Welcome to Whakapapa - It’s Snow Time at Aotearoa New Zealand

It’s Snow Time at Aotearoa New Zealand 

 

Kia Ora,

Apa kabar semua? 

Welcome back to indahnuria.com and let’s continue our adventure here in New Zealand. This time, I have a little story about how us, the Frakarsas, enjoys winter time in the land of the long clouds.

This year is the second winter we have here in the Kiwi land. Yet, last year’s winter was a but fuzzy and blurry as we had so many things going on in July- September 2022. I somehow remembered cold, wet winter days last year, which is not too different from now. However, this year we manage to drive up North to see the snow and enjoy a bit of fun out there.

On our way to Ruapehu and Tongariro National Park

So on one long weekend, we drove to Tongariro National Park and went to Whakapapa, a ski area in this beautiful place.It took us 4 hours to drive there and we decided not to stay over night in Ruapehu, the nearby village. After that long drive, welcome to Whakapapa - it's snow time at Aotearoa New Zealand !

We got our ticket for 1-hour sledding in Happy Valley, Whakapapa. The ticket for the 4 of us cost NZD 89.54, including taxes and surcharges.

Got our ticket and we were ready!

Obi and Bo were excited, as the last time we played in the snow was back in New York City. When we arrived, it was foggy and rainy, yet we managed to enjoy riding our sled and go up with the magic carpet ride. Bo actually wanted to try the snowboarding but we were a bit late due to the traffic up to the Whakapapa ski station. Well, fog and rain are not helping.

Bo posing with his sledding board

Yet, we arrived and directly got our ticket at the machine. After that, we went down to the Happy Valley (What a perfect name for the place :) ) and lined up to get to the area for sledding

There were three lanes we could use and it was again fun to play in the snow, screaming around and hitting the snow piles. One hour flew fast and although we wanted to continue, it was too cold and freezing already. So, we called it a day and just wrapped it up the same time as the Happy Valley was about to close.

WW: Astoria and Midtown Manhattan After the Blizzard 2018

Wanna see Astoria and Midtown Manhattan after the blizzard?

Here we go.
Let's start with Astoria, particularly Astoria Park, our favorite spot.

It looks sunny and nice but it was minus 5 F at that time..super cold

And of course, we still had to clean the snow stuck on our car and the pathway behind the house. The kids really enjoyed doing it but we couldn't stay too long because it was too cold.

Right after Grayson storm on Thursday, we all were back to school and the office on Friday.
As expected, the streets were filled with piles of snow (some of them are obviously dirty)

You can see how Astoria and most probably the other parts of Queens look much nicer with clean, white snow pile, while Manhattan is the other way around.
Well, the City really tries to clean up all those snow so they did that right after the snow stopped.

Don't get me wrong.
The Department of Sanitation has done tremendous jobs indeed but it's just too much to handle all this mess at the same time for sure.

And I heard that we might have another round of blizzards and storms.
Embrace yourself, New York City.

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The Blizzard

Welcoming 2018 with a blizzard?
So New York City :).

This January, we had Grayson storm, or some say the #bombcyclone, saying hi to New York State and most of the Northeast parts of the country. I remember having this similar type of blizzard every year, but surely it's getting colder, and colder, and colder.

Read also: Welcoming Jonas 

Cold? super.
It went sub zero pretty quickly and the temperature plunged to around single digit Fahrenheit or two digit minus in Celcius. I am talking about up to minus 23 degree C real feel.
Painfully cold, at least for me and my New Yorkers here.
The sky is blue and the sun is shining, mind you, but the temperature is deadly cold.
Well, being an Indonesian, this double digit cold temperature is really disheartening.
Even after we spend 4 years in Geneve, Switzerland, with tons of snow surrounded by mountains, I never recall having cold days like this.

our car in the back of the house.

Kalau banyak teman-teman yang komentar di beberapa akun media sosialku pengen main salju di NYC, aku malah lagi sebel banget dengan winter kali ini.
Yah, bukannya ngga mau bersyukur masih merasakan cantiknya white December and January plus foto-foto lucu di salju yang memang magical plus ber-snow angel ria, tapi kalau dinginnya udah minus 2 digit seperti ini jadinya udah ngga lucu lagi. 
Mana karena dingin, setiap keluar rumah harus pakai banyak lapisan di badan, kaki, muka, dan kepala sampai ngga ada cantik-cantiknya lagi huahahaha #emangkapancantiknyaneng.
Belum lagi jalan yang harus super hati-hati (kalau kata Bo kayak grandma) kalau ngga mau jatuh karena black ice.
Duuuh jangan sampai!
Oya satu lagi...kalau winter dan dingin banget kayak sekarang, bawaannya makaaaaaan melulu.
SUPER GAWAT! karena timbangan memang sedang tidak bersahabat sejak 1 tahun terakhir ini.

Dan memang kalau sudah begini, rumput tetangga selalu terlihat lebih ungu hijau.
Lihat foto teman-teman dan juga suamiku yang sedang ada di Indonesia menikmati hangatnya matahari sambil berjemur di pantai rasanya  pengen ikutan buka baju dan lalu gemetar kedinginan.
Atau ngintip ceritanya neng Idah Ceris  bareng Jasmin yang asyik tracking di gunung plus piknik di tengah hutan asri sambil menikmati pesta budaya dan jajan tradisional pakai baju batik cantik. 
Tambah semangat kan megangin mangkok bakso plus pempek Lampung bawaan mama yang ngebul di dapur.

And this is our last winter in NYC. For now.
Idealnya kan saljunya banyak tapi matahari bersinar cerah, ngga pakai angin yang membekukan tulang dan hatimu, plus cuaca yang mentok di 10 derajat Celcius (jangan Farenheit, karena jadinya minus juga hehe). Jadi bisa foto syantik a la a la di berbagai sudut kota keyen ini kan. kan. kan.

Well, looks like that is NOT the case.

Jadi ya nikmati saja.
Sekali-kali boleh kan sebel sama salju yang aslinya cantik ini hehehe.
Juga dengan NYC, the greatest city on earth (kata banyak orang ya) saat ini yang cuacanya buat kuping dan pipi serasa hilang dan bikin bawaannya pengen makan melulu (timbanganku gusti >_<),  herannya tidak mengurangi nafsu menjajah segala winter sale di mana-mana dan bikin bokek instantly .
See, selalu habis gelap terbitlah terang. Ada kesenangan di balik penderitaan hahaha.
Selalu bersyukur diberi nikmat sehat oleh-Nya.

sekolah anak-anak pun tutup :)

Well, during the blizzard, we just stayed at home, cooked enough (if not a lot) food and binged with the kids, as the school was closed as well. We watched and listened (the wind was literally howling) to the snowflakes falling the sky, took a few pictures and cleaned up the pathway using my neighbors shovels, hand in hand with my hero of the day, Abang Bo :).
The usual ritual.

Blizzard is indeed no joke but if you are well prepared and you know what to do, then you are most likely will survive it!
I have shared some tips and tricks from an amateur blizzard-lover (if there is such thing) like me back in 2015, when my family and I experienced the first blizzard here in NYC.

Read also: Surviving #blizzardof2015

This year, we were not going to Astoria Park as it was super cold as well there obviously as the wind came from the East River.
Unlike January last year when we insanely went out in the middle of the blizzard and tons of took pictures, we chose to stay at home and continued with our movie-binge list :).

last year blizzard :)

Afterwards, everything was back to normal.
Well, not 100 percent normal but I mean, schools and works continue so here we go get ready for the messy roads, still brutally cold weather, delayed traffics and some closings.
Manhattan as always is messy and slippery with those soggy left-over snow piles wherever you look.
And still, we are struggling with the super cold temperature that might stay for a while.
At least we have to endure it for another week or so.
But I'm sure it will better soon.

Hello, Manhattan...

So, wherever you are, stay warm and safe, okay!
Winter is definitely here.

WW: the First Snow of the season in NYC

Here comes the snow!

 Is it already snowing in your place?

We actually have more that day but we left NYC and headed to Philadelphia :).

It was snowing as well there in Philly!

Join us on (almost) Wordless Wednesday and have fun blog hopping :)

WW: Winter Storm Stella

Hello there, Stella..

Looks like winter loves NYC and the rest of the East Coast so much it lingers!
But tell you what.. we did have one work-and-school-free day... yaaay!

And that means... playing in the snow :).

Bo loved it so much he didn't want to go home.

Join us on (almost) Wordless Wednesday and enjoy more great links at Wordless Wednesday headquarters!

Astoria Park in January

One snowy day is all it needs to get us out and have fun!
NYC has been bombarded by snow lately, although it usually is followed by rain so all the pretty white snow is washed away.

But last weekend, we have extra as it started snowing in the middle of the night until around 5 PM! And we all had one thing in mind: Astoria Park!

Last year, we had Jonas storm coming in January and yes, we went out to the same spot and took pictures. I even wrote that we had to do after the storm.

Snowy, windy and cold day apparently did not stop us from heading to Astoria Park, having fun with the snow and taking pictures :). The sky was grey and gloomy but hey, it's the winter sky!

enjoying the cold, kiddos?

So, do enjoy the snow as much as we do as well?

all white and grey, even the sky..

Stay warm, everyone!

Join us on Skywatch Friday and get lost with the  sky from all over the world

WW: More snow in 2017

Winter is definitely still here :) 

Add caption

And the last 2 weekends, NYC was blessed with snow!
Look who's having fun indeed :)

she wanted to clean the car!

out to the park :)

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WW: Capturing Winter in Astoria

Winter is here to stay.
Well, it's still February, so winter is pretty much on :).

Wanna sit down with me here for a while?

This is what's left while we're trying to capture the beauty of winter in our dearest neighborhood, Astoria, NYC.

feels like sliding down here..

soft puffy snow..

Bo et Obi were really enjoying the snow..wherever it is :)

Now most of the snow is gone and we only have some powdery snow shower.

With a bit of rain and cold wind.

wet,wet, wet..

Stay warm, everyone...
And join me on (almost) Wordless Wednesday and link up here :)

After the storm

So, what comes after the storm?

after the storm :)

The calm, the fun and tons of snow :).

Wait.. That's after shoveling those piles of snow burrying almost everything.
Jonas was welcomed rather warmly here in NYC.
Despite tons of  snow ( and believe me, although it looks nice, soft, fluffy and clean, it is actually the opposite >_<), I saw many people actually went out during the snow and afterwards, just to have a leisure walk and take pictures here and there.

our middle-of-the-storm selfie :)

Musim dingin di NYC kali ini memang diawali dengan cuaca yang relatif lebih hangat dibandingkan tahun-tahun sebelumnya. Kita sempat berpikir - dan setengah berharap, agar musim gugur stay a bit longer. Nyatanya, setelah tahun berganti, cuaca pun mulai drop. Tidak tanggung-tanggung, dalam beberapa hari perbedaan cuaca bisa terasa hingga 20 derajat C. 

Bayangkan.. Dari 5 derajat ke minus 15 derajat! Judulnya badan rontok hehehe. Dan puncaknya adalah badai salju Jonas. Memang kalau membaca ramalan cuaca sebelum badai salju Jonas datang, perasaan jadi seram sendiri. Dengan kecepatan angin sekitar 50 miles per jam, NYC memang diperkirakan akan tertimbun salju hingga kurang lebih 30 inchi atau sekitar 76 cm. Sudah hampir sama tinggi dengan Obi saljunya. Dan taraaaa...Jonas pun tiba. Begini penampakan sumah kami di Sabtu pagi.

Saturday morning

The blizzard run rampant from early hours of Saturday till Sunday morning. Sunday morning almost everyone went out with the shovel :). Well, that's the 'beauty' of blizzard or snow storm, I guess.

ready to help :)

Looking at what we have outside, I guess we all have no better option but start digging and cleaning up before it gets colder and harder. 

Kalau melihat salju, bawaannya memang mau maiiin aja. Soalnya yang terbayang adalah salju yang putih, lembut dan kinyis-kinyis seperti es serut. Apalagi kalau berphoto session and jalan di atas salju sambil berpegangan tangan. Romantis ya :).

Tapi kalau semua sudah tertutup salju ya ngga lucu lagi. Bikin repot malah >_<. 

Coba bayangkan...Mulai dari mobil, rumah, tangga, jendela hingga jalan raya penuh dengan salju. Jalan susah, bergerak harus hati-hati dan mobil pun seringkali terjenak dan tidak bisa keluar. Seperti pasca badai salju Jonas ini. 

Untungnya, salju yang buanyaaaak ini masih lembut dan relatif mudah dibersihkan, paling tidak di hari Minggu. Kami pun tidak mau membuang waktu lagi. Karena jika tidak, udara yang dingin akan membuat salju lembut ini menjadi es. Kebayang dong serunya menyekop es dari jalanan, mobil dan rumah. Udah pasti tangan pegel, kepala senut-senut dan pegeeeel berat :).

semangaaaaat...

Dan untungnya anak-anak pun semangat membantu saya dan Bapak. Bahkan mereka yang duluan mengajak kita segera keluar rumah sambil membawa sekop! Selesai mengenakan jaket, thermal underlayers, sepatu boots salju, sarung tangan dan segala perlengkapannya, off we went out to clean the snow. Untungnya, karena dikerjakan beramai-ramai. Kami hanya butuh waktu kurang lebih 2 jam untuk menyelesaikan pekerjaan ini. Sebenarnya 2 jam lama juga ya. Itu pun belum semua salju dibersihkan.Paling  tidak mobil terlihat bentuk aslinya dan demikian juga tangga rumah kami.

ngaso sebentaaar :)

Selesai bersekop ria, waktunya makan siang. Kali ini, menu sederhana nasi putih, sayur lodeh dan bakwan jagung terbukti nikmat luar biasa. Pastinya efek salju yang dingin dan sekop-menyekop yang seru. Done with lunch, we just couldn't wait to go out and play.

our lunch at that day..

And as always, Astoria Park turned into our beloved winter wonderland.
After Jonas officially stopped on Sunday morning, you know what's the the result? almost 30 inch of fluffy snow. Lucky us :).

As I have previously shared, it's time for fun in the snow. Waktunya bermain ria di saljuuuu :).
And for that part, I guess I don't need further introduction.
Enjoy our after-the-storm photos :)

get up, dude :)

cheers from the two of us :)

And Astoria Park turned white and beautiful.

all white..

with blue sky..

So, did you have snow storm as well in your neighborhood?
What did you do after the storm?