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Waitangi Day 2015

food February 16, 2015

Historically speaking, Waitangi Day is when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, 6th February 1840. It becomes a public holiday in New Zealand. This year, the day was on Friday, so we had a long weekend in down here. Therefore, me, in the middle of writing my research, I went to do my field research, accompanied by two of my friends. One of my friend, who has a car, lives in Pukekohe, the south-est part of Auckland City. So, me and my another friend took a train to Pukekohe on Friday morning. It took almost two hours from city center to Pukekohe. We started our weekend gate-away from Pukekohe.

Our first stop was Kaimai Cheese Factory, in Kaimai close to Matamata town, part of Matamata Piako District. We had lovely lunch over there.

Kaimai Steak Sandwich for $19.50. Indeed it is a big portion, but it made me full for the next eight hours.

After that, we continued to Matamata. My friends joined the tour to Hobbiton Movie Set. Meanwhile me, walking around the city center to do some research. It's a small town, so the city of the town is so small.

The coolest I-Site ever in New Zealand that I ever seen so far, the I-Site of Matamata.

Since the tour took three hours to finish, we decided to stay one night in the town and decide what to do in the next morning. Short story, we decided to just explore the town on Saturday morning, before we go back to Auckland.

We had our breakfast at Drew Drop Inn cafe, just cross the I-Site building. The must try menu is their Hobbit Pie, it is the best! We had great time during our breakfast, had some chat with the owner. She is a lovely lady. Don't forget to stop by in her cafe while visiting the town. Because you'll get more 'real-journey' to the middle earth.

We went to Wairere Falls after that. It is 22km away from the town center. This is the tallest water falls in North Island, New Zealand, 153m. It takes 45 minutes to reach the lookout, and it takes 90 minutes to reach the submit. We had no idea that the path was quite hard to do without any preparation. We only could reach the lookout. Maybe next time I will come back, to reach the summit. I want to see, how to look out everything from there.

When we went back to the parking lot, we're really tired and starving. It was almost 2 pm when we got back. Because we still wanted to spend some time in the Hamilton, we decided to have our late lunch in Hamilton.

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Birthday Celebration

auckland January 26, 2015

Dear Auckland, Happy Birthday!

Happy 175th anniversary, Auckland.

Yup, 26th January is Auckland's birthday. Bunch of entertainments, exhibitions, and events were being held in the town. It became long weekend in Auckland, no school, no work on Monday. I went to the some of the events on Sunday. It was really awesome celebration for me.

I started my Sunday with going to Stardome in One Tree Hill. I went to the planetarium and joined the trip to Jupiter for 15 minutes only. So fast isn't? It was my first time go to a planetarium and I was amazed with all the information and the shows over there. Usually, visitor need to pay $10 for the show and $25 for the special show, but I only pay $2 yesterday. Because it was a special occasion due to Auckland's birthday. I did some groceries after that. Since, there is a big supermarket with cheap prices close to the planetarium. I don't want to miss it, buying what I need (I ran out shampoo and sausage) with cheaper prices. I continued my day with scrolling around the city center, shopping some stuffs, checking on the clothing prices, trying my luck to find a good price of cloth.

Anyway, back to the celebration of Auckland, I went to the port, queens wharf after that. They decorate the port into some play ground with the beautiful gate welcoming us.

The Gate

I listened to the story telling about Auckland and the country at the queens wharf. There are also some exhibitions over there. Some of them exhibit handmade cloth, painting, and other crafts. I didn't buy anything from there, except postcard limited edition.

Then, I spent my afternoon in Viaduct (10 minutes walk from the port), enjoying my ice cream while watching some kids playing around. Such a lovely. However, since it was really crowded and I have been out since the morning, I walked around looking for a spot where I can take a rest. Thankfully I found a bench where I can put my ass and have some rest.

But, guess what, the area where I sit was actually an area for a performance. It turned out that there are three street performances who's going to perform in the area.So I ended up watching the show for the rest of my afternoon. Then without realizing, it's already 9 pm, 30 minutes left before the fireworks. The fireworks is my main reason to go out on Sunday. I want to watch the firework from the good spot. So, me and my friends look for the best spot to watch it.

It is said that the fireworks will be off from two different places, the sky tower (top picture) and queens wharf (bottom picture). I was thinking it will be better if I could see both of them, so I decided to see it from viaduct. Thankfully I made the right decision, I could see both of the fireworks! The fireworks was better than during New Year's Eve, yet it will be better if they do it in different times. Oh well, even though it happened like that, I still love it. Overall it was lovely Sunday, I could watch bunch of performances, taking a lot of pictures, ate good food, and enjoying both of the fireworks.

Once again, happy birthday Auckland. I wish the town will be better in every aspects in the next future. See you next time!

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It's a New Year

new zealand January 01, 2015

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3 Days Road Trip: The Finish Line

animal February 17, 2014

The last day is always difficult for me, because it means time to back to reality. We went to some places before heading back to Auckland, and here's some the picture.

Sunrise at Paihia

They said sunrise in Paihia is really beautiful and really breathtaking moment. So I decided to wake up early and not going to miss the moment. Thankfully, the weather was really nice. Hello Mr. sun. I took it at 6.43 AM. Indeed, it's a breathtaking moment for me.

Haruru Falls

We went late from the place we stay, and to be honest, we didn't know where to go. We even didn't make any plan for today. We just picked the place based on the map, the closest place from Paihia. The falls is located three kilometers from Paihia, and it's more to recreational place than other place that we went. I mean, in Haruru falls, people can go for some sport activities as well. Not only enjoying the scenery of the falls. It's free to go to the place, but unfortunately, there is no information about the price of doing the sport activity.

Kingdom of Zion

Our friend suddenly wants to try to drive to Goat Island, he wants to test his ability to drive that far. Then, on the way there, we stoped by for lunch at the famous fast food restaurant starting with capital M. Later, after lunch we found a poster about Kingdom of Zion and we're really wants to know about it. We decided to go and have a look what it is. Because as long as we know, there's no such a place that allowed people interacting with wild animal in New Zealand.

So, it looks like a zoo, but only for lions and their friends. We are allowed to have a closer look at this place. The tour takes more than 30 minutes by walking and we are not allowed to wander around without a guide. For Narnia's fan, they have the lion from that movie over there.