#3
The stars didn't fall today; Thursday, December 31
29/12/15: Landed in Melbourne at about 11:30 am local time. Maiss picked me up with her cousins and we had a fun time going around. They brought me to a mall where we ate expensive Malay food and I just followed them shopping. Aaron, Maiss' nephew of sorts, was super cute and so clever. Melbourne's weather was fascinating. The sun was shining really brightly, the sky was the bluest I've seen in a long while and there were no clouds at all. However, there were cold winds blowing so it evened out nicely. Afterwards, we rested at Kak Ifah's place and headed to Kak Ayun's nearing Maghrib. We had pizza at Kak Ayun's place, they had a really funny chit-chat session where they tried to convince Maiss she was stressing too much about certain things. Zayn, Kak Ayun's son, was just about the most adorable baby ever! He was a bit out of it since Kak Ayun woke him up so we could play with him. But even in that stoned state, he was just so cute with his mini-mohawk. *heart eyes*
We were a bit late in heading out to the airport so when we arrived, we were practically one of the last ones to check in. However, there was a hiccup as Maiss hadn't bought her flight ticket back home yet. Apparently, unless you're an Aussie, you can't enter New Zealand without a confirmed flight ticket out. So I headed off first (I had some hiccups too. My arrival and flight details didn't show up in the system properly so the attendant had a hell of a time trying to check me in. She was pissed off, basically. I was late and I had complications). I freaking ran to the gate and guess what, there were people still straggling into the flight even after I was seated. Sabar je..
30/12/15: Arrived in Auckland at 6:00 am local time after the midnight flight out of Melbourne. Took a Skybus and dropped off at the right stop near Jo's place, THANK YOU ALLAH. I basically have anxiety when I don't know where I am and I am all alone. Not having a map of the bus route on hand, no Internet and my phone's battery being at 5%? Not cool, man. Luckily it hit daybreak already so I was less nervous. Even so, I couldn't catch the road signs properly and I ended up approaching the bus driver in a desperate attempt to save my own bottom. You might think it's nothing to approach a bus driver but doing that is something huge for me. Slight social anxiety, I guess. Anyway, I managed to meet Jo and got to her place where I basically knocked out for five hours. Lulz. Two straight nights of sleeping in a plane isn't all that good for the body, I guess.
We went out afterwards and basically walked about downtown. Jo's place is like a 10 to 15-minute walk away from the city centre which was cool. We soaked in the sights and got burger, fries and cheesesticks, which we ate at a square and a bird basically tried to kiss me because it thought I was holding out my fries towards it so it headed for the fries as I was putting them into my mouth. Ugh. Walked some more afterwards and we got to the harbour and drank ginger beer. Which was nice, I guess. Well, at least it's nicer than teh halia. That one, I cannot tank. Ew. Returned home for Maghrib and set off for the airport again to pick Maiss up. She got switched to a later flight and ended up in Auckland at 10:00 pm, more than 12 hours later than originally scheduled.
Lesson learned: We need a visa to enter Australia and we need to buy a flight ticket out of New Zealand even before we get in.
So.. The weather is really cold here in New Zealand. It's sunny but the winds.. My goodness. It's refreshing and cold at the same time. I'm trying to like it becuse I know I'll miss the weather once I'm back in hot and sweaty SG. I haven't broke out in a sweat ever since I landed. Except for once when we were walking home from the city centre and there was this really steep uphill road. That felt like Seoul all over again.
It's summer here so the days are long. As I'm typing this, it's 7:34 am and it's been light outside for about two hours now. Maghrib is past 8:30 pm and Isha' at about 10:00. Anyway, it's New Year's Eve today and we're gonna bring Maiss around. The shops here close really early though, like 5:00 pm even though it's still bright outside. Meh. Will update more, inshaAllah. Hope you're all well. I'm down with a cold probably due to the traveling and the weather but hopefully, I'll be better soon. Doakan!