Kia Ora, Aoteaora - A Pacific Discovery

Disclaimer : Submitted this as an entry for a contest but it didn't land itself into the winning podium. Gutted of course, but never the less, it's up for share in public (with a little tweak to the entry). Enjoy.

An unexpected journey to say the least,

Traveling to the land of kiwi, off my bucket list,

With the land of majestic, natural, reserved beauty,

It brought tears in eyes, how little we actually see.

I recalled us taking the much needed time out,

From our hectic, bustling life, enough to constantly make us shout,

Our passports are ready, the bags are packed,

We said go travel, together, that was our pact.

Charting a 6 hours flight from Kuala Lumpur, our home,

We embraced the excitement, like a traveling gnome.

Landing to New Zealand, Christchurch to be precise,

First impression? It was a trip that was worth us being enticed.

A road trip was what we opted for ultimately,

A four wheel drive, GPS, and us in the journey.

The drive was surreal, polar opposite to the city roads,

Along the way, scenic landscapes we would gladly stay and make an abode.

The crystal clear lakes mirrors the mountain standing tall with pride,

The beauty it offers, South Island has nothing to hide.

From Lake Tekapo, the quiet attraction oh so impossible not to endear,

I immersed myself to the tranquility of the nature here.

Though short, but definitely sweet, we continued our adventure,

Knowing what lies ahead, is mesmerizing for sure.

Queenstown, we arrived, with immeasurable excitement,

Smiles on our faces are clearly not absent,

The breathtaking resort town of pure relaxation,

And extreme adventure for adrenaline pumping entertainment.

This is where, I took my maiden bungy plunge,

Conquering my fears, the jump was accomplished with a punch,

We also experienced a rustic winery along a fine vineyard,

A wine lover myself, cherished this moment locked in my heart.

The Milford Sound, reminded us how little we are,

To this world heritage, a majestic fjord and a nature wonder,

Seeing how untouched beauties like this, is actually isn’t really that far,

Inspired us to travel more, enlighten us to what the world has to offer,

What is traveling, without experiencing one’s different culture,

The Haka of Maori heritage was what we needed as a cultural understanding overture,

The war outcry, the dance, the patterns of the tattoos,

Enriched our experience, while temporary being one of them too.

A travel to us, is incomplete without having to savor their local food,

From local fruits, famous burgers and ice cream that are oh so good.

The crisp weather of autumn we enjoyed, of walking and sightseeing,

Had us hooked and don’t really feel like leaving.

The road journey from Queenstown back to the Christchurch airport,

Left me in tears really, and some unflattering snort.

Along the journey, we took the moment to stop around,

Immortalizing the moments, in pictures, to keep safe and sound,

The country views along is what I would never forget,

I would gladly move here when I retire, I said,

But after all is said and done, and experienced too

Home is where my heart is, where we were headed to.

The trip we had, opened my eyes to allow myself to reach emancipation,

To have a view on what the world has to give, in its glory and jubilation.

My Pacific Discovery, is what I truly meant,

An unexpected journey, but I would think it is God sent,

This is what inspires me, and keeps me on the move,

I would like to think, I am on a traveling groove.

“Keep Calm and Go Travel”. Take my advice,

For the life changing experience, that to me, is truly unpriced.

Lake Tekapo, New Zealand, April 2012

More on my NZ South Island posts, click here to read em. :)

Tips and Tricks - AJ Hackett Kawarau Bridge Bungy Jump

The Kawarau Bridge Bungy (or bungee) is THE pioneering site for bungy jumping. Founded in 1988 by Bungy pioneers AJ Hackett and Henry van Asch, they launched both themselves and an international phenomenon, marking one of the many adrenaline rush activities to do in Queenstown, Otago.

Few things you'll need to know before you make the eventual jump:

1. You must be minimum 10 years of age (Children 14 and under need to be accompanied by an adult) Max 110 years (Immortals are strictly forbidden for the jump)
2. Weighing range of 35kg to 235kg.
3. For tandem jumps: Total weight difference must NOT be more than 30kgs.
4. There's no clothing requirements, in fact as suggested by the Bungy NZ page, completely naked is quite a popular option. (I *might* try this *one day* but no documentation will be recorded *koff*)
5. Medical Considerations and safety (Click to find out what are they). PS: AJ Hackett is 100% confident of their safety measures but ultimately it is up to you to adhere to any rules available to ensure that safe jump.

My trip last year to New Zealand consisted of the bungy jump at the Kawarau Bridge. My travel buddies and I chose this location because it's not too far away from Queenstown central, and we were itching for at least one extreme activity. Located on SH6 in the Gibbson Valley just 20 minutes from Queenstown and 30min from Cromwell. From where we stayed, it took us approximately 30 minutes to reach to the bridge itself. Give yourself an hour prior to your scheduled jump for traveling there. Self drive is a very popular choice in the South Island.

The price may not be cheap, but I didn't necessary put a price on that awesome experience I had! It costed us NZ $180 (Around RM454) for the jump and another NZ $80 (RM202)  for the souvenir photo and video (NZ $45 for either one of them). You may bring your own camera to record your own jump, but of course if you're jumping with it, it's at your risk :)

We're jumping from WHERE?

My personal preference is booking any necessary activities and/or proceed with the payment in advance. That is, a little sense of security to actually do the activity given the schedule that you have.The day itself, we chose the earliest slot! That is, at around 9am (GMT +1300). We registered ourselves accordingly and they took our pre registration slip and weighed us. 

Registration and waiting area

After which, we were brought to the bridge where we were given numbers to jump. This is where most of us will freak out, unless you've balls of steel.

Just below the 235 kg weight quota :D

As for me, I did not 100% freak out per se.... until they started strapping my legs with the harness. That was when I started to think, CRAP, what on heaven heck have I gotten myself into. Oh, and they did give us an option whether to dip (heads down) into the river or just dry jumping :) After a split second of camwhoring (for that picture perfect moment before jumping), I finally jumped.

No motivational push whatsoever, I just followed my instinct and impulsively leaped the bridge.

Jumping is freestyle, but bear in mind the asserted force from the harness pull may injure you, so just feel natural and not to freak out too much.

Of course, to mitigate the fear, they say don't look down. But where's the fun of that. Go YOLO mode and just jump AND look down. Scream, pray, curse, scream-pray-curse when you're halfway floating in the air as much as you want!

The feeling of the jump? Well, you MUST experience this yourself. As for me, once I leaped off the bridge, I felt a sense of liberation (I always wanted to feel what jumpers feel without dying in the end). Of course, within seconds the freedom feeling quickly translated to WTF when there's no pause button or brake to the jump.

Faith! The rope did suspend the fall and I was back heads up momentarily before being spun around in the air. 

Saved by the rafters

The rafters then approached the inverted yours truly and took me down. Of course, looking back up to the bridge platform from the raft, dayyum, I wish I could do it again! That's just my first bungy experience. Aside from bungy, you could try their Swings and Climbs activities in Nevis and Auckland. Call me crazy, but I might, just might, try the jump in Macau by AJ Hackett after this. Who knows? :)

Proof of Jumping :D Picture courtesy of Lemuel Ong

Just in case you're curious to what they actually recorded, help yourself with the video taken by them:

Part 4 : Kia Pai Te Haere New Zealand

15^th of April 2012, time seems to pass very fast when you’re having a good time, and it’s true, 3 days in Queenstown is definitely NOT enough. There’s so much to do here, extreme activities and otherwise but it was time to bid farewell to Queenstown – FOR NOW. Anyhow, after checking out of Copthorne, we headed to our next destination, Wanaka.

Copthorne in the morning

Wanaka is yet another resort town located an hour away from Queenstown. The main reason why we wanted to come here was the StuartLandsborough Puzzling World. 

Puzzling World!

Kinda looked like a scene from Prof X's school

You psychic? Then stand a chance to win $100,000

The Puzzling World was impressive, their displays ranged from optical illusions to hologram halls. My favorite highlight was the Tilted House, whereby the room is tilted 15 degrees but our eyes perceived it as normal. Such a wank, we lost our balance quite often in that room. 

 

The Ames room

Posing at the tilt room

 

F*ck logic!

After that we attempted to play a giant maze there. Thinking that my sense of direction and IQ is not that bad, challenge accepted on my end. Unfortunately though, challenged failed. But it was a great attempt though. And great sweat out that day.

We took the difficult challenge. And flunked

 

We then set our journey back, all the way to Ashburton. We back trailed our journey taken to Queenstown, and made a quick stop at Omaroma on the way. And also, earlier on we did not manage to see Mt.Cook via Lake Pukaki. Well we did that day, as it was sunny. And my goodness it was a splendid view.

 

 

 

Mt.Cook View from Lake Pukaki

It was a pretty daunting journey, but we eventually reached Ashburton, the land said to be Edoras, filmed for the famed Lord of the Rings. We checked in Ashburton Hotel pretty late, around 7-ish. We were quite pleased with the rooms provided, it looks like a master bed room linked with a guest room/kitchen linked with another single bed room. But best of all, they provided 1GB internet usage for all guests. I mean, what are we going to do with 1GB for one night?

 

 

Seeing the Light

The Long and Lonely Road

We went to the nearest convenience stall (Countdown) to purchase some snacks for the night. I also bought myself McD dinner, chicken burger, grilled not fried with bacon. That’s right, bacon.

We were pretty beat up for the night, so we slept it through.

 

Dinner :)

The following morning, we got up, and it was day 6 already. Wahhhhh, we were certainly not ready to leave just yet!!!

Breakfast of Shortbreads and Feijoa juice (tasted somewhat like sour sop)

Ashburton Hotel

  But we had to. So we set our journey, yet again. Next destination, Akaroa!

 

 

Akaroa is French influenced harbor town located around an hour away from Christchurch. Aside from the beach and sail boats, the attractions here include The Giant House (which was closed when we were there) and Akaroa Fish and Chips (which was burned down). Really bad luck we’d say?

 

Had fish & chips at the local deli anyway, and blended in with the town. Well, at least for that hour before heading to Christchurch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arriving Christchurch, my fellow friends wasted no time and searched for shopping places. Somehow they landed in Dress Smart, Hornsby and shopped shopped shopped! From Canterbury Clearance to Cotton On, they sure were impressed by the brands and prices there. Oh while they're shopping for clothes, I was looking for sheep placenta cream. Apparently not many retailed outlets are aware of what product that is, and only those souvenir stalls has (and know what is) them. Strange, and I thought that was one of their well know products.

 

We did not manage to see Christchurch entirely because
1) It was almost sunset
2) Most of the roads were closed due to the earthquake that hit in 2011.

Back to the airport

None the less, we took our entire NZ trip into consideration, I must say we had a smashing time over there. The scenic views were to die for, and I can see why people would want to live here, it's relatively stress free compared to KL. That being said, there's no place like home, and our last stop was the Christchurch Airport. We arrived early, ample time to clear immigration and repack our bags (weight distribution).

 

Sad to leave on the jet plane !

All in all, I truly would like to thank Air Asia X again for providing us this opportunity, & both Lemuel & Fatin for being an awesome trio traveling mates. Go #wonderwanderers :)

 

Memories brought home :)

I have no idea where I might end up next, but I do hope it would be a good one. Crosses fingers :)