First experience in playing in the snow! (read: org2 jakun main salji. hehe)

Last Sunday (22 Nov. 2009), my hubby brought us to a place called "Snowplanet". It's a place where we can play in a snow bukan snow betul sbb skrg dah summer. We didn't go to Mt Ruapehu (the nearest place to play in a real snow during the winter) because my hubby was always busy and when my PIL were here, my FIL said that he wouldn't go to a cold place. So, it was like something that had been promised by my hubby for so long.My hubby said that there's nothing special playing in snow as it's like playing in sand except that it's cold. Tapi dah kami (my kids and I) agak jakun dgn snow terpaksalah my hubby bawak jugak

I brought some food and water with us since the place was about a-2-hour drive from Hamilton(where we live). Snowplanet is situated at 91, Small Rd, Silverdale, Auckland. We took off from our home at about 9 a.m. My kids were so excited and they started singing some nursery rhymes on the way. But half away through, they both fast asleep. We arrived there at about 11-ish tak ingat nak check jam betul2 pun pukul berapa jadi agak2 je. The place was next to an Indoor Go-Kart and it was a huge building.

Once we were inside, we could see the counter, a cafe and a shop that sell winter clothings. My hubby bought the family pass as it was cheaper. Then, we each got a stamp on our wrist. Fathini and Hafizah thought that the stamp was like the stamp that they normally received when we go to the local library. The family pass was about $119 and my hubby rented a jacket @ $10. Fathini, Hafizah and I already had our own winter jackets. What we needed then were the suitable gloves. Since they didn't have the rental gloves for hygienic reason, we had to buy some gloves. We chose the cheapest gloves. However, when we bought 4 pairs of gloves, my hubby ended up paying $109.95! parah jugak.  Before we went inside the playing area, we had to put on the boots, jackets, gloves and beanies. Only Hafizah didn't have to put on the hired boots since there were no tiny boot sizes.huhu.

Once we were inside, we could see the fake montain with the fake snow. (yelah sebenarnya kat Auckland tak de snow ye). There were some people with the ski equipments, toboggans and other equipments. We decided that we were just going to try the toboggan as we didn't know how to use other equipments. kan dah cakap jakun. hehe  Fathini and Hafizah hopped on the toboggan and my hubby pulled them up the slope. He let them go once they were on top of the slope. I was waiting at the other end to snap their pictures. Fathini looked cheerful but Hafizah wasn't. She couldn't stand to be in the cold even though she was kind of part of being kiwi (she was born here during the winter in 2007!). We managed to snap few lovely pictures of them. yelah bukan senang nak pergi lg ke situ sbb mahal .My hubby had few rounds on the toboggan as well after Fathini and Hafizah decided to play at the edge. I also got my chance to try on the toboggan. I couldn't brake once I was sliding down the slope and it was kind of funny especially when my hubby took the picture of me trying to stop the toboggan. I spent some time looking at other people who were skiing and sledding. siap tolong gelak kalau ada yg tortonggeng jatuh. tak baik kan. hehe.  If I was skiing, I reckon I would stumble down or have few accidents. We were the only ones who went crazy taking heaps of pictures. The others were just having fun there. There were some who were attending the skiing lesson from their professional  coaches. After about one hour there, we decided that we had to go out. Hafizah started to have runny nose and she was quite upset and cold. We found a nice man who was kind enough to take our family picture just before we went out.

We had to return the rental jacket, boots and helmet after we had finished our session. Actually we could stay and playing there all day as the pass was the all-day pass. Well, we were sure even if we spent another hour there, Hafizah would be freezing! I asked hubby if we could get some hot drinks right after we had returned all the rental equipments. My hubby was reluctantly agreed. dah namanya cafe, harga pun faham2 jelah. We ordered 4 cups of hot chocolate and 3 plates of fish and chips. dah alang2 minum kat situ, mkn terus walaupun ada bawa bekal crumbed fish dgn nuggets. hehe . I felt guilty when my hubby said that he had to pay about $70 for the food and drinks. However, it's not that we eat out every week! In fact, we had only been eating out few times since we've been in NZ.

Thus, it was actually a real treat for me and my kids after been so patient and tolerating with my hubby's demanding job now. (finishing  his phd is in fact a demanding job not just for him but us too).