15.07.2004

Today just wasn't my day. Made me think Friday the 13th had arrived.
Woke up early and checked out of our hostel in the morning, before catching the shuttle to the airport for our flight to Auckland. The shuttle ride costs us 7.5 bucks. I'm fast running out of cash. Think I will try selling Darryl away soon.
Check in was early at the airport, so we just lounged around the place and took some pictures of airplanes taking off and landing. It was during this time that I made the biggest mistake of the trip so far. I deleted my skydiving video on my cam by mistake. DAMN. I'm still pissed now. I probably should go skydive again.
Our plane took us to Weliington for a 10min stop over, before heading on towards Auckland. We arrived in the City of Sails at approximately 1.30pm. Hired a shuttle to our hostel, and realised that the fare costs us 13 dollars. Damn shuttle drivers make big bucks. Anyway, we checked into the Fat Camel again, but this time they had no twin room. Images of sharing a bed with Darryl flashed across my mind again, and I hurriedly asked if there were dorms available. Luckily there was. Unfortunately, they allocated us to a dorm with only guys in it. Gary, an Irish, and another Canadian guy whose name I couldn't catch, were sleeping in the dorm when we made our appearance. We struck up conversation, and found out that all 'ang-moh' guys were really horny. Gary professed that he likes Asians, especially Thais. Well I guess Asian girls like white men too. After all, they are better endowed as compared to their Asian counterparts. Heh.

12.07.2004

Woke up early to catch the bus to Greymouth today. Said farewell to Fahimi and David, had a quick breakfast, and then we were off. The ride to Greymouth took us about 4 hrs, during which we stopped along a couple of lakes for a view of the spectacular scenery. Its kinda amazing how such a big body of water can actually act as a giant mirror...
Reached Greymouth at about 1.15pm. Checked in our luggage, and waited for the train to Christchurch to arrive at 1.45pm. Darryl went to the toilet at the last minute and was nearly late for the boarding call. I was almost tempted to leave that moron behind and head onto Christchurch myself. Heh. Train ride was another 5 hrs through what was now becoming boring and normal scenery. We slept through most of the journey, though I did wake up to take a few splendid shots of gorges and rivers as the train zipped along.
Arrived at Christchurch at 1815 hrs, collected our stuff, and boarded a shuttle that took us to our hostel. The Occidental Backpackers looked cool from outside, it was pretty big, the rooms had a common balcony, and there was a cafe and bar. We paid 67 bucks for 3 nights, which was quite cheap actually. Dinner was another affair of overcooked pasta with too much pasta sauce. I was still hungry enough to eat a cow after the meal. If anyone asks me why I've lost weight over the past few weeks, I'm gonna smack him. Turned in early that night since there wasn't much else to do. Lucky for me, the room had a double decker bed. After my experience sharing a bed with Darryl in Fox Glacier, I think I'd rather sleep with a cow.

13.07.2004

10.07.2004

Went to Fox Glacier today. Stupid bus ride took us 10 hrs to get there from Nelson. I was feeling sad to be leaving behind sunny Nelson and the cute jap babes we just got to know while playing Scrabble..haha. Anyway, we met this friendly English chap named Chris on the bus, a solo traveller from Sussex, England. He's purely travelling, and he's been to tons of exotic places like Vietnam, Laos and the Phillipines, so I guess he must be pretty loaded.
Stopped at Punakaiki for awhile, the view at Pancake Rocks were really nice. Too bad I left my cam on the bus, and I was too lazy to head back to get it. The place was called Pancake rocks, because the rocks there are actually layers of limestone, compressed over millenia by silt, sand and sea to achieve the stacked 'pancakes' appearance. The sea has been eroding the rock strata for a long time, and really funny and beautiful formations were formed as a result. There were blowholes where waves sent spouts of seawater many feet high into the air; graceful arches just off the coast where seagulls love to roost; small coves and caves tucked behind a headland... sounds great doesn't it? Darryl and I were too busy trying to find suitable pebbles as souveneirs for our irritating friends back home to enjoy the view much though...hehheh

08.07.2004

07.07.2004

Today has gotta be the most boring and uninteresting day since the start of the trip. Walked around the town centre, visited the parliament buildings, museums and what have you. Lunch was late, eaten at a shopping mall where we paid 8.50 bucks for a very large serving of chinese food. Just realised that Wellington is infested with Malaysian restaurants and eateries. Well Malaysian chinese are cute too, that all that I care about really. Couple of really 'china' chinese approached us preaching the gospel in CHINESE. What a turn off. As if preaching wasn't bad enough, they had to do it in the language I sucked at. They invited us to their performance at the church on this Sat, too bad we are leaving tomorrow for the South Island. One of them is kinda cute, what a waste. Raining really heavily just now, so here's this boring update. More to come soon.

05.07.2004

04.07.2004

The climate here in Rotorua is amazingly cold, I woke up with my feet feeling like blocks of ice. Brunch was biscuits procured from the local supermarket and instant 3 in 1 milo. Its incredible how we are still alive now, considering that we only eat two meals a day, both usually made up of Nissin chicken flavour noodles and hot milo or coffee. Only on the last day in town, we head out to some not-to-expensive eatery for a decent meal that leaves us wondering why we put ourselves through all this torture anyway. Oh well, enough complaining, I guess I'm just still hungry. The cows and sheep along the roads are starting to look really tempting though....
We couldn't decide on the day's activities, since Darryl was all for white water rafting and bungy jumping, while I was tending towards the more conventional walk around town and a nice warm bed. In the end, we decided to visit the Agrodome, where most of the leisure and adventure activities in Rotorua are located. On the shuttle bus, we met this German lady who was travelling alone, and she told us that she had done the bungy just a couple of days ago. That fired up our courage abit. But, after arriving on the site, witnessing the height of the platform and the blood-curdling screams of customers too stupid to listen to their common senses, I must say that we didn't feel so brave then. In fact, I nearly crapped in my pants after seeing people do the Swoop. We dallied around for 20min or so, trying to bolster our courage for the jump, until we finally decided that we would do the Swoop first. If we haven't died by then, we would try the bungy. The Swoop is a sport in which 2 or 3 persons are secured in a bag each, leaving your head and hands free. They are then brought up to a height of 53m, where one of them would then have to pull a ripcord that releases them from the securing pin. They then proceed to fall and swing through the air for 1min before they are lowered back on to the ground. Sounds fun doesn't it? Well I can tell you that it doesn't look as much fun hanging in the air 53m above ground. So we went ahead with the ride, jumped in and secured ourselves in our strait jackets, and waited nervously as the platform rasied us to the required height. My stomach was doing acrobatics by the time we had reached the starting point, and I had trouble tugging at the ripcord when they told us to begin. After a couple of fumbles, I managed to release the ripcord, and off we went, falling, falling and falling. And then, the momentum of the drop carried us upwards, and at the peak of the swing, we were poised in midair for half a second, before the ground came rushing towards us again. In all, it was rather like flying, though I wouldn't know much since I have not flown before. Darryl was shrieking and screaming his head off in gibberish, while I was trying to prevent my previous meal from escaping through my mouth. But it was fun, we had our adrenalin rushes, and we agreed that it was enough for a day.
Up next, we tried our hands at zorbing. Now this is an activity that looked safe enough, at least to me. In zorbing, a person enters a large rubber ball in which he may or may not be secured, depending on the type of activity he chose. The ball is then released from its starting point,and it proceeds to roll down a hill to the end point. If the zorbonaut, as what the locals call those who zorb, is secured to handstraps and stuff, he will be rolling head over heels down the hill, and if he's not, its just like a long slide. We went ahead and booked ourselves for the wet zorb, which on posters, looked like the zorbonaut was riding the ball across water. We changed to the spare clothes they provided us for a fee, and then headed up to the starting point. Once we were inside our respective balls, the attendant proceeded to fill the chambers we were in with warm spa water. At last, it was beginning to feel good. But the water keep on coming, and I thought that the guy was trying to drown me inside my ball, when he finally stopped. The water level was around knee level, comfy enough for me. The ball was then released and I rolled down the hill, tumbling and sloshing about in the chamber as though I was trapped inside a giant washing machine. Then I saw the stream ahead. Apparently that was the water body I was supposed to roll across. Wow. The whole thing was barely 1m in diameter. After hitting the end point, I got out feeling, wet, cold and dizzy. As I made my way back to the changing rooms, I saw Darryl's ball coming down the hill. I hope he drowns inside. So much for zorbing which cost me 40 bucks.
Heading back to town after our ride, we then proceeded to the Polynesian Spa. Entry to the adult mineral pools costs 9 bucks, while half hour and full hour spa therapies cost 65 and 130 dollars respectively. I opted for the half hour therapy, hoping for some extra services along the way, but sadly they were all booked for the day. Damn. So we all went on to the mineral pools, where the water was green and smelled and tasted like rotten eggs. At least it was warm. We caught sight of a couple of babes in the pool, too bad there were guys with them. We soaked ourselves in there for about an hour, and then we got out and headed to town for dinner.
Another thing I realised is that somehow, Asian females in foreign countries generally look better than their counterparts back home. Take a hint, girls. Winter clothes make guys drool. Dinner at the local chinese restaurant saw two cute and pretty chinese waitresses serving us. Darryl was an embarrassment when he tried reading out the dishes in chinese, and when the waitress confirmed the order in better english than he could ever dream of acheiving, I felt like hiding in a hole. Singaporeans are such cocksters. Oh, I just spilled my drink over my jeans. Damn.

02.07.2004

01.07.2004

Its a cold and grey morning. Last night, the wind was blowing so hard that the windows were rattling in their panes. I thought the hostel building would collapse. And I initially thought they were shaking because of what the couple a few doors down were doing...Luckily, or unluckily, it didn't, and I woke up at 7.30am only to find that I can't feel my feet. What a great way to start the day eh? Breakfast was a quick affair, a cuppa hot Milo and some cereals we managed to filch from the common pantry.
We checked out after breakfast and headed outside to the train station for our train to Otorohanga. The winds had not abated abit since last night, and I almost regretted coming to NZ. The train was late, apparently there was a major storm last night that took out part of the railway in the centre of the north island. The train company were trying their best to rectify the problem, but it was 30min after the scheduled departure time before our train left the station. It was a 3hr journey to Otorohanga from Auckland, and I thought to enjoy the scenery along the way. No such luck. The sleep demon found me first.
Our taxi was waiting for us at Otorohanga station after we disembarked. A 15min ride through beautiful countryside took us to the sleepy little village of Waitomo. Booked a twin room in the Kiwi Paka backpackers hostel, and it turned out to be a triple room actually after checking. Of course, I reserved the larger bed for myself. What a great deal. Went horse trekking in the countryside for 2 hrs after putting down our baggage. My horse, with a nondescipt name of Danny, looked every bit the opposite of what you might expect of a horse with such an ordinary name. It was bigger than the other horses, it was black, it was a stallion, and it smelled bad. I took a liking to it instantly. It kinda reminded me of the war horses in the LOTR. After learning the basic controls and mounting procedures, we were off to explore the countryside with a couple of guides, one of which was a cute American named Megan who was staying at the ranch for a couple of months. After 5min of riding, my butt felt like it was ready to fall off. My horse, for all its powerful looks, doesn't like to move fast, in fact it doesn't even like to move. There were times when I tried to spur it on a little faster, and it ended up in a headlong run to catch up with the others in front, during which I was bouncing up and down like a rag doll on my balls. Did I mention that my balls hurt? After the whole ride was over, I hurt in at least a dozen places which included my arse and my crotch. Well, at least the feeling of freedom was worth it. A word of advice to other aspiring jockeys, you better have some good crotch protection ready when you try riding a horse, unless of course you don't have any balls to speak of. At last, I was beginning to feel like some medieval knight; like Aragorn....yes... I think I shall name my horse Sauron...muahahahaha...

29.06.2004

Another bright, sunny and cloudless day in Sydney. I woke up late, and had to jostle with other backpackers for a share of the free breakfast. Breakfast is just like what they serve in the SAF, white bread with jam and butter. Oh well, at least its free.
We decided to go visit the Blue Mountains, 'cos according to Darryl's brother, the scenery is something not to be missed. Left the hostel at around 10am, headed to King's Cross station where we boarded the train. Apparently, the reason why we lost our way yesterday was because we took the nearest landmark to be the train station, when it was actually in fact the police station. Sometimes I scare myself. Anyway, the trains here are not like what we have in Singapore, when they say 'trains', they mean it. The trains we were sitting in had double storey carriages, so there's no lack of seats. We missed the initial train by just 5min, so we decided to wait for the next 30min before the scheduled arrival. It took us 2 hrs just to get to Katoomba, where the temperature is MUCH colder than downtown Sydney. But the long journey and the terrible cold were worth enduring, because the scenery of the Blue Mountains is really spectacular. Went down into the valley for a short walk during which we got to see a waterfall and lush forest undergrowth. My stupid digital camera was acting up again, the battery shows low levels, but I had just charged it. Damn gadgets. We headed back to Katoomba for dinner at a Chinese restaurant run by a Hong Kong couple, where the food is surprisingly good. Caught the 7.25pm train back to Sydney, and proceeded to perform cover and concealment again through King's Cross Street. Damn I'm getting good at this...whee! Wish I had enough money to visit the strip bars though, the pimps' offers are starting to sound good...no, I must control myself...if I did go in, I wouldn't have enough money left to buy myself a rubber float to swim back to Singapore with.

30.06.2004

Today's the day we leave for Auckland. Reveille at 0730 hrs local time, screwed up my breakfast by carbonizing my bread. Well here's to carcinogens and an early demise, cheers! 
We took a shuttle bus from the hostel to the airport, only ending up queuing an hour just to check in. I was still planning to spend some time at the internet cafe before the flight, but the atrociously slow check-in ruined it all for me. This was followed by another long wait to get through immigration. We made it to our plane just as it was taxiing out of its bay...haha well actually we got on just on time. Qantas serves pretty good airline food, followed by delicious ice cream to which I can never say no. And I thought I swore off all airline food after my horrible experience on China Airlines...it gives me the shudders just thinking about that now...
Touched down at Auckland at 4.30pm local time. New Zealand is 4hrs ahead of Singapore, and 2 hrs ahead of Australia, just to let others know. The pilot apparently was a newbie, or he simply likes clouds ALOT. The number of turbulences we experienced before landing was astonishing, and I'm still surprised that I'm still alive writing this. Customs and baggage check at Auckland airport is just as bad as it was over in Sydney, I miss Changi Airport already. We met a San Fransisco school band that performed during the concert we watched at the Opera House back in Sydney. When they asked us how we liked their performance, we lied through our teeth and told them it was wonderful. Of course, what else do you expect us to say? I can't possibly tell them we either slept through most of the concert, or we left without seeing them perform, could I? After all, they are a group of 100 and we are only a couple of morons who made the mistake of making small talk with them.
After surviving the ordeal of getting through customs, it was already dark even though its only 6pm. Booked our Best of NZ travel pass, hopped on a shuttle bus for our hostel. There were a couple of cute chicks on board, too bad they weren't staying at our hostel. Damn. Our hostel, the Fat Camel, is the best we've seen so far. The rooms are actually the individual rooms of apartments converted into small bunks. So far, we haven't seen anyone else sharing the apartment with us, so I guess for $24 per person a night, its a pretty good deal. Dinner was a SFI standard meal served free at the bar downstairs. The food wasn't delicious, but the babes sure are. I hope they make a pass at me later...lol