Day 9: Timaru - Christchurch - Auckland

DAY 9: 22.09.2015 (Timaru – Christchurch - Auckland)

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow” – Anonymous

It was our last holiday park in South NZ. Dah rasa sedih since semalam actually. Tsk. We had nasi goreng ikan bilis this morning for breakfast and ronda-ronda sekejap area holiday park. Kami guna family shower provided at Holiday Park instead guna shower dalam Motorhome. Hehe. Lagi selesa sebenarnya tapi dalam Motorhome senang sebab tak perlu nak menggigil cuaca sejuk kat luar. Kami clear semua stok makanan sebab kat sini pun ada fridge and rack for “Free Food”. Kat sini juga hubby buat last dumping both grey and black water (their policy before returning Motorhome). 

Process dumping black water (i.e. bahan atau sisa kumbuhan. In our case, kami tak menjalankan urusan buang air besar inside our Motorhome during the rental period sebab guna toilet kat holiday park, so taklah geli sangat bila nak buat dumping kan? Hehe).

Our last (preparing and having) breakfast inside our Motorhome.

Both Khayra and Hafiya on our bed – tempat kami beradu malam-malam hari dalam Motorhome. Juga boleh digunakan untuk menonton TV / DVD.

Last stop at Holiday Park in South Island, NZ.

Our Volkswagen Motorhome – Britz Explorer Auto 4 Berth Campervan.

Kami bergerak at about 10.30am from Timaru Top 10 Holiday Park to Westfield Riccarton, Christchurch. The journey took about 1 hour 57 minutes (158km). Kami purposely nak pergi Westfield Riccarton sebab ada halal food (“Kebab Land”) kat situ since kami tak sempat dah nak masak sebab dah nak drop off Motorhome kat depot. We reached Westfield Riccarton at 1.15pm and started cari parking tapi crowded juga area parking depan Westfield. We decided to go up further and Alhamdulillah jumpa parking belakang Westfield. Kami terus ke Kebab Land, situated at Food Court Westfield for lunch. Dah habis makan, Hafiya pulak poo-poo so we decided untuk bersihkan kat situ juga instead of buat nappy change dalam Motorhome.

So tibalah masa nak ke depot Motorhome untuk pulangkan Motorhome kami yang banyak berjasa sepanjang kami travel di South Island. On the way to depot at Harewood Road, kami kena isi Diesel full tank (also their policy before returning Motorhome, kalau tak akan kena bayar jumlah minyak full tank plus kos pergi isi minyak) so kami try cari petrol station terdekat. Kebetulan pula, GPS kami was unable to locate the exact place of the depot sebab confusing road sikit untuk ke Harewood Road. So we had to call the depot and they guided us to Harewood Road. Then kami terjumpa Petrol station and decided to stop by eventhough it stated “Only Card Petrol Station”, means it was self service and only cards were accepted. We tried to use several cards tapi it was rejected and we came to know that only registered cards with pin numbers were accepted. This has been informed by one of the user there and after dia dah siap isi, he came to us to check on us. Sangat baik. As our cards had not registered with the required pin numbers, he suggested us to go to another petrol station located 5km away.

We had no choice, so terpaksa pusing semula untuk cari another petrol station. Masa tu dah cuak sikit sebab dah pukul 3 lebih (we supposed to drop off the Motorhome at 3.30pm). Kami siap guna waze juga untuk locate the nearest petrol station dan Alhamdulillah jumpa Caltex dalam 5km away from the first petrol station. Last diesel kami isi cost us NZD31.50. Next kami terus guna Waze ke Motorhome depot and memang agak confusing tataulah kenapa and we were still unable to locate the exact location of the depot. Cuak dan peluh dingin dah rasa. Hahahaha. After a few rounds of the familiar roads, akhirnya kami jumpa depot (actually aku ternampak belah kanan by accident sebab Waze and GPS tunjuk arah ke kiri, sabar jelah!). We rushed masuk ke depot and parked at the provided area for returning Motorhome dan terus masuk ke dalam untuk proses check out.

Total distance travelled: 1,741.80km. Hubby sempat record sebelum drop off our Motorhome.

As we were in the process of checked out, kami tanya pasal shuttle ke airport sebab flight kami at 5.05pm ke Auckland, so that lady macam worried kami tak sempat sebab shuttle baru je bergerak and would come back in 15 minutes. So she suggested to call a taxi and we agreed. Tiba-tiba pula Hafiya poo-poo and I rushed to the toilet sebab taxi akan sampai in any nearest time. Fuhhh, berpeluh changed Hafiya sebab it was so messy, mengejar masa, berdebar dan she pooped sangat banyak. Ish. Hahahahahah. Tengah changed, husband called tapi I didn’t manage to answer sebab banyak kerja nak bersihkan Hafiya and after it was all done, I rushed to the outside of the depot sebab hubby dah tunggu dalam taxi! Phewww *lap peluh*

The taxi driver pun cuak takut kami tak sempat nak check in flight and promised to drop us at the nearest entrance to check in counters. Masa tu dah pukul 4pm. Cuak cuak cuak.

Taxi ride ambil masa less than 15 minutes and cost us NZD20. Masa sampai je, kami terus unloading luggage dari taxi and husband pergi dapatkan trolley while paying the taxi driver. The kids and I on the other hand, pergi berlari marathon masuk terminal building menuju ke check in counters. Hahahahaha. Mesti orang hairan tengok kami tiga beranak duk berlari-lari dalam airport! LOL.

Christchurch, South NZ Airport terminal. Selesai panik dan cuak situations.

Alhamdulillah we managed to check in before the counter closed (closed at 4.35pm). So sementara tunggu boarding, kami kena naik tingkat atas untuk ke boarding hall. Sambil-sambil tu sempat lagi beli souvenirs and fridge magnets dalam kedai-kedai yang ada sebelum departure hall.

Flight to Auckland at 5.05pm and we arrived in Auckland at 6.25pm. The kids tak tidur langsung dalam flight.

Kami plan nak terus check in luggage sebab our flight to Malaysia was scheduled at 12.15am but unfortunately we were informed that the counter only open 3 hours before the departure time. So hubby decided to leave the luggage at Bag Drop Counter and cost us NZD35.

We just walked to Ibis Budget Auckland Airport Hotel for check in. Memang ambil juga one night extra kat Ibis untuk mandi dan rehat sekejap sementara tunggu flight malam. Actually tersalah booking sebab ingat balik on 23^rd, tapi ada hikmah jugalah sebab boleh rest dan tukar baju semua. Kami booking direct with the hotel and cost us RM175.00 for one night. Bilik besar pulak tu. Kids pun happy boleh main-main dulu sementara nak duduk 11 jam dalam flight nanti.

Lepas dah checked in Ibis, husband terus beli ticket Yellow Bus (shuttle to airport) – NZD5 per adult and kena guna coins kalau nak beli sebab ada machine disediakan sebelah Reception counter dalam Ibis Hotel.

Both kids inside Yellow Shuttle Bus from Ibis Budget Auckland Airport Hotel to Auckland Airport International Departure terminal building.

We went down at 9pm and terus tunggu shuttle depan hotel. Hubby sempat masukkan doll Hafiya dalam bag pack dia supaya tak tercicir nanti. The shuttle arrived 5 minutes later and kami dibawa ke 3 hotel lain untuk pick up another passengers sebab kami akan ke International Departure terus. The bus driver was from France and was very talkative. Apparently there were only 4 of us inside the shuttle that night, maybe tak ramai ambil hotel before flight at 12.15am. Maybe they just lepak kat airport kot.

We reached at the International Departure building terminal at 9.30pm and terus ke kaunter MAS for check in.Eeverything went well, Alhamdulillah.

Sementara tunggu flight, we had a quick meal (sebab dah makan roti kat hotel) and berjalan-jalan sekejap dalam kedai-kedai area departure building. Sempatlah jugak beli souvenirs dan fridge magnets lagi. Haha.