Day 4: Sydney, Australia - Queenstown, New Zealand

DAY 4: 16.03.2016

(SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND)

“We must take adventures in order to know where we truly belong.” – Anonymous

We woke up early as we had a morning flight to Queenstown, NZ. Dah siap deal dengan Mohamad, our taxi driver from Sydney Airport tempoh hari (c/f: my entry on Day 2). Our flight to Queenstown, NZ via Jetstar was scheduled at 9.40am, so Mohamad suggested to fetch us at 7.00am sebab perjalanan ke airport around half an hour and kalau jem ke apa better sampai awal. Check in counter for international flights Jetstar closed 45 minutes before departure time dan ini berbeza dengan domestic flight yang kami naik last September from Auckland – Christchurch yang check in counter closed 30 minutes before departure time. Since kami dah deal awal, kalini Mohamad charged us AUD100 only.

Mohamad had informed us that his friend yang akan fetch us using the same taxi sebab dia on off day that day and kawan dia nama Subash datang quite early at 6.45am. Memandangkan kami dah siap sedia masa tu, kami terus je check out from Holiday Inn Old Sydney hotel, angkut beg segala ke taxi dan teruskan perjalanan ke airport. Pagi tu hujan renyai-renyai. Kami doa semoga cuaca di NZ elok dan tidak hujan supaya boleh nikmati pemandangan indah nanti. Kami breakfast makan roti je on the go haritu dan disebabkan hujan, maka kenderaan agak packed that morning on the road. Syukur juga kami bertolak awal.

Sampai di airport, kami ambil trolley which cost us AUD4 untuk 1 trolley dan ada mesin untuk bayar dan ambil trolley. Ingat ya kena bayar for trolley. Kami ambil 3 trolley sebab beg agak banyak and consider for 9 people kan.

Kami terus proceed ke counter Jetstar (boleh tengok info for counter number kat papan information sebelum bergerak cari counter for check in). So bila dah jumpa counter for check in, kami pun beratur sebab ada 3 counters tapi semua full. Tiba-tiba ada seorang staff Jetstar ni yang agak berusia datang approach kami dan tanya pasal check in dan tanya condition my FIL, so dia terus minta proceed ke kaunter di mana dia sendiri yang handle to check us in. Bagus sangat kadar perihatin masyarakat di Sydney ini. Rezeki kami lah pagi tu dapat priority check in dan dengan staff pangkat lagi tinggi (berdasarkan pemerhatian kami sebab another staffs yang bertugas di 3 kaunter lain memakai pakaian lain sikit dari staff yang handle kami serta semua staff lain yang menyapa dia adalah more polite than usual). After dah check in (ambil masa sedikit sebab system diorang kena tukar surname dalam passport kami), kami diberitahu untuk terus ke boarding hall dan isi Departure Cards (sebab international flights).

Gambar blur tapi nak tunjuk that Jetstar staff (counter tengah) yang very helpful to us dan bagi kami priority check in :D

Dah siap isi semua, kami masuk boarding hall, kena screening di mana semua liquid termasuk ubat, dispenser susu dan air dalam Thermos kena keluarkan dan letak dalam bakul. Meaning, semua ini tak boleh berada dalam beg masa screening process. Dah siap, kami terus menuju ke pintu pelepasan.

Flight kami dari Sydney ke Queenstown, NZ mengambil masa selama 2 jam 55 minit dan kami tak tempah apa-apa makanan on board sebab dah plan nanti sampai terus makan. Kami diberikan Arrival Card untuk diisi.

Average weather in Queenstown, NZ - March, 2016

We safely landed in Queenstown Airport at 2.35pm waktu tempatan (Queenstown). Turun je flight, dah sejuk nyaman sebab cuaca dalam 14°C. Masa jejak semula kaki kat NZ tu kan, I couldn’t tell my exact feeling masa tu. Semua ada. Rasa syukur sangat boleh kembali semula ke sini with all my beloved family members especially with my parents and my PIL. Syukur sangat diberi peluang boleh bawa diorang tengok sendiri keindahan alam di bumi NZ ciptaan Yang Esa. When we were in NZ last September, we prayed that one day we could bring both of our parents here with us (sebab rasa terkilan sangat tak bawa masa bulan September tu, tapi ada hikmah juga at least kami boleh survey tempat dulu and we feel that motorhome is not suitable for them). Banyakkan berdoa ketika musafir, the least that you can do while exploring the world milik Allah. It reminds you how small you are dengan apa yang Allah ciptakan. Allahuakbar.

Syukurnya dapat kembali ke NZ with my beloveds big family :D

Queenstown, New Zealand Airport.

Sebelum kita keluar ke Arrival terminal, kita akan kena melepasi immigration and custom check. Again, we were lead to the priority lane untuk express immigration check and custom check. Masa kat custom, when we were lining up, the custom officer upon checking our Arrival Cards bertanya tentang prohibited items or fruits with us. Bila terdengar fruits, my abah (yang beratur belakang sekali dalam group kami) terus teringat ada pisang dalam hand carry dia yang supposed to be eaten at Sydney Airport sebelum ke boarding hall konon-konon nak makan sementara tunggu nak berlepas. Terus abah berlari ambil pisang dari dalam hand carry beg dan cari tong sampah untuk buang. Panik juga kami sebab kalaulah ditakdirkan tak ingat pasal pisang nan satu itu (yes, sebijik je pun), free je kami kena bayar fine of NZD400 that day. Alhamdulillah, semua selamat! That officer siap cakap to us “Oh, he should just give it to me (instead of throwing it away).” Manalah tahu kan, dah gelabah sekejap. Tehehee. Next, kena screening all luggage dan tunjukkan Arrival Cards. Tips: make sure declare everything.

Ini part ada drama jugak. Kami ada a few luggage and memang purposely pack 1 beg yang only for foods. Kiranya beg lain adalah beg pakaian masing-masing and other stuffs. So bila part screening luggage ni, tiba part beg yang ada food tu, kena tahan untuk further check up (it is their policy untuk check semua barangan yang berunsur makanan). So bila semua beg lain dah lepas, we asked our parents, my brother and kids to go straight to the arrival terminal and husband and I will go for the further check up purposes.

So beg makanan kami kena buka. When the assigned staff came and met us, the very first question he asked, “Oh, I need the chef here.” Haha, buat lawak pulak. Orang dahlah tengah berzikir supaya semua dipermudahkan dan semoga kami dilepaskan dengan semua makanan (read: tak ada yang kena buang, hold or kena denda, gulp!). So we went through a brief and friendly interview, staff tu ada belek-belek sikit makanan and kami dilepaskan. Alhamdulillah, semua selamat. Actually NZ memang strict bab bawa makanan even yang dah commercially packed. Basically hampir semua passenger kena buka beg untuk further screening kalau bawa food. Tapi we were lucky masa last time di Auckland and Christchurch, both tak kena buka beg, just went through a friendly interview je dengan customs.

When my husband and I went out to the Arrival Terminal and jumpa family, semua ucap syukur sebab diorang pun actually sangat cuak bila kami kena tinggal dengan beg makanan tersebut dan semua doa banyak-banyak supaya kami semua smooth sailing. Hehe. Drama lah kan, tapi akan jadi memory for us nanti.

Thrifty Counter at Queenstown Airport - International Arrival.

Siap dengan file merah acik bawa. Kihkih :P

So next, since we already booked transportation via online and paid 10% for deposit booking and full insurance cover (tips: adalah lebih baik ambil pakej full insurance cover for peaceful of mind) and the pickup would be at the airport itself, we went to search for our car rental counter. Memang sengaja pilih yang pick up kat airport (rather than have to wait for shuttle to pick us and go to the outside airport terminal for rental transportation) memandangkan kami dengan beg banyak (it would be quite hassle kalau nak loading and unloading kalau ada shuttle), group ramai dan ada anak-anak kecil serta warga emas with us, so it is more convenient untuk terus ambil kat airport. Keluar je dari custom clearance tu, jalan sikit dan dah boleh nampak Thrifty Counter sebelah kiri. Kami terus settle bayar baki booking, pilih car seat (sebab actually masa booking dalam website, hanya ada option for booster seat, which was too big for our children, so kat kaunter boleh tukar ambil car seat), signed a few rental documents, ambil GPS and we were good to go. 

Thrifty Counter - settled up balance of payment, signed rental agreements, picked up car seat and GPS.

Sebelum ke area Rental Car di kawasan airport tersebut (kena jalan about less than 10 minutes), kami pergi beli simkad Vodafone di counter sebab basically tak boleh guna yang Australia punya sebab different region. So after that baru kami ke area Rental Car untuk cari our transport according to the registration/plat number. Kami sewa Toyota Hi-Ace Automatic 12-seater yang dikenali sebagai ‘minibus’ kat NZ. Bila sampai area Rental Car tu, kita kena mencari kereta yang telah parking siap-siap according to the rental company. Macam kami, perlu cari di area ‘Thrifty’ dan cari plat number kereta. Lepas dah loading semua luggage and set GPS, destination pertama kami adalah pergi makan di Queenstown town area.

Memandangkan perbezaan waktu antara Sydney, Australia dengan Queenstown, New Zealand about 2 hours, walaupun kami baru nak lunch di Queenstown, waktu tu dah dekat pukul 5.00pm dah di Queenstown. Yelah, walaupun kami tiba dari Sydney jam 2.35pm kan ada banyak drama dan check point kami sebelum boleh naik minibus/car rental untuk ke town area tadi. Hehe. Jarak dari Queenstown airport to town area adalah less than 20 minutes. Again, tak boleh nak explain how I feel masa perjalanan ke town area tu, rasa overwhelmed sangat. All the familiar places and roads, cuma bezanya dulu naik Motorhome and only with my husband and kids, now naik minibus disertai dengan both sides of parents and my younger brother. Alhamdulillah, syukur dapat kembali lagi ke sini.

We went to O’Connell’s Mall Food Court and makan di Turkish Kebabs (Halal) and parking tak jauh dari The Mall dengan charge bayaran parking bermeter NZD2 for one hour (until 6pm kena bayar). Lepas dah kenyang, plan asal kami adalah singgah terus di DF Souvenirs yang tak jauh dari situ untuk shopping souvenirs, tapi memandangkan dah nak dekat pukul 6pm dan kami belum solat, maka semua setuju untuk terus ke homestay kami dulu dan skip shopping souvenirs.

Queenstown Mall

Kami booking homestay kami melalui Airbnb dan terjumpa rumah area Lake Wakatipu, which could accommodate 10 people with 4 bedrooms and 2 toilets and known as “Wakatipu House”. Jarak dari town area to Wakatipu House dalam 15 minutes drive. Along the way, kami menyusuri Lake Wakatipu dan sempat bergambar sekejap tepi jalan untuk kenangan. Masa tu sejuk menggigil di New Zealand berbanding di Sydney yang cuaca panas although it was already autumn.

Maybe I should make a special entry on Wakatipu House (yes, I owe an entry on motorhome itself too, sigh).

Area Lake Wakatipu to our rented house, Wakatipu House.

Sampai je Wakatipu House, kami agak cuak sebab parking kat depan rumah tu macam kena melalui jalan ke bawah yang agak curam and we were never be warned about this entrance condition of the road by the owner. Huwaaa, nak nangis pun ada sebab berdebar sangat nak turun tu dengan minibus. Tapi kalau parking kat atas tu (since it was our first time), kami risau pulak nak turun dan fikir abah (FIL) dengan wheelchair lagi. Tapi my husband cool je drive sampai depan rumah. Alhamdulillah, semua selamat dan kami masuk rumah tu dengan kekaguman sebab ya Allah subhanallah sungguh cantik sekali pemandangan dari balcony, keadaan rumah yang sungguh besar, bersih dan cantik sangat. Allahuakbar. Alhamdulillah rezeki kami dipertemukan dengan rumah ini menerusi medium Airbnb (it was our first time too using Airbnb).  

Balcony area at Wakatipu House - sooooo breathtaking :D 

Our bedroom :D

So lepas semua dah solat, kami tinjau-tinjau sekeliling rumah dan memandangkan cuaca dah agak gelap, tak banyak bergambar petang tu. Kami masak nasi dan makan lauk instant je malam tu.

Lepas Maghrib, kami keluar ke balcony dan rezeki kami Alhamdulillah boleh nampak Milky Way right above of our balcony. Cantik tak terperi, subhanallah. Cantiknya kejadian Allah SWT yang menjadikan seluruh alam. Tapi sayangnya tak ada gambar sebab kamera tak canggih dan keadaan yang gelap menjadikan gambar tak nampak as what we had witnessed by our own eyes. Yes, we did several attempts to take pictures, but tak ada rezeki secara bergambar.

At about 8.45pm, kami bercadang nak ke Countdown sebab nak shopping for groceries untuk memasak. So mama and abah (my PIL) decided not to follow, jadi yang lain bersiap dan dalam kesejukan malam, kami naik minibus and try to drive up to the exit road (curam, remember? Huhu). Tapi setelah cuba a few times nak naik jalan ke exit road atas, kami tak berjaya. Saya dah cuak sangat-sangat-sangat sebab macam mana nak driving up tu kalau Hazri yang paling professional driver among us pun tak berjaya (huwaaaa!) macam manalah calon lain nak tolong drive? Memang nak menangis dah rasa. Macam-macam terfikir dalam kepala sampai tahap nak call assistance, tow truck, crane dan sebagainya. At last, kami memang cancelled plan to Countdown while my abah, my brother and Hazri try lagi to drive up. Sampai bau hangit kesan tayar semua. Next, kita semua bersetuju nak tunggu hari cerah sikit to try again or calling for assistance.

Tapi Hazri tak boleh duduk diam sebab dia kata we already booked an early slot for skydiving (yes, our third attempts after the previous two attempts were failed due to the weather condition last September. You may read my entries here and here on our attempts for Skydiving last September), so kalau tak buat malam ni, memang we have to cancel the skydiving slot tomorrow (and had to pay in full with Nzone Skydiving sebab dah buat online booking! Sobs). So abah, my brother and Hazri went out to try again, guna lower gear, siap dengan lampu suluh (using handphones) and alhamdulillah berjaya! Masa ni syukur sangat Alhamdulillah eventhough kami para ibu pada mulanya tak setuju untuk teruskan mencuba dimalam hari sebab keadaan sangat gelap. Phewww. Baru boleh tidur lena malam tu.

All in all, after what we have been through here, I totally agreed with this quote:

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart, but that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind”. – Anthony Bourdain.