Sorry.. the formatting may look a little off... because I copied from Microsoft word... which is not good for blogger.. but due to my incompetency in html and programming.. lol... will just have to make do with what I got! At least the pictures are there and showing stuff! Enjoy!!
Alps seen from the plane
25 Oct 2009 - Sunday
Yee ha! We touched down in Christchurch at 2pm (11am at Brisbane). The flight was a placid and peaceful one, and I was reading ‘Destined to Reign’ by Joseph Prince. It spoke to me so deeply in my heart and I felt set free while reading it. As much as there are many controversies regarding Joseph Prince. But it is very right we are saved because of Jesus and we are in this new covenant with Jesus…. Shan’t go into it too much yeah! Here to talk about my trip!! Hee.. I’m halfway through the book, and maybe will finish it when the trip finishes.So, back to Christchurch… We touched down… It wasn’t as cold as we expected…
We headed through the customs, they were pretty organised as they got us through the customs relatively quickly. Nice… since the worst thing through the customs is long queues..!
We got our car from Ace Car Rentals that were located about 7 minutes from the airport. Wee! It was a Mazda Famila~ nice car!
It was pretty nice to drive in Christchurch… we checked in at Comfort Hotel Carlton Mill, which didn’t look very comfortable… but then again, we got it from the budget website… and to be honest, the bed was pretty comfortable! Wahaha..
We had a quick snack at Burger King! Look at Set Yen’s excitement when she saw Burger King! Naw, I made her pose for it.. I was the excited one… after not seeing BK for almost a year now… I was craving my ‘mushroom swiss double’.
Walked into BK…Guess what?!
THERE’S NO MUSHROOM SWISS DOUBLE!!! HOW CAN THAT BE! WHAT BK IS THIS?!?!?!
So… what a flop. But to satiate the hungry stomach, I got myself a double cheeseburger… See what it says?
We then drove around the city… to the arts centre which was closed, then to the cathedral where there seemed to be some choir singing… they finished when we walked in… we went in and looked through the engraving on the walls and decided we shouldn’t take any photos (although there were people taking), I personally didn’t feel the peace ye know? But I shan’t elaborate on that… or go into apologetics in this entry!
Oh well, we walked around the Cathedral Square and were wondering, just where is everybody?!?! So we stumbled upon a Korean goods dealer and he told us that today is a public holiday! Oh no! and everything was closed! Then we remembered, our hotel reception said it was a public holiday weekend… tomorrow (Monday) is labour day! Oh man… did we choose the wrong time to come?
Well anyway, we took some photos…. And then headed back to the motel for a short rest and shower, then went out for dinner again… a buffet seafood dinner sounded great… but it was ULTIMATELY DISAPPOINTING! We walked in and first thing we saw were 90% Asians… and the food, the only seafood there was – mussels, boiled prawns, salad calamari and a Chinese style fish. The variety was horrible, and lesser than Buffet Garden!
It must have been catered for budget tour groups.. so we found what we ate totally not valued for our money. The only thing that tasted right and nice was the mussels, precisely what we should be expecting from the NEW ZEALAND mussels! So I ate plenty… and realised I should stop, else my cholesterol skyrocket again! LOL~ thank God I ran my 3 kms the day before at UQ Sport… wee hee hee..
Anyway, since we were so full, and Set Yen decided she wanted some practice with driving, we went for a drive without a place we wanted to go. It was also great in itself that it was a public holiday so there weren’t very many cars on the road… I think I had a shock of my life and almost wished there was a dual control set of brake pads + accelerator on my side of the car! Phew.. but thank God for MANY CLOSE SHAWS… And we managed to come back to the hotel safely…
I’m back here now, in the ‘not so comfortable’ comfort hotel… writing but there’s no internet connection.
It wasn’t a so perfect day afterall, but it’s alright I’m happy and contented and really thankful for this holiday from God! And I’m sure the trip will get better!!
Imma retire for the night now! NZ TV is better than Aussie TV though…. There was Rush Hour 3 just now, and then now there’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 days.. Hm… naw naw naw… me ain’t wonna do that iight!
Ciao~!!
26 Oct 2009 - Monday
Ya hoo!~
Here I am sitting in settlers motel, the only 5 star motel in Hanmer Springs! Really a great deal cuz we’re paying only about $150 each yet we get a Pamper Package that includes 2 thermal pool entries, ½ hour massage, ½ sauna and ½ hour private thermal spa pool, and a night at any 4 star motel in Hanmer Springs, but we got to stay at the only 5 star motel here! How cool is that?
Set Yen and I drove up from Christchurch this morning. Woo, it was a nice drive, we stopped by at Amberly for brunch at a nice café, there was a 15% surcharge as it was a public holiday. Oh, well… It was pretty cold, but once I put that hot mocha in my mouth, it was slowly soothing the cold away… and the nice breakfast was pleasing to taste! Yeah!
So after an hour of recharging and eating, we headed up north and stopped by Waipara for some wine tasting, Pinot Noir was nice! Wanted to get some but it was so expensive! And the person said they do import to Brisbane, so yeah, might get some back home!
So excited to be in a vineyard... my FIRST time!
The drive along the way was awesome. Heaps of sheep and lamb, many cows, and horses! You just gotta look across the plains, and the mountains, and you wonder what those white spots across the greens are. Then you go nearer, ooo, they’re sheep! Sometimes I wonder how the shepherds take care of them, and how they rally in the sheep.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” – John 10:27.
I guess that’s how the shepherd takes care of the flock of sheep! I don’t know! But I see how sheep looks and how they react, they can’t be alone, or else they’ll be lost sheep!
Well… there are really so many sheep in NZ, that’s why people like to mention, “There are more sheep in NZ than humans in Singapore!”
Anwyay… we reached Hanmer Springs around 1pm, walked about… got myself a little sling bag so I can stop ‘bringing my big bag around’….! Stopped by and had some tiptop cookies and cream ice cream, reminded on myself in NZ when I was only thirteen… There was this guy in my tour group who looked like Jin Cheng Wu… wahaha, shan’t go into that now! Wahaha!
Anyway, we soaked in the thermal pools… ooo… sulphur… lol!
We ended the night with dinner at ‘Peppers’, I had an awesome FISH!!
And I heard it’s going to snow tonight! Wonder what’s in for tomorrow! Well, gonna sleep now! Goodnight!
27 Oct 2009 - Tuesday
So we woke up this morning. No, there wasn’t any snow. But it was freezing and the mountains we saw yesterday became snow capped mountains. Yes, there was snow, but in the outskirts of town and up the mountains! It, however, rained the whole night though… and even in the morning, freezing!
We couldn’t do water rafting nor jet boat skiing due to the weather, so we had our thermal pool spa brought forward, and since Set Yen wanted to walk around the shops, I reluctantly followed… really don’t like shopping, ya know? But… what to do…?
We had lunch at Powerhouse Café. We were looking around for coffee and didn’t know which shop to go to! There wasn’t very many choices, but we couldn’t find a nice café, so we popped in one of the shops that Set Yen wanted to look at stuff, and the lady said ‘Powerhouse’ is the best in town.
So we went and found Powerhouse. The ambience was great and the place itself looked cosy and comfy. The food, nice design yeah? I guess, it’s not too bad! Having been blessed with so much good breakfast in my life, I wouldn’t classify this café as extraordinary… but it was definitely one I might recommend to people!
We then drove up to Maruia Springs, the place was about 70km from Hanmer Springs, but the journey was a little hard to go, since there were heaps of hills and windy roads, we reached there in about half an hour. It was very unlike what we expected. It wasn’t even a town. It was just a small ‘thermal resort-like’ place along the mountain roads. There was no fuel-station nearby, no shopping centre, basically, just a retreat area… pretty good place to unwind and relax, broken off from the world. The next nearest town is like 20km away… there are no televisions… yes, there’s internet but it costs $5 per hour… so that’s why I didn’t purchase it. Only 1 café in the resort, and 1 restaurant (charged like mad!) but didn’t have a choice cuz we didn’t bring food!
I had my massage first while Set Yen endeavoured the hot springs. We then swapped while she had her massage while I went to the rock pool hot springs, followed by the Japanese bathhouse! Think I spent too long in the springs, or went in too long, I felt dizzy and almost fainted. Quickly made myself lie on the ground flat to let myself remain consciousness! There was no one else in the bathhouse too, which was good in a way… cuz it was a ‘Japanese bathhouse’! Wahaha… if you know what I meant!
When I found my strength, I slowly got up, got dressed.. and made by way back to the hotel and drank lots of water, and laid on the bed for awhile before heading the to restaurant to meet Set Yen. My legs were like jelly and I couldn’t walk properly.. didn’t know if it was the same reason that I felt faint and weak or was it that I was starving and the hot springs just sped up the rate I needed FOOD!
We ordered a Japanese Nabe pot (hotpot), which was pretty tasty… pricy for the place, but we made our calculations and everything else we ate would be equally expensive had we multiplied it by two!
Our nice Nabe Hotpot dinner that I so needed after almost fainting from hot springs...
Full and satiated now, still weak, so I didn’t join Set Yen in the Japanese Bathhouse. Just lying on my bed and blogging, now gonna read my Bible and just sleep well tonight… think I’m pretty exhausted after all that driving and with the ‘near faint’ scenario. Feels like the female lead in a Japanese drama… you know, the girl sits in the hot spring, over spent time in there because she’s over bothered with things, fainted in there… and the male lead comes in and saves her…
Only problem is… there is no male lead neh!
LOL!! Alright, quit my day dreaming and better immerse myself in the WORD OF GOD!! Here I come my beloved Bible!
28 Oct 2009 - Wednesday
So we overslept this morning, cuz my phone ran outta battery.. Thank God we still made it in time for 1 more bath in the Japanese Bathhouse in the nice nice hot spring water… wee hee, this morning’s water was hotter than yesterday! Wee… I had ‘self control’ this time, didn’t over soak.. prevent myself from fainting!
We then checked out and had some tuna sushi and Sakura tea for breakfast. Check out them photos!
We then drove back to Christchurch and the journey was awesome. Stopped by along the way to take some photos of the rivers, it was icy cold! That’s ice water from the mountain melting down into the river.. how fresh and crisp!
We then stopped by a Winery where me got a bottle of Pinot Noir for home. Hee…! Headed back a long journey and hit Amberly once again, young Shannon was feeling hungry again. Well, it was 2pm already! We stopped by another café in Amberly, called ‘Underground – Spoon Café!’
And then went by Christchurch and got us some donuts and bread for breakfast the next morning, as we heard Akaroa was pretty deserted a place!
The road to Akaroa was extremely windy… I think I drift a few times, felt like Initial D! Wahaha… thank God for the protection! We managed to get to Akaroa safely around 5pm. Oh man, can you believe almost 90% of the shops and places were closed? Ya… that’s true, that’s like Brisbane too!
Well, we had a studio cottage in Akaroa Cottages. We saw it online but we got it at a last minute website, so we didn’t think it’ll be as great as the pictures online. But walking into the place, it was like AWESOME! Oh man… there was a little living room, a nice view of the mountains and sea, a fireplace, a kitchen suite and pretty bathroom. To top that off, a queen size bed and also a little porch for the car and tables outside for us to enjoy tea and the scenery. But man, it started drizzling.. and then broke into a rain… and then into a storm and it hasn’t stopped storming but seems to be getting bigger and the windy seems to wanna blow off this cottage! So we couldn’t do anything, but since the shops were also closed, and there didn’t seem to be much activity around town, we stayed in our cottage and had a simple cosy dinner and relaxing time watching the provided DVD, Indiana Jones – Crystal Skull. At least they had a dvd player and TV here!
The storm is huge man…. Our fireplace is so cool! Anyway... Imma be sleeping soon and waking up early for our dolphin swimming tomorrow! I pray for great weather tomorrow for us to get some dolphin swimming! Don’t wanna be freezing in the waters!
Hope to bring y’all some great photos with the dolphins!
29 Oct 2009 - Thursday
So… the storm lasted through the whole night. Awe man, I kept waking up. Had a funny dream too… Dreamt that a friend asked around if we want to watch a movie, so I said I wanted to. And since no one else wanted to watch, he only bought my ticket! Then I ended up feeling so sad, like, why everyone dowan to watch u still buy my ticket and make me watch ALONE?!’
Then I started crying and crying, feeling so lonely and hurt, then the guy felt so sorry he helped me sell the ticket out but no one wanted to buy. Then I remembered I said something, that I can’t remember what I said. But the words came out as ‘real words’ and Set Yen thought I was speaking to her. So I quickly said, ‘What’s the time now?’ so she won’t be shocked at my sleep talking again.. muwahaha… yes.. I like to sleep talk, but it won’t sound clear!!
Anway, I had another dream… it was weird too. Wahaha… I keep dreaming these nights in NZ! And the dreams are just too funny yo!
So… we woke up but the storm didn’t stop. Was wondering if there was even going to be our dolphin swimming in such weather, so I drove Set Yen to the reception to use their phone and while I was waiting in the car for her, I saw from far away the storm clouds approaching. It was a pretty scary sight. It’s like the streaks in the sky just approaching me at 100km/h! I was sitting in the car thinking, “What if it was going to blow my whole car away?” Or… what if there was a tsunami…?!?!
A couple of droplets hit the windscreen.
Then another….
Then a click hit the windscreen, a loud click. And then more.. and more and more and there was HAILSTORM.
The ice that was falling from the sky were little tiny ice droplets, even smaller than the size of my pinky finger. But it was hitting on the car, while I was in there, and it was SCARY! I was thinking, “How is Set Yen going to get back in here?”
Somehow she did brave the ice storm and got back in the car. Oooh, it was an awesome sight. The hail lasted about 5 minutes and we headed back up to our cottage. There were nice drops of ice all around the place, a pretty sight. Sadly, the dolphin swimming and cruise was cancelled as the sea was too rough and dangerous for us to head out. The hail came again a second round… and we decided to stay in. We made ourselves coffee and tea and continued with breakfast… and the hail came a third time. I can’t remember how many rounds of hail there was, but each time, cuz we were indoor, we just wanted more! The hail was… pretty, pretty! We even caught a nice picture of a rainbow in between the hail! How blessed!
Cold and stepping on ice on the wharf... was careful not to slip and fall into the sea...!
See the hail and the rainbow after the storm.. beautiful....
So we went around Akaroa for a drive… Went around the shops since Set Yen just craves shopping! Ah man… I’m a female but I don’t feel shopping as much as she does! But turns out, I got my bro a nice nice T-shirt. Hee hee…
We had lunch at a café called Bully Harvy? Nice food, but Set Yen was disappointed with hers cuz she didn’t know it was in a broth form. But I personally think it was awesome!
We then had another intial D drive back to Christchurch. Wee.. check out a pose for initial D. I love driving in the countryside! It’s so fun- of course... safely..!!
We went by the French Farm Winery and Set Yen got some wine, while I got a nice postcard to send home!
Then drove all the way back to Christchurch and checked in this hotel – Towers of the Park. It was a 4 star hotel, more than what I expected, since we had a horrible hotel on the first day. Well, this hotel’s got free internet! That’s why y’all saw me online and in facebook. It was amazing I got a work email too regarding autoclave bags.
After we checked in, we got ourselves into Westfield shopping centre and wondered why we entered this when there are so many in Brisbane! And Set Yen even got herself a cup of bubble tea that tasted so horrible. Hm…
Then we headed to the city to do some shopping… oh, I really thought it would be quick shopping… I was done in about 45 min… but I can’t believe Set Yen took about 3 hours…. Argh!!! Why women gotta shop like that? I really don’t know understand women!! And I make myself sound like I’m not one. I am! But, I don’t understand the shopping aspect!
Well… y’all must be thinking ‘that’s why Shannon is like that…’ I just think there’s no point going to 5 shops over a period of 3 hours, looking at every single object in the shop, to end up deciding on 1 item that is about 2-5 bucks cheaper than the rest. Because 3 hours of your time… is worth more than that 2 – 5 bucks iight!
Gotta educate my sisters what shopping is all about man! Lol… although I’m sure they wanna educate ME on what shopping is all about…LOL!
Anyway, we finally settled for a Japanese/Korean restaurant for dinner… it was alright… felt a bit cheated but am too tired to bother now.
There’s also limited wireless internet here.. like a 500MB download quota in this hotel. So gotta scrimp and save oh.. hehe…
Well well.. I’mma go sleep now. Hope tomorrow will be a better day.
I believe God is really pruning me!!! Ah! Ouch! So I better learn.. and learn it fast!
30 Oct 2009 - Friday
I had a great sleep last night. Woke up thrice to hydrate myself with lots of water. The weather turned dry… and it was raining again at night. We had no agenda today, so we just slept till 10 or 11am. It was quite good yeah, we came to relax, and since we didn’t have to check out of the hotel, we just had a lie in!
It was refreshing. I think I was dead exhausted from all that driving. Next time we plan a road trip holiday – better have more than 1 drivers… not just drivers, but drivers who can drive! Wahaha…
Thank God for the dried mangos that kept me awake and alert while driving.. and the amazing initial D roads that I just love them so much! The city roads were all flat and plain.. boring.
We finished our donuts, ate some NZ green kiwis and fruits, and watched a Taiwanese drama – momo love. Wahaha, halfway through we went out and drove to Sumner where there was a nice beach with a pretty natural rock!
We had our brunch in a café called ‘The Rock’ and the logo of it reminded me of Simon Peter, the Rock. Turns out when I asked the waitress why they named their café the Rock, she said, ‘Because there is a rock outside’. Then I asked, what about the cross? She said, ‘There’s a cross on the top of the rock!’
That's how the Cafe sign looked!
Actually I was quite disappointed. I thought the café logo would have gone so well a Bible verse printed below it
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
- Matthew 16:18
I'm in the back of the rock!
Just hittin' the "CHILL" button on the rock.
Took a photo once I climbed up the ROCK!
Well… we then left Sumner, and headed to New Brighton Beach, but turns out there was nothing there! Disappointing… we got ourselves some random ice cream, ate them in the car while admiring the sea (cuz it was too cold outside). We then drove back to the hotel, rested for awhile until 4.30pm and drove to Willow Bank Wildlife Reserve for the Maori Kotane Kiwi Experience. Was my birthday gift from Set Yen.. Thank you SET YEN!!!
We saw some pretty wild life, saw Kiwis! They were so cute, but too hard to capture photos of… we also had a ‘kiwi’ dinner that was pretty disappointing, but the fish was good! And then we also had the Maori tour around the ‘village’ and it was pretty awesome too! We got to go up and play with one of the toys the Maoris play with to help them be more alert and train them up for warfare.
The Kiwi Dinner - fish + NZ Green Mussels... disappointing again, cuz I thought Kiwi Dinner was something more like.. what the Maori people eat?
Anyway, it was a pretty good experience, I’ll give it a 8 upon 10. After that I dropped Set Yen at the city again since she forgot to buy some stuff. Told her maximum 10 mins, she spent like 20 min… haha… thank God I found a park lot just in front of the shop so I went in to help her make better decisions! Wahaha!!
Well, we’re back in the hotel, packing and resting. Gotta return the car at 11am tomorrow, and fly back to Brissy!
Well, I’ll rate this trip a 7 out of 10 and it would have been much better if the weather was good. New Zealand is also more like a ‘meant for couple/honeymoon’ country… so it would be much better if it was my honeymoon la… wahahhaa~~~
I keep having dreams every night… funny ones, weird ones…. Well, hope I get enough rest every night and go back to Brisbane, ready for WORK and LABOUR again!
Hee… can’t wait for Singapore now… but next stop, Canberra for work first!
See y’all tomorrow!! Tata!
All that above was written in New Zealand. So, it's not my up to date 'feelings' and opinions! You can see more pictures on my Facebook! :)
But, it's a great time I had and now I'm back to real work and things to do here. And God has been working in my life so much.. that I'll have another long entry to write... soon. :)
Thanks for reading... may you have a great day ahead!! :)
Luv,
Shannon
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