• Travel with the Wicks
  • Travel with the Wicks

Off to Kiwi Land

Petualangan 15-sehari oleh Travel with the Wicks Baca selengkapnya
  • Awal trip
    1 Maret 2025

    Goodbye Austrailia hello New Zealand

    28 Februari 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Up first thing this morning, left hotel with boxed brekkie in hand at 630am. Checked in, cruised through security and departure check-in; time for coffee and shopping duty free!
    Set up comfortably in our usual spot in last row by the washrooms😀. We are flying with Qantas to Auckland on a B787. It is a pleasant flight that includes a meal. Dianne and I are both a little concerned about New Zealand customs, as in my experience, I have never gotten through without being scrutinized as well as X-rayed on arrival. We don’t have any food besides liquorice, but we do have vitamins. We get through customs via the express lane so I guess it was just me that looked suspicious in the past.
    Our hotel is a casino in the centre of Auckland. We find it noisy as music can be heard in our room til around 2am.
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  • Auckland

    1 Maret 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Kiwis are generally proud of their home. Aucklanders have a reputation around the north and south isles of being so. Others refer to them as JAFAs meaning just another (friendly) Aucklander. There are 1.5 million Aucklanders in a country of just over 5 million. As you can see, it is a nice placeBaca selengkapnya

  • Te Puia Cultural dance and art school

    2 Maret 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Te Puia is the home to the Māori Arts and Crafts Institute. The tour guides, artisans and performers are from the indigenous community and I understand that the family as our guide Mr. T, referred to himself as, has been here for about 400 years. They took over the place from another Iwi or tribe as we know it. The dance is a Haku and it comes with the introduction of being a welcome dance. The welcome part is stressed a lot on the verbal introduction. You might have misinterpreted the dance as threatening as you can see from some of the pictures.

    In their dance culturally the men stick theirs tongue out while the women bulge their eyes. Only the men get facial tattoos and the women get tattoos on their chin. Both represent status and you require permission from elders!
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  • Wellington Museum

    4 Maret 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We had an excellent guide at the Wellington Museum. He married a Canadian girl from Vancouver island and his mother in law told him to be extra friendly with Canucks. He was. The museum seemed to be equally dedicated to the indigenous history as well as European influence. One wing of the museum is dedicated to the action of New Zealand soldiers in Gallipoli.Baca selengkapnya

  • Ferry Wellington to Blenheim

    4 Maret 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    The ferry to Picton is between 3 1/2 to 4 hours. We got off about 4 1/2 hours after embarking, and I was glad to see that ferry behind me. It was a smooth enough ride, it became tedious. When it was time to get off, we all got on the bus and waited for the green light for engine start. It was another half hour to the hotel in Blenheim. It was dark and raining when we arrived so no exploring the town.Baca selengkapnya

  • Blenheim

    5 Maret 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    A bit of a sleep in today; makes us happy! Went for a morning walk to pick up lunch and travel goodies. Left on the bus for a short ride to a winery!

    Wine tasting before 11am! We went to a winery in Marlborough, Lawton’s Dry Hills. Lovely wines, ready for a nap on the bus. We still had a long bus ride to Christchurch.Baca selengkapnya

  • Train to Arthurs pass

    6 Maret 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Christchurch is still recovering from the earthquake of 2010. Our hotel is across the street from the Cathedral and there is a ways to go on the restoration. The city though seems to have shaken it off and is vibrant and friendly.. This morning we all got on a train to Arthur’s Pass. This is a scenic ride through the mountains in a very comfortable train.Baca selengkapnya

  • Jet boating!

    7 Maret 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    The Haast River is fed by glaciers, and that is the reason for the aqua colour of the water. The pilot of our jet boat, Amber, is knowledgeable about the area, as well as flora and fauna. She lives in the neighborhood on an acreage where she has a vegetable garden, raises deer, dives for cray fish and generally fends for herself as the nearest grocery store is over 2 hours away. She didn’t mention a partner.Baca selengkapnya

  • Queenstown Hike

    8 Maret 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    We had a day off from bus riding so Dianne and I took the opportunity to hike around Queenstown. Walked around 20 Kms. around the lake and through the park. Queenstown is the starting point for fiord boat tours, trekking, jet boating, hang gliding and any other summertime activity you can think of. The population is young and fit, and somewhat transient. Along our walk we encountered heaps of travel vans parked around the lake. Camping is popular in New Zealand with a wide array of RVs on the road and campgrounds in every town and tourist area.Baca selengkapnya

  • Bus, Boat, Bus, Boat, ….repeat!

    9 Maret 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    What a day we had today. It was quite the adventure. Early start (as usual), road the bus for about 3 hour to Manapouri. From here we hopped on a jet boat (a larger one) to cross Lake Manipouri. That took 45 minutes. Next we boarded another bus to go over the Wilmer pass; another 25 minutes.. Finally, onto a boat and cruise thru Doubtful sound. We spent a couple hours sailing these beautiful waters. The sites around us were just stunning. The waters were calm and even peaceful until we reached open water in the Tasman Sea. There we were rocked quite a bit. We saw some seals sunning themselves.

    Doubtful Sound has 4 permanent waterfalls and if it rains many temporary falls. We were treated to a few of these temporary falls.

    By definition Doubtful Sound is actually a fiord, carved by a glacier during the ice age. A Sound is carved by a river.

    We all enjoyed a boxed lunch and a glass of wine cruising the fiord. ( fiord is spelt correctly).
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  • Dunedin

    10 Maret 2025, Selandia Baru ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    About 125 thousand people live in Dunedin. It is considered to be a sister city to Edinburgh Scotland, and I can see why. The area reminds you of Scotland. It seems pretty quiet though. The train station was almost deserted, and not many people were out and about.
    The train station is pretty famous because of the black and white sandstone exterior and ornate interior. There isn’t much passenger traffic here anymore.
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