Travelogue 13: Kia Ora! New Zealand, The Heaven on Earth Part 1

I'm off from office for 14 days after 1 year and a half saving money for this trip. Actually my little brother works in Christchurch and he had his commencement in December 2017. Thus other than enjoying New Zealand scenery, we went there to celebrate his graduation..

Choosing Malaysian Airline via Sydney enroute to Christchurch. We purposely choose transit in Sydney as we would like to take the opportunity to capture a memory with Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Other options were via Brisbane and Melbourne.

Arrived in Sydney in the afternoon, we rent an MPV and straight away hit the road. It was damn hot in Aussie, hot and dry. Worth to highlight, we parked at the Opera House with a total parking fee of AUD39 for 3 hours. The basement parking is unique per se as you will not notice how many level you already under the ground. It's like a roundabout swirling until bottom. We did some photoshoot in front of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the  Sydney Opera House is an iconic image of Sydney, and Australia itself.

Typical lunch in the land down under, of course the famous fish and chips with cold water.

Our next flight is at 6pm. Checked in at Sydney airport and getting ready for our New Zealand Trip!!

Owh my little Hafiey bleed his nose in front of the Opera House. Perhaps it's a sign of coming back to Sydney again for Hafiey :)

Day 1: Road trip to The Catlins

Arrived at 1am in Christchurh, we picked up Adik at his house and straight away departed to our first destination, Moeraki Boulders. 4 hours foggy journey with possibly no car at all on the road was quite scary. The plan was to have picnic by the beach while enjoying sunrise at 5am. We were so unfortunate that morning at Moeraki Boulder was very gloomy, the greyish sky covered the sun. What left for us was the 56 million years old spherical natural concrete created by hardening sea sediment that have been exposed through sea erosion and a dead seal by the sea. 

We had Adik's home cooked Nasi Goreng there before hitting the road again. Next, heading to Dunedin.

Visited the Dunedin Railway Station being the second most photographed building in the southern hemisphere after Sydney Opera House. So we covered both! The station itself is built from white limestone and Aberdeen granite and from the outside it looks pristine, which belies it's 100 year history. In front of the station, just few steps away is the Dunedin Cadbury Factory. We joined the tour visit and it's worth of every single cent! The tour guide by the name of Lucas was superb, lively and jovial. The guide whisked us off to some of their special rooms for mixing and making chocolates. Get some samples along the way and even we were allowed to mix and match the chocolate i.e. milk/dark/white chocolate match with nuts, pretzels, oreo, biscuits etc. Super delicious I would tell. We learned a lot about the processes, smells of chocolate was damn good and it's everywhere in the factory. The pinnacle of the tour was the amazing chocolate vat and tower and seeing 1 tonne of chocolate fell from the silo was impressive. Some of us had chocolate splash on the shirt. We were like in the movie of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

Next destination, the steepest road in the world - Baldwin Street. But prior to that, our red van (forgot to tell that our van was red and we were like riding on a fire truck) had some problem with the brake pad. So we need to fix the car first as we have another 12 days in the South Island. Safety first!

Got our horse fixed, we had fun at Baldwin Street with Adik as a driver drove up and down the streets for 4 times, crazy Harith run up and down the street for 4 times as well, me and abah walked down the street while taking videos and pictures. 

Baldwin Street ranks among the world's steepest roads with a grade of 35 percent. The 0.2-mile long road in Dunedin, New Zealand rises from 0.02 miles to 0.6 miles above the sea. The street is so steep that the surface was made of concrete, as tar would melt down the street on a warm day if asphalt were used. Baldwin Street is part of Dunedin’s annual Cadbury Chocolate Carnival. During the tour at the Cadbury Chocolate Factory, the tour guide mentioned that they will release a chocolate ball named Jaffas and let it roll freely while everybody down the road will collect Jaffas. It's like a chocolate festive held every July at Baldwin Street.

The Tunnel Beach

Next, we visited the Tunnel Beach. Hubby and the kids were the guardian of our red van (they were actually sleeping and the kids were sleeping since we left the chocolate factory). Tunnel Beach is a must do in Dunedin provided that you are fit and healthy.  The walk back is extremely steep! Wouldn’t recommend taking kids as you will end up carrying on the shoulder while adult will be having difficulties to climb up as well..The view of the rock formation reminds me of Twelve Apostle at the Great Ocean Road in Australia.

Waikava Habour View

Mr hubby was done with his power nap for 2 hours, he took the steering until we arrived at our Vacation Home at The Catlins. Waikawa Harbour View until now, it is still the best vacation home we ever live in.It's located in Waikawa in the South Catlins overlooking the tranquil Waikawa harbour. The house is perfect to accomodate 10-12 people even. Fully equipped with kitchen stuff, washing machine and dryer. Ended our Day 1 viewing the Waikawa Harbour. Dinner cooked by our Chef Adik.

The view from the balcony

Day 2: McLean Falls and Curio Bay

Our day started at 5am everyday and the sunset was around 8++pm. Summer gave us ample time to cover lots of beautiful places in the South Island. After had our breakfast, we kicked off the day with trekking activity in the jungle to meet the waterfall. The Catlins is blessed with some spectacular waterfalls. The most famous of these is Pūrākaunui Falls - a magnificent waterfall surrounded by bush that cascades 20 metres over three distinct tiers. The waterfall is a short walk from a side road off the main Owaka-Invercargill highway. As the location was quite offway from our lodging, we chose McLean Falls, the 22 metre falls with a pleasant 40 minute walk into Catlins Conservation Park. Exciting moment for the kids as they never been into the jungle before. It's very cool weather, the view of the jungle was not like typical jungle that we have in Tropical Country. Perhaps due to the climate and weather. We were not so worried on poisonous animals in the jungle as New Zealand is an isolated country where there are no lethally poisonous snakes, scorpions, or spiders—or any other dangerous animals or plants—on the island.

It started to rain heavily in the afternoon so we decided to go back to our vacation home. No suitable place to visit in The Catlins with the heavy rain. The Catlins comprise of rugged coasts with wide deserted beaches, endless green hills, wild weather and lots of marine wildlife such as sea lions, penguins and dolphins. And as matter of fact, we rarely see people here. It was just us, our vacation home, few other houses and the nature. It was  tranquil, calm and serene I would say.

Next destination, meeting the wild penguin! The Curio Bay area is a protected nesting ground for yellow-eyed penguins. A very curious place indeed, Curio Bay had a fossil forest that dates back to the Jurassic period. The fossilised trees were alive around 180 million years ago, when New Zealand was part of the Gondwanaland super continent. Scientists have identified tree ferns, cycads and trees which resemble New Zealand kauri and matai. You'll need to arrive at low tide to meet the yellow -eyed penguin, the world rarest penguin. There are just 5000 of them still living. At low tide at Curio Bay in New Zealand’s deep south, yellow-eyed penguins can be seen waddling across sand and through a fossil forest, heading back to their nests after a fishing trip.

spot the penguin!

We were so lucky that we were able to spot one of them. It was at the height of Hafiey heading to its nest in between the rock. That was after 1 hour of waiting. 

At the other side of Curio Bay, few steps away is Porpoise Bay. A pod of endangered Hector's dolphins live here and we managed to spot few of them as well!

To be continued..