SHOPPING AT AUCKLAND AND QUEENSTOWN, NZ

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		STUFFS I BOUGHT VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I love the woolen gloves make from Merino wool, since i bought it in the airports i did not used it for the holiday except on the airplane, but it is warm n nice. The facial creams n wash is also very good. I used the merino face cream when i was there and it keeps my face moisturised. The rest i use when i came back. There is the mud scrub and mask from Rotorua, eye and face serum which i think makes my eyes bags lighter. The ear muffers i used in Auckland which attracted some looks from ppl when i was there, haha. I don't know why. Also have one tights which i haven wear yet n there is a woolen cap which i wore after buying in Queenstown on the 2nd night.

REVIEWS OF HOTELS I BOOKED

           
5 Hotels     
6 reviews    
0 pending  
7.5 Highest                    
4.2 Lowest  
5.9 average

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City Central Hotel           37 Wellesley Street, Auckland

GOOD          Just near to the city.

BAD             The kettle is horrible and you cannot wash inside , leaving many orange stains. The heater is a small portable unit although serve it purpose does not look good. The shower is the one i hate being fixed to the wall and cannot be extended although the water pressure is good. The sink is real tiny with one hot water and one cold water. How they expect me to wash my face and brush teeth with this kind of separate taps is beyond me. Either i scald my hands and face or i froze them. The beds have black things inside which makes me thinks of bedbugs. It is expensive with this kind of admenities.
 
4.2 from one stay           
7.0 from 101 guest reviews
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Bealey Avenue Motel     

229 Bealey Avenue, Christchurch    

GOOD        The owner is accomodating to our requests. The laundry is the cheapest i have seen. Only $2.00 wash and $2.00 dryer. Although i set the wrong temp for the dryer because i am afraid it will melt my polyester print on my tee shirts, i used the heater to dry all my clothes when the dryer did not fully dried it. The heater is very good. The shower is one of my favourite kind. I liked to use shower with long extension. Those which is fixed to the wall i hate the most. We cooked our food in the hotel which have all the necessary utensils. When i see the wrong time and checkout at 11pm instead of 7am because i see the wrong time of Singapore he let us back into the room. Haha. Very funny. He said "what's going on? I need my sleep." Booked and stayed 3 days although should have book 2 days because the city is blocked n closed. Nearby have one thai container food kiosk which we packed one dinner and it is good. The owner also let us keep our bags there for 2 nights until we get back from Queenstown.
BAD             Not exactly near the intercity bus stop , must walk a bit.
7.5 from 2 stays             
8.0 from 185 guest reviews 
             
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Downtown Backpackers
1 Bunny Street, Wellington              
GOOD        Nearest to the Railway station which i need to travel to the next stop and arrival from the ferry. They have the type of shower head i liked to use. Extendable hose.
BAD             The heater is non existence and due to the broken window latch the room is very cold. When i bath the cold air keep coming thru the window. We manage to survived only from the thick blankets. If the temp outside is any colder i don't think it is enough. No boiling of hot water inside the room. Need to go down kitchen to fill or use the pot to bring up. If it is not winter it could be ok to stay.
 
4.6 from one stay           

7.8 from 58 guest reviews 
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Absoloot Value Accommodation       

50 Beach Street, Queenstown          

GOOD        Free wifi, near shops, kitchen. The heater is also very up to date and easy to use.
 
BAD             Shower very difficult to adjust the temp wasting lots of water doing the adjustment and also without extendable shower hose is very minus minus point for me. The shower space is also very small. Wifi password have to change everyday making it a waste of time logging in for me. No tables for us to put anything at all. The jug is dirty.

6.7 from one stay           

8.4 from 114 guest reviews               
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Ambassador Thermal Motel              

1101 Hinemaru Street, Rotorua        

GOOD        The room is big, kitchen is adequate, one milk carton 250 ml or less for 2 days stay and hot tubs and pools with towels.

BAD             The shower is not suitable for woman . I don't feel clean showering with water so high up. Shower space is small , if you are above average weight , you cannot move inside. The bed covers don't looked like washed daily. Some lights is out.
 
6.3 from one stay           

8.6 from 96 guest reviews                 
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Kiwi Paka Motel

Good

Cheap and quiet.           

Bad     

Booked the shared toilets and the shower is fixed and water pressure is low and very less water.              
    
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DAY 13 FLYING BACK HOME

We woke up and get ready to go down and check out. After checking out and paying we waited at the lobby. Then i get restless and went out to try to take some pictures. Mom did not follow me. She looking after the bags.

Then when i wanted to go back in , the door is locked . You can go out but not in before 7am. I called my mom. Then the shuttle bus arrived . It is a small van with a luggage trailer behind and it is quite cute. When my mom steps on the area to make the door open i quickly went in and grabbed my bags out. Then the driver helped us to load the luggages in the luggage trailer and off we went to the airport.

Since we were very early i wanted to go shopping after taking breakfast at Macdonald's. I had big breakfast and mom have bacon, egg muffin with hot chocolate.

Then i went into one shop and mom still looking for her favourite tee shirt. We were thinking of spending all our bal money on shopping. Forgot to pack extra food as i thought 3 chicken is enough until we reach at 6pm in Singapore. Later i know it is really 11 hrs flight. Not like counting 11am to 6pm. Must add 4 more hrs Singapore time. Haiz.

After buying all the stuffs , the salesgirl says she will packed and bring to the inside of the departures shop for me to collect. I bought skin care stuffs and a glove. Mom decided to buy the glove after seeing me look at them and not buy the tee shirts. After clearing the security i went to collect the stuffs and boarded the plane.

After the plane lifted off and around 1pm we took out our chicken and have our lunch. We should have bought some Macdonald burgers or chicken because it is a long flight. I forgot it is a 11hrs flight. On the plane one cup noodles cost $5.00 but we did not order.

When it is NZ 5pm i thought we are going to land but i remembered it is Nz time and need to change the time again to Singapore. We need to wait another four hours before reaching. Trying to sleep. I dozed off for a while.

Later I woke up and still have some more time before touching down. At last we landed at 6.10pm and the pilot says we are 5 mins early. So bored sitting on the plane for 11 hrs.

We were really hungry when we touched down in Singapore. Quickly we checked out, took our luggages and find the staff's canteen at the basement. I ordered laksa yong tau foo myself after mom order hers with soup. Then we took the mrt back home. I have to transfer to taxi at my mrt station. Reach home tired but happy to be home.

DAY 12 EXPLORING AUCKLAND

The hot and cold taps in this hotel is terrible. I do not know how to use warm water with 2 separate taps. After washing up we went out for breakfast. Was walking along the street thinking whether to eat MacDonald as got free wifi or food court or other burger shops. Mom pointed to the shop having fried chicken and rice. She just missed having rice.



So she have her rice with chicken and i choose chickens, one thigh and one drum with coleslaw. Their coleslaw is sour. Did not finished. Then we went to find bus to tour the city. We took one city bus and drop at the Auckland fish market. Mom says that is nothing there to see. I talked to the driver and he suggested that we go have a look and also tell us to take the tram. But when we reached the market i forgot about the tram. We saw oysters and bought one packet $20 for a dozen.




After finishing the oysters we also bought some other stuffs. We went back to the bus stop and as i see one bus there we hurry and board the bus forgetting to try the tram. Then we stop at the Britomart train station. I asked mom want to take the train or not. It is the old kind of trains. Only $2.00 for one ride to Newmarket. So we took it.

We dropped at Newmarket and went out the station shopping. Got the whole rows of shops there. I saw Cotton on. After shopping but without buying anything we went to looking for food at one shopping center. Maybe after eating the oysters we need to drink hot soup or water. Else the stomach is feeling funny. 



Mom ordered the Japanese Udon noodles soup and i ordered the Soba Noodles soup but we cannot finished because the soup is not tasty and we don't like the noodles. Maybe we are not really hungry or we haven't digest the oysters yet. It is seafood flavour but the ingredients is all fake. No seafood at all only tofu. It is at the shopping centre in Newmarket.

Then we took a bus back to the city dropping at around our hotel. We should drop back at Britomart as i haven take pictures of the boats and we forgot the tram. Anyway too late and we are back in the hotel. We changed our clothes and i did want wear my jacket and went out again for dinner and some more shopping at the shoe shop which was having sale. I bought one tights and mom bought one pair of shoe.

Then we went to eat dinner at another different food court as we cannot find the one we went yesterday. I think this is the Elliot Atrium Food Court. We found this food court better. They have more "zhi char" kind of food. Got fried rice, noodles, meat and veg dishes. We saw one ang moh eating big plate of noodles, we found the stall he ordered and got one plate ourselves. We split into two plates. The beef is not hard quite nice and it only cost $9.00. Then we bought some chicken for lunch in the plane tomorrow.



After that we wanted to buy something for the flight back and mom at first says buy cake. Then we decided to buy chicken. Although it would be cold by the morning we bought some each. I checked my coins and decided to buy 3 pcs at $8.50 , mom bought 2 only at $6.80.

We went back to the hotel to sleep early as we need to take the bus at 6am.

		AUCKLAND CITY VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

DAY 11 WAITOMO TO AUCKLAND

We woke up early and get ready to check out. Since we have lots of time before checking out and taking the 11.15am bus from the same driver, we prepare to cook breakfast of mmee with veg and the pork sausages. We should eat all the food but we did not. I forget whether Auckland hotel have any kitchen or not and brought the balance sausages and vegetables there.

We returned the kitchenware and get back our deposit. Then we rolled our bags downhill to the road outside. I thought we can go to the General Store again and relax but it was closed that day. I went to the Isite to book us the shuttle bus to Airport for the 9th june. I asked the Isite gal about the Bays of Isle tour but she cannot find it for a cheaper price. Anyway i think it is about the same as those boat tour like Milford sound and did not book myself.

Later the bus came and the driver asked "how are we". I said "fine" . He brings us express to Auckland without any stops at all. Lucky we went toilet at the Isite before going up the bus. Also he is good to drop us at our hotel opposite. On the way to Auckland i saw some more farms with sheeps and cows.

We checked in found the hotel sink too small and the hot and cold taps separated and difficult to use. Better don't choose this hotel if you are going there.

I found one food centre nearby and have many kinds of food. The food court is inside the shopping center called Atrium on Elliot. Got Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian food. Mom wanted to eat Chinese food, she choose 2 types of veg/meat and i choose 3. Hers is $7.00 and mine is $8.00. I find that the mutton is all fat, beef is ok and chicken is probably breast meat.
Then we went shopping around and to the Sky tower for a look but mom do not want to pay to go up. So we went shopping in the tower. I bought some soaps and cream. Mom bought two tee shirt. We went back to the Atrium shopping centre  There is one big shoes shop there.

After shopping we went to find Macdonald to check my facebook and we eat burgers there also. As i have use up all my batteries we left and went back to the hotel , on the way we went inside the 3 for $10 shop and i bought one ear muffer and Mom bought one calculator for Dad and a tweezer. We took some pictures and went back to our hotel to rest.

DAY 10 ROTORUA TO WAITOMO CAVES

We left Rotorua and took the bus to take us to Waitomo caves today. I forgot the driver name. He asked me why did i booked to stay in Waitomo since he can bring us straight to Auckland after the caves tour. Actually if we go straight there we would be starved until 2.30pm to reach Auckland as we do not want to eat at the caves cafe which was expensive.

The caves tour is very short only 45 mins. And we are not allowed to take pictures inside. We took some outside the caves. We sit on the metal seats of a boat and went down the stream or watever in the dark. It is real spooky n some people whisper in the dark.

Today the bus is a tour bus from Great Sights/Intercity. Since it is also a tour bus the driver is nicer and he entertained us with stories of New Zealand. He reminded us to wait at the bus stop tomorrow at 11.15am a bit earlier than the timetable. He asked another earlier bus to drop us at the Isite waitomo when he haven't depart yet as he still waiting for other passengers. So we changed to another bus and after 5 or 10 mins we dropped outside the Kiwipaka motel.

After we dropped opposite the ISITE we walked to the motel by an assess road beside. We have to walk uphill with our luggage. Actually it was not that far. We checked and asked the gal to give us the ground floor as we do not want to carry the luggage up the stairs. It is good she give us ground floor as not much people staying there.

I booked this KIWI PAK MOTEL as i thought i would need more time to explore the caves but actually i don't need to stay overnight there. After the check in we went out to find food. There is nothing much to do there but we get to eat the beef burgers in the General Store which costs $10 each also quite expensive but the beef patty is quite big.  Then we bought mmee, sausages to cook for dinner. The kitchen is big but some of the pots should be replaced. I remembered that we need to borrow some kitchenware from the reception and put down $10 deposit. So after buying we went back and get the kitchenware and keep the groceries inside the room. 

We went out again to explore the place and take pictures. We also went to see the $5 movie at the Discovery centre as there is nothing to do. We shopped inside the Isite and bought some facial mud and mask.

The room is small and it has only have two twin bed a table and chair and a small clothes rack. The bathroom which i was not aware is to be shared. We do not like the fixed shower heads and the water pressure. Did not enjoy my shower and have to run back to the room bare footed. So far it is only the price is cheap that is good. We met some school gals there. They were a bit noisy but is ok else it would be a bit quiet and seems deserted. Quite scarly if we were alone.

We went to the TV room a watch tv with two gals. Later they went out to the pub next to the motel. We went back to bath and sleep early as it is dark and we have nothing to do. I would not recommend anybody to stay overnight in Waitomo if possible. Wasted one evening here which could have save me one day in Auckland or somewhere else with more activities.


















We cooked sausages and veg with mmee for dinner. There is too much sausages. We kept some for tomorrow breakfast.

		WAITOMO VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL