In three more months, we will have to leave Queenstown to start on our full-time travel across New Zealand before our working holiday visa ends on early December. If we are not able to complete the planned trip before early December (and we have to leave since our working holiday visa expires by then), we will most probably go on a brief stop to a city in Australia and then departs back to New Zealand to finish up the remaining planned trip.
We have actually not making any real plans yet on our full-time travel around New Zealand as mentioned above despite being here for over a month by now. It’s time to commence on the necessary research to plan out the road trip across North and South Island, choose the suitable walking trails at the picturesque national parks, find cool complimentary and paid attractions to visit, search for budget-friendly guided tours and accommodations, etc. There’s quite a lot of homework to do to ensure the full-time travel later on will go as smooth as possible without missing any major destinations while staying below our budgets and schedule.
So far, some of the places that I am keen to visit later on would be the Milford Sound, Hobbiton (sets for the famous Lord of the Rings film series), Kaikoura (for whale watching!), Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, Wai-o-Tapu pools, Lake Tekapo, Bay of Islands, Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony, Blue Pools, and some adventurous national parks. We will certainly cross through these cities or towns as well along the way; Oamaru, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Nelson, Rotorua, Hamilton, Auckland, etc.
On a side note, I have recently completed watching a TVB series called ‘Big White Duel 2’. It is a medical-themed drama and is a direct sequel to 2019’s ‘Big White Duel’. This 30-episodes drama starred Roger Kwok, Kenneth Ma, Moses Chan, Nancy Wu, Natalie Tong, Kelly Cheung, etc (that’s 3 TV Kings and 2 TV Queens there!…what a cast!). The first series didn’t leave a huge impression on me and yet it won best drama at the TVB Anniversary Awards that year.
I actually think this sequel is slightly better than its predecessor. It features more cast (Moses and Nancy are great addition here, although it is a bit disappointing that Ali Lee who was in the first series dropped out of this sequel), more relatable accident-driven medical cases, and more engaging conflicts between the characters. That’s all for my review on this drama. I have nothing further to comment. It is a solid drama that stays in the same path as its predecessor (similarly going in a distinct political direction) rather than the typical storylines of plenty of previous medical dramas. Out of 10, I rate ‘Big White Duel 2’ a total of 7.7.
(Images in this post are from various online sources)
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