Day 5: Queenstown, NZ

DAY 5: 17.03.2016

(QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND)

“The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark”. – John Muir

My husband and I woke up super early in the morning sebab dah buat booking with NZone Skydiving, Queenstown for Skydiving and the check in was scheduled at 7am. It took about 15 minutes from Wakatipu House to NZone office at Shotover Street. This time, kami tak menaruh harapan tinggi sangat sebab sebelum ni dah kecewa 2 kali sebab cuaca tak mengizinkan untuk kami skydive. Doa dalam hati semoga ada rezeki kami kali ini. Both of us went out at 6.30am dan cuaca masih gelap gelita. Syukur juga dah settle dengan urusan minibus dengan jalan curam malam tadi sebab pagi ini pun masih gelap. 

NZone dropzone

We reached at NZone office at 6.50am and dapat parking memang betul-betul tak jauh dari NZone Office and it was P60 (it means free parking for 60 minutes). Bila masuk NZone Office, kami kena check in / register and bayar for our altitude (we chose 9,000 feet memula (NZD299) tapi dapat upgrade to 12,000 feet (original price NZD339) and next kami diberikan borang untuk diisi and went to the briefing room. Dalam briefing room, ada presentation on skydiving, previous experience dan belajar key dari tandem master. Next, kami kena pilih either nak pakej gambar dalam pendrive sahaja atau full package consist of photo album. Ada 3 packages with different prizes. So husband suggested taking for the full package (NZD299 per person / RM868.00) sebab bukan senang kan nak buat skydiving ni. This was a separate payment dari fee Skydiving itself. Teehee. So after dah buat payment dan ada briefing on jalan ke dropzone sebab kami driving sendiri dan tak ikut shuttle sebab plan nak balik seawal yang boleh bila dah habis skydiving. We were informed that the dropzone was 20 minutes away from NZone office.

Tak susah sangat nak cari dropzone (waze tak boleh detect, so staff NZone Office dah bagi printed out map), just kena alert kawasan nak masuk simpang je (read: ada batu besar tulis nombor 786 sebelum simpang masuk ke dropzone. Address: 786, Kingston Road) then akan jumpa terus. Bila sampai kat sana, kita akan kena check in lagi sekali dan akan diberitahu group mana. Macam kami, dapat group No. 3 haritu. So sementara menunggu, kita belek album gambar etc dulu. Next, bila group dah kena panggil, kita akan kena suit up. Ada staff yang akan tolong. Memandangkan diorang nampak I bertudung, maka diorang assigned staff perempuan untuk bantu pakai suit. Bagus sangat. Pagi tu cuaca sejuk menggigil and staff kat situ inform it was 3°C! Sejuk tahap menggigil, bercakap keluar asap semualah (you get what I'm trying to say, righttt?). Next, kita akan on air for interview session, lepas tu berkenalan dengan tandem master and getting ready to get into the plane. 

Perasaan? Frankly speaking, masih lagi banyak perasaan excited kalau nak dibandingkan dengan perasaan nervous. Dan masih lagi berperang dengan cuaca yang menggigil sejuk, maka tak ada sangat perasaan yang betul-betul boleh difikirkan. So bila kami dah dijemput untuk naik plane dan took off sampai altitude yang ditetapkan i.e 12,000 feet and at the moment pintu plane dibuka, barulah rasa ada perasaan:

“Am I really wanted to do this?”

Ya, bila pintu plane buka baru ada rasa cuak sikit, which was too late for that sebab aku orang pertama yang akan terjun! Haha. Dari tadi syok je tengok pemandangan Queenstown dari atas (sambil berzikir Subhanallah indahnya ciptaan Allah), posing bergambar dalam plane, borak dengan suami dan tandem masters, now pintu plane buka baru rasa nervous. Hehe. Memang tak boleh buat apa dah sebab tandem master dah tolak kau ke depan, kaki dah terjulur keluar, kepala kena dongak sikit and then zuppp… your were already out of the plane dari ketinggian 12,000 feet at 200km/h! 

Skydiving together to celebrate our 13^th year of becoming an item! 

(it was exactly yesterday’s date : 16.03.2016)

Masa ni akan berpusing-pusing to stabilize our position and masa free fall you’ll meet your private videographer yang akan minta kau posing macam-macam sehingga tandem master tarik parachute and you’ll be more stable untuk tengok keindahan alam ciptaan Allah. So tandem master akan guide you to the landing area and zuppp, you’ll be landing on earth again. Alhamdulillah. Nanti the videographer akan datang shoot video dan gambar sebelum kita buka suit. Masa terjun tadi, I could see my husband was coming down from the plane and I could see everything clearly tapi bila kita berpusing nak stabilize tadi rasalah macam dizzy. 

Sebenarnya I ada tulis something kat tangan konon nak show off sempena anniversary kami couple (hewhew!) dekat videographer masa buat free fall, tapi sejuk menggigil tak tahan nak buka gloves. Haha. My husband really enjoyed it sampai plan next time nak pergi buat kat lain pula! For me, cukuplah sekali (kot). Hahahah. We cannot imagine the tandem masters did it at least 7 times a day! OH EM GEE!

Perasaan lepas skydiving? – Awesome! (except for the dizzy part). Macam tak percaya pun ada. Both of my parents and PIL (and my besties) still macam kagum kami berani nak buat skydiving ni, especially me! Hehehe.

Bila dah siap bergambar lagi, kami ke minibus and I still feel dizzy. Next, kami sebenarnya kena singgah buat groceries kat Countdown, Queenstown so bila sampai kat Countdown, I went to the toilet and bertapa lama sikit untuk bagi dizzy hilang. Siap kena paksa threw up barulah lega. So next, we did our groceries shopping sepantas kilat sebab nak balik rumah pula for early lunch.

Signage to Wakatipu House.

My man and our rented Thrifty minibus - this was taken at the upper road to Wakatipu House.

From the balcony of Wakatipu House.

Major love. My lil family unit.

Photo shoot at Wakatipu House with the whole entourage. Major, major love.

Photo shoot: freestyle! (except for our parents. Haha!)

Panorama shoot at Wakatipu House.

Bila sampai kat rumah, the kids dah ready and our moms tengah bersiap-siap untuk early lunch. Kami makan besar tengah hari tu sebab dah buat groceries so ada juices, ada fruits, ada salad and lauk-lauk lain. Lepas makan, kami buat photoshoot kat balkoni rumah sebab kami dah booking TSS Earnslaw Steamship and Walter Peak Farm Tour at 2pm. Dah siap with our photoshoot, kami terus bergerak ke Real Journeys dan cari parking. We already bought the tickets online and boleh redeem kat Real Journeys Visitor Centre on Steamer Wharf, Queenstown Bay and must check in 20 mins before departure time.

Memandangkan parking agak susah, kami terpaksa drop dulu semua ahli keluarga at the nearest wharf and kami berdua je pergi cari parking. Alhamdulillah, jumpa 1 parking area across the Cookie Time Shop block and kami kena menapak ke Steamer Wharf, Queenstown Bay. Memandangkan agak kesuntukan masa, terpaksa juga lari-lari marathon dengan husband. Haha. Nasib baik kids and ibubapa dah drop dekat dengan wharf. 

Yours truly, my PIL and my hubs.

At 2pm sharp, cruise bergerak. Kami diterangkan secara ringkas tentang Lady of the Lake (the Twin Screw Steamer steamship cruise) and boleh bergambar kenangan sebab pemandangan sekitar Lake Wakatipu was so amazing. Subhanallah.

From Wikipedia: The TSS Earnslaw is a 1912 Edwardian vintage twin screw steamer plying the waters of Lake Wakatipu in New Zealand. It is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Central Otago, and the only remaining commercial passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship in the southern hemisphere

More info on the TSS Earnslaw Steamship and Walter Peak Farm Tour can be read here.

My beloved parents.

Right after we disembarked from the TSS Earnslaw Steamship Cruise, there will be a tour at the farmyard, boleh feed the sheep, deer and yak. Next kita boleh jalan-jalan and getting up close with the Scottish Highland Cattle and stroll through the lakeside gardens and had our afternoon tea at Colonel’s Homestead. It served the best scones and cakes, variety of juices and tea.

My father and the breathtaking view of Lake Wakatipu from Walter Peak Farm. 

Next, the farmer lead us over to the shearing shed where we can watch the farm dogs rounding up sheep from the hill paddocks and there will be a demonstration on the farmer shear a sheep. Dah habis tengok sheep shearing process, kami diberi peluang untuk beli souvenirs kat kedai berhampiran before boarding the TSS Earnslaw for our cruise back to the Queenstown. The cruise took about 1 hour 30 minutes return and the farm tour took about 2 hours

Watching the farm dogs rounding up sheep from the hill paddocks. 

Sheep shearing demo. 

TSS Earnslaw Steamship Cruise. 

Memandangkan kami parking berhampiran dengan DF Souvenirs, jadi next in line adalah shopping souvenirs. I managed to go to Smiggle and Cookie Time Shop and bought few cookies untuk dibawa balik. Sedap! 

Khayra at Smiggle, Queenstown.

Moms, Hafiya and my lil brother with the balance of our souvenirs sebab first batch dah hantar ke minibus. Hehe. 

Shopping cookies at Cookie Time Shop, Queenstown. 

The Dark Chocolate Caramel is to die for!

Next, kami balik ke rumah tapi on the way tu sempat singgah NZone Office sebab dah boleh collect album skydiving and next kami balik enjoying dinner together at the comfort of our Wakatipu House. We did laundry that night and ada dryer sekali (siap sabun basuh tuan rumah sediakan, thank you Jessi!) and it was very convenient to us.