January 2014 Queenstown-Dunedin-Christchurch

So I will start with the latest holiday I had. I would say this is a family holiday because it is mainly spending time with family while travelling in several towns in South Island.We started off from Christchurch (obviously since it is where hubby and I reside) and drive down to Dunedin. After settling into our holiday home and getting dinner ready that night, hubby and sis 2 went to pick up sis 1 from work.

Then, some of sis 1's friends came over to join us for dinner. Played games and chit-chatting that night. The following day, while sis 1 worked, we went off sight-seeing nearby.
NZ is generally a place for people who enjoy scenic views and perhaps trekking. I am not a fan of trekking so I would prefer to do something else. Funny in saying that, walking all day around in big cities is almost the same as trekking/hiking tracks now that I am thinking about it. The only difference I can say is you dress up for trekking but you don't when you walk/sight-seeing in big cities.

Anyway, we drove to Queenstown the following day, stopping in several towns for toilet stops and picking cherries.Once arrived in Queenstown, we checked in and went into town to shop for food so we could cook back in the apartment hotel. The next day was spent up the gondola. Same in the evening too. Visited Milford Sound the following day. I think it is a must if visit Queenstown. The views are absolutely beautiful. I bet that the surrounding areas are interesting to study on as I love geography.

The following day, we took our time driving back to Dunedin, stopping again to pick cherries. But this time, we found this cherry shop that sells seconds and they look absolutely awesome and cheap. If we wasn't driving around looking for cherry farm, we wouldn't have found the shop. Spent the following 2 days with sis and family before dropping both of them off at work and hostel and drove back to Christchurch.

The holiday ends with sending mummy off to airport on Monday as daddy already flew out the Saturday before.

Hamner or Hammer

Isn't this photo nice? It looks like we were walking on a winding road away from the woods. It's a perfect photo. Credit to Sherp. By the way, notice something?

I did not know that the springs would look like this. I expect a natural place with the mud and rocks everywhere. My imagination went wild huh? It basically just look like we were going to swimming pool. Right, we went to springs with sherp and anu.  =P  More to come.

You know what, all of us travel so much and there are risks when we travel. How about getting travel insurance? I tell you, field trips have more risks since we hike or walk to places that most people seldom go. How about when I went to the rocky shore and sprained my ankle to get to the other side and there wasn't anyone else around? I kept thinking to myself that I will injure myself of every step I took.

Don't read this

Most likely you have all seen the pictures on facebook on the Chch trip uploaded by Sherp. But I shall put up one photo here.

Jumping pictures. Hehehe.. we did not forget to take jumping pictures. Now I can add this into the jumping pictures album. Hehe..

I thought offices and shops will be open in uni today. 'Mana tahu', it's not open. Wasted half an hour of my time walking to the office to find it close. Then, I was supposed to meet someone to get my hammer back. Never turned up even though decided time. The person did texted in the early morning me to say my friend will be giving me back but again never mentioned if my friend will be meeting me to give me back. I texted my friend and there's no answer. So I did not know whether to wait in the UCSA to get my hammer back or not. I ended up leaving after waiting for 10 minutes. Again, wasted my time.

Sorry for complaining or talking bad but I have a habit of being impatient if we already agreed on something and it was never done. I know I am impatient when it comes to waiting for people. You see, I don't believe in wasting time. Even minutes. I tell you, I am probably the horrible person to hang out with. But I can't help it.

Ok, that's not the problem. I need my hammer for my feild trip on Thursday. It's soon already and I haven't got my hammer back. Urgh.. I am freaking out. You see, I don't like my field trips and I am probably going to make myself miserable. No.. I have to make myself enjoy my time, not being miserable. Otherwise I cannot focus on what are the assessment.

On a random note, check out mesothelioma.

Hokitika

Now, these are the photos that three of us took when we went to Hokitika. Though, I did not try any live worms or eat any yucky stuff, I enjoyed their company. I don't think eating honey straight from its nest is that extreme. It's normal.

I was so tempted to wave at the helicopter pilot when they flew off. The pilot was just looking at people and us watching them flew off that time. But it might distract him so I ended up not waving. It just reminded me that Lynthia tried so hard waving at the guard in the Tower of London. I think she was trying to make him laugh. At one point, Lynna and I thought the guard smiled. Not sure though. MInds might be playing tricks. Hehehe..

Now, I shall go back to studying. I shall update more after the holidays. I think Calvin's dad and cousins are coming during the holidays and I am going on a field trip for a week in Westport. Hopefully it should be exciting. I will have friends to entertain me though so I won't feel so sad during the field trip.

ICF/CU has a got a conference, Resurrection in the beginning of April but I don't think I am going. I shall stay at home and start revising for the upcoming finals. Afterall, I should focus on studies more this year. =) I will have more fun end of this year or maybe mid year. Hehehe..  Oh yea, Sherp shall be coming up soon in the holidays too so that makes my holidays even more exciting. Hehehe..

one more

Just a quick post before I go off. =) I finally finished off my assignments. But I left out one small thing to do. It's so annoying that you forgot to put in one more thing after you handed in your assignment. Sigh.. I want to feel the holiday break feeling but I can't. Nevermind, at least the field trip isn't more than a week.



I looked weird in that photo. Hehehe.. I was trying to be funny and make Sherp laugh. Instead, she took picture of me and Veep. Aiya, I upload one more photo la.



On another note, there's this site about home furniture. It just reminds me of lynnx because she likes home furniture stuff.  Check ou t ya.. lynnx =)

Okie, I am going to go off now. So busy la..

Second half year

I did a half year review in October, dating from February till July. Now, I think it's time for me to do from July till November. I think it will definitely be quite long. I chose to put up some photos only. Didn't want to waste the Internet bytes to upload unnecessary photos. Anyway, let me just summarize stories about second half year.

Li, Em and I went to Dunedin during our winter holidays and it was great fun to meet up with Anita, one of my high school friends back in Wellington. We spent 2 full days going to the world's steepest road, visiting Chocolate Factory and not forgetting Otago University. I caught up a lot with Anita, talking rubbish from after high school till recent. I do miss my high school friends. I don't see them everyday in school now.

Semester 2 started with meeting more friends. Really, it was great fun getting to know more people though some of them are graduating that year. We have some events going on with ICF as the year goes by. This includes selecting new executives committee for the following year, 2008. Later in August, I took up a waitress job which made me a busy girl, juggling with study, work and friends. Nevertheless, I volunteered to help the Canterbury Malaysia Student Association and even went to the ball. It wasn't what we really expected. Some people even ditched the ball to go somewhere else. I couldn't blame them after rumours about the previous ball were like. The food was really good and we did enjoy it.

Later in the week, the weather was really sunny so the four of us decide to head off to the beach, enjoying ourselves and clear our heads before the new term started. We also did some shopping as the spring approaches. We went to watch our friends perform at an event, for example Talent's Night at university, hosted by the PETSOC (I assume so, I think I forgot the name but correct me if I am wrong).

I also have a field trip in the term 4. It was supposed to help with our final exams but I did not see how any could have help. Nevertheless, I did enjoy from taking photos.
ICF also organizes a walk from Sumner beach to Taylor's Mistake. There were 6 people going. Some commented good walk, some complained dying all the way, etc and I think it is a good exercise to have that and also to bond our friendship. They would agree with me, I hope.

A week later, we decided to have a picnic and walk around in the Botanical Garden. I thought it was sunny weather, turned out to be quite windy that day. Flowers were blooming everywhere since it was spring. That was my first time to Botanical Garden in Christchurch, note that it was already my second year in Christchurch.

Before study, final and hard work of week really started, we decided to have one night of fun. Everyone gathered at two of our friends' flat and slept over. Some were drunk and others singing till the early hours of the morning. Overall, it was really enjoyable.

When finals finished, we celebrated, well sort of but Emma hasn't finished her finals yet, so we decided to celebrate the ending of the year.

Oh ya, before the dinner that afternoon, Raz, WZ, Jon and I went for a kayak practice as I never kayak before. It was really hard the first time and tiring as you have to lift your arms most of the time. This was just one hour practice. What happens when you really go out in the sea kayaking and you have to kayak for six hours non-stop?

Well, it wasn't really six hours non stop paddling. Sometimes I paddle, sometimes I stop. And I don't stay in one kayak by myself. I paired up with Jon. When he paddled, I stopped. When I paddled, he stopped. It was really tiring and my thumbs hurt by the end of the trip. We stayed at a holiday house first and the last night of the trip. We spent the second night at one of the huts where we kayak-ed. There were amazing scenery's at those places we kayak-ed. It was really an experience to go kayak. I never thought I will eventually kayak, it's like an adventure. One that I will never forget.

After coming back from the trip, I started packing all my stuff and moved them to a homestay's house with help from friends. The last 2 days before I leave for UK, friends and I spent all the time together.

p/s It's not very detail because I cannot remember some of the events we have done. Note that there's not a lot of group photos because apparently they said it's enough. Is there? I can't seem to find a group photo where everyone is inside.

Sceneries

As I was talking about scenery photos earlier in the Second Week post, I only included a few photos about the scenery surroundings. Maybe I should start putting as the desktop background.

This was taken when I went for kayak practise. The water is really dirty, trust me.

Taken from inside the car on the journey from Christchurch to Abel Tasman. Looks a bit blurry though cos it's from inside the car.

And this one was taken at Achorage when we were staying at the hut for the night. It is indeed very beautiful beach.

Fourth

This is the Ocean River's office where we left the car there and went to the beach using the truck they had. But this was only taken after we came back. The second day's weather wasn't very good and it was so hard to paddle back. At times, I thought the kayak would overturn and I would give up and ask for help.

The next day, we were to return to Christchurch. Before checking out, we took quite few photos. Below is the photo of the holiday house that we stayed in.

Raz me and Jon behind the window.

Kayak buddies. Well, I wasn't going to show the fist in the first place. I thought Jon was going to do the same. How do I know that he did not.

This is the car we rented to go for the trip. Not a bad car.

Third

This is not really the third day, just the third post of this. I just arrived London yesterday and I think it is still the same. There are some new places though. I went to the library just now and apparently it is in renovation so now it is at a temporary place. Not much books to borrow though.

This is the other side of the Achorage beach. Raz WZ and Jon are in the background. Isn't the beach beautiful? I was sitting there staring far at the sea water.

The beach and me

The other side of view of Achorage

After finished cooking and having dinner, we decided to walk around the beach since it was still bright.

We were just sitting there looking at the beach when some people walked past and we asked WZ to ask them. I don't know why there's gap between me Raz and Jon. Too scared to sit near, I guess. Haha
We played a game after that, invented by Jon. Catching a branch. Hmm.. now thinking about it, it makes each of us sound like a dog catching. Opps.. if Jon reads this, he is going to kill me. But I bet he doesn't read my blog so who cares. Wah ha ha ha.
I think this is the only photo of four of us. The guys don't like to take photos. Sigh..

Second

Second day, we got ready early in the morning for our kayak journey to the other side of the place called Anchorage. We were to sleep in the hut that night. Starting point was Marahau, it was about 40 minutes drive away from Motueka, where we stayed the first night. We had about 1 hour to know everything about kayak equipment and also where we plan to go. After that, we left the car there and follow the truck, sending us to the beach. From there, I didn't really take photos cos I was really nervous. Now, I will let the photos guide me to talk.

Taken at some beach where we stopped for lunch. Raz lost her first sunglasses there and another one the next day while she kayak. Photo above shows that I was wet. Yea, Jon threw me into the water. Well, kind of my fault cos I said I didn't want to get overturned in the kayak but I do not mind getting wet. He started the fight first. He used the water pump and squeezed water at me. Of cos, I would get him back by using another water pump. Then, he figured the easiest way to get me all wet is by throwing me into the water. My bad, I shouldn't have said anything.

This is the beach. Isn't it beautiful? I could just look at it the whole day. That was WZ and Raz in the background. Oh ya, Jon and I won all the races to the beach the first day, that explains why I was able to take photos of them coming to the beach in action.

As soon as you hit the beach, the navigator has to come out first.

Jon was just there to help out. Get out, Raz. Faster faster.

Navigator should try to pull the kayak in a bit before the driver come out from the kayak and pull kayak up the shore. So, imagine me trying to pull my kayak and Jon. He is twice my weight.

This is Jon and my kayak. Nice huh and it's blue, my favourite colour. Notice my bottle. It was really salty when I drank water cos the sea water kept splashing on the kayak. You really get so tanned from just kayaking. I am still so brown.

WZ and Raz's purple kayak. Which one is nicer? Right after I took photo of them, the kayak collide and nope, we didn't overturn. It wasn't really a big collision.

Me and Jon kayaking away from them while they took photo of us. I did rest once in a while when kayaking. I do not think you can kayak non-stop. It's just so tiring.

Smile! I got a friendly tap from the driver when I accidentally splashed the water to the back. Oops...

Another one.

Dunedin Part II

After chocolate factory visit, we went back. On our way, we walked past City Centre, thus taking photos of the place and us. Em has a good skills of taking photos with her hands. Hohoho...

Anita Me Li Em

A bigger version from the photo above

Next day. After church, Anita, her brother and I walked back to their flat. Ate brunch then walked to Octagon and took some photos before heading to the world's steepest road on Baldwin Street.

I complained that Em did not want to take photos with me so she came over and give me a big hug while Li took a photo of us smiling. But I can see her sticking her tongue out.

I don't know what church is this but it was at the Octagon. The architecture of the building is very nice. =)

This is the railway station building outside Anita's flat. Really nice, right? Too bad we didn't go in the building to check out. =(

This photo seems so cool. According to Em, we looked like gangster. Hahaha..

This is our dinner on Saturday night. You should know who is who by now. I don't have to intro.

Wine, Anyone?

Since coming back from Wellington, this is what I have been doing.

I stayed in my room on Saturday night to study and unpack all the stuff I brought back.
On Sunday, Emma and I followed Gloria, my senior to her church. Benard picked us up since he stayed close to us. We only met Gloria in church. Also saw Mun Yee and Raymond as well.
After church, Liyana, Emma and I went to the Sunday market. We didn't buy anything, just sweets. I bought pumpkin seeds. Yum.. I love it.
After spending one hour there, we took the bus to Riccarton Mall and shopped groceries in Pak N Save.

1. On Monday, Wei Zheng followed me and Emma to the public library to borrow books. I met up with Bibi and another coursemate, Peter to do our assignment. I ended up pairing up with him for our assignment. Cool. I haven't really started it that time as I didn't really understand the notes. After Bibi explained the little bit that I didn't understand, I found out that I don't have to do those questions. But at least I understood them. I did the typing though. Do not mind as well.

Tuesday, Emma and I went to Bush Inn to shop last minute groceries and to buy mee sua mee from the chinese shop. I was to cook mee sua for us and fish. We asked him to come over. We bought a wine to mix it with but we only opened it when we started eating. Had to ask Wei Zheng if they got the cork screw. So when they came over to help with it.

This is the mee sua that we cooked. Emma cooked the noodles, while I cooked the chicken soup. It taste like what mum cook. Cool.. at least it is the same.

Emma cooked this as well.

Fish eating his mee sua. :)

Us in the living room.

The wine!
Just realised that we cannot finish it and we cannot keep it for so long since we are using aluminium foil to cover it.
I had a cup but didn't manage to finish it. Hmm.. Wei Zheng said to ask Jonathan for help to finish it. Yea.. we definitely have to ask him to finish it for us.