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kia ora!! just came back from the easter trip to south island.. it’s awesome and can’t wait to tell you about it.. (if you wanna continue reading that is..=D) this trip wouldn’t be possible without the fanta-bulous flatmates annie and michelle!! and then the other wonderful people who housed our belongings (haala our beloved flatmate!! nadiah!! yusma!! hani!! nabil!! and mah-tee our dearest neighbours!!).. many thanks and greatly appreciated!!

starting from 14 april aka good friday.. we left palmy to wellington by intercity bus.. and over there we stayed with michelle’s friend bex whose house in on a hilltop!! the view from the living room is the city of wellington.. it’s soo cool!! then we walk around the city.. met annie’s friend emily and we ate dinner together in a little noodle restaurant near the foodcourt.. their ‘chicken rice’ mildly resembled the hainanese chicken rice.. but taste far from it.. and of course their famous bubble tea there too.. it taste soo much like home but cost abt 5bucks here.. awww.. honey green tea.. yummy!! (btw they don’t sell heaven and earth green tea in new zealand!! can you believe that?!)

the next day we went to te papa museum.. and i went for the lord of the rings exhibition once more.. already seen it in singapore though.. but well.. it’s just soo good.. arwen’s dress and evenstar and sword are still as droolable as ever.. but of course it’s like ten times more spacious here.. took heaps of free postcards here even bought ian brodie’s lotr location guide book.. haha.. after spending a couple of hours in the exhibition.. we walked along taranaki street wharf.. some place that have some nice scenic view.. waiting for time to pass since our flight to christchurch is at 5++pm..

guess what we saw at the waiting area in the airport?? we saw our backpacks being loaded onto the plane!! it’s just so unbelievable!! haha.. the flight was like only 30 - 40mins.. before we even settle down.. it’s time to get off.. jeez.. 115 bucks for this ticket..

when we arrived at christchurch.. patricia picked us up from the airport to her house.. michelle found her in helpexchange.net (it’s a pretty good site really).. her house is soo pretty and cosy with a nice garden too!! it’s along the line of bukit timah bungalows.. really awesome.. in exchange for meals and accomodation.. we helped her with fence painting.. vacuuming.. laundry.. house keeping.. dish-washing.. and gardening of course!! for about 4hours everyday.. and we spent the longest time in christchurch coz patricia and david’s house was just so comfortable.. and she got this awesome gadget called electric blanket too!! it keeps the bed nice and warm!! oh my gosh!!

on easter sunday afternoon after some massive morning gardening.. david was so kind to drive us to the sumner beach.. took heaps of scenic photos there coz it’s just soo pretty and then we decided to walk to their house.. coz it’s along the bay and the view is really great.. but ofcoz this little walk took us 1+ hour!! we took forever to reach home and by then we were ravenous!! patricia prepared this awesome baked fish that tasted so yummy-licious.. totally loved it.. *droolz at the thought*

patricia and david gave us heaps of recommendations on what to do around christchurch and mount cook and queenstown and henceforth we got our awesome itinerary planned at the christchurch i-site.. abit like singapore visitor centre at orchard road i think.. honestly we only planned till the part where we end up at their house.. haha..

so on easter monday (yes easter monday!! public holiday!!).. after doing some massive fence painting.. we went to town again.. we covered the art museum.. prettier than singapore’s museums and less eerie.. then we went for punting at the avon.. the view is soo scenic.. think of the pretty river scene in the movie the notebook.. it’s nicely autumn and like soo romantic.. once again we took heaps of pictures and enjoyed the 20-minute ride at avon river for 12 bucks.. at 5pm we traveled to the gondola place (aka cable car but going up and down and not vertical like singapore).. took bus 28 costing 2.50 bucks but still alighted at the wrong stop and had to walked for 30 minutes before reaching.. haha.. it’s most advisable to take gondola at late afternoon so you get to see the day view.. the sunset view.. and the night view all within 2+ hours.. isn’t that smart??

tuesday was rather plain.. after some massive gardening work.. we went for souvenir shopping.. annie n michelle bought heaps of stuffs while i was browsing away rather aimlessly.. actually i don’t even remember what we did that day anymore.. haha!!

then on wednesday after some simple housework.. we went to town again.. haha.. for our tram ride.. took around town and went to some more museums.. the cantebury 1 and even visited their botanic gardens.. not too spectacular i would say.. but we went to the art centre and it’s soo hogwarts-looking!! the brick walls with the squarish stairwells.. think hogwarts castle but only about 5storey high.. so many rooms and places and big.. and there is this little fudge cottage which i totally had to try their chocolates.. there is some guided tour that teach you how to make fudge or something but we missed the timing.. basically the art centre is cool!! well.. christchurch is famous for their churches anyway.. so yeah.. they have nice little brick buildings everywhere..

we woke up really early and took atomic shuttle bus to mount cook.. bus depart at 7am!! (zzz-time) along the way we bypass the famous lake tekapo.. the lake is turquoise in color!! really pretty!! it’s a pity we didn’t make a stop there though.. then we continued and reach little twizel town at 12+.. strolled around abit and got all tourisy with photography before continuing on cooks’ connection to mount cook youth hostel..

the view along the way to mount cook was really breathtaking.. surrounded by heaps of mountains.. and greens.. soo pretty.. but then when you see long enough all the mountains look the same.. the mount cook youth hostel is probably the cheapest place around.. coz the rest of the place look really posh!! we reached mount cook at 1+.. settled down in the 8-bed dorm before heading out for our first tramping trip of the day.. after trial and error with bush walk and such.. we took the kea point walk coz it’s nice and short.. aka less than 2hours.. there are no street lamps there lor.. so we wanna be back before sunset.. the weather was pretty scorching and hot.. and it’s a great day for walks.. after 1 hour we reached the famous kea point without seeing any kea (i think it’s a kind of bird) along the way.. took some pictures with mount cook.. sat there and stone for about 10minutes.. before walking all the way back again.. henceforth.. we conquered 1 of the mount cook walk.. 16 trekking tracks more to go!! hahaha~

we are not that fantastic lah.. so the next day we went for the famous hooker valley walk.. the walk that everyone went for.. get to see heaps of things along the way.. *duh* it’s 4+hours to and fro.. not to mention 30minutes to walk to the starting point of hooker valley!! it was raining for the whole day but that did not stop us from going for the great walk.. i wore the fairfield millenium windbreaker cum raincoat and i must say that it’s really effective!! anywayz back to the tramping.. we nearly gave up along the way coz the track was pretty challenging plus the rain and everything.. finally after walking up and down don’t know how many hills.. crossed don’t know how many bridges.. bypass don’t know how many avalanche warning signs.. and walked at super scary high ground by mountain side.. we reached the end point.. and saw the pretty glaciers!! it’s sooo nice.. but the wind was kinda ghastly.. and it’s really cold!! we hid behind a big stone and sat there for our 1st break of this walk.. die die must sit there for 10minutes coz we walk so long!! stacked up 3 little stones and took a picture with it along the glaciers before turning back.. the route back is always so much easier than the way there.. it was such a challenging and satisfying walk~ btw there’s no supermarkets at mount cook area.. so need to stock up supplies at christchurch pak ‘n’ save.. (pak ‘n’ save in new zealand is like ntuc in singapore.. cheap and good..)

saturday was kinda a resting day for us coz we need to check out our room at 10am but our bus to queenstown wasn’t till 2.40pm.. watched heaps of movie tapes in the lounge area and just stone there to wait for bus.. obviously it’s another long 4 hour ride to queenstown.. stopping at this pretty little place with nice autumn color.. i think we stopped at geraldine and cromwell.. but i don’t quite remember them anymore.. we reached queenstown at dinner time and went to this chinese restaurant.. queenstown is all tourisy stuffs.. real estate is expensive which equates to expensive things too!! ate a delicious chinese yangzhou fried rice.. yummy!! (you can’t get that in palmy!!) and then went back to our little room in southern laughter backpackers to sleep!!

due to a little screw-up with annie’s alarm clock.. we were 2hours backward in time.. by the time we finished breakfast it was 12.30pm.. haha.. that’s when we realized it was soo late!! so we just walked around queenstown city area.. bought our tix for the lord of the rings tour the next day.. then continue walking around queenstown bay.. bought this awesome patagonia chocolate ice cream.. and continue walking for awhile.. waiting for 5pm before going for gondola.. anywayz we went up to the gondola abit earlier this time at 4+.. i played the luge.. 5times!! haha.. got scenic and thrill ride.. i am kinda chicken so took 3 scenic routes and 2 adventurous routes.. screamed both times when i go down the ultra scary steep slope.. night view of queenstown isn’t as pretty as christchurch.. day view is better for queenstown and night view is better for christchurch.. the luge is awesome.. more fun than sentosa luge.. (obviously) it’s 36bucks for the combo price of gondola and 5luge rides so it’s pretty worthwhile.. then took heaps of photos before going down at 7pm..

monday was my favourite day for the whole trip.. we went for this award winning LORD OF THE RINGS tour!! it’s totally awesome except that it’s abit pricey for 130bucks.. anywayz.. we covered heaps of places.. saw the remarkables mountain range which was in many scenes for all 3 movies.. saw deer park heights from afar.. according to ian brodie’s book.. it’s supposed to be river anduin flowing to pillars of the kings.. the route with gandalf riding to minas tirith on west road to gondor.. and the paths of the dead.. several scenes where the two towers was filmed.. blah blah blah.. but then we are looking at it from the other side of the lake.. it would be awesome if we could go to the remarkables but then heard that it’s pretty challenging without the plane ride.. so well.. no budget for plane ride.. land rover was good to go.. we went along lake wakatipu to glenorchy where we saw even more stuffs.. then we went to amon hen area although i don’t remember where amon hen was supposed to be in the movies.. and then saw part of ithilien along the way.. after that we went to twelve mile delta (we didn’t walk twelve mile obviously..) to see ithilien.. we saw the area where sam saw the oliphants.. i was so tempted to lie at the same place where frodo.. sam and smeagol laid but then no chance of doing that.. saw the location where the battle of harad and rangers of gondor.. the top of the cliff.. it’s pretty cool place to see.. but if got more time can walk in somemore.. there is a little stream inside which was erased away by computer.. and more trees sprouted out here and there.. the people and oliphants were placed in digitally.. of coz.. the top part where we stand was ithilien.. (smeagol catching his food.. eh..) ground was kind dried up so it look like ithilien decaying under influence of sauron.. but ofcoz now have autumn colors.. we continued our way to glenorchy.. saw the snow-clad mount earnslaw.. from far of course.. heaps of snow capped mountains add as misty mountains in the movies.. people and horses in glenorchy were all part of the lord of the rings cast coz town is small but many scenes were filmed there.. then we continued the way to isengard.. amon hen and lothlorien.. these 3 places were filmed everywhere along the way.. we went to the old forest or mirkwood the great.. the foresty scenes from the movies.. and stopped there for refreshments.. it’s soo cool!! i think the name of the place is called dart stables.. the scene where the fellowship met with haldir and taken to galadriel was filmed there.. it’s a really pretty place!! and we saw the place where boromir was killed too.. it was kinda near the main road actually.. everything was filmed near the actual cemented road and not deep into the forest.. the colors were brightened in the movies to make it look more magical but it’s quite nice the natural state already.. then we took the route famously known as ‘road to paradise’.. well.. i don’t know why they call it paradise coz the ‘paradise’ smelled like sheep poops.. anyway we reached the isengard area.. the misty mountains was the backdrop.. i think it’s the remarkables mountain range behind.. some peaks were deleted and edited.. streams was widened digitally.. terrain there is pretty bumpy throughout.. i still don’t remember why it was named paradise.. sheep poop + bumpy road =/= paradise.. we saw the area where the tower of orthanc nestled in nan curunir.. there were those braids rivers where merry and pippin were captured by orcs was filmed.. but we didn’t get that close to the actual area.. looking at it from some distant.. we spent quite a while smelling sheep poop and looked around isengard.. the dart river there wa removed digitally and placed with the isengard tower and stuffs like that.. but the actual site is pretty to see and not nice to smell.. not forgetting you will be stepping on sheep poop every few steps you take.. ah.. there is this part where we never get to do it.. the most famous walk in new zealand.. the routeburn track.. only read on magazines and stuffs.. no chance of doing it.. that’s a walk where you get to experience the middle earth.. recommended by ian brodie anywayz.. and yeah.. that’s about the summary of the tour i took.. if you want to see some photos and video clips.. do drop me an email..=)

so on tuesday.. we took this ultra long intercity bus from queenstown back to christchurch.. bypass the usual towns of cromwell.. geraldine.. twizel and lake tekapo again.. it was raining quite badly at lake tekapo and the lake did not look as pretty as we bypass it on the first day.. the ride was nothing eventful anyway coz we spend most of the time sleeping!! haha~ reached christchurch again in the afternoon.. since it was anzac day (some australia and new zealand war memorial day).. most of the places were closed.. ate a ’soy sauce’ chicken rice that taste like duck rice gravy.. then went back to patricia and david’s house.. they were so nice to put us up for another night.. and of course we had karaoke and music session.. david insisted the the 7 of us gotta ‘party’.. it was pretty fun and memorable..

finally on the last day.. we left at 6am in the morning.. left a little photo and coaster set from queenstown for david and patricia.. took this shuttle (van-like taxi) to the railway station for our 5hours transcoastal ride.. never really take train before other than mrt.. then again.. it feels like an mrt but has toilets and viewing cabin etc.. nothing spectacular.. didn’t get to see whales or dolphins throughout.. anywayz train was kinda delayed still to don’t know what reasons.. we missed the 1.15pm interislander ferry.. then didn’t get much time to look around picton either.. ate something and loither at the waiting area before boarding the ferry at 2.35pm.. we stood at the top viewing deck for nearly 3 hours.. at the end of it.. michelle commented we smelt of salt and exhaust fumes.. in short.. we stinks!! she was having a cosy and comfortable time watching tv in queen charlotte lounge coz she sat the interislander before.. only annie and me are suaku to cook straits.. then again.. i didn’t even see the straits of malacca before.. reached wellington at 5+.. found this cosy singaporean-opened eating place and had dinner.. another fake hokkien mee that taste nothing like it.. i miss hawker centre food!! like decent hainanese chicken rice.. fried hokkien mee.. especially my heaven and earth green tea!! aah~ anywayz the simple dinner we took the intercity bus back to palmy.. at 10pm.. we are in palmy.. can’t imagine how happy we are to see home!! our dearest haala came to pick us up at the bus station.. sooo sweet of her!!

within minutes we are back home.. well.. michelle and i didn’t lock our room doors before returning the keys.. so we managed to stay in our room ‘for free’ from wednesday night till sunday.. while poor annie is locked out and had to sleep on our couch for several nights.. we had such a great time taking turns to stay in and open the door for one another.. haha.. great memories with my flatmates once again..=)