the hermitage hotel

i'm sorry for the very..very late post. i've been busy with school and my pregnancy, and then graduation plus managing my other blog, so somehow this blog is a little bit neglected.

the hermitage hotel is the only hotel in mount cook area. the other one is just motel, so we didn't have so much choices. last time i was there with my husband we were just staying for one night, but this time we stayed for two nights. the first night we slept at the old wing, the room was old and it showed it the bedding and tiles of the room. the other night we slept at the lodge which had living room and kitchen in the room.

the ordinary room, it was quite big. it's enough for 4 people per room. the bed was large enough, and it had magnificent view. we got the room that had a big window to a balcony facing the mt.cook. so it was lucky we could see mt cook early in the morning, and it was a magnificent view for my son, so we could feed him at the balcony without any fuss. the only let down was the heater. last time i was there, there were 2 heaters. one in the bedroom and one in the bathroom. since the room was smaller than the one we were having, the heater was enough. but the old wing room's heater was not enough to make the room warm. moreover, the bathroom had tiles on them, so it was freezing cold when my feet touched them in the morning. and the heater in the bathroom was set at 15 minutes, so after 15 minutes or so, it would automatically shut down. i supposed it was for energy saving, but it wasn't friendly for us, asian people who lived in tropical country. we're not used to the cold, so a 30 minutes window for the heater was the minimum time to keep us warm in the bathroom.

okay.. so the old room was spacious, comfy bed but not too comfy heater. i could make breakfast for my son using minimum space and utensils there. but moving to the lodge, it was heaven. still the warmer became problem. but at least the bathroom floor was covered in something else, i forgot the name of the material, it was similar to the one used in the operating room, so it wasn't that freezing cold in the morning. the heater in the room was not enough too, but fortunately, the bed was equipped with heater too. the kitchen was perfect to cook lunch and breakfast. but don't forget to open the window when you cooked since it was one room for all.

the letdown being in the old room was the breakfast arrangement. though the room was supposed for 4 people, we only got breakfast for one person per room. sucks. and the additional fee for the breakfast was quite expensive. but when we moved to the lodge, breakfast were free for all. unfortunately, my son didn't have the appetite to chew anything beside the honey cereal, and i didn't either, so the free breakfast almost went useless.

so, if you didn't travel with family or kids, probably the motel will be enough. since there were not so many attractions at mount cook. but if you had the money and opted for comfort for the whole family, your choice is limited to hermitage. it was okay, but a bit pricey for me.

this is the room in the old wing 

my son was in front of the heater since it was late at night and it was freezing cold

mackenzie's, lake tekapo, new zealand

we were on our way to mt.cook, and it was a long journey, so we were quite late for lunch at lake tekapo. actually, we were planning to have lunch at gohan, japanese restaurant, but unfortunately, it was closed at 2 pm. it only opened from 12-2pm for lunch. *sigh* i was drooling over their pictures at tripadvisor when i was searching for a dining place, and i had to swallow it back. and we were lucky we found mackenzie's was still open for business.

the place: it has outdoor seating which will be great when the weather is great. and it has access to the lake. so my son was excited to finish his meal and then running around toward the lake.
the menu: they have kid's menu, which was a relief.. and it had pizza! it was what my son wanted for lunch that day.. fiuhh.. for the rest of us, we managed to order burgers and steaks.. some were great, but some were not.
the service: well, mostly you have to pick the menu yourself, and then when you're ready, you can order at the cashier. and then, after waiting for a few minutes, they will serve your food. we got the cashier officer to serve us, but i noticed there was this one blonde waiter, who seemed sour, and wasn't that friendly. and when i read at tripadvisor, someone else also complained about the blonde waiter. i guess it's a habit..
the price: well, since we were starving and we needed place to eat, it was decent, but for a comeback, a no-no.. it was a bit pricey..

advice: just order the steak, but not the trio grill (just pass the pork-chicken-beef combination).

and since i forgot to take picture of the food, let me show you the view that you can enjoy from the back of the restaurant. it's the beautiful lake tekapo.

winter holiday: NZ again

yep.. we're spending another idul fitri day in new zealand again. last time was two years ago. this time we brought my hubby's whole family plus our little one. i was worried that he might get sick due to the weather changes, but he was alright except for a couple of days.. so it was a huge relief. but his appetite dropped a lot, so he was skinny again.. hiksss...

this time, the route was christchurch - mt.cook - te anau - wanaka - queenstown - christchurch. originally, between queenstown and christchurch there was wakatiki (or something like that.. i forgot the city's name), but since my bro in law was tired and wanted to go back to christchurch by plane, we dropped it. but again, due to weather condition, the plane was cancelled and we had to hurry back to christchurch by car again... and we made a quick stop at twizel for a night before heading to christchurch again.

i might say that though at the beginning of the trip the weather was okay, our last trip was better. this one, half of the trip were not so good since it was rainy almost whole day long. we couldn't see the nice view and took picture. and the worst part is, we couldn't visit the zoo since we ran out time due to travel sudden changes. let's just say this is not our most joyous trip.

but then again, i'm quite happy since my son enjoyed most of the trip. he loved playing with the snow and excited jumping around the campervans. but most, he loved travelling by plane.. and now, even when we're home already, he kept asking "where are we going today?" hahaha.. he's still in holiday mode apparently..

though we made some return visit to some hotel and dinner, there are couples new accomodation and dinner to try.. so i'll review them separately. hopefully, we can go back there again someday and the weather will be good so we can enjoy all the view the whole trip long.