New Zealand - The journey & Day 1

It was a blessing that the day we left for our holiday Down Under, it was a public holiday. Less the hectic & a day saved on the amounting of zeros in the girls' class register. But it should be accompanied with the letter S for "surat" as I had earlier submitted a letter of absence to each class teacher.

The moment I'm writing this, we are in Auckland. In the City Life Hotel to be exact. Situated in the heart of Auckland city & as Yasmin put it "I don't feel that we are in New Zealand!". To her New Zealand is a big farm with cattle & sheep. Beautiful panoramic views of mountains, fiords, lakes... but all she could see right in front of her eyes was another city with melting pots of Asians features.

Yes, there are a number of migrators in this city. I even overheard Wardah mentioned something about us in Taipei instead of Auckland. Hahaha! How observant kids can be. I have to agree with her though. There are many Asians migrants especially at the shops as salespersons or perhaps the owner themselves. But... I came across a couple of Polynesian looking hunks at the airport just now ;-) Woo hoo! Not the All Blacks though but the airport cleaner. Hehehe...

It is 827pm now Malaysian time & local time is approximately 5 hours added, which should be 127am. Quite normal though for me to be awake at such time but the main problem here is I just woke up! Was too tired after dinner just now. Hit the sack together with the girls. Now everyone is in dreamland & here I am as awake as an owl. Might as well I compose something & will publish this when I have internet connection.

The journey was a smooth one for us alhamdulillah... Less the drama as I had HB around to assist attending to the girls.

Uncle B sent us off to the airport this time. (Yelah... it's not for free. Nanti aku carilah mana-mana jersey yang ada saiz kau!) Now girls simultaneously... "Thank you Uncle B..!"

The girls on the way to KLIA with Fatin & Arif.

My... this Wardah has become much more like me, right? That "colgate smile" is sure inherited ;-)

At KLIA, waiting for HB checking in.

At the satalite building as usual Nadeen did her business ... hmmmph (she did exactly that during both our trips overseas before!) & Yasmin now ended up with a pair of shoes extra! The sole of the shoes she was wearing (My mom bought a looong time ago for my sis in the UK but she hardly wore them....) came out & of course there was no cobbler around (as if I had the time for that...). Pandai kasut tu, dekat duty free buat hal ;- We managed to shop for a pair of sports shoes though.


It was easy babysitting the younger girls here at the the toy shop. But of course I needed to make a deal with Balqis beforehand. You can play but mama won't purchase anything. It worked!

Nadeen refused the stroller. She was practising on her walk most of the time. Sigh...

Savouring the in flight meal whilst watching a movie. I think they were watching High School Musical 3.

Say cheese Wardah...

Nadeen wanted to check out the plane but was bodycuffed by papa ;-)

At last asleep in the bassinet.

Others too. Yasmin with Balqis & Wardah. Later in the night Balqis shifted next to me & Nadeen slept in my arms...

It was a night flight. Less the trouble for me. I didn't allow them to take a nap before the flight. The idea was for them to sleep all through the 10hrs journey. Take that as a tip..;-)

We reached Auckland at 1205pm NZ time. Ahead from schedule. Unfortunately we were delayed by Nadeen's stroller at the luggage carousel. It was amongst the last to come out. Should have put it in the cabin. It was really a long wait. Almost an hour. After we got hold of the stroller the queue for bio-security check was long. We declared a few items like dairy products & some food. Surprisingly all were cleared... Yeah! Yeah!

Auckland International Airport with the luggage carousel in the background.

Balqis befriended this Kiwi girl during the long wait for the stroller.

The immigration check.

We were lucky with the taxi though. Once out of the airport there was a shuttle taxi waiting for us. The trip to our hotel took us around Auckland city. We were apparently sharing the shuttle with 3 more couple with 3 different destinations. Ours was the 3rd stop.

Everyone of us in the shuttle taxi.

Met up with my college friend, Zu at the hotel. She is a postgraduate student in the University of Waikato. Was too excited seeing her that I didn't shoot any pic with her. Will make sure that I take one pic with her when I pay her a visit on the 8th day.

After a quick rest, we explored the city. Well.. not really the whole city. Merely the Queens Street.

Queens Street

Found All Blacks merchandise outlet & did a quick shopping.

Wardah with an All Blacks flag & HB in the background.

A tackle from Balqis!

Those 2 really had fun in the shop whilst HB & I shopped. Nadeen was asleep in her stroller which made it easier for me. With all the noise her sisters made, Yasmin on the other hand settled on a couple of stairs... reading! She brought along one of her Harry Potter series.

We came across this halal kebab outlet & that was dinner.

Yasmin & Wardah at the entrance.

A portion of our dinner.

On the way back, Balqis was crying over the camera. Just because Wardah snapped photos of HB & I, she wanted to do the same. When we allowed her to dah merajuk pulak dah... I know that I have to get used to this for the next 9 days, so help me God.

In the end a family photo in Auckland with no background as a proof. Hahaha!

* to be continued

PS- I am back in Malaysia now as all know. The only internet connection we had was at Zu's place but was way too tired to upload photos. Only at home with the luxury of my bed I have the mood to upload photos. Will continue with more real soon....