New Zealand Day 3 Part 1 : Hamilton - Auckland - Hamilton

I am writing this from on board Kaitaki ferry crossing from Wellington to Picton. The journey will take about 3 hours, and there's strong wind outside so I don't want to freeze myself by standing on the deck watching the view for the time being. Below is the story for our 3rd day in New Zealand.

Thursday, 8th September 2011.

We did have a good night sleep the night before, despite the fact that we didn't have clothes and was still very panic with regards to the missing bags. I woke up early to prepare mushroom soubreakfast and get ready as there's many things to do today while Mr D catching up with his sleep after Fajr prayer. He had fever and cold the night before, so I didn't want to wake him up, not yet.



We finally went out from the motel at about 9a.m. Before that, we dropped by at the reception, there's no news from the police yet, so we left our new New Zealand phone number just in case Constable Stephen Scott calls again. We head first to The Base, the area where there's a lot of shop outlets where you can get anything and everything located at Hamilton North, to buy clothes and other essentials including medicine, phone and camera charger as we lost ours with the bags.



While we were searching for things at The Base, Constable Stephen Scott called Mr D, and finally we got the confirmation that our bags were really found. After a few questions thrown to us for confirmation, we finally head to Auckland to claim our bags. Yayy!! But we would have to accept the fact that we would miss some of the activities scheduled earlier, as we now will need to go back to Auckland, which I would think will take us another 5 hours at least for the journey to and fro as well as the completion of the process at the police station.



The journey from Hamilton to Auckland was very rewarding. I really enjoyed the scenery along the way. The pictures from my cheapo camera really don't do justice to the actual situation. The sky was so clear we can see the bunch of beautiful clouds, it creates contrast to green grass along the way.. simply breathtaking.





It was only when we reached Auckland that the view changed to the hectic urban life. It wasn't as crowded as KL though. The only problem was to find empty parking lot in the city center. We parked quite far from the Auckland Central police station. But the weather was so good so we didn't mind walking around.



Finally, please meet our savior, Constable Stephen Scott. He brought us our bags, and surprisingly, apart from the damaged zip of the bags, nothing was missing, not even one. I didn't count how many times I thanked Mr Scott and Auckland police for their assistance and efficiency. THEY CAUGHT THE MAN!! He went from one parking lot to another breaking parked cars, but not so smart of him, he used stolen car to perform his activity. So it was the stolen car who led the police to him. We were told by Mr Scott that we might need to attend the trial, but he will let us know later.

Was so grateful to have the luggage back, though we kind of regret that we changed our booking at Kaikoura and Interislander ferry too early, when at the end we didn't even need that. But that's OK. Alhamdulillah 'ala kulli haal. Now we have to follow our amended schedule.



I was so relieved after settling everything. Now we can go back to Hamilton and continue our trip.. a REAL holiday not like the one we've been through the past two days.

Next : Down memory lane