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August 31 Panoramic New ZealandWhen you realised that your lens can go no wider...panoramic seems to be the only way out to get the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand.
Signing out~ August 30 Mount Cook - Christchurch - Day 9Day 9 marked the final day of our New Zealand tour. We left Mount Cook for Christchurch early in the morning as our route to Christchurch will bring us to hot spots like Lake Pukaki, Lake Tekapo and many other small towns. More over, we wish to do our final round of shopping at Christchurch.
Road conditions were good and we were able to finish touring Lake Tekapo and arrived back in Christchurch by 2 in the afternoon.
On our way to Lake Tekapo MooooooMooooooo~
Lake Tekapo
Meeehhhhh~ Meeeehhhhmeeehhhhh
MEeeehhhhh x 100
Back in Christchurch
Carrie's platoon of softies Round Sheep!!!! boiinnngggg~
Signing out~ August 27 Mount Cook - Day 8Day 8 was planned into our itinerary as a rest and relax day. No travelling...just pure staying put at the Hermitage Hotel. The weather was sucky thru out the day...snow and snow and snow. Our little daihatsu sirion was buried under piles of snow due to the horrible weather. We wanted to drive down to the visitor centre...but it took me almost 30mins to get our little car out from the snow! Eventually we got the car out and drove over to the visitor centre. But due to the heavy snowing, many roads were unaccessible/closed.
Buried... Snow clearing in process
We visited the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine centre located in the hotel itself in the afternoon and met mr snowman/ms snowie after lunch...hahaha...zzz...
Snow...and snow....
Sir Edmund Hillary Centre
Hermitage Hotel
Mr Snowman Ms Snowie
Signing out~ August 26 Queenstown - Glenorchy - Mount Cook - Day 7Day 7 started off with us heading up North of Queenstown towards Glenorchy. For those LOTR addicts, i believe the name Isengard should sound pretty familiar to you. For those who have no idea wat i am talking about but have watched LOTR, i certainly do think that you remember the Twin Towers showcased in part 2 of the trilogy. Isengard was the tower that the corrupt Wizard Saruman resided in.
The incredible picturques landscape in Glenorchy was perhaps the reason why the film makers choose it to 'built' Isengard on. Glenorchy is a small town located 45mins drive away from Queenstown.
Xiao Wu Gui's iced up windscreen Glenorchy
We headed back to Queenstown for lunch. The incredible Fergburgers that we tasted drew our taste buds back to the outlet. After lunch, we headed northwest of Queenstown for Mount Cook where we will be staying 2 nights. The drive took us approximately 4hrs.
We arrived at Hermitage, Mount Cook around evening time. The numerous long distance driving for the past few days had taken it's toll on me. The moment i got into the room...i knocked out on the bed only to wake up around 8 plus to have dinner. Snow snow snow....endless snowing thru the night.
Hermitage, Mount Cook
Snowing...endless snowing thru the night
Signing out~ Franz Josef Glaciers - Queenstown - Day 06Hoping to beat the weather that battered me big time on Day 5, we decided to leave Franz Josef Villas early in the morning. We checked out at 8am local time and started heading south towards Queenstown.
The initial driving league down the mountains was again marginal with heavy rain every now and then. But the good thing was the road conditions were just wet but not covered with ice or snow. As least we were able to keep the speed up as the map distance from the west coast glaciers to Queenstown is a wopping 351km (5 hrs drive).
We drove thru the morning and thru the afternoon. The weather become better as the day past. Then came a little miscalculations. The route from the west coast glaciers down to Queenstown is one that hasn't got many petrol kiosk. I left the last petrol kiosk (i didn't know tat was the last) with minimal fuel thinking that i could make it to Queentown.
With approximately 150km left to go...the fuel gauge started blinking. Holy shit...there was nothing along the route according to our map. The nearest town was Arrowtown which i told Carrie to divert me to. Luck was on our side as i tried to regulate the fuel with the occasional 'free wheeling' of the car and we made it to Arrowtown. Then to our horror...there was NO petrol kiosk in Arrowtown! We tried to see help from the town police station hoping that the locals could direct us to the nearest petrol kiosk. But there wasn't any and the nearest petrol kiosk was some 10km away. Bad shape...then the friendly old voluntery police that attended to us gave us a pleasant surprise. He leaded us to his car and took out a can of petrol and told us to take it. We were so very relieve to have met him...it not our little Daihatsu Sirion might have just died on us. In return, we bought a little card to thank the nice old chap.
On our way down south
With the extra 6 ltr of petrol, we headed to the nearest petrol kiosk and refueled our buggy before finishing the final league to Queenstown. No dramas...hahaha...eventually we got to Queenstown. WOw was the first word that came out from us. The stunning view that Queenstown provided made both of us speechless. Lakes, snow capped mountains were everywhere. Amazing...and to top things up, we chance upon the burger restaurant "FergBurger" where we took our late lunch. Simply the best burgers that Carrie and I had ever tasted! If you are in Queenstown, this is definitely the place to makan! No JOKE! slurrrpppp~!
The friendly old chap that helped us!
Queenstown
Ferg Burger!
Queenstown Gondola
View from above
Night view of Queenstown
Signing out~ August 24 Christchurch - Franz Josef Glacier - Day 5We checked out around 8am local time and headed westwards towards the west coast glaciers. Our driving route requires us to drive pass Arthur's Pass, which is a few thousand feet above sea level. It was a worrying drive as the weather forecast for that day was marginal and we expected snow in the high altitude regions.
True enough, our drive was delayed significantly as snow covered the roads and snow chains were required to be put onto the wheels. Luckily, we rented snow chains from the car rental agency. Mounting the snow chains onto the wheels limited our speed to 20km/hr, hence the significant delay. Despite the slow speed, i lost control of the car a couple of times. Not a pleasant experience i must say. None-the-less, we pressed on and eventually reached our accomodations at Franz Josef Glacier.
After checking in, we headed for the city centre for lunch and to check out the Franz Josef Glacier. Due to the weather and timing, we didn't really manage to explore alot of the glacier area. Just a short 20min walk to view the glacier and we headed back to the city centre. We prepared our own dinner that evening as our accomodation was fitted with cooking facilities. Here's some pics taken on day 5.
Snowing...on our way to the glacier
Franz Josef Glacier town centre
Franz Josef Glaciers
Yummy dinner (Carrie's Style) Glenfern Villas
Signing out~ August 23 Rotorua - Christchurch - Day 4Day 4 started with us travelling to Rotorua Airport for our domestic flight down to Christchurch. The total flight time was 1hr 45 mins on board the Air New Zealand ZK-MCC ATR. We took our breakfast in the airport itself...mocha...sandwich. burppp~
Christchurch is located on the central eastern part of the south island. Arriving at Christchurch International Airport, we collected our rental car...xiao wu gui, as carrie terms it... and immediately headed for the International Antarctic Centre. The exhibition centre gave us the opportunity to experience a blizzard storm in the antarctic. extremely cold...but fun...
We checked into our hotel in the afternoon and headed to the city centre to take photos and walk walk...The next stop, before the sun sets, was Christchurch Gondola. brrr....windy and extremely cold as i can recall... Here's some pics from day 4.
Rotorua Control Tower Inside the domestic airport
ZK-MCC ATR turboprop
Snow capped mountains - View from above
International Antarctic Centre
Christchurch Cathedral
Christchurch City Centre
Christchurch Gondola
Night scene of Christchurch Gondola
Signing out~ August 21 Rotorua - Day 3We started day 3 in Rotorua. Headed down to Macdonalds for a quick breakfast followed a short tour in the city centre. We soon realised that there's nothing much to shop as most of the shops were closed on Sunday.
So we headed to Te Puia, one of the most acclaimed tourist spot in Rotorua. Rotorua is a city blessed with geothermal sites. Many visit the place due to this geographic reason. Te Puia combines the geothermal attractions like mud pools, geysers, and hot springs together with Maori cultural activities. It's like a 1 stop place that allows you to get close to both the Maori culture and the geothermal attractions. Pretty cool but pretty expensive considering a general entrance fee of an adult is priced at $50nzd.
The day ended with a relaxing bath at the Polynesian Spa. Absolutely amazing...is all i can say with regards to the bath. The spa offers a scenic view of Lake Rotorua. We paid $25nzd each for a session of 30mins...but it's definately worth it. We hit the sweet hr as the sun was setting. amazing...
Here's some pics taken from day 3.
Entrance of Te Puia City Centre of Rotorua
Maori Village inside Te Puia
Maori Performances
Geothermal Mud Pools
Pohutu Geyser Rotorua Lake
Signing out~ August 19 Auckland - Waitomo Caves - Rotorua - Day 2Shortly after day break, we checked out from our hotel in Auckland and had a warm breakfast at starbucks before heading south for Waitomo Caves. The Waitomo Caves region consist of the Glow Worm cave, Ruakuri Cave and Aranui Cave. We visited the Glow Worm Cave before driving down east to Rotorua.
The journey from Auckland down Rotorua was pretty smooth as we were blessed with fine weather from noon time onwards. Didn't really capture many pics...nothing much to see along the way either. Just drive and drive and drive.
After approximately 350km, we arrived at our hotel in Rotorua. Checked in...sleep...here's some of the pics tat were taken from day 2.
From Auckland down south to Waitomo
Waitomo Caves
From Waitomo to Rotorua
Signing out~ August 18 In search of Middle Earth - Day 1Given the 7 days of annual leave that i am suppose to clear before going over to Brisbane for my next stage of training, i decided to head down to New Zealand together with Carrie for holiday.
Departure date was set on 7th night. Planning for the trip started 2-3 weeks before the departure date. Places that we will be visiting includes the following: Auckland, Rotorua, Christchurch, Franz Joseph Glacier, Queenstown and Mount Cook. I wouldn't go into details for the itinerary that we planned, for those who wish to have a copy of the itinerary, feel free to drop me an email.
The following few blog entries will illustrate the 10 days tat Carrie and i spent in Middle Earth, NZ. Cheers and thanks for reading!
Auckland International Airport
Our flight took of from Changi International Airport at 072100hrs (GMT +8) and landed on 081100hrs (GMT +12). SQ285 direct flight from Singapore to Auckland. We were lucky to be onboard the new Boeing 777-300ER series plane. Flight time was around 09:35hrs.
Winter Garden - Temperate/Tropical House
After checking into our hotel in Auckland City, we headed for Auckland Domain where the Auckland Museum is located. Winter Garden is another attraction in the Auckland Domain. Here's wat i managed to photograph.
Inside the Temperate House
Auckland Museum
Wanting to know more about the history of the Maori people that inhabited New Zealand, we checked out the Auckland Museum after leaving the Winter Garden.
Inside the Auckland Museum
Night skyline of Auckland
Day 1 ended with a horrible dinner. Absolutely horrible chinese food...errrkkk....
Signing out~
August 04 Back in Singapore...Back in new room1 plus month had past since i came back to Singapore. feeling bored...decided to take some pics of my new room. muahahaha...boring...
Signing out~ |
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