Christchurch and Queenstown Trip (25/12/12-2/1/13) – Part 7

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On 30th December 2012 morning, we headed back to Christchurch.


We managed to have a stop at Jone’s Fruit Stall at Cromwell again! I like this place!


Why? Free tasting ;p lots of fresh fruits and snacks to try hehehe…


Continued with our journey to Christchurch…


Left: One of the views.
RIght: Shrek the sheep. Very famous sheep. What’s the story? [Read it here]


Lake Tekapo again! YAY! This time we had longer time here. Took a lot of photos.


Nice?



Different views along the way.


Stopped at Geraldine for a short toilet break.


Here we are in Christchurch. The bus stopped at the airport to dropped off people.


Left: A park in Christchurch.
Right: One of the badly damaged buildings in the city.



The damage done by the earthquake 2 years ago was really bad. The city is basically now in very bad condition.

More post of Christchurch coming soon. That’s all for now. It’s a long weekend tomorrow so I’m going off for a road trip to Robe.

Going Places, Kia Ora - Christchurch & Queenstown

Santos Tour Down Under 2013 – Prospect to Lobethal (22/1/2013)

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Santos Tour Down Under is one of the biggest cycling events in the world. So lucky to be part of it. Normally, I would never thought of going to such event. I didn’t make it to the race last year because I was in Busan. This year, I decided to join the tour with other UniSA’s students to cheer the uni’s team. I figured that I must go this year as this is my first and my last since I missed it last year even though I had registered for it.


First stop was at Prospect. Didn’t really get to see the starting of the race as we had to rush to Checkers Hill. We left just before the race started.


One of the bicycles of one of the cyclists.


UniSA’s boy was interviewed before the race at the starting line.


Here I am, Checkers Hill. We waited for them to come up the hill. Very steep! Luckily our bus dropped us right on top of the hill. Really got no energy at all to go all the way up by foot! It was hot! Not only the weather but the men were hot too! 😛


Left: Enthusiasts’ bicycles parked at the hill.
Right: Some of the cars with various mascots on it.


Here they are at Lobethal racing towards the finishing line!!


Left: The whole race took more than 3 1/2 hour which covered a distant of 135KM.
Right: One of the winners.


More winners of different titles. The one in the first and last photo is the student of UniSA. So proud of him! Not only putting the uni in the news but Queensland and also Australia.

Here’s the video taken at Checkers Hill where the King of the Mountain title was taken by none other than UniSA’s student, Jordan Kerby, but the video only showing those cyclists after him, and followed by the footage of the race in Lobethal.

Didn’t get to take photos of winners reaching the finishing line. Bad timing and didn’t get any good spot for it.

Finding Myself - Adelaide, Going Places, Public Events

Christchurch and Queenstown Trip (25/12/12-2/1/13) – Part 6

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The next day, we didn’t want to risk it anymore and check-out extremely early to wait for our transport to Milford Sound tour. We actually started to wait for the taxi half hour in advance.

Here we go…


The bus was amazing! Comfortable seat and allowed great views from inside the bus. Blessing in disguise. If we were on the tour yesterday, then the view won’t be this great. Some more we found out, we were sent on a more expensive tour package than what we paid initially. How nice? Things really happened for a reason.


First stop, Te Anau for first stop.


The most expensive toilet trip ever! NZD1/entry -.-” Didn’t know there’s other toilet, so ended up here. Everyone rushed in this toilet after alighted from the bus. I didn’t fully utilize the facilities though hahaha… My friend did.



Took some photos while waiting for the bus to continue with the journey.


We stopped at Mirror Lakes. Nice!


Another toilet stop as this is the only fully functional toilet. There won’t be any along the way except the long drop toilet *LOL* Everyone rushed in for it as afraid that there won’t be any proper toilet anymore.


Indeed, there’s no stop for any toilet.


Left: Magnificent view!

Right: We went on a very short jungle trekking, the rainforest in NZ.


It’s similar to what we have back home.


Milford Sound, here we are…


On the cruise with our picnic lunch. Rather expensive for just these. NZD17 for it but luckily ours were already included in the booking with the other company. The one we were with did not include it in their package and it’s more expensive than what we booked.


Very strong wind and it was raining that day.



The highlights of the cruise. The seals and the waterfall. The whole trip was 12 hours+


So tired… We were so lucky to have the taxi sent us to our new accommodation, Hippo Lodge. Another blessing in disguise. If we went on the trip the day before, it would mean we would be lugging our luggage all the way up the staircase and hill! Instead, now we had taxi sent us straight to the door step.


I booked the room with ensuite. We were surprised with how good the whole thing was. It was NZD88/night. Too bad we only stayed here for a night. What’s more, it’s less than 12 hour! It’s so near to the town centre. Highly recommended.


The next morning, we had to go to the bus stop to go back to Christchurch. It was not easy with our belongings but at least better than the staircase. We decided to go along the road travelled by car instead of the staircase. I don’t think I will be able to get all my things down the tiny and steep staircase in one piece.

We almost missed our bus again despite going to the bus stop 45 minutes before the departure time as we didn’t know it was sub-contracted to another company instead of the one we booked with. -.-” Gosh… Again… We didn’t check the ticket properly.

Going Places, Kia Ora - Christchurch & Queenstown

Going Home Soon

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It’s really heavy to leave Adelaide but at the same time I’m glad to be leaving. How contradicting?!?!? I love Adelaide but I also love Kuching. Once I leave, coming back in near future or even in the future is rather impossible.

There’s so much memories here, good and bad. I made lots of new friends here from many countries and even those from other states of Malaysia.

Besides that, I had fallen in love here too. Even though it was a short one but it’s good and sweet enough to be part of my experience that I will never forget.

I had also worked in a restaurant which I would never had done so in Malaysia.

What’s most important is that, I had finally fulfilled my dream of studying overseas.

In fact, finding my other half here is also part of the plan but oh well… I guess my other half is not here after all. Maybe he’s in Kuching or some other place waiting for me? Who knows?

While I’m here, I also managed to travel a fair bit. I’ve been to Gold Coast and Brisbane (AUS), Busan (Korea), Christchurch and Queenstown (NZ), soon will be Melbourne. I don’t think I’ll have the chance to visit other places such as Perth, Hobart, Sydney, and all the other major places in Australia. Maybe next time but it will mean more money required and won’t be in near future. However, these are good enough for me as I’m using my own money which I earned here working casually and my own efforts without asking any from my parents.

I’ve been staying here in Adelaide for more than one and half year and came across websites that provide massive discount using services vouchers or restaurant vouchers. Never heard about such thing in Malaysia. It was very interesting and I had signed up a few Australian based ones but didn’t buy any of them hahaha…

These days, I’ve been seeing friends in Malaysia talking about such vouchers. I had checked the site called Groupon and the deals were all amazing! I’m going home in March, most likely early March. This means I get to enjoy all these amazing deals and save lots of money! Friends are all so excited whenever they bought the vouchers.

So Kuching! I’m gonna be back in March and I’m gonna haunt you again! Hopefully can re-established myself in Kuching’s blogsphere again after going missing for quite a period of time.

Finding Myself - Adelaide, Personal Events

Compilation of 20/12/2012 Graduation Ceremony Photos

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Finally got the other batch of photos from my friend. Since I’m so free got nothing much to do, I did some compilation of all the photos which are my favourites and also photos of friends who came to take photos with me.

Family wasn’t there that time, many other friends all went back home either for good or holiday or some were working. These were who were left who were able to be there with me. Thanks to all who made the effort to come 🙂

Here’s the video, my appearance is at rather the end of the video ;p 57 minutes into the ceremony.

Sigh… Going home in less than 2 months 🙁 So heavy to leave…

Finding Myself - Adelaide, Me, myself and I, Personal Events