New Zealand - Day 6

To my readers, thank you for being patient. I know it was a long wait. Besides the daily errands, the editing & the selection of photos took rather a longer time than I expected.

On day 5 I was only using one camera-HB's, but day 6 I used both cameras simultaneously. After a quarter of our journey, I realised using my macro lens with my dslr made quite a good effect especially for portraits. The only thing to capture a portrait was I needed to stand double the distance further from the object. Hahaha!

You can imagine the numbers of shots we took. I had to go through some of the photos for the time taken as to make this journal coherent.

Now, let's continue with day 6. By day 6, we were back in the North Island. The plan was to start off early that morning but due to our "quite an adventurous schedule" the day before, the whole family woke up very late. Wanted to leave by 8am, instead we got up half an hour later.

HB rushed to get ready. We had a big surprise for the girls. He left to make some arrangements & there was I with 4 girls still groggy but all excited to continue our journey.

Bathed the younger two, one at a time whilst the elder two played the babysitters. Once I was done, the elder 2 showered & got ready with the attire I prepared the night before. Traveling with 4 bags, HB & I needed to be aware of what each bag contained. We assigned bag number 1 as the laundry bag, second bag for the souvenirs plus new items bought, third was clean attires & bag 4 was clean worn clothes. Practically every night HB did the sorting while I put the girls to bed.

The time showed half past 10, still there was no sign of HB. As I was occupied nursing Nadeen, Yasmin helped out with the dishes & upon seeing her eldest sis doing a chore, Balqis decided to get busy in her bedroom.

Wardah was still feeling unwell. She vomited again after our simple breakfast of last night's dinner leftovers. Told her to rest on my bed. The problem with Wardah was she refused to take early morning food. Even if she did, her throat & stomach might not agree to that idea.

The cleaner came by shortly after that. I had been understood that we needed to check out at 10am not at 11am as HB mentioned. Anyhow, they were sweet enough helping me with the luggage. When almost all of our bags were ready at the front door, I saw HB coming towards our unit together with the surprise.

The surprise was..... a caravan! (campervan to the locals). Yasmin & Wardah did express their intention to me of how great it would be if we were to travel in one. But they didn't request for it. In fact, Yasmin made a statement that the rental for a caravan would cost a bomb. I simply played along not wanting to spoil the surprise.

Their expression was priceless! Wardah was suddenly cured.... Hehehe.

Checking out the interior.

Even their mom was thrilled.... Not Nadeen though. Rather perplexed with the fuss we made over a lorry!

Posing with our Britz.

The registration number.

The other campers at Top 10 Holiday Park.

We pushed off from Wellington, the capital city of NZ at 11am following the State Highway 1 en route to Taupo.The ground distance was approximately 400km however it took us almost 8 hours to complete it due to the many 'pit stops'. The cooking & cleaning after that also added a few extra hours.

Yasmin, trying out the GPS we rented.

Northern suburb of Wellington from the window of the Britz.

Our journey on the Britz began...

Even the driver was having fun maneuvering his new toy ;-)

The Britz was equipped with a fridge, an ample size freezer, a microwave oven, a cooker, an oven, a kitchen hood, a toaster, an electric jug, a heater & a sink plus a few compartments full of cutlery, a dining set & cooking pots. We definitely had to made full use of those amenities. Hence, our next stop, still in Wellington was the supermarket.

Nadeen was already asleep. I didn't want to wake her up so HB did the shopping all by himself. Instructed the girls to stay with me as accompanying their dad would only delay him.

In the Britz, I instructed that they should low down their voices. Somebody came out with this photography session. Balqis of course had to play the best role... the photographer! She snapped these shots. Not bad at all!
(on the girls' left was our cute toilet/bathroom which I totally forgot to snap... grrr!)

It was a beautiful day. Almost a clear sky. The route from Wellington was rather relaxing.

A familiar sight... the cattle.

We reached a town called Foxton. Stopped for a while to have a look at this windmill - De Molen Windmill

We were hungry by this time. HB parked the Britz at a picnic area near Foxton. The girls explored the place except for Wardah who was asleep again...

Whilst HB was looking after the girls, I was in the Britz... playing chef!

Our simple lunch - fried mussels, fried calamari, a hideous looking omelette & boiled vegetables.

Simple yet a hit!

Especially to Nadeen!

After our quick lunch, the drive continued on Street Highway 1.

The scenery outside. Indeed a beautiful day for a drive.

Not long after that upon reaching Hunterville, we came across this scenic point & decided to have a peek.

Nadeen was so easy to travel with. Guess this was not the first time I highlighted on that.

Why wasn't Wardah in the picture? She was in the Britz dreaming of sheep... ;-)

As we went on & still with full stomach plus the swaying of our Britz, put my girls to sleep. Except for Yasmin who was engrossed with her reading & even caught her writing something which I was not sure what. Wardah? My sleepyhead chose the luxury of a proper bed to doze off. She was at the back of the Britz which HB had converted to a bed.

I saw this signage but had to give a go as the girls had just fallen asleep.

The clouds were accumulating.

Looked like it would rain shortly.

Reaching Taihape, the sky looked better.

Taihape is known as Nz's Gumboot Capital. This is the town which hosts the Gumboot Day. A celebration of all things about gumboots (rubber boots) & especially the popular gumboot throwing!

Also for those who love adventures.

The town

Off to Taupo!

The journey continued.

Some reminders along the way.

Approaching Waiouru in the Ruapehu District.

Waiouru is a small town in the middle of North Island & is the home to New Zealand Army's largest military base.

Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum

The small town of Waiouru

The Police Station

Next town, Turangi

The drive to Turangi was quite an experience. We had to pass the 35km of desert road along SH1 through the Rangipu Desert. It was a unique place. More like an alpine semi-desert.

The roaring of this truck broke the silence

The route was rather hilly too but it was nothing compared to the outstanding view all around us. It was like the other side of New Zealand. Still hilly but barren.

We were glad it was late summer.

This area is situated on the North Island Volcanic Plateau. The volcanic activities that happened a long, long time ago caused its geological features. Notice the visibility of various layers? It was magnificent.

We then reached the Lake Taupo District.

Home to the Tongariro National Park.

We were welcomed to the Waikato Region.

If there were a flash flood, we would be in big trouble!

The cloud was getting darker & we were still cruising the desert road.

The fauna changed...

and there she was... though partly hidden by the clouds, the majestic splendour of Mount Ruapehu was a moving sight.

The thought of her still fertile & volcanically active did give me the jitters. I took a glance at my sleeping princesses & prayed softly for our safety.

As we were at the end of the desert road, the sun began to shine again.

HB needed to stretch out & he pulled over by the roadside. We were fortunate as there was a creek nearby.

Yasmin striking a pose by the brook.

Wardah joined her.

Nadeen too. Balqis was still asleep in the Britz.

We continued our journey & Nadeen was really in the happiest mood. Just look at that smile...

We reached Turangi & these flowers welcomed us.

The girls saw this shop & pleaded for ice cream. In fact ever since we were in the South Island, Wardah had been asking for some. I didn't agree with the idea as we still had a long way to go. The last I wanted was for any of the girls to fall sick. If you had been reading this journal from the start you would remember that Nadeen was down with fever on the morning we were to leave for Auckland from KL.

Anyhow, I gave in this time. It was a sunny day in Turangi. Furthermore in a few days time we would reach the end of this trip.

Look at those faces!

From left, Wardah's, Yasmin's, & Balqis's (can't recall the names of their ice cream).

Everyone had their share of ice cream (including the adults...hehehe!) but not Nadeen. How fair was that? In the photo above, Yasmin was sharing hers with Nadeen but it was no fun at all licking the ice cream without having the freedom holding the cone! Right?

I quickly lapped up 3/4 of my share & passed the remaining to Nadeen.

"This is how ice cream should be savoured..."

Along the way we came across this sight which was very similar to the South Island. The golden cylinder shapes were hay for the cattle.

Our first close encounter with the largest lake in the Kiwiland, Lake Taupo was at Mission Bay.

The girls, exploring the area.

Wardah threw the farthest pebble in the lake & that was the excitement all about.

Balqis's pebble didn't even make it near the water... ;-)

Nadeen didn't join the fun. What was throwing pebbles in the lake compared to having her milk! ;-) Back in the Britz, we continued the drive to Taupo. The view of the lake did not part from us.

We came to another scenic point of Lake Taupo. Everyone went out for some shots.

Lake Taupo

The girls

A family portrait with Lake Taupo in the background. This was a self-timer mode.

Another family portrait. A tourist was kind enough to shoot this for us.

A pose of Nadeen trying to get hold of the camera!

At last we reached Taupo. What I noticed about Taupo was the houses were bigger than the other parts of NZ.

The many houses & resorts by the lakeside.

With the help of the GPS we rented, found the Holiday Resort at ease.

I'm sure some of you wonder why did we need to check in at a resort when we were actually traveling in a home. True that we could have parked somewhere to put up the night but we wouldn't get power supply for the heater, microwave oven & power sockets to charge our gadgets. At the same time, we needed clean water to fill up the water tank of the Britz. Above all, it was safer here though the crime level in NZ is low.

After we checked in, HB got busy plugging in the power cable & also converted the Britz for us to slumber. The girls & I explored the place.

There was a huge playground.

A gigantic jumping pillow.

Thermal swimming pool & a large set of checkers & chess.

Cooked our dinner in the Britz. We had stir-fried shrimps with vegetables, omelette & bread. The girls loved it. I had to make another round of the stir-fried.

After dinner, I made all the girls hit the sack. Yasmin, Wardah & Balqis were supposed to sleep together. In the middle of the night, Balqis woke up searching for me.

The only boy in the family had his own private chamber on top of the driver's seat.

*to be continued