Family trip to New Zealand (8 March to 15 March 2024)

8 March 2024 and 9 March 2024 

And yes, after surviving term 1 of primary 1, we are going for a holiday to New Zealand! And this time, my parents are coming with us too! 

And of all day, my specs is spoilt which I need to go a spectacles shop. After fixing it, my specs can no longer be folded. Think I got to make a spare specs when I am back. 

I was busy at work the whole morning before I could knock off at 1pm. Then I quickly Teck Whye to have quick lunch. We quickly packed the stuff from Teck Whye then we went back to Senja. We did final packing then we left house about 4.30pm. 

It’s raining and it cost $46+ to go airport. Feeling sleep on the way to the airport and Lexuan took a short nap. My parents had reached and they were queuing up to check in. It’s a long queue. Luckily we managed to do self check in and then we could deposit our luggage. 

We then went to Jewel for dinner. There’s a queue for A&w and so we went to mos burger for dinner. It’s quite expensive as we spent $46 for dinner. 

It’s Lexuan’s first time going through the automation gate herself. And this time round, she also packed her own hand carry bag. 

Then we walked to D44. Just when we thought we were early, we realized that the gate has been changed to C26 which was totally at the other end. So we had to walk quickly over to C26. By the time we reached there, it was 7.20pm. Once again, there was a queue. When we could finally board, it was already 8.10pm when the flight time should be 8.05pm. Our flight is QF292.

In the end, the plane took off at around 8.45pm. Jianhui’s screen is spoilt and coincidentally the one beside me is spoilt too. Haha. Lexuan’s screen only has kids entertainment. They reset all our screen and after that, my screen is not working. Haha. After trying a few times, then my screen can work. 

I watched the movie, The Inception. It’s nice even though I have watched it a few times. I always dream a lot so I find the concept very close to height. 

I didn’t get to sleep much even though I got 2 seats to myself. My neighbour changed seat as the screen beside me is spoilt too.

We had mushroom pie which is a bit salty. I am happy to drink hot tea. I also watched  short kids movie. Our flight is late and so we know we got to rush for our next flight. 

And to make things worse, there is no bus when we touched down. We waited for at least 20 mins before we got on the bus. When we reached terminal 1 we had to rush. It was already 8.50am but surprisingly the staff said that we are still “safe”. It was mad rush to run from gate 25 to gate 60. Thankfully my parents can still walk/run quite fast if not we are not going to make it. Hopefully our luggage managed to make it too. Haha. 

At 9.10am, we finally get seated and we are definitely the last few to board the plane. Mad rush. 

We fell asleep while taking off for a short while. I watched the movie, Troll Band. Then it’s lunch time and the food is not nice. Think this must be one of the worst flight meal. I ordered Mac and cheese and it is nothing close. The only comfort is the apple juice and the chocolate. 

We touched down around 2pm+. There was a queue at the customs. We managed to cut a bit of the queue when they allowed us to go to other counters with shorter queue for families with kids. However when we went to the bag claim, it seems like our luggage has not arrived. Haha. This is bad news. Seems like it is so rushed that maybe our luggage didn’t make it here. Our first time having such experience. 

Then we went to get our car. Somehow, there is delay also as they have to drive the car from another carpark. We waited a while then we decided to eat dinner first. We ordered udon, ramen and McDonald’s! 

Then finally we got our car! It’s a nice white KIA 8 seater! Nice! We drove 1km to countdown to buy some grocery for our holidays! It’s 38km to Maraetai, to our first accommodation! 

Finally we have reached our accommodation without our luggage though. It’s a cosy 2 storey house and we have the whole first floor to ourselves. It comes with 3 rooms. 

Jianhui and I went to the nearby countdown to see if we can get shorts but sadly don’t have then we went back to bathe. 

We slept around 10pm+.

10 March 2025

Good morning! 

I would say I had a good sleep as I was still dreaming when Jianhui woke me up. We quickly got ready to go to starting point. 

We collected the race pack sorted based on our surname. We took the some photos before going back. 

At our accommodation, we can see the runners running past us. How nice it would be if we could run too. 

Then we went back to the race site for Lexuan’s race. We went by the other route and it’s also the last 2km of the race. 

It’s 2km but she didn’t want to run. So ended up we all didn’t get to run. She didn’t want to run as she says she cannot run with her slippers. Oh well, it is indeed a valid point.

Then we went to countdown there for lunch. When aligning the car, I noticed that Lexuan’s favourite Line jacket is missing! Lexuan started to cry. Luckily we took video and managed to locate that the jacket was last seen at the race site when we were taking photos. Jianhui and k quickly went back to the race site to find the jacket. When we were there, they are already tearing down the starting point. So luckily if we managed to reach in time. So happy to find back the jacket for sure as she has been wearing this jacket for many trips. 

Then we went to find my parents and Lexuan. We had lunch at Two bees. We ordered big breakfast; beef burger and pancakes. It cost us NZD80 which is SGD65. Food is not too bad. Then we went Woolsworth to shop before going back to our room. 

It’s R&R time. Then we went to the ice cream shop just beside our accommodation. We had chocolate abs vanilla ice cream which is nice! 

We drove to Duder regional park for a walk. To our surprise, we saw cows and many many sheeps. We can even go close to the sheep as we hike up. However, Lexuan is so scared of the sheep poo that she refused to walk. I had not choice but to stay with her at the starting point while 3 of them hiked up. 

After this, we drove to Mataitai wharf. It’s a place where many people were fishing there. We saw some people who managed to catch fishes but they would throw the fish back if it is too small. 

We stayed a while then drove back. It’s about 30km+ back. We stopped by at woolsworth beach land to do some grocery shopping and to buy pizza. We ordered chicken supreme + Ham & Cheese. 

We had our dinner inside our accommodation. The Ham & Cheese is too salty but other than that, the dinner is good! I had a satisfying dinner. 

Sadly there is no news on our luggage. Hope that we can have some news on our luggage tomorrow.

11 March 2024 

We woke up around 7am+. My parents are already up. In fact, my dad went for a walk in the morning. 

For this place, we had to clean the trash and removed used bedsheets/pillow cases before we left. 

We left around 9.50am to go tauranga. Our journey is quite slow as the slow moving big vehicle in front of us is slow. Think it’s fated, we received a call from the airport that our luggage is ready for delivery.

After much consideration, we decided to drive back to collect the luggage ourselves since we are just 21k away. If we were to get our luggage at Taupo, we can only get it back probably the next day. Think we had enough of our clothes for now. 

Jianhui dropped me somewhere near door 11. I saw the direction to bag services so I figured out that should be the correct place and I got it right. So happy to reunite with our luggage! Though I must say it has been very relaxing travelling without luggage. 

Jianhui couldn’t park long so he had to turn a few rounds. Then we went to countdown for toilet break. We decided to eat kfc since it is convenient. It cost us NZD65. The kfc not so nice and the fries are so salty. My mum is so upset (disappointed) over her zinger burger. 

At around 12pm, we made our way to Taupo! It’s a long 3hrs ride! 

We had a toilet break at Huntly where it is very windy. Lexuan also got to play her swing for a while. Then we continued our journey before we stopped by at Tira where we had drinks at Poppy cafe. Then it’s our journey all the way to Taupo! 

There’s road closure so we have to detour to go to our next accommodation - Sails by the lake! We reached Taupo around 4.20pm. 

It’s a big apartment with 2 toilets, 2 rooms with king size beds each and 2 single beds in the living room. And we can finally shower to change into clean clothes! So happy! 

Then we went out for dinner. Lexuan wants to play playground so we stayed at the playground for a while before we went for dinner. We went to our favourite restaurant at Taupo, Pub and Grub! 

Wow! The price has increased a lot! Our favourite southern man steak has increased price to $42.90! And the fish&chips cost $29.90. Both are nice! 

We wanted to go countdown but it is closed/under renovation. So we drove back room. 

My parents watched the Ballerina cartoon. I cooked Maggie Mee for Lexuan. 

We slept around 10pm. 

12 March 2024

We woke up around 7.30am. My parents were out for a walk. When they are back, Jianhui and I went for a short run. It’s so nice running along Taupo. Good weather for sure! I was feeling a bit cold before the run but once I get started, I don’t feel cold anymore. I was wearing singlet with arm sleeves and uniqlo heat tech leggings. 

We showered and then we went McDonald’s for breakfast! Lexuan is definitely looking forward to this! She loves the playground here! She also likes the small McDonald’s aeroplane here where people can eat there too. 

We ordered bacon double sausage muffins which is not bad. It will taste even better if it doesn’t have tomato sauce on the bun. 

Then we drove to Huka falls which is very near, about 5km away. The water is so blue and beautiful. We didn’t do the hike and then we made it to the next stop, Aratiatia. 

It just so happens that the dam time is at 12pm and we are 10mins away from it. It’s interesting to see the place being filled up with water. I checked online the release hours are 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm daily from October to March. Lexuan is scared of the spider cob web and so she made me walk back to the car. 

Then we went to our next stop, Huka Honey Hive. The ice cream here is nice! We tried the different flavours - Triple chocolate, Vanilla bean, cookies and cream, salted caramel. Then we shopped for manuka honey. It’s actually not cheap. For one with UMF15+ (500g), it cost NZD160 which is like SGD131. 

We stopped by the Heli cafe for some drinks. The iced latte is not nice. As for Lexuan, she ordered strawberry milkshake. Then we made our way back. 

We stopped by Woolsworth to buy more grocery! Jianhui bought sirloin steak… a few pieces and it’s only NZD17+? We also bought the hot roasted chicken which is my mum’s favourite. 

True enough, my parents had a great one eating the chicken. Haha. Then my parents and Lexuan stayed in the motel

To rest while Jianhui and I went out for some shopping/walking. 

We bought headlamp, raincoat

And torchlight in preparation for our hiking tomorrow. We are so not ready for the hiking. 

Then we also went to the Chinese restaurant to buy beef hor fun and seafood fried rice. Though my parents didn’t say, I know they are missing Chinese food. The beef hor fun is not bad. As for the fried rice, the rice is a bit hard. Jianhui fried his steak which is so yummy and value for money. 

We slept around 10pm. I didn’t have a good sleep as I was dreaming a lot of nonsense. 

13 March 2024 

It’s our hiking day! We’re going Tongariro! We woke up around 7am+ to get ready. Lexuan is up early too so that she can say bye bye to us. 

We set off around 8pm and we reached around 9.54am. It was gloomy on our way there. The weather looks worse than the other time we were here. We went to the toilet first. There is poster in the toilet to warn you of the hike. 

Jianhui helped to carry our super heavy bag. When we started, we are feeling cold and so I wear my beanie, jacket and gloves. The moment we started walking, we can take off our jacket. At this moment, we don’t need our sunglasses.

We only got 4hrs so we aimed to reach soda spring. We went to the toilet at soda spring and ate one banana. And the good thing is, it’s all clear skies from soda spring onwards! It’s getting more climbing upwards. We saw one mummy back-carrying her kid (probably 3-4 years old) and with one backpack. She is so fit okay. 

Next, we aiming south crater and then we decided to climb up to 7km+. The moment we were up, it was super cold and windy. We had to hide behind the stone. We quickly worn our jacket which I was so worried my jacket would be blown away. We are biscuits while hiding behind the stone. 

We don’t think we got enough time and so we made our way back. Kinda disappointed that we didn’t get to see the Emerald Lake. Oh well, we will be back. 

It’s quite difficult going down as it is very steep. A couple of times, I also nearly injured my right ankle. We walked relatively fast. While going down, we stopped by to eat our hard boiled eggs then we are ate our last banana. Surviving on 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 bananas and some biscuits. 

Then we finally made it back! 15km+ done!  Then we realised actually they are not very strict on the 4hrs parking restriction which means that we could have Cheong another 1km to see the Emerald Lake then go back. Then we drove back (another 1hr 20mins) to our accommodation.

Along the way, we dropped by Woolsworth to do more grocery shopping. We topped up our favourite biscuits. Then we went back to shower. We are started to feel tired and hungry. 

While I shower (and shower for Lexuan), jianhui cooked Maggie Mee for us. We rested a while before we went out for dinner. 

We decided to go back to Pub & Grub! I love the southern man steak! We ordered the same and the seafood platter. Initially they served us the incorrect one (meat platter) and we asked them to change. The seafood platter is not bad! As usual, the fish & chips is nice! Even Lexuan loves it! I also bought ice cream for Lexuan. 

Then we went to playground. Lexuan loves the playground here! She is happy to be happy everyday I believe. We bought Lexuan her favourite Domino’s pizza - Ham & Cheese (without the ham as it is too salty). Then we went back to our motel. 

Jianhui cooked his scotch cut steak and it’s amazing! It’s really so cheap to eat beef here! 

Feeling the blues as it seems like our holidays are coming to an end. I really love Taupō, the air and place! 

We slept around 10pm. 

14 March 2024 

Good morning! We are leaving Taupō today. We checked out about 9.30am. 

We nearly forgot our Ironman bag which is a nightmare as bibi, rooroo and lion are inside together with my specs! 

Then we went to McDonald’s again as Lexuan wants to play the playground. We started driving at 10.10am. 

We stopped by another McDonald’s near Rotorua. It has a nice playground, so Lexuan was having fun at the playground. Then we continued our journey. 

We passed by Lake Rotoiti where people playing rafting and kayaking. We made our way Te Puke to look for kiwi farms. Sadly, we can’t find any. We can only take photo of the gigantic fake kiwi.

We reached Mount Maunganui area around 1pm. There are many cars and people. It seems like there is a surfing competition going on at the beach which explains the crowd. 

We had Burger King, a very filling lunch. Then we drove around the area to look for parking lot. I must say we have been quite lucky to get a slot near the beach. Then we walled along the branch to Mount Maunganui. 

As expected, Lexuan didn’t want to walk up. When she finally agreed to walk up, she injured her last finger with Oakley sunglasses. She started crying non stop. 

And when her daddy is back, she cried even more terribly as she wants her daddy to sayang her. He had to carry her downhill a bit. 

We went to buy ice cream - strawberry, chocolate and cappuccino! Both the chocolate and cappuccino is nice! We used the toilets then went back to our car to make our journey back to Auckland! It’s about 3pm.

We stopped by at Matamata McDonald’s for toilet break before continuing our journey. It’s another 1.5hrs to airport. Along the way, we stopped at another Service centre which happens to have McDonald’s. And it has a playground too! I can do a compilation of all the playgrounds in New Zealand for Lexuan. Haha. 

Then, it’s the last 30mins to the airport. The weather becomes sunny now. We had a toilet break at another McDonald’s and this one there is a playground. Think Lexuan is going to explode all playgrounds in New Zealand. Haha. 

We finally reached Pullman Airport hotel. It looks so new and smell damn good too! Jianhui parked just outside the hotel so that we can check in and put our luggage. It’s a big room for airport standard. Love this hotel! 

Then jianhui and I went to pump diesel at Z petrol station. Diesel is cheaper so there is this additional tax of NZ7 for every 100km travelled. We quickly returned the car and waked back to our hotel. 

We showered and rested a while before we went to level 9 for dinner. We ordered steak (yummy), spaghetti + meatballs (not bad) and some seafood platter similar to dancing crabs concept (quite normal and my mum prefers dancing crabs). The beer tasted like brewerks’ beer. 

After dinner, we went back to our room to rest. 

We slept around 10pm and I had quite a good sleep. 3 of us slept together on the king size bed. 

15 March 2024 

We woke up at 6.45am. We had coffee and some biscuits. After we have showered and got dressed, we are ready to go. It is raining quite heavily. Luckily the hotel staff lent us umbrella and so we could make it to the hotel. It was so windy so I was struggling to hold the heavy umbrella, pushing luggage with Lexuan and taking care of Lexuan. The good thing is, it was a short walk to the airport. 

There is no queue at the check in counter which is a good thing. We printed our boarding pass and luggage tag, then deposited the bags at the check in counter. It’s like duplication of effort and work since the staff did the same kind of checks. 

Lexuan bought her squishmallow as souvenir. Then we quickly went to clear customs. There is a slight queue for the family. My parents could use the automated gate so they waited for us inside. Then we went to find food. My parents bought dumplings, jianhui bought udon for lexuan and smoke salmon burger for us. I managed to buy whitetakers chocolate - 3 for AUD25. 

Then it’s almost time for boarding! We were on board at 9.50am and our flight is 10am (QF154). The plane drove around the run away just like Singapore airport for quite a while before taking off. 

I didn’t sleep on the flight. I watched the Troll band movie again and the Paperdoll drama. We ordered beef for lunch which was not bad. We have learnt not to order chicken. Haha. Then we touched down Melbourne around 1pm Melbourne timing. 

We are early for our next flight at 4.55pm so we got time to do shopping. Melbourne airport seems like got a lot of shops to shop. 

We bought nougats and macadamia nuts. Then we went Two Johns to eat lunch. We ordered beef burger, beer, coffee and fish & chips. The beef patty is not bad. And Lexuan likes the fish, so we ordered another set for her. We relaxed here for quite a while before we went to gate 6, ready for boarding. 

Lexuan was crying non stop as she is experiencing pain in her right ear. I know how bad it feels, but there’s nothing we can do. So she was crying all the way to us boarding on plane. 

We finally boarded at 4.35pm. So happy to be on board. And it’S my lucky day as nobody is sitting beside me so we got 4 seats! At least, Lexuan is tired enough and she fell asleep before the plane started moving. 

I tried to sleep when the plane started moving but to my horror, when I opened my eyes after a while, we are stationary again. Pilot made an announcement that the cargo door is open. Gosh. I hope it is not going to be flight delay. Our flight is supposed to fly at 4.55pm but ended up 5.55pm we are still at Melbourne airport. 

Finally, we are taking off around 6pm+. Lexuan was sleeping throughout if not she would be so upset that after an hour, she is still at Melbourne. She was complaining her right ear is in pain so she was crying non stop. 

I ordered chicken and rice which I didn’t eat much. I drank quite a lot of apple juice.

Somehow, thanks to Lexuan’s influence, I have been drinking apple juice on plane. I watched the movie, catch me if you can and a bit of Barbie. I slept probably about 1.5hrs+. By right, we should be very tired as it was already midnight in New Zealand. Lexuan had quite a good uninterrupted about 2hrs sleep. 

I skipped the snack (pizza) as I feel like we have been eating non stop. Finally we touched down Singapore at 10.30pm. It’s at the far end D47 so we got to walk quite a bit. 

We got our luggage very fast but sadly, my luggage handle is spoilt. Argh! Though I got buy insurance but really upset that my luggage is being tortured this trip. 

Was really surprised to see my sister and family outside welcoming us back! ❤️ So sweet of them! She even brought her souvenir she bought for me from Taiwan! Yeah! 

There wasn’t a queue at taxi stand and we could get a cab quickly. It cost $44.50 to go senja. 

By the time we are home, we are just so happy to be back home! 

Home sweet home! 

Mission accomplished! I have finally brought my parents to one of my favourite country, New Zealand. It’s kinda too short but I guess we had no choice as Lexuan needs to be back for school. Hope that my parents have enjoyed themselves during the trip! A big thank you to my dear husband who has booked the flights, accommodations, car, planned all the itinerary and being our most trustworthy driver! Thank you dear! 

Now it’s back to the reality and time to submit all the claims! Haha. 

(Note: I have managed to claim $150 for baggage delay and $50 for the damage of the luggage. So for group insurance, my total benefit is SGD600 for baggage delay and this means that this is shared among the travellers. So each of us can claim only $150. After travelling so many times, I finally understand how it works! Haha.)