i'm home! :D
this trip was a much deserved
one for the family.
it had been a long time
since we all have had a holiday.
almost 7years, in fact!
and i think this may well be
the last before each of us
start work, get married,
have kids and all
then holidays together as family
will be impossible, if not, a rarity. :P
12December
we arrived at Christchurch
after around 9.5hrs of plane ride
(which i was very excited about),
where i -
1. watched Razzle Dazzle
(about dance, i enjoyed it!)
2. played Super Matio
(kept dying before level2 so i quit. haha)
3. tasted my sis' Singapore Sling
(uh, not my cup of tea....)
4. had dinner
(can't recall what was served
but there was ICECREAM!!)
5. watched Failure To Launch
(too complicated for me to understand)
6. played Nintendo's Pokémon Yellow till we landed!
(this was amusing 'cos
i named Pikachu after my 'lil sis. heeh~)
13December
we arrived in the morning!
well, this is because of the time difference.
it is around 5hrs ahead in NewZ.
it was awesome!
i loved the wind that kept me cool
although prolong exposure made me shiver.
it also meant NO-photos for me;
BAADD hair moments, you see.
rented a car,
skipped plans to the Botanic Gardens,
dad drove to Hanmer Springs
where the house we rented was.
uh, my 'lil sis named this the "House-Like".
haha. apt, if you were there as well.
it was kinda musty & mouldy-smelling
but the thing that needed the most
getting used to was:
the OUTDOOR toilet
boy, was that eye opening!
in the night, no one wanted to
answer Nature's call. haha.
thankfully we only stayed overnight.
but i have to admit that the scenery
into the countryside of the south island
was B-E-A-UTIFUL. :)
the hills, the sheep, the cows, the deer,
the horses, the mountains, the streams/lakes..
breathtaking!
pity we were driving too quick
to reach our destination to take nice photos.
had our first fish'n'chips in the evening.
portions were ENORMOUS (over-ate, yuck.)
but it was very affordable! (yay :D)
14December
spent this day pretty much
on the road as well, 9hrs to Queenstown.
was horrified at the discovery of
squished brown patches of fur along the way!!
uh, i guessed that some were rabbits
but later, people told me it was highly probable
they were the pesky possums. :S
according to history,
these animals were introduced
to NewZ in hopes to set up a fur trade.
however, they eventually
caused much harm to the survival of
the native kiwi birds & more,
competing for food & territory.
i'm now saddistically thankful
their numbers are controlled
when they freeze during the night
in the middle of the road
when a car's lights blind them.
it's so mean of them
to harm the kiwi bird. *frowns*
anyway...
we had PJ's Fish&Chips (again?!! haha, yes.)
this was bit more costly but 'twas tasty.
weather was really cold,
dropping to lows of 10oC!
and i later found that
it made my skin very dry. :S
i know i'll regret it later,
but i wasn't too attentive
to the skin thing until
i started to realise my skin looked scaly.
haha. only started applying moisturiser
later in the trip but, oh well. heh...
i liked the motel we stayed at
in Queenstown as it was accessible
and simply because
there were enough beds. (important! :D)
maybe i'll write more about this
in the next day's blabbering.
15December
my family slept in this day
and i awoke to the aroma of fried eggs! (yay)
forgot to mention that we made a trip
to the supermarket to get groceries
so we could save in expenses for food.
but hey, mummy's cooking's GREAT!
so we had good meals everyday. :D
set off for town which was 10mins away,
and we made our
first purchases (food doesn't count) here.
My 'lil sis bought me a Christmas present!
so sweet of her. *beams*
it was a necessity, though.
my first pair of shades!
i like 'em.
didn't initially, was skeptical.
but the pair the family chose for me
eventually grew on me & i'm happy now. :))
after that, the OKA,
which is a particular big-wheel bus,
picked my siblings & i up (kinda literally. haha.)
to head high up on the mountains
to a place called the Shotover River.
oh, i forgot to add that
another family from China and
a 50yr old Canadian woman
joined us on this tour as well. :)
the journey there was heartstopping.
serious!
this is because of the narrow lane
and the sharp drop over the cliff
if the driver wasn't experienced.
but the view was breathtaking,
and i'm thankful i've lived to tell the tale~
heeh..
anyway, as we went along,
we learnt bits of the history of the area,
a little of the materials
precious to the Māori people
mostly on the mining activities there.
and over at the Upper Shotover River
we went jet-boating!
cool, huh?
clear water, mountains around
and blue skies above,
it was magnificent.
as we sped around at speeds of
near 70-75km/hr,
i spent some time just taking in the view.
the magnificence of God's creation
just humbled me.
i felt small,
yet amazed to be part of His plan. :)
there, we saw where the LOTR
had filmed a portion of the movie.
unfortunately, i haven't caught
the trilogy yet so i was unable to
imagine that scene.
however, when i do have the chance
to watch it, i'll appreciate
the well-chosen backdrops,
as well as that certain part
where the waves creating the mood
was generated by a crew of jetboaters
revving up the engine. :P
i got pretty wet on this ride
but the wind dried most
of my clothes pretty quick.
after this we went to Winky's Museum
where bits of historical artefacts were kept.
here, we learnt the life of a goldminer.
i found that the Chinese came
to participate in the gold rush too!
a famous man there
(he has a street named after him)
shares the same surname as me!
yup, but the funnest part (is there such word?)
was trying my hand at gold-panning!
it was tough as we had to bend over
the water with the black pan
repeating steps of water-in-water-out
until the big stones were removed
and we were left with "the black stuff".
there, if we were "lucky",
we would find the heavy nuggets of gold.
and when we say nuggets,
they're actually shiny pieces
the size of a fullstop.
honest!
now i appreciate the hard work of
gold miners/panners who slog for hours
just to get that little itty bit of gold.
well, my elder sis & i were fortunate
to find a fullstop worth each
and we could bring those home with us. :)
16December
early morning, river rafting!
four families and my siblings & i
went on a FamilyAdventure thing
to Shotover River once again.
got on a bus and on the way,
we learnt some history again!
we used a different portion of the river
where the rapids were of grade 2.
i was kind of disappointed
because i was looking forward to
faster rapids and more excitement.
i forgot that this was meant for
families with little children as well
so it was mild and pretty safe.
but one thing that i'd not done before
was the rock jump.
and boy, did that petrify me.
what i feared wasn't
standing on the rock,
or making that leap.
but plunging into the river.
i didn't know what went wrong
but my sister explained that
i didn't jump correctly.
i bet she's right,
'cos ever since after i stopped school
more than 1yr ago,
the lack of PE lessons has resulted in
my limbs not going where i want them to.
so instead of making a nice cannonball,
i plunged deeper than was planned.
by the time i surfaced,
the currents had already brought me
almost past the boat.
i couldn't make it
to the outstretched paddle.
i missed the boat.
and that was when i experienced fear.
in order to reach the rescue boat
(i'm thankful for backup plans),
i had to swim like crazy
across the currents to safety.
by now, i had swallowed water
(which by the way, was fresh, not salty),
and whilst the lifejacket
kept me afloat most of the time,
i felt like i was
aimlessly bobbing around the rapids.
i knew i had to focus
on getting to the boat,
yet my (lack of) stamina
wore me down quickly.
somehow, though,
a sudden burst of willpower
brought me to the rescue boat
where i was hauled to safety.
looking back, i now know
what it feels like
to be tossed around,
seemingly
helpless.
but in truth, i'm not all that helpless.
(another God-moment. :) )
i was reminded of the song
by Casting Crowns,
Who Am I.
a line in the chorus kind of
captured what i felt.
although i don't suppose
it was explicitly applicable,
i was just reminded of it.
anyway, that was river rafting. :P
the bbq we had after that was good.
all of us (even the little 4yr old)
took a nice-sized rock
to throw down from the
Shotover Bungy area.
it was 304m above the river
and we all took turns
to release the rock into the water.
(we were warned to ensure
there weren't any jetboats around!)
it took around 6seconds
before the explosion-like sound was heard.
that was cool. :)
17December
beginning the familyadventures:
onboard TSS Earnslaw!
we took the steamship,
which was launched on the same day
as the Titanic in 1912,
(but it's survived!)
and sailed across
the beautiful Lake Wakatipu.
we arrived at a farm
(i forgot the name)
where we first had a nice buffet lunch.
(over-ate.. ugh.)
this was followed by
a little tour of the farm
and we got to feed the sheep!
uh, well, i didn't.
they were actually pretty big
and their rushing toward
anyone holding out their hand
was kinda intimidating for me.
but i managed to take
some pretty pictures
of my elder sis who was
brave enough to risk
being stampeded by baah-baahs.
haha. :P
then we saw how a shepherd
rounds his flock
with the help of his sheepdog!
it was really interesting how
the border collie named Storm
did his job, not with barks,
but with his eyes.
hard to describe, but it was cool. :)
then we got to see
how sheep are shorn!
haha.
the shepherd had a good sense of humor,
so even though i've seen how it's done before,
this experience was much more engaging.
after that, and watching how wool is spun,
my siblings and i went horseback riding!!
woohoo! :D
that was scary yet enjoyable!
we got all geared up,
learnt how to mount a horse,
then each got to pick one!
first, DaJie chose Beauty,
who lived up to her name,
and was black as coal.
then MeiMei made her pick
and got Rosie,
a brown mare with a white streak
down her forehead.
so i got Monty,
the only stallion.
he was tall,
mostly black, with hints of brown
on his face and belly.
what i liked most about his looks
was the white diamond on the forehead. :)
his height made mounting him daunting,
but i managed anyway.
the horses were well-trained
to follow the guide
who was on her horse, Milly
so it was almost a breeze,
save for the part where
i had to sit up so straight
in order to could balance
(oh, wait- that happens to be most parts!)
haha. :P
we went out the gate, on the path
and guess who's horse
needed to use the bathroom first?
MINE. :P
it was really funny,
'cos i didn't know why he stopped
and i kept clicking,
indicating for him to follow Rosie
who was infront of him.
then our guide Amy had to shoutout
to me what was happening.
haha. :)
we eventually made it to the top
i think it was a hill
and i burst out in song! (quietly)
the hills are alive, with the sound of music~
then we started our descent
where my stubborn stallion
kept stopping to munch on the tall grass.
that resulted in two more toilet breaks,
and an unpleasant time for poor Beauty
who was behind us,
having to tolerant
the sound and odour
of the flatulence
of which Monty had bountiful. >.< but it was fun!
we tried trotting with the horses
and whilst it was almost frightful,
i think i still did okay. :)
then we did some phototaking
in the beautiful garden at the cottage.
manymany pretty flowers,
i think my elder sis got some nice pics.
then it was back on the ship
and back to Queenstown!
i got to steer the ship!
haha. well, at least i looked like i did.
the captain was really friendly
and i got a photo with him as well. :D
well, one busy tiring day!
okayokay, i'm kinda TOO lazy
to recall what i did the rest of the days
but i know that this was a really
enjoyable trip where the family
had bit of time to relax.
but still,
i'm glad to be back. =]
