There and Back Again

The River Anduin, Middle Earth… Only in our imagination. This was the place, (OK, near the place) that they filmed the Pillars of Kings scene in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy

Here’s my final post of our New Zealand trip from 2018. At last, finishing posting all that I wanted to post of NZ. See ya, NZ, till we meet again.

Dad, Hazel, Jason and family are flying to NZ tomorrow, to visit Kim and family! How nice! This would be Jason’s, Fang’s and Stacey’s first visit to NZ! As for Dad & Hazel, they’ve been there umpteen times! Hope the weather is good and that they enjoy the trip.

Back to my post, here goes.

Continuing from where I left off in my last NZ post. Our last day on the South Island of NZ was spent sightseeing in Cromwell and Arrowtown, before we headed off to Queenstown Airport to return the campervan and take the flight back to Auckland. In between Cromwell and Arrowtown, is the great Anduin River of Middle Earth (from the LOTR movie trilogy). Nah, it’s actually the Kawarau River, which was used to film the Pillars of Kings scene, where the heroes rowed passed the two ginormous statues of kings with arms extended, flanking the river.


Kawarau River, all sunny and clear, not like the gloomy & foreboding river in the movie that the Fellowship of the Ring rowed in… It’d be awesome if they’d really created the Argonath (aka the Pillars of Kings), wouldn’t it?


Hey, are those the hobbits in the river?? Nah, they’re white-water rafters… The Kawarau Gorge is an adventure sports location


Can’t open our eyes! The sun’s too bright – Kawarau River, Otago, NZ – Dec 2018


Hey, what’s going on? Did someone jump??!?


There he is! Oh, it’s a friggin bungy jump! What did I just tell you about adventure sports??


The Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge, is the birthplace of bungy jumps. That’s because this was the first ever commercial bungy jumping site in the world! This suspension bridge used to be an important access to the Otago goldfields during the gold mining days. Now, it’s just a place for people to jump themselves bonkers!


AJ Hackett was the entrepreneur who set up the world’s first commercial bungy jumping site here, and made this crazy sport famous around the world


Inside the AJ Hackett Kawarau Bungy Centre. See, how it’s cramped with people! Nope, not gonna do something crazy like that!


Just came here for a little sightseeing. Let’s go, we have a plane to catch!


Queenstown, here we come! The Remarkables Mountain Range, Queenstown (view from Riverside Road, next to the airport)


That’s our plane. Time to go! Queenstown Airport, New Zealand, New Year’s Eve, 2018. Bye, till we meet again! See ya, when we see ya!

In the Old Prospecting Days

A cowboy town in New Zealand?? Yup, this is Cromwell. More precisely, this is its Heritage Precinct, in Otago, South Island, NZ.

The family’s reunion in New Zealand is fast approaching. Dad, Hazel, and finally, Jason and family are gonna visit Kim in Auckland in the middle of this month, and then, they’re gonna head out on a hectic, all-out NZ excursion, covering the North as well as the South Islands. Jason’s hired a campervan. No, make that a Motorhome! It’s the larger, nicer version, of a campervan, with built-in toilet, shower, kitchen, and what have you, not like the little Jucy campervan we rented in 2018.

Alas. We’re not gonna be there. So, here’s to remembering our own New Zealand trip, a continuation of my posts of our South Island trip in 2018. This is gonna be my last NZ post.. Wait, make that the second-last (I realized I’ve still got a lot of photos left to post, heehee). Till we visit again. Here goes!


Cromwell’s a gold prospecting town in the old Otago Gold Rush days… Now it’s known more for its fruits, than gold. Heck, it even has a monument for its fruits! (Nope, didn’t take a photo. What’s so interesting about giant peaches on poles?) It’s known as the “Fruit Bowl of the South” now! Hell, yeah! Sez the lady whose house we stayed in, in Cromwell, on our last night of our South Island trip. Don’t believe me?! Go Google Cromwell, NZ, and you’ll see!


That’s the house we stayed in! No 42, Barry Avenue, Cromwell. On our last night in the South Island. I hadn’t planned this actually; it was a last-minute thing. The original plan was to sleep in the campervan, in a camping ground, somewhere. Anywhere! And then Anu suggested, that since this was our last night, could we have something better? B’coz, we still had to pack up, and stuff like that before we fly off? And she's right! It didn’t help that the only available camping ground near us, had only one berth left, and it was cramped to the brim with people, like the trailer parks that you see in movies! And so, we started our search, but there weren’t many hotels around, and each and everyone that we contacted was full. (It was peak Christmas season!) And then, one of the hotels informed that they knew someone who could let out their rooms for a night, and we got the number of this lady, I still remember her name, Jacinda, just like the name of the then New Zealand Prime Minister! (I’ve never come across a Jacinda in my life before, and two popped out in NZ. It must be a really common Kiwi name!)


And this is the ‘trailer park’ that we nearly stayed in. The Cromwell Holiday Park. I think we paid, and decided otherwise when we saw where we had to park, and they refunded the money. Good on them. I tried checking it out on Google Maps, and it’s completely gone now! I think it’s being redeveloped into a housing area, or something… Bye-bye! (It was at the plot surrounded by Alpha St on its east, and Midlothian Ave on its north…)


Back at the Precinct District. It lies beside the Kawarau River. Cromwell lies at the mouth of the Kawarau River, where it meets the Clutha River


That’s the Kawarau River… which incidentally, is also the river (one of the rivers anyway) used to film the River Anduin in the Lord of the Rings movie… you know the river flanked by the 2 huge statues of kings with their hands extended… the “Pillars of Kings” or “the Gate of Argonath”? That’s on this river, but further upstream. This photo is at the river's mouth…


It sure is windy, huh? Cromwell, Otago, New Zealand


Huh? What’s this? The house of the Illuminati? It’s a Masonic Lodge! Cromwell


Here’s another quaint gold prospecting town, Arrowtown! Near Queenstown, Otago




Anu loves this town, with its white cottages, flowers, trees… This is her idea of a nice town to stay in!


And that’s the Arrowtown church! Let’s see, it’s the St Patrick’s Catholic Church!

That’s all for now, folks! One more NZ post to go after this. See ya!

Deep in Sheep Country

Dunstan Downs, Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand

Happy Birthday Skye! It’s Skye’s 8th birthday! Time flies huh?!? The last time we met Skye, was in 2018 in Auckland, when she was only a tiny 2 years old!!

Dad, Hazel and Jason’s family are planning a New Zealand trip in November this year. It’d be Jason and family’s first trip to NZ to see Kim! Unfortunately, we’ll not be there for the ‘family reunion’ this year. NZ’s beyond our budget for the time being. Our plans aren’t fixed yet, but we’ll probably make a trip to our India home at the end of the year instead. Lots of unfinished stuff to attend to as usual. So, NZ will have to wait!

Anyway, here’s a continuation of where I left off in my last post of NZ. From Wanaka, we went north, into Canterbury. I wanted to see Mount Cook. What? It’s the highest peak in New Zealand! We’re this close, how can I not give it a try?!? But we had precious little time left, only 2 more nights in the South Island, before we fly back to Auckland. Here goes our adventure!


Heading to the Lindis Pass, on the Tarras - Lindis Pass Road (NZ State Highway No 8) – A view of the hills from the Cluden Hill Summit


North to Aoraki! On the road through the Lindis Pass, State Highway No 8, Otago, South Island, NZ


We’re in Canterbury! Lindis Pass Viewpoint


The track to the Lindis Pass Summit Lookout, at the Otago – Canterbury Border, NZ


We found our camper van spot for the night, Dunstan Downs, a sheep farm, with some facilities for camping. Not great, but not bad too. Ever used a thunderbox toilet? You can try it here. Guarantee, you’ll hate it, haha!


Anu at Dunstan Downs, South Island, NZ, Dec 2018


The main house and office of the Dunstan Downs High Country Sheep Station


OK, we’ve had a good night’s rest. Time to move again. A long journey awaits.


Another Lavender Farm? NZ Alpine Lavender, on the Mount Cook Road. We’re heading to Mount Cook!


Shucks! It’s all rainy, and clouds in Aoraki. Guess we’ll not be able to see Mt Cook after all. Better luck next time. But I consider ourselves lucky already because this was the first and only time that it rained during our entire 1 week trip of the South Island. New Zealand is famous infamous for its wet and windy climate. While we were enjoying ourselves in the South Island, Dad, Hazel and Kim’s lot were fending off the pounding rain in Auckland. For more photos of the Aoraki/ Mt Cook area, check this earlier post.


Heading back into civilization, Anu at Lake Pukaki. Behind in the horizon, below the storm clouds, is the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park


If only we could fly… Red Cat Biplane, near Twizel’s little airport

That’s all for now. Gotta head to Cromwell fast, have to find a place to sleep for our last night in the South Island before it turns dark. See ya!

What We Did in Wanaka

The heat’s definitely back in Dubai. Bye-bye outdoors, for the time being. And I suddenly find myself super-busy, involved in a big tender, which is a good thing in slower times like what the company’s having now. So, it’s back to picture posts of our past journeys in faraway places. Faraway places are something I always look forward to. When’s our next big adventure? Hmmmm…


Anyway, here’s a continuation of my last post of New Zealand’s South Island, the Road to Paradise. From there, we headed to Wanaka, the town famous for this little tree in a lake… Why? You tell me… (Read on to find out more)


The Crown Range Summit was where we stopped the last time, “Wanaka, here we come!” On the Crown Range Road, Otago, South Island, New Zealand, Dec 2018


The hills are alive, with flowers and trees – the missus’s favourite things


Whoa! What’s this? The Fence of Lost Bras? Is this where all the lost bras end up? Lost a bra? No worries, head over to Cardrona, NZ. It must be there, somewhere… Nah, this is actually a promotion for breast cancer awareness. Support the cause by donating to the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation!


Finally, Wanaka! Wanaka Town sits on the southern shore of a pristine lake with its namesake, Lake Wanaka

Wanaka is famous for having ample ‘Instagram-able’ spots, like #ThatWanakaTree, above. Apart from that, there’s also Roy’s Peak Lookout. But that’s a 6.3 km hike up the hill from the road, and the same distance back. Nah, that’ll take too much time, and it’ll be too much for the kids (and ahem… yours truly, maybe). So, we decided to head to a kid’s place instead – the Puzzling World. (Hell, when you’ve got kids, you’ve got to think of places for them to enjoy also. Hills, valleys and hiking is wonderful for us, but the kids? They’d prefer a playground, any playground, even at home, over a long hike!) So, here’s one for the kids!


“Mommy, run, that tower’s falling!” Don’t worry boys, that uncle is holding it up. He’s actually Atlas the Titan, in human form, cursed to hold up the leaning tower of Wanaka for eternity…


What’s this? Some new fitness fad? Lean back and enjoy??


A wall of Nelson Mandela’s. I bet you, this is straight out from Netanyahu’s bad dreams… “Repent Benjamin! Is killing people alright for you?”


What’s so fun about a maze? But kids love mazes. “Yeah, c’mon, let’s find our way out of this!”


“Where’s the toilet, mommy?” “No, not this type of toilet!!!” I didn’t know Romans used toilets for meetings?!? “Awww, that smells awful. What did you eat, man?” The Puzzling World is a ‘museum’ and park of optical illusions.


And weird inventions like this one. Tired, eh? Kids?




Time to go. Let’s make a stop at the Lavender Farm for mommy! Before we head off further north, to find our next place to park our camper van!

See you, till I see you!