Worried.. November 28, 2007

Whenever we are in our comfort zone, we tend to be more lay back, we will take everything for granted and there will always have a period of time where we don’t feel like working and when we come to such stages, we might even ask ourselves.. ” what the heck I am doing here?” or ” Why am I here when I am not performing at our 100%?” This will only happens if there is nothing new happening to your job and you get frustrated easily with customers over small little things..

When we come to this stage, it is about time we think what we should do and do a little soul searching. Asking ourselves what we want to do in future, what we want to achieve and how to achieve them?

Recently I just did that. When I had decided to go into a brand new industry, it really takes all my courage. When venturing into something entirely new, the worries comes together… not sure if it will work well for me, whether am I able to cope, will I be earning or losing money at the end, what if something goes wrong in the deal and people wants to sue me? All these questions just swim in my mind. The biggest worry that I had was how the heck do I start? Where do I find the clients.. Will I have enough income to subsidize me till my next comm, if not how do I survive?

But I make myself take the first step.. and now I am already in the midst of the preparation classes..  I know if I don’t have the courage to take the first step I will never goes into it. Now that I am in, I will try to do the best out of it! Wish me luck!

My first prep.. November 26, 2007

As everyone say, before you go for war or exams, we must do all our preparations.. It goes the same for anything. We need to prepare ourselves with all the informations that we require for our careers or to make any deals or whenever we deal with customers or people. How we prepare ourself then? Is either we read from books, newspapers and from internet or we attend courses.

Currently I am attending a course about Real Estate. The entire course consist of 08 lessons with 02 lessons per week. I have attended the first week.

The first class was an overall of what is a real estate, and on how do they calculate the monthly payment while the 2nd lesson is a little dry but quite interesting about the legal side of the industry.. All the laws involved in a transaction and the charges involve in a selling/buying of a property. The different tenures and types of the property in Singapore… hmm.. the free hold, leasing properties..

It was quite interesting to know all these aspects and to know what is involve in selling, buying or renting of a property. Sometimes when we just look from an outsider point, it looks quite simple but there are a lot of small integrity that involve in a transactions. It is a real eye-opener for me.. as I am going in there practically know nuts bout it.. so I find it very interesting indeed and it really helps me to break away from the mundane of my routine.. it is so cool… Feeling rather excited to do hands on and on the hand a little fear and worried if I am able to cope with this and my job.. Well.. I just have to learn how to juggle.. don’t I?

Shifting.. November 24, 2007

Whoever says that shifing house/room is a very simple and relax thing is pure bull shit! In the first place you have to find, call, sourse for another place to stay. When there is a potential room, you have make your way there to view and you might not be so lucky that you find the 1st one to your lucky. With the considering of the budget and own requirement plus any roommate’s, if any, you have to choose one from the limited options that you have.. Not also considering the time aspect you have to choose fast before the chosen place has been taken up by someone else. That is the market in Singapore.

Once venue is decide, there it comes the headache.. The deciding period on where things goes, back to BP, Temporary at my uncle’s place or bring along with us. With the consideration of the possibility of moving after 6 months, we tried to cut it to the minimum. Then the packing part.. When we first thought of our things, we will never aspect it will be so many things.. The more we pact the more we realize that our belonging has been getting more and more.. geez.. it is like no ending story.

Even before the day of shifting you have to think how to transport the boxes and clothes over to the places and the thought the unpacking.. urgh…. How I wish there is a robot that able to do that.. haha.. maybe in 10 years time we might have that! hmm…

Now copping up with my work and my courses.. it is quite draining of my energy and weekends have to do the packings and next weekend is the SHIFTing day! oh no….

Routine.. November 18, 2007

As time goes by when we just wake up and go to work and you find that your life is such a bore.. You find that there is nothing that you are looking forward to anymore..

I am such a person that I need new challenges in my life to make me feel that I live my life to my fullest! I get bored easily which all my family and my close relativies are aware of it. So whenever I wanted to go into something, they always pour cold water over me.

But since its my life, I am going ahead with it. I am very excited that I am starting something new that I never ever thought that I will be ever interested before. I will be taking up a short course before really goes into it. Really hope that this field will fit me and since my expenditure going up, it is also time for me to do some sidelines and earn some money. It also that I am still young and able to go all out for it.. So shall make use of my energy for the upcoming challenges! Wish me luck!

My memory.. November 15, 2007

Last Saturday my boss went to UK for WTM which is a travel fair that they held over there annually. But this brings me very fond memories. Last year at this time, I went to that faraway region as well. Last year me and my boss left Singapore on the same day but different flight. However manage to reach there with only one hour difference. Hence, I have a free airport transfer and I bunk over with her at her hotel. So I got free lodging at London.. cool eh.. ?

                   

As I went there alone, so I explore the city myself. It is pretty cool, no agenda, no itinary.. just go where I want to, figure on how to go.. do not have to wait for people, depend on people.. So once a while do a solo trip is quite refreshing as well. Visited those popular places in London like Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, London Eye, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Buckinham Palace – changing of guard, Mote Modern and seen some parks there as well St James Park, Green Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Was good to be able to try their local transporation, the trains but mostly we go around by foot.

 

I have even visited some castles: Warwick Castle, Tower of London and Windsor castle, which still in use!

From London I went to Burmingham to visit my friend who is working there. Here as I stayed over at my friend’s house, so I save on my accommodations.. Lucky and very grateful if not it is another bomb.. like my previous NZ trip! Burmingham is a city in the middle of England therefore it was quite convenient to move around to other cities as well. It has a busy city center with many shoppings centers and cultural centers.

From here, I went to Bath, where I visited the Roman bath and the small city, the town is very nice and quiet. A very English city.. Everytown where I go either be UK or Europe.. I see churches after churches, cathedral after another.. until when I see the photos.. I can’t differenciate them anymore..

 

As in UK, I covered Manchester city, a pity that I was not able to see the Man U stadium as it was quite far from the city center. From there Manchester, I catch the train to Liverpool where the origins of Beatle. They have a small museum about the popular group. Nearby there was a wharf where it was quite windy and can see the changes of the sky. When we were there, the night is longer than the day so at the begining of the trip I wasn’t very used to seeing the sky turn dark at 4-5pm!

Another city that I went was Stratford-upon-Avon, my friend’s friend brought me and another friend there. Was quite cool and get to see the birthplace and the place where Shakespeare died. So for those who are shakespear fans.. can go there.. without a doubt there is a theatre there as well that shows all the his shows..

The temperature is quite cooling and sometimes was wet and cold. But that is the whole idea of getting out from Singapore isn’t it?

During this trip as well, my friend accompanied me to Europe where we spend about 10 days travelling to Paris being the first stop in Europe.. Seeing the elfel Tower, Notre Dame, Châteaux de Versailles, The Louvre Museum and we even went for the Moulin Rouge! It was super amazing! It was a real eye opener for me..

From there we travelled south to Nice. The climate there is warmer and it is closer to the sea. But their beach are not sandy but are all stones..

From there we went to see Monte Carlo where is another small country a little away from Nice. It is a rich country by itself as it is still being rule by a Prince! One of their attraction was the casino (if you are into them) and the Fomula One tracks.. which is the roads of their city. Every year they construck the track and reconstruck it back when the race is over. Hard work but good profit! The country is a very rich country and you can see all the yacht being docked here. THis is also the famous place where all the Hollywood movie star will buy their retreat house over here!

From a country that you kept listening to French – Comprenez-vous anglais? (Please, Do you understand English) we went to Venice, so the language changed to Italian..Ciao, Parla inglese? (Hi, do you speak English). Suddenly we were all surrounded by water where you go any where is by foot and we have to cross a lot of bridges. If not, the other transpo that they have was the gondola (sorry to dissappoint some people who expect got the guy who guide the gondola to sing.. sorry they don’t).. which is very ex.. and they have water buses and taxies amd we went up the Rialto Bridge. Real cool and they have those stalls that sells all the masks behind the bridge.. But one thing, if you are looking for public toilet, there is one and the only one that was near to this bridge. So no matter where u are in the city, unless you are close to your hotel, this is the only public toilet. By the time we leave the city, I got sick of the taking the water buses and crossing the bridge. But it is a very good experience to be able to visit the city.

From there we went down to Florence where we went to see the cathedrals again.. tell me bout it k.. So decided to climb up to the dome.. thinking that it is a little shorter than the tower. But after the climb, we realize that the dome is actually higher than the tower! Oh boy.. can just imagine how tired we were after the climb? But the effort is worth it.. Nice scenery from the top!

 

Being in Italy one of the other popular place that we been is the Pisa .. seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa and we paid to climb up the tower! It is really a queer feeling when you accend up the tower feeling like you are tilting to one side and then tilting to the other.. But the feeling is totally awesome! But I felt so relieve when we go back to UK at least back to a English Speaking ground..

The entire trip UK and Europe was bout 3 weeks and I was very proud and happy of myself that I am able to make it to this trip! Even till now, sometimes I have the feeling the 3 weeks is a dream that came true.. This trip and the NZ trip are those trip that are the most memorable trip in my life (till now). Hope in future I will have a chance to explore other Europe countries and other areas in UK as well and to see some of my dream destination – United States of America!

Rooms.. November 14, 2007

 Population of Singapore is getting more and more, the property market is like a roller coaster ride.. just that currently is on a upclimbing scale. Does not matter whether its for renting or buying. No matter how much Singapore government build HDB, it will never enough.. Even though the government keep on encouraging their citizen to have more children, but why is there a lack of housing for their people..?

 The demand for a flat or even just rooms are very high.. When you see the ads that was advertise in the papers and just call to the agent to arrange for a viewing, eventhough they had confirm the viewing but after a couple hours later, the agent will call you saying that either the flat or the rooms has been taken up! It has been going like hot cakes!

 If not, then the rent will be expensive. Just imagine, 3 bedroom flat can cost up to $1800 and above! The property market really blooming. Normally such markets does not really concern me, however recently we came to a rough patch when my cousin announce that next year they will be moving out and planning to either rent out the entire flat or if able to get a good price, they might consider selling the flat.

So after getting the bad news, we decided to rent a room outside. Starting thinking that since i have a friend who are also looking for a flat, we can look together. So there it starts my house hunting. Seen a couple of flats but did not really see those that we wanted basing on our budget. Those that are good are all about $2k which is way above our budget.

At the end we decided to split, by looking at rooms individually. After a couple of weeks looking at house/rooms, I came across one room which is just opposite Bishan park, quite clean apartment without the owner. The house only have 2 bedrooms and other room was also rented out to 2 other ladies. The room is slightly smaller than my current room but they have a small walk in closet, a build in table and an attached bathroom with a tub! It only makes the bathroom narrower.

So with my aunt picky character, we decided on this room. However once my aunt saw the room, she starts harpping that the room very small, the bathroom too narrow, no air and bla.. bla.. Bishan don’t want, same rental, walking distance to the nearest mrt.. Just because Bishan last time was a cemetery, she was against it so strongly.

So without any choice we decided to stay here for at least 6 months then we try to look some where better. At least by then it is in the middle of the year, so hopefully will have more choices then!

Excitement and Heart of Kiwis.. November 11, 2007

This is the third and the last of the trilogy of our trip.. Finally .. looks like it is almost 1 week 1 trilogy.. the process has been slow and long…Now we are at the last aspect of the trip and also reminising the highlights of the entire trip… New Zealand is always known for all the adventurous and exciting activites from trilling to something that is lightly exciting for those that are not so adventurous..

I was very happy that we manage to do most of the activities that we wanted to do and even some other that we did not plan. For the first few days we did not do much activities but just sighseeing.. We did a short trekking at the Valley of the MT Cook.. Its a 3 hours trekking. There were 2 hanging bridge however we only manage to go thru one of them due to the lack of time. The scenery is really superb in between the valleys and can see the river coming from the mountain with the snow that cover the tip of the mountain. On the way back, it starts to drizzle a little and we took a short cut out from the main trek into a field of brown hays.. But do not be deceive by them… there a lot of atom bomb below… Sheep dropping!

Geez.. after that the next activities that we did was at Dunedin, this is the place where we visited a old castle – Larnach Castle. As we reached there late, we are unable to enter the castle but only to see the gardens. Nothing spectacular but the different flowers and the 3 ducks! These ducks are so cute.. all walk together like in a parade..

From there we went to Te Anau where the night we join a short tour to see the glow worms. We took a boat over to a small island where we went for a short walk where the tour guide explain on the caves and the worms. It is just a small worm about 10cm and the more hungry they are they will glow even more brightly to attract the insect. The cast their “net” by strings made of their saliva once they caught their prey, they will draw it to towards them like a fisherman draw in their nets after their catch!. Amazing eh.. We went then took a boat where the guides will push the boat by their hands and it is all in darkness.. Its really amazing when you look up you see all the blue glittering light.. and it is not the stars, mind you.. its those glow worms! But the staffs are real good where they have to guide the boat in the darkness by pushing against the wall of the cave.. imagine if you suddenly touch those worms! geez.. they have to remember the structure of the wall in order for them to maneuver the boat around..

We went to Milford Sound to catch on a scenic cruise. As on that day it rains so it was very windy, so we can see a lot of waterfalls… from small to big ones. It is really very beautiful.. Due to the wind you can see the waterfall instead of flowing down it flew up! Really amazing and as it was quite cold, you can see some mist that surround the entire place.. Really an eye openner of course all of us got wet trying to capture the beautiful waterfalls with our camera and also there is a close encounter with the waterfalls where the ship will get very close to the waterfalls… even though we were drench.. but its real shiok! Of course after that I hunt for the heater! haha… During the cruise also we encountered our friendly and intelligent mammals in the sea as well… DOLPHINS! Its real fun to see them doing their jump is like welcoming us there… It is one trip that I will never forgets! (Not counting the waterfalls that we see along the way from Te Anau – Queenstown!.. For those that was in the trip will know what is it)

In Queenstown where the hub of all the activities are, we actually plan to go for a morning hot air ballon that also came with a champagne breakfast.. however due the bad weather, the trip was cancelled.. not once but Twice! It is real dissappointing. However due to the cancellation, the first day, we are able to sleep slightly later and in the afternoon we had the TrioCombo where it consist of Shotover Jet, heli ride and the white water rafting. As the weather wasn’t very promising we had the bad news that the activities might be cancelled. After keeping both our toes and finger cross we got the green light that the activities are able to proceed.. Yeah! After changing to the wet suit which consist of the entire wet suit, a vest, a rubbery jacket and attired with the life jackets, helmet and the gloves and oh boots as well, our trilling journey starts. At first I was still a bit worried on the rafting as due to the rain, the river is at grade 5 which is suppose to be for the experts! The first thought.. by hook or by crook, I am not going to fall out and land myself in the cold icy water.. as I may know how to swim but not that good.. and with the rough water, I doubt I have the strength to swim towards the side of the river. After waiting for a few minutes, we were guided to a coach where they brought us to the place where we take our helicopter ride.. Wow.. this is the first time I am taking a heli ride. Its a real trilling especially when the pilot dip the heli to the side.. its feels like a roller coaster!

We landed on the place where we start our rafting experiencing. After introducing our guide,  and he starts explaining the safety measures and the instructions and off we go! The starting potions are all the practices and when we comes to the rapid, we find ourselves most of the time at the bottom of the boat! Which one side is quite good that means I am able to remain in the boat but we are not able to see what happening above even though we able to feel the water rushing in! But right after that we have to get up very fast and starts rowing.. So most of the time, we do not have the energy and some occasion that when we row during the rapids, there is no water! How to row when there is no water… We came to the last finale.. where we  went through 5 rapids..  so its down, get up row and down again and row again and down.. really tiring.. up and down.. But I have to admit that our guide is very good as he able to guide the boat without any much help from us!

Aside with us there is another British guy who did the kayaking.. and his role is to rescue anyone who fell over. Well to my opinion he looks like a mickey mouse.. haha..he is at the smaller build and skinny. He is very funny and entertaining when he was explaining to us on the wat to do and what not to do in the bus.

After the exciting rafting, we continue to the Shotover jet. There we sat in this boat of 30 people that bring us along the river with a few 360 degree turning. There is a handrail that you hold on and guess what they have heater at the seat. So when you sat on the chair, its warm! Helping us to warm up our backside after icy cold water from the rafting..

The next day after another dissappointment of the cancellation of the hot air balloon, we decided to explore a little of Queenstown. We took the gondola (we call it here cable car) up to the top that over looks the entire town of Queenstown. View is very scenic over here with the surrounding lake and mountains. We took a trip of the luge as well! Still find it a bit too short. So while loitering and wondering what to do next, something exciting caught our eye… hei.. they have tandem paragliding! Hei that is so cool! so since we are not able to take the hot air balloon.. we just jump it off then!

It is totally totally ultimate! The pilot that was attached to me was very friendly. I have to carry a bag (my chair!) and he will be behind me. So all I need to do is run a few steps and when we are on air I just have to pull the strap and I just sit there! The view is even better when we are on the air but is cold though.. But when my pilot took out their camera from the bag that I was carrying, it kind of stress me up a little.. what if the rope broke! The normal optimistic me suddenly feel a bit.. panic? But it was alright so he took a couple of my pictures (of course with him as well..) and a video. After he kept the camera, he asked me a question: Do you like roller coaster? So feeling daring I answered affirmative. Guess what, he spin us around.. It was so Fun!

From there, due to my stubborness we went for horse riding in the afternoon. I have always been facinated by horses and always long to ride on one.. and not one which was being towed by someone else.. Maybe too much influence by those western movies and books.. sound so grand to ride on a horse… Nevertheless I get to ride on one! So being the first time, feeling a bit cautious. I was given a horse called “Randell” It has the same name of my colleague who assist me. I went.. I just can’t get away from my office right even my horse has to be named by my colleague name! So after a brief instruction on how to get the horse to move, stop, turn left and ride. However my horse is a lazy and likes to eat! anytime when we stop or even when we are not schedule to stop, he will stop to munch when he sees grass. He is also very naughty when he sees bushes, he likes to through them! like I am invisible loh.. after the ride, all my jeans feels very rough due to the brunches and leaves and me with some scratches.. But we never expect the entire journey takes 3-4 hours. Due to this, we have to start late to our next destination – Franz Josef.

In the next morning, we started our glacier hiking. After attired their pants, boots and their rain coat, we are off to our  glacier adventure. We were being brought to a national park where we trek about 2 kilometres before reaching the glazier. Upon reaching the the glacier, we have to put on the spikes on our boots. When we hike up the glazier we can see the glazier foundation and some ice holes. Its so amazing to see the icy blue glacier when they made the steps for us to step on however, as we only take up the half day tour, we did not manage to go to the higher ground. When we got down from the glazier, and after the 2 km hike back to the coach, I had a blister on my right foot. So painful…

Then after since we do not have any other activities planned and there wasn’t much activities available, we had an afternoon nap. I had a short power nap and I went out to explore the neighbourhood.

Then after we took a scenic train from Greymouth to Christchurch. So since the train is specially catered for tourist so the driver will explain some of the areas to us. They even have a view deck behind the train where we can go to the deck to take some photos and it is so windy.

The next day SP & I went up to North Island while the guys flew back to Singapore. From Auckland, we took a bus to Rotorua, where we join a Hobbiton Tour in the afternoon and Tamaki Maori Village in the evening. The Hobbiton Tour starts at 1pm where they pick us up from the information center and to pick another german tourist to their movie site. From there we join another group of 8 persons where there is a tour guide that explain the movie set to us. Here we get to see the houses for the Horbits in the Lord Of The Ring. It was very impressive of the size of the land that the owner owned. It is enormous! and was really impressed on the works and effort they had to produce such a successful movie..

After the tour and our afternoon tea, we had a hands-on feeding the little lambs! They are so super cute… small and with fluffy white fur (or rather wool?) One of them are so excitied that it keep jumping at us..So adorable. We were given bottle of milk and we just have to hold it to them and they just suck it from there.. At the other side of the fence there was a sheep.. it is so full of the wool that it cover its eyes.. real damn cute.. I tell you.. When we done with the feeding.. we proceed back to the Rotorua. However along the way, we found out that the information center is closed.. But we got a problem… Our luggages are all there! Lucky the driver was very kind, he help us to call and ask one of the staff to wait for us, call the motel reception to hold our bags after and the Tamaki Maori Village tour on the transport to the venue. Whew! lucky.. We manage to retrive our luggage and the driver also drove us to our inn to leave the luggage and send us to the venue. We really appreciate his enormous help! He really went out of his way to help us. Lucky for us! 

At the Temaki Maori Village tour we were divided to 4 groups/coaches. As the reception wrote the wrong bus to us, we ended up in a different bus! Before that we were urchered to a short introduction of the history of Maori. They are actually originated from Hawaii.. and they sail over here to look for a new place for themselves. When we reach the actual village, we were treated on the traditional way of their greeting/welcoming their guest. They have warriors that came out to greet the chief (a leader that was descinated from each bus). They had the showing of weapons, the bulging eyes and tongues. Only then after we were allowed to enter the village. From there there was a village where it shows the way of life of the Maori. We had a performance from the people there who also act as the waiter/waitress/barman at the dinner. They did the Maori Haka dance, introduce us to their games and weapons and they also sang their love songs! It was really an eye opener.. with the guys all bare chested, lucky they have quite a nice body without any floppy big beer belly! After the performance we had the chance to sit with other guests for dinner. It is quite fun to hear other people travel stories.

The next day, we rented a car and we play the Zorb ball. It is a huge ball where we go into the ball with a bucket of water and we roll down the hill! It is really nice.. very shiok.. At first we thought that the water is cold but it is not.. Its warm, slippery.. But it was real fun.. even thought is quite troublesome..we have to change to our swimming suite and a t-shirt and shorts over it.. after that we have to change back to our normal clothes.

From there we went to a place call Hell’s Gate. It another attraction of the geothermal area where we can see mud bubbling out from the ground, smell the sulfur in the air even in the city/motel. Accordingly, the heater that the city have are all dug out from the ground! There is even a live volcano – Mt Ruapehu nearby but we did not able to go up to see and that mountain is also used for skiing in winter as well! .. Apparently the Lord of the Ring the volcano is being film up there! Cool huh? It is really amazing that our earth have such elements! Really scary as well.. when we see all the bubbling mud… and we read that it was about 104 degrees Celcious… wow.. it is super hot.. can really cook a chicken in there! There was one pool that they name as australia.. as it was the shape of the country and there was one that was a medical pool .. that one wasn’t so hot so we are able to feel the water at the edges. It was warm…

From Rotorua, we drove down to Auckland and since it is the city, we buy all our souvenir there.. so it was shopping time! But there was nothing much we buy but cookies, chocolates which was the normal stuff.. As for shopping they did not really have anything special to buy. But we saw some thing that was very funny, they had stuff made of possums.. bookmark, sole of the shoes.. they even made to something to warm up the private areas… the Kiwis can really think of anything.. haha.. Here we can see the difference of the our cultures…

Well.. here ends the trilogy of our LOTR trails. Really fun.. A good place for people to visit who loves nature or for adventurous people! So in other words.. its a place where everyone should go (at least once!)

Eat & Zzzz in Kiwis.. November 3, 2007

OK.. this is the 2nd part of our trilogy.. Accommodation and the food.. During our trip, there was an incident where someone ask a local to talk about their country. One of the things mentioned was that they will miss the food here. But they did not specify as in what type of food.. After almost 2 weeks there, I am still not sure what are their local cuisine is.. the normal food we always sees are all cafe food or western food unless we reached a city then we can see there are other restaurants with other cuisines around like Korean, Chinese, Japanese and many more.

Most of our accommodation are all motels which has been prior arranged before reaching the Kiwi soil. All these motels have the basic amenities: towels, soaps, have a little kitchen/pantry with a basic coffee/tea making facilities. Our first motel is the Mountain Chalet Motel at Twizel. The name of the town like the Hansel and Gretel and the motel design something like the Hansel and Gretel witch’s house .. but of course the motel is not made of biscuits! Each of are given a 01 double bed and 01 single bed. So upon check in we are given a bottle of 150ml of fresh milk to act as our creamer for coffee.

After putting down our luggages in the motel, we went down to their city center which is just a little square looking for dinner. We ended up in this restaurant in a motel for dinner. Even there, you can find some keno machines and a tv showing some sports program. A few tables are occupied and a place where the local meet each other after work to unwind or to catch up on their stories. SP & I shared a pasta and each had a hot chocolate. The pasta is just with tomato paste and some spices. Its a plain pasta with a bowl of salad. It is not what we expected and it does not really taste good. I find it a bit bland and too watery. Maybe we are used to the thick tomoto sauce that we are able to find over here.

Since the first meal wasn’t as what we expected, when we made our way to Dunedin the next day, we stopped over for lunch at an isolated pub with a cafe at a very small town called Omarama. We had the mega bucks burger which is about double or triple the size of our Big Mac. They have everything: tomato, pineapple, bacon, onions, burger meat and cheese. The burger was surrounded by a lot of wedges. Not sure if Jane, the cook, think that we 10 years never eat before gave us so much!  At the end, we have to “ta pau” the remaining wedges and be our breakfast the next day.

Upon which we arrive in Dunedin, after the dissappointing dinner at Twizel, we decided to go for a restaurant. Since Dunedin is a larger city, we were quite relieve. We ended up in a seafood restaurant called “The Reef Seafood Restaurant”. Most of us ordered Clam Cawder and being greedy, we ordered the main size instead of the appetizer size. When our food came, I am telling you it is really a BIG bowl of soup. The soup is quite nice and was given a huge bun as well. By the time we finishes, we were so full!

 After such a heavy meal, we decided to check into our hotel, we stayed in Carisbrook Motel. As we arrived quite late at night, the reception was closed. When we rang the bell, the owner came out from their home to attend to us. They thought we were no longer coming! Lucky they still have rooms… All their motels over here does not have 24 hours reception services. Most of our time, we did not really check out the room but just leaving the keys in the room itself. So you will see that our schedule is wake up very early and proceed with our journey then check into the motel at night.  Only a few occasions that we can sleep slightly later and one occasion that we are able to take an afternoon nap!

From Dunedin, we made our way to Te Anau where we stay in another motel called Anchorage Motel. This motel is near to the Lake Te Anau. It is a small motel with less than 30 rooms. This is also the motel that we experience the earthquake.. Upon reaching the place, we had our dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It is open by a Taiwanese and tour operators brings their group over here for meals. Food wasn’t that bad but of course can’t compaire to what we can find back in Singapore. We had a stir fried vegetable with tahu, sweet and sour pork and BBQ duck. But after a few days of western food, it is a nice change of cuisine. Throughout the entire trip, muffins seems to be my constant meal for breakfasts and have been drinking either coffee, hot chocolate or tea. Due to time constraint on certain days, some lunches are just grab and go from Supermarket.

After fleeing from Milford Sound, we had a late lunch at a cafe at Te Anau. Then we proceed to our next destination,Queenstown. Here, we spent 2 nights.. finally.. at least not everyday unpack, stay 1 night then pack up then go.. which has been the routine for the first few days of the trip. In Queenstown we stay at Kingsgate Hotel Terrace. Wow… what a change over here.. instead of motel, we get to stay in a hotel and not just 1 night but 2! Somemore it is a 2 bedroom apartment! There are 2 storey with 2 balconies facing the lake. The apartment has a living area with the extra bed, a room with double bed with ensuite and a twin bedded room. It has a little kitchenette as well. The hotel has a little spa as well but we did not manage to use the facilities. 

 On the first night at Queenstown, 3 of us went to a cafe called Britannia Restaurant. KY can’t join us for dinner as he wasn’t feeling well on that day. The cafe that we went has the decor like a pirate ship with the wooden tables and benches, the woody decorations that makes you feel like u just step into the Pirates of the Carribbean. I had a steak with a glass of red wine, AK had a lamb shank and SP had a chicken

We had our dinner at a Vietnamese/Korean restuarant and we had noodle soups. Food wasn’t very fantastic, but find it just average. But the service for the restaurant is not so good, just imagine a couple of my friends wanted to order a seafood noodle but the waiter kept on discourage them from ordering it, says that it is not nice and kept recommending their steamboat or some other dishes. Just imagine your own staff saying your own food not nice? But then, there are only 3 tables occupied with the staff themselves occupy one of them, us and at a later timing a couple came in. Real wonder how their business survive..

The next day we proceed our way to Franz Josef Glasier. We had our lunch at a food court in Queenstown. They have McDonalds, Japanese Cuisine, Thai stalls, Indian stalls. I had rice with Indian curry. Maybe I was hungry where everything taste good. I find that the food is not bad.. It kind of reminds me of my Uni days when occationally we will buy our lunch from those Indian shops in the university (For those that do not really know,  I went to La Trobe University, Bundoora Campass, Melbourne) and our dinner on that day are those we grab from the supermarket as we started late on our journey to the next town.

 Upon reaching Franz Josef Glasier we stayed in Glacier View Motel which is at the end of the town area. Behind the motel, there is this house with just 01 sheep! So can get up close and personal with the sheep… Beside the motel also have a river that has a very nice view.  This is the only motel that we had the time to take a short afternoon nap. If not most of the time we are always lack of time. This is also another motel that we stayed in a 2-bedroom suites. Which we can conclude for those motel that we stay for 2 nights, we stay in a 2-bedroom suites.

Here, we had pasta at a cafe called Beeches Restaurant in the 1-street town. The food is not bad. AK had clam chowder and he said it is better than the one we had in Dunedin. The pasta was quite alright.

                     

As for dinner, we went to this restaurant that was recommended by the motel reception, called The Alice Mae with all the fishing/hunting gears as their decorations. I had lamb shank for that meal (after seeing all the sheeps, can’t resist eating them anymore). Food was not bad, AK had chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream (forgot the name of the dish) for desert – see pic has a very nice presentation. Looks tempting right? This restaurant was open by the decendents of a lady named Alice Mae where she killed her lover for abondoning her after he got her pregnant (guys are a a……!) and and was arrested. The the people had a petition to release her, she got released and this restaurant is open to honour her.

The next day we made our way to Greymouth but did not stay there but just hop on the train to Christchurch. We had our lunch at a cafe called 124. Here I had beer battered fish and chip and fries. Food wasn’t too bad, Its a cozy cafe where there are couches for people to sit and relax near to the fire place, some tables for meals.

The motel that we stayed in Christchurch is Airways Motel. A very small motel where they also provide free airport transfer. (the reason why I chose it coz SP and my flight to Auckland is at 4.50am!) Just opposite the motel is a farm where they had a few horses. We took a bus from there to town to explore a little of Christchurch.

We had our dinner in a Korean restaurant where I had kimchi soup with rice. Quite nice the food.. The restaurant name was My Mama kitchen. Seems like a popular cafe as there are always people coming in for meals. Food was quite good… so much better than the one we had in Queenstown.

That’s it in South Island…

In North Island our first night is in Rotorua which called Amble-In Motel. A crappy small motel but liveable with a double bed! Lucky was just SP and me, so we made do with the bed arrangements anyway just 1 night! We just have to stick to our own side.. We had our lunch at a cafe at the information center before our hobbiton tour. Had a pizza slice with bacon/ham with cheese. The tour comes with a high tea as well.

As for dinner, it was included in the Temaki Cultural show. It was quite nice, a little different from the normal food that we had during the trip, a buffet style. But here we sat with other tourist from other countries as well, from UK, Germany. So we are able to get to know more people and their travel experiences as well. Very interesting. They have some performance as well. Will get more into details in my next post.

The next day we head down to Auckland. Lunch we went to drive-thru KFC outlet and we tried their KFC in New Zealand. It is a little more saltish than the one in Singapore.. but its still delicious! As for dinner we end up in a cafe in the skycity center where I had a rib-eye steak.. carnivour! A very nice last dinner in the Kiwis…As for the night, we stayed in the most lausy motel compared to the rest of the motel we stayed throughout all 11 days. The room is so small, facing the back alley of the motel and they do not even have a parking space and need to share with another shopping center. But the motel is right in the middle of the whole town with the sky tower just a couple street away. Quite convenient… but for those that are planning to go Akl.. find another motel.. I am sure there are better ones out there!