Leaving Auckland and Balik Kampung, Malaysia

The day before leaving Auckland, what we are going to do on the last day, no more touring here and there, we just relax at the city, trying the cheap eat that highly recommended by Peter's Aunt, lobster and steak meal at the Auckland Tower (Casino). Then we meet up with Balz and Jenny again for some drink before dinner.

Our last dinner at Auckland, no more budget constraint, just go for the best one, we pick a 'looks nice' western restaurant next to the Auckland pier, then we only realized that the chef is actually a Chinese, haha.. but the food tasted great. Having a great chit chat time with our friends but the feeling of leaving is kind of weird but exciting as well because we are going to back to our Home after 16 months of travelling, we have never left home for such  long time...

Finally, we are in airport, big THANK YOU to Peter's uncle and aunt who send us to airport, we truly have a great stay in Auckland which is much better than our tent and Kiwi zai. Btw, PEte, you really need to get a hair cut as soon as you land! LOL

Good Bye, NEW ZEALAND!!!

Wow, the very last look of NZ for now =) Totally amazing, makes you miss this dreamland so soon! 

What can we say, the 16 months of adventure have been so so SO great, one chapter of life completed, full of adventures and many 'FIRST times' of our life.. First time buy car oversea, first waitress job, first morning cook job, first housekeeping, first fruit picking, first multi day hiking, first diving, first hitch hiking, first time jamming in jungle, first Xmas overseas, first caravaning, first time burning (almost) people's shed, first volunteering job, first wind blown tent till cannot sleep night, first time fishing, first time almost death cause of rip current, first time skiing, first time boat cruise, first time sailing, first swim with sealion/dolphins, first black water rafting, first crabbing and the list goes on... =) 

Truly unforgettable.. Well, now we have our own stories to tell when we are old.. To those that have been wishing to backpack travel for as long as they wanted, so what are you waiting for?? =D 

Poor Knight Islands DIVE

Weather forecast said today is going to be a cloudy day which means the visibility down there might not be so good. However, this won't ruin our mood for the dive here at Poor Knights Island, known as one of the Top 10 dive site in the world.

After our last dive in Great Barrier Reef, we actually have no plan for another dive in New Zealand as it just so cold in NZ. But we just can't resist to dive again when we know how special this island is. Plus when we hear that it the top 10 best dive site in the world?! Gosh, we are willing to spend that NZD250 for a day's dive!

Here we see the Poor Knight Islands, there are a couple of reason for the name of this island according to our guide. One  very obvious reason: The island looks like a knight with his shield (sideways). Another more legendary: When Captain Cook sail pass this island in November, the island was covered with red flowering rata trees all over in the summer, thus he named the island Poor Knights Island, because it reminds him of the poor knights pudding - as bread got mould, they had no choice but fried it in egg and top with jam, the poor knights' food. =D

As soon as we stopped at our first dive spot, there is a big manta ray swimming below the surface. The instructors were so excited and jumped into the water immediately, while the rest of us get ready asap! The manta ray actually is a kind of fish belongs to coral sea which we wish to see in Great Barrier Reef, but we saw it here instead! Everyone is just so excited and in a matter of a minute probably, it was gone! Oppss...  we only saw it from from the boat =.=

Poor Knight Islands is such an amazing islands, combination of many unique characters in it. It has the LARGEST sea cave in the world which can fit in a Boeing 747, and in winter, the sunlight can lid up the whole cave. In summer time, the whole island will be in red colour as Rata trees will be grow so red and cover the entire island. It just a gift from the God.

Riko Riko Cave (the world largest sea cave), in Maori meaning shimmering/ dancing lights.. As mentioned, in winter the light shining through will lit up the entire cave, so the water reflects on the cave walls and shimmering it! Thus, it's name =)

Looks carefully in the picture and you can see a school of blue fishes hanging around there.

Our first time to dive in cold water, around 20 degrees celcius, that is not easy, we all wore a 7mm thick wet suit to make sure we are warm enough down there, and Peter felt not comfortable for the first dive as the buoyancy is hard to control because of the heavy wet suit. Pete only had a 20 mins dive time as his air got sucked out by the struggling of buoyancy :D So he got back to the boat himself, and of course without wasting time, he jump into the water again, for snorkelling. We saw a lot of fishes even the visibility is average, and no worries of stepping on coral cause the sea floor are covered with sea weed only, the water is too cold for reef to form. 

Though there were no corals here, there are lots of fishes and nudibranch! We also saw yellow and grey morays for the first time! Gosh they look so fierce and big in pictures, we'd never imagined it to be so small in size :D Probably the ones we saw are about 15cm long..

Picture!!!

Our boat cruise pass this great natural sea arch, it is just massive...

Another small sea arch here.

After the first dive, we looked alright in this picture, but actually Peter had just vomit his lunch in the toilet. Oppss.. Certainly not easy to adapt in the cold water.

Before the second dive, our guide took us to tour around the islands, we are just 'wow-ing' for every scene of the island. Then we have a great, long, enjoyable second dive. We see lots of fish again, and we also did an amazing dive into a little dark cave, when we are inside the cave, it is totally dark, then we turn back to see towards the only entrance/exit of the cave, the silhouette lit up by the natural sun rays, shining through a school of fish is just..... amazing.... just incredible!!

Really good dive trip, very different as we are seeing beds of seaweed instead of colorful corals and for the first time exploring sea cave and beautiful nudibranches. If it were not for the cold water, I think we would enjoy it much more =) Really looking forward ti dive in Sipadan Island, Malaysia!

90 Miles Beach to Kauri Coast

Tapotupotu bay campsite - sunrising soon.. We are leaving Cape Reinga today, traveling back south to Waipoua Forest..

All the avocados you want! Of course, please pay in the box :)

Avos has become one of our favourite breakfast, one spoonful of avo with a dot of nutella.. mmm yums...

Here we are at the 90 Miles Beach... Gosh endless beach, as its name suggest 90miles = 144.84KM long...

Just staring at the works of god.. When can we see these long spread of clean, uncrowded beach again?

Sand dunes everywhere

Giant Kauri Staircase @ Ancient Kauri Kingdom 

A staircase inside a tree??! These amazing ancient kauri trees carving and sculptures were kauri trees which were recovered from the deep ground, buried for hundred/thousand of years.

The tree climber =)

We are here at Waipoua Forest, home to Tane Mahuta, king of the forest and the largest remaining kauri tree in the country. The 1500 year old Tane Mahuta is 51.5 metres tall, with a girth of 13.77 metres. The second and third largest kauri trees can also be found in the Waipoua Forest: Te Matua Ngahere and the McGregor Kauri.

The Four Sisters

Look how tiny we are... 

Te Matua Ngahere ( Father of the Forest), the oldest Kauri Tree, 2000 years old!

It is a great walk short walk to marvel at these giant ancient trees... Imagine the Maoris using these trees to make canoe and build houses. Now we learn a little of about this land.. Really sometimes we wonder, how much do we know about our own homeland? What is the largest tree in our tropical forest? Tourism Malaysia please provide more information to tourists and locals alike~~ Or maybe we should start seeing more of our homeland when we're back! =)

Haruru Fall, Kerikeri, Manganui, Te Paki, Cape Reinga

  Haruru Falls**** A relaxing waterfall with horseshoe shape =) Though there are warning signs at the carpark of theft.. hehe.. Just becareful not to leave valuables in the car...

This is one great beginning to a full adventure day.

Stone Store @ Kerikeri****, NZ's oldest stone building, built in 1832..

The Stone Store is of national and international significance as the oldest surviving commercial building in New Zealand, demonstrating the early stages of the country's connection with international trade. It is the oldest remaining building linked with the import of goods from overseas, the storage of produce grown in New Zealand and the bartering of goods with Maori.

Here we see a collection of old goods that were used to be traded.. The stone store is open to public viewing and there are goods sold in there too..

There is a nice garden for a lovely stroll at the stone store and we just spent some time capturing the beautiful flowers...

The grapes in summer!

Driving on from Kerikeri, we stopped by at Mangonui. Here's the 'world famous' fish and chips... Really? We have to try!

Two BIG seagulls waiting eagerly for fish and chips!! Review: Yea, fresh fish, but we don't remember the taste though, so must be average..

Our highlight of the day: Sandboarding @ Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes*****~ Great, we can burn the fish and chips calories here! This is certainly one of the must do in Northland, and we can't wait! We rent two sand boards (as we are not allow to share) for NZD15 each... Well there's only one stall there, unless you bring your own boogie board..

Before the climbing up of the super steep dunes, let's take some relaxing picture :P

OMG, I think we took at least 10minutes climbing up these super steep dunes with soft sand that every step we take is just exhaustive...! Then it is about 20 seconds of happiness & adrenalin rush down the dunes.. WOOHOOO..... But totally worth it.. we manage to get 4 rounds I think... haha....

After the tiring fun sandboarding, we are at Cape Reinga*****!!

Cape Reinga, the almost most north westerly point of NZ!

Cape Reinga Lighthouse*****

It is here we choose to perform 'hongi'... the Maori way, sharing the breath of life... =)

The meeting of two seas,  Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east.

Unforgettable sunset... Breathtaking views...