Day 6 (Tuesday 7th May 2009) – Last Leg

We didn’t loose any legs. It was our last day of our road trip. The day began early. We cook prepared food for breakfast, and packed some for the road. After successfully stuff all our things into the small car, we checked out of the motel. We had one more destination on the list.

First on the wheel was Ma Hen. After two hours drive, a couple of stops at the scenic look-out along the highway and snacking at the stops, we finally reached our destination: Waitomo or more specifically, Waitomo Cave.

We registered ourselves at the entrance, and waited for our turn. You can only enter the cave with a guided tour. The cave itself is actually a system of tunnels and caves carved out by water seeping through lime stones for thousands of years. As they are lime stones, there were lots of stalactites and stalagmites – I never thought those Geography lessons learned eons ago could be used in real life!

As the lime stones formation is still forming, with water dripping here and there, we weren’t allowed to touch any of the cave walls and pillars. There’s also one cavern called the Cathedral, for its excellent acoustic properties. Some famous artistes had performed in the cavern. We were also told by the guide, that during Christmas, they have some choir groups coming in to sing the carols.

What so special about this cave that made us drive all the way there? Glow worms. Or if you are a biology buff, that would be Arachnocampa luminosa. What’s that? There are some tiny worms hanging on the walls of Waitomo Cave. These worms, only found in New Zealand, emit luminescent lights. Unfortunately, I didn’t have some cool lens to take photos in low light conditions. Using flash wasn’t allowed. We walked pass plenty of stalactites and stalagmites before we finally reached a small wooden jetty.

From there we went onboard a boat. A strong kiwi man wearing a cute beanie hat was our boatman alias guide for that leg of the tour. As he quietly row the boat, we all looked up. Lo and behold, above us lights littered the limestone tunnel. It was as if we were looking up upon the stars. Engrossed in our wonderment and amazement, the boat ride ended before we knew it. We made a short stop at the souvenir shop then continued to the car park down the hill.

The colours of autumns were beautiful. It was a cool balmy afternoon. Leaves in various shades of brown strewn on the green grass. Naturally, the next thing to do is to hog the cameras – there were at least four cameras, one for each of us. We took turns being the photographers and the models. A very geeky-touristy thing to do.

We then open our map – the hard copy that Aunt gave us – and decided on the route to take. We had the option of either of taking a route that by-pass the town of Hamilton, or to take a route that will allow us to stop at the town. Being a group of geeky-tourists, we decided that we should check out how Hamilton looks like.

AD was next on the wheel. Ma Hen was feeling a bit under the weather (interestingly, Ma Hen was fine during the camera hogging session) and sat at the back seat with me. D was the appointed navigator. A few minutes into the drive, Ma Hen fell asleep. AD, D and I chatted to keep AD alert. But we soon ran out of things to talk about and fell into occasional silences. Every now and then I would ask AD if we need to switch driver which was replied with the same answer: No.

D had fallen asleep. I was looking at the scenes through the car’s window. My mind was away. We almost reached the town of Hamilton, when suddenly AD ran over a curb. It jolted me back to reality, and woken D. Ma Han only stirred and went back to sleep. AD drove a few metres before stopping. AD and I went out to check if there any damaged to the car. No visible damages. However, I still have my reservation. My main concern was flat tires or damaged wheel – both, if any, would only manifested much later.

AD continued driving to Hamilton Central Shopping Centre. We stopped. Ma Hen was in her elements again. She felt better. While they shopped, I wandered. The mall wasn’t that big. But it was one and a half hour later that we finally left the mall. We headed to Roose Commerce Park for a picnic lunch.

We ate our lunch and decided that it was a nice day for a walk. The park is actually the land that runs along the river bank. The Waikato River was clean. There was a canoeing club house and a small pier. Trees are shaving off their leaves in preparation for fall. The small park was beautiful. About half an hour later we were ready to continue our drive.

After a little logging heads with AD who had insisted that she was still fit to drive, she finally yielded to my ‘silent anger’. I know the strain long distance driving has on the driver. The driver may not feel physically tired, but the brain may be tired. The first telltale would be decrease in the alertness level. AD had shown that by running over the otherwise non-obstructive curb. And so, after checking the car again for any possible flat tires, and found none, I took the wheel and we made our way back to Auckland.

An hour on the highway, we spotted a beautiful rainbow. We could see the two ends of the rainbow ‘rising’ from the ground. Warned by Aunty not to simply stopped by the highway, we were on the lookout for a suitable stopping area. I swerved to the right, and went into a small country road. Unfortunately, by the time we parked and got out of the car, clouds had swept over our heads. There wasn’t much of the rainbow to be seen.

On our way back to the highway, we were stopped by a good looking Kiwi in uniform. He was conducting a survey on the usage of the small road we were on. I was disappointed; I thought he needed a ride. Anyway, after answering a few questions, and accidently flirting with him a little, we drove away.

Around 7pm, we finally reached our home base and completed our last leg of our road trip.

Distance traveled: approx. 345km
Total distance for the road trip: approx. 960km

Day 5 (Tuesday 6th May 2009) – Ba ba black sheep and Jack & Jill

No, we didn’t see any black sheep – not that I remember of. However we did get to see sheep up close. After lunch, we headed to a place called Agrodome about 10 km away from our motel.

On our way to the Agrodome, we passed vast open land and farms. On the hills in the distance, I thought I saw an airplane, a locomotive and some other structure that I couldn’t really make out but nonetheless out of place on the green hill. Much, much later, thanks to Ian Wright of Discovery Channel, I found out the place was sort of bed and breakfast. Visitors got to choose which kind of accommodation that they would like to sleep in.

We parked our car and headed to a small wooden building near by. As we entered, on stage, was a man demonstrating sheep shearing. In a blink (okay, I must admit, I was exaggerating), the man finished shearing a whole sheep. The sheep, now void of its warm wooly fur left only with pinkish skin, would eat more to build up a thick layer of fat underneath its pinkish skin.

Next we went next door to a wool-processing mill. The wool from the sheep was fed to a huge green machine. The machine’s wheels and handles moved in a quiet synchronized orchestra. At the other end of the machine, out came fine wool thread, ready to be weaved into some other items. According to the guide, the green machine has been chugging away in this great symphony since 103 years ago. The only difference was that the original steam engine had been replace with diesel-powered engine.

The guide then proceeded to sit on a small wooden chair. Opposite her stood a small curious wooden device. As she explained, her hands spin the spinning wheel. And out came fine wool threads. This must have been how “Sleeping Beauty” pricked her finger and fell into long slumber.

Next we went into a bigger building nearby. The door opened to a huge hall. Much bigger that the hall at the Maori meeting house. At the end of the hall was a huge stage. Before long, some staff member brought in one sheep after another and lined them along the walls on both sides of the stage. The sheep were of various breeds. I know ‘Aries’ is suppose to be a desert goat, but there was this one sheep that stood majestically with its twisted horn. The sheep looked very ‘Aries’.

Then a fast-talking guy went up the stage. Then out of nowhere, came a black dog. The well-trained dog herded the sheep up onto the stage. The host actually explained what is the specialty of each breed. Turns out that certain breeds were good for their meat, while others were for the milk. Sheep aren’t always bread for the wool.

Then, with the help of mechanical stage, up came a huge cow. The host invited a few audiences to volunteer up to the stage. To my amazement, one of my travel companion rose her hands and went up the stage. The host taught her how to milk the cow. Her first attempt wasn’t fruitful. As the host pointed out, she was supposed to grab (not just pinch) and pull the pink tits! Her second attempt gave a better result. She was even awarded a certificate for successfully milking the cow.

After the show was over, the audiences were ‘let loose’. We went through a door on our left. There was a duck pen, and next to it, a lamb (not the meat but the juvenile sheep). When we came, two ducks ‘escaped’ from their pen and a lady staff was ‘herding’ them back into the pen. Seeing how much hassle the ducks was, we decided to go into the lamb pen. With their snow-white wool, were cuter than the ducks.

After all the patting, we had to leave. We had a schedule to keep. We had three more things to do before the day ended. First on the list: Zorbing. For the uninitiated, imagine you are Jack & Jill and that familiar children rhyme. We didn’t break any crown; we roll down the hill inside huge plastic balls filled with air. But before that, we have to be ‘processed’.

We were weighted (weight limit was 100 kg per person), sign our life away on a piece of paper, and changed our clothes. Without my glasses, wearing my relatively thin swimming gear, I tip-toed bare-footed on the cold walk-way to an awaiting van. The temperature that day? It was probably 13 degree Celcius. Already in the van was a Caucasian couple. The lady was only wearing two-piece bikini! The van took us up the hill.

At the ‘launching pad’ was a lady ‘handler’. The lady filled the big plastic ball with water, and told me to jump through the small opening, head first (imagine ‘superman pose’), into the ball. I was really glad that the water was warm. The lady opened the wooden door. Then she told me to ‘walk’ the ball out of the paddock. The first step, as usual, was the hardest. But then the big ball just rolled and before I knew it, it picked up some speed. Though I love speed, I have ‘issues’ with heights. I sort of froze in the ball. As my travel mate said, every one screamed down the hill, except me. She was worried to see the ball I was in rolled quietly from the top of the hill until finally halting at the bottom of the hill.

She was relieved when she saw me coming out of the small opening and walked to the bench. I was glad I had my day bag on the bench and my trusty “kain batik” laid out on the bag. I immediately wrapped the clothes around my body. The little warmth it offered was very much welcomed by my drenched cold body. We changed into our dry clothes and quickly bundled ourselves into our small Daihatsu Sirion. AD was behind the wheel, and I was the back-seat navigator. After a somewhat a longer route, we finally reached Rainbow Spring Nature Park.

It was only around 6pm, but the sun was already out. As the name suggests, it’s a nature park. If you are not into roughing it out in the wild, this park is sort of your cheat-sheet to nature. They have well lit walk way and platforms that bring you to nature. There were a school of rainbow trouts, trees, birds and such. There were two species of birds that caught our attention.

The first bird was a kea named Jenny. It’s a bird from the parrot family. But this particular bird, according to the note written near the cage, has spent most of its life in a research lab. At first, Jenny was ‘shy’. She ignored our presence and made no response. However, when we walked away, she gave a cry, kind of calling us to come back. After awhile, the cheeky bird interacted with us, mimicking what sound like “hello”.

The second species was New Zealand icon – the kiwi. In the Kiwi Encounter section of the nature park, they have a few kiwi birds loose. The kiwis, being nocturnal creatures, were very active. I didn’t expect them to be able to dart as fast as they did. We were excited to see actual kiwis and not just some stuff fluffy thing imitating the bird!

After all the excitement in the cold, it was time for our final on the list. Destination: Polynesian Spa. Not willing to compromise our modesty, we took the private pool. On our way to our allocated room, we passed people in their swimming suits at the main hot pool over looking the Rotorua Lake. Opening the door, we saw our nifty pool. Above us, was the open sky. The natural hot spring was a refreshing finale for our day. Before we knew it, the light above the door turned red. Our time was up.

We returned to our motel. Soon after dinner, we were out.

Distance traveled: approx. 37 km

Day 5 (Tuesday 6th May 2009) – Close encounters

It was still dark when I woke up that morning. No more delirious about seeing sunrise, I left the apartment just to see the morning light. I was somehow obsessed about seeing the first light of the morning. Dark cloud loomed overhead. The street was deserted. I could lie down in the middle of the road if I wanted to. Soon it started to drizzle. Not wanting to get sick, I quickly return to the warmth of the apartment.

Realizing the busy day ahead of us, we cooked a heavy breakfast – fried rice, frankfurter, hash brown, omelets, and instant curry puff. We finished the rice and packed the rest of the food for lunch. The previous night, we had decided to start the day early. Ma Hen, AD and I had bought our passes from an agent in Malaysia. We had the option of picking up the passes at the any of the attraction’s entrance. D on the other hand, hadn’t got any passes.

D had tried to call the agent earlier to book her passes. Unfortunately, the number listed on our itinerary wasn’t the right number. I was the first to drive that day. I have to admit, after a ‘horrifying’ drive in town to search for the tourist information counter, it was decided that I shouldn’t be driving in town. At the information counter, D found out that she couldn’t get any special rate and would have to purchase the passes at each of the entrances.

We decided to go to the local travel agent to try to arrange for an additional person. We punched in the address into the Samseng, and off we went. Some turns, and stops later, we drove into a housing area, complete with school kids in uniforms going to school that morning. I was surprised to spot some kids were wearing only sandals in this cold weather!

Anyway, the Samseng took us to an ordinary looking house. The door was closed. We pondered. Should we just go knocking the door and ask? Not to alarm the house owner if the four of us went barging the door, we decided that D and Ma Hen should go first. It turned out to be the right address. The man in his 50s conducted his business mostly online and in wholesale. We were probably the first customers to arrive in front of his door.

We punched in the destination into the Samseng, and drove off. Our first stop: Te Puia. We parked our car at the deserted car park. We made our way on foot to the main entrance, passing a lot of wood carving along the way. After about five to ten minutes walk (plus photo taking), we finally reached the entrance. To our disbelief, there, opposite the ticket booth, was another parking lot. We exchanged our passes at the ticket counter. We decided to go for the cultural show for additional NZ$10. I was glad we made that decision.

As told by the ladies at the ticket counter, we waited at the meeting point. There we were joined by fellow tourists. There were a bunch of guys from UK, some ladies assumed to be from Australia, a bunch of people assumed to be from China, and an old mother-daughter pair from Malaysia. Not long after the mother-daughter pair were ushered into a building in front of us, a lady dressed in traditional Maori clothes - complete with fur cloaked over her shoulder and three of what looked like hawk’s feathers slid in her hair - came. She briefed us the dos and don’ts. She asked for a guy to volunteer to be our impromptu chief. We were all considered as a visiting clan.

Soon after the ‘safety’ briefing, the lady who in everyway looked like a chief daughter, stood by our clan chief. Everyone else stood behind our chief. Then came an angry looking Maori man, running towards us, all the while screaming on top of his lung. He stood a few feet from us, still screaming and making menacing faces, and waved his wooden weapon. While the Maori man was doing the “karanga” - the screaming and the waving of his wooden weapon - no one from the visiting clan was allowed to make noise. Making noise would mean that we were answering the Maori man’s cries for war.

He then placed a leave in front of our chief, who picked it up as a sign that we came in peace. For health reason (it was the beginning of H1N1 pandemic), they had to forgo the traditional ‘rub-nose’ greeting. We then proceed to walk slowly and quietly behind our chief to the building where the mother-daughter had earlier disappeared into. The building is a traditional meetinghouse. Traditionally it is the centre of the community – meeting and decisions were made in the house. So the meetinghouse or “Marae”, is considered as somewhat sacred. We had to take off our shoes.

The door opened to a huge hall. There was a stage at the end of the hall with plastic chairs lined up in rows upon rows. The ‘chief daughter’ explained that traditionally, guests were expected to sit on the floor. However, since some guests have knee problems and can’t sit on floor, they put in the chairs. The walls were covered with what looked like weaved bamboo or leaves. The ceilings and beams are covered with carved panels. They were beautiful.

The ‘chief daughter’ went up the stage with a bunch of Maori ladies. They sang some songs in Maori language. Though I couldn’t understand a word of it, they were beautiful. I could almost see river flowing, trees swayed and flowers blew by the wind, in my head. Then the ladies brought out a pair of string with cotton balls attached to it. They performed a traditional dance, which involved swinging the cotton balls around. They even invited the female audiences to try. Ma Hen and D grabbed the opportunity and tried. They now can proudly claim that they had become an international dancer and had performed in front of an international crowd!

Next, some Maori men went up the stage and joined the Maori ladies. They sang a love song. They all looked peace-loving and gentle singing these beautiful songs. But mind you, the minute they performed the famous Hakka dance, all the serene and gentle look went out of the window. Their sweet voice instantly changed to war cries. Even the all-smile and fragile looking ladies transformed into monsters with tongues sticking out and big wide eyes staring down upon you! They then invited the male audiences to join the Hakka dance.

Another love song followed and before we knew it, the 45 minutes show was over.

After the cultural performance, we went along a guided tour of Te Puia. The guide did say her extremely long Maori name, which she simplified for us as Te. Te, half Maori half Scottish, was born and grew up in Te Puia.

Before Te Puia was turned into some sort of cultural complex, it was actually some sort of a village. People actually live and play there. As we walked around passing geysers, mud pools, hot springs, and streams, Te told us stories of her growing up in the area. They used to catch Cray fish from the warm streams then dipped and cooked it in the hot spring near by. They also used to jump up and down next to the geyser.

We sat on “hot rocks” facing the Prince of Wales Geyser. In the cold temperature, the "hot rock" warmed our gluteus maximus. Te told us about how, growing up, she used to think everyone was like her and experiences what she experienced. She admitted that she was more Maori than she was Scottish. She dislike the uptight structure of her Scottish side. She told us how she and her siblings had to sit straight and be ‘prim and proper’ when she was in her Scottish Gram’s house. The minute they left Gram’s house, they would all run wild! It was very intimate sharing. I could see the sparkle in her eyes as she told these stories.

We continued walking towards Maori Arts & Crafts Institute. Located within the compound of Te Puia, this institute was founded to ensure the Maori arts and crafts continued to be passed on to younger generation. There is a foundation giving scholarship to deserving Maoris to study arts and crafts in the institute. Upon entering the wood carving workshop, the first thing that caught my eyes were the hot tattoos on a Maori's arm. Next was the carving that he was working on.

Te was quick to explain that the carvings and the idols we saw around the complex compound are not totems. They are merely panel carvings. Maoris believe God is too great to be portrayed as carvings. And human is not worthy to portray his or her Creators in any way. The carvings are mostly portrayal of their ancestors. The carvings on the boat on the other hand, tell the story of the whole clan. The boat was carved out of a single tree and traditionally each clan has its own boat.

We stopped by the weaving workshop next door. These ladies weaved the leaves into among others, the skirts worn by the female Maoris performers earlier. They use a kind of screw-pines (‘mengkuang’) leaves that grew in swampy area there.

We thanked Te for her insightful stories and left Te Puia. We headed back to our motel for lunch and to pick up some things.

Day 4 (Monday 5th May 2009) – Sunrise and seafaring legs

While the rest of the gang was still fast asleep, I got up. The sun was just rising. Wanting to be one of the few people on earth to first see the sun rise for a new day, I quickly wore my winter jacket. While I wore wool socks, I had no long-john underneath my track-bottom. I figured that it would only take a while and I would return to the room if it get too cold. I took the keys and left everyone.

I jogged to edge of water and sat on a spot at the dock. Imagine my disappointment when I realized I couldn’t see the sun rises from the horizon! There were masses of land at the horizon. Never the less I stayed to watch how the beautiful colours of the sky changed as the sun rose that morning. Surprisingly the wind-proof material of the track-bottom meant that the cloth trapped some air, enough to insulate some heat for my legs. Much later I discovered (after examining the map) that the dock wasn’t exactly by the sea. The water that was in front of me that day was actually a river mouth.

When I returned to the apartment, everyone was still asleep. It was some times later when finally everyone woke up. We prepared breakfast – hash brown, frankfurters, scrambled eggs and omelets. Once fueled, we packed all the leftovers. We cleaned all the glassware and cooking utensil; stored everything back in the kitchen and pack our bags. By default, the task of fitting everything into the small car fell on me. Everyone brought everything down to the car park while I figured out what fit where.

It was still early by the time every thing was packed and stored in the car. We decided to take a drive through town. There were some shops already opened that early morning. I bought a lip balm – my lips had begun to chap due to the cold temperature and wind. We also stopped by the beach and took photos.

We went back to the motel. Checked the apartment to make sure we didn’t leave anything, and went to the lobby to checkout. We also registered ourselves for the tour at the counter (registering, in this case, included signing a non-liability). I do not know if the rest of the gang read carefully what we signed that day. Under New Zealand law, you can’t sue any tour / adventure operators for any mishaps that might befall you. Basically we signed our lives away that day. After all the paper works and legality, we were given ‘tickets’. Interestingly, instead of being given one of those use-once-than-throw-paper-tabs as tickets, we each was given a small metal funnel as our tickets.

We went to the dock – the place that I had sat earlier that day, handed our ‘tickets’ and boarded the boat. Due to the force of nature, we were delayed. We had to wait for the tide to come. The water was too shallow for the boat to move safely. When the boat finally moved, we were excited. We sat outside the lower deck. There was a Caucasian couple there. We passed a landmark – statue of Wairaka - perched on top of a hill at the mouth of the river. Over the speaker, one of the crew explained the significance of the statue.

According to legends, the native people of Whakatane came from the sea in canoe called Mataatua. The women, children and the olds were left on the canoe while the men went inland in search of fresh water and food. In the absence of the men, the canoe began to drift into the open sea. Amidst the panic, the chief’s daughter, Wairaka, took charged. She yelled “Whakatane” which means “act like a man”. All women banded together and row the canoe to safety.

Anyway, not long after that, the boat crew handed out a piece of bread (with margarine spread on it) and a cup of pumpkin soup. We first ate the bread and the soup separately, but soon realized that they taste better together. In true Asian style, we dipped the bread into the soup before eating the bread. The Caucasian couple saw what we did. Before long, they too did the same!

Out in the open sea, the smooth boat ride quickly changed into a bumpy one. Before long, Ma Hen looked a little pale. We decided that she best went in, which thankfully she did. The crew took care of her. With the ride getting bumpier, and seawater splashing from the sides of the boat (the crew gave us each a towel), AD decided to join Ma Hen. Only D and I left, enjoying the winds and splashes on the open deck.

One and a half hour later, the boat anchored near an island, our destination: White Island. We were each given a hardhat and a facemask. D was the first to board a smaller rubber boat that took us to the old jetty on the island. On the island, first we were given a safety briefing and a little background of the island.

The safety briefing was simple:

1. Follow the guides.
2. Always wear the yellow hardhat.
3. In case of eruption (yes, we were on a volcanic island), do not run to the open beach hoping those on the boat will save you – they’ll long be gone by then. You are to take cover behind the biggest boulder or structure you can reach. Flying hot debris most likely to cause death than hot flowing lava. Now you see why I said we signed our lives away!
4. If, in the end we survive the eruption, calm down, avoid any flowing lava and wait for help.

Don’t worry, help will come, eventually. There are a bunch of volcanologists actively monitoring the island via life feed from video camera installed at the edges of cliffs above our heads. We were given sweets to help clear our throat if they became irritated by sulphurous air. After the safety briefing, we trekked the island making many stops, allowing the guide, Karen, to describe things.

There was too much ‘smoke’ that day for us to see the acidic lake that had formed in the one of craters. Long time ago, sulphur was mined of this island. One of the miner went missing, only his boots were found at the edge of the acidic lake, which sparked a speculation on whether he accidentally fell or committed suicide? The mystery was never solved, for no body was found – the acidic water corrodes every thing in a flash. The mine has long been closed. But the island remained the private property of the Buttle family.

While trekking back to the dock, it hit me (no, no flying debris hit me), the cliffs above our heads were actually the edge of the main / bigger crater. We were trekking inside the main crater! Anyway, we cleaned our shoes before boarding the boat home.

The four of us sat on the upper deck. The crew handed out our sandwich lunch. The sea was getting choppier as we made our way back to the main land. In the distance, I could see storm brewing. I had finished my food, was bouncing and holding tight to the railing, when Ma Hen felt queasy, again. I quickly got on my feet and got down the stairs.

The boat was bouncing when I lost my footing. I had my eyes focused on the wooden lower deck floor underneath me. In that split second, I knew, if I fall, I would hit headfirst and could probably break my neck. And in that split second, I managed to grab the hand railing on my right. So instead of falling head first, I managed to swing to the deck floor and landed on my feet. The crew must have seen me for by the time I landed, they were already at the door! Above the noises (from the waves splashing the boat and the sound of the engine), I managed to tell them about Ma Hen. They quickly went up and brought Ma Hen into the closure of the lower deck (where more people were feeling sick).

The boat continued to rock and bounce in the choppy water. It began to drizzle. The cloud became darker. I was glad we reach the mainland in more or less two hours later! On the dock, we dramatically and exaggeratedly hugged each other, saying we survived the volcanic island and the rough boat ride.

At the motel lobby, the staff was surprised to hear that I was okay with the rough ride (perhaps I looked the most skinny and frail in the tour group). I told them most who sat on the upper deck were okay. She said we all had strong stomach.

I took the wheel. It was about 5pm when we left Whakatane for the town of Rotorua. Before long, the night fell, and we were driving along dark winding road. I could smell anxiety in the air. I didn’t blame them. We were driving along a dark foreign road. Except for the “Expected Arrival Time” as calculated by the Samseng, we were clueless on how much longer the drive was. However, I was calm. I have done this – driving along a dark unfamiliar road – a number of times. At least this time I wasn’t alone.

Anyway, two hours later we safely arrived BK’s Rotorua Motor Lodge. We checked in and unloaded our bags into the one room apartment (two single beds in place of sofa in the living area). We needed additional ingredients for dinner. AD stayed behind to prepare food. The rest of us went in the car and Ma Hen drove to the mall across the road. After buying what we needed, Ma Hen and D, took the car for refueling. I, on the other hand, walked back to the motel.

Dinner consisted of spaghetti. We discussed our plans for tomorrow, then went to bed.

Distance traveled: approx. 100 km on sea & 107 km on land

Day 3 (Monday 4th May 2009) – Swayed and narrow road

No we didn’t swayed to the song of Michael Buble. However the car did swayed a little bit to the left, then a little bit to the right. That was how Ma Hen drove that day. AD and I bit our tongue and said nothing about it throughout the drive. To our consolation, Ma Hen did maintained the car in the correct driving lane. We passed the town of Paengaroa and reached the town for Whakatane safely about an hour later.

We followed the GPS direction and arrived at our first motel, White Island Rendezvous. Our room, nay, in a way, it was more like a two-room apartment. There were kitchen, complete with all the basic utensils and glassware; dining area; and living room equipped with television.

We saw pamphlet of Ohiwa Oyster Farm. A seafood-fanatic, I quickly agreed when the rest of the gang decided to eat out instead of cooking. Having shared our mutual concerns regarding Ma Hen driving, it was my turn to drive.

We punched in the address into the Samseng, and off we went. Before long, we were driving along a narrow winding road in the dark! I can see worries in the eyes of my traveling buddies. The route to my office involve narrow and winding roads too. Except for the a slightly higher slope gradient, the route was similar to the route to my office. So I had no problem maneuvering the car.

After making a wrong turn, we finally reach our destination. We thought we were going to eat oyster in a proper restaurant. The shop was a small wooden ‘hut’ that stood at the fringe of Ohope Beach seeming out in nowhere. There was no one else. I parked the car. We placed our order of mix deep-fried seafood – oyster, mussels, squids and fish – in batter served with fries and dips. There were benches overlooking the lagoon. We sat there to wait for our food.

While waiting for food, another car came. A middle-aged lady came out of the car, placed her order and went back into the car to wait. We on the other had, endured the cold weather and sat on the benches. To kill time, well, you guessed it, took loads of photos. Even when to food was finally ready, we took photos of the food before we sank our teeth into the hot fresh seafood. We soon finished the dips. Since we needed to pay for additional dips, we packed the remaining food and headed back to our motel.

We stopped at a designated scenic lookout. We wanted to take photo to capture the sunset and a mountain at the background. Unfortunately, the low-light situation confused the cameras’ sensors. When I finally got the manual setting on my camera right, it was already too dark to see the background. Unable to further stand the bone chilling-cold temperature, we quickly returned to the warmth of our apartment to finish our dinner – needing our chili sauce to accompany the dinner.

I slept as soon as I tucked myself in the warm bed.

Distance traveled: approx 92km

Day 3 (Monday 4th May 2009) – Behind the wheel

AD was the first to get behind the wheel. We drove out of the city. Before long, the landscape changed from concrete jungle (a sparse jungle, unlike dense KL), to wide open green grassland dotted with cows and sheep. The view was great but we were warned by Aunt not to simply stop along the road but to stop at designated parking areas.

About one and a half hour later (approximately 119km later), we reached the town of Paeroa. Having clocked hundreds, I was fully aware the toll long distance driving has to the driver’s body and mind. I suggested that we stop and take a break. Little did I know that this small cowboy town is the birthplace of L&P (Lemon & Paeroa), a soft drink. We did what every geeky tourist would do, took photos, and continued our journey. We passed more small towns - Te Aroha, Matamata, and Tauranga - along the way to the town Te Puke.

We stopped for our toilet break near a place called Jamieson Oval in Te Puke. Then we picked a spot under an olive tree to have our lunch. We spread our packed food on the picnic bench had a splendid picnic. D and I were packing things when two ladies came.

The older lady was most probably in her 40s, the younger lady might be in her early 20s. We began small talks. They have northern Malaysian accents. The younger lady has lighter skin and short cropped curly hair. Her eyes were sort of light hazel – matching her not-so-black hair. After a series of questions, D and I began to suspect something was amiss. First they said they were on holiday. Hearing that D was on working-holiday visa, they too claimed that they were on working-holiday visa. Well aware that there’s an age limit to such visa, we agreed (without having to say a word to each other) to keep our distance from them and leave as soon as our two other traveling buddies came.

Our next stop was Kiwi 360. There was a gift shop. Ma Hen went to enquire the guy behind the counter about the guided tour. The next one was at 2pm. Again, not a shopaholic by nature, I bluntly asked whether we could ‘linger’ there while waiting for the guided tour. Well, needless to say, I experienced the ‘blunt’ of the question for the rest of the road trip!

The first ‘lingering’ effect of the question was that the good looking guy from behind the counter, Sam, became our tour guide. We boarded a ‘tram’. Sam drove us around the kiwi fruit orchard and went on explaining things.

Te Puke, along with some other towns, are located in Bay of Plenty. As the name suggested, there are plenty of things grown in the area, thanks to its fertile volcanic soil as well as its temperate weather. Contrary to common believe, kiwi fruits are not native fruit of New Zealand. Kiwi fruits were brought in from China by enterprising New Zealand farmers some years ago. Each variety of the fruit was named after its cultivator.

We even made a stop at the kiwi fruit processing farm. The fruits were plucked before they are ripe, then packed into boxes before being shipped (yes the fruits travel via sea to save cost). By the time the fruits reached their destination, the fruits would be ripe. A big portion of the Kiwi Orchard and processing plant workers comes from Asian countries – Malaysia included. After a visit to the Kiwi Fruit processing plant, Sam ‘set us loose’ in the orchard. We did the only geeky tourist thing to do: took lots of photos. The tour ended soon after.

We continued our journey with Ma Hen behind the wheel. We headed to a town called Whakatane, about 67 km away.

Distance traveled: 260km

Day 3 (Monday 4th May 2009) – The blues

Monday mornings are associated with Monday blues. But no blues for us that early Monday morning. We had no problem peeling ourselves from the comfort and warmth of our bed. We quickly took turns to shower and got ready. We would begin our road trip that day. Joining us on the road trip was D.

Aunt agreed to give us a lift to the car rental collection point. She said the area was near to her office. Unfortunately she was not really sure the exact location. No problem. I switched on the GPS and punched in the address: 150 Khyber Pass Road. No such address registered. Oddly, 149 Khyber Pass Road was! Thinking that it was most probably next to the 150, we agreed to set it as the destination point.

Off we went, driving and navigating the morning traffic as dictated by the GPS program. We did get to Khyber Pass Road. But to our horror, the building numbers were not in any logical sequence. 150 was not next to 149 Khyber Pass Road! So there we were, driving in the morning traffic, squinting our eyes to spot the building number.

We turned into a small lane, which according to the map would take us back to the main road. Unfortunately, almost at the end of the road, it was gated – the kind that use RF card. We had to turn back. While trying to get into the busy main road, we finally spotted the building! We had probably drove around the area for half an hour or so.

Ma Hen and AD had previously arranged for an auto-transmission 1.3 car. Even though I can’t really drive an auto-transmission, having two drivers compared to only one if we take the manual-transmission out weighted everything. For fuel efficiency, we decided on a 1.3. Imagine our surprise when they gave us a Daihatsu Sirion 1.3 – which looks everyway like Malaysian MyVi.

Aunt was skeptical. Could the little car fit the four of us, our bags and our rations? (Aunt and Gram found time over the weekend to prepare food for us to take along our road trip). Aunt wondered if we could fit our bags into the trunk. We tried to get a bigger 1.3 car. The car rental guy tried his best; unfortunately none were ready at that time.

We assured Aunt that we could fit every thing and everyone just fine. Having traveled together before, Ma Hen and AD knew I could fit seemingly ‘unfitable’ amount of things into a small bag. When all the bags fit just nicely in the trunk, and the food in the middle of the back seat, Aunt, and even the car rental guy, looked in amazement.

We hooked my Samseng on the dashboard. Bided adieu to Aunt, and we were off on our much anticipated road trip!

Distance traveled: 20km