mum, dad, eldest bro, me
car driver - dad and bro
navigator - me!
photographer - bro and me (most photos i took with my camear are on msn space)
cook (in some days) - mum, with some little help from me and bro
25th Nov - Melb:Christchurch
woke up at 4.30am,
5.55am, skybus to airport
had my breakfast at the airport
8.40am jetstar, after we board the plane, delayed 50mins! i took a nap and when i woke up, still find myself in the plane still on the ground. -_-
slept in the plane, hv some chat with the lady sitting next to me (she's on the plane with her husband and their cute 9-months old son), and ate a whole packet of timtam balls (bought that from a duty free shop when i was reminded by another passenger that there're no food served on the plane unless u pay for it)
that flight was not very stable... bad landing too! jetstar... aih...
2.30pm reach Christchurch
the first thing i saw from the plane after we touched down = sheep!! haha
mum, dad and bro already arrived at Chch from Syd.
bro's frens took us for early dinner in the city. we had some western food. and water here taste good! :P
then they brought us around the city, botanical garden, cathedral square, mona vale (a nice rose garden), then went buy stuff from a 24hrs supermarket (Countdown)
u know wat: the tallest building in Chch city is their police station, not very tall after all (sorry... din take photo of that :P but turst me, no more taller than where i stay in melb)
26th Nov - Christchurch:Hanmer Springs
rain
quite cold leh... i had to wear my winter jacket i wore in melb
picked up rented car at 9.30am
bought a vodafone prepaid card
went to Hanmer Springs (1.5-2hr drive from city), famous for their open air thermal pools and sulphur pools (those sulphur pools really stinks! smells like rotten eggs)
we only went in for a walk, bro 'accidentally' found the way through the back gate, so we entered without paying few dollars each
had lunch at Hanmer Springs
on our way back to the city, went to New Brighton (it's a beach side area), saw rainbow there :P
went to woolworth (the supermarket that we call safeway in melb)
went to casino in Chch, Bridge of Remembrance
27th Nov - Chch:Lyttleton:Arthur's Pass:Greymouth
(still) rain
check out from the motel
Scenic drive to Lyttleton, a small historic town/ harbour
~12pm set off to Greymouth
abt 4 hours drive
through Arthur's Pass, fantastic scenery, moutains, snowy mountains, rivers, sheeps. and it snowed! :)
checked into our accomodation - a holiday park near the seaside (the whole Greymouth is by the sea anyway)
drove up to Greymouth lookout, seaside
bought this ice cream - hokey pokey flavour, it's like... milky smooth vanilla with honey crystals ball (a bit smaller than those pearls in bubble tea)
that flavour is only available in NZ
28th Nov - Greymouth:Hokitika:Franz Joseph:Fox Glacier
rain (again)
cold!!
we actually booked for a half-day glacier hiking at Franz Joseph Glacier. but after found out that Fox Glacier is less physically challenging, we changed our mind and cancelled that one. so we went on a half-day glacier hiking (~1.45 - 6pm) at Fox Glacier! 4 of us joined the guided hiking. met LeeYen, SinNeng and their frens there! they also went on holiday in NZ, also joining the glacier hiking. we ended up in the same team. abt 17 ppl in one team. they supplied us all the equipment, boots, rain jackets, rain pants, and crampons (things that u put around/under ur boots so that u can walk on ice)
when we are 45mins from the glacier, mum couldn't tahan, she's afraid of heights and physically not fit enough too. so dad and mum turned back down to the car park:(
before reaching the glacier, we had to walk through the trees, waterfall, slopes... although they're well pathed, but it's actually quite dangerous if u're not careful
when we reach the glacier.. walau!! so cool! it is cold there, my ears went numb so i had to put on my beanie. we were really stepping on ice (glacier)! and each of us had a walking stick too. it rained on and off throughout the journey.
so so so tiring man!! esp my leg. and my heel hurts coz of the boots. but it's worth the all the sweat. :)
checked into our Franz Joseph YHA, it's a really nice place to stay. shared kitchen and dining hall with others
during dinner time, everyone came to the kitchen to cook, u can see all the diffr food ppl cook :P quite fun
29th Nov - Franz Joseph:Haast:Wanaka:Queenstown
Rain (and again)
max temperature is less than 13C i think.
Haast: nothing much, jungle treking
stopped to see waterfall while we're on our way to Queenstown
before we reach Wanaka, our car nearly break down coz ran out of petrol!! the warning signal came out 3 times already
so when we saw petrol station at Wanaka (a small town), it's like seeing gold! phew...
had Subway at Wanaka hehe... Subway there are slightly diffr from those in Melb, some diffr 'flavour' and diffr dressing too. and the guy making our bread was so patient... slowly and neatly 'put and arrange' all the fillings on the bread nicely, unlike those in melb, 'rushing and stuffing' everything in only.
then went to Wanaka Puzzle World :) spent one hour there. really fun! althought it's small, that's why mum and dad doesn't want to go in coz they think it's not worth the money (altho it's $7 per entry). so me and my bro went in while our parents were 'outside' playing those puzzles blocks.
first there's Hologram Hall, with all the 3D Hologram photos
then the Hall of Following faces,
The Ames Illusion room - where Giants & Dwafts are created!
The Tilted House - water flowing uphill, monorail go from floor to ceiling... that room really make u dizzy! coz the floor is actually not horizontal on 'normal water level' but the things inside are on the 'normal water level' erm... dunno how to explain but we took a few videos with my camera. for photos, see my msn space lar. :P
we didn't go to the maze as it's raining out there
and the toilet... the toilet bowls are so beautiful haha! (again, see my msn space lar)
reach Queenstown late evening, it's a really nice beautiful place.
the houses (mostly are accomodation for tourists lar) are so beautiful!
it's the next biggest city we came to after Chch.
we had pizza at Pizza hut. we ordered 1 large pizza + garlic bread for $16, but we ended up hving 2 large pizzas + chicken wings! coz we still din get our garlic bread after we finished that pizza, so i asked the waitress and she said we can hv any pizza instead. so she gave us another large pizza and chicken wings for no extra charge! coz it's almost 9pm, so they want to clear their food gua.
we stayed at an Alpine hotel, which is like 15 mins drive from Queenstown 'city' :( bit dissapointed with the location of the accomodation coz queenstown 'city' is still busy at night and we could hv hand around in the city if we're stayin in the city. coz it's not very safe to drive from the city to where we stay at nite. no lights all the way and we had to cross 1 (or 2?) single-lane bridge.
30th Nov - Queenstown:Arrowtown:Queenstown
cold! raining too!
Arrowtown, abt 30 mins drive from Queenstown. a beautiful small town, with a historic chinese settlement there.
met Leeyen and her frens back in the city. they went for bungy jumping!! wow! !
had Thai food for lunch, Indian food for dinner
1st Dec - Queenstown:Te Anau:Milford Sound
sunny :) but still it's cold
on our way from Queenstown to Te Anau, along the road are sheeps, sheeps and sheeps. haha! oh and snowy mountains too
had lunch in Te Anau, a small place with a glow worm cave (which we didn't go)
then from there to Milford Sound, which we'll be staying for the night, it's a 2.5 hour drive but it took us 4hr coz of the waterfall, creeks, mirror lakes, Homer Tunnel along the way. :) the water of rivers and lakes in NZ are crystal clear!!
Milford Sound Lodge is the only accomodation for us there. the other accomodation is only for ppl goin for hiking. :S
there's no electricity in the lodge from 11pm - 6.30am :S
we went to bed before 9pm (and yup the sky was still bright) and woke up before 8am the next day
2nd Dec - Milford Sound:Te Anau
Milford Sound cruise!! was really excited abt that but after the cruise, i found it... not that great afterall.
the ~1.5 hours cruise... wat we saw was those cliff/mountains along the river (which will lead to Tasman Sea)
the most beautiful/ spectacular thing i think was the waterfall. the really huge fall! the water splashing down on the river was so beautiful, the huge white splash.
we stayed at Te Anau YHA for the night. i think it's not as nice as Franz Joseph YHA.
overall, not worth overnight at Te Anau. should have gone straight to Dunedin after the cruise.
went to bed before 10pm
3rd Dec - Te Anau:Gore:Dunedin
on our way to Dunedin (prounouced as 'Dhe-nee-din'), abt 40mins from Dunedin, our car got hit by a small Holden truck
our car was seriously damaged on the front right side, the lamp, indicator lamp smashed (but the indicator was still working), and i can't even open my door (i was sitting next to the driver seat) properly, not even half open.
bro was trying to turn right at the junction to see something (many shoes were hanging on the fence). he likes to take photos
and the other car came from behind us, was trying to overtake us but bro din see it, so.. bang! until now, i can still remember the huge bang soud when it hit us.
that guy called police, his car not as badly damaged: a flat right front tyre and some damage on the left front door.
luckily noone got hurt. but my mum was really traumatised
and luckily we got the car insured when we rented the car.
bro slowly drove the car to Dunedin after the police report (bro got fine NZD150 for that). so ppl watching our car when we passed by... so paiseh man! :$
Dunedin is a nice city. i love it. Apparently there are many students in Dunedin (there's Otago uni there)
the city is less than half the size of melb city.
so happen that there's a Santa Parade that day, 3pm-4pm in the city, George Street
there are only 2 straight, long main roads in the city
so many childrens are out there for the parade, both participating in the parade and watching the parade. those kids are so cute! :P
again, see msn space for pic :)
after dinner, the car rental company changed for us another car.
then we went to visit the Otago Uni, railway station, then Baldwin Road, which is the steepest road in the world (abt thirty degree at the steepest part of the road), Botanical Gardens
4th Dec - Dunedin:Otago Peninsula:Christchurch
9.30am Cadbury factory tour! it lasts for 75 mins, it's more 'tourist-ish yet 'not as many choc for u to have compared to that in Tasmania :P
then to Otago Peninsula, abt 50mins to reach the very end of the peninsula from Dunedin city
in Otago Peninsula, there's Penguin Place (which we din go), Larnach Castle (which we turned back at the guard house), Albatross Colony...
then, we drove back to Christchurch
well, Chch is also a nice city :)
slept at ~10.45pm
5th Dec - Christchurch:Melbourne
woke up at 3.20am, our flight back to melb is at 6.20am
had to pay NZD25 per person for the tax at the airport.
with AirNZ :) hv breakky served on the plane, and more smooth stable flight too. but the air-hostess, they walked like elephant in the plane :P footsteps too heavy or they themselves are too heavy? oops! :D
reach melb at almost 9am melb time.
wow.. relieved to be back in melb altho it's a really hot and stuffy day
missed the cool weather in NZ, and their water too!
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