Thursday, September 3, 2009

Kerikeri: Cradle of the Nation


Kerikeri is the largest town is Bay of Islands, situated at the north of the North Island of NZ *phew* The town was a village established by pioneering missionaries and therefore the oldest building in NZ can be found there. The Mission House and the Stone Store (which are situated next to each other) are among the famous tourist spots in Kerikeri. Kerikeri is also famous for its oranges, beautiful beaches and water sports.


Haha, but I didnt know all that when i decided to visit the place. I just felt that since Janine is going back home to Kerikeri, i should just visit her place for some Kiwi love. Little did i know that we would go through so much for Kiwi experiences.




THE ARRIVAL.


Janine & Alan picked us up from Huia at 9am. The whole journey to Kerikeri took 3 hours. You may say "Dang, that's long!". But we had fun (at least I did). We passed by many greenery, sheeps, cows, turkeys, farms and more greenery. Yipee..! *rolls eyes* Anyways, we passed by a number of small twons along the way and you wouldn't believe the things we were told. For example, the town Kawakawa is famous for their public toilets! Tourists even take pictures with the urinals! It is that famous! Sadly, we didnt manage to do so because our photographer, Anita Mary, was asleep!


After a looooooong journey, we finally arrived! Ahem, if you think Sungai Petani is a small town, wait till you see Kerikeri! It is 'homey' and its suppose to be the BIGGEST town in the Bay of Islands! Ang Mo's! Dont they know how to differentiate VILLAGES from towns! I felt decieved for a while.


Then we met Janine's family. Her mum Trish and her grandma Gran (well, of course we called her Gran). Her house is amazing-ly beautiful and homey. It looks just like all those Ang Mo houses you see in architectural and home makeover magazines. As we were going through a round of introductions and taoilet visits, it started raining! I mean like WHAT??!! Its suppose to be a beautiful day so that we can go out and play! (Oh, it rhymes!) Dang! So we looked at each other and believe me.... everyone looked pissed and disappointed. Not knowing what to do, we laid on the beds and begin to rot. We rot till it was time to go back to Auckland. The trip was a failure!




Nah, we weren't that boring! I know Asians have this thing against walking in the rain and all those grandmother tales stuffs, but hey... according to Janine, we're the best buncg of Malaysians that visited her place. Wanna know her reason? Its not because we are neat or careful or trifty or polite. It's because we are unorganized, fickle-minded bunch of idiots who just goes with the flow! In the end, we decided to walked around town in the rain! Janine showed us the town area (or the lepak area in the village) as well as her primary and high school. Ha, and i though my school was small! But for a small school in a village, it's fully-facilitated and looks kinda fun actually! We met a friend of Janine's and chat for a while. She's now a teacher in the same school she went to and she found that although teaching can be of a challenge sometimes, she enjoys it!


At around 6pm, it began to get darker so we head back to Janine's home for dinner. Trish originally wanted to make a rice dish but changed her mind! She made roasted pork with potatoes and it was lovely! After stuffing ourselves with food, Myn decided to go for a spa~ She managed to convince me to spa along with the rest in the rain. So along I went with the rest and sat in the spa for an hour before deciding that it was too cold. So, while they were still screaming and splashing around, i showered and dreamed of ice-cream that night.


*to be continued*

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