Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner And New Zealand.
Friday, June 20, 2008, 20:47
Holidays are really enjoyable. New Zealand is just awesome. Awesome's a popular word among the Kiwis. The Kiwis are actually the New Zealanders. Like Saints and students from SA. Yeah yeah.
So, New Zealand is just awesome. And I think I will upload a bucket and a small pail of photographs below. Be jealous. It's New Zealand.
After the vacation, now I think I am going there to live and have no bother with Income Tax when I grow old. But a meal in New Zealand is just scary. Not that the portions are huge, but a normal plate of steak from the ordinary food court is like NZ$15. A bowl of wanton noodles costs NZ$7? And their currency's near ours. Like S$1.07 for NZ$1 or close. I don't know. I don't memorize the rates and I don't have photographic memory.
They don't use spoon when having rice. And their meals are usually takeaways. Like Fish and Chips. And yes, the Fish there is really really nice. Not like Singapore's, but of course, you have to look at the price too.
Then they are 4 hours before us. And the nights are longer than the days, which have the days dark at 5. And its winter there now. Sleet happened one day, but no snow. Sleet's a form of precipitation consisting of ice pellets, often mixed with rain or snow. Of course that was from the Dictionary. No snow and I was like disappointed. But I spoke with smoke or that whatever thing coming out of my mouth. Cool weather is like damn awesome. But that made me feel super irritated when I reached Singapore. Was perspiring although its the normal weather, not saying its the craziest-hottest day.
Its Free-And-Easy for us. So my father drove and drove and drove. Their highways are like normal roads. And there are lots of mountains and there are lots of animals in the wild. Sheep, rams, cows, dogs, cats, llamas, deers, ducks, and some white sea birds all around. I think they are gulls. Like white and furry (I know birds have no furs, but just very furry-looking.). And you can't believe it right. Llamas and deers in the wild. And I'm not in Tibet or Africa or something.
The students. The girls wear long kilt skirts and these skirts reached the ankles. And they wear lots of layers. Normal shirt, vest, jacket and blazer. All prepared for work and proper attire. Nice schoolwears however, I must say.
The land is so big such that they have lots of rugby fields. The junior school kids walk in the shopping courts after rugby muddy and in their shorts. And the kids walk around barefooted. I'm talking about one 14-year-old girl after their schooling hours. And she was still wearing her school uniform.
I don't know whether is it because of winter but I saw them walking on the streets at 0830. School starts late and why Singapore can't have it that way.
But too bad, in New Zealand, but have not seen any possum (They are supposed to be everywhere in New Zealand. I heard they are really ugly and maybe look like (insert-your-enemy's-name-here).), any kiwi-bird, any rugby matches, any Maoris.
This is roughly the introduction. Yay. Day-to-day.
Day 1 - Christchurch
Reached New Zealand in the noon and was driving around. The big oak trees or lookalikes along the streets. Just New Zealand.
We were at this library and at the kids section. And they let the kids draw on the glass. See the drawings on the glass.
These are the birds I talked about. No crows, no mynahs. Just white, plain, clean-looking birds. Haha, the furry-looking ones.
And one flying above my head, wings wide spread. In full glory.
---
Day 2 - Christchurch
Was hanging out at the city centre. It was Friday and every Friday, they have a street market. So, it is a scene with the street market and everyone shopping or just looking around.
There's this church. I think it is the Christchurch Cathedral. Okay, so it was built on 1864. Whoah. 144 years old and still going strong.
View from the Tower Climb and the Tower is part of the Cathedral. Yeah. Christchurch still have the tram system, but of course, it is for the tourists. It is nice and think it is also a restaurant too.
I told you, I told you. New Zealand is just for people to relax. Like a nice place to sleep and lie and roll around, reading a novel in autumns right? I am so going to live in New Zealand. I don't care. I DON'T CARE.
Willow trees. Reminded me of Runescape. Haha.
More willows along the banks of the river. Looking really good. I will go there again.
There was punting on the river. River Avon. Oh, we are back to the 1800s in Venice.
---
Day 3 - Dunedin
It looks like some photograph taken from the Singapore Botanical Gardens, no? Yeah. Looks like. But it is taken in New Zealand.
Cadbury World Factory. Chocolates and more chocolates.
See the golden wrappers piling up and the 'workers' peeking. Haha. Right. But imagine, so many chocolates.
Was at the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street.
It looks like a slide. I don't care, I think it looks like a slide. Haha. When I was climbing up, I was so afraid I will tumble and fall because of its steepness. The steepest gradient's 38°. Yeah. Slide down.
---
Day 4 - Dunedin
I don't know what is it, but I think it is ice. It is before dawn.
I don't know why I post this picture. Maybe it is nice. Yeah. 'New Zealand' and 'nice sceneries' are terms that must come together. It must be this way. Why? Ernest says so. Don't defy.
See the small white balls on the grass? They are actually sheep. 'New Zealand' and 'sheep' comes hand in hand too, if you haven't realised.
Saw some royal albatross. Really big and nice birds. The chicks are really furry here. I saw the 'furs' ruffled in the wind. Haha. Looks like furs. Really.
They are individualistic creatures and only come together to breed. The chicks also sit far from each other, though the weather and temperature is quite difficult to handle. They don't move and I think they weigh 10kg or something.
Sheep. Furry sheep. Lalangs. Long lalangs.
Remembered what I said above? Hills and mountains everywhere. And it looks nice right? With grass growing evenly on the surface.
More pictures of hills and grass and trees.
---
Day 5 - Dunedin
Took the Taieri Gorge Railway train from Dunedin to Queenstown. Queenstown is really the place for all adventists. More about that later.
The scenes along the ride were fabulous.
The roads in New Zealand. No lampposts. No traffic light unless neccessary, having kilometres between each.
Snow-capped mountains and evergreen trees.
Cloud and mountains.
---
Day 6 - Queenstown
Start of adventures. Went for the Luge. Was laughed at by the person behind the counter. Heard that we are from Singapore and have yet went for the one in Sentosa. The world currently has 3 places for Luge. Of course, one in Singapore, one in New Zealand, but the other one, I am lazy to remember / find out. Look it up yourself. Don't be like a pig.
The chairlifts to the top so that we can luge our way down. The luge is really ooh-la-la. Must try if you have the chance. But I heard from someone, I forgot who, that Sentosa's one ain't fun. Too bad.
More picture of chairlifts, and of course, New Zealand's nice scenery.
Before our jetboating. It is really an awesome thing.
Those ain't me and my family in it. Just some random shot of the machine before our turn.
They say the water is only 10cm deep. Now, wow.
My family and me in a jetboat. Cool yeah?
The pilot did more than seven 360° swirls. It was like roller coaster. Interesting thing.
My family just before the experience.
Helicoptering and white-water rafting too. Rafting wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. And the number of gears I have to put on is crazy and I crazily didn't count. Haha. No pictures on that. Haha. I don't have any water-proof camera.
---
Day 7 - Queenstown
Skiing. I enjoyed skiing the most. Haha. I am so going to go New Zealand and be a person that drives a jetboat, or skiing instructor, or Cadbury's employee, or some person that counts the number of sheep New Zealand has. I don't care. Whatever employment, I must be in New Zealand again.
It's not snowing but we were just throwing snow off the floor onto each other. Looks like snowing what. Cannot meh. (-_-)
Yeah. I am going to pick up skiing and snowboarding next time. It is really fun. I think it is more fun than ice-skating or roller-blading.
---
Day 8 - Queenstown
The view from the motel I stayed in. Umpteenth time, New Zealand has got really nice scenery.
And I decided to jump back to the motel, over the ledge. Stylo-mai-lo. Haha.
And of course, bungy. I tell you. Its like *blink* and over. Serious. Haha. I touched the water beneath and the feeling was great. I am going to start jumping off next time. Maybe I can be a bungy-jump crew. Awesome.
See the crew. Haha. Awesome. I tell you. Standing on the edge is really nerve-recking. Really crazy experience.
I know. I jumped uncoolly. Fine. I walked off the plank. Damn scary and you still want me to jump? Haha. I don't want to die of heart attack okay.
Yeah. Uncool jump. Laugh all you want, idiot.
Yay. I jumped at the site where Bungy-jumping first commercially operated.
I am so going to jump again and again and again. More coolly. Like jump into the air or something.
---
Day 9 - Fox Glacier
See the clouds among the trees. Yeah, New Zealand's weird weather. The vapour was so thick there.
Like cotton wool on matchsticks. Fertile imagination. I almost spelled futile. Don't laugh.
Waterfall, another evidence of New Zealand's incredible landscape.
We went to Fox Glacier. Guided ice walks at Fox Glacier. The guide told us that the glacier is growing, like being bigger and bigger. Although threat of global warming and whatnots. Yeah. Environmental topics. But the glacier is there 12 months a year. Even if it is summer, there is still the ice. Awesome.
My father's holding a part of glacier ice. It is made up of water crystals for over 150 years, my guide said. And we all bit a part of it. I have 150-year-old iced water in my body.
The glacier and my guide. She said we could actually trekked on it. But too bad, the weather conditions weren't good. Dangerous and risky. The entire thing is 13km long, but I have no idea about the area of it. It is very big. My guide said it. Not me. Definitely bigger than your bed with your pillow and bolster. Don't try to compare. You will not win.
Dirt over the accessible tip of the glacier.
The back part, where it is silvery-white, that is supposedly the colour. Yeah. Like some big white granite stone.
Day 10 - Greymouth
The sheep that is alone in that plot of land near my motel for the previous night. The wool is hard, like glue dried on it. Haha. I know, I look like a little kid.
The Pancake Rocks. See the layers the rocks are in. Scientists can't figure why they are in layers. Maybe you can win the Nobel Awards if you try to think. Possibly there are mermaids and mer-mans under the water three million years ago and they were chiseling it. Then all the other geography reasoning on how it surface. Good thinking yeah.
Blowholes. They supposed to make a noise when water rush in. I don't know. I don't have a blowhole in my house. You have one?
More pictures on the Pancake Rocks. Awesome shapes, I find geographic rocks on the shore very amazing. The waves, wind and temperature and pressure. I went Taiwan before and I think there are nice rocks there too. May blog about the rocks there next time, which means, more pictures. Say yay.
The sea, pancakes and part of hole.
---
Day 11 - Hanmer Springs
Haha. Guess what is this. My dumb sister don't even know what is it. See if you are clever-er than my sister.
Now, guess what is this.
Ice-kacang with over-flowing colouring such that it floods the bowl? Haha. Wrong. See below.
Yay. A monster with yellow plastic-looking mouth and a greenish head. A hybrid of The Hulk and a yellow bottle. Please. Haha. It's a duck.
Hundreds of them. Coming towards me. Maybe they are all thinking, 'Wah piang, first time see someone so handsome. Cannot tahan. Must go towards him. Kiss him until he faints, then I can kidnap him and put him in my nest. Cannot let the other duckies win. Cannot.' Yeah. Nice imagination.
Of course, it is for food. Ducks eat bread. Fishes eat bread. Mealworms eat bread. Adults eat bread. Children eat bread. Bread is for everyone. Maybe we can try feeding bread to lions and tigers and elephants.
This is from Day 2. But since we are on the topics of yellow-beaked monsters. Here. Mother duck and ten ducklings. They are like damn cute lah. Haha. I told you. They have ducks wild. In Singapore, if you see a duck, woo, lucky lucky. You have a free lunch.
See the purple feathers on it.
And they turned green. Duck magic. No editting. Really.
Anyway, the first guess' answer is llamas. Haha. It is not a monster and it is a normal animal. Maybe you look weirder than it. Don't laugh. It may be true. You can come to me and ask me. I will kindly provide you with my utmost honest answer, I promise.
We went for a dip in the thermal springs. Imagine. In winter. And the sulphur pools. Yuck. Yeah. There is also a possibility you smell like it. I don't want to smell you, so don't ask. Sorry.
---
Day 12 - Christchurch
No pictures. Were just strolling around Christchurch, again. Rested early.
---
Day 13 - Christchurch to Singapore
Final day in New Zealand and I am missing every bit of that country. I want to return. Anyway.
---
Yeah. That's all. The little holiday I had. Jumping off plank, skiing my ass down some noob slope, rafting in the Shotover River, having wind against my face in a jetboat, admiring New Zealand's nice scenery and animals, bit a 150-year-old glacier ice, soaked in some hot spring and smelled sulphur oxide that almost killed me.
How's yours? Don't bother telling me. I don't want to know. I want to continue wandering in my little Kiwi-lala-land and stayed in it. Don't bring me back to Singapore, I will bite whoever.
So, New Zealand is just awesome. And I think I will upload a bucket and a small pail of photographs below. Be jealous. It's New Zealand.
After the vacation, now I think I am going there to live and have no bother with Income Tax when I grow old. But a meal in New Zealand is just scary. Not that the portions are huge, but a normal plate of steak from the ordinary food court is like NZ$15. A bowl of wanton noodles costs NZ$7? And their currency's near ours. Like S$1.07 for NZ$1 or close. I don't know. I don't memorize the rates and I don't have photographic memory.
They don't use spoon when having rice. And their meals are usually takeaways. Like Fish and Chips. And yes, the Fish there is really really nice. Not like Singapore's, but of course, you have to look at the price too.
Then they are 4 hours before us. And the nights are longer than the days, which have the days dark at 5. And its winter there now. Sleet happened one day, but no snow. Sleet's a form of precipitation consisting of ice pellets, often mixed with rain or snow. Of course that was from the Dictionary. No snow and I was like disappointed. But I spoke with smoke or that whatever thing coming out of my mouth. Cool weather is like damn awesome. But that made me feel super irritated when I reached Singapore. Was perspiring although its the normal weather, not saying its the craziest-hottest day.
Its Free-And-Easy for us. So my father drove and drove and drove. Their highways are like normal roads. And there are lots of mountains and there are lots of animals in the wild. Sheep, rams, cows, dogs, cats, llamas, deers, ducks, and some white sea birds all around. I think they are gulls. Like white and furry (I know birds have no furs, but just very furry-looking.). And you can't believe it right. Llamas and deers in the wild. And I'm not in Tibet or Africa or something.
The students. The girls wear long kilt skirts and these skirts reached the ankles. And they wear lots of layers. Normal shirt, vest, jacket and blazer. All prepared for work and proper attire. Nice schoolwears however, I must say.
The land is so big such that they have lots of rugby fields. The junior school kids walk in the shopping courts after rugby muddy and in their shorts. And the kids walk around barefooted. I'm talking about one 14-year-old girl after their schooling hours. And she was still wearing her school uniform.
I don't know whether is it because of winter but I saw them walking on the streets at 0830. School starts late and why Singapore can't have it that way.
But too bad, in New Zealand, but have not seen any possum (They are supposed to be everywhere in New Zealand. I heard they are really ugly and maybe look like (insert-your-enemy's-name-here).), any kiwi-bird, any rugby matches, any Maoris.
This is roughly the introduction. Yay. Day-to-day.
Day 1 - Christchurch
Reached New Zealand in the noon and was driving around. The big oak trees or lookalikes along the streets. Just New Zealand.
We were at this library and at the kids section. And they let the kids draw on the glass. See the drawings on the glass.
These are the birds I talked about. No crows, no mynahs. Just white, plain, clean-looking birds. Haha, the furry-looking ones.
And one flying above my head, wings wide spread. In full glory.
---
Day 2 - Christchurch
Was hanging out at the city centre. It was Friday and every Friday, they have a street market. So, it is a scene with the street market and everyone shopping or just looking around.
There's this church. I think it is the Christchurch Cathedral. Okay, so it was built on 1864. Whoah. 144 years old and still going strong.
View from the Tower Climb and the Tower is part of the Cathedral. Yeah. Christchurch still have the tram system, but of course, it is for the tourists. It is nice and think it is also a restaurant too.
I told you, I told you. New Zealand is just for people to relax. Like a nice place to sleep and lie and roll around, reading a novel in autumns right? I am so going to live in New Zealand. I don't care. I DON'T CARE.
Willow trees. Reminded me of Runescape. Haha.
More willows along the banks of the river. Looking really good. I will go there again.
There was punting on the river. River Avon. Oh, we are back to the 1800s in Venice.
---
Day 3 - Dunedin
It looks like some photograph taken from the Singapore Botanical Gardens, no? Yeah. Looks like. But it is taken in New Zealand.
Cadbury World Factory. Chocolates and more chocolates.
See the golden wrappers piling up and the 'workers' peeking. Haha. Right. But imagine, so many chocolates.
Was at the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street.
It looks like a slide. I don't care, I think it looks like a slide. Haha. When I was climbing up, I was so afraid I will tumble and fall because of its steepness. The steepest gradient's 38°. Yeah. Slide down.
---
Day 4 - Dunedin
I don't know what is it, but I think it is ice. It is before dawn.
I don't know why I post this picture. Maybe it is nice. Yeah. 'New Zealand' and 'nice sceneries' are terms that must come together. It must be this way. Why? Ernest says so. Don't defy.
See the small white balls on the grass? They are actually sheep. 'New Zealand' and 'sheep' comes hand in hand too, if you haven't realised.
Saw some royal albatross. Really big and nice birds. The chicks are really furry here. I saw the 'furs' ruffled in the wind. Haha. Looks like furs. Really.
They are individualistic creatures and only come together to breed. The chicks also sit far from each other, though the weather and temperature is quite difficult to handle. They don't move and I think they weigh 10kg or something.
Sheep. Furry sheep. Lalangs. Long lalangs.
Remembered what I said above? Hills and mountains everywhere. And it looks nice right? With grass growing evenly on the surface.
More pictures of hills and grass and trees.
---
Day 5 - Dunedin
Took the Taieri Gorge Railway train from Dunedin to Queenstown. Queenstown is really the place for all adventists. More about that later.
The scenes along the ride were fabulous.
The roads in New Zealand. No lampposts. No traffic light unless neccessary, having kilometres between each.
Snow-capped mountains and evergreen trees.
Cloud and mountains.
---
Day 6 - Queenstown
Start of adventures. Went for the Luge. Was laughed at by the person behind the counter. Heard that we are from Singapore and have yet went for the one in Sentosa. The world currently has 3 places for Luge. Of course, one in Singapore, one in New Zealand, but the other one, I am lazy to remember / find out. Look it up yourself. Don't be like a pig.
The chairlifts to the top so that we can luge our way down. The luge is really ooh-la-la. Must try if you have the chance. But I heard from someone, I forgot who, that Sentosa's one ain't fun. Too bad.
More picture of chairlifts, and of course, New Zealand's nice scenery.
Before our jetboating. It is really an awesome thing.
Those ain't me and my family in it. Just some random shot of the machine before our turn.
They say the water is only 10cm deep. Now, wow.
My family and me in a jetboat. Cool yeah?
The pilot did more than seven 360° swirls. It was like roller coaster. Interesting thing.
My family just before the experience.
Helicoptering and white-water rafting too. Rafting wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. And the number of gears I have to put on is crazy and I crazily didn't count. Haha. No pictures on that. Haha. I don't have any water-proof camera.
---
Day 7 - Queenstown
Skiing. I enjoyed skiing the most. Haha. I am so going to go New Zealand and be a person that drives a jetboat, or skiing instructor, or Cadbury's employee, or some person that counts the number of sheep New Zealand has. I don't care. Whatever employment, I must be in New Zealand again.
It's not snowing but we were just throwing snow off the floor onto each other. Looks like snowing what. Cannot meh. (-_-)
Yeah. I am going to pick up skiing and snowboarding next time. It is really fun. I think it is more fun than ice-skating or roller-blading.
---
Day 8 - Queenstown
The view from the motel I stayed in. Umpteenth time, New Zealand has got really nice scenery.
And I decided to jump back to the motel, over the ledge. Stylo-mai-lo. Haha.
And of course, bungy. I tell you. Its like *blink* and over. Serious. Haha. I touched the water beneath and the feeling was great. I am going to start jumping off next time. Maybe I can be a bungy-jump crew. Awesome.
See the crew. Haha. Awesome. I tell you. Standing on the edge is really nerve-recking. Really crazy experience.
I know. I jumped uncoolly. Fine. I walked off the plank. Damn scary and you still want me to jump? Haha. I don't want to die of heart attack okay.
Yeah. Uncool jump. Laugh all you want, idiot.
Yay. I jumped at the site where Bungy-jumping first commercially operated.
I am so going to jump again and again and again. More coolly. Like jump into the air or something.
---
Day 9 - Fox Glacier
See the clouds among the trees. Yeah, New Zealand's weird weather. The vapour was so thick there.
Like cotton wool on matchsticks. Fertile imagination. I almost spelled futile. Don't laugh.
Waterfall, another evidence of New Zealand's incredible landscape.
We went to Fox Glacier. Guided ice walks at Fox Glacier. The guide told us that the glacier is growing, like being bigger and bigger. Although threat of global warming and whatnots. Yeah. Environmental topics. But the glacier is there 12 months a year. Even if it is summer, there is still the ice. Awesome.
My father's holding a part of glacier ice. It is made up of water crystals for over 150 years, my guide said. And we all bit a part of it. I have 150-year-old iced water in my body.
The glacier and my guide. She said we could actually trekked on it. But too bad, the weather conditions weren't good. Dangerous and risky. The entire thing is 13km long, but I have no idea about the area of it. It is very big. My guide said it. Not me. Definitely bigger than your bed with your pillow and bolster. Don't try to compare. You will not win.
Dirt over the accessible tip of the glacier.
The back part, where it is silvery-white, that is supposedly the colour. Yeah. Like some big white granite stone.
Day 10 - Greymouth
The sheep that is alone in that plot of land near my motel for the previous night. The wool is hard, like glue dried on it. Haha. I know, I look like a little kid.
The Pancake Rocks. See the layers the rocks are in. Scientists can't figure why they are in layers. Maybe you can win the Nobel Awards if you try to think. Possibly there are mermaids and mer-mans under the water three million years ago and they were chiseling it. Then all the other geography reasoning on how it surface. Good thinking yeah.
Blowholes. They supposed to make a noise when water rush in. I don't know. I don't have a blowhole in my house. You have one?
More pictures on the Pancake Rocks. Awesome shapes, I find geographic rocks on the shore very amazing. The waves, wind and temperature and pressure. I went Taiwan before and I think there are nice rocks there too. May blog about the rocks there next time, which means, more pictures. Say yay.
The sea, pancakes and part of hole.
---
Day 11 - Hanmer Springs
Haha. Guess what is this. My dumb sister don't even know what is it. See if you are clever-er than my sister.
Now, guess what is this.
Ice-kacang with over-flowing colouring such that it floods the bowl? Haha. Wrong. See below.
Yay. A monster with yellow plastic-looking mouth and a greenish head. A hybrid of The Hulk and a yellow bottle. Please. Haha. It's a duck.
Hundreds of them. Coming towards me. Maybe they are all thinking, 'Wah piang, first time see someone so handsome. Cannot tahan. Must go towards him. Kiss him until he faints, then I can kidnap him and put him in my nest. Cannot let the other duckies win. Cannot.' Yeah. Nice imagination.
Of course, it is for food. Ducks eat bread. Fishes eat bread. Mealworms eat bread. Adults eat bread. Children eat bread. Bread is for everyone. Maybe we can try feeding bread to lions and tigers and elephants.
This is from Day 2. But since we are on the topics of yellow-beaked monsters. Here. Mother duck and ten ducklings. They are like damn cute lah. Haha. I told you. They have ducks wild. In Singapore, if you see a duck, woo, lucky lucky. You have a free lunch.
See the purple feathers on it.
And they turned green. Duck magic. No editting. Really.
Anyway, the first guess' answer is llamas. Haha. It is not a monster and it is a normal animal. Maybe you look weirder than it. Don't laugh. It may be true. You can come to me and ask me. I will kindly provide you with my utmost honest answer, I promise.
We went for a dip in the thermal springs. Imagine. In winter. And the sulphur pools. Yuck. Yeah. There is also a possibility you smell like it. I don't want to smell you, so don't ask. Sorry.
---
Day 12 - Christchurch
No pictures. Were just strolling around Christchurch, again. Rested early.
---
Day 13 - Christchurch to Singapore
Final day in New Zealand and I am missing every bit of that country. I want to return. Anyway.
---
Yeah. That's all. The little holiday I had. Jumping off plank, skiing my ass down some noob slope, rafting in the Shotover River, having wind against my face in a jetboat, admiring New Zealand's nice scenery and animals, bit a 150-year-old glacier ice, soaked in some hot spring and smelled sulphur oxide that almost killed me.
How's yours? Don't bother telling me. I don't want to know. I want to continue wandering in my little Kiwi-lala-land and stayed in it. Don't bring me back to Singapore, I will bite whoever.
