Kiwi Trip 3rd - Queenstown

It's almost Christmas. It's been a year since my last plane travel and because of covid, looks like I won't be cruising the skies for another year. I've also applied for Australian citizenship and I heard it takes about a year or two to process so I guess I'll be in Sydney for a while. 

Anyway this post will be mainly our Queenstown trip with my mom, Tita N, Tita A and Uncle J who visited me here last November 2019! But before going to Queenstown, off course I showed them around here in Sydney too so here are some highlights. Some days I wasn't able to come with them, good thing Tita N is tech savvy and is able to be their tour guide haha.. Apologies aunties as I have limited leaves! Tita N survived just by google maps and their Opal card. :) It's also Tita N's second time here as her family went here last Dec 2018 (with my cuzkins!) so I was also able to hang out with them! They went whale watching, Sydney Sealife, Zoo, Blue Mountains, Bondi, Sydney CBD, Eye Tower, Manly beach and watched Cirque du Soleil.

Good to have my aunties who always prepare the food for us!

Off course, no trip to NSW is complete without visiting Blue Mountains - Three Sisters :)

Perfect timing too they were able to see 2019 sculptures by the sea near Bondi

Treated them with Kurios show - Cirque du Soleil latest attraction

Had high tea party, thanks for the treat!

Uncle is 70++ but still able to walk and stroll with us younger folks!

Feeling the wind at Bondi beach!

After a week in Sydney, they wanted to go to New Zealand so took them to Queenstown which is in Southern part of New Zealand. This is my third time in NZ but first time in the South side. My first trip was always on the Northern Islands. Again I rented Toyota Rav 4 so we can freely drive around. I love driving!

We stayed at Breakfree the Point, we had such a good stay as the views were breath taking and we got a free upgrade from a 2BR to a 3BR! You wake up near Queenstown lake and see mountainous views with ice caps. Just beautiful.

Arrived late, hungry we drove to Queenstown town proper and found KFC open! Thank goodness.

Will you look at these love birds? Love birds or the view?

Tita N enjoying her morning coffee

Actually it was gloomy when we first arrived but we stayed for 5 days and 4 nights so some days we were able to see the gorgeous views.

The next day we went strolling around Queenstown then rode the Skyline Gondola, had a delish buffet at the top,  then headed to Botanical Garden and Frankton beach.

Gondola ride with mom and Tita N

Unfortunately it's all fog, BUT it did clear up after our lunch so all is well!

Love the buffet here, I especially enjoyed Monk fish dish. Love it!

Auntie at Frankton beach :)

Me and mom at Queenstown Botanical Garden

The next day we had our Milford Sound cruise tour. I highly recommend going if it's your first time, it's quite a road trip though. Most of the time you'll be in the bus but the bus has a restroom plus glass ceiling so you'd be able to see the glaciers and snow capped mountains as you pass them by. Milford Sound is located at Fiordland National park and has been judged as world's top travel destination also previously called 8th wonder of the world. We saw wild seals, waterfalls and had a taste of glacier water!

This is the tour I got btw if you want to avail :) - https://www.jucycruise.co.nz/premium-milford-sound-cruise/classic-milford-sound-cruise/

Want a taste of glacier water?

Ready to cruise after 4 hours trip!

Glacier lake and waterfalls

After that 7 hour road trip, we were too tired so just went to sleep. It felt like a drive from Manila to Bulusan, my mom's home town. Lol.

The next day, I took them to Wanaka to see a Lavender farm, Wanaka tree, Wanaka Lake then drove to the mining town called Arrowtown for some sight seeing.

Me and mom overlooking Queenstown, this was so high it felt like you can almost touch the clouds.

Aunties at lavender farm who also bought lavender products haha..

Tita N and her lavender field

This was at Wanaka Lake, we were having our lunch sandwiches!

Mom enjoying the view

Me at 'that Wanaka tree'

I wish had a photo of Arrowtown! It has it's own charm. It's a historic mining town and you can buy gold products. Highly recommend strolling as the cute shops and town is worth it.

Went back to Queenstown and had dinner at the famous Fergburger. In my opinion, tastes like regular burgers here in AU haha, queued and just ticked off from our bucket list.

They say it's a must try but for me nothing special just your regular burger and fries.

After Wanaka and Arrowtown, I wanted to see Isengard Lookout where some of the fighting scenes in the Lord of the Rings were shot. Unfortunately it was raining and foggy so we didn't see anything. We were just able to stop by at Glenorchy and that's about our last day in Queenstown.

Iconic Glenorchy hut with Tita N

Glenorchy was our last stop and the next day we headed back to Sydney wherein we only had a night's rest and when we woke up, back again at the airport! Me, mom and Tita N flying to Manila. ( My company sent me to PH to provide training to our new Manila members of our team. Free trip home yes! I also asked them if I could schedule my flight same as my mom's so we all went together.) then Uncle J and Auntie flying back to Florida. 

I normally fly to PH once a year but since this pandemic hit us, I'm guessing my next PH trip will be on 2022. If all goes well. I told my parents that if the vaccine is available next year, they can visit me here and spend Christmas with me on December 2021. I won't be able to leave yet until my AU citizenship has been assessed and processed so, I think they should come to me instead. :p I want them to see my own home too. :)

Anyway that's it! I guess I'm almost up to date with my travel blogs, next one is our Gold Coast trip with M last December 2019. 

Me and my friends are driving to Coffs Harbour after Christmas. (That's almost a 6 hour drive from Sydney.) NSW is almost covid free hope we can continue with this low numbers and no community transmission as we are planning a trip to Tasmania on Feb. Finger's crossed.

Kiwi trip the 2nd - Kia ora!

Ah September, how time flies. I feel like time just slipped by this 2020 because of COVID-19, it's not really a good year for most people. A lot lost their jobs, business closures, lost loved ones I hope next year we'll have the vaccine so we can all live normally as we used to. So far my 2020 is still pretty good to me, I am well, my family is well, passed AWS certification, got a new car (Mazda CX-5!) and yeah got my own home here in Australia. I am paying two mortgages (one in PH) so I need to keep earning money and cannot afford to be jobless. Thankfully I am still with my employer and busy each day. Anyways I thought I'd write my North NZ trip with M this evening.

I was supposed to get the Mazda CX-30 but due to covid, there was a delay in car deliveries. As it was the latest car to buy, dealer said to wait until July (This was in May). I couldn't wait for 2 mos so got a CX-5 instead.

Before our NZ trip, I actually went back to Manila, PH for 2 weeks last April 2019. I enjoy visiting my family, friends and off course Kisses, my dog who I miss the most! A bond with your dog is just different than people, I miss Kisses all the time so I always come home at least once a year. Good thing my employer sometimes also sends me to PH for work stuff so I get to come home frequently.

Trip to Las Casas with family and Kisses

Me and my cousins are all close, we grew up together so we like to hang out when we get the chance.

The day I fly back to Sydney, it's sad to leave Kisses boo behind :( she always comes with me to the airport.

Oh before we went to NZ, me and M had a mini trip to Melbourne to watch Harry potter and the Cursed child! We only went on a weekend (May 2019) so we went straight to the office from the airport after landing 7am on a Monday in Syd!

Potterheads!

Onto the NZ blog (May 2019)!

Autumn is my favorite season to travel and New Zealand is definitely a place you'd go during autumn. Actually you can go any season! It's peaceful and scenic country, I know I will always enjoy coming back. I love driving in NZ so again I rented a Toyota Rav 4 and drove for more than a thousand km in a span of 7 days! If you want to follow my itinerary, here it is from Auckland to Coromandel - Matamata - Rotorua - Taupo - Waitomo - Hamilton then back to Auckland! It is pretty packed.

Coromandel: Me and M arrived at Auckland airport and picked up our rental car. I drove all the way to Coromandel in the dusk and it was scary!  The road to Coromandel is steep, narrow and winding. It's not something I recommend to drive at night for first time goers. We got a little late because there was traffic in Auckland and we ate at KFC :p so by the time I was on the road to Coromandel it was already late. The fog wasn't helping too but all is well and we arrived in our resort at 10pm. I recommend staying here at Tatahi Lodge if you are visiting Coromandel! They've got cozy log cabins, near the beach!

Coromandel Accomodation: https://www.tatahilodge.co.nz/accommodation/

Beach near Tatahi lodge

We were supposed to go to Cathedral cove where Narnia was shot unfortunately I didn't research good enough that we needed at least a day to go there! You have to ride a boat then it's about a 2 hour hike to reach the cove. We didn't have enough time as that day, I also booked afternoon tickets to Hobbiton so we just went to Hot water beach instead.

Where you dig in the sand and hot water comes out from underground fissures.

Matamata: After Coromandel, I drove to Matamata to visit Hobbiton.. again! It's my second time here it's where they shot some scenes from the Lord of the Rings. The tour guide will explain the scenes from the movie. If you're a fan, don't forget to add this to your list of destinations. I love the details of the set here, also there is a channel in NZ where they endlessly show Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies!

Middle earth adventurers

Frodo are you there?

On my way to Green Dragon Inn to get ginger beer!

Rotorua: After Hobbiton, off we go to Rotorua or as the locals say  Rotten-rua! So the city itself is filled with geothermal lakes so it smells like rotten egg due to the sulfur hence Rottenrua nickname. It is famous for Geothermal activities, mountain biking, hiking and Maori culture. Over here we went to Governor's Manor, Whakarewarewa forest aka Red Woods, rode the Skyline Gondola, visited Wai-o-Tapu Wonderland and watched a Maori traditional dance.

Just a huge mansion in town

A must when visiting Rotorua, it's just filled with towering, majestic trees. Hundreds if not thousands of them! One of my favorite places.

Stop by Wai-o-Tapu Thermal wonderland for geysers and geothermal activities.

Tamaki Maori village for insights on Maori culture and traditions. We had a buffet dinner too, Kia-Ora!

Gorgeous view from riding the Gondola. You can also avail Luge to ride back down.

Taupo: After Rotorua, we head off to Taupo where in we had breakfast in the only McDonald's with a decommissioned DC3 plane. Menu was the same but it was cool you get to eat inside the plane!

Burger and fries?

 

Instead of seats, you'll see dining tables. You can also see the cockpit and steering wheel in the front side!

After breakfast, we attempted to ride a bike to Huka falls bike trail but failed! Due to lack of biking experience, I wasn't even able to ride the off road section in the beginning. In the end just took some photos of the falls, and rode the bike back to the rentals.

#lovetaupo hashtag

When riding a bike fails, just take a selfie

Actually fell in the middle of the road and got myself a massive bruise on my leg. But all smiles life goes on.

After Huka falls, we went to Craters of the moon. It's named that way due to the craters and geothermal activity.

Craters of the moon more like craters on Taupo

Waitomo: After Taupo, we went to Waitomo to see glow worms! We went to Ruakuri cave and to Waitomo glow worm cave.

Ruakuri reserve for glow worms and limestone formations. It is an underground cave so you'll also see crystal formations.

Spiral staircase down to the cave's entrance

Stars? Nope these are glow worms. Much prettier in person.

Stalagmites and Stalactites

Hamilton: After our glow worm expeditions, I drove off to Hamilton. We went to Hamilton Gardens, it's a public garden. There are areas in the garden wherein they showcase the garden based on countries. They have a Japanese garden, Chinese, Italian, Indian and Modernist style garden.

But first brunch!

Japanese garden

Italian - renaissance style garden

Indian garden

Chinese garden - everywhere I go there is one!

The last stop in Hamilton was Waikato museum. Then we flew back to Sydney from Auckland. As you can see, it is a jammed pack trip. I like to do DIYs than go on tours so you can explore in your own pace. Oh yeah we flew Air New Zealand, the country's flag carrier and I must admit it is now my favorite airline. I like that they have extra legroom in economy class but what I don't like is I have to pay for the movies. Got lucky on the flights as we got them on sale. 

My aunties and my mom visited me here in Sydney last November 2019. They all wanted to go to NZ too so I took them to Queenstown, the most scenic place in NZ South Island.

That is another post to tell the tale. :)