New Zealand Part II

OK Now the New Zealand post will be divided into 3 parts because I can't continue any longer for the second post and I'm already taking so much time writing about NZ. I've been procrastinating alot! Work is taking a toll and I just wanna chill when I get home! Enjoy the pictures~

Day 4!

We took the flight to Christchurch at 6am. That means that we had leave the apartment at 4.30am. Imagine how much sleep we had that night. Thankfully we were flying there and not driving so we get to catch up with some zzzzzzzzzzzzzs….

Welcome to Christchurch at 8 am!

They call Christchurch the most English town in New Zealand and rightly so, seeing that the town was mostly build in the old English colonial style and duhh the name is Christchurch.

So glad to be arriving here…

…because we continued our Zzzzzs… Hey, anything for the champions that braved through a 7 meter fall waterfall in a freaking air-boat.

Later that day… we went sightseeing around Christchurch on foot. (Think I lost 5 kgs on this trip). Above is the famed Christchurch Cathedral on Cathedral Square.

The kiwis are crazy for rugby and they’re hosting the Rugby World Cup 2011.

Showing weird behavior that only tourists can.

Statue of the founder of Canterbury (Canterbury is the province).

We didn’t ride the tram because we’re only lowlife backpackers who can only afford to walk. The driver was cute with his old-school uniform.

Spotted Mrs Higgins Oven Fresh Cookies--

Most delicious brownie!

We went to the 18th century university-turned-arts-centre.

Their ducks are equivalent to our chickens here. Why is the wild life so cute???????? And they don’t walk around with poo on their feet like chickens do!

We stopped by the Botanic Gardens.

Very easy to get lost. The roads look the same.

One of my most favorite pictures taken in NZ. It looks like a painting! This was random. I didn’t realize how big the tree was until I look at it in the camera and I look up and saw that its HUGE. It’ll take 8 people to hug the whole tree. Not that anyone would wanna do that. Of course.

Roses in bloom. Lalalala

I really wanted to pick one flower but then I thought… if everyone was like me… then… the garden would be like…like it was in Malaysia.

Cathedral Square at dusk which is around 8.30pm.

That night, we went S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G and I bought one Merino wool cape which was around $115. And that was the cheapest! I thought that was my best buy. And my aunt said there’s nothing to shop in New Zealand. Pssshhhhh.

If you open your eyes wide enough like me in any store, there will always be something nice to buy!

Day 5!

This flight was bearable a bit—at 8am, though we actually had to be at the airport at 6.30am.

Eating samosas that Skin prepared from Auckland as breakfast.

At times during the flight en route to Queenstown, I would wake up to the view of snow-capped mountain ranges.

Touchdown in Queenstown with happy, shiny, face and a merino wool cape! To be honest, I bought the cape because I thought Queenstown was going to be cold. Turns out I was wrong because compared to Christchurch, Queenstown is the perfect weather to wear only cardigan or a thin jacket. I should’ve bought it earlier!

Straight away went to get our Jucy car at the airport! Everything was already pre-booked and paid for, so we only had to show our license. They accept Malaysian driving license.

We went sightseeing around Queenstown and I was already in love with the city. Especially when wild sheep came running down the hills!

The calm and surprisingly not creepy cemetery. Maybe because it was morning. I saw one tombstone that read “RIP 1895 drowned in Lake Wakatipu”. FYI there is such thing as a Lake Wakatipu, as you’ll see.

If there was a place I could choose to have a house, it would be Queenstown. For the people, the activities, the shops and the mountains.

Queenstown is known to be the one-stop extreme sports centre. This was where bungee jumping was first commercialized. Before that, I suppose people just tie some random string and jump off the ledge while forsaking the fact that they could die.

Fact is, bungee jumping is extremely safe (this applies to Queenstown but in other places, I don’t know). They would weigh you before choosing the right rope for your weight and those below 45kgs aren’t eligible to jump. They also change the rope often to make sure that the rope is strong enough to hold your weight.

As we arrived in Queenstown, we called the 4wd Glenorchy tour company.

The tour gang: together with a couple from Miami. This guy has shook hands with Johnny Depp!

On our way to Glenorchy, we stopped at the side of the road to look at Lake Wakatipu, the 3rd largest lake in NZ. The view is gorgeous and breathtaking and I was speechless.

From Queenstown downwards, I just can’t help feeling like I’m on some other planet, because I’ve never seen such landscape. Flat plains as far as eyes can see… and littered with sheep!

On our way to Paradise, we passed by a little town called Glenorchy. Population: 200. That’s their tiny church. So when someone has a wedding, 10 people will fit inside, and the rest of the town looks through the windows to witness the ceremony.

They’ve also got a library, which opens once a week for one hour. The library has a staggering 35 books.

Glenorchy creek.

You just had to be there to see it…

Lord of the Rings black marshes. So anyway, starting Glenorchy, we had to travel through a gravel road. I’ve got no idea why they didn’t cement it. It would make things simpler and less bumpy. Probably they’re just trying to preserve the place. Kiwis are crazy bout things like that.

See the house on the right of the picture? The owner is the one driving the pickup truck and he owns a big piece of land and even more sheep. Rich as a king. Lucky bas…..

See what I mean by littered with sheep?

We were allowed to take one cheesy tourist picture!

Behind us is Isengard from LOTR! Weeeeeeee. By this time, it has started raining a bit so that explains the blurry spots on the picture. Even though it didn’t look like it, the wind was blowing sharp raindrops into us so that wasn’t cool. But smiling to the camera is a must!

Driving through the river.

We arrived at the end of the road, also known as beyond paradise about 1 1/2 hour later. At this point, there were no other human beings around except us.

Trying to look like I own beyond paradise. Ahhh my laanndd.

This was at Paradise. So guess what are considered pests here? Rabbits! I saw a hawk circling the field to hunt for hares and rabbit. Its freaking National Geographic at this place.

All my life (overstatement) I’ve wanted to step into a forest like this. Anyways this was the forest used to film LOTR’s elves forest and also Wolverine. Hot Hugh Jackman was here before filming in the same forest that I step in! The film was supposed take place in Canada, but they actually came to New Zealand to shoot the movie and pretended it was Canada –_-

Chris, our Glenorchy tour guide suggested we played where’s wally?

After the rain, everything just seems so much brighter and the color pops out just a little bit more.

The whole tour that day took about 5 hours. It was great. Chris knew the place so well and he didn’t stop talking the whole time. We were so tired that night but didn’t wanna sleep straight away, so we watched Wolverine on my laptop to look back at the places they filmed and to see where we’ve been during the day.

Read Part I here!