It's a pity we weren't given window seat. I quickly grabbed my cam and rushed to the toilet area window to capture this scene just before it disappears
South Island 17 Dec 2008 - 1 Jan 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
New Zealand Dec 2008
Taken from the SQ flight just few minutes before descending. Great weather and nice blue sky!
It's a pity we weren't given window seat. I quickly grabbed my cam and rushed to the toilet area window to capture this scene just before it disappears
It's a pity we weren't given window seat. I quickly grabbed my cam and rushed to the toilet area window to capture this scene just before it disappears
Day 1 - Short walkabout in Christchurch
We decided to take a day rest in Christchurch to adjust to the 5 hours time zone difference. We collected our rental car and had late lunch in the city.
The city wasn't as interesting as i thought :P Felt like a toned-down version of Melbourne.
One of the shop front
The city wasn't as interesting as i thought :P Felt like a toned-down version of Melbourne.
One of the shop front
There were little cloud that day and the sun was blazing hot making it a little difficult to get a decent flower shot :P
Mandatory Rest :)
We returned to our motel early to rest and relax and to sleep off our 5 hours jet lag. My friend's plan worked and we recuperated quite fast the following day.
Oh btw, I think one of the best way to start adjusting to the time zone is to adjust your watch as soon as you board the plane. That way you can trick your brain into adjusting to the new time everytime you check your watch in the flight.. :P Worked for me :)
Day 2 - Lake Tekapo
On the first day, weather was blazing hot, but guess what? South Island then poured for the next 2 days. It rained and rained and rained.. I missed the sun in the gloomy days.. lol
We had a good rest the day before and set out to drive to Lake Tekapo. It's about 2 hours relaxing drive from Christchurch.
Church of the Good Shepherd
Another view of the church
A good picnic spot
We drove up to Mt John, well known for its excellent star gazing activities. The location has one of the clearest skies in the world!
But no thanks to the cloudy weather, no chance for us to star gaze tonight... sad..
We drove back down from Mt John and took a walk along Lake Tekapo. What a wet day!
I like the direction of the grasses.. :P The wet weather made this interesting.. :P
We saw a lot of these lupin flowers here. It's colorful and pretty. But I heard that the locals weren't too fond of them :P
I like this bunch too.. looks like it's glowing..
Dead tree trunk. It looked burnt.. i'm assuming someone's trying to make firewood? :P haha..
Btw, Lake Tekapo is famously known for its turqoise colored lake. Interestingly it gets its colour from the rock-flour (ground by glaciers) suspended in the water.
We had a good rest the day before and set out to drive to Lake Tekapo. It's about 2 hours relaxing drive from Christchurch.
Church of the Good Shepherd
Another view of the church
A good picnic spot
We drove up to Mt John, well known for its excellent star gazing activities. The location has one of the clearest skies in the world!
But no thanks to the cloudy weather, no chance for us to star gaze tonight... sad..
We drove back down from Mt John and took a walk along Lake Tekapo. What a wet day!
I like the direction of the grasses.. :P The wet weather made this interesting.. :P
We saw a lot of these lupin flowers here. It's colorful and pretty. But I heard that the locals weren't too fond of them :P
I like this bunch too.. looks like it's glowing..
Dead tree trunk. It looked burnt.. i'm assuming someone's trying to make firewood? :P haha..
Btw, Lake Tekapo is famously known for its turqoise colored lake. Interestingly it gets its colour from the rock-flour (ground by glaciers) suspended in the water.
Lake Tekapo YHA
We found a lot of stones with drawing at the Youth hostel's lounge where we stayed.
I can almost feel the happiness and excitement in the drawings and writings.. :D
I can almost feel the happiness and excitement in the drawings and writings.. :D
Day 3 - Enroute to Mt Cook Village
Well, the main plan today is to drive to Oamaru, about 2.5 hours away from Lake Tekapo. But I couldn't resist not going to Mt Cook Village. So I squeeze this into our itinerary.. :P
It is STILL raining.... after 2 days.. the fear that i will be shooting nothing but dark, miserable, gloomy and depressing images creeps in.. lol..
After driving in the rain for 2 hours, we know that we are near Mt Cook Village. The weather changes very suddenly. The next minute we know, our inner windscreen started to fog. And then, we could hear mini stones hitting our car. Slowly we realised that it's hail stones! Since it's our first encounter with hail stone, we felt excited and a little scared :P
And then, the amazing thing happened as we drove on. IT STARTED TO SNOW!! In summer! You bet we didn't expect it to snow so heavily in matter of minutes! (In fact, we didn't expect it to snow at all!)
We stopped at the road side to take in the shock.. haha.. there was another car right in front of us doing the same thing. Guess we are not alone in the shock.. lol
The snow got heavier and heavier.. So fun and exciting and scary.. :P
After wiping the snow covered windscreen, we decided to turn back. We weren't sure if the car is condition for snow and it's not funny to take risk.. :P
It is STILL raining.... after 2 days.. the fear that i will be shooting nothing but dark, miserable, gloomy and depressing images creeps in.. lol..
After driving in the rain for 2 hours, we know that we are near Mt Cook Village. The weather changes very suddenly. The next minute we know, our inner windscreen started to fog. And then, we could hear mini stones hitting our car. Slowly we realised that it's hail stones! Since it's our first encounter with hail stone, we felt excited and a little scared :P
And then, the amazing thing happened as we drove on. IT STARTED TO SNOW!! In summer! You bet we didn't expect it to snow so heavily in matter of minutes! (In fact, we didn't expect it to snow at all!)
We stopped at the road side to take in the shock.. haha.. there was another car right in front of us doing the same thing. Guess we are not alone in the shock.. lol
The snow got heavier and heavier.. So fun and exciting and scary.. :P
After wiping the snow covered windscreen, we decided to turn back. We weren't sure if the car is condition for snow and it's not funny to take risk.. :P
Another mandatory rest :P
After checking into our Oamaru motel in the evening, it's still pouring outside.. We didn't feel like getting drenched again, so it's chilled-out-time in the motel with some beer and cheezels.. lol.. sinful.. but yummy ~~~
Day 4 - Moeraki Boulders
The first thing I did after waking up was to check on the weather outside. Surprise, surprise... the sun came out finally after hiding for 2 days! THANK GOD! lol.. After checking out from our Oamaru motel, we drove to Moeraki Boulders, the naturally rounded shape boulders lying on the beach.
We walked towards the beach and saw this big group of family. I like the lighting and shadow formed at this scene.
The messy stuff on the beach are seaweed. It is unsightly but I read somewhere that many residents choose to leave it alone instead of cleaning it. The seaweed gets washed out to the ocean naturally. Something to do with letting nature run its course :P
Strolling along the beach towards the boulder
We parked too far from the boulder. So it's a bit of walking. I didn't quite mind actually. I was just simply glad that it wasn't raining anymore :P
Along the way, I spotted this father and son pair with their pet dog. I love how they interact. I quietly set my cam to drive mode and fire away...lol..
The first boulder I encountered
I like the sun light, half hidden by the cloud. The boulder shines nicely :)
More boulders.. i thought they looked like some big tortoises back.. lol..
One lone white rock. Does this count? Guess not.. lol
A group of the boulders
By the time i walk to this part of the beach, my jeans are already drenched at the knee level. Too engrossed with the shooting.. haha.. Btw, some of the boulders were cracked. If you noticed, the rock on the far left are part of the cracked boulder.
We walked towards the beach and saw this big group of family. I like the lighting and shadow formed at this scene.
The messy stuff on the beach are seaweed. It is unsightly but I read somewhere that many residents choose to leave it alone instead of cleaning it. The seaweed gets washed out to the ocean naturally. Something to do with letting nature run its course :P
Strolling along the beach towards the boulder
We parked too far from the boulder. So it's a bit of walking. I didn't quite mind actually. I was just simply glad that it wasn't raining anymore :P
Along the way, I spotted this father and son pair with their pet dog. I love how they interact. I quietly set my cam to drive mode and fire away...lol..
The first boulder I encountered
I like the sun light, half hidden by the cloud. The boulder shines nicely :)
More boulders.. i thought they looked like some big tortoises back.. lol..
One lone white rock. Does this count? Guess not.. lol
A group of the boulders
By the time i walk to this part of the beach, my jeans are already drenched at the knee level. Too engrossed with the shooting.. haha.. Btw, some of the boulders were cracked. If you noticed, the rock on the far left are part of the cracked boulder.
Continuing our journey
Before that, we gotta walk back to our car :P Did I mentioned that we parked at the other carpark FAR, FAR away from the boulders?
After exiting at another end of the beach, we saw 3 of these deer-like animals. I'm not sure what they are actually called.. :P
Walking back to our car. It's somewhere near those tiny trees on the far left.. haha.. Looks like we are the only ones taking this route. Guess you can say that we are 'off the beaten track'... lol...
Still walking...
and walking... i can see our car in the form of a tiny specks...
After exiting at another end of the beach, we saw 3 of these deer-like animals. I'm not sure what they are actually called.. :P
Walking back to our car. It's somewhere near those tiny trees on the far left.. haha.. Looks like we are the only ones taking this route. Guess you can say that we are 'off the beaten track'... lol...
Still walking...
and walking... i can see our car in the form of a tiny specks...
Day 5 - On the way to Lake Te Anau
We checked out from our motel at Dunedin, it's more of a rest stop here before we drive to Lake Te Anau.
On the way to Lake Te Anau. Can you spot the lone cow? :P
Blue skies and nice sceneries along the way :D
Passing by a bridge at one of the town
More greens..
On the way to Lake Te Anau. Can you spot the lone cow? :P
Blue skies and nice sceneries along the way :D
Passing by a bridge at one of the town
More greens..
Lake Te Anau
After a long drive (about 4 hours from Dunedin), we finally reached Lake Te Anau!
We checked in to the nice resort style motel just next to Lake Te Anau.
After a little unpacking, we took a nice walk around the lake. Wanted to catch a movie featuring Milford Sound.
Some silhouette captured along the way.. :p
Scenic flight packages to Milford Sound can be found here. Dig deep into your pockets.. lol
One of the 'i' information centre that can be found all over NZ
One of the many locations available to take the scenic flight. During the daytime, you can hear a lot of plane buzzing over the lake.. :P Btw, you'll need to prepare about NZ$300 for the ride. In case you are wondering, we didn't take the flight here. We are saving our $ for the heli hike at Franz Josef Glacier later on :)
Btw, if you are interested to take the scenic flight to Milford Sound, a more value for money option would be to take the scenic flight from Lake Wanaka instead. You pay just a little bit more but the flight journey is much longer. (the usual option is to take from Lake Te Anau or from Queenstown but the ride is shorter)
We checked in to the nice resort style motel just next to Lake Te Anau.
After a little unpacking, we took a nice walk around the lake. Wanted to catch a movie featuring Milford Sound.
Some silhouette captured along the way.. :p
Scenic flight packages to Milford Sound can be found here. Dig deep into your pockets.. lol
One of the 'i' information centre that can be found all over NZ
One of the many locations available to take the scenic flight. During the daytime, you can hear a lot of plane buzzing over the lake.. :P Btw, you'll need to prepare about NZ$300 for the ride. In case you are wondering, we didn't take the flight here. We are saving our $ for the heli hike at Franz Josef Glacier later on :)
Btw, if you are interested to take the scenic flight to Milford Sound, a more value for money option would be to take the scenic flight from Lake Wanaka instead. You pay just a little bit more but the flight journey is much longer. (the usual option is to take from Lake Te Anau or from Queenstown but the ride is shorter)
Sunset at Lake Te Anau
Guess what, the sun sets only at around 9.30pm during summer in NZ! I can take my time to complete the daytime itinerary and yet still have time to slowly take my sunset photos.. lol..
i tried to take photos of the duckies swimming by the lake earlier on.. they ended up looking like little patches of dirt on my photos.. lol..
I shot the photos till 10.50pm... lol.. after that it started to become completely dark and quiet. it freaks me out a little.. lol.. i was surprised that I was the only one shooting despite it being one of the popular sunset location.. :P Luckily our motel is just next to it.. lol.. i can run home in 5 minutes.. haha..
i tried to take photos of the duckies swimming by the lake earlier on.. they ended up looking like little patches of dirt on my photos.. lol..
I shot the photos till 10.50pm... lol.. after that it started to become completely dark and quiet. it freaks me out a little.. lol.. i was surprised that I was the only one shooting despite it being one of the popular sunset location.. :P Luckily our motel is just next to it.. lol.. i can run home in 5 minutes.. haha..
Day 6 - The drive to Milford Sound
We woke up really early for the drive to Milford Sound. I think I got up at 5.30am or so...zzz
We started the journey at about 7am to catch the 10.30am Nature Cruise. Actually it takes about 2 hours to reach but since we weren't familiar with the route, we didn't wanted to rush too much. We pre-booked the cruise prior to the trip via the internet and had a 10% discount for that :)
Along the way, we stopped at this gorgeous scenery! Low cloud, nice river with lots of pretty lupins! The sighboard says 'Eglinton River' here.
We were expecting the weather to be cloudy and even rain since Milford Sound has the second highest rainfall in the world (after mountains of Tahiti)!
We started the journey at about 7am to catch the 10.30am Nature Cruise. Actually it takes about 2 hours to reach but since we weren't familiar with the route, we didn't wanted to rush too much. We pre-booked the cruise prior to the trip via the internet and had a 10% discount for that :)
Along the way, we stopped at this gorgeous scenery! Low cloud, nice river with lots of pretty lupins! The sighboard says 'Eglinton River' here.
We were expecting the weather to be cloudy and even rain since Milford Sound has the second highest rainfall in the world (after mountains of Tahiti)!
Reaching Milford Sound
We finally reached Milford Sound at around 9am! We kinda missed some of the stops along the way though :P The weather is so sunny! We thought it would rain since Milford Sound has over 200 rainy days... what are the odd? -_- Actually we wanted it to rain cos' we will then be able to see tonnes of rainbow and mist.. Oh well.. sunny is good for taking pix.. lol
If you are interested to go, I suggest getting one of the pamplets listing the stops along the route. We didn't have one. By the time we see some of the signs, we were just mere seconds away from the stops.. -__-""
I love this place! You'd think that you are in paradise..!
This is the vessel we will be boarding shortly. It looked pretty cool!
Off we go! This LOTR-like scenery appeared before us... *jaw dropping*
If you are interested to go, I suggest getting one of the pamplets listing the stops along the route. We didn't have one. By the time we see some of the signs, we were just mere seconds away from the stops.. -__-""
I love this place! You'd think that you are in paradise..!
This is the vessel we will be boarding shortly. It looked pretty cool!
Off we go! This LOTR-like scenery appeared before us... *jaw dropping*
The sail was released when we were about to exit the sound as the wind was getting stronger
Sailing back into the Sound once again
Along the way, we saw a few dolphins swimming along our vessel and we also saw some seals resting by some rocks! A rare treat according to our guide. I took video instead, so no photos here.. :P
Another cruise boat passed by us. you can compare the vessel and the mountains to gauge the size of the place. Another group of dolphins were swimming along their boat as well.. :)
Sailing back into the Sound once again
Along the way, we saw a few dolphins swimming along our vessel and we also saw some seals resting by some rocks! A rare treat according to our guide. I took video instead, so no photos here.. :P
Another cruise boat passed by us. you can compare the vessel and the mountains to gauge the size of the place. Another group of dolphins were swimming along their boat as well.. :)
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