The Middle Earth: Day1

 Timeout in South Island - New Zealand

Truely amazing was this place called New Zealand when i started my search on the internet to find out about travelling to the South Island for the Christmas Shutdown last year.

I couldn't resist the energy which filled me with this eagerness and this scenic blue and  lavish green in my eyes. I learned from some of my kiwi colleagues that new zealanders are kind of cool and welcoming community.

Finally it was all set...Set to go to the land of kiwis. Our itinary was set for 9 days and we were travelling in a group with 3 families planning in around an 8 seater Hyundai Imax.

The Tour:

At the Sydney Airport, we were rather confronted with a strange problem( as usual)  put upon by the New Zealand Airlines.

Since Aiysha's (my wife) passport was recently re-issued and the LastName in the passport didnt match with the name in the ticket, we were rather stranded at airport not knowing if we would be allowed to catch a flight to christchurch or catch a train back home which apparently was much cheaper.

We were told to wait for the verdict while the guys accompanying us seemed cleared to board the flight. Sometimes, in conditions like this, its a big dissapointment if our friends go through and we not. :-)

It was been one of my habbit(or rather bad as i do this only when my original plans didnt work) to prepare and plan for things which could happen in future. by this i mean, i was thinking which train to catch to reach home before the next rain.

Finally after 10 minutes or so, a humble looking women( you know all the airline lads look humble and generous even if there are not so) appeared saying "here is your boarding pass and this time you are lucky". 

We didnt had words to thank her specially when it was our negligence. she was a true angel as handed over the tickets for heaven to us.(sorry for exaggerating)

Learning: Check your passport and alter the ticket if the Name or Surname doesnt match exactly.

Now, it was like a run to board the plane and if the local train can get late in India, it's the International flights getting late in Australia. 

On the plane, the airhostress greeted us and gave us one of  the safest seats on that plane. Yes, the seats on the rear. Nothing in this world can be described as "Unfortunate and Safe"

After this greeting, the treating was with Tea/Coffee and lunch never reached till the rear.(how can it reach when we didnt pay for lunch to travel to the tail of the aircraft)

DAY1

Christchurch:(26/12/2012) Landed close to midnight. Took the Car from airport and checked-in to the hotel.

Westside Motor Lodge: www.westsidemotorlodge.co.nz

It was nice and calm place and affordable too.

The day started with tiredness but the sense that we are in New Zealand and the purpose is not rest but restless travel, rejuvenated our spirits.

1. We started with "The International Antarctic Centre: "www.iceberg.co.nz". 

Its good if you got kids with you or you urself are a kid..

In a snapshot, it has some artificial ice formations, display of some antartic expedition stories, some demo rovers used in Antarctica and interestingly you can see nice penguins.

The best thing i felt was the Antarctic Storm.

Worth a see and spend 2-3 hrs and 35-40$ an adult if you are interested in these stuffs.

My personnel poll: No Go....atleast not in Christchurch where you got plenty more to see.

2. DRIVE TO AKOARA

We drove towards Akoara which is 1.30 hr(one way) from christchurch. (http://www.akaroa.com/)

it was a nice pleasent drive and you can witness the wilderness of this land and its scenic surrounds. It really did fill my stomach in terms of satisfaction of seeing something worth.

By the time we returned , we lost our sight seeing capacity of the day and got back to the hotel.

The Scenic Spots and Landscapes on the way were truely ecstatic and there were plenty of photo oppurtunities.

The Colours in the Lake were a special delight to my camera.

I could capture this cruise secluded from the sea and winning the heart of the lake. Little cloudy weather made my camera capture far more better than i thought.

Opinion Poll: Should do.. if you love nature and have a nice camera with you... :-)

More to do in akora:

If you are in akoara in the morning then, you can opt for activities like the Sea kayaking and penguin watching which is also a great experience.

( http://www.akaroa.com/things-do/pohatu-penguin-tours-sea-kayaking)

The Middle Earth: Day 2

DAY 2: 26/12/2012

Drive to Greymouth via Hanmer Springs

Started our 1.45 hr drive towards Hanmer Springs. We were accompanied by beautiful surrounding and breathtaking views with mountains moving along.

Hanmer Springs truely proved worth a boast in its websites.(http://www.hanmersprings.co.nz/)
Personally i just loved that place,probably because i love staying in water and that too in a thermal spa.

It has a number of different thermal pools like rock and sulphur pools(never smelt like sulphur there..but indeed some chlorine i guess) with varied temperature to suit ones comfort.
And since it has got only pools, you can imagine the soothing effect it can give to your eyes.(water ofcourse is soothing but there is a human factor about it)
 But beware of dilemma which your eyes will have, after to decide which angle to focus and zoom...you may restart them once you get off the pool.

anyways, it was a great experience for the body and the soul within. :-)

Price: Affordable.close to 18$/adult for dip in all the thermal pools.

My Opinion Poll:
Must do. if you love to indulge in thermal fun and ultimate relaxation.





**
After spending some refreshing time in the spa, it was the hungry stomach's alarm that took all of us out searching for a restaurant to attack.
Thanks to the free apps on the android of prakash that he seem to hook on to a restaurant called "Malabar". 
Checked , checked and double checked how in this world is it possible that, In New Zealand, we might be sitting in a lunch table with Kerala dishes for our buds.

As this thought triggered our mind, it was again that famous RUN. (run here has only literally meaning...apparently we do not do any physical activity)or more appropriately we were rushing our walk.

Reaching Malabar:

Finally with the help of Google maps/directions , we reached "The Malabar". So the information on the app was not something like "last updated on june08,2008", which is nowadays common with all the results in google. (someone has to criticize google...:-))

website: http://www.malabar.co.nz


We could see some movement inside Malabar proving that there is SOMEONE inside, so possibility of food exists.
Sometimes entering a restaurant of your choice, satisfies the stomach. In this case, as soon as i started feeling that satisfaction, everything was swept apart by the restaurant boy.
It was strange, the restaurant guys telling us, "this is not what you are looking for. This is an asian cuisine but  not a typical indian one".
I hope you didnt understand that. How could you, even we didnt. But  hearing this,we thought that these guys dont have food and are just getting rid of us..so we went out walking again to find indian food. 

We did find one restaurant close by which was apparently CLOSED. :-)
So we were left with Malabar again and we accumulated courage to open the doors to malabar and landed our buts on its chairs.

Done with the crazy ordering(crazy bcoz, sometimes or most of the time, our stomach orders food without asking the brain of how much it can eat)
So there was again a lot of food on the table and luckily this time it was an exquisite delight.

The food was great....touchwood.

if you happen to be in Hanmer Springs, do visit 'Malabar'


Good food and a full stomach never go with Long Drive:


We continued further heading towards Greymouth as the climate begins to change a bit towards cloudy.

Co-passenger and the crew were found sleeping....and since there was no Auto Pilot, pilot could only sleep with eyes open. That day we missed the Cruise control feature in our car.


On the way, there were plenty of opportunities to break for photo. We were tired so didnt make much use of those.

Reaching Greymouth:

We reached Greymouth close to 6 pm and took our place in our new accommodation.
It was a Seaside view 3 bed room apartment and i reckon the best in that small town of greymouth. it was called the Greymouth seaside top 10 holiday park.(www.top10greymouth.co.nz)

Just across the beach.
And it was a good one and affordable too.

We prepared ourselves for the next day drive as the sun sets in Greymouth.

A early morning walk with Aiysha on the beach was amazing.