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Around September last year, me and 2 colleagues checked the Air Asia website. Apparently there’s a promo ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch, New Zealand. We always wanted to go for a holiday together. The 1 of my colleagues asked his girlfriend to come and 2 other friends. So, 6 of us booked the ticket for only 3.5 days in New Zealand and 3 days in Kuala Lumpur.
A year later, that dream to go on holiday together became a reality. Last October, on the 29th, we went from Jakarta, Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. We then have to stay in the airport’s McDonald because our flight to New Zealand was early in the morning. So, there we were having dinner and just chat until we feel very bored. We were trying to stay awake because we wanted to sleep on the plane.

Air Asia plane was surprisingly convenient on the seat but not the facility. There is no plug for earphones and no video on demand. So basically, if you don’t bring any tablet, ipad, ipod, mp3 player, or a book.. you just sit still. You can rent a ps2 but either you booked it online or at the check in point. After 10 hours flight from Kuala Lumpur, we arrived at Christchurch at nearly midnight. 1 of our friend got checked with the custom. We were waiting for him quiet long, but the other officer quiet nice. She told us to wait outside and she’ll tell our friend about it. After that, we took a taxi to a motel that we’ve booked. The taxi driver was very very nice, very friendly. He told us about Christchurch after the massive earthquake and he said it could take them up to 10 years to get everything settle like before. They are still trying to boost up the economy and do everything they can to survive after the earthquake.
After he dropped us to the motel, we settle in a room and with 6 people in it, it was crowded but it was fun.
The next morning, the private tour that we booked pick us up from the motel with a Mercedes van and this is where the adventure started.

Our route is to go to the west to Franz Joseph Glacier from Christchurch then go south to Queenstown. Then on the way back, we go to the east and go back to Christchurch.

We started our journey and always move to one backpackers to another. I never been staying in a backpacker before but really really happy that all the backpackers we stayed in are clean, except the separation of the toilets and the bathrooms a bit unfamiliar for us. Apart from that is just perfect, the bed and everything is great.

This is our ‘dream’ holiday and we saw amazing views from Southern Island. We just hope we can stay there longer (or forever). I cant believe my eyes with what I see. It’s like a dream or a painting but not really. It’s just amazing. Going with 6 people (just met the other 3 in the airport) was another big adjustment which is surprising but we getting along pretty well.

The highlight of this New Zealand trip was a visit to the Good Shepherd church in Lake Tekapo. The scenery was stunning and with the church there, it’s just perfect. It is a dream come true to visit and be able to take shots of this church.

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For more of New Zealand’s shots you can take a look in my flickr page When God paints

After Lake Tekapo we started to heading back to Christchurch and go back to Kuala Lumpur. It’s another 11 hours fly and I wish I could sleep, but I couldn’t. So like I said, I just sit there and read the Air Asia magazine until I don’t know what to do. Well, go back and forth to the bathroom is one activity I can do :P .

In Kuala Lumpur, again, we arrived at midnight and headed to YMCA where we’re staying for the rest of the weekend. I meet up with an old friend of mine there together with her fiancee. One thing that I want to see in Kuala Lumpur was the Petronas twin tower. So we did, we had dinner and took shots of the twin tower and headed back. At this time, the 2 friends already when back. 1 was going back to Jakarta and 1 was headed to Singapore. 1 more girl will be leaving the next day and our will be leaving the next day after her. We did what we could to wrap up our holidays. Met up with an old colleague of ours from Malaysia office and had supper. And on 6th November, it’s a wrap of our holidays.

For more of Kuala Lumpur’s shot, please visit my flickr Kuala Lumpur

From this trip, I have learnt not just to except 5 other people attitudes but also to just have fun whatever it takes. I learnt that is so much out there that you can see, that I don’t know of. I learn to have a better tripod next time than mine (hahaha..). I realize that taking landscape photography is HARD! Sometimes I just see my boss’ shots of landscape and say, ‘wow.. it’s beautiful’ without realizing the hard work he put into. I climbed the hill and on top of the rocks to get a good view. I cross the river and the wet grass (at the end my shoes are wet), I walked in the rain just to get to a destination. But above all, I feel alive!