http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/ A Journey Down Under - A Singaporean's Trip to Australia and New Zealand Thu, 15 Jul 2004 23:05:04 PDT http://www.blogdrive.com Copyright 2004. http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/archive/11.html Fri, 16 Jul 2004 07:02:39 GMT 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.... (more) http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/comments?id=11 http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/archive/10.html Wed, 14 Jul 2004 08:18:42 GMT 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... (more) http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/comments?id=10 http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/archive/9.html Tue, 13 Jul 2004 06:46:06 GMT 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... (more) http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/comments?id=9 http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/archive/8.html Fri, 09 Jul 2004 09:00:43 GMT 08.07.2004 'Twas a grey morning when we checked out of our Wellington hostel, hopped onto the shuttle bys that took us to the Interislander ferry terminal. Checked in our luggage, changed our boarding passes, and waited for about 45min before the boarding call was announced. Boarding the ferry itself took damn long, but the two absolutely cute jap babes in front of us were worth the wait. The journey to Picton took 3 hrs, during which we got to see fantastic scenery. We arrived in Picton at around 12.30pm, and we had to wait a long time before our baggage finally appeared. We nearly... (more) http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/comments?id=8 http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/archive/7.html Wed, 07 Jul 2004 07:42:33 GMT 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... (more) http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/comments?id=7 http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/archive/6.html Tue, 06 Jul 2004 02:49:46 GMT 05.07.2004 Right after the previous update, Darryl and I went on to try our hands at white water rafting at the Kaituna River. The brochure claims that it has the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world, about 7m tall. Of course, after reading that and having experienced the numbing cold of NZ's waters in black water rafting, I was all for a day long soak at the spa. Somehow, Darryl managed to bug me so much until I finally agreed to go. A shuttle bus picked us up at our hostel at 12.30pm. Just a sidenote, time here in NZ is weird. 12am to them is actually noon, and 12pm is... (more) http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/comments?id=6 http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/archive/5.html Mon, 05 Jul 2004 00:05:13 GMT 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... (more) http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/comments?id=5 http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/archive/4.html Sat, 03 Jul 2004 07:57:51 GMT 02.07.2004 Slept in late today, first time since the start of our trip. Headed out for an expensive and not-too-appetising breakfast at the local cafe, before leaving on our blackwater rafting trip. The guide took us to the headquarters where we were issued our wetsuits and equipment. The wetsuits felt slimy, wet and disgusting, but it kept me surprisingly warm from the biting cold and freezing rain. It took me about 15min to struggle into my wetsuit, long after everyone else had finished changing. And then we were off to the startoff point. Spent 20min familiarising and practising... (more) http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/comments?id=4 http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/archive/3.html Thu, 01 Jul 2004 08:07:59 GMT 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... (more) http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/comments?id=3 http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/archive/2.html Wed, 30 Jun 2004 10:08:02 GMT 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... (more) http://timberwolf.blogdrive.com/comments?id=2