Thursday, July 18, 2019

Must do activities in New Zealand – North Island by Ahmad Shazali Zakaria


Amazing view of Waikato River
Ahmad Shazali Zakaria

It’s not everyday you get the chance to travel to New Zealand, so wouldn’t you want to make your trip as memorable as you can? For me, it would absolutely be bungy jumping as that is what New Zealand is famous for. But what else is there to do besides bungy jumping in New Zealand’s North Island. Well, let me tell you. Here are my top things that you must do when visiting New Zealand’s North Island.

Bungy jumping


Of course bungy jumping would be top of mind activity when in New Zealand. But did you know that it is one of the most expensive activity that you can do in New Zealand? It can cost you from NZD80 – NZD210 per person. That’s RM221 – RM580 in Malaysian currency. But is bungy jumping really worth it? Even though the exhilaration part only last for seconds, for me I can definitely cross it out from my bucket list and I can boast to all of my friends about it.



Depending on your budget and your appetite for the extreme, there are quite number of companies that you can choose from. For my wife and I, we’ve gone for Taupo Bungy in Taupo (about 3 hours 45 mins drive from Auckland airport). At 47 meters (about 14 storey high) it’s one of the highest bungy jumping spots in North Island. Go big or go home as they say. We have budgeted the activity during our planning so that we will get the best bungy jumping experience that New Zealand’s North Island can offer.

Ahmad Shazali Zakaria

Ahmad Shazali Zakaria


Ahmad Shazali Zakaria

Overhanging 47 meters above Waikato River, the bungy platform projects out from the cliff-top providing an amazing backdrop to your jump. We have chosen the tandem bungy jump and opted for the water touch where your head will momentarily dip in to the river for that added thrill (yes, we are crazy). The experience was amazing! Props to the staff for ensuring the safety of our jump. The amount of safety checks prior to the jump gave me a peace of mind so that I can just focus on the jump itself. Once the jump is completed, you will be greeted by the staff on a boat (at the bottom) and will pull you and dismantle all the equipment and will send you to the river bank where you can head back up to your vehicle.

3...2...1 Geronimo!
Ahmad Shazali Zakaria

Overall, the bungy jump was one hell of a ride. Coupled with the amazing backdrop of Waikato River, it is one of the most remarkable bungy jump experiences in New Zealand’s North Island. I highly recommend doing the bungy jump with Taupo Bungy.

Stay tuned for my next post on "top things that you must do when visiting New Zealand’s North Island".

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Amazing campervan adventures by Ahmad Shazali Zakaria PART 2

Breakfast by the lake
Ahmad Shazali Zakaria
 One of the best thing about traveling with a campervan in New Zealand is that you can park anywhere for the night (public land) as long as you have a fully self contained campervan which means that the campervan is able to store freshwater and wastewater. For a more detailed information, visit this link. Plan your trip so that every 2-3 days you have a camper site that you can park the night to charge your campervan, replenish freshwater, empty out your septic tanks and garbage bin. 

Charging at camper park
Ahmad Shazali Zakaria



Cooking inside the campervan
Ahmad Shazali Zakaria
Most places that you plan to visit in New Zealand's north island will have a small town that you can stop by to get petrol and groceries. Again, its best to plan your trip to factor in supply stops so that you wont ran out when you are in the middle of nowhere. Monitor your use of supplies eg. water, electricity so that you can make as little stops as you can and focus on your trip. There is this one night where we had to make an unscheduled stop as the road condition was not safe to drive (heavy fog) and our electricity is close to empty. It was late April so the weather is really cold at night and seeing that our electricity is running dry, we had to crank up the heater from the driver & passenger side as it was running from the campervan's engine for 30 minutes to get the whole campervan heated up and then we proceed to sleep in the cold. We woke up freezing like crazy with mist coming out of our mouth.
Dumping out septic tank
Ahmad Shazali Zakaria
Literally the sh*tiest job ever! Dumping out the septic tank is not the best part of traveling with a self contained campervan. Make sure you follow the instruction given for the septic tank especially the part where you put in the tablets that breaks down your waste so it won't be smelly.

Despite the tedious job of dumping out the septic tank, traveling with a campervan is the best way to travel in a country such as New Zealand. You never know where you spend the night and the amazing view that will greet you in the morning. Plus you can stop anytime along your journey and take some photos. Just look at these amazing views!


After the rain
Ahmad Shazali Zakaria





Ahmad Shazali Zakaria



That's all she wrote! Stay tuned for more postings soon. 

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Campervanning in New Zealand (North Island)

Amazing campervan adventures by Ahmad Shazali Zakaria.


Amazing campervan adventures by Ahmad Shazali Zakaria.


First Time Campervanning (New Zealand - North Island)

The year was 2014. It was sometime in April we decided to travel to New Zealand for our first foray into traveling in a campervan. Seeing other blog-post on traveling in a campervan had convinced us that we too can do it. After countless google searches, blogs visited we had decided on apollo campervans as they had the best offer.



First impression, amazing! We had no idea how spacious our campervan was. Cozy enough for the both of us. The campervan included built-in shower and toilet, gas hob, sink, prep table and two long benches which is converted into a super-single sized bed.


It took less than 5 minutes to convert the benches into our bed.

I must say that it took me a little while to adjust driving a large vehicle, but as I gained more confidence, the drive was smooth and surprisingly the campervan was easy to maneuver. We didn't take the GPS package so we relied on Google maps for our journey.
(Stay tuned for more!)