Tosh & Tawaf Around the World

New Zealand Itinerary

2012-01-01T21:28:00.001-08:00

We love to travel and we know that many other people do too, especially with the availability of cheap flights and the increment of people's financial ability nowadays.

Usually, before any of our trips we would spend a lot of time and effort in customizing our itinerary to ensure that we will have a lot of fun and a phenomenal time there.

Thus, we are including our Itinerary specially for our friends and fellow readers who are also passionate in travelling and it would mean a lot to us if these itineraries could help you as well.

We will start with our New Zealand trip since it's the most recent one. We'll try to dig out our past itineraries and post them in this blog too.

Feel free to use it :)

*Disclaimer: We do not have any commercial relationship with the suggested accommodations /attractions in the itinerary. We are simply suggesting based on the good experience & good price that we've had during our trip :)

NEW ZEALAND (16 DAYS)

Day 1 (Wed, 12.10.2011)

• Flight depart from LCCT at 11.40pm

Day 2 (Thurs, 13.10.2011)

• Reach Christchurch Airport at 2.55pm (Pick-up by shuttle)

• Take the rental car and drive to Christchurch city center

• Check-in at Amber Park Holiday Park (4.5 star)

• Lunch at Northlands Shopping Center

• Visit Christchurch earthquake location

Day 3 (Fri, 14.10.2011)

• Lake Tekapo

- Church of Good Shepherd

- Sheepdog Monument

• Lake Pukaki

• Mount Cook

- Mount Cook Village

- Glacier Explorers tour on the Tasman Glacier Lake

• Drive to Twizel

- Dinner and overnight in Twizel

Day 4 (Sat, 15.10.2011)

• Twizel

- Lord of The Rings Tour

- High Country Salmon Farm

• Wanaka

- Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World

- Lake Wanaka

• Crown Range Summit

• Arrowtown

• Shotover Lodge - 3 star (overnight)

• Queenstown

Day 5 (Sun, 16.10.2011)

• Queenstown
• Skippers Canyon Jet

• Lake Wakatipu and Aggy's Shack

• Skyline - Gondola, Luge, Haka
• Queenstown Garden

• Shotover Lodge (overnight)

Day 6 (Mon, 17.10.2011)

• Te Anau

• Milford Sound - Cruise

• Distinction Luxmore Hotel, Te Anau - 4 star (overnight)

Day 7 (Tue, 18.10.2011)

• Te Anau

(to be continued)

New Zealand - 7

2011-10-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

Tuesday
Te Anau

There are a few things that we could do in Te Anau, such as to walk around the Te Anau lake early in the morning and witness the mist rising, visit the native bird sanctuary, take a day trip across the Lake Manapuri and experience the Te Wahipounamu @ Fiordland National Park which is the largest park in NZ.

Sadly we didn't get to do any of those activities since we accidentally woke up late, maybe because we were tired from our trip yesterday and it was drizzling in the morning. We also have a long journey ahead of us with a flight to catch on the next morning, thus we could only drop by at the shops and bought some food and gifts to remind us of this place :)

Te Anau is a small town with good supermarkets and lots of small places to eat or buy take out food. The items sold here (including clothes and gifts) are also quite cheap with a variety of choices.

New Zealand - 6

2011-10-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

Monday

Queenstown to Te Anau

From the Shotover Lodge, we drove to Te Anau which is 178km away for about 3 hours. We didn't have any plans in Te Anau, just wanted to check the location of our hotel and continue our journey to Milford Sound, to catch our fjord cruise which was the main attraction on this day.

We have booked and paid for our Milford Sound cruise online when we were still in Malaysia for NZD67.50 per pax @ RM 169. The departure time was at 11am and we have to reach there 30 minutes prior to that.

At the hotel on the day before, we shared this info with the hotel staff and he said it might be wise for us to change the cruise ticket to a different time because the journey from Queenstown to Milford Sound takes about 5 hours minimum and we would have to start driving by 5 am. The road to Milford Sound is dark and narrow, thus he wouldn't recommend us to drive in the dark, furthermore we wouldn't be able to enjoy the scenery and we would be in a rush.

He was kind enough to call Milford Sound cruise operator for us, since we didn't want to use our Malaysia international roaming mobile phones and it wasn't easy to find a public phone. The Milford Sound Cruise operator gave us alternative departure time at 3.10pm and said we can just inform the staff at the counter for the change. The tickets are at different rates according to the time, thus we would bear any additional cost or the company would return any extra $ if the cruise is cheaper.

We were so happy that they were flexible and very understanding in making it easy for us. We are glad that we changed the time because the journey was beautiful all the way!

Te Anau

At Te Anau, we stopped for a toilet break and went to one of the shops that sells sheep skin clothes. They were extremely soft! Then we went around the small town and look for our hotel.

The Distinction Luxmore Hotel (4 star)

We booked the standard room via booking.com for NZD 95 @ RM 237.50 per night. The room is equipt with a heating system, phone, kettle, tv, hot shower, alarm clock, hair dryer and bath amenities.

Road to Milford Sound

Milford Sound is 115km from Te Anau but since the road is narrow and a bit winding, it takes a bit more time to drive there, which was more than 2 hours for a 1-way trip

There is no petrol station on the way there and back to Te Anau (240km return), so we made sure that we have enough petrol before we started our journey from Te Anau.

The road to Milford Sound is lovely with magnificent views and for those self-driving on a more leisure itinerary, there are many stops and short walks to experience.

Te Anau Downs is a sheltered harbour, which is the departure point for Milford Track walkers. There are also accommodations available here.

From the Te Anau Downs, visitor can enjoy an easy walk through regenerating beech forest to a small glacial lake, Lake Mistletoe (45 minutes return).

29km from the Te Anau Downs lies the Mirror Lake, that is famous for the mountain reflection. We passed by this lake but didn't get a good picture of the nice reflection since it was not as clear as it should be and there were many wild trees and plants in the lake.

Not far from the Mirror Lake is the Knobs Flat that provides amenities such as toilets, campervan sewage disposal, telephone (card only) and accommodations.

About 10-15km ahead, visitors can enjoy a pleasant walk via a loop track through a red beech forest to the shores of Lake Gunn (45 minutes return).

There is also this popular 3-day walking track to Lake Wakatipu called the Routeburn Track. It takes trampers over a high alpine pass of 1277m.

The trip from Te Anau to Milford is the most scenic journey in New Zealand with many stopping places. This is the Hollyford Valley Lookout that gives spectacular roadside views over the Hollyford Valley.

After the Lookout point, there is an avalanche gate at the Marian Corner that would be closed whenever there is avalanche danger to the visitors.

We drove through the gate and made our way through a 1219m unlined road tunnel slopes down towards the Milford side called the Homer Tunnel. In this month of the year (October), the road is very clear and there are snow on the high passes. We were so excited to see the snow and just looking forward to touch it but couldn't just yet since it was drizzling and getting very cold. The road was also very wet and Tosh drove carefully down the slopes.

From our car, we can see the water rushing down the hills onto both sides of the road, we weren't sure whether the gush of water was because of the rain or the snow was melting. It was a beautiful sight but deep down we prayed that everything goes well since there were just the two of us with no mobile phone connection in this isolated place. There were also very few cars on the road.

Between May and November all travellers on the Milford Road are legally required to carry snow chains at all times and the chains can be hired in Te Anau. Somehow we overlooked this requirement and we didn't have any chains with us. Alhamdulillah, everything went well :).

Milford Sound

The parking area is 10 minutes walk from the Visitor Terminal (the cruise departure point) and it is connected by this wooden walkway.

We saw this wild kiwi by the road side and it is big and not scared of us at all :)

The scenery of the fjord is supposed to be magnificent, but we couldn't see much in the rain. It was also one of the finalist for the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Milford Sound Visitor Terminal and Boat Harbour

The terminal is nicely warm and there are a few cruise providers here. We proceeded to the Southern Discoveries counter and informed the staff of the change of our cruise trip. The cruise at 3.10pm is much cheaper than the 11am cruise that we previously booked, thus the staff said they will refund the balance of NZD 21.60 back into our credit card.

That is one of the Southern Discoveries fleets but our cruise was a bit bigger and it was out bringing the earlier tour group to see the fjord.

Milford Sound is also called as the Piopiotahi by the Maori.

The fjord is created when a glacier cuts and carves a U-shaped valley by scraping the surrounding bedrock.

Milford Sound Cruise

At 3.10pm, we boarded our cruise with the other passengers and the rain was still pouring.

The Bowen Falls:

The waterfall drops 160m from a hanging valley in the Darren Ranges.

The scenic cruise is 1 hour and 45 minutes and it travels down the south side of the Fjord out to the Tasman Sea and return to the north side. The heavy mist limited our view and we prayed that the rain and mist would go away the soonest.

There were waterfalls everywhere from the top of the high cliffs.
It was getting too cold outside and our jackets and gloves were already wet, so we went in and have hot tea and coffee, which are complimentary.

The seals were comfortably sleeping in the cold weather, near the St Anne Point. We saw a few penguins as well, but didn't get to see any dolphins this time.

In the previous trip, this cruise went halfway under the waterfall and because it was too strong due to the rain, the fleet was having problem to pull back and those standing on the deck were soaked wet.

This time, the commentator announced that they would just go near the waterfall and then cruise away but even then, the water splashed hard on the deck and Tosh and a few guys with cameras on the deck ran back in. Otherwise they would have been soaked wet as well.

This is the waterfall that almost drenched Tosh and it was also in the X-Men Origins : Wolverine movie.

The rock walls are so huge, even the speedboat looks teeny weeny in the picture below.

Right after the cruise, we went to the toilet (since there won't be any toilet break on the way) and then straight to our car. It was already pass 5pm and we hoped to reach Te Anau before it gets dark.

Road to Te Anau

The rain was still pouring heavily down the hills onto the roadside.

After the Homer Tunnel, we saw a lot of snow and Tosh parked our car by the road side.

We were so excited that we just jumped out of the car and forgot to wear our jackets and gloves.

It was our first time touching the snow and Tosh managed to do a small snow ball. It was fun!! Our hands and feet were freezing though, so we couldn't stay out there for a long time.

The journey back to Te Anau was good, but Tosh did drive much faster than before since it was getting darker and somehow we used up quite a lot of gas.

Alhamdulillah, we reached Te Anau safe and sound with a bit of petrol left in the tank.

The Distinction Luxmore Hotel

The hotel exterior looks new and modern, the interior decoration doesn't look very new though, but comfortable enough :)

Our room was clean and big with 2 queen size beds, which was surprising since we only booked the standard room.

That night we went down to the lobby to use the internet and there are a few desktops which use coins. We couldn't remember the exact rates but roughly about the same as the hotel in Queenstown. Our mission that night was to find an accommodation for the next day in Christchurch.

We planned to drive from Te Anau direct to Christchurch, which is 654km and that would take about 9 hours of driving, excluding toilet breaks and short stops in the small towns along the way.

Initially we planned to just sleep in our car or just go straight to the airport since we would reach Christchurch at night and our flight to Auckland is at 7.10am the next morning. We would have to return our car to the rental company around 5am and take a taxi to the airport.

At the last minute, Tosh decided that we should find a hotel to rest, even for a short while. The first hotel that we checked was the Amber Park Holiday, which was the first lodge that we stayed in New Zealand.

Alhamdulillah, we got a great deal for the room but sadly we couldn't book it online for certain reason, so we went to the hotel receptionist and asked for her favor to book on our behalf. She was so helpful and it was done in just a few minutes.

New Zealand - 5

2011-10-16T03:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday

Queenstown

We woke up very early to book our Jet ride. There were 2 options to choose from:

1) Shotover Jet : NZD 119 / pax

2) Skippers Canyon Jet : NZD 129 / pax

Both jet rides are similar but the Shotover Jet is very near to our lodge meanwhile the Skippers Canyon is about 1 hour drive. The staff at our lodge was very helpful in helping us book our jet ride and he highly recommended the Skippers Canyon Jet because it included a 1 hour journey of beautiful scenery with just NZD10 difference. So we booked the Skippers Canyon Jet ride which was scheduled to fetch us in a few hours time and we paid NZD 258 to the hotel staff .

With that few hours to spare, we went to Queenstown for a quick shopping spree.

It was quite early in the morning and the shops were just about to open. While waiting, we went to the beautiful Lake Wakatipu.

Last night, it was too dark to see anything and with this great weather and sun shine, Lake Wakatipu look amazing with the crystal clear water.

For extreme sports lover, you can experience paragliding from the Skyline Gondola on Bob's Peak, over spectacular Queenstown and stunning Lake Wakatipu. There is only one company that is permitted to fly from the Skyline Gondola, which is the Queenstown's G Force Paragliding. Once you land in the lake, there will be a boat that comes and get you.

And the shopping spree began....

The Queenstown Mall is right by the lake and it looks like a row of old style shops.

There were so many things to see but too little time, nevertheless we managed to buy some gifts and Tosh's South Africa Rugby World Cup jersey. Before we went back to the hotel, we bought a large kebab for lunch.

Skippers Canyon Jet

We were expecting a 4-wheel drive to pick us up, but instead the tour guide came with a van. It was already full of passengers with just 2 more empty seats for us.

The early part of the journey was marvelous with beautiful scenery. We could see the Remarkables mountain range, which is a famous ski field.

Then we entered the Skippers Road with a big signboard that reads "Rental cars are not allowed on this road".

We didn't search or find out more about the Skippers Canyon before we took this tour and we were only looking forward to the beautiful scenery and the jet ride, but little that we know that the journey could be very SCARY!!

It was only much later that we knew, the Skippers Canyon road is one of the most dangerous roads in the world! Alhamdullillah the journey was smooth.

Skippers Canyon houses the Shotover River, which is one of New Zealand's richest gold bearing rivers.

In 1862, two shepherds stumbled upon these riches and two months later skippers canyon was bustling with over 4000 gold miners. The quantity of gold recovered labelled Skippers as the richest gold bearing canyon in the world.

The Skippers Canyon road is also called as the "road to riches" and it was carved from the rock walls and sheer cliffs by those gold miners more than 130 years ago, starting from the 1880's.

Up to today, the road is still narrow, unpaved, very bumpy and very steep with sheer drops of several hundred metres.

The narrow road can only fit 1 car at a time but it is being used as a 2-way road by vans and mini buses!

When this happens, one of the vehicles has to wait by the road side and try to give as much space as possible to the in-coming vehicle without falling off the cliff!

It was so scary, even though it was a great experience, we would think twice before repeating this :D

Nevertheless, the jet ride was awesome! The boat operator provided life jackets and they recommended us to bring our sunglasses, gloves and warm clothes / jackets on board. Camera can also be brought along at own risk.

The Jet was custom built in Queenstown, designed specifically to operate on the upper Shotover River and the boat's engine can produce 450 horsepower!

This is the only company permitted to operate in the Skippers Canyon. We love the adrenaline surge as we skimmed through the shallow waters at high speed and experience the jet spins!

The jet ride was about 30-45 minutes. We didn't get wet, just some splashes when the boat operator did the 360 degree turns and we love every second of it!

This used to be a bungee jump spot but it is no longer in operation. According to the guide, usually bungee jump spots are only "hot" for a while, then the extreme sports enthusiasts would move to other spots and try new locations.

After our jet ride, the van picked us up and brought us to this beautiful place.

This is actually the same bungee jump spot that we saw earlier from the boat and below was where we did the spins and 360 degree turns.

There is a family taking care of this place and there is a restroom for those in need, since the journey back is quite far. They also sell pictures of the jet ride but we didn't buy any since it was quite pricey and we've taken a lot of pictures during the ride.

The bridge is high and we walked slowly to the bungee jump spot in the middle since it was shaky and scary. The picture above is where a person would stand before the jump.

After everyone was done with taking pictures, we started our journey through the same road back to the outside world. On the way back, we met with 3 mini buses that were full with people and carrying kayaks. All of us hold our breaths as our van and the mini buses try to get through the narrow road.

The Shotover Lodge

At our hotel, we took some pictures and rest for a while.

The Shotover Jet

The Shotover Jet is very near to our lodge, only about 2-3 minutes away and it is very easy to locate since it is visible from the road. On the way out to Queenstown, we stopped by to see the jet in action. It was so fun to watch. The big red jet boats depart every 15 minutes daily.

Queenstown

Lake Wakatipu

We did a bit more shopping at the Queenstown Mall and managed to find Tawaf an All Black RWC jersey.

It has been a sunny Sunday and a lot of New Zealanders were out enjoying the sun. There was also a flea market and a stage performance by the Wakatipu Lake.

There were a lot of handmade jewelries and items from sheep skin being sold here.

The Aggy's Shack

This Aggy's Shack is famous in Queenstown town center for its takeaway and its wide range of seafood. Most of the visitors enjoy their takeaway food by the lake.

Crunchy and juicy, yummeh!

Skyline Queenstown

The base of this Skyline is about 5 minutes walk from the central Queenstown, but instead we drove our car here. There are a few attractions at the Skyline, which are the Gondola, Skyline Luge, Kiwi Haka, the Skyline Restaurant and the extreme sports; bungee and paraglide. There is no need for advance booking, you can just go and buy the tickets at the counter.

The Gondola

The Gondola is NZD 19 per pax and it is open daily from 9am until late, 365 days per year. The gondola is able to carry 1100 visitors per hour, bringing them from 340m to 790m above sea level.

We bought the combo tickets for the Gondola and the Kiwi Haka at NZD59 per pax.

Each of these Gondola cabins can fit up to 4 people.

From the peak, we could see the Coronet Peak to the north, the Remarkables mountain range to the east and the deep blue waters of Lake Wakatipu.

The Luge

The luge is a 3-wheeled cart with a unique braking and steering system. It doesn't need a battery or engine to run, it is a 100% gravity-fuelled ride. There are 2 tracks to choose from; the scenic track or the advance track. It is only NZD 10 per person for each ride and we choose the scenic track since it was our first time.

After we bought our luge tickets, we chose our helmets and hopped on the chairlift.

At the top (about 1200 ft high), the staff showed us how to maneuver the luge and off we go! It was so much fun!

Pictures taken from www.skyline.co.nz:

The Kiwi Haka

The Kiwi Haka is performed by Queenstown's leading Kapa Haka group at the Skyline where you can experience the Maori culture. The Kiwi Haka starts at 5.15 pm, 6 pm, 7.15 pm and 8 pm daily for 30 minutes each. The door only opens right on time and we were early from our luge ride so we spent some time at the lounge.

As soon as the door was opened, this Maori lady came out and called us to gather near her.

She greeted all of us and gave some introduction to the Maori culture. She also reminded us that there shall be no flash photography during the performance and it is a Maori's ritual, thus visitors are not allowed to laugh or make fun of it. (They take this very seriously)

The early part of the performance was a bit serious. There was this guy with a stick who looked so fierce and angry while performing the ritual, we made sure that we were not even smiling. We surely do not want to get into trouble or offend that fierce looking guy.

After that, the girls came out and they started to sing and dance, we began to relax and enjoy the show.

After the show, they waited for us at the door and invited us to take pictures with them. They are all smiley and friendly :)

The show is a good insight of the Maori culture, thus we would recommend it to those visiting Queenstown :D.

Queenstown Garden

From the Skyline we went back to the Lake Wakatipu to enjoy our time at the Queenstown Garden before the sun set.

There were so many people by the lake, some were playing games while others play guitars, have a picnic and read books.

Around the park there are many strange cages, which are "Holes" for frisbee golf. It is a leisure game that they like to play here, it is similar to a golf but with a frisbee. If you want to play the frisbee golf, you can rent a frisbee for NZD 4 and get a scorecard.

There are a few places near Queenstown that we wanted to go but we couldn't, such as Glenorchy which is only 45 minutes away from Lake Wakatipu. Actually it was in our itinerary but we had to slash it off due to lack of time :(

Glenorchy is the prime location for film, including the famous LOTR movies (many scenes in all 3 LOTR movies), The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia, Hercules and countless advertisements.

As expected, there is a LOTR Scenic Tour in Glenorchy, which comprises of the Middle Earth: Isengard, Wizard Vale, Lothlorien Forest, the Dead Marshes, The Misty Mountains, Ithilien and many more. This trip is longer than the one in Twizel, which is up to 4 hours and 30 minutes including a picnic.

There are only 200 people living in Glenorchy but it is a vibrant town. Most visitors visit Glenorchy to go to the National Park and river. From Glenorchy, you can travel further up to the Rees Valley at the Mount Earnslaw, Paradise and the Kinloch township, which is at the border of Mount Aspiring and Fiordland National Parks. But please note that the road to the Paradise is a bit rough and it is best done in a 4-wheel drive.

Another place that we didn't go is the Moke Lake, only 15 minutes drive from Queenstown. It is said that the place is incredible and there is a track which requires 2 hours of walking (round trip).

The last cancelled destination is the Kawarau Suspension Bridge. It is the original place for the first jump ever made. It is not very high but it is still regarded as the Home of Bungy.

New Zealand - 4

2011-10-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday

Twizel

We woke up a bit late and checked out immediately. It was a bright and cold morning. We were looking forward to the itinerary planned for the day which started with the Lord of the Rings tour in Twizel. Twizel is pretty empty and quiet even during the day. We hardly came across the locals, except for a few people jogging.We went around searching for the LOTR tour with the address in our hand but we couldn't find it. The Twizel information center only opens at noon so we went to a supermarket nearby and asked the staff if they could help.
One of the them directed us to a restaurant and said that the staff there may be able to help.

We went to the restaurant, which was about 5 minutes drive and it seemed that the tour office has relocated from that restaurant building to a hotel, which is the Mackenzie Country Inn, opposite of the restaurant.
Finally we got to the counter and asked for the 1 hour LOTR tour. It was already 11.20am and the tour was at 11.15am while the next one would be at 1.30pm. We were hoping that we could make it for the 11.15am tour.

The hotel staff called the LOTR tour guide and she said that she can pick us up at 11.30am for the tour.

It seemed that she is the owner of the LOTR tour and there wasn't any visitor during the 11.15am tour, so she was kind enough to arrange one just for us. Yeay! We waited for her at the hotel lobby where these LOTR items were being displayed.
The 1 hour tour is NZD 55 @ RM137.50 per pax meanwhile the 2 hours tour is NZD 75 per pax.
Twizel is the location of Gondor, Middle Earth in the Lord of The Rings, Return of the King movie. There were 1500 casts needed for the film in Twizel but Twizel didn't have enough residents to provide this number. Thus they invited locals from the nearby area such as Dunedin, Christchurch and others to be the casts. There were also some tourists who were staying in Twizel who took part in the movie. Just imagine, there's a knock on the hotel door and someone says "Would you like to be a cast in the Lord of The Rings movie?" hehe that would be very exciting!
The film location is on a private land and it is not accessible by the public, with exception to this tour. On the way to the private land, we passed by the snow capped mountains and a flock of sheep. They were practically in the middle of the road and we have to wait for a while until the road was clear.
All of these sheep look thin because they have just been shaved :)
The Lord of the Rings Tour

During this tour, our guide told us a lot of stories and insights of the film in Twizel and we tried on the LOTR costumes, swords and masks.
It was fun playing with the swords, even though they were quite heavy. There were only the 2 of us so we have plenty of time to play with all of the items.

The sword was heavy and so was the mask! The LOTR actors and actresses had to practice with their swords for quite some time before they filmed the scenes.

Tosh dressed up as the Nazgul Witch King :)

Upon exiting the land, we met one of the locals who was part of the LOTR casts. He was one of the horse riders. It was so fascinating to hear his story and experience.

We got an extra 20 minutes of the LOTR tour listening to him and we definitely enjoyed it. Then our guide sent us back to the hotel, where we parked our car.

Here is our LOTR guide, Elayne :) (www.lordoftheringstour.com)On the way out of Twizel, we stopped by the High Country Salmon Farm and bought fresh salmon sashimi. The salmons are cheap!Just a few minutes drive from the Salmon Farm, there is a nice rest area by the road side where we stopped and made some salmon sandwiches. We sat there having our breakfast but we couldn't stay long because it was getting cold with all the trees around us.

Our next destination was Wanaka and it is 144km from Twizel. It takes about 1 hour 40 minutes by car to reach there.Scenic drive at Lindis Pass.The beautiful view made us stop every other minute to take pictures :)
We passed by the Waitaki District.The Waitaki Valley offers traveller a journey of stunning beauty, where the
landscape changes every 15 minutes.
It is easy to drive around the South Island, there's no need for a map :). But we do need a map when we drive in Christchurch.

Wanaka

We reached Wanaka at 4pm and this is the Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World.
It is open from 8.30am - 5.30pm. We bought the Great Maze and the Illusion Rooms combo tickets for NZD 15 @ RM37.50 per pax.

The Hologram Hall There are many amazing 3-D holograms.
The Hall of Following Faces & The Tilted House

The Ames Room

This is the Ames Forced Perspective Room. The technique of this illusion was used in The Lord of the Rings film to create tall people and little people. The shape of this room is totally distorted although when viewed from outside through a window, the room looks perfectly normal.
At the Puzzle Centre, there is a Café and a large gift shop with eccentric architecture.
In the Puzzling Café, there are tables of puzzling things to try while enjoying light refreshments.

Roman-Style Toilets

Apart from this Roman-style toilet, there are also the usual ladies and gents which are designed beautifully.

The Great Maze (Labyrinth)

This is the hardest tower to get to, among others.

The Leaning and Tumbling Towers

Not far from this place, lies this beautiful lake:

Lake Wanaka

Wanaka is a very peaceful and relaxing place and the houses are built around this lake.

Just opposite of this spot, there are a few shops and we bought fresh & crispy fish and chips from one of those shops.

Yummy! We ate it at a gazebo on the beach while enjoying the great scenery and the cool breeze.

It was time to make a move, at 6.20pm we started our journey and drive towards Queenstown which is only 68 km @ 1 hour drive.

After a short drive we reached Cardrona.

This is the Crown Range Summit, which is the highest sealed road in New Zealand. We were practically driving through the cloud.

There were some snow left on the summit.

We continued to drive down towards Arrowtown. Arrowtown is a vibrant history gold mining town established in 1862.
This is the beautiful view of the Arrowtown from above. Tosh drove slowly through the steep and sharp corners as we drove down to the valley.

Shotover Lodge

Our next accommodation was the Shotover Lodge, near Coronet Peak.

Coronet Peak is just 7km before reaching Queenstown. We planned to check-in and rest for a while before going to Queenstown at night, which is only 10 minutes drive.

The Shotover Lodge is a 3 star hotel and it looks new, and smells new too. It is surrounded by mountains and has an easy access to the Coronet Peak.

We booked 1 twin room for 2 nights through booking.com and we paid the whole amount of NZD 160 @ RM 400 during check-in without any initial deposit. Upon check-in the lady gave us a double room instead :)

There is wifi in the room which is charged at NZD 4 per hour. We wanted to use the wifi in our room but on that night they had some problems with their connection.

The check-in time is at 2pm - 8pm but checking-in after 5pm requires 2 days notice to ensure there would be someone waiting at the reception counter. We reached the hotel quite late, about 7.20 pm and we forgot to inform them in advance.

The lady at the reception counter said that she was getting worried and was waiting for us for a long time. We apologized and told her that we had a long drive from Twizel.

After getting our key, she showed our room and said that we can park our car just in-front of our room.

It was very refreshing to have a hot bath after our long drive.

That night, on the way to Queenstown, we dropped by a supermarket to buy our stock of food & drinks. There were many tvs in the supermarket & everybody including the staff were watching a rugby match and cheering for their team.

At the counter, the cashier lady greeted us with "Assalamualaikum". We replied her salam, actually we were in shock since she looked like a native New Zealander. It seemed that she is a Malaysian from Kuala Kangsar and she has been living in NZ for quite a while :D.

At the center of Queenstown, many shops were already closed and we could only see some couples and a few groups of teenagers walking around. We drove around Queenstown and parked our car near Lake Wakatipu.

The cold weather made us hungry again and we decided to take-away McDonald burgers.

That night we had a very good sleep at the Shotover Lodge. It was so comfy & warm against the cold weather outside.