December 18, 2012, I headed down to the middle of Middle Earth. NEW ZEALAND! I could not wrap my head around the happiness and the excitement. I was ecstatic, elated.
13 hours.. Air born for 8 hours from Singapore to Melbourne, Australia; 1 hour in transit; and 4 hours on the air again to Wellington, New Zealand.
Travelling alone was scary, but it was oh so liberating! There was some sort of new found independence.
13 hours or so, and I was going to be with my family. Finally!
I was given more or less a month (by the immigration and my Boss-es) to experience the Kiwi life.
The country is beautiful and very cold. And just like Singapore, I instantly fell in love with NZ.
And the food!!! Oh the food!!! Just looking at the produce section of the local grocery stores, I thought I was in Fresh Produce heaven!
I think visiting NZ in December is just perfect. It’s summer there, so I did not get to experience really awful cold weather. Being a tropical island kind of girl, I just do not think I would be ready for that yet (perhaps, on my next visit? *cough* VISA officers *cough*)
Not sure if I did very "tourist-y" stuff there, but I got to visit a lot of places and shopped a lot. I don’t know if this works for everyone, but I made a mental sticky note, reminding myself NEVER to bring so many clothes when visiting other countries because I always end up clothes shopping anyway. And I mean major clothes shopping!
Here are some things I did and visited in and around Windy Welly and in some parts on the North Island:
*Lyall Bay -- Being an Island girl myself, I have always loved the sea. It makes me happy to see such a clean public beach which I rarely see here in the Philippines, unless you go to far ends or provinces. The beach would have been perfect if the waters were a bit warmer and the winds were not so chilly.
And oh, I really enjoyed seeing the locals walking around on barefoot on the streets. Even those in office uniforms/corporate wear. Mama said (I just had to ask because I was seriously amazed/amused) the locals took advantage whenever they get warmer weather. I, on the other hand, was wrapped up in knitted cardigan and denim jeans. Haha! I guess it was still too cold for the tropical island girl.
*Oriental Bay – if I remember it right, Oriental Bay is nearer the city central. More people go there to swim/surf, relax (I’m guessing after office hours), eat some ice cream, some go there to jog/roller blade/bike while the others go there to fish. We went fishing there a couple of times and wasted so many hooks and sinkers because apparently, it was rocky.
*Mount Victoria Summit – is like our TOPs in Cebu. It’s where you can get a 360 degree view of Wellington. Fresh mountain air! Yes! It also houses several cultural stuff like tikis, cannons, etc.
*Penrays/Otaki – I am addicted to strawberries and this entire trip/vacation/holiday would not have been complete if I did not have this strawberry picking experience. I would have loved/enjoyed picking ‘em other berries, too. But I’m not sure if there were Blueberries and Raspberries at Penray’s at that time. And there weren’t any apples nor peaches when we visited. Anyway, I was completely satisfied picking strawberries and getting some bites on the side! Oh yes, straight from the shrubs! Then we went on to Otaki, where once again I got some souvenir items and shopped for more clothes (Thanks, Papa for those lovely dresses).
*Weta Cave – this place!! Oh my gosh, the nerd in me rejoiced when we decided to visit Weta Cave! It’s a small workshop. I was told that’s where they created Gollum and the Hobbit costumes. Several other characters were also created there, like KingKong, Avatar, etc. It’s really fun to see. There were also lifesize replicas of the Orc King and Gandalf when he was still Grey. It also housed miniatures of the Elven Houses. I was supposed to buy a replica of the ‘One Ring’, but ()^&%^& it was very expensive. Hey Makers, be more considerate to tourists with a really small budget, will ya??!
*Boxing Day (Wellington Central, Lower Hutt, Porirua) – To shop or not to shop, is definitely not a question on Boxing Day! Duh! Shop ‘til you drop should be THE motto on Boxing day! Oh, I was in heaven! Sales everywhere! My favorites would have to be JayJays, Just Jeans and CottonOn (Yes, I am a CottonOn Junkie)! It’s crazy!
*Evans Bay – on lazy days and when my homies (mainly consisting of my Mama, Papa, brother, and a handful of family friends) just wanted to relax, we came here to fish. On Christmas day, I would have loved to just jump into the bay and enjoy the cold water, but I was not brave enough. Haha! I am not sure if this is where I caught my first fish.
*Taupo – have you seen the giant Taupo Lake? Man, I’ve never seen a lake that huge, humongous even! I would have loved to stop and camp there for a day or two. I was kinda curious what it’d be like in an RV and just camp out by the lake with all those other locals—grill some chicken and make some smores by the camp fire.
*Rotorua – skyline, moon’s craters, waterfalls – I had a bad first impression of Rotorua because of the sulfuric smell. It pretty much made my head spin but the weekends there (and pretty much in all the places I’ve visited in NZ) were very laidback, something I always thought I wanted and needed. Other than the smell, everything else was perfect—the scenic spots, tourist destinations, the food strips (offers a variety of food from pretty much all corners of the world).
*Hamilton – Hobbiton! It was something I had been pining on since the day I applied for a Visa. I just almost crapped in my pants when I learned it was expensive and all we got was a ginger beer. Ha! Who am I kidding? I loved the ginger beer, I had 4 or 5 glasses and peed a gallon. I just wished they gave me a miniature of the Gollum or Bilbo or Frodo or even freakin’ Sam or (and I’m really pushing my luck here) a replica of the one ring. But enough of the bitterness, I thought the place was beautiful and an endless sea of green and grass and mountain and sheep and black angus beef.. The little hobbit houses looked exactly like those in the movie/s. It would have been better if we were able to go inside those little houses and see the interior, but we were told that what went on inside were actually filmed in Welly or some other place.
Just being able to travel was special enough for me. Being with my family on Christmas and NYE, just us, was—gosh, I don’t even know how to describe it. It was perhaps my personal brand of happy. And doing all those stuff I did in New Zealand was like a bonus, some special dessert.
The part I hated most was leaving. Sometimes, all a girl really wants is to be with people she loves and loves her back. But I couldn’t ask for more, those weeks together were more than what I bargained for.
Thank you to all those people who made my holiday possible.
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