#5
The stars didn't fall today; Sunday, January 3
A continuation of 01/01: Jo brought us to Karangahape Road, or K Road for short, a couple hours before Maghrib and we walked almost the whole stretch just to get some exercise. Auckland streets are really pretty and decently clean. As expected, the shops were mostly closed. Anyway, we were walking when a staff of one of the eateries along the road returned from an errand and was entering his shop when he saw us. He went, "Hi, Muslim people!" in a friendly sort of way, I guess? Hahaha. We made our way to the Asian grocery store and got some halal instant noodles for the road trip as well as a pack of wintermelon tea. Kesian budak-budak Aussie ngan Kiwi yang macam dah lama tak minum Yeo's. Lulz.
02/01 aka First Day of Road Trip: Maiss and Jo got the car at around 9:00 am and we set off for our road trip by about an hour later. Stopped by a Pak n' Save to buy more food for the trip. It's a megamart, kinda like the Ikea/Courts place but strictly for cheap food. We stocked up mainly on energy bars and such for our trek across the Tongariro Alpines. We then drove for about 2 hours to Coromandel and whew, the view was so nice, mashaAllah. The weather was awful though. It rained the whole day, the skies were constantly dreary and I had my windbreaker on the whole time. The way up to Coromandel was full of twists and turns so I basically got carsick. Tsk. When we arrived, we parked at the bottom, walked about 30 minutes up to the start of the trek, another hour of trekking up and down the bay with me keeping my head down, trying to avoid the wind and rain scratching and slapping my face, and we finally got to Cathedral Cove where Narnia was filmed. Or something like that. Everything was really, really beautiful and scenic but my god.. The weather sucked so bad. I feel like throwing out everything I captured on camera because.. Raindrops, raindrops everywhere, especially on the screen. Gaaaaah.
I don't know how long we spent down at the Cove but it was another 1.5-hour trek before we got to our car. It's safe to say that I basically knocked out in the back while Jo and Maiss navigated the steep and scary roads. Something happened that night but it's.. Let's just say that it was an interesting experience and a lesson well-learned.
03/01: We arrived at Rotorua in the morning. Went to the local mall, got some stuff (managed to get our hands on some naan!), checked into our motel as soon as the owner allowed us to and basically crashed the day away. Didn't do anything today except to get organized and chill.
There are definitely a lot of things to be learned from traveling. Tak perlu tengok jauh-jauh, tengok dengan orang sekeliling je. Patience is indeed a virtue and I learn new things about my companions every day. At the same time, I see lots of opportunities for me to work on my own weaknesses with regards to my relationships with other people.
May Allah keep you and me safe, wherever we are. May we never cease to be amazed by His creations no matter how well-traveled we may be in the future, inshaAllah. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!
02/01 aka First Day of Road Trip: Maiss and Jo got the car at around 9:00 am and we set off for our road trip by about an hour later. Stopped by a Pak n' Save to buy more food for the trip. It's a megamart, kinda like the Ikea/Courts place but strictly for cheap food. We stocked up mainly on energy bars and such for our trek across the Tongariro Alpines. We then drove for about 2 hours to Coromandel and whew, the view was so nice, mashaAllah. The weather was awful though. It rained the whole day, the skies were constantly dreary and I had my windbreaker on the whole time. The way up to Coromandel was full of twists and turns so I basically got carsick. Tsk. When we arrived, we parked at the bottom, walked about 30 minutes up to the start of the trek, another hour of trekking up and down the bay with me keeping my head down, trying to avoid the wind and rain scratching and slapping my face, and we finally got to Cathedral Cove where Narnia was filmed. Or something like that. Everything was really, really beautiful and scenic but my god.. The weather sucked so bad. I feel like throwing out everything I captured on camera because.. Raindrops, raindrops everywhere, especially on the screen. Gaaaaah.
I don't know how long we spent down at the Cove but it was another 1.5-hour trek before we got to our car. It's safe to say that I basically knocked out in the back while Jo and Maiss navigated the steep and scary roads. Something happened that night but it's.. Let's just say that it was an interesting experience and a lesson well-learned.
03/01: We arrived at Rotorua in the morning. Went to the local mall, got some stuff (managed to get our hands on some naan!), checked into our motel as soon as the owner allowed us to and basically crashed the day away. Didn't do anything today except to get organized and chill.
There are definitely a lot of things to be learned from traveling. Tak perlu tengok jauh-jauh, tengok dengan orang sekeliling je. Patience is indeed a virtue and I learn new things about my companions every day. At the same time, I see lots of opportunities for me to work on my own weaknesses with regards to my relationships with other people.
May Allah keep you and me safe, wherever we are. May we never cease to be amazed by His creations no matter how well-traveled we may be in the future, inshaAllah. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!