Adventures in Kiwiland

I can't believe it's been more than a year and I must admit it feels so strange to blog again. My gosh, I almost wasn't sure if I still remember my blogger login ID and password.....

Sorry sorry sorry...dear blog, i'm sorry to have neglected you this long...I'm sorry I'd let you down...perhaps subconciously i was delaying the post because it feels like ending the journey again...

OK, enough crap talk, I'm just trying to warm up here before i pick up where i left since Ii last updated this blog.

So, here I am again, determine to complete this long overdue journey ending...

Muffins

2007-09-01T14:58:00.000+08:00

Wholemeal or White Flour - 2 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking soda - 2 teaspoons
Baking Powder - 2 teaspoons
pinch of salt
Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl

Golden Syrup - 2 tablespoons
Cooking Oil - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Flavour (banana+choc/berries/apricot/etc)

Mix the dry ingredient in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a seperate bowl.
Add the wet one to the dry one. Mix well and add more milk if needed to achieve a medium moist mixture.
Fill mixture into greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 180 degree celcius for 15-20 min until skewer comes out clean.

Peanut Brownies

2007-09-01T14:53:00.000+08:00

Egg - 1
Butter - 125g (4 oz)
Sugar - 1 cup (180g)
Flour - 1 1/2 cup (270g)
Bakibng Powder - 1 teaspoon ( or 2 for fluffier and crispier texture)
Cocoa Powder - 2 dessertspoons
Peanuts - 1 cup (optional)
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Beat butter and sugar to cream. Add in egg, flour, baking powder, peanuts and cocoa (1 ingredient at a time).
Make into balls and squuze lightly to flatten on the baking tray.
Bake at 180 degree celcius (35o degree ferenheit) for 15 min.

Apple Sponge Cake

2007-09-01T14:35:00.000+08:00

This is the recipe of the famous NZ home-bake dessert I fell in love with during my stay.

Apple (or any Fruit) Sponge Cake - best served hot with vanilla ice-cream or hot custard

Serves 4-6
Butter - 125g (4 oz)
Sugar - 125g (4 oz) - can subsitute with raw or brown sugar for healthier choice
Flour - 125g (4 oz)
Egg - 2
Fresh Milk - 2 tablespoons
Baking Powder - 2 teaspoons
Vanilla Essence - 1/2 teaspoon
Icing sugar - few pinches

First, prepare 2 cup of stewed fruits (prefer skinned and sliced apples in bite size. Boil in water until soft)
Place stewed fruits in an ovenproof dish. Sweeten with sugar to taste. Cover and keep hot.
Cream butter and sugar until pale and creamy.
Beat egg one at a time. Beat well after each addition.
Sift flour and baking powder together. Fold into creamed mixture.
Add milk and vanilla essence to mixture.
Spoon combined mixture over fruits in dish.
Bake at 190 degree celcius for 40min or till sponge springs back when lightly touched.
Dust with icing sugar and served hot with ice cream or hot custard.

Kiwi Humor

2007-05-17T23:14:00.000+08:00

I think the kiwi are generally fun to be with as they seem to have great sense of humour. This can be seen anywhere and everywhere in their daily lives, from merchandise, car plates, creative ads, and even public vandalism. Below are some of the evidence I'd gathered during my trip in kiwiland:

the funniest post card ever - click on the image for enlarged view

wicked carplate: PUSHME I'm a bit slow

they too adore the Simpsons

don't you wonder how to have spa takeaways?

alright, this may not qualify as humor, but isn't it one cute sign? It reminds me so much of Monopoly the board game

"I chose the road less traveled. Now where the hell am I?"
Mate, you were heading towards Mt Cook!

the poo pot - i wasn't sure if it was meant to be practical joke or they seriously want you to 'leave no trace' on Mt Cook

"pubic pa king", now this is some thought-provoking vandalism

can't believe they had a jump menu for bungy! Check out for the booby prize! LOL

tell me who doesn't like to make fun of lawyers :D

man street in queenstown - in case you wonder, yd was attempting to put on a manly pose and that's the best he could do...

cool ad - next time i'll be extra careful if some guys offer me mentos!

tandem skydiving with devil!

i simply couldn't stop laughing whenever yd put on this hat when working at the farm

boy did the curse work! I shall get one and stick it to my bank account!

batman decided that saving world was too much of a hassle

Holy Cow! It's everywhere in Taupo!

The door at Holy Cow

What more? Even the cow was trying to be funny with the panda make up...holy cow!

There were many more funny stuff not captured by our camera such as the 'willy wash' they sold at some souvenir shops. Kiwi men sure take the hygiene of their willies seriously they have special 'shampoo' for that!

resurface from down below

2007-05-07T17:50:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone, we are back, safe and sound. Watch out for the details of our adventure in kiwiland soon! But first give us some times to unpack and rest and pack again (to phuket in 2 day time), and sort out the gazillion pictures we have taken, will ya? OK, I'm exagerating, there're ONLY 1500+ pictures....

The Toughest Hitching Luck

2007-05-03T16:55:00.000+08:00

It was drizzling when we checked out and walked to the hitching point, the entrence to motorway towards Christchurch. The weather was cold and miserable.

the giant chess in front of Cathedral Square at Christchurch

It didn't really help that we have a handmade cardboard sign made from our cereal box with CHCH written on.

It got really freezing cold even when the rain stopped and there wasn't wind. Each time a merciless driver zoomed past, the gushing wind would send the shiver right down to our bone reagrdless of our heavily layered yeti costume.

As more than 3 hours passed, we officially broke our longest waiting record at Renwick where we waited for 2 hrs+ before finally given up and walked some distance to another point where we immediately hitched a ride from the scarry looking but kind hearted Steve to Havelock.

However this time, we didn't really have the option to give up as that was the only motorway entrance from Kaukura to Christchurch direction.

To add salt to wound at our already sucky situation, a pair of teen in their dad's old car drove pass us and the girl sitting at the passenger seat threw an egg at us!(and why the heck would they have eggs in their car?! they definitely didn't look like they'd just helped mum shop grocery) yd was so blurr he didn't even know he was the prime target until the egg missed his frozen face landed on the ground, smashed. He still had the 'where the hell did this egg came from' bewilded face while I was already fuming and yelled at the spolied brats who didn't slow down a bit. I guess there just are bound to be some trash everywhere in the world albeit how beautiful the country is.

As we had nothing better to do while waiting for the next kind soul to pick us up, we read all the graffiti and notes left by previous hitch-hikers. It's really depressing and demoralising as most of the messages were negative such as

'don't wait here' and 'We've been here for 2 hour, still going strong...'

There was even one SNOB CLUB tally that counted 150++, and the classic belongs to one that said 'hitching in NZ w/o gun is like fishing w/o a hook' (What the ???!!! mate, there's actually a term for hitching with gun, i.e. hijacking)

After what seemed like forever, a car finally pulled over the shoulder. It was a japanese guy, who was going to Christchurch, but he was asking $10 each to share his petrol cost. We were desperate and cold and tired, beside $10 each was also a lot cheaper than taking coach or staying back another night and tried again tomorrow. We told him we didn't have enough cash with us but we can pay $20 petrol for him at his next refill.

Throughout the journey, we made small talk. He was from Osaka and had been travelling in NZ for quite a while and he was going to extend his stay because he love the country so much. He told us he came to learn English by working holiday and hence he prefered not to work for Japanese restaurants or other Japanese speaking business environment.

When he told us that before he arrived in NZ he didn't know how to drive as it was so difficult and notaffordable to drive in Japan. However his driving skill was none the better than mine and we had quite a scary journey in his car. I knew yd was scared too when he subtly offer to drive if he was feeling tired or just need to get off the wheel but was declined.

When we finally reached CHristchurch, he dropped us off near Cathedral Square and we waited for Koo to pick us up. We were so hungry for we hardly ate much after breakfast and had been out in the cold all day. Later Koo brought us to have buffet at the Cabage Tree.

the cathedral square, christchurch

After dinner, we went to the gondola hill near Koo's place and yd took some night shots as the weather was pretty clear and cloudless in Christchurch that night, dispite the bitter coldness in the air.

Christchurch night view

Kaikura-been there, done that

2007-05-02T16:18:00.000+08:00

Today, we finaly accomplish mission kaikura, aka to eat crayfish! crayfish aka lobster!

Early in the morning, we were told that the weather would be wet for the day, and indeed it was! :(

We walked across to the south bay via some walking trek. There wasn't much to see as the bays were all similar. We had some homemade (well, backpacker inn's made to be accurate) sandwiches we brought along, now that we are really broke. And while we started munching on our lunch, some seagulls started flocking in around us one after another. And at one point there were 9 of them eyeing our food earnestly. Like we would share our food with them!

sea gulls at the seal colony

And then we saw 3 pigs for the very first time in since we arrived in NZ on our way back. Perhaps they could smell the bacon and cheese sandwich we just had, they hadn't been thrilled to see us.

hog encounter

classic cows on hill

As we planned to hitch hike back to Chrisstchurch tomorrow, we went to check out the hitching point. Little did we know we would have the toughest luck ever in hitch hiking tomorrow. There were taletell sign where the hitch hikers left graffiti notes on the lamp post but we didn't notice until we were waiting like forever at the very same point the next day.

Anyway, after we got back to the other side of the bay, we walked to Beach Rd to find a seafood shop I saw on one of the flyers at the backpacker's inn that was supposed to have cheap and fresh seafood. The shop name was Crayfish & Cod, located at 81, Beach Road.

Indeed the price was much affordable. A whole crafish at restaurant range from NZ$60+ - $80+. And the stall we passed by yesterday on our way to the walking trek was NZ$42 for the smallest one. We bought one weighted about 400g+ at NZ$33+, and happily carried the precious back to cook ourselves a sumptious dinner at our backpackers. We picked a bottle of white wine to go with the crayfish and some packet mushroom rice. We decided to go all out by adding another half dozen of mussle to make Paella with the mushroom rice. That was the most luxurious meal we had after we were broke, thanks to my little plastic card.
While we were cooking, our fellow backpackers mates were almost drowned in their own drool and jealousy :D We pan fried the crayfish in butter and garlic, with a dash of white wine. And the Mussle-mushroom paella did the wonder to fill us up just nice. Hmm.... yummy!

mussles

After the meal, we chill out at the lounge over the wine and a series of movie marathon. We watched part of the cheesy Indian Jones, American Pie: The Wedding, Friends (the episode with Brad Pitt as guest star while he was still with Jennifer), and Lost. It was totally laid back and relaxing.

Although we did not do much activities in Kaikura due to our budget constrain, I still think it's a nice little town to have a relaxing stay. If budget allow, it would have been a nice place to surf, dive, and of course to go for it's ever famous whale-watching. But I met a guy at our dorm who said he had bad sea-sick the whole time and he didn't really get a good look at the whale. Poor soul! Others who absolutely recommend the activities told us how amazingly close the boat can get to the whale and you can only see a small portion of the whale because you were so close already! Next time, I tell myself. Well, there were so many more things to do and places to see in NZ I know I won't get bored visiting this lovely country again and again.

Hitching to Kaikoura

2007-05-01T18:55:00.000+08:00

Early in the morning, Koo dropped us off by the high way exit past Belfast to start our hitch hiking journey to Kaikura for a short stay. It was at the motorway intersection near Kaiapoi town and we realized we couldn't hitch as the traffic was passing by in high speed. In the end, we walked nearly 5km to the next nearest town to hitch rides to our destination, Kaikura!

One remarkable thing about the journey was that we had only NZ$13.50 cash left with us before we left Christchurch! As we were running out of our budget, we had been trying to limit our spending as much as possible, and use credit card instead whenever possible.

Not long after we reached the right hitching point, we got lucky again and got a ride from a kind 'professor'-looking elderly who made educational videos for schools from all over the world. Turned out Peter was quite the chatter box. We talked about philisophy, politics, economics.... well technically speaking most of the time we were just listening and absorbing new information.

Peter was actually heading back to Wellington. He bought the car on the internet, and flew down to Christchurch to pick up the new car and drove it all the way back to North Island. We were indeed lucky to be able to reach Kaikura in just 1 ride! And I must say Peter drove pretty fast for his age! It was a pleasant journey to Kaikura. We passed through sleepy small townships and grazing lands, hilly terrains and finally arrived at Kaikura after about 3 hour time.

Kaik0ura is a nice town famous for whale sighting and its crayfish. Kaikura in Maori means 'to eat crayfish'. Later, we realised crayfish in NZ actually meant lobster. May was the low season hence there weren't many tourists.

We checked into Aldephi Backpackers, which accepted credit cards and the lady was kind enough to go easy on us about the deposit. We were supposed to give $20 key deposit but when we told her that we did not have enough cash, she settled with just $10 for us. It was pretty embarressing when YD pulled out a $5 note and handful of coins to make up the rest! The backpackers was one of the same chain backpackers we had stayed at Franz Josef. There were free soup every evening, free movie DVDs at the lounge, and free hot spa pool too! This one here even had free bike to borrow (deposit required).

After checking in, we went out to explore the walking route around the peninsular. According to the map guide, the route would take about 2 hour to finish. However, we spent close to 1.5 hrs to reach the starting point from our backpackers!
We passed by a mobile seafood stall and drooled at the fresh crayfish for sale. The smallest one cost NZ$42 and they even cooked and serve on the spot. With only $3++ in our pockets, we swallowed our gushing saliva and continued our walk.

We passed by the fayffe house historic area before reaching the seal colony. Puzzling sign. It said 'No dogs between November and March'

the classic cows!

a fat, lazy, sleepy seal!
we gingerly inched forward to get the closest possible distance as there were signs warning people to be aware as seals would attack people if provoked
we went dead still and was so ready to run for our dear lives when it noticed us
We hike up to the hill that oversees the town, and according the sign board, one can make out the southest part of North Island on a clear fine day!

Rakaia Gorge and Methven Day Trip

2007-04-30T19:38:00.000+08:00

Last night, we were planning to go Hamner Spring on the next day. Hamner Spring is reknown for its natural hot springs and thermal pools. However, after we've checked the map, we decided against our initial plan because it was quite a distance away.

In the end, we drove to Rakaia to see Mt Hutt, and past Methven on our way back to Christchurch.

Our first stop was Rakaia Gorge. It was just another gorge, nothing really special about it. However, we enjoyed the laid back picnic by the quiet and peaceful river, lying idly on the river bank, enjoying the occassional warmth when the sun wasn't covered by thick clouds, and listening to the chirping of the birds and the flowing of water. It would have been more perfect had Koo remembered to bring along the bottle of wine she bought specially for the picnic!

on the way to Rakaia Gorge, with Mt Hutt visible at a distance
Rakaia River
I brilliantly decided to hop across the river in my canvas shoes and jeans,and the consequence of my act

Rakaia Gorge Bridge

yd and his yet another skimming practise
long clouds above the river

ass-kicking pals

Later we left Rakai Gorge and arrived at Methvem, a sleepy little township during off-ski season. The people in the town were friendly. We went to the i-site and soon yd and the staff lady were chatting like they were long lost friends.

The girl highly recommended her friend's cafe to us. So we went.

it was a crowded little cafe with so many decos koo and I wondered how long would it take before the owner realised if something's missing/stolen!

a collection of rings in the cafe
and check this fashion studio out!

Later that evening, Judy, Koo's friendly landlady, cooked us nice vegetarian dinner. She even made the traditional kiwi dessert, Apple Sponge, for us, it was yummilicious! I took down the recipe and realised it's the same cook book Leitu had. I was told it was Kiwi's cooking bible that almost every household must have one!

Akaroa Day Trip

2007-04-30T14:07:00.000+08:00

Today, we were blessed with a super sunny day. Koo and Craig took us on a day trip to Akaroa, a lovely little french riveria town located some 82km away from Christchurch in the Banks Peninsular.

Nice scenery beckoning us along the journey. We stopped briefly by Little River and had a relaxing coffee break at the Little River Gallery cafe.

Little River
a sculpture at the cafe garden patio

After the refreshing break at Little River Gallery cafe, we continued our journey to Akaroa. The landscape was tremendously beautiful.

the Banks Peninsular views

a celtic church
a resindential art gallery in Akaroa town
a lovely yard

the monument
artist at work
check out the next great artwork after Da Vinci's The Mona Lisa

We had some really nice and cheap fish and chips at Akaroa. Go for the blue cod, i must say!

sea gulls

jetty

sun bathing
the red sail
sparkling
lonely boat on the shore
the light house

friends - Craig, Koo, me, and YD
ma maison deli
ice-cream trio being shot
a Tim Burton's Corpse Bride look alike sculpture
c'est la vie

sun beams through the clouds
dusk over Akaroa
hills

going home

One Cold Day in Christchurch

2007-04-29T18:11:00.000+08:00

We finally arrived at Christchurch late at night and crashed at Koo's place. She rented a room and stayed with her friendly Landlady, Judy, and her lovely daugther, Sage. The place was new, and neat, and cozy.

The weather in Christchurch the next day was miserably cold and misty. It was drizzling all morning and we had nothing much to do or visit at town in such weather.

Koo braught us to have lunch at Osaka-ya in Christchurch town. The meal was delicious and fairly cheap by Christchurch standard. NZ$9 meal set with free refillable soup and tea. The business was pretty good.

an interesting erm..art/painting/graffiti on the street

After lunch, we did a brief city tour but the weather simply refused to clear up. We went around to see the Sign of Tekahe, Sign of Kiwi, Littleton, and Sunmer. It wasn't an exciting day but it's relaxing afterall.

Sign of Kiwi

view from Sign of Tekahe (if I remembered correctly)

Christchurch was known as the most English city outside U.K. Hence I was expecting an ancient-looking city like London. However, it was more like newer cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool or New Castle city. The most English looking place in Christchurch had to be the Cathedral Square and Art Center.

Tekapo! Tekapo! Tekapo!

2007-04-28T22:35:00.000+08:00

The most visited place during our road trip got to be Lake Tekapo.

Remember? The day before, we put up a night there, right? In fact, our initial plan was to drive straight to either Ashburton, or Christchurch. So when we passed by Lake Tekapo for the first time in the late afternoon, we stopped by to have a wee picnic and photoshooting session.
After which, we packed up and hit the road again, only to realise it was sort if late and we won't be able to make it to Christchurch before midnight.

So we made a U turn back to L. Tekapo, and checked into the nice little motel-backpackers inn. So that was hte 2nd time we stopped by L. Tekapo.

Fast forward to current day. Some background info, from Queenstown to Tekapo, we passed by Twizel, where we bought the fresh salmon; then we passed by the junction to Mt Cook, N.Z. highest mountain. I asked my two companion if we should pay a visit to Mt Cook, but they decided against it, as the plan then was to make it at least to Ashburton, if not Christchurch. Beside, 'it's just another mountain which happens to be the very tall,' qouted from Koo.

So guess what happened after a night sleep? The two decided that afterall, the mountain is the tallest one in N.Z., and had always been highly recommended! *rolling eyes* Some mind-flicking kids! But I was pleased at the decision nonetheless.

So we turned back from where we came from, heading Mt Cook, which was some 1 hr driving distance away.

The sky was getting cloudier as we came closer to Mt Cook region. When the tip of the peak first came into our sight, we couldn't stop screaming like crazy fans meet their idol. It was all spectacular and awe-inspiring.

it was like we were driving into the middle earth!

misty clouds drifting around the mountaineous terrain

We never regreted making all the way back to visit Mt Cook. It was all worth-while. We didn't go on the trekking tour as it would take at least half day and we weren't prepared to do that, plus we were broke. Simply by gazing out at the Mountain range from the bottom of Mt Cook was intriguing enough.

morning dews

See the mountain with 2 peaks on right hand side? That's Mt Cook. It was so cloudy most of the times the peaks were covered by thick clouds. It only cleared up once when Koo had gone to the washroom! Muahahaha!!

We had a casual and relaxing lunch and said sayonara to Mt Cook.

Little did we know the view of Mt Cook got better as we moved further away. We made several pit stops to take shots of Mt Cook from different perspective.

WAAAAAA!!!!

yeah! been there, seen that!

layers of landscape textures

And guess what? Here we are at Tekapo AGAIN! We stopped by AGAIN to have some wine picnic. And because yd wanted to take the perfect shot of Good Sheperd Church, but every times there were bunch of tourists and vehicles around it.

cheese, crackers, and dessert wine for picnic, wanna join us?

p.s. Something happened after the picnic and scared the living hell out of me! I must have had a little to much and got a little too tipsy that when we packed up and left Tekapo once again, I left my bag at our little picnic site, and didn't realise until 15 min later down the road. So we made a U turn back to Tekapo one last time to look for my missing bag. I was praying frantically to let me find my bag because though as much as I love NZ, I hadn't prepared to become an illegal immigrant in the country!

Thank God we had chosen a pretty secluded picnic spot. My bag was exactly where I left when we got back. Phew!!!

Hit the Road, Mate!

2007-04-28T17:51:00.000+08:00

Early in the morning, we checked out the backpackers in Queenstown. It's a nice change now that we don't have to hitch hike. It's officially the begining of our road trip! We went back to Arrowtown, because yd wanted to retake some of the scenery shots as it was kinda overcast yesterday.

We passed by some vineyards and went on a wine tasting tour at Gibston Valley Vineyard.

early autumn morning at Gibston vineyard

One of the lady staff at Gibston saw us taking picture of this bunch of grape and plucked a small bunch from the same plant and offered to us. We were told it's the Chardonnay grape. It has a unique aroma and tasted semi sweet and sour.

While we were happily sampling the grapes, to my horror I found bird dropping on one of the grapes! That was so close! And guess what? I plucked and threw away the shit-stained grape and offered yd and Koo the rest..muahahaha!!!

Unfermented wine in stainless steel tanks. It smelled so good we wished we could just help oursleves to the tap.

Going into the wine cellar

The wine cave was built 76m underground into the Central Otago hillside. Central Ontago is the most southerly wine producing reagion in the world.

wine sample - I bought a bottle of the late-harvest Reisling dessert wine for our impromptu picnic on the road

more long clouds

a different kinda scenery at Lindis Pass

reflection

more reflection!

while yd was busy taking shots of his obsession - reflection, Koo noticed these giant mushrooms beside. Then, when yd was half-squatting to get the perfect angle for his shot, Koo jumped onto his back, and I followed by jumping onto Koo's. Next, we all collapsed to the ground, and Koo fell onto and killed the giant mushrooms!

the crime scene

ruthless murderer with her victim - Koo insisted bagging the body back!

As we continued our journey, we passed by a salmon falm at Twizel and decided to get some fresh salmon.

feeding salmons, before eating 'em :p I must mentioned how cheap and delicious the salmon was. NZ$14+ for a big fat piece of salmon fillet and we had it as sashimi. Oishii ne!!!*drooling*

another picturous scene - i guess i'm already out of word choice for better description

a lonely big tree by lake tekapo (see the famous Church of the Good Shepard in distance?)

The Church of Good Shepard by Lake Tekapo

Lake Tekapo

Later we decided to put up a night at a lovely motel/backpackers at Lake Tekapo. And we had fresh Salmon sashimi for dinner..ohh!! that's the way road trip should be!!

That night, we had a good laugh trying to challenge each other pronouncing the longest place name in NZ on Lonely Planet. We simply couldn't finish the entire word not just because of it's length and difficulty to pronounce, but it's pronounciation. A little bit of maori 101 here, 'wh' is pronoucned as 'f' in maori, eg Atawhai is pronounced as 'uh-ta-fai'. Now try pronounce the bloody longest place name below:

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

Now you should know why we laughed our lung out trying to say 'taumatawhaka'!!

Arrowtown Reunion

2007-04-27T00:54:00.000+08:00

Alright, where were we at now...let's see....right, so we were $20 poorer coming out from the casino, ate a few pieces of Budget biscuites for lunch (sob..sob..), and decided to hitch a free ride to Arrowtown instead of spending $7 each for the ride.

Meantime, Koo was travelling from Ashburton to meet us at Arrowtown. After what seemed like 500 years of waiting and and merciless attack by 1 million bloody sandflies, we finally arrived at Arrowtown after 2 rides. Oh, we even withnessed a little lamb lost her way up on the hilly terrain opposite our hitching point and baa-ed her way down to find the mother sheep.

A hostile backpacker who lost his way

Arrowtown was painted in vibrant autumn colours.
And I didn't know I was wanted there, dead or alive! *gasp*
Telegraph! Who else still uses telegraph nowadays?!

This park reminds me of the fighting scene from Hero.

and Koo arrived in her car 20 minutes after us!

meeting koo
the best friends' reunion

I didn't have much luck at gold panning

historical Arrowtown

our reunion dinner at Arrowtown

After that, we went back to queenstown to put up a night before we started heading towards Christchurch.

Anzac Day in Queenstown

2007-04-26T18:48:00.000+08:00

The long journey from Franz Josef to Queenstown must have worn us out pretty badly. That night, after we cooked ourselves noodle with some yucky canned beef, we went to the pub where we go 1 for 1 beer by showing our backpacker's key. We watched some hilarious and some really gross Jackass episodes at the pub for a while. Oh, on a side note, we bumped into George outside the pub. He was going for dinner and would join his friends somewhere.

When we were back at the backpackers, I was so beaten and must have knocked out slightly after 9 before yd even switched off the light. Little did I know he was far more beaten......

Check out the ink-stained t-shirt of his, and the stains he left on the backpacker's bed! Apparently, he fell asleep writing his journal and had been tossing and turning around on the uncapped pen. Luckily they didn't charge us extra for the mess!

Today, we were going to meet up with Koo and heading back to Christchurch with her in her newly bought car! It meant temporarily end of our hitch hiking days. We checked out the backpackers and left our backpacks at the storage and planned to visit Arrowtown which was close by. Autumn Arrowtown was listed as one of the must visit on the AA guide book. So we decided not to miss that.

Out on the street, the Anzac Day parade took place.

a solemn little marcher

After some discussion, we decided to go up the sky gondola in Queenstown which was also one of the top ten spots recommended in the guide book, then hitch hike to arrowtown which was only 17km (or was it 7?) away. Arrowtown was a gold mining town back in 1860s. Today, it is a living historic town. The reason autumn is the best time to visit is because most of the trees in the town were introduced and hence change colours drastically in the fall. I learned from Bill that native plants usually tend to last longer and greener.

I saw some 'LOTR' rings on display.

two hang-gliders (or sky divers? i couldn't tell for sure) gliding through the blue sky

And guess what? We bumped into George AGAIN on our way! We were passing by a camp site, that we realised was the one George was staying, and voila, our dearest Mr. George appeared along in his campervan. We were laughing when we saw each other. He pulled over the road site and we exchanged email addresses. I mean, wasn't that some fate?

As we arrived at the sky gondola ticket counter, there was a long queue. But we didn;t have to wait long before we bought a combined ticket of returned gondola ride plus one luge ride. We had no idea how a luge ride was but it was pretty cheap, NZ$7 per ride.

While waiting for the gondola (or cable car as we used to call), some milks found their way to get a free ride before us.

It was getting misty and cloudy as we went up. Later, it started drizzling.

the lift to luge ride

the ugly luge ride gear
Turned out the luge ride was really fun though a little short. We couldn't get enough of it and went on a second ride. I wished they didn't have the no racing rule! :D

There was this bird park where one could see the very rare kiwi and other exotic birds. But guess how much was the entreance fee? NZ$30++ per person!!! Crazy! Anyway we weren't really crazy about birds let alone the fact that we were running low on our fund.

lesson learned - gamblers often are lossers

We fell for the marketing gimmick! On our way coming down the sky gondola, I saw this poster stating one can get either a free drink or a 5 dollar max-up chip at the sky city casino. I talked yd into going to the casino. I figure we could use the 10 dollar chip and try our luck, who knows we might strike big and then I could go for the Shotover Canyon Swing and he could go for the photography tour he had been eyeing. And if we loss, we loss the $10 which was in the first place never ours. Sounds wise right? But, nope!! In the end we lost $20, from our pockets! Turned out the max-up chip was only meant for adding $5 to the bet. Meaning it can only be used with the normal chips. And our smallest change was $20 when we bought the chips. ANd if you had been to casino before, you would know that they don't give change for buying chips. So in the end, we bought $20 worth of chips to play on $5 table. And we lost all after 2 hands each. All I can say was it's plain shitty. Can you imagine when I got 21, the dealer actually got black jack? Crap! So in the end, not only did we not win big for the activities, but we were $20 poorer. And they didn't have free coffee/tea and toast in there!!! All they have for free was iced water with lemon wedges!!! WTF! That's plain rip-off!

And it didn't help when we saw this right outside the casino. $10 lunch special. We could have 1 each! But nope, we were eating Budget biscuits instead. (no kidding, the brand was called Budget)

To find out what happened after that, come back next time to check out for new post! :P (it's really late as I'm blogging this and I still got to attend some seminar tomorrow morning...sorry)

Heading South

2007-04-25T11:08:00.000+08:00

Continue heading south from Franz josef, we passed but didn't stopped by Fox Glacier, because dear George was in a hurry and we figured (as well as confirmed fwith a couple tourists we met at Franz Josef Glacier who just came from Fox) that the two Glaciers were pretty much the same except Fox Glacier unguided access was closer than Franz Josef. However, I believed where we had just explored at Franz Josef couldn't have been any further than that.

As we continued heading south, we could feel the gradual drop in the temperature. We could feel and see the presence of autumn better.

we passed by this mystical looking land, it's so LOTR!

forgot which lake is this
then we had a pitt stop at Fantail Fall to take some picture and stretch our limbs

and the boys started skimming AGAIN..I was annoyed for not being able to get pass 2 bounces!

fantail fall

fantial fall

road trip

autumn field

long cloud!!!

reflection of mountains and clouds on serene lake

one of the very few picture of us together!

the souther we got, the more vibrant colours of autumn we saw

this image reminds me of frequency chart

orange bushes and turquois stream

and finally we were at Queenstown!

I fell in love with this lovely town at first sight. Surrounded by mountainous landscape and lakes, everywhere was picture perfect. After we parted with George, we checked into a backpakers and explored the town on our own.

and our first giant kiwi sighting in queenstown! I ignored the no feeding warning and share my cookies with her, she loved it!

lake wakatipu

Founder of Queenstown, William Rees (can u spot me in the frame?)

interesting boutique signboard

queenstown sky gondola

one of the must try in nz, real fruit ice-cream, real fruits blend with icecream or youghurt, yummy!

queenstown is the home of nz many extreme sports

a jet boat just took off behind me on lake wakatipu

lake wakatipu

queenstown wharf by the bay

quiet park

suddenly the most hideous looking kiwi-wanna be i'd ever laid eyes on jumped into view!

The Glacier Adventure

2007-04-24T22:48:00.000+08:00

The next morning, we checked out the nice Backpackers and head towards the Franz Josef Glacier! All three of us (George, yd and I) were excited as we all had never seen a glacier before and didn't know what to expect. I mean can you imagine a freaking frozen river cutting through the mountains throughout the years regardless of the weather and season? And it's not just some freaking glaciers but relics from the last Ice Age! The wonder of nature is simply amazing and awe inspiring. However, the Glaciers have been retreating throughout the years. I read it from the information signage that back in 1930s, the place where we were walking on currently used to be the river access, with icebergs along the passage to the glaciers. Those lucky tourists back then! But then, I imagined decades after when the glaciers have retreated and left only some small ice cubes, people would probably thinking the same, 'those lucky bastards back in 2000s!!!' while frantically taking pictures of the remaining ice cubes! :D

We were not supposed to go beyond this point except if we are on guided glacier climbing tour. However, we decided to ignore the warning sign (please don't try this, we were bad examples!) to get closer look at the glacier. Half way through, we were stopped by two rangers. At first we thought they were gonna tell us off for sure, but turned out, they weren't. They were just trying to warn us off the possible danger and such as the path that we were walking on was in fact the middle of river just a week ago when the weather was wet! The rangers reminded us of some safety issues to take note and let us go after we assured them that we were not attempting to climb the glacier at all.

In case you wonder, the temperature around wasn't really any colder than elsewhere.
The waterfalls
the water was freaking freezing cold!
We didn't take many photos at the glacier because right after we arrived, there was a huge dust like dark shadow on his lens which can only be seen through the view finder. He tried couple of shots and though the preview pictures on the screen seemed fine, but he was super worried and scared, and didn't have the mood to take many pictures. In the end, it was indeed some weird dust and he managed to blow it out after we got back to the car. Phew!some vibrant red rocks with green moss

Meeting Crazy George

2007-04-23T21:26:00.001+08:00

With a mixture of sadness and excitement, we left atawhai farm to continue our journey exploring the rest of kiwiland. We were lucky because initially we planned to leave a day earlier on Sunday and hitch hike to Franz Josef or Fox Glacier. When Gordon and Katie, the couple who owned the horse trekking business learned about our plan, they were kind to offer us a ride to Hokitika with them on Monday. They had an appointment there. Hokitika was on the way to the glaciers on west coast. We figured even if we take off a day earlier, we might not be able to travel as far by hitch hiking. So we gladly accepted the offer and hence got to spend another with Bill and Leitu.

On the way to Hokitika, Gordon and Katie stopped at Punakaiki briefly so we could take a look at the famous pancake rocks and blowholes. The pancake rocks looked more like kuih lapis to me.

Punakaiki

Pancake Rocks

Pancake Rocks - check out the layers!

more pancakes rocks - can you see the shapes of various animals?

view from Punakaiki look out

it's a shame we didn't witness the spectacular sight of water funneling up the blowholes because the waves weren't strong enough

arriving at Hokitika, a nice little township

When we arrived at Hokitika, it was around 2-3pm. We had late lunch at a local deli. We ordered a huge thick milk shake to share, thinking an additional $0.20 for thick shake instead of normal shake was a pretty good deal. And so wrong was we! The shake was extraordinary thick...so thick we could hardly swallow. It sure was damn filling but it wasn't thirst quenching at all!

Hokitika main street

After that, we were ready to start hitching ride to the glaciers from Hokitika. It must have been our lucky day for in less than 5 minute after we arrived at the hitching spot, a campervan pulled over. I must have these golden thumbs for hitch hiking :D Anyway, it was how to met George, the crazy Brit. George was travelling alone in his rental campervan and we were the very first hitchers he picked up. And he was heading to the glaciers too!

pebble-skimming competition

George was a funniest English I've ever met. Not only had he picked us up and offered us ride to the same destination, he also kept us well-entertained throughout the journey with his silly riddles, dirty jokes and even dirtier rhymes :) Some of the silly riddles include:

Q: What do you call a dinosaur with one eye?

A: Do-u-think-it-saw-us

Q: What do you call a deer with no eye?

A: no idea

silly eh? The dirty jokes and rhymes? Well it's so dirty i decided to censor 'em because this blog is rated family safe. :p

a happy smigel: My precious!!!
incredible turquoise streams along the way

We made many impromptu stops when:

we passed by rivers and there were no traffic behind us so George would want to check out if there were any fish in the river (because he loves fishing and nothing else);
George wanted to check out yet another river and I wanted to scare the shit out of some sheep beside the road;
we passed by some scenic look outs or lakesides where we could have a wee picnic
so we could have stone skimming competition
etc etc

we stopped by this beautiful 'blue-lagoon' look-alike for a 'wee' picnic

a wee picnic by an amazing lake with nice beer+nice wine+nice homemade biscuits+nice travel companions..what more could one ask for?

the alcohol made us hyper and turned into monkeys

By the time we arrived at Franz Josef town, it was already getting dark. We checked in the Chateau Franz Backpackers. It was the coziest backpackers we had stayed. The rate was standard ($23 pppn) and yd and i got a triple room all by ourselves with the dorm rate. There were also free soup every evening at the kitchen. But we did enjoy the free hot spa pool, esp yd and george as a bunch of hot chicks joinned them after I left! They've stayed so long I wondered why they didn't get dehydrated or hyperthermia...tsk tsk tsk..boys! *rolling eyes*

After a nice hot bath and shower later, we invited george to have dinner and drinks at a local bar where the guests staying at Chateau Franz could get a free shooter. It was awful though, tasted like cherry-flavoured cough syrup, yiak!! However we had such a great time hanging out with our new pal.

Together we planned to visit Franz Josef Glacier early next morning, then we would follow George to Queenstown where he would meet up with his friends, while yd and i would stay for a night or two and head towards Christchurch to meet Koo.

Fun Things to do at Atawhai Farmstay

2007-04-22T11:03:00.001+08:00

It was amazing how time flew by. Soon, our carefree farmstay days came to an end. It was a dilemma: on one hand we wished to stay longer and help out at the farm, but on the other, we had so many other places to visit but with not much time left... Ahh, life's all about making decisions, isn't it?
Anyway, we'd made a list of recommendations for fun stuff to do/try for people who might be keen to stay and help out at the farm in future: (Bill's contact info could be found on the Useful Information column on the right)

Learn to start a coal range fireplace in less than, arr...2 hour? to beat yd's record! :D
Learn to make dessert/cookies from Leitu
Must try Leitu's homemade Apple Sponge with hot custard or ice-cream, it still made me drool at the very thought of that...
Feed the chooks and collect eggs
Dare to challenge Bill's Bloody Hot Sauce
Have afternoon tea in the garden on fine sunny afternoons
Star gazing at southern hemisphere incredible night sky-try to make out as many constellations
Cook with freshly picked organic vegetables and herbs from the garden
Relax in hot fire bath by the bush (but careful not to burn your butt!)
Learn to drive the tractor and watch Kelly and Sheba go berserk at each other for being tied up
Go horse trekking
Have picnic/bbq on Little Wanganui beach
Trek up the hills to overlook Wangapeka Valley and the sea
Feed Polly the farm horse with apples and listen to the crunchy sounds she makes
Stay warm in front of the fireplace on a cold night
Explore Jackson's 60 acres properties and check out the interesting fairyland tree; super mario magic mushrooms; etc etc.
Enjoy great exercise by getting your hands dirty with the farm chores
(yd might have more things to add on to the list, we'll see ;)

Here are more pictures taken during our stay:

side walk of the farm house - by ye

sunset at little wanganui beach - by yd

silhouette of trees by dusk - by yd

wangapeka valley from hill top - by yd

yd on horse back - by yd

little red flowers - by yd

carefree run - by yd

shells - by yd

a sleepy sheba - by ye

sheba and i - by yd

mutated garlic - by ye

angry ox - by yd

hairy panga/punga - by yd

pine corn on tree - by yd

panga/punga - by yd

human soup - by yd

firewoods - by ye

mailboxes - by yd

moss on stone - by yd

magic mushrooms - by ye

baby fern - by yd

fern leaves - by ye

fetch - by yd

grazing fields - by yd(?)

pony - by yd

fungus on fence - by yd

vantage view of atawhai farm - by ye

dusk in karamea - by yd

eucalyptus trees - by yd

wire fence - by yd

Life on Atawhai farm

2007-04-16T17:52:00.001+08:00

It was our very first time experiencing the real farm life. Located 100km north of Westport on the west coast of South Island, Karamea offers a perfect retreat for our farmstay. The population count was less then 500 in this peaceful small town. And there was no mobile network coverage.

The Jackson's had moved to Karamea and started the farm 5 years ago. Atawhai farm was on the border of the electricity distribution area in Karamea. However, the family relies 100% on coal and firewoods for the heating purposes and the electrical switch for water heater had never once been used. Therefore, during our stay, we had helped lighting up the fireplace and coal range sometimes. It was indeed some tricky business and I think we had never successfully started the fire that lasted without help from Bill or Leitu :( It just seemed so easy for them.

yd's main task was spliting the firewoods. Bill had cut down some logs and sawed 'em into smaller chunks, and yd was to chop and split 'em into even smaller pieces so together we could stack the woods in the shed to be air-dried. It was meant for next winter's supplies as B will liked to get things ready ahead. We hope we had done it right so that the family will have dry firewoods by next winter! Bill, if you are reading this, please don't curse us if by next winter the woods are still not thorounghly dried (touch wood!) You may bring the whole family here to Malaysia and stay with us till the winter is over! :p

yd having fun with the makeshift skirt from the tree bark while Sheba sat watching him thinking wtf was wrong with this guy! I was laughing and shaking uncontrollably and hence the blur!

Taking our tea break in the garden on a fine day. Bill always made sure we didn't over-worked ourselves and went on hours without taking break.

Bill taught yd how to drive his tractor so we could help moving the cut trunks to where he could split 'em. To me, riding the tractor driven by yd was a lot scarrier than sky-diving! I must also mention about the dogs. Because the dogs loved to run along or hop onto the moving tractor, so for safety reason they were always tied up before Bill moved the tractor. And whenever this happened, Kelly and Sheba would start barking at each other madly as if blaming each other for being left behind. It was hilarious.

On a sunny day, we would hang our washing out under the sun. The weather was rather cold and wet in west coast. Sometimes, before I could finish hanging the washing, it started drizzling. Then just as I finished hanging them inside by the fireplace, out came the sun again and this could happen over and over!

Putting up fence to keep the annoying black birds away from the flower bulbs Leitu had recently planted.

Lakei and Jessie went feeding the chooks. The chooks were to be fed twice a day, once in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Usually, we could collect 3-4 eggs each day. There was this old white granma hen which would eat the eggs if she wasn't being seperated from the others in the morning.

Lakei and Jessie giving Polly an apple treat.

Riding on Polly. It was actually my very first time on a horse back. Thanks Lakei!

shadow fighting again!

Little Wnaganui River behind the property. When the water wasn't as much, one could actually walked across.

Taking the dogs with us trekking up the hill

the trek up to the hill was covered in these thorny bushes. They sting real bad I named them 'thorny bastard'!

And I slipped and fell on my butt. Luckily I didn't land on any thorny bastard! And need I describe how the sadistic cameraman was laughing his ass off while taking this shot!

plucked some berries but Leitu adviced against eating them as they were found by the road side, hence they might have been sprayed with pesticides

we love cooking and the Jackson's were advanturous enough to try any cuisine. This was yd, the mad chef, cutting lamb flaps (because we were running out of prok) for the improvised Bak Kut Teh. Turned out it tasted better than pork BKT!!!

the very unique fire-bath in the bush, a must try! yd took hours starting the fire to heat the water. It got hotter and hotter we had to sit on thick towel in order not to burn our butts; but still yd burnt his back while climbing into the bath :D But it was indeed awesome. Imagine it, a nice hot bath out in the bush!

decorated the Backpackers for the guests with flowers from Leitu's garden. Does it remind you of Van Gogh's famous Sunflowers? well this is ye's not so famous what-it's-called flowers

dancing with Sheba

playing football or soccer as they called it, with Jessie. Once yd was so into the game and he almost dived into jessie trying to steal the ball from her, unbelievable!!! Lakei and I gave him the red card right away!

caught bullying the 2 yr old..alright, it wasn't how it looked like, i swear i didn't push her!

we went on horse trekking with Bill's neighbours, Gordon and Katie's horse trekking business. Bill helped us to get a really good deal from them. We each got to ride on a horse on our own, with Gordon and his son leading us in front. So guess what was the most frequently seen view on a guided horse trekking journey?

The answer is: Horse arse
Boy, can they shit! Throughout the journey I must have witnessed up close no less than 4 times of the entire horse shitting process! Horrifying experience! Mind you, next time you see the horse lifted it's tail, stay away from the rear!!!

Cooking with Bill's bloody hot chillie pepper. The first time I used it, I didn't realise it's power and the mee goreng turned out to be so spicy it almost burnt Leitu's tongue off! I felt so bad watching her gulping down water to cool off her smoking tongue. lol

Helping out Bill make his (in)famous Jackson's Bloody Hot Sauce. I'm proud of myself to come up with the name. yd and I helped pluck the peppers from the garden, cut open and removed the stems and the seeds. The task was 'dangerous' and we were careful to wear gloves to protect our fimgers from burning. But guess where did yd burnt himself after he went to the toilet? Ouch!

Leitu taught me to bake these delicious peanut brownies. I'm not bragging but they were really really goooood although each time I made the texture were a little different. :D

Riding in Bill's jeep sometimes when he drove Lakei to the town to pick up Jessie or to the beach where she would have bbq with a couple of gal friends

Sunset at Little Wanganui Beach. The girls were having bbq at the beach.

Incredible Southern Hemisphere skyscape on a clear night. The Milky Way was so bright and so obvious! It was a cold night but we were so fascinated by the millions dazzling stars we couldn't take our eyes off and almost turned ourselves into human popsicles!

There wasn't a day, an hour, a minute, or a second of our stay at Atawhai farm that was boring. I had enjoyed every moment, sometimes even the 'work' was as much fun and enjoyable!

Intro to Atawhai Farm: the Properties, Crops, and Plants

2007-04-15T10:25:00.000+08:00

The lovely farmhouse full of love and laugthers a peak at the cozy farmstay guest room

the 'last call' bell - Bill found it from an abandoned school

the coal range - where water was heated and lovely meals and bakeries were made

the kitchen - where we cooked some exotic meals with Bill's ever-so-impressive range of spices and herbs origin from all over world!

and just look at these utensils, so oliver-twist-era looking! :)

where we had many sumptious meals with the family

the fireplace
and we spent many evenings watching telie over Leitu's homemade dessert after dinner

vantage view of the Backpackers

the stair case leading up to the Backpackers

inside the Backpackers - the bed on the left was mine and the right yd's. This shot was taken after we moved into Lakei's room as a family was taking the Backpackers. When we were staying there, we had 4 layers of blankets and comforters plus a hot-water bottle each to keep ourselves warm at night as there was no heating in the Backpackers. The hot water bottles were our saviours!

a cozy corner in the Backpackers - we left our lengthy, touchy-feely commends in the guest book :) yd even made a whole page of must-do list!

the bushes behind the Backpackers

our working boots - mine and yd's were the same type and size and one day I didn't realise I had on both feet the same side until a very confused yd with a wtf expression came to me with the other 2 same sided boots

Bill's tractor - yd had fun times driving it and i had exciting times being carried around at the back. Warning: not suitable for those with weak hearts when yd's behind the wheel, and not suitable for any living things if i'm behind the wheels

Bill was once a diver and he had taken some really cool underwater pictures

the cart
the small stream running through the properties
and water cress growing in the flowing stream!!!

the path leading to another part of Bill's property

morning dews on washing lines

colourful clips

please make yourself at home!

the working austin

the old austin Bill bought for the engine swap

it's a grape tree!

check out the grapes

lemon tree

super mario's magic mushroom!

parsley

the fairyland tree -my idea of a perfect way to spend a lazy summer afternoon: leaning on the crooked trunk, reading a nicholas sparks' book

baby fern

a flower cart

late summer blooms

organic garlics for sale

a decorated cob web

the bloody hot chillie peppers

the not so bloody hot chillie

brocolli

Intro to Atawhai Farm - the People and Animals

2007-04-14T15:35:00.001+08:00

A brief introduction to our hospitable farmstay host and the lovely animals on the farm:

Welcome to Bill & Leitu Jackson's

Good ol' Bill, caught in the making of his signature Bloody Hot Sauce. You'd be amazed how he likes and can eat real spicy stuff. I reckon that makes him the hottest Caucasian in NZ, maybe even the world! He was also the funniest kiwi we ever met. Boy, do I miss his witty jokes and hilarious mockeries.

Meet Leitu, our kind hostess. She makes helluva great desserts! She believes no meal is complete without some dessert. She would insist helping us with dishes after meal so that we could finish the dish quicker for the dessert! I got some real good dessert recipe from her too.

Lakei, Bill and Leitu's lovely daugther. She was the sweetest and coolest 16-yr-old i'd ever met. Such a smart and sensible young lady. And she's also a good rider who had won couple of times racing Polly in the annual horse racing competition at Karamea!

Little Jessie May, whom Lakei would baby sit sometimes when she was back for holidays from school in Nelson. She's one cute little imp who'd bring laugthers एवेर्य्व्हेरे she goes.

BBQ night - Bill fell asleep/fainted from starvation waiting for yd to set up for this shot

Kelly gal, Lakei's faithful guardian since young; and Sheba's staunch companion. Between her and Sheba, Kelly's the hyper one who makes the most noise.

Sheba, the border collie who loves working, i.e. chasing the herds. She's real big but gentle, sometimes clumsy. On our first day at the farm while Bill and Leitu were showing us around, Sheba gave us a big fright: she caught herself in the neck between wire fence in an attempt to clear the height to no avail. She would have been killed if Bill wasn't there to free her from the tangle

Polly, the farm horse. She's a real beauty and sure could run as she and Lakei had won 1st place couple of times in competitions. However there's some problem with one of her feet/hooves and had to retire early.

The timid ones - it's so hard to get real up close! Oh, counting them wasn't that easy too. We tried counting them on different occassions and each time, each of us would get different numbers. Well, we knew there were some 26 - 30 of them.

Nope, they were not for the milk, stop looking for the tits! We were told that milk cows are always skinny and the fat and big one like these are for the meat. Yummy!

The chooks. Tell you a secret: yd didn't know how to differrentiate a roaster from a hen as he thought only roaster has comb! Unbelievable!!! LOL!! Anyway, the chooks were kept for the eggs as Bill said their meat must be really tough from all the exercise and wandering around the farm!

Meet the Jacksons

2007-04-13T17:41:00.000+08:00

We would be meeting the Jacksons, our farmstay help exchange host, at Westport. Early in the morning, we checked out the Backpackers and bought 2 tickets at the Intercity Coach office in Nelson town to Westport, where Bill and his family will meet us for the first time.

The weather was bitterly cold that morning in Nelson. I had on 4 layers of clothing! (nope, i didn't count my bra as one layer) It's a shame we didn't have much time to explore Nelson though.

Nelson town on a cold morning

hit the road, jack!

The journey from Nelson to Westport took about 4.5 hours. Along the way, we passed by the Buller River, one of the actual shooting scenes from LOTR.
Buller River- it did look like Ganduff or Legolas might cross the river on a horse at anytime

Buller River

At about 11.00am, we arrived at Westport. We finally met Bill, Leitu, and their lovely daugther, Lakei. Together with them was cute little Jessie May, a two year old Lakei was babysitting. They were all nice and friendly folks. We were invited to join them for tea. After that, we followed the family to do some grocery before heading back to Karamea.

It was about 1 hour plus drive from Westport to Karamea and the roads were winding. The bus fare would cost $28 per person according to Bill. We were indeed lucky in our arrival timing as the family only goes to Westport once every few weeks.

On our way back, Bill pulled over at some place and explained that there was a 'secret look out' Lakei and friends had discovered before and wanted to show us. It was indeed secret as one had to hike through some bushes to get to the 'secret point'. It was a cliff overlooking the valleys we had travelled and the view was awesome. It was one nice and refreshing pit stop.

view from the secret point

sitting on the edge

Soon, we arrived at our destination: Wangapeka Backpackers Retreat and Farmstay at Atawhai Farm, located near the Wangapeka Track. We were told that Atawhai in Maori means to take care and welcomed. That's exactly how we felt throughout our farmstay from day 1!

Welcome to Wangapeka Backpackers & Farmstay!

The lovely farm house on Atawhai farm

The amazing hitch

2007-04-12T15:25:00.000+08:00

After having a rough and sleepless night at the airport, we woke up early and getting ready long before our morning flight.

At 7:15am, we went the check-in counter which was also the bording gate for soundsair, shared by few other domestic budget airlines. We were told the flight was delayed due to the bad weather. It was raining heavily and very windy. At one point, we were told that we would be de-tour to Blenheim instead but there'll be a shuttle to send us to Picton. We were less worried about the detour as there's another route to get to Westport from Blenheim and it wasn't any further than the one from Picton to Westport.

Finally around 9.30am, the flight arrived (from Picton or Blenheim I supposed) and we started boarding on. It was those small craft with only 14 seats, including pilots'. We took the two seats right behind the pilot where the control panel could be seen clearly from behind. We thought we were lucky to have the best 2 seats. Turned out, the flight was full and there were total 13 passengers. In the end, one lucky bastard (pardon me I still couldn't get over the jealousy) got to sit BESIDE the pilot in the 'assistant pilot' seat!!! All yd and i could do was staring at the lucky girl in hostile and drool in jealousy from behind. She was obviously all hyped up (but who wouldn't?) and couldn't feel our watchful eyes and piercing stares.

why didn't you pick me? Why?

view from the craft

funny how the cows would gather around the 'bull eyes' in the center

It was only 25 min short journey compared to ferry ride which would take 2.5 to 3 hours. However I got a bit sick after a while and was thankful when it finally touched down at Picton airport. It was actually more like somebdy's farm with a runway behind the property. And the only transports were the soundsair shuttle. I had not booked for the shuttle service thinking I could take public transport! I was prepared to pay on the spot but were secretly feeling joy when we were never asked to show anything to get on board. And there we saved ourselves 10 bucks or so! :p But I must mentioned this, the van has greater capacity than the plane itself!

soundsair plane and shuttle

We arrived in Picton and found the town a lot smaller than we had expected. We brunched at a local pub restaurant and the food was tasteless and not cheap but we didn't really get much choice in the small town. After having our stomachs filled, we started our hitch-hiking day.

Welcome to Picton, the first town we arrived at in South Island

The distance from Picton to Karamea, West Coast, our farmstay destination, is some 400++km. The coach from Picton to Westport is $55 pax. And from Westport to Karamea is another $28 pax.

We estimated about 2 days to get there by hitch hiking. However we didn't really have all the luck hitching. We spent the day hitching short rides from Picton to Blenheim, then to Renwick, where we waited 2 hour with no luck, then walked a kilometres or 2 to another side in Renwick and hitched to Havelock, then to Nelson. Made a big round and only progressed little. By the time we arrived at Nelson, it was already in the evening. We checked into a backpackers, who was kind to give us backpackers discount when we were not members. yd used his charms on the receptionist and surprisingly it worked! Anyway having a tough luck at hitching, we decided to take the earliest bus to Westport tomorrow morning, and try to hitch from Westport to Karamea.

After we did the calculation we realised that we hadn't saved much:

Picton to Westpor by coach: $55 pax, total $110

Nelson to Westport by coach: $39 pax, total $78

Bummer!

However, lady luck hadn't totally ditched us either. Later that night when I called Bill to inform him our whereabout and our plan to arrive in Westport the next day around mid day, he told us that he happened to be going to Westport tomorrow and that he could pick us up! Yeah!

It had been a long and tiring hitching day but we managed to make it in time arriving at the farmstay as planned!

hitching point at Picton

the vinyard opposite our hitching point outside Renwick

vineyard

hitching with a hand-written sign beneath 'when wet' sign

the traffic was so scarce yd could walked to the middle of the road and take this pic

Long Travelling Day and Sleepless Night in Wellington

2007-04-11T13:49:00.000+08:00

It's gonna be a long travelling day for us. We'd booked the 1.40pm nakedbus scheduled to arrive Wellington around 8pm. Then we would look for cheapest transport to the airport and put up a night to catch next morning 7.45am flight to Picton, South Island. We would be travelling 400+km today!

We bid farewell with Itay and wished him luck (as he was going to bungy jump) in the morning, checked out the backpackers and left our big baggage at the free storage provided so we could wander around Taupo town before our bus came. Most backpackers has this facility but of course it's 'store at your own risk'. It would be wise to carry all valueable items with you in a day pack.

when malaysian guy met isreali guy

when malaysian gal met isreali guy

We hang around lake Taupo idly, taking our own sweet time lying on the green grass, taking nap and lunch by the lake. Such carefree abundance indeed!

sky walkers

he was taking nap/sun bathing, and i was taking self-portrait

volunteered taking pic for this lone traveller

tamamutu street

huehue street

my favourite big tree

And we've got companies!

my life is miserable, i don't even want to be a duck...

easy, mate, c'est la vie

well..guess u r right

Our bus was late. We tried to call the toll free number of the company but neither our prepaid mobile service nor the public phone allowed the call to the toll free number. It can only be made from a landline! We were relieved when the bus finally arrived almost an hour behind schedule. And it was in fact the very same driver who had dropped us off at Taupo 2 days ago! He explained to us apologetically that the traffic was extremely slow somewhere.

It was a nice and scenic, albeit long journey.

i still couldn't help getting all excited whenever we passed by grazing lands with hundreds and thousands of sheep scattering all

on the road

we passed by the 'dessert drive'

and saw some 'unusual' cloud as the driver described

and saw the sky and clouds painted in shades of blue and purple in dusk

By the time we arrived at Wellington, it was nearly 9pm. Thanks to Koo, who helped us look up the internet for transport to get to the airport from wellington city while we were still travelling in the bus, we knew that there were few options:
The cheapest was Stage Coach which cost $5 pax but the last coach to airport left from city at 7.45pm.
Another option was to call the co-op shuttle, which was $15 for single, and additional $5 for every other passenger travelling in group. So for 2 persons, it cost $20.
The last option was to take cab and it would be around $30

We got off at the railway station and boy was it windy! We called the co-op shuttle and requested to be picked up from the railway station in 30min so we could grab a quick meal at the food kiosk beside the station.

We arrived at Wellington airport around 9.30pm. We were excited when we found an i-station which camera was working fine and sent some emails. Afterwards, we settled in the best spots we could find and took turns to shower and change. Later, an airport security guard came over and asked what we were up to. Planning to hijack the earliest plane tomorrow and blow up the airport! I felt so compelled to tell him that, instead I tried to put on my most innocent and charming smile and said,
"Nothing. Our flight is early next morning. Is there a problem?"
"Nope. But the airport is closing soon and just so you know you are not allowed to go out or wander around after this. Of course you may go to the washrooms but other than that, you shall remain here."
"OK, sure, we are not going anywhere" (not even if you want to chase us away!)

After he left us, I tried to sleep on a blanket and makeshift pillow (by stuffing clothes into pillow case), to no avail. The music was on and the same record was repeating all night. And the activities and noise from the shops and cafe staff busy closing down didn't cease until around 2am, after which the music was still on, except the volume being tuned down. Not long after I finally started to doze off after the gazzillionth sheep i'd counted, the airport was buzzing with early arrival and departing passengers and shops opening again, at 4am! :( Well, strictly speaking, the experience wasn't as bad as that I had in Barcelona as I was better prepared with blanket and makeshift pillow this time, but it was definitely not pleasant at all!

A walk to huka fall

2007-04-10T16:23:00.000+08:00

After we got the adrenaline rush from skydiving, we were obviously still high and decided to walk all the way from town to Huka Falls trek. We started off from town centre around 1pm. Along the way to the walking trek to huka falls, we passed by housing areas where all houses had lovely backyard views, looking over Waikato River, NZ longest river.

lovely backyard views of some of the houses

turqoish blue Waikato River

Soon, we reached at the Taupo Bungy site over Waikato River. It was the world’s first cantilevered bungy platform and NZ highest water touch. There were a queue for the jump and we watched some 5-6 people jumping off and screaming on top of their lungs. No, we were still not interested in doing that.

Taupo Bungy site

no. of jumps to date (10 April 2007) - 221,832

you jumped, i watched, he shot

After we left the crazy bungy site, we continue heading towards huka falls. We passed by a thermal spa park and a hot water stream. Alas, we forgot to bring our swimsuit and could only watch people soaking in the hot, steamy stream.

the beginning of the trek to Huka Falls

i'm balanced, for a second

cushion rolling competition

me and my grass bed!

reflection! reflection! yd's obsession

steamy hot water stream

gigantic!!

baby fern, an icon of nz

nice scene along the trek

It took us about 1.5 hours from the beginning of the trek to finally reach Huka Falls. But the journey was well-worth. The scene at the falls was spectacular. Huka falls are the largest falls on Waikato river. There's enough water from the falls to fill an olympic-sized pool within few seconds!!

Upstream of the falls

gushing water

the contrast between left and right

we each made a wish at the falls with coins (RM): mine - to be able to hitch a ride back to town; yd's - to be able to hitch a ride to Wellington.....mine came true!

Huka jetboating

Huka in Maori means 'foam'

thirst quenched and the water tasted...err...water?

We left the falls and took another route back to town. We tried our hands on hitch-hiking for the very first time! There wasn't much traffic along the way but we managed to get our very first ride after 20min! And the driver's name was Bill, same as our farmstay host's whom we were going to meet soon!

pick me up, please!

scary skid mark - guess what happened?

After spending a fortune on skydiving (which we never regreted a bit), we decided to cut down on the day's spending by cooking dinner for ourselves. We bought some marinated lamb rump and mushroom from local butchery and minimart for $15. It was yummy!

yum!yum!yum!!!

Later we booked 2 bus tickets from nakedbus again to go to Wellington tomorrow; and two soundsair tickets from Wellington to Picton, South island the next day morning. Our bus would arrive wellington at night and we planned to camp overnight at the airport to save the accommodation cost.

That night when we got back to our room, we met our first dorm-mate, Itay, from Israel. He was a friendly guy and we got along well and exchanged our experience and culture a little. He told us that he had been hitch hiking all the times and all the way from south island, and assured us that it was rather easy. It was indeed a confidence boost to us! Out of curiosity, we asked him how Israel is like and mentioned to him that Israel was the only country in world that we Malaysian can't visit and that it was stated in our passport. He then told us that they were not allowed to visit most of the Muslim countried either, but it wasn;t stated in their passport because as he said, "there were so many of them there's not enough space to list all in a single page"! LOL

falling from the sky

2007-04-10T14:22:00.000+08:00

It was going to be an exciting day as we're going to jump out from 12 thousand feet high above!! We waited anxiously at the reception lounge of our backpackers for the transport to pick us up to Taupo airport. It was about 30-minute late, by then we had decided to wait by the entrance instead of reception lounge.

Finally the TTS (Taupo Tandem Skydiving) van pulled over in front of us. Inside were another couple of groups of excited tourists. On our way to the airport which was only about 8km south from town centre, our driver briefly explained to us what's gonna happen and invite us to fire any question we had.

"Will it be difficult to breath up there?" someone asked

"Well, sometimes you forget to breath until it's over..but nope, it won't," answered our driver.

Upon arrival at TTS office, we were weighted and marked with the figure on our hand. If weight is your darkest secret you'd never give up, then i'm affraid you can't go on tandem sky-diving, as they have to assign tandem diver according to weight. Oh, and the weight limit is 100kg. YD was assigned to Albert S. from Germany and myself to Mike S. from USA, whom later we saw on the wall was some record holder (what record that I didn't know) We were requested to put on the dive suit and safety harness tightly secured on us. The crotch strap was so tightly fit it actually hurt a little when walking. i can imagine it would be even more painful for guys (which was confirmed by yd later)

We were the first group that morning. Soon we boarded onto the small craft and took off into the air. We were squeezed into a tiny craft with another 7 or 8 pair of divers. The 15-min ride to reach 12k ft was incredible. We actually went all the way up until all we could see was the thick sea of clouds. It's indeed some weird experience. Imagine you were hooked and straped tightly to a total stranger you met less than 20min ago, and had to sit on his lap at one point before the jump, and you'll cling on to him more than you do to your bf/gf because you are literally clinging for your dear life!

Mike and I were the 4th or 5th pair to jump and yd and his tandem diver were after us. As we were getting closer to 12k ft, he double checked to make sure everything was in place and that we were securely 'hooked up'. When one after another pair in front of us started taking off one by one, my heart was pounding faster and faster. It all happened in a split second. I saw the pair infront us smiled and waved at the camera for the exit photo and next they were falling down, becoming smaller...Mike then asked me to turn back and smile at the camera and before I could put on my most charming smile I was already airborne! But honestly, the free fall wasn't as fast as I'd expected mostly because we were so high up and the relative speed wasn't as obvious compared to ground. But it was AWESOME! I was screaming out of excitement. I watched the sea of clouds getting closer as we descended. For a second I wonder if we would actually feel any resistance when we fall through the clouds. But nope, it didn't feel a thing though I was a little worried it might hurt :) As soon as we broke through the clouds, beckoning us was the landscape around the airport of grazing lands and lake Taupo.

The parachute was immediately released and I felt a little disoriented for a few seconds. The it seemed like we'd stopped descending and were hanging in the air. Then I got all excited again when I realised the thousands of small tiny white flea-like dots I saw on the land were actually sheep! So many of them I thought I could feel the itch.

After some 10 to 15 minute of gliding, Mike started to manuver the parachute to head back to the landing field. We must have been the lightest pair as we were the last to touch down. YD was already on the ground asking what took us that long! lol! But I'd rather have longer free fall time than the less exciting 'gliding' time :(

Later, yd and i exchanged our jump experience and yd beat me with the backflip his tandem diver performed right after they jumped out of the craft.

"I saw the sea of clouds and then suddenly I was seeing the aircraft and the sky above again, WOW!"

Urghh..i'm so jealous!! I wished i had thought about this and requested Mike to do the same!

Anyway, it was indeed one of the most incredible experience. And WE DID IT! WE DID IT! Mind you, the kiwi called it 'better than great sex!' I'll leave you guys to try and find out for yourselves. :)

my exit picture, trust me, it wasn't as scarry as it seems, well maybe it was, but only the split second before you jump

does it look like a scene from the movie "Armageddon"?

yd and the silly grin of his which we all tend to have after the jump

happily being stripped

yeah! been there done that! *adding another check to my 'things i must do before i die' list*

evidence of my courage :p

Gaga over Taupo

2007-04-09T16:23:00.000+08:00

We fell in love with Taupo almost at first sight. It was such a lovely town even the small bush on the pavement of the bus stop looked nice to me. After gathering enough information and most importantly, a Taupo town map, from the i-site, we started looking for backpackers to check in. We settled in Go Global Backpackers. This time we went for 2 dorm beds and was given a 4-bed dorm all by ourselves. Initially we planned to stay over night and go for sky diving the next morning, then to start our journey to South island. However we liked the little town so much we decided to extend another day.

Here's a useful tip for you: Unless budget isn't a concern at all or if you absolutely couldn't put up with staying with strangers, go for dorm instead of twin or double room because it's cheaper, and often you might have the room by yourselves when no others check in.

crystal clear water at Lake Taupo

a perfect dandelion - so perfect it nearly took my breath away (literalily) trying to blow away its spores

After checking in, we went out to explore the town, with the mission to book ourselves tandem sky dive for tomorrow. There are 3 companies operating sky-diving in Taupo, and the rates were pretty much the same except some minor difference such as Skydive Taupo charging $1 more compared to the other 2 operators but the free transport provided was limo ride; or the group discount was only available with Taupo Tandem Skydiving for minimum 5 persons in a group with $10 off each person. Taupo also has the cheapest skydiving rate in the world. The cost of 12k ft dive was $220 compared to average $250++ in other places in NZ and god-knows how much elsewhere! Also, NZ is the only country that has 15k ft dive as 12k ft is the limit in any other place in world.

Opposite our backpackers was a nice park. The weather was so nice we were in shorts and t-shirts. And for some unknown reason, we acted like 2 crazy tourists.

a very excited yd with a giant pimple near his left nostril, so excited the pimple looked as if it's going to explode any second

and I just couldn't stop swearing (the Holy Cow was in fact a local bar, aren't them kiwi funny?)

i wasn't sure if he was trying to act kiwi (the bird) or cute, or both

this was only 1 of the many star jump shots, i did so many times i almost pulled my inner tight muscles. thanks bro!

and when it's my turn to revange, i made him jump over the dirt pile again and again....

and he finally couldn't stand any longer and decided to take a massive dump!

the begins of our never-ending shadow fight throughout the journey

and see how i kicked his shodow ass! sisters rule!!!

After we regained our sanity once again, we came to a 'thinkers and traders gypsie travellers market'. There, we met a couple of kind and friendly folks, DJ and her dog, midnight, and lovely lady Melissa. DJ even offered us to ride along with them as they were leaving and heading north. Too bad we were heading south instead.

meet DJ and midnight

Melissa, who was kind enough to teach me one of her stunts

it was harder than it looked, ok!

a gypsie girl playing some nice tunes

and this cute little camper truck with witty plate that said 'Push Me i'm a bit slow'

some kiwis playing football (or soccer as they called it) on the field against the setting sun

And later that night, we had our very first proper, sumptious dinner at JJ's, a local restaurant. The lamb rump was sooooooooooooooooooooooo good and so were the beer and wine

delicious steak and lamb rump

local beer and wine

beer tasting.... the result: one happy boozer

Journey to Taupo

2007-04-09T12:15:00.000+08:00

Early in the morning, we checked out the backpackers and waited for nakedbus to Taupo at Quay St, hoping that the cheap fare wasn't a catch and that we had to travel in nude. The bus arrived on time at 8:00am and nope, we were not asked to strip. However I did read a brochure on the bus explaining the reason of the relatively cheaper fare. Apparently nakedbus is operating on 100% online booking system, hence reducing the agency and ticketing cost. And that's why you can never book a nakedbus ride from i-site or backpackers. As for ticket, you can either print out online or pay a minimal fee (forgot the exact fee but less than a dollar for sure) to have the confirmation code sent to your mobile number to show to the driver when boarding.

As we left Auckland and started heading south to Taupo, the scenery changed and we were beckoned by miles and miles of trees, grazing lands, hills, and long white clouds backdropped by the deepest blue sky. And I couldn't help getting all excited and almost hysterical at the sight of heards of cows and sheep. Only then reality started kicking in, no shit, we are indeed in NZ!!!Occassionally as we passed by some small township, we would also see some interesting buildings or roadsigns, and sometimes funny vehicles along the road.

view from bus

most of the places and road names in Maori sounded funny to us, I swore i caught a glimpse of a street named "orangtua" on our way

dog-shaped i-site building in Tirau (i wonder how does the rear exit looked like)

cute little blue camper screaming 'where the hell are we" on the road (click on the image for enlarged view)

rows and rows of trees

miles and miles of grazing land

NZ is the land of the long white clouds - i was getting so obssessed about long clouds throughout the journey. mind you, they were really LOOOOOOONG!!!

The journey from Auckland to Taupo was about 5.5 hours. We had a 40-min pit stop at Rotorua, which was an hour away North of Taupo. Rotorua is another famous attraction in North Island for its geothermal sightseeing, hot springs, and zorbing. Apparently it is the only place to zorb in NZ. If given another chance, I would have chosen to spend a day in Rotorua before heading to Taupo, and tried the Zig-Zag Hydro Zorb ride!

kiwi sighting!! (later we learnt that kiwi was very dificult to see in the wild as they were night birds that only com out at night in bushes, and they have becoming very very rare nowadays. we only had a chance to see kiwi later in Queenstown wildlife bird park, but we didn't because it the entrance fee cost NZ$30 per person!)

close encounter with the sheep..baa....

our lunch - a bar of yummilicious Bloomsberry real kiwi chunk chocalate bar and Mc Coy real orange juice. Everything was real, as they claimed! I fell in love with Bloomsberry chocalate because of the nice and creative packaging. The one we bought was not as funny. Check out the website for their complete collection. I especially loved the pink and black "marital Bliss" bar, wicked!

a steam bore we passed by before Rotorua

another funny sounding street name in Rotorua

We finally arrived at Taupo at 1.30pm. Beckoning us was the largest lake in NZ, yes, the one I had to keep reminding everyone that it's as big as the entire Singapore island. NZ population (~4.2mil) is close to Singapore's (4.5mil). So, if we throw all the kiwis into lake Taupo, we'll get a pretty accurate population density of Singapore. Wicked!! Taupo was indeed a very nice town with beautiful landscape. What more, it's the place we were going to accomplish our mission: Jumping out of the plane from 12 thousand ft high!!!

street in Taupo town

loved this big tree by the lake, it was nice spot to have picnic or simply lying down looking at the sky

Lake Taupo

Clouds above Lake Taupo

Kia Ora, Auckland!

2007-04-08T18:12:00.000+08:00

Auckland - the City of Sail

At local time 04:00, our flight touched down at Auckland International Airport ahead schedule. With our finger crossed, we went through the immigration check point with words from the Changi Airport ground staff about the case where tourists from Singapore/Malaysia not allowed into NZ as a result of insufficient supporting document. Guess what, we were only asked briefly about the reason to enter NZ, and the places that we planned to visit and that's it. We were given 3-month tourist visa to stay in NZ. Nope, we were not asked to show any money or travel document or hotel information. Nada. It's relatively easier to enter to Singapore I supposed!

Auckland airport was already buzzing with activities and crowds despite the wee hour in the morning. Most shops were already opened. There were few free online access terminals and an i-site. I-site is the official tourist information centre in NZ. It is usually the first place tourists goes to upon arrival at any cities/towns in NZ. You could get almost all information needed at i-site.

We took the airbus from terminal to Auckland city, which was the cheapest transport to city area unless you are travelling in large group, then perhaps the airport shuttle would be a better choice. Transportation in NZ is generally expensive. A short journey from airport to city (around 20km) cost us $14 per person with the $1 discount voucher (available online to be printed or from the Auckland city guide book/brouchure available foc from i-site.

A much desserted Auckland city on Easter Sunday

We alighted at city centre, looking for backpackers accommodation to check in. It was Easter Sunday and also due to the early hour, the entire Auckland city looked so abandoned. With all our baggage and exhausted from the long distant flight, we were not very mobile. We checked-in to the second backpackers we asked on Queenstreet.It was early and the check-in hour was after 2pm. However, the friendly staff were nice enough to allow us checking into the room (and asked us not to tell anyone..shhh...) One of the advantage to travel during off-peak as more rooms were available.

After checking into our twin room, we had showers and went out to explore the city. However there were nothing much as it's still public holidays. Personally, I didn't find Auckland city any much different from cities in UK/US except it's called the city of sail due to the large number of yachts that sail on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour. The city most prominant landmark was the 1076 ft high Sky Tower. You can see it almost wherever you went in Auckland city.

Sky Tower viewed from park

Sky Tower viewed from city center

Sky Tower viewed from below

Nevertheless, we were on mission to get a local simcard as it would be easier for us to contact with our family as well as the farmstay host and Koo, yd's friend in Christchurch. We found a post on the message board at our backpackers that someone was selling second hand sim card for $10. The price for a new prepaid sim card is $35 (or $45 if bought from Airport terminal) inclusive of $5 calling credit. The guy was an Israeli who was going to leave NZ the night.

After that, we wandered around the City of Sail, had lunch by the sky tower, lying under the tower, watching a couple of people jumping down from 1000 over ft high (which we didn't do because we were saving our budget for the sky-diving!). I have to mentioned this, the first food I had in NZ was this sausage roll we bought from one of the convenient stores, it was well worth the money in terms of the satiety it provided. I bought it for breakfast and by lunch, i continued gnawing on the leftover and still couldn't finished it until late afternoon. That was indeed one bloody filling sausage roll!!!

The most filling sausage roll ever!

Notice the little black dot on the left? That's one daring soul jumping down the tower

Later we went to the Historical Victoria Park Market. There were shops and stalls selling anything from art craft, jewelry, painting, photos, etc. However I didn;t find it that exciting after all. Later in our journey, I found in general the art craft and souvenirs were a lot nicer in South Island instead. However as we didn't really travel much in North Island, I could be biased.

Inside Victoria Park Market

As the jet-lag started kicking in, I found myself extremely tired and sleepy I could almost lie down anywhere and fall asleep. We went back to the backpackers and took a couple hours of nap. After which we went out again on another mission, to arrange transport to get to Taupo tomorrow. We tried searching through the notice boards on various backpackers to see if anybody was looking for travel companion. It's pretty common for travellers who has a car to post notice asking for companion to the same destination to share the petrol. However we didn't have much luck probably because of the timing. Most people had left the city days before. We decided to take a bus and was looking for the cheapest rate. Lucky for us we saw a bus around the city by a company called nakedbus.com. It turned out to have cheaper fare compared to intercity coach.

For dinner, we had some very nice kebab from the kebab restaurant beside our backpackers with couple bottles of Monteith lager, a NZ beer. I wasn't a fan of beer but surprisingly I found few local beer very delicious, among which were Monteith's and Tui. No wonder NZ is having an increasing drinking problem within the nation. They should simply stop brewing such nice beer!

shout-out from Kiwi!

2007-04-08T01:58:00.000+08:00

Hello mates! i'm just popping to drop a quick line that i'm now at Auckland airport at last! Gonna go to city centre and find a way to travel south! Later!

The Journey Began

2007-04-07T17:06:00.000+08:00

At Changi Airport:

Thanked to Changi airport ground staff at Royal Brunei check-in counter, I nearly died of heart failure early in the morning when she told us that we need visa because we are stopping at Brisbane, Australia. Frantically, I tried to explain to her that I had double, triple checked with our travel agent, Zuji, that the stop-over at Brisbane do not require any visa though we are holding Malaysian passport, because, it wasn't even a transit because we would not be allowed to leave the transit lounge and that we would be boarding back to the same craft. But she insisted that still required us to have visa. WTF!? As if we would sell buns and dumplings illegally at the transit lounge!

Frustrated and panicked, I asked her where we could have that done and she refered us to the visa counter and informed us of the charges (forgot the exact amount, around S$50 - S$60 per person if remembered correctly), as well as solid proof to show the immigration when we arrive at Auckland.

'How about our return tickets as well as domestic flight ticket from Christchurch back to Auckland?'
'That too, also your hotel booking and sufficient fund for your holiday.'
But we are backpacking!!

'How much money do we need to show them?'
'NZ$400 each'

Thank God I'd changed NZ$1000 for both of us.

While we were at the visa counter, we explained the situation to the staff. Being more awaken and obviously better-informed and trained at her job, she told us we do not need a visa and helped checked with the check-in staff. In the end, the check-in staff (mind you, not just one seemingly new and semi-conscious girl, but also another more 'senior' staff) had made a mistake.

'Sorry we printed the wrong ticket and thought you are going to Brisbane.'

Hello? But I thought I had explained clearly that we were going to Auckland and will stopped at Brisbane briefly because of refueling. And hadn't she also informed us about the solid proof and money to show the immigration at Auckland?? Whatever, I was reliefed that it's just mistake and I didn't die of heart attack afterall.

From Singapore to Brunei:

We boarded onto Royal Brunei Airbus A319 at 6:55am and there were only 15 passangers including us on board. We arrived at Brunei Internaional Airport at 9am and had to wait for 4 hours for the transit! What more, there were less than 6 shops inside the lounge, including a Coffe Bean, a mamak-style restaurant, Coffe Garden, a convenient store, a Cyber cafe, a duty free, and a local art/craft shop. 4 hours!!! We were bored to death and started fearing for the 16-hr return stop-over a month later. Apparently, the average transit time in Brunei must be awfully long as there was a private tour operating company providing various city day tours for transit passangers. Also, day rooms were available in the airport lounge, charging at an hourly rate.

Can anyone figure out what message is this coffee bean ad poster trying to convey?

From Brunei to Brisbane:
After going through a super tight security check (with the new liquid/aerosols/gel restriction), we were finally on board again.
Out of sheer boredom (and some creativitive and imagination), I'd created Mr. Furbie, my in-flight companion. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Mr Furbie,

He claimed that he was a distant relative of the Simpsons and I think I believed him.

I had also made a to-do list during the boring 9-hr flight from Brunei to Brisbane:

1. Sky-diving
2. To scare the shit out of a sheep to see if it really will go rigid and faint
3. Hitch-hiking
4. Wine tasting at vineyards
5. Horse riding
6. Sheep shearing
7. Milking a cow
8. Plucking kiwis/apples from trees

Final Count Down!

2007-04-06T10:22:00.000+08:00

In another 20+ hours, we will be taking off to Kiwiland! We are now in pasir ris, garren's brother's place because his second brother, Chew Beng, is kind enough to agree to send us to the airport tomorrow early in the morning. Thanks, Chew Beng!

So this is our itinerary:

7 Apr, 07:10 - Depart from Changi
7 Apr, 09:20 - Arrive at Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei for transit
7 Apr, 13:00 - Depart from BS Begawan
8 Apr, 03:45 - Arrive at Auckland

So we will have to camp over night in Auckland Airport as the earliest bus from airport starts operating from 6am. I kept my finger crossed that this camp-over won't be as bad as the one yc and I had in Barcelona. It was a nightmare at Barcelona airport. We flew from Ibiza to Barcelona at night, arriving in the midnight. So we slept over night at the arrival hall. First of all, we did not realise the chairs weren't as cushy as the ones in departure hall! Heck, in fact it wasn't cushioned or padded at all! So we had to settle ourselves on the hard, cold bench all night. And that's not it, there were some other poor souls like us, among which was a young mother with 2 really young kids! To be more accurate, it was a toddler and an infant! Poor babies, even us adult could hardly stand the cold and uncomfort, hence they were crying all night. And to make it worse, there was a mad woman who would pace to and fro the hall, mumbling and talking to herself...... Gee, that night had been the worst travel experience I ever had, and I certainly hope it was the last!

Come What May

2007-04-04T16:12:00.000+08:00

I just returned from the library, returned the loan books and also pay the bloody fines for the book I lost together with other belongings in the snatch theft. (boy, do I really hate that snatcher!)

I tried to research for more information about the trip and I was so overwhelmed after reading a while. So many books and so much information I started feeling dizzy and nauseous. So I made a decision there and then: the heck with it, I'm not going to cram anymore information into my head! We will just figure our way as we travel!

We're not totally unprepared anyway. We know we can't swim across north and south islands; we had booked the one way flight from Christchurch to Auckland; we have confirmed with one of the hosts for a week of farmstay in exchange of couple hours of help a day at Karamea, west coast; we have a place to crash in Christchurch. I think we're good, really.

So what we are going to do now, is to finish packing and go through the checklist to make sure we did not miss out any important things, and sit back and shake our legs while counting down to the departure day! I figure too much research might spoil the fun because by then everywhere you go to, you would have already seen the scenery in books before. Imagine you know NOTHING about NZ prior to your arrival and everything and place and thing is totally new to you:

"OMG!!! Is that a penguin!? Oh my!! So they have penguins here!!!" isn't it simply priceless?

So, that's it. I'm not going to do anymore research or pre-arrangement. Just hang in there, kiwi (the bird, the fruit, and the people), here we come!!!

Updates

2007-03-31T09:55:00.000+08:00

Got my new passport FINALLY on Thursday, 29/03/07.

Found and confirmed with a host for a week of farmstay in Karamea, West Coast of South Island...yeepee! They have lambs, cows, and horses..yeehaa!!!
FYI-other than wwoof, help exchange (www.helpx.net ) is another useful portal for backpackers to find hosts or travel companions.

Amendment: I made a mistake about the fare to tak a ferry to cross cook straight, apparently the NZ100++ i found was for 2 adults not 1!

Please spare me from anymore torment!

2007-03-28T15:12:00.000+08:00

I didn't know what bad deed I had done to deserve this whole series of unfortunate events.

Yesterday, 27/03.2007, I went back to the immigration office in JB to look for the officer in charge, as per instructed by her last week. Guess what, when I saw her and briefly explained to her my case, she denied flatly about having asked me to come back and look for her!

I was totally dumb-founded for a few seconds before I could say a word. In order to refresh her memory, I politely reminded her that my passport was being snatched in case she thought i had lost it by own carelessness. And she replied me saying that it wasn't her fault that my passport was being snatched. I had to muster all my strength and will power not to raise my voice but calmly explain to her my circuimstances. But still she denied having promised me to speed up the process or to guarantee approval at all. She also remarked that she didn't have any scheduled appointment on her calander that day! After some 'begging' and sweet-talking, she finally said that she would have someone retrieve my file, so she could get her 'boss' to sign the approval, and once it's approved she would call me again the next day.

Dejectedly, I went back to suffer yet another day of torment of waiting for the uncertainty. I decided to go back tomorrow morning whether or not she calls as I had lost faith in her after this whole no-i-didn't-say/do-so incident.

So this morning, yd and I had our breakfast in town and went straight to the immigration office. I waited until 10am for her call in vain (but much to my expectation). Then I went to her office with an excuse in mind for not waiting her call instead, i.e. my mobile reception being poor at home. I went in but it was another lady officer (who was there last week and had attended to my appeal too). I explained to the officer again, and thankfully she remembered me. She asked me to check directly with the counter to see if my application had been approved, and if not, I should go back to see her again.

So I went to the counter, submitted the reference letter and when I was told that my application was only submitted last week and it won't be ready that soon, I told them that I had made and appeal and talked to the officer. I was asked to wait and it took about 2 hours before they finall called my name and asked for he processing payment. That's it! It meant my application was finally approved! However, I could only collect my new passport the next day with the payment receipt, and they made me wait another 40min or so before they issued the receipt to me!

I made a silent prayer but still I knew I would only be able to rest my mind until I got my damn passport! So please pray for me........

Big Set-Back: Rotten Luck

2007-03-23T09:49:00.000+08:00

No..today isn't the final count down day....there'd been a hiccup, hella HUGE one, which set our plan back. My passport, together with my bag and all the important IDs and document and valueables were snatched while I was in KL.

18/03/2007 Sunday: The fateful day
It happened while my family and I were in the middle of ordering food with the waitress in a restaurant in Puchong. All I know is my bag being yanked from my lap (with my hand placing on top) suddenly by an Indian guy whom none of us notice when he came into the restaurant. Everything happened in a flash and by the time we realised what happened and tried to chase the snatcher, he had already sped away on his awaiting friend's bike. Later, watching the replay of the video caught on the CCTV installed, the entire incident took less than 5 seconds. And nope, the video didn't help as it only caught the silhoutte of the man and we couldn't even make out the details of his attire.

So gone was my bag with my wallet, purses, ID, bank cards, and most importantly, my Malaysian International Passport. We filed a police report immediately at the neighbourhood police station, which was ironically located about 500-600 metres away from the crime scene.

At the same time, I started calling my banks to report the loss of my atm and credit cards. It wasn't easy while you still haven't recovered from the shock, and that all the important numbers were also lost (because they are either on the bank cards or stored in your personal mobile which was among the stolen items). Apart from that, the multiple choices you have to made and the call waiting before you could reach a living operator to report the lost could kill you too. However, thinking back it probably was one of the simplest task compared to the rest. One call and the cards were immediately useless, what more, most of the replacement were free and fast, (except atm card, which you have to do it personally at the bank, with a processing fee, that might be waived for cases like mine, subject to bank's policy).

I was told that in order to replace my passport, I will need to come back the next day to collect and pay a minimal fee (RM2) for a certified copy of the official report. The reason I couldn't do it on the same day was because it was a Sunday!!!! The clerk wasn't on duty! &$%#^$&
And only with that copy of paid report, I could go to immigration office to apply for a replacement. It meant, there wasn't much I could do until the next day!

I was shocked, terrified, and devastated. I asked yd to drive around the area, hoping that the snatcher would only be interested in the cash and valuebles and would dumped my passport, IDs and such, but to no avail.

19/03/2007 Monday: The trauma continues
I did not know a night could feel like forever. I didn't catch much sleep all night. Around 8.30am, we reached the police station. However, we were asked to wait as the clerk in charge of our request was having his/her breakfast! We waited impatiently for 45min (!!!) before one of the officer couldn't stand and asked another officer to assist us. Apparently, the so called official duplicate report was to issue me a receipt after I had paid, and have the zeroxed copy of the original report stamped and signed!! @^#$&#*$@&^$&

Once I got the bloody report, we went to the immigration office in Shah Alam. However all I got was an application form to replace lost passport, as well as a form to indicate the cause of the loss (RM2) and was told that without copies of my IC and Birth Cert, they would not be able to process!! You see, I lost my IC, and my Original Birth Cert was in Singapore!! However, I was told that nothing could be done without the document.

So we rushed back to Kluang, my hometown in Johor, which was about 200km+ from KL, collect the copies of document (my mum had always kept copies of most of our important document at home for emergency like this), and rushed to the local immigration office, only to find out more bad news await. Apparently, the immigration office in Kluang was not authorised to issue replacement passport. I had to go either to Batu Pahat or JB branch. And, before that, I need to bring the police report as well as the filled application forms to the court or any authorised commisioner for oaths to verified and certified, and that required 2 copies of IC and BC, and the original copies as authentification.

Luckily the IC department was next to it and the process was relatively fast. I got a temporary cert which could be used as temporary IC for the application. But still my original BC was in Singapore as I brought it with me to Singapore last time while I was applying for SPR. Nevertheless, I tried my luck. I found a law office that was also authorised commisioner for oaths and submit the request. I got lucky this time, finally! The office was so commercialised I didn't even get to see the lawyer's face but I got it verified.

Next was to collect my original BC. Without a passport, I had to relied on my family to get it for me. So yd and I drove to JB in the evening, while he dropped me off at my sis's, while he drove to Singapore to collect from my bf after he knocked off, then drove back to JB on same night.

20/03/2007 Tuesday: Why am I so unfortunate?
Early in the morning, we reached immigration office in JB. The wait to have my application to replace lost passport wasn't that bad. I had it processed and done by around 10am. However, it was only the completion of application process. Generally, it took a month before you could return to find out the outcome of your application, whether it's approved or rejected. However for most cases like mine, the application would most likely be approved as the lost wasn't due to our fault. And the normal procedure is that after a month you return to the immigration with your application reference, and they will inform you if it's approved or not. Once approved, you will need to pay RM300/Rm600 (32-page/64-page) for the new passport.

I didn't have a month time for that. I was supposed to depart this coming Saturday! So I file an appeal. All I need was to buy another form and bring my report to see the deputy officer or director of the branch. The Malay lady officers were nice. After listening to my story, they agreed to issue a temporary emergency certificate on the spot for me which allows me to travel to Singapore and New Zealand (only). However I would need to use the certificate to apply for a visa at the NZ embassy in Singapore. I could still make it had it not been my flight route. The transit and stopover in Brunei was a problem. Brunei wasn't on the list of countries that recognised the emergency document. The officer took pity on me and asked me to go eat something and let them check with the authority to see if there's any way to resolve my problem.

After considering the current situation and all, I sort of came to a decision. First I would see the officer to see if they have any good news, though I really didn't put ANY hope and had prepared for it. So when the officer told me they couldn;t do anything about the Brunei problem, I asked them if I could postpone my trip, when waas the soonest time they can have my new passport processed. The officers then gave instruction to speed up my application and asked me to return on 27/03. So by 27 or 28, I will be able to get my new passport! Meanwhile, they issued me the emergency certificate so I could travel to Singapore to have settle my lost NRIC and bank cards, SPR issue settled.

Next was to call up zuji to arrange for the change. But the customer service lines were always busy I couldn't get through the line all day......I was betting all on being able to postpone but because the fare was sort of promotional and was selling out well....All I could do was pray, pray, and pray....

After I got the emergency passport. I went to Digi service centre to replace my sim card. I was surprised (pleasantly) that the sim replacement was free!! That must have been the 1st free replacement so far!

Next up was to replace my driving license. The process was easier than finding the damn office. Anyway I got it in less than an hour.

That night, after dinner, yd drove me to Singapore. While I still couldn't reach zuji, I sent an email to them to seek for assistance, and also found their office address (zuji is a 100% online travel agent)

21/03/2007 Wednesday: Fight to keep my dream alive....

Went to zuji office on Scotts rd first thing in the morning. I told the staff, Jessicca about my situation. She told me that their customer service centre wasn't at that location, nevertheless, she still helped me to the maximum. After some searches, she manage to found me both a later departure as well as return flight. I felt like I was finally able to breathe again. I paid S$150 to have my flights postponed to depart on 07/04/2007, and return on 05/05/2007. I thanked Jessicca profusely for her kind assistance and left zuji office.

Next I went to Starhub Service Centre to have my Singapore sim card replaced. As it's the first time I'd lost my sim, the replacement was free. A second loss would cost S$35 though.

Then I went to ICA to have my entry permit endoresed and have my NRIC replaced. The cost to replace lost NRIC was $100 for 1st time loss and $300 for second. With my police report, they waived $40 fine so I need to pay $60. The endorsement costs $10, but once I got my new passport, I will need to endorse and pay the fee again.

Back at home, I went online to send an email to AirNew Zealand to request assistance to change my itinerary. It can only be done via phone but NZ was 4 hr ahead us and I thought the office was closed as their operating hours were stated on their website. But I received personalised replies (actually 5 or 6 of them for some reasons) shortly after. They gave the number to call and I managed to change the itinerary with additional NZ130 charge.

When all the major problems had been tackled and resolved, I knew I could finally had some good rest that night. And I mastered the courage to do a quick calculation of my total loss. Including the money and valuebles in my bag, the cost to have the lost document and properties replaced, as well as the cost to have my trip postponed, I am now RM4k++ poorer.... :~( It's almost 2/3 of the cost for another person to travel to NZ!!!!

ROT IN HELL, SNATCHERS!!!!!!

22/03/2007 Thursday: I'll Survive
After a night of better sleep without waking up at night, without the scene of the incident kept playing back in my head, I finally was able to feel like a person instead of a piece of deadmeat(one with it's dream snatched), ok ok, maybe a dead meat doesn't have dreams in first place.

Today I went to the bank to have my atm card replaced. I withdrawed some money and shuddered at the thought of bringing the money back to JB.... I couldn't help being paranoid after this incident.

In fact, I know my parents and brother were paranoid too.

Like the other day before yd and I drove to JB and he went to Singapore to collect my original BC, we had dinner outside since everyone had been tired and busy. It was in my hometown which was relatively safer compared to JB and KL, but still, we did not dare to sit at the open area and insisted sitting inside the closed, air-conditioned area, with our backs against the wall, and facing the only entrance.

And while yd and I were running about places in JB, he would carry ALL my document, original or photocopies in his backpack with him ALL the time as car theft was not uncommon at all in JB. And while we were eating in foodcourt, I couldn't feel safe without clutching tightly onto my bag that I had to asked yd to finish his food and hold my bag for me when I ate. We must have acted like we have a million dollars with us. I told him that if I lost my replaced document again, i would jumped immediately out on the street and be runned over by truck.

Also, I don't think I dare to travel alone, by public transport back to Jb from Singapore, ever. Urghh...I'm so frustrated, why should we have to live in fear because of these scumbags? Why should we be snatched from the ability to enjoy nice things in our lives?

23/03/2007 Friday: The wait....
Today, I do not have anything to settle anymore, I had all the document replacement procedured done and am only waiting to collect my new passport in JB next week. I have all day to blog, and I have 3 blogs to update... I'm free, but very broke....

Re: Checklist

2007-03-22T21:29:00.000+08:00

"dental floss (I thought toothbrush alone is enough, but maybe yd's right, there might be times when we would not have access to washroom/water...eww...that reminds me we need to get a breath freshner too..)"

Yes, there might be such times

"breath freshener (I hope we wont be needing it much..)"

Hmm... perhaps some mints too?

"toilet paper (i thought malaysia is the only country ..well, maybe not the only but must be the handful few in world that doesn't provoide toilet rolls in public toilets!? But apparently my little brother had done his research and told me that they don't have it in most backpackers hostel...ok, ok, but i think it's still not very crucial as i supposed we could 'collect' extra papers whenever we come across them in public toilets...lol. yd commented that he wished we would not be deported over toilet roll theft!)"

Not very crucial.. but when we're out of collected paper and there isn't any in toilets? Hmm...

"top-to-toe soap (i supposed this is to combine shampoo, conditioner and body soap in one....i think i'm still gonna bring conditioner just to avoid my hair turning into bird's nest or dried weeds after a month)
conditioner"

Yes, it's Johnson & Johnson's baby product to wash from top to toe. But i don't think it has hair conditioner formula in it. Babies don't need that. Plus, conditioning your body hair? Hmm...

"cottonbud (what about my cottonbuds...i have to use then after shower, ok)"

Good one. Can be handy to clean my lenses too.

"panty liners and sanitary pads (lol)"

Sorry i left out your stuff on the list. Btw, could the pads be doubled as bandage, actually?

"handkies (this doesn't apply to me, come on, who else uses handkies nowadays...esp gals! i think it's utterly gross to keep the food stain from your lunch, your sweat, and god forbid, your nasal mucus in your pocket all day!!!)"

You used mine the other day! *bleh*

"face towel (hello? we are on backpacking! i don't even use seperate towels for my face and body at home..oops..does it mean i'm a dirty and gross lady?)"

It's so much more comfortable to at least wash the face, after travelling a day yet not able to take any shower. At such time, face towel comes in handy to wipe face and body/hands, when towels are likely to be deep in the main compartment of backpack. No? Some face towel could even be doubled as bandana.

"hats/caps (I didn't forget but since i don't own any, i assume yd's gonna bring both his hat and cap :D)"

Cheeky! i was about to bring only hat! And now you make me bring both..

"journal (have to keep a journal, and we might not have access to the Internet all the times)"

That's wot i meant by "note pad". It's gotta be small sized. Can't bring an A4 journal y'know.

"swiss knife (yd, better make sure you bring the swissknife I bought for you from switzerland! we can use it to defend ourselves or stab the bad guys in case we hitch hike the wrong car)"

Oh yes, i'm bringing TWO!

"bin bag (err..care to explain a little, yd? I think you meant any plastic bags for dirty/damp clothings, no?)"

Those small paper waste bin sized ones y'know? i suppose we could use it for quite some stuff - as laundry bag; to keep wet stuff, or live gold fish; to vomit into it; to blow into a balloon and smack burst it to entertain when waiting for rides; to put in ice and keep the severed finger and rush to hospital (TOUCH WOOD!). Well, point is, i think it's handy to have some.

"comb (this probably doesn't apply to yd as i don't remember when was the last time i saw him use one)"

i myself don't remember when i last use one!

"shaver (dear bro, did you forget this or you just don't really need it for a month? lol)"

Yes, i forgot on the list. And don't ever think you could use mine for your armpits and legs.

"utensils (forks & spoons) (I supposed it's because backpackers hostel doesnt provide these, right?)"

Quite some actually do, i think, like your friend said. But i'm just worried that they'd be too yucky as mostly there are left behind by other backpackers. Chopsticks is a brilliant idea, versatile as suggested (that's when no cutting needed, but then again, don't think we'll cook steak...).

"coffee/tea (do we really need these? can buy from local mart right)"

Just to be on the safe side. Worried if the hostel we stay in is owned by stingy, and infested with kaisu backpackers who steal all of the supplies (maybe they plan it just like we plan to steal toilet roll supply). Also, i actually meant our hometown TV brand coffee as a gift to farm hosts.

Min An, i'll never leave camera outta the list, don't worry. That's the first bag of stuff i've packed, and the only thing packed so far.

Pre-departure countdown - 8 Days: Checklist

2007-03-16T14:13:00.000+08:00

One of the advantages of travelling with companion(s) is: having more than a brain to work on the packing checklist and compensating each other on the few things that one is bound to have overlooked or missed out. Below is the consolidated checklist we have worked out:

green-the ones I'd missed out
red-the ones yd had missed out

Toiletories:
toothpaste
toothbrush
dental floss (I thought toothbrush alone is enough, but maybe yd's right, there might be times when we would not have access to washroom/water...eww...that reminds me we need to get a breath freshner too..)
breath freshener (I hope we wont be needing it much..)
lip balm
sunblock
lotion
facial wash
toilet paper (i thought malaysia is the only country ..well, maybe not the only but must be the handful few in world that doesn't provoide toilet rolls in public toilets!? But apparently my little brother had done his research and told me that they don't have it in most backpackers hostel...ok, ok, but i think it's still not very crucial as i supposed we could 'collect' extra papers whenever we come across them in public toilets...lol. yd commented that he wished we would not be deported over toilet roll theft!)
wet tissue
contacts solution
contacts case
a spare pair of contacts
top-to-toe soap (i supposed this is to combine shampoo, conditioner and body soap in one....i think i'm still gonna bring conditioner just to avoid my hair turning into bird's nest or dried weeds after a month)
conditioner
cottonbud (what about my cottonbuds...i have to use then after shower, ok)

insect repellant? (i'm not so sure about this as we don't really plan to tramp/camp, but i read this in some of the guidebooks/websites..)

panty liners and sanitary pads (lol)

Clothes:
socks
handkies (this doesn't apply to me, come on, who else uses handkies nowadays...esp gals! i think it's utterly gross to keep the food stain from your lunch, your sweat, and god forbid, your nasal mucus in your pocket all day!!!)
disposable underwear (and some non-disposable too...they don't do disposible bra, do they?)
swimwear
quick-dry towel
face towel (hello? we are on backpacking! i don't even use seperate towels for my face and body at home..oops..does it mean i'm a dirty and gross lady?)
pillow case (according to most NZ travel guides, most backpackers hostel need you to rent the sheets if you don't have your own)
blanket (same as pillow case)
hats/caps (I didn't forget but since i don't own any, i assume yd's gonna bring both his hat and cap :D)
fleece
weatherproof jacket
rain poncho
shoes
sandals

Utilities:
zippo & fluid (stop polluting the world!!!)
note pad
pencil/pen
journal (have to keep a journal, and we might not have access to the Internet all the times)
torch
swiss knife (yd, better make sure you bring the swissknife I bought for you from switzerland! we can use it to defend ourselves or stab the bad guys in case we hitch hike the wrong car)
bin bag (err..care to explain a little, yd? I think you meant any plastic bags for dirty/damp clothings, no?)
water bottles
adaptor
sewing kit
comb (this probably doesn't apply to yd as i don't remember when was the last time i saw him use one)
twizeer (though we might not be travel in glamour and style..but the least i could (and should!) do is to keep my eye brows well trimmed and armpits hairless!!!! urgh!! i'm having this terrifying vision of myself with wild and thick and unkept brows, and hairy arm pits...NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!)
shaver (dear bro, did you forget this or you just don't really need it for a month? lol)

First aid:
bandages
prescription drugs (for pain, fever, diarhoea, and flu)
vitamins (A-Z, esp. with loads of M....anyway I'm sure our mum have prepared us enough supplies to open a pharmarcy in NZ, shh...don't tell her i said this but she is a vitaminholics!)

Food:
chocolate
power bars
utensils (forks & spoons) (I supposed it's because backpackers hostel doesnt provide these, right?)
coffee/tea (do we really need these? can buy from local mart right)

That's pretty much about it...if you think there are more important things that should be included in the list, do let us know! Thanks!

And,

A sneak preview of some of the things I've gotten:

backpacks: a 46.7 liters Eagle Creek for myself, and 50+10 liters Deuter for yd, borrowed from yc and jiann. Thanks guys!!

Teva flipflop

a pair of brand new All-Star canvas sneakers - yeah yeah, i know bringing new shoes is a big No-No, but I couldn't find my adiddas campus sneakers and that was the only shoes I have and it wasn't that comfortable for long journey either...so, well, we'll see if this would make sturdy walking shoes

a fleece throw (as blanket/sheets) i stole from yc after I moved out from her place in JB..:D it is so light and yet warm enough, and it dries up super fast!

and look what my darling bought for me, a faux fur Roxy hoodie!! it was super duper comfortable!!

and..taadaa!!! my latest backpacking-friendly hair cut, as compared to my shoulder length hair before. don't i just look 10-year younger? it's like back in high-school where it was compulsary for all gals to keep their hair short, in mushroom-like style :D except this time i did on my own free will..which i figure makes my head a happy mushroom instead!

And note my zits-infested face, yes i know it's not obvious because i'd purposely scaled down the picture so much. let's see if this trip is going to improve my skin condition from the fresh air and breath-taking sceneries i'll be breathing in and looking at; or it's going to make it worse from lack of facials, proper skin care product, insufficient sleep, malnutrition, wool allergies..etc *gasp*

Pre-departure countdown - 9 day: Lucky Day

2007-03-15T13:56:00.000+08:00

Today got to be my lucky day, guess what? I found ticket from Auckland to Christchurch on 25/3 (our arrival day), at NZ$99 !!! Hoo Hoo..that must be the lowest possible fare! Finally, after the past few non-productive and depressing days!
Tips: Checkout air new zealand website for smart saver fare from time to time. Be flexible with the dates to find the best deal.

So another big step! *clap clap clap* Set it is, that we'll arrive in Auckland on 25/3, 4am. Then we'll take the airbus to Auckland city for a half-day excursion on our own. I have also found the special deal on the airbus website where I can print out the discount coupon and get NZ$1 off the ride. I know NZ$1 is not much, but two of us will save NZ$2, *mimicking russel peter: you save one dollar here, and you save one dollar there, you have two dollar..* By the way a return airbus ride from Airport to Auckland city is NZ$22 per person. So with the coupon, we will save NZ$4 in total.

So below is a quick list of the significant costs I've figured that we have or will covered for 2 persons:
1. Air fare for return flight from Singapore to Auckland: S$1648
2. Travel Insurance: S$95
3. Air fare from Auckland to Christchurch: NZ$198
4. 2 return airbus ride from Auckland Airport to City and vice versa upon leaving NZ: NZ$84
5. Picton to Wellington via Soundsair: NZ$118 (provided we get the early bird price, NZ$59, else normal price would be NZ$79 per person)
6. International Departure Tax: NZ$50 (all visitors leaving NZ will need to pay the NZ$25 departure tax, so don't spend down to the last cent before you leave the country!)

The total work out to be around S$2,170, and our budget is S$5,000 for both of us. It worked out to be NZ$2700 left for other expenses, and that's around NZ$90 a day for two of us. Emm.... consider most of our accommodation will be covered in the WWOOFing (and partial meals too), and by Koo in Christchurch (thanks, Koo, muak muack muack!!), I think we should be able to stay within budget.

Yeah..I'm so happy..

Pre-departure count down-16 day: How? What? Where? When?

2007-03-09T12:10:00.000+08:00

*tick...tock... tick... tock...*

Another non-productive day had passed...

SO HOW? HOW? HOW?

Do we arrive at Auckland and head straight to Wellington via the overnight coach, then take Soundsair to Picton?

Or do we take it easy and hitch hike our way from Auckland to Taupo, have the 'dive of our lives' there before we continue heading south to Wellington and start our farmstay in South island?

HELP!!! Any professional back-packer/wwoofer out there?

Pre-departure count down-17 day: Cook Straight is 100x wider than Johor Straight!?

2007-03-08T09:52:00.000+08:00

After some researches and surfing on the Internet, I've drafted a rough plan for the transportation means to cross between North and South Islands. Turned out, the distance between North island (Wellington) to South (Picton) wasn't as short as I thought (I really thought it was about the same to cross from JB to Singapore via Causeway Bridge, well, or further than that like the Second Link). It was 92 friggin' km, ok!!! What was I thinking! And the more shocking part would be the cost to cross over the islands: either by flight or ferry. And both cost more than NZ$100+ each leg!

I frantically searched for the cheapest way (swim across was definitely not an option by now). Thank God (or perhaps I should thank the Almighty Internet instead) I stumbled over a forum where someone posted a topic about the best way to cross over the islands. Apart from what I had already learnt from my own research, I came across another precious information about this website. They fly passengers across the islands in those excitingly small craft 8 times a day between wellington and picton, for as low as $69/$59 (early bird price)!!! I must say this information is Godsend for budget backpackers like us!!

So here's what I found useful for our trip planning so far:

1. Cheap Ticket from Singapore to New Zealand:
Royal Brunei Airline, lowest tax and chargest among other airlines that fly to NZ, because the transit is in Brunei.
Tips:
Get a 30-day rather than 60-day or 1-yr open ticket and save yourself at least S$2o0+.
Fly to Auckland is always cheaper than other destinations in NZ.
I got mine from www.zuji.com for S$824 nett per person, from Singapore to Auckland.

2. Cheap transport from Auckland to Wellington:
By intercity coach for as low as NZ$10
Hitch hiking, it's legal in NZ, some useful information on this can be found here

3. Cheap transportation to cross between North and South Islands:
http://www.soundsair.com

4. Free farmstay program: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (wwoof)
http://www.wwoof.co.nz/

5. Backpacking checklist:
http://backpackinglife.com/backpacking-checklist.html

Wot's happening? Wot's happening? (Indian accent)

2007-03-07T19:07:00.000+08:00

Disclaimer: By all means, i'm not being racist at all with the Indian accent thingy. If you've seen Russell Peters' standup, you'll know wot i'm talking bout. i love every bit of him doing the Indian accent.

So, wot's happening?? Yay! We're going to Ibiza!!

Wait a sec.. that's Vege Boys song... We're going to Kiwiland!!!

i'm so excited that in my MSN status, i wrote "i'm gonna shoot kiwi, eat kiwi, drink kiwi, speak kiwi! then i'm gonna be hobit and beat an orc!"

Disclaimer: By all means, i'm not posting any threat at all, to the birds, the fruits, and the people in NZ. i'm gonna shoot (as in photograph) the place, eat the local delicacies, drink local beer, and speak a word or two of Maori! Bout the hobit and orc part... just don't ask. lol

(side story: my ex popped by in MSN and asked "wot's wrong with them Kiwis? They are cute!" LOL!)

ye's talked bout us talking via MSN, but she failed to mention that it was soo non-productive when we're all talking together, a conference MSN of ye (in Singapore), me (in Malaysia), and Koo (in Kiwiland). We, who can be real random at times, got hyper random and talked lotsa crap during discussion! Crap like eating "laminated labbit" and drinking "libena" and all! And thinking of proposals to offer labour to skydiving people, hoping to get free dives in return, cuz they're just jolly expensive! And helping Koo to choose a car as she's getting one - both ye & i would like her to get one shocking-neon-pink convertible, with Hello Kitty wheelcaps! i think we may even make headlines in Chronicles of Kiwiland or The Kiwi Times, travelling in such car!

Good laugh tho! But i really don't know wot exactly would happen when 3 of us sitting down at a Kiwibar in Christchurch* together (physically at same place) and starting the crap-talk again! Hope them Kiwis won't label us as crazy Asians and get a court warrant to keep us away from their sheep!

*Btw, Koo uses ChCh, which - i decided - is pronounced as it is, "t∫-t∫", for Christchurch. And i've decided it's gonna be an official abbrevation throughout the blog!

Right, we've made the first big step - ticket's booked now...

Now wot???

i've been advised by my best friend, Ryo that we should concentrate on only one island as we're only going for a moon*. Should i listen to him? He's a Japanese! Maybe i should, cuz he IS a Japanese! He's travelled quite alot, esp he's backpacked in NZ for half a year before!

*moon, n. (whydish) - month

Dang... we wanna go to South Island! But we're landing in Auckland! Well, as mentioned, flights (from Singapore) to Auckland are generally cheaper than going to ChCh. i just hope hitchhiking is sound & easy & safe. According to Ryo, it was so it appeared when he was there. Tho Ryo actually suggested us to buy a car in Auckland and sell it off again when we leave. We'd probably lose couple hundred of dollars on the investment, but we could travel very freely and fun! Yes, i love road trips! Worth considering, i guess.

So, really, NOW WOT??

Hmm...

As ye & i have discussed, we're now looking at WWOOF-ing in one farm in the North for a week, then another one in the South. And the rest of the time, mostly in the South!

Well, i best get off the line now and read extensively about the regions of NZ and shortlist just a few (wot i already have in mind are Auckland/ Taupo lake aread for the North, and Nelson and Canterbury in the South). Also to read on the farm list in WWOOF book and start contacting them...

Oooh... lotsa stuff to sort here...

It's Happenning!!!

2007-03-07T15:29:00.000+08:00

It is finally happening, after I made that very fateful click on zuji's check out page. The moment was so surreal...I'd been dreaming and talking about it for so long and now it's coming true. I was chatting with yd on msn and i kept asking him if I should click the button then, for like 10 min before I could master the courage and strength to click on the mouse.

And viola! We are going to New Zealand!!!!! In 2 weeks time!!!!

Well that's kind of hurry, I know, but there's no guarantee on the availability of the cheap deal I found on zuji. Initially, we had been searching flights from Singapore to Christchurch, that's where we plan to go for farmstay and backpacking. The cheapest fare to travel around this April was close to S$1300 per person!! Then we were putting our hope on the upcoming matta fair in KL, on 16-18 Mar.

Then I came across this cheap deal on zuji, apparently travelling to Auckland would be cheaper, and Royal Brunei Airline is having this special deal on 30-day ticket to Auckland. The fare worked out to be S$824 per person, including tax (except for the departure tax NZ$25 upon leaving NZ)! That was like almost S$500 cheaper than the initial budget! We, well in fact I, figure since we are on backpacking, we might as well start from North and backpack our way to South island I'm sure it would still be cheaper than to fly directly to Christchurch.

At first there was departure flight on 1 April, and we could return on 1 May, maximise the limit of the stay duration. (A 60-day and above return fare would cost S$200+ more) The I told yd about the news and we both agreed to look out for other websites or agency for better deal, now that we knew Auckland is cheaper than Christchurch. Also, I realised the reward points I earned from using UOB credit card can redeem zuji travel voucher, and I was short of uni$37 to be eligible for the $50 voucher, and I'd checked my statement and realised there was an unposted payment, with that amount I would have earned enough uni$ to redeem the $50 voucher! Yay!

So I waited (impatiently) for the credit card statement (for the first time I wished the merchant would process my payment faster), while checking out other airlines and travel agency. The next day, to my horror when I check zuji, the 1 April departure was no longer available, left me with the closest date of either 25 March or 7 April. 7 April would be fine if my phuket trip isn't on 10 May (Yeah, the travel bug in me has been hybernating for so long that once awake, it's getting so hyper). Anyway, I checked my credit card reward points and still that goddamn transaction I made at Carnivore (a brazillian restaurant in Chjime's square, Raffles) was not added yet!

And today, I checked zuji and UOB again and...good news is I finally have earned enough points to redeem that bloody $50 voucher, but bad news, 25 March was out already!! The next closest date is 24 March. I was panicked. On one hand I quickly redeem the voucher online, and the other hand proceed to confirm the flight on zuji.com.

I knew things wont be so smooth for me. Turned out, the uni$750 to redeem $50 zuji voucher only applied to UOB signature visa card, for other cards, the uni$ is always higher, plus zuji voucher isn't available for other cards redemption. DAMN!!!!!!!!!!! If not because of this stupid $50, I would have grabbed the 25 Mar ticket a day ago!! Yes, it's only 1 day difference, but the schedule was different too, now, we would arrive in Auckland in the wee hour of 4am!!!

Never mind, this is small issue, we'll figure that out. Most importantly, it's happenning for real, that we are going to kiwiland!!!!!!!!!!!