Terrace Motel Franz Josef

Beds: 1 queen, 2 single, 1 pull-out sofa

Price: $204 per night (6 adults)

If anyone was to ask for suggestions on places to go to in New Zealand (and as I advised Anisha) I would tell them to skip the West Coast.. the drive is too long and there’s not much things to do there (unless you want to go see the glacier and so on, then perhaps that’s where you would want to go).. so for Franz Josef, we just arrived at the motel and got some rest.. the motel is very easy to find, it’s a small town anyway.. there was only a mini market there, so not much choice for us.. might be better to make sure there’s some grocery stock before we get there..

As usual, we took a 2-bedroom unit.. it has a queen bed in one bedroom, 2 single beds in the other and a pull-out couch.. wasn’t that big but because the deco was also minimal and the sofa and dining table was strategically placed, it was just nice for us.. we could watch tv from the dining table so the one sofa they had there was enough.. the kitchen was also comfortable to cook in, wasn’t that big but wasn’t cramped up too.. I like how after a few nights there, we knew the routine of unloading and ‘parking’ our luggage.. the ones with room will bring their luggage to the room, otherwise just next to the couch or wherever it can fit into and the bag for food plus plates and cups and all will be placed near the kitchen..

 

photog, cmner ade shoulder photobomb tu?

I was having a bad flu that night so I spent most of the time in bed which was heated.. one thing I enjoyed during my stay there.. no air-condition needed, most motels only had heater.. and inside the bedroom, they only had heaters for the beds.. but even so, sometimes it gets too hot for comfort so it needs to be adjusted every now and then.. I’ll give the place 7/10, mainly cuz it had everything we needed but there wasn’t anything extra special about it as well.. it’s good that we get to park the car right outside the unit, a break from the winding road we had to go through the nights before hehehe

Head South Eleven Lakeview

Beds: 2 queens, 2 single

Price: $650 for 2 nights (6 adults)

We had high expectation for this one cuz the pictures in the website cantek sgt2 mmg excited nk tgk in real life.. with a GPS it’s quite easy to find, but without it, I don’t really think so.. as I mentioned previously, the down point for this place is the winding road leading up to it (I really wish we took a picture of it).. I guess for a 5-seater car, there might not be a problem, but the Hyundai Imax we drove was big and it was nerve wrecking.. we got the wrong motel at first too and had to make a u-turn.. from the outside, the place looks nice, I got a little confuse cuz there was two entrance which leads to different floor.. the front door leads to the 1^st floor, open the door and there’s a staircase in front of you.. but if you go through the garage, it opens up to the ground floor..

x terkejut ke bukak pintu je terus tangga cmni.. naik turn right and there's 2 bedroom on that floor..

the door behind yaya is the one that open to the stairs.. the second door is through the garage.. see how our car "fit" in the garage..

We spent 2 nights here so I made sure we were able to do our laundry while staying here.. good thing we had our own washing machine and dryer, but it took so long to be done with.. these were located in the garage along with some other stuff (can’t really recall what) so we weren’t able to park our car in the garage huhuhu and since there was two unit up there and ours was considered the 1^st one, we had to make sure that when we park outside, the car from the other unit can pass through.. it didn’t help that they drove an Estima (or something that looks like that) so we really had to make sure they have enough space..

3-bedroom unit and the only motel we stayed that had 2 bathrooms (weehooo) but sadly no lock (boohoo).. the ground floor had the bedroom with 2 single beds and a bathroom.. yaya and I took this floor.. then walk up the stairs and you’ll see another 2 bedrooms and another bathroom.. both rooms had a queen bed and shared a balcony.. then walk up another floor and you’ll have the living room, dining room and the kitchen.. this floor is more ‘breathable’ cuz it opens up a little bit as oppose to the other two lower floors.. this part of the motel is pretty.. perhaps not exactly like the pictures in the website (and I was a little bit let down by that) but it was pretty.. it has a quite spacious kitchen (sadly we didn’t manage to cook much).. it has 6-seater dining table (sadly didn’t manage to eat all 6 of us together).. and it has this nice living area to chillax and watch tv..

This floor also opens up to a balcony overseeing this magnificent view of the lake (hence the name of the unit, Eleven Lakeview).. because it was so dark at night outside, we manage to have a mini stargazing session in the freezing cold on the balcony.. at the backside was also a hang out area where they had chairs on the ‘deck’ (not sure if it’s called a deck), but it was facing a bunch of scary trees so we only stepped outside there utk cukup syarat je..

It was the most expensive motel out of all the places we stayed and it showed.. I like how anti-social the service there is, all instructions and information was inside a file so we just had to read through a bit to know how to function things or the wifi password and so on.. overall, I'd give the place a 9/10 although my biggest problem was the car thingy.. I wish we had more time to spend inside the motel for a proper dinner and so on.. both days were tiring and we didn't even cook a proper meal for dinner.. makan maggi and cereal and time tu rasa nyesal xbawak maggi banyak2 sbb sedapnye maggi time tu hahaha 

Archway Motel

Beds: 1 queen. 4 single

Price: $225 per night (6 adults)

This motel had a cabin like touch to it.. it had woods for the walls and was very cosy.. it was super cold there at the time so we didn’t manage to hang out outside, which could be nice cuz they had a huge table there where we could probably have breakfast.. they had a barbeque grill as well but we didn’t use it for obvious reason.. instead we made our usual dinner in the medium size kitchen.. I think because the dining table was situated at the side inside the kitchen, it made the area seems a little bit small.. but it had 6 seats at the table so there’s a 100 points for that..

It had one of the most comfortable living room where we managed to chill and watched TV.. can’t remember what movie it was but I think Malfoy was in it hehehe we also re-planned our schedule for the next day since we wanted to take pics at Lake Wanaka and also bought tickets for the zip ride.. the motel had 2 and ‘a half’ bedroom I’d say.. there was one with the queen bed, and another with 2 single beds.. then actually next to the living room, there are 2 single beds where you can draw up the curtains to make it into another ‘room’.. otherwise the curtains can be left open to make it look more spacious.. I really like the outlay, so it’ll seem like izad and fiq have their own room and not just sleep on the pull-out couch..

I’m not sure how big Wanaka actually is, but it’s not that small of a town.. the motel was very easy to find and it’s about 5 minutes’ drive to the supermarket.. we didn’t manage to stroll around town, the shops weren’t open when we went to the lake the next day cuz it was too early.. it does seems like a nice town though.. overall, I’d give the place 9/10.. although it may not be as pretty as matamata, but I like the bedding it has.. down point is that there’s no lock on the door haiihhh… some pics of the exterior..

Amross Court Motor Lodge

Beds: 1 queen, 3 singles, 1 pull-out sofa

Price: $260 per night (6 adults)

I love the layout of this motel.. there’s a long hall that leads towards the living room.. this is one of the spacious motel we’ve stayed and had a big kitchen.. it’s a 2 bedroom unit, 1 queen size bed for my parents, yaya and I took the other room with 2 single beds, and izad n fiq slept on the single bed and pull-out couch in the living room.. I like the window at mama’s room cuz they had this place where u can sit and look out.. one bathroom, can’t remember if it had a lock, but I don’t think so huhuhu 

The kitchen was very spacious, but we didn’t cook dinner that night.. instead we had dinner in town so we didn’t spend that much time lepak at the motel.. the next morning we just preheated some leftovers but I would say it’s a comfortable kitchen to cook in cuz it had a wide counter.. the living room pon very spacious gak..

Since the motel was in town, there was a lot of left and right turning to get to it, so it helps to have a GPS in hand.. Christchurch is a big town but quite dead after the earthquake.. wished I took more pictures of the town cuz I’ve never seen anything like that.. I remember seeing one whole building collapse with one part of the wall missing.. we didn’t go grocery shopping but I reckon there are supermarkets nearby.. overall, I’d give the motel 8/10.. some more pics we took of the exterior of the motel..