Greece

 

 

One of the oldest civilizations, home to our favourite mythological characters, birth place of the Olympics, and now the most struggling of all economies in Europe.

Still a great travel destination, and our first cabbie in Athens pointed out, nearly 30mn visitors were expected in 2016. However, the disappointing thing for me when I began my research was that people seemed to travel to the beaches here rather than the historical monuments.

That was just sad, and I decided to ensure my travel would cover more landmarks than just the beaches and islands, and we spent 2 days in Athens doing just that, and the remaining 7... well, back at the beach! Not just because I succumbed to being another tourist, but because 2 days is more than enough to cover most of the historical monuments left to see in Greece!

Anyway, here go some tips before I dive into another travel tome.

Tips

1.       Withdraw cash. Many places in Europe accept cards and there's barely any need to pay in cash, but in Greece and especially on the islands, cash is sometimes the only mode of payment. 

2.       If you need to prioritize the islands, do Mykonos instead of Santorini. Not many people would suggest this as Santorini is world famous, but with similar sunset views, prettier walk ways, and far lesser crowd to guarantee clutter free photography, Mykonos is a much better option. Of course, the party scene is always an added advantage with Mykonos. 

3.       There are 2 popular ferries in Greece that get you to these islands, Hellenic and Seajet. Not many people will say this again, but Seajet is far better. Ship is more stable ensuring you don't fall sea sick, club class is more spacious, with a table in between seats giving you have enough space to leave your things around, an open deck to enjoy the seaside breeze, and most importantly, for me at least, ample big screen TVs to catch shows like Olympics from even the economy seats if required. 

4.       There are flights that sometimes even work cheaper than the ferries, but somehow the ferries are just more fun, and very well-coordinated, leaving you fairly content with the travel.

5.       While you can hire a car and drive around with an Indian license, it’s completely avoidable given the tiny streets that you would need to negotiate on the islands and their exorbitant rental charges that are completely unnecessary when there are ample buses and local shuttle services available.

6.       While Ouzo is what everyone will tell you to have in Greece, don't miss the Sangria as they are made from the Santorini wine which has a unique lava flavour making it far delicious than the ones you get even in Spain. 

7.       Dive straight into the Gyros and the Souvlaki the first place you see it. National dishes of Greece! In Santorini, don’t miss the local favourites; Fava and the fried Tomato/Zucchini balls. While fine dining, try the Mousaka or the Pistatio. Everything else is not necessarily Greek and sometimes you can get lucky, other times it’s a waste of money.

 

Aug 13

Certainly a nice date to begin the travel, we started with absolutely no sleep on Friday night given I was organizing Geetu’s farewell that evening, and then had to report at the airport by 1am. We landed at our transit destination Doha by 5am local time and spent the next 9 hours there till we boarded the flight to Athens.

There is an Airport Hotel and lots of lounges to catch some sleep, but Qatar wouldn't provide complimentary accommodation although they are supposed to for flights with longer than 8 hour transit times as the flights we booked are apparently "promotional fares", and we didn’t want to spend about 7k INR per person for just those few hours.

So we parked ourselves at the cafeteria where Mithu, one of Geet’s friends who worked at the Doha airport (yes, she really does have friends all over the place), caught up with us by about 7am just as we were finishing our morning coffee.

While we chatted with him I figured Doha airport was filled with ironies:

1.                   There's unlimited free wifi at the airport operating at a brisk 2 MBPS, but YouTube is banned in Qatar

2.                   All the eateries look really fancy, but even the Croissants weren't fresh – this early in the morning!

3.                   There’s a Burger King that serves the Whopper just like the ones you see internationally, but the bacon is made of Turkey.. no guesses for what’s banned here in Qatar

We caught up with Jeeth, Sachin and Soha who landed at 12 and time flew faster after this with all of us playing with Soha. Once we boarded the next flight, I caught the Safety Briefing video on the Qatar Airline which was the only thing I managed to stay awake for, as I was trying to make up for lost sleep in both legs of the flight. The Briefing video was one of the most entertaining I’ve seen as well as they used the Barcelona football team sponsorship to full effect in making the video.

We finally landed at 7pm in Athens and boarded Taxi’s to get to Acropolis. Jeethu, Soha, Mom and me in one cab and Sachin Geet in the other. Our cabbie was one of those grumpy old folk probably responsible for the situation Greece is in, and first he couldn’t locate the house, and next made a supremely big fuss when I realized it was Dollars I was carrying that Jeeth asked me to pick from Bangalore and not Euros, requiring us to find an ATM and withdraw money for him.

Anyway, some extra money always shuts people up, and soon we checked into our cozy B&B at Athens. This was a 1BHK where a wardrobe in the hall would transform into a bed giving exactly the space required for 5 adults to sleep, including the sofa in the hall.

It was a nice clean place with a fully functional kitchen that I put to good use, experimenting even with the baking oven for the first time, and a tiny balcony where Soha would always want me to take her out to.

Naomi our caretaker here gave us a detailed download of things to do, and her words of advice manifested to some of the best moments we had in Athens.

Sachin and I located the convenience store she mentioned close to the place and got ourselves our first Greek drinks – Mythos beer and Ouzo. We then went hunting to parcel some food and actually chanced upon a Bengali Indian running a store serving burgers and sandwiches. Somehow we find our kind all over the place, and our trip was barely even starting!

 

Aug 14

In spite of 6 people in the house including Soha, we actually managed to leave before noon, which was quite an achievement as there have been many times just Geet and I aren’t able to get out by that time when we travel.

We decided to brunch at a place called Yiasemi that Naomi suggested before beginning our visit to the Acropolis and this turned out to be the best meal for the entire trip.

Yiasemi was a cute little place located in a street that’s actually a flight of stairs. So they even have some tables out on the street on those stairs itself. Inside they have one section with a fire place and one outdoor section amidst all the plants. The outdoor area was what we picked giving Soha ample space to move around and had Ouzo, Sangria, an unbelievably tasty potato lasagna with bacon, chicken pie and bruschetta. Everything tasted amazing, especially the Sangra which came with a Cinnamon stick adding an awesome tinge to the subtle ash flavoured Santorini wine.

After completely satiating ourselves, we walked over to Acropolis and left mom behind as Soha was asleep by then and went in to catch the Parthenon, the Propylaia and the Erechtheion.

The Parthenon is the most impressive of the lot, and the destruction it has undergone since its creation way back in the 5^th century BC, caused by frequent attacks of the Persians, Christians and the Muslims through the ages is clearly visible.

It’s surreal looking at a building created that far back using limestone marble brought from over 30km away from the Mount Pantela and dragged up the Acropolis plateau to still be standing in spite of going through so much; from being a temple, to a church to a mosque to finally a warehouse for gunpowder that caused the damage you see to it today. It actually seems like a bomb exploded from the inside of the building.

Stories also say there was a 30ft statue of Athena made of Bronze and Gold to who this temple was dedicated to after the interesting myth about the duel between Athena and Poseidon to lay claim on the land that is now Athens with a temple dedicated to her, and today nobody knows where the remnants of that statue may be.

We spent quite of bit of time looking for photos free of people clutter, and finally had to hurry back when Jeeth started getting the feeling that Soha has probably woken up.

We got back home by about 5pm and decided to catch a nap that extended all the way to the next day morning given how sleep deprived we all were.

 

Aug 15

We had croissants for breakfast that I made using the oven from frozen dough balls that I got from the convenience store (best use of the oven ever) and left once again by around noon to catch the remaining monuments around Athens; the Olympieion, and the Panathenaic stadium.

Given it was a Monday, the crowd was far lesser offering us enough time to take a peaceful stroll and a whole bunch of photos. Geet, Sachin and I shot some videos as well, mimicking the Olympians at the Panathenaic stadium which was pretty apt given the actual Olympics was happening simultaneously at Rio.  

We went searching for the restaurant Melilotos after this, another recommendation by Naomi, and while it looked a really nice fine dining restaurant, we just couldn’t get a table there, so walked on a little further and got ourselves introduced to the famous Gyros of Athens and the infamous beggars of Greece who consistently pestered us for the food on the table.

After a satisfactory meal we got back to our rooms and retired early since the next day our ferry was to depart to Mykonos in the wee hours of the morning.

 

Aug 16

Seajets was a really big and impressive looking cruise. There were 2 full levels for parking cars and only the 3^rd level for people. We got comfortable seats right in front of a big screen TV in spite of taking Economy Class seats and I caught up on the Olympics highlights that were on.

Once we docked at Mykonos, Geet and I left the rest at a café by the ferry and went to pick up our Nissan Note from a rental called Green Motion near the airport, which was to be our ride for the duration of our stay here.

It took nearly 2 hours to find the store, complete the car pick up formality and get back to the ferry terminal, which left all of them really frustrated, but I guess we made it up with the comfort the car provided for all our remaining trips here.

We checked into Porto Mykonos hotel which we soon found out was the place SRKs Chalte Chalte was filmed, and was a hotel offering amazing locales within the property itself for some really good photos. Geet and I carried our wedding clothes as we hoped to take some photos here and this hotel itself seemed to offer the perfect setting.

Jeeth and Sachin got a nice room right next to the reception from which they got a nice view of the Aegan sea and the Mykonos town. And since the next room was taking time to get ready, we stepped out to catch a bite.

The receptionist recommended Roca but we ended up at Blu Blu next door given they had the same entrance and were immediately sold on the seaview seats of Blu Blu and didn’t really bother looking further. Here we had our first Greek salad of the trip and this turned out to be the only good dish. Fresh veggies with the tastiest feta cheese. Crepes that Jeeth ordered in both chicken and pork was not good as the crepe base was sweet. Sachin and I had Alfa beer after seeing it all over the place. Very regular. Sangria Geet had and was possibly spiked as she felt high with just one glass. Jeeth had pork fillet and that required a lot of cheddar to taste any good. Only good think about the place was that the price was in line with Athens, which was quite unlike rest of Mykonos that charged a near 100% premium on all dishes. 

Once the rest of us completed our check in, we headed out to catch the sunset at Mykonos and this was when I figured driving is really tough in this town coz there is just about enough space for bikes and ATVs that people prefer to rent, leaving barely any room for cars.

I struggled to find parking after dropping the rest near the windmills, and just about managed to catch the sunset, followed by dinner by the beach.

We dined at Nice n Easy restaurant. Typical tourist restaurant that serves dishes high on presentation and low on taste. Baked salmon, chicken fillet and meatballs with basmati rice were all equally terrible. 

After wrapping up dinner, we dropped Jeeth, Soha and Mom home and the rest of us decided to check out the famous clubbing scene of Mykonos. We took a bus to Paradise beach and hit Tropicana first, followed by Super Paradiso. There was only one other club, Cava Paradiso, which we skipped as they were charging an entry of a whopping $50 pax. The other 2 we visited also were fairly sober. It could have been the result of simply being a weekday or the fact that Paris Hilton had apparently visited just the day before, but we definitely found the entire situation to be just a lot of hype.

We did the make the most of it drinking and dancing, and eventually got back home by about 2am.

 

Aug 17

Breakfast at Porto was quite a disappointment. Raw bacon, bland omelet, limited fruit options and machine tea and coffee that all tasted sad.

We had a quick bite and changed into our wedding clothes to use Sachin’s creative skills and the properties portrayal of Greece’s signature white and blue hues.

The caretaker here noticed what we were up to and even opened the chapel that was part of the property for us to pray as well as take some more photos. It was a really kind gesture and we overall managed quite a bit of photos that Geet has been wanting to do for a really long time now.

After this we headed towards the Old Town, which was one of the prettiest streets we’ve seen. The entire place almost looks like a studio set straight out of FTV. We walked all around the place buying stuff and then had lunch at Jimmy Gyro which came highly recommended on Tripadvisor and worth every ounce of effort put in finding the place.  

Tried the Souvlaki for the first time here. They had options in Beef-Lamb, Pork and Chicken. Tried the first 2 as Geet already had her share of Chicken Gyros and they tasted awesome! Perfectly cooked meat with a spice that made it simply outstanding. Topped this with dessert from Happyo which was fresh Greek yogurt with even fresher fruit.

We then drove to a solitary windmill on the road that we may have never really visited if not for the car at our disposal.

Spent some time here and then drove back to our hotel where we dropped the car and immediately left to a place called Salparo as it was on the section of the pier closest to our hotel offering an amazing view of the sunset, and I was tired of driving around in the narrow streets of Mykonos and just wanted to leave the car behind and have a drink peacefully. Turned out I wasn't in much of a mood to drink or eat given the extremely heavy lunch, and so were the rest.

So we just ordered a fried squid and Greek salad with a few beers and wasted half of even that food given the squids tasted terrible. Salparo is not known for its food and people seem to visit just for the sunset view, and squid in Europe is usually not a good idea as it isn't as deep fried as we Indians like.

 

Aug 18

Another morning ferry to Santorini this time, and another trip to the airport to drop the car off before heading out to sea. Everything went like clockwork on this day until we reached Santorini and then it was mayhem.

Santorini is a crowded, tourist heavy, poorly coordinated town. The moment we got off the ferry we were accosted by a travel agent for shuttle service. Not wanting to waste too much time searching for the best price, I agreed to the first guy only to avail the poorest of service after that. First they made us lug our bags all the way to a shuttle outside the port where they loaded our luggage in and even got us seated, then asked us to get down and walk back right where we began to board another shuttle.

Took so much time to finally reach our hotel Maistros Village, but thankfully had a very smooth check-in with one of the friendliest receptionist we’ve met. Jeethu Sachin got a very different looking place once again thanks to Soha. However, this one seemed to be with far fewer benefits than the one Porto offered with a malfunctioning AC and telephone in the room.

Visited Fira towards the evening and caught the sunset of Santorini from here. It was a hat-trick of sunsets for us and probably one of the most and the best we’ve seen on any trip.

Then we walked the Caldera stretch which was again similar to Mykonos Old Town but with the beautiful view of the sea from an elevation that you are offered here. Some shopping followed till we reached the restaurant Argo that came highly recommended for dinner in Fira but was unfortunately booked out and decided to instead dine at neighbouring Italian restaurant Rastoni which offered a similar view and ordered the Moussaka, Pork Seak, and Spaghetti that Geet wiped out. It was the first time we had Moussaka on the trip after just Gyros and Souvlaki everywhere, and it tasted like Lasagne with ground beef.

The waiter there offered Tobasco as a friendly racist gesture assuming Indians like their food spicy as it wasn't part of the sauce set available on the table. That instance apart, the dinner with the view was pretty neat.

 

Aug 19

The breakfast spread here was far better than the one at Mykonos. More options, tastier food, and much better coffee!

The plan was to visit Oia in the day as it tends to get really crowded by evening, and that wasn’t the best of ideas as Oia, very much like Fira is just a Caldera stretch with barely any space to find shelter over your head to save from the blistering heat.

We anyway ended up spending a lot of time with Soha here as she was in a major mood to walk around on her own. Then followed it up with some shopping and some bright light photography, till we decided to break for lunch.

There were a lot of restaurant options in Oia but I went looking for Skala or Ambrosia as they were once again the recommended ones for this area, and settled in Skala once I spotted that. None of us were in the mood for a lot of food given the heavy breakfast we had and that gave me an opportunity to try the famous short eats of Santorini; the Fava and the Fried Tomato Balls. Both of these turned excellent choices as everyone enjoyed them. We topped these with fancy local beers called Yellow Donkey (Blonde ale) and Red Donkey (Pale ale) and very conveniently even spotted the famous donkeys of Santorini pass by just as we had those drinks. 

 

After getting back to our rooms, we caught up with Sindhu’s finals at the Olympics and then hit the swimming pool where even Soha joined for a swim. Post this we decided to get some food from the hotel itself as they were actually pretty good, and Sachin and I just shopped for some liquor from a nearby store.

However, the moment we sat on the bed about to start drinking, both Geet and Soha slept off. So the rest of us just had a few drinks and retired even before the clock struck 12.

We took consolation in the fact that I was wished for my birthday in IST and called it a night with that.

 

Aug 20

One more incredible breakfast at Maistros later, we checked out and boarded our ferry to Athens. It was Hellenic this time instead of Seajet and just not as much fun, but it did come with a shopping stall where mom purchased a bag that she’s been dying to pick from Greece.

Once we hit Athens there was a bit of a delay in locating our B&B as it was in a Commercial area where all the stores were tight shut by 7pm on a Saturday. Man, it was becoming increasingly obvious why the economy is struggling here.

Thankfully, Acropolis was not too far and Mellilotos was in fact the closes of the restaurants that we were still following from Naomi’s list and decided to make that our spot for the birthday dinner cum final meal of the trip.

It took a bit of time for us to get ready and out as Soha was beginning to feel ill and Jeeth was all sorts of worried about her. We somehow managed to step out, and had a classic fine dine experience.

Meliloto would allow more than the required time to decide on our dishes and then serve meals that would come as an ensemble that tastes good only when had together. For example, we had stuffed chicken legs with basmati rice and tomato marmalade. Each of the elements were vapid on its own, but together tasted pretty good. 

We also tried the chicken pasta with mushroom, rib eye steak (our first steak of the trip) and the Fava. All the dishes were fancy for sure, but mediocre on taste. Yiasemi may have been a better choice as we intended to repeat the place from the first time we went there, but given Soha's illness and moms fatigue towards the end of the trip, we just decided on the place closest to our B&B.

However, Melilotos did offer a classic Greek meal and the perfect end to an awesome Greek trip.

It was everything we hoped to experience in this country, and most importantly, a huge tick mark for me in terms of organizing a family trip to an international destination.

Middle Earth

Prelude:

New Zealanders are made up of 75% Polynesians, 15% Maori and 15% Asians. So you do see a fair representation of both Chinese and Indians here (they do make a third of the worlds population after all). However, they all have similar characteristics. They are all extremely soft spoken and polite, and quite unlike what we've come to expect from most foreigners. With the exception of the Chinese though, as they are extra polite and usually make up the working class running the stores across New Zealand. We ran into our fair share of local Indians too, a cab driver in Rotorua, a bus driver and a restaurant waiter in Queenstown, and even an air host! The one thing common to all of them, they were as helpful as the Chinese store owners and so happy to see us, converse in a bit of Hindi, and more than willing to help with anything. So rare to see that much amicability amongst Indians.

Coming back to the characteristics of the Kiwis. They sleep early (cities shut by 10pm), not fussed about their drink (just have one popular beer to speak of, called Speights) or food (Kiwi cuisine is barely visible, and when you do find it, it's just continental food in white sauce!) or even how they look (barely any make up and just simple clothing), with the only thing that interests them being outdoor activities.

Because a typical day out for a Kiwi involves cycling, kayaking, skating, surfing, fishing, even hunting! The current duck hunting season is to begin on April 31 and boy are they looking forward to it!

The Kiwis also seem to share really close bonds between families here. There were so many instances of mom taking daughter skating, dad taking son fishing, and parents taking kids (in one case, 5 of them!) for a stroll in the park.

And they all drive Japanese cars. It's only Toyotas (Premium), Mazdas (Masstige) and Nissans (Mass) that hog the roads here. No European or American cars. So again, no fuss at all. Simple easy going people who are just looking for that bright sunny day to step out and do something with nature that's available in plenty for them. NZ does have a land area the size of Maharashtra (300k sq km) with a population half of Mumbai (4.5 million), situated right over the Pacific Ring of Fire, creating interesting landscape like mountains, lakes, rivers, beaches and geothermal pools to interest them in all of these activists.

So it did all add up to enough reason to make a visit to this lovely country, for our first 2 week holiday in 5 years since our Honeymoon, giving us an opportunity for many firsts:

·         First stay at a Motel

·         First stay at IBIS 

·         First time fishing

·         First Sky dive

·         First time in a wet suit

·         First visit to a lighthouse

Travel Tips:

·         First things first: As soon as you get off in NZ, buy 2 things. One, a travel adapter for phone, laptop etc as it’s really hard to find the plugs that convert India to NZ standard in hotels and B&Bs. Two, pick a local SIM. Gives you easy data and phone access whenever you need it. And you will need it. A lot.

·         Places to see: Everyone will tell you to do the Milford Sound cruise, Fergburger and Speights beer. They are all over rated.

·         Renting cars: Definitely use the Rental Cars App to get the best deals, but book with anybody else but East Coast Rentals.

·         Renting bikes: Bikes in NZ mean cycles and not Harley's. For the latter, you need to book well in advance as they are in demand even in low season.

·         Accommodation: It's not Hotels or B&Bs that work best, it's Motels, all across NZ. Cheap, private bathroom, no pets, easy cooking and an undisturbed stay. The only flip side being they are located on city outskirts making it a bad idea for places like Queenstown, but works great in most other cities.

·         Weather: Forecasts are completely inaccurate. Just like India. Just plan for the worst and hope for the best.

·         Food: Kiwi cuisine is really hard to find. The pro is that you have access to enough international cuisine, including Indian, con is that you struggle to get a flavour of the local cuisine. And when you do, it starts with Fish and chips and ends with Pavlova, that's about all there is.

·         Drink: Montieth (preferably on tap) for Pilsner and Cider and Waipara for wine are the best options. Speights for beer is the Kingfisher there and hard to miss as it may be the only option in some of the smaller bars.

·         Photographs: If you ever want a photo of yourself taken, always ask a Chinese tourist. This is probably true for any country now as they are the most prolific of tourists currently. And don't worry about which Chinese tourist in particular. Just ask any of them. If they are single, they will be pros at photography, and if they are in a group, they will automatically point to the English speaking cum photographer member of the group, who will always take the best of photos.

The Story:

April 8-9

For a change the trip started fairly uneventfully. Thanks to the holiday on Friday, we had the opportunity to pack and complete all those niggling last minute house chores that needed to be done. Got to the airport with fingers crossed this time, as it was just under a month back when we made this same trip and had to return back because our flight was via Australia and we didn't have a transit visa. This time I booked a flight with only a single stopover at Singapore thereby avoiding the need for the Australian transit visa.

We crashed as soon as we entered the flight as it was a late flight taking off at 11:30pm and completely missed out on the Singapore airline food that was offered. Landed in Singapore 5 hours later for a quick interchange to the next flight that was taking off within an hour of transit. This one was Air New Zealand, and probably one of the best airlines we've ever flown. Food was absolutely delicious, in-flight entertainment was HD quality and digitally advanced, so much so that you could order the food and drink of your choice right from the touch screen, and the seats came with leg test and head rest, along with an option of going fully horizontal if there were fewer passengers on board, which was really innovative.

We landed at Auckland 9 hours later when the local time was 11pm and took a bus to the nearby Hotel Ibis for the night. It was our first time staying here, and true to what we've heard, the hotel provided just the basic bed and bathroom for the one night stay and nothing more.

 

April 10

The shuttle from East Coast Rental came to pick me up and an hour later, Geet and I were driving a Nissan Tiida sedan on our first ever couple road trip, in probably the best country to get that done. We drove Auckland to Roturua and hit our Motel Gwendolyn by noon. Now staying at a Motel was something I've wanted to do since Elsie ma'am in 8th STD explained that a Motel was just a Hotel you could drive into and park your car. True to that definition, this was our very first Motel, and we did drive our car and park it exactly one foot away from the door to our studio apartment.

After unpacking, we immediately hit Hell's Gate Sulphur Spa where we decided to take our shower for the day, and the experience was very similar to the Iceland Blue Lagoon, with the exception of the water smelling of Sulphur, which for some reason was actually feeling extremely clean in spite of that faint rotten egg smell that we created in chemistry lab back in NJS while preparing Hydrogen Sulphide.

There were other things to do at Hell's Gate like the mud bath and a walk around the thermal village, but given we just concluded a long journey and were beginning to feel immensely dehydrated at this Spa, decided to simply get back post out Sulphur Spa. Didn’t feel like we missed much, as this was only a pale shade to the awesome Blue Lagoon we did in Iceland less than a year back.

After changing into less smellier clothes, we hit a restaurant called Cobb and Co where we successfully experimented with the local brand of beer and cider called Montieth. Now the Apple Cider they make is the most unusual. It's absolutely clear, like white wine, and tastes incredible too. We then had the shrimp cocktail that could rival only the one from PF Chang's in Dubai, with some of the freshest shrimps we’ve ever had. Followed that with a pasta, because we figured the Kiwi cuisine, baring the Hangi, is not much to talk about anyway.

 

April 11

Can’t say I had a good start to the day as the night was too painful to get through. I couldn’t catch any sleep till 3am, as it was only 9pm in India then, and kept randomly checking my phone and pacing about. Had to wake up at 6am as well as we had the Hobbitton Tour starting at 8am. Geet and I originally planned to leave the car behind and walk to the pick-up point about a kilometer away, but were too late to do and decided to drive. Wasn’t a very good idea, as finding parking space was difficult and we were still getting used to the signs here that allowed parking only for a certain duration, ranging from 15 minutes to 2 hours. However, we were parking longer than that and so I had to hunt for a place with ‘free parking’. That came after a lot of search and we made it to the bus just in the nick of time.

The bus driver was a friendly chap though. Said his name was John, but spelt T-O-D if we were to write negative feedback about him at the end of the trip. He kept us entertained through the journey telling us stories of people who would come to Roturua to work at the Hobbit Store and use that money to travel around New Zealand. Well, that would have been one way to make that trip, but we’re Indians, and we slog the whole year through to get that 1 week that we occasionally (in my case, 5 years) stretch to 2 weeks to get that travel break.

An hour of driving later, we reached the Hobbit setup on a farm called Alexanders who had leased it out to Peter Jackson to film the 6 movies, and walked through the 37 Hobbit holes that were created here. These were meant to be temporary, but a storm hit before the crew could dismantle everything, and before they could return to finish the job, people showed so much interest that the Alexanders decided to make a tour out of the place. Glad they did that as its now one of the most popular tours to do in the North Island, and something Geet and I completely enjoyed.

Frodo Baggins house with the note outside saying “No Admittance, except on party business” to drinking Ginger Beer at the Dragon Inn, it was a riot for us.

By noon, we were back at the city and wondering what to do for the rest of the afternoon. Now the options were a visit to the Thermal Village, maybe a massage at the Polynesian Spa, but rather than doing any of the regular touristy things, we decided to check if there’s any way to go fishing here. I did read that some of the local Kiwis go fish for their own Trout as it isn’t legal to buy them here. So we hopped to a tourist center to seek advice and they were totally clueless when we asked them about fishing. Instead they tried selling the Thermal Village tour once again to us. But we decided to persist and found a Tackle Store called Hammils who was selling fishing and hunting equipment, and the guy there gave us a contact of 2 fisherman he knew who do take people on fishing trips. I called them, one was luckily just about to step out himself and offered to take us.

This turned out to be the best part of our North Island tour. Geet and I picked fishing licenses for ourselves, and learnt the tricks of the Troll Fishing trade, and most importantly, actually bagged 6 fish between us. The first 2 went to Geet, and it came within 5 minutes of entering the water. Even Jimmy and Glen who were taking us fishing were stunned with the luck she had. Glen then changed my lure bait to the same colour as the one Geet had, and my luck changed after that.

The strange thing about fishing in these parts were that you couldn’t use live bait. You have to use bait that looked like the things the fish here eat, and then move the bait at the right depth and at the right speed to trick the fish into coming and taking a bite. So this involved a lot of technique from all of us on board, and pretty soon I did get the hang of it, and managed to bag the next 4. It was actually 5, but Glen let one go, as that was the other strange thing in these parts; if the fish didn’t meet a certain length limit, you were not allowed to capture them. Sort of like giving the young ones a chance to survive.

The last of the strange things about fishing here was to give a knock on the fish head and kill it the moment you bring it on board, and not let it suffer too long. So it indeed were a lot of rules for us to comprehend, combined with the rest of the techniques you need to use to reel the fish in. You do it too fast and you could lose him, which actually happened to the first one I got, and you run the same risk if you do it too slow as well. You need to carefully fight with the fish when you get a ‘strike’, letting him go when he wants, and reeling him in when he isn’t fighting. Well it was an art we managed to pick up, and 3 hours later, we were back on shore feeling super amazing about ourselves.

Jimmy and Glen were also super fun. Here were some of the conversation excerpts:

·         Geet: How come there weren’t any other boats around?

·         Glen: it’s because we are doing something illegal here but its ok because Jimmy is the sheriff of Roturua (He was obviously kidding and explained how it was the middle of a working day when people would ideally not want to be out fishing)

 

·         Geet: How come I caught the fish so soon? Is that normal?

·         Jimmy: We called and told them we were coming and asked them to wait at that exact spot

 

·         Deep (when I hadn’t caught a fish for nearly half hour by which time Geet bagged 2 easy ones): Jimmy, are you sure you asked the fish to wait right here?

·         Jimmy: Yes, but we’ve them to meet you once you are done with your coffee

 

·         Deep: So what kind of drink and food do people in New Zealand have

·         Glen: Lion Red in the North Island and Speights in the South Island, but Speights is now all over the place. Among food, Smogarsborde is the term used for a buffet meal which is the most popular dining out option for the locals, and a place called Lone Star is the best for a good Kiwi meal.

So after a fun afternoon fishing, we got to our room, and now our clothes now not only smelled of Sulphur from the spa the previous day, but of fish as well. So we first decided to wash all of them in order to survive the rest of the trip here, and use the fancy heating pipes the bathrooms came with in order to dry them up fast and wrapped up the night with a meal from Lone Star where we had Prawn Cutlet with Rice (seemed like a Thai dish as it wasn’t really a cutlet and just like Tempura Prawn which they call cutlet here) and Dixie Chicken (seemed Continental this time as it was Pasta in white sauce) and this was pretty much the Kiwi cuisine that we wanted to experience.

On the way back, we called for a cab and surprised to find an Indian driver who was studying here and running a few hours with the cab at night to make some money on the side. He was just one of the many Indians we were to encounter on the trip.

 

April 12

It was a day of travel as we started off from Roturua in the morning and made it to Auckland exactly at 1pm when it was the scheduled time to return the car, and took the Jetstar flight to Christchurch were we were to now begin the longer edition of the trip, in the South Island of NZ.

In Christchurch this time, we first ran into a Chinese bus driver who was again really helpful in taking his time and explaining the exact way for us to get to our Motel, and a Chinese couple at the Motel after that, who were running the place and helping us out with directions to the Super Market and booking a shuttle for us for the next day to help us collect Car #2 for the trip.

We wrapped up the day by cooking some food (Cup o Maggi Noodle and Rosemary Lamb sausages that I’ve heard were good here) in the fully functional kitchen that was to our disposal, washing it down with Corona beer that was cheaper than what you find in India.

 

April 13

The date was Lucky #13 and I was to go Skydiving today! I had butterflies all the way through the drive south from Christchurch to Ashburton, in a Nissan Tiida once again, till we made it to the Flight Hanger where we were welcomed by a guy who made the funniest sky dive action to us indicating we were definitely at the right place.

I chose the 9000ft option here as the lady at the counter said there really isn’t much difference between the 9000ft and the 12000ft, while the 15000ft was actually more for sport enthusiasts. It was at least higher than the 6000ft option that was available and already costing a bomb, so I decided to go with it.

Wayne was my tandem jumper who helped me suit up and took me along in the tiny Cessna. When we reached the height we were to jump off, I could see the vast fields of the Cantebury plains below me, marked with the Pacific Ocean on one side and the mountain range on the other, with the highest peak of the range, Mount Cook, being clearly visible to us. The view however, was not the biggest of my concerns at that point, it was actually my shoes when I put my legs out as I was suddenly wondering if the lace is tied on strong else the thing would just go flying with no way to find it below us. That worry too was short-lived as before I knew it, Wayne pushes me out of the flight.

The next 6 seconds to be precise were just phenomenal. It was free flight where the toughest thing was to just keep your mouth closed from all that wind brushing against you while posing for the camera in front. The fall then comes to an abrupt halt when the parachute is opened and then it’s just a peaceful glide down. Wayne did a few circular rifts to entertain me while we were up there and it was all a lot of fun as long as I didn’t look directly below. There was the height and there was the fear of my shoe falling off, so I would just keep looking yonder and make the most of the few seconds you’re made to feel like a bird.

On the way back from Ashburton, we found a place called Jimmy’s Hot Pies and I was sold the moment the lady there mentioned there’s a hot meat pie just out of the oven. I just had to try on a pie that’s apparently the next most popular thing here after Fish and Chips and Sausages. So I did get one of them while Geet ordered an omelet. We both completely enjoyed our meal and continued our journey towards Christchurch. On the way we encountered some traffic, and noticed that it was because there was a house being moved. An actual house! We figured that houses here were built at a different place and sort of just transported to where you want to place them. It was just an incredible sight to see.

Since we still had the entire second half of the day with us, we decided to push on further north from Christchurch and hit a famous winery here called Waipara. Here Geet and I got our education on wine this time.

Types of White Wines:

·         Sovignon Blanc: Fruity flavoured wine. Some even with strong essence of a particular fruit, like Guava for instance

·         Chardonnay: This is the oak flavoured type of wine. Tastes very close to whiskey in fact

·         Reisling: This the wine right in between. Not too sweet and not too oaky and sour either. Just in between, and usually the popular choice among non wine drinkers

Types of Red Wines:

·         Pinot Gris: The heavy on the tougue and rich mouthfeel type of wines

·         Pinot Noir: Usually the classic red wine. Prefered choice with a meal

·         Rose: The light and easy going red wine. Usually sipped on a hot summer day

After the interesting tasting session, we started our drive back to Christchurch and passed some virgin beaches on the way. Leithfield was first and Waikuku was the next. These were beaches that didn’t have a single person in the water. Just vast stretches of the sand and water going about their chores unperturbed.

 

April 14

After starting the day before 8am every single day since we got to NZ, this was the first day we could afford to start slow. We took our time and finally left home only by 11am and drove East this time to Akoroa. This was a small French town on the coastline offering cruises where you can “swim with the dolphins”. We reached well in time for the cruise beginning at 2pm, which gave us enough photo opportunities in the quaint little town, and soon I was suited up in first time ever in a ‘wet suit’ and boarded the BlackCat cruise. Geet was the only one on board just viewing the dolphins and not swimming with them, as there was a minimum swimming know-how required before jumping into the ocean.

The wet suit is buoyant and keeps you afloat, but getting used to it, especially in the choppy ocean waters can be a bit tricky. It took me until my third dive to figure my exact way with the suit and I was able to enjoy the dolphin sighting a lot better. However, staying too long in the water was still a struggle as it was far too cold. The overall experience was not the best you could get as it’s not like the Dolphins will actually come up to you. They are in the wild after all, and just tend to swim by out of curiosity.

What I was most impressed with was the way these things were marketed. They say things like “you get to see the Hectors Dolphin, which is the smallest and the rarest in the world” which make you really want to do the activity, only to realize it was not such a big deal after all. All through NZ I figured this was something they did really well. “See the world’s rarest penguins”, “Visit the only castle of NZ”, and even “Meet the worlds naughtiest fly”! They somehow figure a way to get you to spend on an activity, and we were thankfully being frugal, as we realized that some of these activities, like the Lanarch Castle for instance, may be the only castle of NZ, but is honestly nothing more than just a big bungalow!

Anyway, post the swimming with dolphins, we continued taking a lot of photos with an amazing backdrop of a lighthouse that Akoroa offered, till we drove back to Christchurch.

After two nights of eating at home, we decided to step out, but realized the city shuts by 10pm itself. The realization came as a bit of a disappointment, not only because we were still hungry, but because the message was delivered by a cranky Indian at an Indian restaurant called Coriander that we decided to try out as it was rated #1 on Tripadvisor and happened to be walking distance from our house. But this guy there was saying things like Christchurch is not like India where people stay late and cause trouble at night. I actually asked him how he does he not like Indians when he himself is one, and more importantly, actually making money out of selling Indian food! Didn’t really have an answer for that and I was feeling terrible about having placed an order already with him. It was indeed good chicken biryani and chicken curry that lasted the next few days for us, especially through a scary night we faced the next day, but at that moment, killed our appetite. Thankfully he was the only sour experience, the rest of the Indians we met here were really great.

 

April 15

I made breakfast with the rest of the food that I’d purchased from the supermarket the day we landed at Christchurch and headed out for our journey south towards Dunedin. We ate on the way, took plenty of photo stops and finally made it to the Moeraki beach where we saw the famous Moeraki boulders.

The place was filled with Chinese tourists taking funny photos of themselves. So much so that I found one boulder that was a little cracked and where we can enter a little, and one Chinese saw me do that, and immediately he landed up there with all of this friends, taking photos in the exact same pose. It was really hilarious to watch them in action. They are such a committed lot. Find good spot, take photo, find another spot, repeat.

Geet and I took a short break here with a pint of beer each, and continued on our way to Dunedin. Here we met Alax and Greg, a gay couple renting out a room in their house, which was to be our first ever Airbnb experience together. It was actually quite peaceful as they had a really nice house and allowed us to access everything in it barring their own room.

We spent only a short time there as we wanted to head out and see the city given we were driving out to Queenstown the next day, and landed up at the Speights brewery which we learnt to our surprise was the place where this now popular NZ beer originated. So we were right at the heart of the brewery, tasting all the different variants they had on offer with a game of SuperRugby in the background.

 

April 16

While the original plan was to start the drive to Queenstown early, I figured that there is a way to see the penguins at a place called the Penguin Place here, but that would only be in the evening as that is when the penguins return home from their day of fishing. However, we could still finish it by 5:30pm and then make it to Queenstown by 9:30pm which is not too late. So we decided to go with it.

Spent the day in Dunedin seeing the one Church and Railway Station that’s famous here, and were thankfully offered a free sighting of an army parade that was happening on that day, and soon made it to the Penguin Place to catch a glimpse of the rare Yellow eyed Penguin, also known as the Hoiho given the kind of sound that they make, through a ride across the shoreline that was easily the best of the road trips in all of NZ.

Now seeing a penguin is something I’ve been wanting to do ever since I saw Surfs Up and Happy Feet. But to get to see them as if they turned straight out from Madagascar was truly exceptional. So our tour guide was telling us how there are only about 600 of these Penguins left and this particular beach has about 10 of them, and if we are lucky we would get to see a couple returning from the beach, and the best sighting so far for them has been 4 penguins walking back together. So that best sighting was replicated the day we were there, and we actually saw 4 of them peacefully come out of the beach one by one, as if they’ve completed a hard day of work in the waters, and amble cutely back to their little house on the shore.

Once the tour was over, Geet and I left in a rush as we needed to head back to our room and collect the food we left behind, which was a good thing as it was the only dinner we had for the night, and started towards Queenstown. Geet asked me to check on the fuel and I noticed the tank was half full, which should ideally be sufficient for the entire journey even if need be, and decided to fill after I got some daylight driving done. This turned out to be a big mistake, as the car was on Sports mode which I didn’t notice till the fuel indicator went off right in the middle of nowhere at about 8pm in the pitch dark for us.

I stopped the car and decided to flag one of the passing cars to seek advice. Thankfully a lady stopped for us, and told us that there was a town coming up called Alexandra 40kms ahead or a town called Roxberg 20kms behind where we could find fuel. 40kms may be a bit of a stretch given we didn’t know how to shift to Eco from Sports mode in the car, so we decided to reverse and go to Roxberg behind.

We managed to reach Roxberg and found the fuel station the lady told us about and successfully filled fuel to get us on our way through. Here we encountered a completely drunk guy on the road who actually started jumping on our car and even chasing after us when I decided to move ahead and away from him. It was a really freaky experience especially since he had a car full of his drunk friends, and we were only too glad that it happened after we had already filled fuel.

We didn’t want to stop after that, and decided to open the food, which was the Biryani from Coriander we bought at Christchurch and also went back to the Dunedin house to pick up since we had forgotten it there, and this saved us for the night. We just ate on the way and finally made it to our B&B in Queenstown by 10:30pm when our hosts were almost asleep.

 

April 17

Russ and Hannah were not the best of hosts here as they seemed completely uninterested in helping us with anything. It was the first day of our trip where we couldn’t make coffee first thing in the morning as we couldn’t figure our way around the kitchen and just decided to step out instead and begin our day directly.

We hit a restaurant called Fergburger first that came highly recommended and had a perennial queue outside it, be it morning, afternoon, or evening. We anyway decided to wait in line and get the famous burgers from here. Geet got the Bombay Chicken and I picked the Classic Fergburger, and instead of the morning coffee, decided to directly get some Cider and Beer on tap.

So it actually turned out to be a pretty good start to the morning, which progressed to an even better day as we started our drive towards Arrowtown but ended up at Lake Hayes which comes en route, that turned out be an amazing lake that nobody told us to visit.

After a fun day walking around in the park and coming across just a handful of locals taking their kids cycling or rowing here, we got back pretty impressed that we chanced upon a place with not a single other tourist, especially the Chinese J

Towards the evening we got back to Queenstown and took a stroll around Marine Parade trying to figure which restaurant to hit. We first went to a Japanese place called Teppan Sake where I had 2 rounds of Sake which I had in the absolute authentic way the drink is had. In a sort of a Dabra-Tumbler where the alcohol would overflow out of the tumbler and into the dabra. Just a typical Chennai Saravana Bhavan coffee moment!

Then we hit a South East Asian restaurant called Madam Woo that seemed to be a big hit with the locals here as it was jam packed. We managed to get a table for 2 and ordered Wantons and Malaysian Noodle and for a break from beer and wine, decided to go with the standard JD and Coke following the Sake from earlier.

 

April 18

The day began very early yet again as it was the Milford Sound day cruise that was planned. This time it was Bruce the bus driver doing the entertaining on the Real Journey bus, which was a uniquely designed bus where the seats moved sideways and the ceiling was made of glass to help see the beautiful surroundings as we make our way to the cruise. The journey indeed turned out to be better than the cruise as there were some really cool sights along the way.

There was something called the Mirror Lake which had still waters on which you could see the reflection of the mountains nearby, then there was creek with waters so clear you could drink from it, and finally a long tunnel through the mountain that was nearly a 100 years old.

Along the way Bruce was telling us how it actually rains 200 days of the year here and we just happened to be lucky that it was one of those rare bright sunny days. For that matter, the entire forecast which predicted rains throughout our trip was wrong, and instead, presented us with bright sunny days on just about every single day.

The cruise by itself was nothing too great to speak of. We had done the Halong bay cruise earlier and felt that was far better than the sights we were seeing here. There were some nice waterfalls and some sightings of seals on the way, but that was about it.

Once we got back, we decided to hit a Thai place this time as Geet was in the mood, and found one called My Thai where there was an Indian waiter who was super glad to help us out. He offered us the Veg Menu but we asked him for the best fish dish. So he brought us Salmon in Yellow Curry, and this turned out to be the best of the Thai curry’s I’ve had as the salmon was just amazing. As you slice into it, instead of the white you normally expect fish to look like, you see pink. The entire presentation and dish was pure pleasure.

 

April 19

The day had arrived for my biggest activity of the trip; I was doing the bungy today, and it happened to be the biggest in NZ, the Nevis Bungy, 134mts. I decided to go out on my own as it was an early start and wasn’t sure if spectators were allowed, which I later figured were for $50 extra.

The guy at the counter weighed me and I was surprised to hear I gained 2 kilos since the time I got to NZ. Then a guy in the bus was asking if we have ever done bungy or swing before, and I recounted my experience so far

·         Bungy – Palace Grounds, Bangalore, 75mts (what were we thinking!)

·         Swing – Last Resort, Nepal, 160mts

·         Sky Dive – Christchurh, 9000ft

·         Bungy – Nevis, Queenstown, 134mts

The last one I was determined to do until I actually got padded up and reached the point of no return. It was just too freaky at that point. I was looking down and the drop was nerve-wrecking. The guy behind me gave the count, and I didn’t jump off. I just couldn’t. He then kept saying, don’t look down, just look ahead and just go on the count as it would only get harder the longer I stay there. So the next countdown he gave, I just let everything go and took the leap.. and the rest cannot be explained in words.

Once I got back, I walked to Thrifty to pick up Car #3. This time it was the Toyota Aurion. I was done with the Nissan Tiida and longed for a better car to drive and managed to find a good deal with this one and so hired the most premium car I’ve ever driven. 6 cylinder engine, cruise control, break assists, the works. Picked Geet up, gave her the Turkish kabab (similar to Shawarma) I’d got for her as I knew she’d be hungry and waiting and started off on our journey towards Lake Pukaki.

Loads of photos stops later, we made it to the lake exactly in time for sunset, and saw a beautiful view of the lake with Mount Cook in the background. After spending some time lost in the scenery, we drove to a nearby town called Twizel where I had booked a room for the night. Hit a nearby pub (probably the only one in town) called Razza where we had Fish and Chips yet again, but decided it’s going to be the last one of the trip, and also engaged in some interesting conversation with some fellow tourists from Burma.

It was really surprising to hear how much about Indian food and movies they were aware of, and were saying Indians and Indian restaurants are all over the place in Burma. Well, shouldn’t be surprising us any further, and we had a good talk late into the night (about 9pm that is) and called it shut-eye in our tiny shed of a room.

 

April 20

After checking out, we drove towards Lake Wanaka, the most popular of lakes in the region, and quite understandably so. It was almost a mini Queenstown with loads of nice hangouts, however with the big difference being the phenomenal Lake Wanaka with the Autumn trees in the background. I was expecting a lot of tourists here, but thankfully it was a day that once again favoured us, and Geet and I sat in front of the lake having the Waipara wine we had purchased from the winery in Christchurch earlier, giving us that perfect buzz on a beautiful day.

On the way back, we actually find a “bra farm”. In the sense that there was actually a string of interesting bars lined up around the fence of the bar. Was an usual sight to see.

 

April 21

We had come to the last day of our trip in the South Island as we had a flight leaving to Auckland the next day morning. It also happened to be the first day of the famous Arrowtown Autumn festival. So our plan was pretty clear, especially since we could not get to go to Arrowtown earlier, which seemed to be perfect now in hindsight.

We hit the beautiful town which was almost entirely painted with the stunning colours of the Autumn trees. We chanced upon a medieval photography booth as well and Geet could obviously not resist. So we took photos of ourselves posing fabulously, ate at a Thai restaurant called Arrow Thai, and drove back to Queenstown just in time for our final activity of the trip; the Gandola ride to the top of the mountain where we would first catch the Haka show, followed by dinner at the Stratosfare restaurant. The night couldn’t have been better either, as it was under a Full Moon, making the entire view absolutely stunning.

 

The Haka show turned out really great as they even gave us a chance to learn a few steps and dance with them. The dinner was even better, with a vast spread of everything from Sushi to Steak to Khaw Suey. We could have honestly not asked for a better end to the trip.

 

April 22

Flew in to Auckland, the city where 1.5mn of the 4.5mn population of NZ live, a place that actually looked like a proper city for a change and checked into our last room and last B&B for the trip. The plan was to head out and see the city, but we were both too tired and the house too inviting for us to want anything apart from cook the leftover food from the shopping I did way back in Christchurch. So we did exactly that and caught some shut eye till our host Dawn came in by the evening.

We then spent the rest of the evening chatting with her and exchanging cultural notes, before heading out and having dinner at a place I barely recall as I was downing a whiskey that Dawn offered called ‘Bullet’ which really did shoot through my head leaving me with very little knowledge of what transpired the rest of the evening.

 

April 23

We checked out early and planned to loaf around Auckland before our flight at midnight, and were thankfully accompanied by Geet’s friends who drove down from Hamilton to spend the day with us. They took us to a Mexican restaurant, then shopping at a mart where they introduced us to some local popular dishes like the Manuka Honey, Pineapple candys and most importantly, the famous NZ frozen yogurt.

After they left, Geet and I spent some time near the wharf where there was actually an area for people to play a few games, and we tried our hand out at some TT where she was enjoying making me run around picking the ball she kept smashing past me. We then walked back slowly buying things from various shops for people back home and finally hit the airport where we spent the last of our NZ Dollars on the duty free alcohol, bringing us to the end of yet another awesome trip.