Articles from this Category
17 March 2024
Bargain of the century! I had every intention of staying home in Auckland through autumn until my next trip in June. However, while helping friends search for fares, I came across a crazily low fare from Auckland to China. Hainan Airlines had fares to Guangzhou for NZD548 through their hub in Haikou. I was allowed […]
7 February 2024
I woke up not feeling sore but only a bit stiff in the knees after the long hike yesterday. We left National Park at 0945 on the drive back to Auckland, with a lunch stop at Otorohanga. I changed to my own car at Uncle S’s place at Manurewa and got home a little after […]
6 February 2024
Mangatepopo to Soda Springs The Tongariro Crossing hike is a one-way hike, meaning that one doesn’t return to the starting point. For us, it was best to be picked up and returned to the hotel by shuttle and Swee had opted for the 0715 pickup. The bus got us to the starting point at Mangatepopo […]
5 February 2024
The drive from Auckland to Tongariro National Park took us through a township called Temple View. It looked like a new town with three Mormon churches but upon looking it up in Wikipedia, it was established in the 1950s and is still looking immaculate. After a lunch stop in Te Kuiti, we reached Howards Mountain […]
5 February 2024
Tongariro Crossing, or officially Tongariro Alpine Crossing is often considered the most beautiful day hike in New Zealand. So, it seems wrong that after nearly 40 years in the country, I hadn’t done the walk. We had tried going in spring before my Saudi trip but had to cancel due to bad weather. Late spring […]
20 February 2023
Above: Downtown Sydney from the Harbour Bridge. Sightseeing With the afternoon blocked off for a social with friends, I got started before 0800 with a breakfast of Portuguese Egg Tarts from the supermarket and a coffee. I trammed to the Sydney Opera House where the cloudy weather didn’t help in terms of capturing some memories […]
18 February 2023
We landed in Sydney slightly ahead of the scheduled 1055 time. We were advised of a 15 min wait for a gate to become available but it turned out to be 40 mins. We disembarked around 1130. The immigration kiosks didn’t work for me so I had to join the long queue. I managed to […]
28 January 2023
Above: Auckland skyline during better times. My flight cancelled I woke at 0600 to learn that my flight 1105 flight to Singapore had been cancelled. Not unsurprising as a result of the flood inside the airport terminal. I quickly shifted my booking to tomorrow before other people could do the same. As I had been […]
27 January 2023
Above: Auckland airport international terminal flooded. Disaster hits Auckland I’m due to fly to Singapore in two days, on a three-week trip which will include hometown Kuching and also Singkawang across the border in Kalimantan. However, a natural disaster hit Auckland tonight in the form of extreme rainfall which resulted in a state of emergency […]
19 September 2022
Above: Bathing boxes at Mount Martha. Yesterday My short stay in Melbourne was to catch up with my old aunt and cousins. I managed to do that yesterday, having a Vietnamese lunch with aunt after a morning hike up Lyrebird track. I even had time for a Nasi Padang dinner with a friend from Yemeni […]