may 7 - the end.
16th of april, saturday, was our last day in new zealand. we took our time packing then headed to wanis. danish had friends over so he had cheered up immensely. wanis made nasik ambeng for lunch. nasik ambeng in NZ! never in my wildest dream. finally it was time to leave for the airport. since danish had friends around he wasn't that sad to see us go, unlike the day before, heh. wanis and family has helped us tremendously, don't know how to balas budi.
got a little lost on the way to the airport, mostly my fault because i was absolutely inept at using the garmin. then i sulked like budak kecik. hampeh sungguh(saya ini).
we had to pay NZD25 leaving fee, no one told us!
as the plane ascended i took a last look at the southern alps and the beautiful landscape. so, so, so beautiful beyond description.
we landed in brisbane a little after 4, rented a car for heading to gold coast and had to go through the invisible toll again. it rained on the way.
i wanted to visit the little night market at surfer's paradise again but it was only on for wednesdays and fridays only. we parked the car and just took a walk around surfer's paradise, down familiar paths. we met a few malaysians and boy, sombongnya! ek enne baru sampai gold coast? ada pegi milford sound? please. senyum pun tak nak. sheesh.
dinner was at some persian halal cafe where we had rice and chicken and seafood basket and also some fish. yums.
since our flight back to kl was the next morning, we did not plan to spend a night in an establishment. the original plan was to sleep at the airport in the wee hrs of the morning.
after dinner we don't have anywhere else to go to anymore and we decided not to hang around a 24hr cafe so we drove to coolanggata. after parking everyone was like, let's just sleep in the car for a while, which we did, until about 5.30am. heee(so much for wanting to bercamp in airport).
when we finally got into the airport we met a makcik and a pakcik couple, who had arrived from sydney the night before, and they told us the airport had closed at 10pm! their flight back was the same as ours so they had waited outside the airport door the whole night in the cold. unintentionally we made the right decision to sleep in the car. kesian pakcik and makcik tu. baru balik dari lawat anak/cucu and had stayed in sydney for a month.
finally we were off the australasia grounds, where the AA stewardess was not so good at providing services. about 200 passengers and only 20 entertainment systems available? you've got to be kidding me.
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before going on this trip i didn't know squat about new zealand. except, you know, maoris, kiwis, auckland, wellington, lotr. i didn't know it has two islands. i didn't know and did not expect the overwhelming scenery. someone had told me beforehand, "new zealand is beautiful", but what i saw with my own eyes...
i think new zealand is magic like that. you've seen it in lord of the rings but it only stays in your mind for a fleeting moment. only when you get there that you'll truly get it. every word that tries to describe it is just that; TRIES. it is that, and a whole lot more. a whole, whole lot more. i think if you fight to get here, it is worth it.
i also had no idea about gold coast except that it has all those worlds that you can visit. so not. byron bay has been listed as one of the 10 most beautiful beach (or something) and i have been there! so unexpected. cheyah says she will never tire of going to byron bay even if she has to take people who visits there all the time. i see her point.
i also had no idea that surfer's paradise is a real name for a place, hehe. i thought it was, you know, describing a spot, surfer's paradise, because of the hot surfers' bods. ahem.
i loved this trip. but maybe you could lower down the emotional disturbance a notch next time, huh, self?