Day 5 : Queenstown – Coronet Peak – Lake Wakatipu – Te Anau

DAY 5: 18.09.2015 (Queenstown - Coronet peak - Lake Wakatipu - Te Anau)

“Travel has made me more aware of me. I learn more about myself while on the road than anywhere else. It given me the: I can make it happen attitude” – Jessica Johnson

As usual, sebagai ibu yang membawa anak-anak travel bersama, I woke up early that morning untuk prepare roti and baked beans for our breakfast and later, Mr. Husband called NZone office at 8.00am and according to them the weather was good that day (Alhamdulillah!). So kami kena ambil taxi at 8.45am straight to the Dropzone. The Reception was kind enough to call a taxi for us and we waited at lobby for the taxi to arrive. The taxi costs us NZD70 for one way. It took about 20 minutes drive from Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park to the NZone’s dropzone office. The taxi driver berasal dari France and banyak juga kami bercerita sepanjang jalan tu. Actually dia pun hairan kenapa NZone tak bagi kami naik shuttle sebab dia pun tak provide for any car seats even kami ada kids. Kami pun tak pasti but that was the arrangement made with us earlier dengan NZone office masa booking slot for skydiving.

Bila sampai sana, we were greeted by NZone staffs dan kami dah teruja sangat masa tu. Memang betul-betul adrenaline rush even belum suit up pun lagi. Hahaha. Kami sempat jadi spectator untuk 1^st batch punya skydive. We were more than happy bila ada staff kat situ offer to look after our kids sebab according to them it would be more fun to be in the same flight. Kami tanya Khayra and she agreed to stay with the staff and promise akan lihat kami turun dari padang depan office tu. Then bila tiba our turn untuk nak bersiap pakai full suit attire tiba-tiba kami dapat berita that the weather was not good and ALL sessions for that day had to be cancelled T__________T

Kecewa sangat masa tu. Ada another 3 couples yang sama session dengan kami pun nampak frust. We had no choice but to get back our refund sebab hari yang sama nak gerak to another destination. Malam tadi ada Nik Fara WA aku bagitau tentang ramalan Tsunami, so kami pun cuak juga dan doa banyak-banyak. Kami balik semula ke NZone office naik shuttle mereka sebab they did understand kami punya frustration so they just allowed us naik shuttle malah they offered to send us straight to NZone office. Apa nak buat, bukan rezeki kami untuk skydive di Queenstown. 

Across the road adalah dimana terletaknya NZone Office

(Ini bergambar lepas kecewa kali kedua tak ada rezeki nak skydiving T____T)

Oh, the cost for Skydive adalah NZD299 per person for 9,000ft (Troposfear/200kph - lowest) and bila kami checked in for registration, they offered us for upgrade to 15,000ft (Exosfear/200kph - highest) (original price: NZD439 per person) where we had to pay an additional NZD40 only per person. So we agreed. So total cost for both of us including the upgrade adalah NZD678. The medium height adalah 12,000ft (Stratosfear/200kph) and cost about NZD339.

Bila sampai semula di NZone office and got back our full refund (we paid by cash), we went to shop for souvenirs kat kedai Budget Souvenirs (tapi DF Souvenirs lagi best for me) just across the NZone office, konon-konon untuk mengubat luka dihati bahahaha. 

Next, we headed to O’ Connells Mall for early lunch at Turkish Kebabs (Halal). Masa nak order for our lunch, Hafiya nak aiskrim tapi sebenarnya dia suka ice cream cone je, so kami requested nak beli cone only tapi mamat tu baik hati bagi 2 ice cream cones free kat Khayra dan Hafiya – rezeki, Alhamdulillah. Kat sini juga, I shared location untuk Nik Fara memandangkan dia akan tiba petang sikit di Queenstown. Then kami terus balik ke Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park untuk packing sikit-sikit then at 12 noon kami bergerak ke Coronet Peak for snow play. 

At the entrance of Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park

My lil darlings yang excited nak ke Coronet Peak (dan tak mengetahui ibubapa mereka tengah frust tak dapat Skydiving. Tsk. Bahahaha!)

Jalan menuju ke Coronet Peak

Kami diberitahu bahawa jalan ke Coronet Peak lagi sesuai untuk Motorhome compared to jalan ke The Remarkables. Actually jalan nak naik ke Coronet Peak tu agak scary sebab jalan yang meninggi ke atas dengan ada jalan dengan railing rendah kat tepi dan ada jalan tak ada langsung railing tepi di mana sebelah tu memang gaung. Scary! Tapi nasib baiklah my husband tak gayat ke apa and steady je drive sampai atas. Kalau aku dah nangis kot kat tepi tu nak drive naik atas. Tak sanggup den! It took about 20 mins from our holiday park to Coronet Peak and about 15km away. 

As you can see, ini gambar dari tempat parking dan ada tangga belakang Khayra yang kena mendaki ke atas untuk ke snow area.

Masa sampai kat Coronet Peak tu nak cari parking kat atas dah penuh so kami kena maneuver Motorhome tu (my husband lah dan aku jadi tukang tengok sides je, huhu) ke parking bawah sikit sebelum berjalan / mendaki naik tangga to the main entrance. 

At the entrance of Coronet Peak. Selamba minta tolong mamat yang tengah baiki jalan tolong tangkap gambar kami. Nasib baik dia sporting! Haha.

Trail ski at Coronet Peak

Khayra (R) – my eldest, my good girl, my sweetheart

Hafiya (L) – my bongsu (hehe!), my cheeky girl, my penghibur 

Sampai je kat dalam tu jakun sikit tengok snow depan mata. Haha. The kids dah happy happy happy tak sesabar nak main dan siap nyanyi lagu Frozen bagai dah. Tak sejuk pulak diorang ni tapi aku dah menggigil kat situ. Sempat juga buat mini Olaf dan snow balls and they really had fun. 

Masa kami macam dah agak-agak nak balik tu tiba-tiba snow turun ya Allah rezeki kami dapat merasa snow turun dari langit haritu. The kids siap amati the snow flakes hahaha. Diorang ingat macam betul-betul bentuk gambar snow flakes tu agaknya. Kihkih. 

Snowing :D

Beloveds 

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Happy faces of my lil darlings :D

Khayra siap main snow slides. Beku beku beku sejuk. Tu je aku rasa. Haha.

Rezeki Allah bagi kami merasai snow. Allahuakbar.

(Walaupun tak ada rezeki untuk skydive, Allah bagi rezeki lain)

Dah suka suka suka tengok snow flakes bagai baru tersedar yang bahaya tak agaknya kami nak turun nanti (risau jalan licin dan kena pakai snow chains) dengan Motorhome tu ke bawah semula. Baru sedar diri dan start berdebar. Hehe. Then masuk restaurant for toilet break and kami nampak rainbow dari atas tu yang sungguh indah, Subhanallah. Kami lek lek dulu tunggu snow reda sikit baru start jalan ke tempat parking Motorhome kami dan drive slowly turun ke jalan bawah menunju ke main road.

Alhamdulillah semua OK dan kami terus menuju ke Lake Wakatipu about 15 mins drive dari jalan bawah Coronet Peak tersebut. We had photoshoot sekejap tanpa anak-anak sebab they both dah tertidur letih main snow agaknya, sebelum solat dan terus bergerak ke next holiday park iaitu Te Anau Lakeview Kiwi Holiday Park (183km / 2 hour 17 mins drive). Sebelum tu kami refill diesel dulu (NZD39.50).

Lake Wakatipu

We arrived at Te Anau Lakeview Kiwi Holiday Park around 7.40pm and it was raining. Sejuk gigil weh. Then I prepared for our dinner that night: nasi putih, tomyam seafood, telur dadar and hash browns. Malam tu kita call parents di Malaysia tiba-tiba rasa sedih homesick. Kahkah. Sebelum tu memang tiap-tiap hari ber-Whatsapp tapi bila dengar suara lagi rindu, alah drama betul perempuan ini.

Di Te Anau ni dia bagi free Wifi 500mb tapi tak sempat pun nak utilized sebab banyak benda nak buat dan yang paling penting adalah, nak tidur. Haha. Oh, kami guna dryer sekali lagi di Te Anau and it cost us NZD4 sebab baju kurang kering masa kat Queenstown and we thought it was because the laundry room closed at 11pm and tutup sekali semua suis agaknya T____T

Stay tuned for my next entry.

Day 4 (Part 2) : Cromwell - Queenstown

DAY 5: 18.09.2015 (Part 2 – Cromwell - Queenstown)

“Take vacation and go as many places you can. You can always make money, you can’t always make memories” – anonymous

You can read Day 4 (Part 1) here.

Plan asal kami nak picnic makan pre packed lunch yang I have prepared earlier tapi tiba-tiba terjumpa kedai Halal: Souvlaki and Kebab Grill (Taste of Middle East) lalu decided to buy our lunch there and our pre packed lunch akan dijadikan menu dinner kami. Sepatutnya plan asal kami akan singgah di Puzzling World, Wanaka tapi sebab masa tak mengizinkan dan jalan ke Wanaka kena masuk ke dalam lagi (about 163km / 1 hour 50 mins dari Lake Pukaki dan lencongan yang berlainan) serta bukan on the way yakni boleh singgah tepi jalan along the way ke Queenstown, maka kami bersetuju untuk skip that dan terus sahaja ke Cromwell dan Queenstown. Itinerary asal tak ada nak singgah Cromwell langsung tapi dah rezeki kami ke situ dan terjumpa kedai Halal.

Kami singgah for toilet break sekejap before cari parking area i-Site dan terus pergi bergambar kat area landmark Cromwell ni.

Kedai Halal: Souvlaki and Kebab Grill (Taste of Middle East) di Cromwell

Kami tapau je lunch i.e Kebab and pizza cheese dari Souvlaki and Kebab Grill (Taste of Middle East) and makan on the go dalam Motorhome (anyway this is prohibited tapi kami nak kejar masa ke Queenstown so terpaksalah buat juga dan makan sikit-sikit supaya tak lapar sangat nanti). 

This is how our Lil Darlings, Hafiya (left) and Khayra (right) duduk dalam Motorhome sepanjang perjalanan ketika kami bergerak / driving. Wajib berada atas car seat dan booster seat masing-masing and pakai seat belt. Both of them memang dilatih dari kecil tentang penggunaan car seat dalam kereta, so dah terbiasa. Alhamdulillah juga diorang okay kena strap untuk sepanjang jalan beribu-ribu kilometer di both North and South NZ.

Pemandangan setibanya kami di Queenstown.

Dari Cromwell to Queenstown mengambil masa selama 50 mins and we have to register at NZone Office for skydiving at 2pm. Wohoo. Ini adalah aktiviti yang paling kami looking forward so bila kami sampai di Queenstown at 1.50pm, I made a call yang bagitau kami on the way. Masa tu cuak juga sebab nak cari parking lagi dan nak locate office NZone etc. Fuhh. 

Masa nak locate NZone office, ternampak Gondola ni. As you can see, yang kecil-kecil warna putih tu. Tak sabar nak pergi sana. Wiwiwi. The kids dah excited masa ni even tengok dari jauhhh.

Bila dah sampai town area (agak sesak dan jalan sempit), kami cuba cari parking untuk Motorhome dan masa tengah mencari-cari tu dah ternampak NZone office seberang jalan tapi tak jumpa parking area tu so we have to drive further untuk cari parking and at that point of time tetibe ternampak Motorhome lain keluar dari satu lorong dan kami plan nak ke situ sebab ingatkan ada parking for Motorhome. Then kami tersedar bahawa we have reached at our 2^nd holiday park iaitu Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park.

Then terus masuk sebab plan parking jelah terus and I went to the Reception sebab nak bagitau kami kejar masa for skydiving and we will check in later. They gave us a ticket voucher to display kat dashboard Motorhome since kami belum officially check in. Dari situ kami berlari (d’uhh) pula ke NZone office yang located about 10 mins perjalanan (maybe shorter kalau berlari marathon sambil dukung anak. LOL). Siap ada turun bukit dan turun anak tangga semua lah to reach NZone office dari Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park. 

Alhamdulillah, kami berjaya check in dan register for our scheduled session at 2.30pm (last session of the day). Phewww. Macam Amazing Race pun ada tadi. Haha. Kami diberikan form untuk diisi dan must go for briefing dan dia terangkan cara nak landing etc. Teruja sangat dah masa tu. Oh, sebenarnya we have requested to be in different flights sebab kena bergilir jaga the kids, and they had arranged it very well for us.

Dah habis briefing and we were about to get ready untuk ke dropzone, ada orang maklumkan yang cuaca petang tu tak OK for skydive and it was cancelled T____T

They have a council to decide samada selamat atau tidak untuk skydive pada hari tersebut. Safety first - their motto. We were given options either to get our refund money or we can be re-scheduled for the next day session. We opted to try our luck for the next day session and got our booking at 8.30am. We need to call them first at 8.00am to check on the weather and we can go straight to the dropzone by taxi from our holiday park since kami dah pergi briefing. We have to go to the dropzone by taxi sebab their shuttle didn’t provide for car seats sebab kami nak bawa anak-anak sekali untuk jadi spectators kami. The dropzone is about 20 mins from NZone office. 

Lepas kecewa sikit sebab dah semangat nak skydive dan dah siap tukar tudung sebab tudung yang ada awning susah nak pakai full suit, so kena tukar to shawl (memula aku tanak join tapi my dearest husband pujuk dari Malaysia lagi suruh join sama so OKlah nak join nak join nak join *excited pulak*) kami pergi memujuk hati dengan shopping souvenirs kat DF Souvenirs. Hampir semua blog orang Malaysia aku baca wajib singgah sini dan kami jumpa 1 keluarga Malaysian juga kat sini.

Masa dah sampai The Mall, Queenstown tu dan nak ambil gambar depan signboard, baru perasan yang phone aku tak ada. Panik kejap. Last tempat was NZone office maka kami kembali semula ke sana (it was just 3 blocks away) dan jumpa semula tak terusik pun handphone tu dalam briefing room. Memang ternyata kat NZ ni kadar jenayah kurang dan aku rasa kalau kat tempat lain, toleh muka je pun dah hilang hp tu. Tsk.

DF souvenirs, Queenstown

Balik semula ke DF souvenirs and we spent about 1 ½ hour there sebelum ke i-Site untuk tanya pasal jalan ke Coronet Peak or The Remarkables untuk esok. Alang-alang kat sana, boleh beli sekali open tickets for Gondola and Luge rides dan dinasihatkan beli kat i-Site sebab kat atas sana usually akan kena beratur panjang. We’ve got our tickets combo of Gondola and 2 rounds of Luge rides for NZD114 (adult: NZD45, child: NZD20 for Gondola and Future Luge Rider NZD4 for 2 rounds).

Next we went to check in our holiday park, parked at our metered site and solat before heading to Skyline Queenstown. It was just a walking distance from Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park to Skyline Queenstown. Sampai sana kami perlu redeem open tickets yang dah dibeli dari i-Site and terus ke Gondola. Gondola opens until 9.00pm and Luge until 6.00pm. Kami kena rushed up juga sebab masa tu dah pukul 5.35pm. Haha. Another mini marathon for us untuk ke Luge rides. Pheww. 

It was an amazing view from the Gondola, MasyaAllah Subhanallah. Boleh nampak hampir seluruh bandar Queenstown. 

Gondola rides in Queenstown

The kids suka sangat with the Luge rides. We have to choose helmet ikut size kepala (they came in S, M, L, and XL sizes) sebelum naik Luge and for the toddler punya helmet, kena request kat registration counter. 

Next, bila dah tiba kat atas area Gondola stop station, kami kena cari entrance to Luge Rides pula. The best part adalah bila naik chair lift to the Luge rides :D Amazing sangat seluruh pemandangan sekeliling, Subhanallah. Gayat juga memula tu tapi seronoknya tengok view yang indah. Open air gitew. 

The chair lifts to the Luge rides with an amazing view, Subhanallah - Hubby took this picture of Hafiya and me :D

I managed to snap this picture when Mr. Husband tengah get ready untuk turun dari chair lift dengan Khayra. Kalau bawa anak, kena assist / dukung anak untuk keluar dari chair lift bila sampai kat station sebab it won’t stop, so kena pepandai budget to get ready nak keluar (or jump? You choose. Haha) dari chair lift tersebut. 

The Luge rides was indeed so so so fun! 2 rounds pun tak cukup tapi sebab kami pun dah lewat haritu maka OKlah for us that day. Betul tagline mereka that “Once Is Never Enough”. Hehe. 

Di Luge rides ada 2 lorong either you are a first timer atau dah pernah naik Luge before. Bagi yang first timer (like us, haha!), kita akan diajar dulu macam mana nak control Luge tu. Sebelum mula, I cepat-cepat minta mamat pengajar ni tolong ambil gambar kami dulu nak buat kenangan. Haha. Asal boleh. 

Tengok, dia pun siap wefie dengan kami. Dia ajar kejap je dalam less than 10 mins dan tak susah mana nak control Luge ni. Ada 2 points standby camera along the route tapi bila kami nak tengok gambar kami, they claimed that their camera ada problem petang tu, so no pictures at all. Alaaa, sedih je. Nasib baik dah suruh mamat tu ambil gambar dulu. Haha. 

Ini masa nak naik Luge for second round. Tukar pula sebab masa first round I naik dengan Hafiya, so second round tukar naik dengan Khayra pula. Ni masa naik chair lift untuk ke area Luge dan menggigil masa ni nak ambil gambar sebab sejukkk, dah nak gelap ditambah pula dengan berangin serta we were up on hill in an open air chair lift.

Ukur tinggi. For kids yang lebih 110cm, boleh naik Luge sendiri atau nak naik dengan parents just bayar NZD2 for one round under Future Luge Rider. Awesome!

Dah habis 2 rounds of Luge rides, kami pergi bergambar sekejap area dari atas dengan pemandangan seluruh bandar Queenstown. Those photos didn't do a justice sebab ambil guna phone yang berwap (haha!) as cuaca sejuk petang tu and pemandangan sangat indah sebenarnya.

Then kami stopped by to buy some fridge magnets and souvenirs at Souvenir Shop before turun dengan Gondola. From this view, boleh nampak Restaurant area Gondola stop station. They had a dinner function that day so kami tak sempat nak checked out the restaurant tapi they stated ada serve Halal food (meat and salmon) in their website.

At the entrance of Skyline Queenstown which consists of Gondola and Luge Rides.

Photo was taken before we went to Skyline - At the main entrance of our Holiday Park: Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park

Malam tu dinner kami adalah lauk pre packed lunch. Alhamdulillah. 

Toilet di holiday park ini ada password untuk masuk sebab situated di tengah-tengah town so security ketat sikit. We also did our first laundry here and cost us NZD4 for washer and NZD4 for dryer and kena tukar tokens at Reception to operate both washer and dryer in the laundry room. The laundry room was closed at 11.00pm tapi masa I pergi nak buat dryer dah almost pukul 11.00pm and sempat masukkan dalam dryer and left them sebelum ambil balik esok pagi (they will open back at 6.00am). FYI, aku dah bawa sabun laundry (small size) dari Malaysia sebab aku kan suka nak bawa the whole house bila pack and travel. LOL :P

Stay tuned for more entries.