Sherril's favourite quote....

"......so that we can do great things in future"

By Dorae-ong

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

1 Day Trip: Picton–Havelock

It was a spontaneous plan to go Picton for a day trip. Yesterday was a very sunny day, very suitable for outdoor trip. So after late breakfast, asked for brief guide to interesting places in Picton and there we set off happily Smile

Was really sunny, but the digital display at Blenheim Town Centre showed the temperature was 15°C. The sunshine was burning hot, but the breeze was cold.

Picton is a small town. One of activities that must be done is to go to Queen Charlotte Drive. It is a scenic drive that links between Picton and Havelock. There are several stops throughout the way that you can stop to have wonderful view of the drive.

DSC_0033


The one thing that we did was to go Queen Charlotte Track,

DSC_0058Shyuan and Chian

If you were to complete the entire track it will take about 2 to 3 days to finish. We of course did not do the entire track as time was limited. So we chose to go Davies Bay, the 1st stop of the track which took about 1.5 hours for a return trip.

DSC_0061


DSC_0082Davies Bay


DSC_0095
Queen Charlotte Drive

DSC_0054

DSC_0052

After completed the track, I thought we should just head to Havelock and have mussels since it was just about 15km from the track. I mean, when will we go Havelock, since it is such a small town with almost nothing much to see? So just grab this chance and have a nice nice meal, which we have not had for quite some time Smile

Saw these cute post boxes on our way out from Queen Charlotte Track.

assorted post boxes


There was a heritage trail in Havelock, which maybe take you 10 minutes to finish. Yeah, the town is that small.

Some of the buildings included in heritage trail.

DSC_0140
Havelock Museum

DSC_0164
St. Peter’s Church

DSC_0158
Look at the wall

We heard from Min and Kai Li, sisters we met in hostel, that we should try mussels at The Mussel Pot if we were to go Havelock. So, we of course went… until we found a hole in our wallets haha.

DSC_0226
The Mussel Pot – The Mussel Specialist

Since Shyuan does not eat mussel, she ordered Beer Battered Fish and Chips.

DSC_0191
Beer battered fish and chips

For me and Chian, we ordered a pot of steamed mussels and a chicken burger to share.

DSC_0185
Chicken Burger (the sauce is unique)

DSC_0192
Steamed mussels with garlic, white wine & herbsThumbs up

Guess how many mussels are there in the pot?

Guess

Guess

Guess

It’s a total of 18 ( if not mistaken). But it’s just plus or minus 1. Quite a lot I would say. Totally love it! Red heart

By the way, do you know how to eat your mussels?

If you do not know, then read this!

DSC_0182

Let me show you how Smile

DSC_0199  DSC_0206
Use the 1st shell to take out your mussel and tadaa!

eating mussels
A delicious and filling dinner!

After an early dinner, we headed back to Blenheim. It was a sunset drive back hostel and decided that we should go for sunrise the next daySmile 

 

DSC_0256
Ship leaving Picton Harbour

DSC_0259
Picton Harbour – looked busy


Was night time when we reached our hostel.

DSC_0281


We could not wait for the next day to come because we were anxious to watch sunrise at the beach!

Stay tuned for sunrise pictures!

Take care peeps! Cheers!

 

-sherril=xuele-

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Sight Seeing in South Island of NZ

Hello people! Finally I have a place to online and update a blog post. Life over here is pretty good, just that the weather is getting colder and we are still jobless, at the moment XD But soon, most probably next week, we will start to work non-stop for at least a month.

To those who love spectacular sceneries, NZ is really a place that you should visit. Not only the place is lovely, the people are friendly as well. A really nice country indeed Red heart

The life pace here is quite slow, and I am wondering when I go home, will my footsteps become slower as well? Haha. Become old lady liao when I go back XD

Been travelling around South Island before settling down in Blenheim, where I am now at. When we first arrived, Fern was still with us hence we toured around and went sight seeing every single day. After she left us and went Aukland, we travelled up to Nelson to find jobs before coming to Blenheim.

sheepIn the land of sheep


Will be working soon, so let’s hope that the weather will turn good soon, because it is an outdoor job!

We were lucky enough because during our journey we met many kind and helpful people. Some are local, some are from Hong Kong, China, German, Israel etc etc. 感激不尽!谢谢啦!

 

Akaroa –> Chez La Mer Backpackers

chez la mer

One of the best accommodations Smile

From Christchurch, we went Akaroa. A small and quiet town. Till now, I still feel that Akaroa is one of the best towns I really love. Nice and quiet with very lovely view. A must-go place!

 

Lake Tekapo

lake tekapo 3

lake tekapo

lake tekapo 2

lake tekapo - church of the good shepherdChurch of the Good Shepherd

kohan bentoKohan Bento

After spending 2 nights at Akaroa (this shows how much we love the town) we drove straight to Lake Tekapo.

Lake Tekapo is one of lakes that you must visit! Very very very nice view. And if you are a salmon lover, please do visit Kohan Japanese Restaurant 湖 at Lake Tekapo. The salmon that they served are very very fresh and delicious. Way better than those that I ate back in Malaysia. Me and Fern nearly teared because the salmon was soooooo good Smile

After staying a night at Lake Tekapa we headed to Mount Cook.

 

Mount Cook

mount cook 2

We chose Hooker Valley route, was expected to finish the journey back to the starting point by 3 to 4 hours, but we spent 5 hours doing it. Definitely not a second time for me! Was exhausted at the end. The beginning of the route was nice and sceneries of the glaciers were really beautiful.

But to spend 3 hours + +  walking to the end point and realized that the view was not that nice… really just made us go =_=’’’’’’’’ . We thought the ice bergs at the lake should be very nice (if not why people spend such a long time walking just to see them?), but really turned out to be a huge disappointment.

mount cookDoing a jumpshot at the end point

If I were to go back, I will choose the 1 hour route haha. But Mount Cook is a must-go place as well. Nice scenery!

After walking for hours, we spent a night at Omarama before heading to Wanaka.

 

Wanaka

wanaka - puzzling world

Our first stop was Puzzling World before checking in our hostel. Inside puzzling world you are led into illusion rooms and spend hours in a maze finding your way out haha.

puzzling world 2
Read this, it’s 100% true!

puzzling world
Guess, who is this? You should know!

The faces are indeed concave, and when we walked, the eyes were really seemed to be following you around. Amazing!

puzzling world 3
Part of the maze

That weekend Wanaka was busy with A&P event. First time we saw traffic jam in NZ.

After Wanaka, we went Queenstown!

 

Queenstown

After Kohan Bento in Lake Tekapo, one of our luxurious meals was at Fergburger.

fergburger2

A very famous burger in Queenstown that you must try! I think it’s way bigger and taste better than Carl’s Jr.  Next time I will need to share a burger with someone. Who wants to share?? XD

fergburger

If you love extreme sports, Queenstown is full of them! What you need is just lots of $$$$$$$$. You can do sky diving, bungy jump, sky swing, paragliding and the list goes on. As all of us have not found job and was shortage of $$, so Fern alone went sky swing.

Which was really unexpected to me. Because Fern would have not done something like that. But glad that she tried it Smile

Took the gondola up with her. The weather then was rainy and super cold!

queenstown gondola

 

sky swingHer weight and size

queenstown sky swing
The platform was just beside the gondola


queestown sky swing 2
She swing to the view of entire Queenstown

Remember, look at the weather forecast before booking your sports. Choose a sunny day if not, you will not be able to enjoy the magnificent view!

 

Te Anau & Milford Sound

Te Anau

We spent a night at Te Anau before heading for a day trip to Milford Sound. Hmm to me Milford Sound is something like our cruise experience back in 张家界 / 长江三峡.

On the way to Milford Sound,

milford sound

 

mirror lake
Mirror Lake

milford sound 2
Our cruise to Milford Sound

s
Rainbow!

Our next target is Doubtful Sound!

After sending Fern to Queenstown Airport we headed straight to Franz Joseph to spend a night before driving all the way up to Nelson. My 1st time driving for like 6 hours. LOL

Nelson

We stayed at “The Palace Backpackers” in Nelson for 3 nights. Spent time searching for jobs as well as sight seeing.

the palace

Really got PALACE eh feel Open-mouthed smile

 

nelson

For the first time, we felt really hot and sweating in NZ! Haha yeah we miss the hot weather in Malaysia LOL.

On Saturday, we went to Nelson Saturday Market. There are lots to see. They sell many different things, some are cute, some are unique, some are odd… they are just different from our pasar malam.

DSC_0198

Mirrors

nelson 2

Aluminium-can made things
(the old man is the maker)

 

DSC_0202

When we saw CHINESE FOOD, we went crazy, We wanted to buy but we need to preserve our cash. So 只好望梅止渴. Haih. I miss CHINESE food, I miss dim sum, I miss tomyam, I miss curry, I miss CHILLI, I miss laksa, I miss char koay teow……

Penang is really a heaven of good food. Makes me miss those delicacies so much. Here our meals are just bread, rice, spaghetti…..

And I miss my family and friends, especially him. But that does not stop me from staying here till our visa end haha.

Take care peeps! Will update again when I have the chance to as gonna start work soon.

Cheers!

 

-sherril=xuele-