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 

AOTEAROA.... New Zealand here we come!

Tui (native Nz bird).. Very unique vocalisation with clicks and wheezing sounds...

Aotearoa is a Maori word which means the 'land of the long white cloud'. Exactly a year ago, we arrive Perth, Australia. And today we are here at Auckland, New Zealand! Peter's cousin came to the airport to fetch us back to his house. We had no problem passing the custom and quarantine restrictions. It was really nice of George and his gf Melinda, giving us a warm house to stay while we arrange to buy a campervan in Auckland.

 

Spring flowers blooming all around Auckland =)

 Our first day in Auckland, headed to McDonalds to try out their NZ LAMB burger. It's huge!! And yummy.. The frozen coke did not taste as good as we thought.. =P

 

Auckland Britomart Train station

However we got no chance to try the train because bus is cheaper and more convenient for us.

Streets of Auckland city...

 

 Town Hall

 

SkyTower***** the Skycity casino, Sky walk and Sky jump all in this tower!

 St Patrick Cathedral

 Auckland Harbour

A A special event of presenting Valerie Adams the Olympic shot put gold medal..

 The Cloud on Queens Wharf

 

Finally we can have a great dinner together with Lim family in Auckland, we feel so glad to meet Anson and Rosie for the first time that night. That dinner was awesome as we are having 'Poon Choi' which need to be booked in advance and this is probably the best chinese meal P&A have since we left Malaysia.

Hearty Poon Choi with abalone, prawns, sea cucumber, duck and roast pork!

Cutie Anson

 A smartie, knows how to dance Gangnam style and eats lemon!

A healthy breakfast prepared by Melinda.. Rolled oats in yogurt with apple and Goji berries =) 

The view from Uncle Lim house. Went for a chat with Uncle that day, and we know lots more about NZ now!

NEXT @ AUCKLAND

Darwin & Barramundi Fiesta

The Parliament

Darwin, a city where winter never visits. It really feels like the weather back in Malaysia. Less humid though. And there are many Asians living here cause it's nearest to South East Asia. It's also the first city to be bombed by the Japanese in 1942 WWII.

Parking around the city is fairly easy, because the city is so small it is all very accessible if park at the Esplanade which allows for whole day parking for $6. The street parking is FOC from 5pm-8am.

We visited the state library, located just within the Parliament building. We are on the right time of the week, cause there is a free guided tour around the Parliament every Wed at 10.30am. It was an interesting tour in fact, we learned more about the parlimentary system which we know little of. The whole system generally followed their mother London's Westminster.

Northern Territory was under South Australia in the beginning which was then separated from SA. So Northern Territory is not a state like the others, not under control of the Commonwealth, which is why there is no Union Jack on their flag.

Inside the chamber

Darwin Waterfront

Skycity Casino located just 3kms from the CBD. Like every other city, we paid a visit to the casino to grab any membership benefits at all =P and yes they do offer new members $10 free credits on the pokies/slot machines. It's our lucky day, we managed to win $40 from the free credits! Yay, now we can spend on buying the local famous barramundi fish for dinner!

Our dinner of Barramundi fish, bought fresh from Coles =) Finally we get to savour this long wait fish. Really delicious and the texture is... erm... good... as in slightly firm =)

The Bicentennial Park

Darwin at night

We stayed at Aurora Shady Glen Caravan Park, located at Winnilie. Only 10minutes to city. Cost for powered site is $39. There is unpowered site (since it's not cold anyway), but would most probably be occupied by the backpackers. There are really MANY backpackers at Darwin. Looking for job probably. At night it is quite noisy, since it's so close to the airport. 

From Darwin, it is relatively easy to travel to the Kakadu national parks then to Kathrine for the Nitmiluk National Park and back to Darwin or the other way round. It will be about 550kms drive to go to all these destinations. 

Sydney III

Central Station

From here, we took the light rail (tram) to Sydney Fish Market!

This is the only tram line available now, others already demolished long time ago. Sydney has complex public transportation system that including train, ferry, bus and tram, all that make it so convenient to travel in the city or outside city.

Sydney Fish Market***** It's a must go for seafood lovers! We can find all sorts of seafood here, including Tasmanian Lobsters! There are  a main building where people normally order fresh seafood to be cooked by the vendor. There are also some stalls outside the main building which sells only the seafood. Open 7am - 4pm.

At Christie's Seafood, the first shop on the left of the main building. BIG Lobster and Alaska King Crab!!! LOOK AT THEIR SIZE!!!! It is so tempting looking at the abalone, lobsters, king crabs on the customers' table. Cooked Chinese style. AArrgh. . . 

=.=

After many walks around the shops, we finally settled for a Lobster Platter for $45 @ Nicholas Seafood. Honestly, the half lobster we get doesn't taste fresh at all! The rest on the platter is battered fish, calamari, scallops and prawns and they seemed to be just frozen packaged seafood. It is better to buy fresh seafood then ask them to cook. But it will be $10 extra per kg for the cooking. The prices among the stalls are almost the same. 

We miss the King Crab and Lobster!!! We didn't go for them because of the price and they are so big portion. We have feeling of regret for our decision. However, we still finished the seafood plater for sure!

Maritime Museum. Costs $25 to enter the ship and the exhibitions.

At The Rocks again, this time to visit the free The Rocks Discovery Museum*****. A good place to know about Sydney's history before the European settlement, during and after! It is just located nearby the Rocks Visitor Info Center. Open 10am to 5pm.

Time gone back in this alley ~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

The Rocks

Sydney's Oldest Hotel

You can get good night view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House from the hotel's bar according to visitor center. 

From The Rocks, we took a walk on the Harbour Bridge. It was a really good walk! Many opportunities to take beautiful pictures of the Opera House and the city. We took the walk during sunset, the colours are just so NICE! The bridge length is about 1.1km. 

Unique apartment with reflection of sunset

Under the Pylon Tower, a 360 degree lookout tower of Sydney for $11. A 200 steps climb to the top. We didn't enter the lookout at it was open from 10am to 5pm. 

The steel structure of Harbour Bridge. Took about 10 years to completely finish building this tall steel bridge in 1932. This is a "MUST WALK" bridge, only with the walk, you able to feel the huge steel creation, how impressive is the Structure and it is FREE as well. One side of the bridge is for pedestrian and another side is for cyclist.

Opera House & City, with busy ferry crossings.

Luna Park, a theme park located at the northern end of the bridge, Milsons Point.

View from Milsons Point Ferry wharf. We took the bridge walk from the right side (southern end of the bridge) to the left (northern end). Then took the ferry ride back to Pyrmont Bay, where Sydney's The Star Casino is located. Casino is a must go for us, not for gamble but for the free stuff!

This time, we got a free Chicken Parmagiana meal and $20 table bet upon signing up as members! LOL. Also members' benefit, their coffee is selling for only $1.50!! With the $20 table bet, P's dad manage to win the $20 on the dice game. =) and that makes my father become the 'promoter' for the casino, he recommend to everyone he met in caravan park for the casino free offer.