21 Jan 2017

I'm going for adventures in New Zealand Part 3: Devonport and Sky Tower

Salam guys, sorry lama tak update. Here you go

The next day, we took a ferry to Devenport and it just a 15 minutes ride form the ferry terminal. The reason we want to go here because it is the cheapest ferry, around NZD 12 returns and we want to see Auckland city from another view.

Before that we went to get a breakfast at one of many halal restaurants in Auckland. However some of the restaurants are not open yet and we were looking around until one guy just tell us there is a Kebab restaurant has open few block from where we are. Of course after getting lost for some time, we manage to find it. Kebab was so big so some of us just eat half of it and keep it for lunch later.

Ferry to Devonport interval every 15 minutes. We got into the ferry and sit outside which is super cold and super windy. After we arrive, we plan to walk to Mount Victoria which is around 20-30 minutes walk up. On the way there, we saw a lot of shoplots and historical building along the way. Although  it is called Mount Victoria, believe me it just like small hill but still quite high.

As we are on the way up, there is car like stop and an old lady asked us whether we need a ride to go up there, and like clueless child, we just agreed. Lucky for us as the walk up is quite long even with a car and luckily for us, she is a very nice lady named Aideen and she is not kidnapping us. Aideen always jokes with us that we are too trusting because she might kidnapped us. But yeah she is just nice lady.

When we reached at the peak, the views are super nice and we can see Auckland city and all it's glory. Then we take a wefie with kind Aideen wich she insist to wear hijab like us and one of my friend gives her a scarves to wear in the photo. We also meet tourist from Canada which also took photo of us because she said it is something interesting.

After we said goodbye to Aideen, we just hanging around the area taking photos. We can see some of military ships docking at the harbour and there are also and big fake  mushrooms that use as water sprinkler. How creative is that?

After a while, it is getting too hot and we decided to go back. The road on the way down feel easier and as we passed through a school, the kids are really friendly and keeps saying "Hello" to us. First we thought that we wanted to have lunch in Auckland. But as we passed through the shoplots and restaurants, we feeling kinda hungry. We even saw a group of Malaysian in one of fish and chips restaurants. I guess there are students here.

So, as we still have half of the kebabs so we decided to stop at one of the park bench and eat our kebabs. It just peaceful and calm there as there are not a lot of people and cars around. We saw the group of students passing by and we smile and said hello. So far my experience meeting another Malaysian abroad are wonderful. I have never met rude one.

After that we decided to go back at hotel. We have plan to go to Sky Tower near dawn because I think it will be wonderful to see Auckland city from way up there at dawn. As dawn hers is around 8-9pm, so we decided to go there around 6 pm. As we don't have plan to go any where at the mean time and as we are tired from the journey, we sleep in. Yes, we have travel to New Zealand to sleep in the hotel. We plan that we just don't want to go out for the sake of going out. After all, it is called holidays....that is whay we want to do something to enjoy and relax according to our pace.

After a great afternoon nap, we went out to go to the Sky Tower. Yeah, we walked there and although we are on our second day in Auckland, but it feels like we lives there as we walking around knowing where to go. Or perhaps we can see Sky Tower from afar and just walk to it.

It took us a while to know that the entrance is inside the Sky Mall. The cost of the ticket is NZD 29 per person. When we get there, the lift will bring you to level 53 (or 63?) where the observation deck is. So they have this glass floor to walk for those who doesn't have fainted herat and proudly I can say that we have walk, step and even sit on it. But it still a quite scary experience. After that we went to another higher foor were you can see a magnificent 360 view of Auckland city. It just so breathtaking.

We spend quite sometime there as we were waiting for the down. But as we feel hungry, wo we have to come down early a litte bit. Then again, "Where to eat?" is another task to go. After do some Googling, we found out there is a Malaysia Mamak restaurant that we can walk to. It is near the Sky Tower.

As we walked there, it becomes dark and we just not sure where are we going. Google Map is our only hope. Then we found this area where a lot of shops, restaurants and bars and we feel that we are at the wrong place. THere is a restaurant that looks like Arab's restaurant but also they have bar, so we are not sure. We are about to give up and when back to yesterday's Kebab when  we decided to see the shop the the Arab's restaurant and sure enough, we found it.

We are just so happy to find familiar food in just second day of our journey in New Zealand. Yeah, Malaysian and its' food cannot be denied. We ordered teh tarik, noodles and fried rice and they taste like heaven. Seriously, the teh tarik is better than the one in Malaysia. Must be the milk that they use.

After feeling content, it is about time to go back to our hotel and prepare to the airport tomorrow as we are flying to the South Island. We have a great time in Auckland and we will coming back again at the end of the journey. We went to all the places by walking and I would say it was a great exercise and experience. It feel quite save to walk and people here are very nice. Hope to come here again soon!

Stay tune for our journey at South Island where we drive and guide by ourselves. All 4 girls first time driving in the foreign country. Scary or not? To be continue......

Breakfast session...for energy

Ticket and brochure for memories....

Devonport Map

Auckland City from Devonport...

Favourite photo of Auckland

Hide behind giant mushroom...

Another view from Mount Victoria...not sure what island it is


Ferry Terminal....

On the way down to the Sky Tower entrance

Are you scared of heights?

I was scared actually...


Four of us!



Some part of Auckland city...

Overlooking the harbour...






Delicious Mee Goreng Mamak...












Chasing Aurora Birthday Trip: Finland, Sweden + Norway

Salam semua.... How you all have been doing so far? I hope you guys are in the good health and bless with your families and friends. Yap...m...