instead of tour companies. We love backpack!!

Our first trip together, carpool to Rotorua on one weekend (Smells like rotten eggs everywhere!)
We had luge ride & went for mud bath :)

6 of us. From the left: Hubby, me, Kaka, XueYing, JJ, Ashley during end of Autumn

And we also went fishing on off days!

At Tauranga jetty

We also went 15,000ft skydive, bungee & snow experience at Taupo.

Us in Skydive suits. The far right is Maki from Japan. Hubby not a fan of adrenaline rush in his veins. Haha.

Before bungee jump :)

Hubby, me & Ashley, JJ @ Taupo. With Tongariro mountain far behind us.

Snow experience on Winter

2012

Some of them still trying to catch up with happening life in Malaysia but We girls decided to go on another backpacking trip.

Cambodia

Yoga pose at Angkor Wat

We girls at Smiling Buddha & bought the same pants at Cambodia for that day!

2013

The backpacking spirit never left us. So here we go, another backpacking holiday. This time, JJ joined us. And XueYing better half, Bobby joined us too.

Vietnam

We walked 3km in the rain to see this Dalat Old Railway station. Strike a pose in raincoats!

Being silly is good!

Us in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, Saigon

We always got each others back ;)

2011: Rotorua Skyline, New Zealand
2012: Bayon, Angkor Wat, Cambodia
2013: Dalat, Vietnam
2014: To be continued.... :)

Its almost a week since our Vietnam trip, I still haven't fully recover myself from the holiday moods. Am looking forward to our next backpacking trip. Its going to be a long 2 weeks trip with lots of trekking. Some say, they are going to get married, and as for me, I wish to have my own kids. So, we'll see from here. :)

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Winter'11 - Long overdue post!

Every now and then, friends around me, always says, "Its feel like Winter today..." especially it rains almost everyday since it monsoon season here in tropical Malaysia.

Of course, the magic word "WINTER" will triggered my brain again. Am missing the New Zealand hell lots! Seriously, I have nothing better to blog about except for that this beautiful place which I mentioned again and again in my blog! Just bear with me :)

It's my first winter experience.

Always link it to snow. So I love it so much at first.
But, I began to dislike the freezing temperatures of 3 months (because it located at Southern Hemisphere, the temperature drop as you travel down)

I hate layers of clothings, from thermal wear, to singlet/tee, to long sleeves shirt, a fleece jacket, a hoodie or even winter jacket. I've actually have 6 layers of them on when I went for ski!

I hate to take showers. Once a day is more than enough. And your skin will be dry and cracked if showers too much! And thanks to the Genius who created lamp heater, towel heater and everything that is essential for bathroom during winter! And I always have the all heaters on before I hop in for hot shower :)

I hate to have icy cold bed. I swear it's totally like a huge block of ice. I don't know how many people can survive through sleeping without any heater or electric blanket on. Until today, I wish I have electric blanket with me so I can have the air conditioner running in full swing mode with full speed to feel winter. Silly me, I know.

I hate to scrapped off the frost on the car front screen. And we will be late for work.

I hate to be in outdoor. Spending most of our time eating junk food, surfing the net and even go the mall. The beaches is so near but you won't like it either. The sand is stone cold & the water is freezing. The sunshine don't make me feel better too when southerlies came by.

Despite all the "hates" above, I couldn't agreed more, I still love winter!
Fishing during winter, skydiving at Lake Taupo, Bungy jumping at Waikato River, Skiing at Whakapapa, Mt Ruapehu, an active volcano! And the list goes on :)))

And here's our Winter fishing :)