New Zealand Trip Diary - Synopsis

New Zealand trip diary

10 Dec Sat - KL to Melbourne
- break journey at Melbourne for the kids
- visit Sister in Law in Melbourne
- stayed at Mint Rhapsody apartments. Excellent place in St Kilda.

11 Dec Sun - Melbourne
- hanged around city centre. Had tim sum. KL ones better.
- went to park. Kids loved it
- went to st Kilda beach. Excellent weather and the kids loved it.

12 Dec Mon - Melbourne
- walked around city centre again did some shopping
- lousy Chinese lunch.
- kinda uneventful day.

13 Dec Tuesday - Melbourne to Christchurch
- NZ is 2hours ahead of Australia.
- Sherborne Motel : Great hospitality and generous breakfast. But room filled with insecticides
- Hyundai IMAX : spacious and diesel hence fuel efficient
- Earthquake zone in city centre. Food not easily available. Settled for some Thai food. Note several Thailand food outlets around town.

14 Dec Wednesday - Christchurch to Dunedin
- driving across Canterbury plains. With sheeps and cattle, looks like English countryside
- pine trees lined up serve as fence for the farms
- stopped at Timaru for lunch.
- fusion lunch. One of the best during the trip.
- stopped at Omararu for coffee at Steam cafe. Average coffee. Town seems to be stuck in early 20th century. A big church and WW1 memorial.
- penguin farm. Poor show and hardly any penguins seen
- grandpa and little boy not feeling well
- Antarctic wind blowing. Sea was rough.
- Adrian motel very new and well maintained
- had Japanese food for dinner.

15 Dec Thursday - Christchurch to Te Anau via Invercargill and Riverton
- first scenic route disappointing and caused Jeremy to throw up. Kaka point is below expectation and Nugget point inaccessible.
- got to rush through winding road and one part was close some more. Reached Invercargill at 2pm.
- late lunch at a Korean outlet. Delicious but maybe we are all hungry.
- Invercargill rough weather and cold. Very old town. Saw the magazine rack - all outdoor activities mags including one for pig hunting. Very specialised.
- Riverton for coffee. Like Invercargill very old. Very hospitable shop owner free coffee for the children.
- reached Te Anau late afternoon. Had Chinese food but below par is the description.
- lakeside terrace motel was adequate. Well maintained.

16 Dec Friday - Te Anau
- Milford Sound trip by bus.
- Nice mountain scene
- Milford sound unique but quite commercialised.
- Weather improved after the tunnel. two completely different world between tunnels
- Had dinner at la dolce vita. Excellent pasta and salmon dish.
- interesting host. Had a left hand drive 1972 Alfa Romeo with word Verona in front.

17 Dec Saturday - Te Anau to Queenstown
- scenery improved dramatically.
- start from Kingstown the beginning part of lake wakitipu.
- Jeremy was surprised to see stone rather than sand at the lake shore.
- queenstown was beautiful except kinda touristy and commercialised.
- average lunch at memories of hong kong but good coffee at protagomia
- sherwood manor motel. Below par and lousy bed causing back ache for me and old man.
- cannot get cow restaurant and went to another Italian outlet. Sadly disappointing ESP the sole dish and pizza.

18 Dec Sunday - Queenstown
- gondola provided excellent view of the town and surrounding scenery
- outdoor activities at the top of hill - mountain biking, go karting which Jeremy is interested, para gliding.
- arrow town. Chinese settlement; a sad story. Town was very traditional.
-lunch at cafe mondeo was crap. Not used to the western food available.
- old man feeling better after resting the whole day.
- had a battle at sherwood forest. Unpleasant experience although they made up with a refund.
- dinner at lakeside terrace. Better Chinese food.

19 Dec Monday - Queenstown to Omarama via Wanaka
- Cross range gave an excellent view around Queenstown area.
- reached Wanaka and went into the Puzzling world
- something interesting for the kids but the maze cannot be completed as the weather is too hot for the kids.
- Relish cafe lunch- adequate and clean place.
- Wanaka interesting town. Modern building. Seems to be a night place. Less commercialised compared to Queenstown. Up and coming I believe.
- reached Omarama a farming station.
- ahuriri motel one of the best stay during the trip. Generous breakfast supply.
- went to twizel for Thai food dinner. Dinner quite good but twizel is a dead town. No one can be seen.

20 Dec Tuesday - Omarama to Christchurch
- multiple pictures taken along lake tekapo
- amazed by the reflections created and the turquoise blue water colour.
- went to church of good shepard and again pic taking session
- lunch at astro cafe on top of mount John 360 view of the surrounding. Alicia's appetite at her best.
- irony never went near mount cook.
- stopped at geraldine at coco for coffee. Town and drinks rather uneventful.
- final lap to Christchurch via internal scenic route.
- only attraction was the Gorge. But after lake tekapo, everything becomes average and nothing spectacular anymore.
- cant find dinner at Christchurch, Everywhere was full including the famous Bodhi Tree. Gotta settled for takeaways. Lousy food tho and therefore forgettable experience.

21 Dec Wed - Christchurch to Sydney
- gotta wake up at 5 am to catch Virgin flight to Australia for a 3 day rest.