Yup…I was over at Johor Bahru again for the weekend (I was there on last weekend as well). For this weekend, I travelled to JB with my friends to watch the annual Chingay Parade. It is a street parade held once a year in celebration of the birthdays of revered Chinese deities and is considered part of the Chinese New Year festivities over here in Singapore and Malaysia.
The Chingay Parade in Johor is one of, if not the largest parade of its kind in Malaysia and celebrates 5 Chinese deities (can’t remember their names though), each representing 5 main clans in the state (Cantonese, Hainanese, Hakka, Hokkien and Teochew). It is held annually by the Johor Bahru Old Chinese Temple and Johor Bahru Tiong Hua Association since 1870 on the 21st day of the first month of the Lunar New Year. In fact, the grand parade marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebration for Johor and features a procession of decorated floats, lion dances, dragon dances, street performances, fireworks, etc. By the way, this was my first time watching this Johor Chingay Parade. How exciting….
Enough of the explanation of the parade above. Haha….The parade commenced at 7pm on last Friday (1st March 2024). Hence, me and my colleagues left work slightly earlier that day and immediately made our way to Causeway to cross the immigrations and the bridge over to JB from Singapore side so that we won’t miss the show. My friend’s mom then drove us close to the temple where the parade will begin. We managed to squeeze through to place our huge burning joss sticks at the temporary shrine there right before the parade starts. The crowd was already so massive. There were also row of stalls selling food, beverages and merchandise nearby.
We then had a quick dinner there before joining the parade and walked about 10 kilometres (super long and tiring walk but it was worth it!) all the way to JBCC close to the area where the parade ends (that’s also where the Johor state ruler and Chief Minister of state are watching from their stage). We then stopped and watched almost the entire parade from there right opposite City Square Mall. The atmosphere was so lively and happening. Crowds cheering and performers were hyped to march and perform for visitors to enjoy and snap countless photographs and videos. We were also distributing sweets to the kids lining up the streets with their parents to watch the parade. There’s just so much things to see and so much fun! We even saw some famous Malaysian influencers present to join in the festivities.
There were of course a lot more dragon displays and performances this year as it is the year of the dragon. One of them particularly looks majestic with its glossy aluminium wrap that gave it a very cool metallic appearance accompanied with beaming lights and loud music. There were more than 400 000 of people there during the parade as reported in news. What an evening! The parade took place until close to 12am (5 hours long!) and we had to brace through the crowds and traffic congestions to leave the area.
Stayed the night at my friend’s house. We then went to Mid Valley South Key Mall for window shopping and watch the ‘Dune: Part Two’ on Saturday. It was a super long film that is close to 3 hours long. Felt it was just average and I got bored at several parts. We stayed at JB until noon today so that our trip would not be too rushed and hectic. I just got back home a moment ago and immediately put this post up.
It’s Chinese New Year’s Eve today! Just in time to extend my warmest greeting of a Happy Chinese New Year to you all, particularly to my family, relatives and friends before I’m flying off to Sri Lanka later this afternoon for a 7-days guided trip to the island nation with my parents.
I believe most of us would have already returned to their hometown by now before the much anticipated and a-must family reunion dinner this evening. (For me, I have returned to KL from Singapore on early Wednesday’s morning…that’s pretty early!). Anyway, have a warm and wonderful time ahead with your loved ones on this joyous festival/celebration.
I wonder how much of the following CNY customary activities that I will be doing for this year since I will be away during most of the duration of the festival; paying visit to relatives’ homes, feasting on CNY snacks, playing fireworks/firecrackers, giving/receiving angpows, watching CNY movies, playing mahjong/rummy/poker at home, catching up with one another, etc. In the meantime, I will just be enjoying my vacation at Sri Lanka first which is commencing in a few hours. Will share the highlights of the trip in my next blog post.
Goodbye to Year of the Rabbit! May this Year of the Dragon (yes…dragon displays everywhere!…haha) brings you excellent health, luck and success. Happy Chinese New Year / Happy Spring Festival once again! Gong Xi Fa Cai!
(Images in this post are from various online sources)
It’s already the last weekend of January. Why do I felt like I have just celebrated new year a couple of days ago only? 2024 is going fast! I will be working for a few more days and then I will head back to KL for a long holiday in conjunction with the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration and. During the period, I will be flying to Sri Lanka with my parents for a guided trip. Can’t wait…
Today I went out to quite a number of places since it is such a good weather today. I went to Funan Mall and had a brief stop at National Gallery. I also made my way to Bugis to check out another happening pedestrian street (besides than the one in Chinatown that I visited yesterday) where all CNY stalls were set up. Since I was at Bugis already, I might as well pay a visit to the famous Kwan Im Temple over there. Prayed that things will be smooth for me and most importantly stay healthy for this coming lunar new year.
The place where I spent the most time today is actually at Gardens by the Bay. I went there to have a sneak peek of the CNY displays for the upcoming River Hongbao 2024. It is an annual event that features illuminated displays/lanterns, stage performances and carnival games in conjunction with Chinese New Year festival. I did went for the event once in the past.
This year, the event will take place from 8th Feb to 17th Feb. Unfortunately, I will be back in KL for that entire duration and hence couldn’t go. They should extend the event for another week (at least till the 15th day of CNY which is the last day of the festival) so that many more can have the opportunity to visit. The displays/decorations are still being set up at Gardens by the Bay now (but nearing completion already) and I had a sneak peek of them today.
They would really look beautiful during the event when they are illuminated in the evening. The main highlight/display would be of course the floating dragon around the Supertrees and a huge replica of God of Wealth (still under construction today). Yup… dragon display everywhere as it would be year of the dragon in Chinese calendar for this approaching lunar new year.
Goodbye 2023. It was a year that left me with a lot of good and bad memories, lessons and experiences. It is what it is. We have to move on and I look forward to what 2024 has to offer. 2024 is also a leap year which means we have an extra day this year to live hard, play hard.
May 2024 be a fruitful year for me in various areas. Staying healthy and be positive. Doing smooth at work and perhaps picking up another new skill or two this year. Go on enjoyable trips and meet new people. Hopefully 2024 will be a great year.
For my blog readers out there, as you pursue your hopes and dreams, may this year bring you much success and may your journey be wonderful. That’s it for my first post of the year…keeping it brief and simple.
Today marks exactly one year after I boarded my flight to New Zealand for a once-in-a-lifetime working holiday experience with a friend of mine. Time flies. I dropped everything in Singapore, put a long pause in my career and got out of my comfort zone for that to happen. It was a huge step and a life changing decision that I have never regretted for a second.
Not only I was able to take a break from my work and the hustle and bustle of the urban living in Singapore (now already coming back to it), I was able to do things that I would have never thought of previously in my life; working in a restaurant up on a snow-capped mountain, skiing (although I’m still not great at it), doing challenging long hikes with rewarding views at the end and completing a full-on road trip at the last half of the working holiday. What a journey!
And the views! You just couldn’t resist from taking countless photos in every corner of the country. New Zealand truly lives up to its name for being so magical from its breathtaking natural landscapes, friendly people and peaceful laid-back environment. I have been to quite a number of countries but there’s nothing quite like New Zealand.
Every experience does come with ups and downs. Yes, I covered a lot of places in my road trip from a very detailed itinerary. I think I have visited most if not all of the popular destinations in the country. The trip was smooth, but I felt it was actually way too smooth and jam-packed till I notice that there’s no room for ‘real’ or impromptu experience and no space for me and also my friend to actually truly enjoy or ‘breath’ from the trip some time. It comes to my realization that having a simple loose flexible plan is actually much better and more exciting than having a full plan to stick to in some occasions that has made the experience being too rushed and serious.
Along the way, I made some new friends from all over the world too; from my workplace up on the mountain, from housemates, from Facebook group gathering the Malaysians in New Zealand, etc. I have to admit that I’m not being good in socializing and I may be quiet and tense at times. Me not being proficient in Mandarin is also making things difficult for me to initiate or continue a conversation sometimes. In the end, I would just like to say that they still play a huge part to my working holiday and I do genuinely value their presence.
Nevertheless, my trip to New Zealand no doubt leaves me with beautiful memories and has opened up a part of myself that is no where to be seen before. I’m grateful for that priceless opportunity. I was also fortunate that the working holiday visa finally opens up for application last year after lengthy border closures due to Covid and it was my final year to be eligible to apply due to age limit imposed from the visa requirement. I believe it all comes at the right moment.
I did shared this writing at my social medias today too. There’s just so much thoughts in me especially today when all the memories come kicking in. It’s actually impactful in a positive way as it allows me to cherish, reflect and learn to be better in the future. Once a chapter closes, another one opens. I’m now finding myself leaning towards attempting new things/interests while resuming the reality life of a working adult in Singapore. It simply involves striking a balance between the simple everyday life cycle and doing things I like a.k.a. chasing dream.
The past working holiday in New Zealand is not just a pitstop but rather a major milestone in my life and I’m grateful for every piece of it.
I have returned to Malaysia yesterday after having spent over 7 months for working holiday in New Zealand and subsequent trips in Australia. Time flies. I have been away from home and career for a long time and soon it’s time for me to resume my normal daily life of working in Singapore (or in short; time to get back to reality!). I still have one pending trip to go which is a guided trip of a week to Hokkaido, Japan during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday with my parents. Then when February arrives, it’s time to head back to Singapore to resume the working life I have paused since May 2022.
Here’s the summary of my working holiday in New Zealand (traditionally referred as Aotearoa) from June to December 2022. I had the trip with a close friend which is certainly a good decision to help for cost sharing, switching driving task, taking portrait pictures, and assistance on some areas when needed.
Warning: Long post ahead! Haha…
— Work at The Remarkables —
We first stayed in Queenstown from June to October (4 months) and worked at The Remarkables ski mountain as food and beverage service attendant. Although with low hourly pay, but we got to enjoy benefits such as free lift pass to ski/snowboard, free group lessons, discount on items, free staff transport, etc. However, the number of hours you will be able to work per week aren’t much compared to other professions except for peak period such as during school holidays or special events. Sometimes, adverse weather do prevent the ski mountain from operating and hence we will have no work (with only 2 hours salary) for the day. The staff transport isn’t good too as I recalled for having to wait very long for buses to pick us up to and from the mountain. I do not mind the occasional busy periods during the season but I do admit that I’m quite disturbed by some of my colleagues who weren’t cooperative or working as hard as I do.
The greatest thing of working there for me would be the environment; very lovely indoor setting with beautiful view of snowy landscape and people playing ski or snowboard right outside the windows. I also manage to learn to ski during my off days (went to ski about two to three times a month) although in the end, I’m still pretty much just at the beginner’s level. But that’s fine. So, that’s pretty much sum up the good and ‘not so good’ things about working at the ski mountain from my experience.
— Stay in Queenstown during work —
During early October, we did fly over to Christchurch for a short trip and visited several places mostly in the city. While we were in Queenstown in those 4 months, we did bought a used car for less than NZD4000 (just a small Ford Fiesta car sufficient for the two of us, our luggage and stuff), visited multiple places (Arrowtown, Wanaka, Milford Sound, Glenorchy, St Bathans, Cromwell, Alexandra) and done some popular walking tracks as well.
I almost forgot to mention that we were really very lucky to have found an accommodation in Queenstown even before we arrived in the town as Queenstown is very famous for serious lack of long term accommodations. Queenstown itself is extremely beautiful though and is often regarded as the adventure capital of New Zealand.
— Road trip after work! —
Once the winter concluded and it’s spring by mid of October, the ski mountain closed and we then got on a full-time road trip mode. Our 65 days long road trip started on 18th October 2022 with our first stop being at Invercargill. Here below are the main stops of our road trip in order:
Before road trip (based in Queenstown for 4 months for work):
Queenstown — Christchurch — Queenstown
During road trip (65 days):
South Island
Queenstown — Invercargill — Dunedin — Oamaru — Timaru — Lake Tekapo — Mount Cook — Twizel — Wanaka — Haast — Franz Josef — Hokitika — Greymouth — Westport — Nelson — Kaiteriteri — Takaka — Picton —
North Island
Wellington — New Plymouth — National Park — Taupo — Rotorua — Tauranga — Hamilton — Hahei — Coromandel — Auckland — Paihia — Whangarei — Gisborne — Napier — Masterton — Wellington —
South Island
Kaikoura — Christchurch
As seen above, we first travelled across South Island before heading to North Island by ferry crossing over the Cook Strait. We then travelled across the North Island before coming back to the South Island to explore the remainder of the latter and flying off from Christchurch. In total, we have driven over 11 000 kilometres. We allocated additional few more leisure days in Christchurch for us to sort out our stuff before leaving the country such as selling our car, final packing of our baggage, etc. We roughly spent about half of the 65 days at South Island and half at North Island. Pretty balanced. We did had a one-week getaway to Melbourne, Australia during our road trip hence our road trip only concludes on 28th December 2022. We then flown over to Sydney on 29th December 2023 and later to Perth on early January 2023 for our travel in Australia.
— Itinerary —
If you are keen to do a long road trip across New Zealand and are interested to view our detailed itinerary for your reference, please feel free to download from below link. We planned our itinerary around two months in advance, then made booking for accommodation through Agoda (chosen all the places that offer time-limited free cancellation), and purchased several admission tickets to several popular attractions in advance (such as The Hobbiton Movie Set Tour, Waitomo Glowworm Cave, etc).
Our itinerary may help on your research on where to travel, how much it roughly costs, and how far we have driven. We tried to limit on the places that require high admission fees and we mostly filled our activities that come with no charges such as doing walking tracks (walking tracks are the ones that are going to reward you with breathtaking scenic views and good exercise…haha…and we had done over 50 walking tracks in total).
We didn’t do any attractions that emphasize on traditional Maori people or culture, didn’t visit any wineries (which New Zealand has a lot) because we are not into wines or alcohols, didn’t do much adventurous or thrilling activities mostly due to cost as highlighted earlier. I would recommend to allow for a break day occasionally for you to rest (it’s actually quite tiring to keep on travelling too!). This also helps on a little flexibility on rearranging some attractions/places to visit due to weather condition or road closure.
— Budget —
By the way, we always kept our limited budget in mind when planning these previously. We stayed in mostly backpacker accommodations or cabin at holiday parks (had private bedroom but with shared bathroom; with this we can put our stuff securely in our room and not needing to sleep with strangers in a same tiny room). We set our budget so that our single-day accommodation for one person does not exceed NZD50 and single-day meals for one person does not exceed NZD40. We also have to set aside an amount for emergency use, car servicing or maintenance, car petrol, mobile bills, occasional grocery shopping and other expenses such as parking fees. These were all estimated and tabulated in our detailed itinerary.
— The usually poor weather! —
We had our road trip from spring to early summer. There were a lot of rainy days during our road trip as I recalled (almost 6 out of 10 days are rainy days!) unfortunately. On some occasions where we couldn’t rearrange our itinerary that much (due to time constraint, accommodation’s booking already beyond free-cancellation period, continuous days of bad weather or other reasons) we continued on but had to cancel or cut short on some places. A waterproof jacket or raincoat is a must. The rainy days do quite affect our trip! They affect the quality of the views and pictures we took at several places too under poor weather condition.
— The 4 seasons in New Zealand —
I was quite shocked of hoe the 4 seasons turn out in New Zealand. During winter, sun rises at about 8am and sunset is about 5pm. During summer, sun rises as early as 5am and sunset is over 9pm with the sky still quite bright even at 10pm. What an experience going through this! And I thought summer in any country would be hot. It’s not the case in New Zealand. The highest temperature I have experienced during summer was only about 24 degree celsius (that’s still consider cold to me especially with wind). Hence, I wear jacket most of the time including during the summer season. There is also this daylight saving time system adopted in New Zealand (heard about it previously and this was first time experience…oh no; my one hour was robbed! Haha).
— The food and the people —
I don’t really fancy Western food and hence when I’m in New Zealand, it was quite tough for me. There aren’t many Asian population in the country and it’s quite hard to find Asian food especially when we were in small towns. There isn’t many choices for Western food either. In summary, not much dining options across the country unless you are in big cities like Auckland and Wellington. Nothing to shout out for for their food in general too. That’s my personal opinion…sorry to the Kiwis if they are seeing this. The locals (called the Kiwis) are very friendly and welcoming though. Didn’t have any major issue communicating with them and no racism felt at all.
Having meals outside are also super expensive in New Zealand. Hence, during our stay in Queenstown, we mostly cooked at home for cost saving.
— The things out of our control and things we missed out —
No things are perfect including our trip. At first, we were only granted a 6-months long working holiday visa. After our work during the winter season, we only had less than 2 months for our road trip. That would be insufficient to cover all the places we would like to visit in New Zealand. Hence, we purposely flown over to Australia (went to Melbourne) for a one-week vacation on early December 2022 (when our working holiday visa expire) and come back to New Zealand under tourist visa. After we had bought our flight tickets, New Zealand government announced extension of another 6 months to our visa. Hmm…if that was announced earlier, we could have do the road trip all at once and avoid the trouble of flying out and in back.
We also had occasional issues with our car especially one major one right before our road trip commenced that made us panicked as it may affect our plan and above all, our safety. Fortunately, we were able to resolve that but with huge sum of money in the end. It’s also very hard to find mechanics that will attend to you directly and you have to make booking many days in advance even if it is not during peak period.
What we missed out during our trip in New Zealand is the chance to view the magnificent Southern Lights (Aurora Australis). It’s one of our wishes to see this while we were in New Zealand. There was a day when there was high activity recorded (we downloaded an app that track the aurora). We went out and up to the mountain to try to see it but as it was very cloudy, we didn’t get to see anything in the end.
We can said that we have travelled across about 85% of the whole country of New Zealand. There are still some places that we didn’t get to visit such as the Stewart Island, the entire area north of Gisborne at North Island, and several small towns. Anyway, at least we got to see most of New Zealand including the very rare kiwi bird in one of the wildlife parks.
— My Most Favourites? —
North or South Island?
My preference is North Island because of the more variety of different type of landscapes you can see at the North Island (I’m particularly fascinated by the unique geothermal places and surreal volcanic landscapes at the North Island while South Island doesn’t have these). South Island is filled with plenty of beautiful mountains, lakes and rivers though but they all looked pretty much similar after you have seen the first few of them. It’s also more convenient to find food, accommodation or other stuff at North Island as this island is way more populous than South Island. There are at least several major cities at North Island and there is only one major city (Christchurch) in South Island.
National Park?
Definitely Tongariro National Park (surreal volcanic landscape as mentioned earlier over here and the 8-hours hike over the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was very memorable with unbelievable views!). Mount Cook National Park comes in close second for its beautiful snow-capped mountains, glaciers and valleys. Egmont National Park is my pick for third place due to its spectacular Mount Taranaki. Mount Aspiring National Park and Arthur’s Pass National Park are worthy of a mention here too.
Waterfall?
There are a lot of waterfalls in New Zealand but I find that none of them that I have seen truly amazes me. They are not particularly large too. My top 5 picks in no particular order are The Devil’s Punchbowl Falls, Waipunga Falls, Rainbow Falls, Taranaki Falls, and Thunder Creek Falls.
Museum?
1 – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. 2 – Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland. 3 – Air Force Museum, Christchurch.
Art Gallery?
1 – Steampunk HQ, Oamaru. 2 – Auckland Art Gallery and Christchurch Art Gallery (tie). 3 – Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth.
1 – Milford Sound cruise. 2 – Whale watching cruise at Kaikoura. 3 – Hole in the Rock dolphin cruise at Bay of Islands.
Historical street/city architecture?
1 – Dunedin. 2 – Nelson. 3 – Napier.
Overall View?
1 – Tongariro National Park (particularly from the Tongariro Alpine Crossing).
2 – Mount Taranaki from the Reflective Tarn.
3 – Milford Sound (from cruise and from the road journey getting into Milford Sound from Te Anau).
4 – Mount Cook from Hooker Valley track.
5 – Wanaka from Roy’s Peak.
6 – Bay of Islands from Urupukapuka Island (reached from a cruise).
7 – Queenstown from Queenstown Hill.
8 – Great Coast Road on the West Coast in South Island.
9 – Cape Palliser scenery including along the Cape Palliser road.
10 – Auckland city skyline from Cyril Bassett VC Lookout.
That’s all for the summary of my working holiday in New Zealand on second half of last year. I certainly had an unforgettable and wonderful experience during my stay and road trip over on that beautiful country. You can literally find beautiful scenic views from anywhere in the country easily. The natural landscapes at New Zealand are hard to beat when compared to other countries I have visited in the past.
I joined a Facebook group called ‘New Zealand Travel Tips (NZTT)’ and it is quite a useful page to ask questions, search for information or latest travel updates and even get discounts on certain attractions. If you are planning to visit New Zealand and have some questions, feel free to drop me a message too. And last but not least, thank you if you have read all the way to this point.
No road trip this week but there was still a trip and it was at a much further location. Me and my friend flew to Christchurch on last Tuesday and came back yesterday for a great 3 days 2 nights holiday. The flight tickets for those days are coincidentally cheaper too. We stayed at Parkview at Hagley Hotel for the 2 nights.
On Day 1, once we reached Christchurch Airport, we went for a lunch in Westfield Riccarton Mall before checking in to the hotel which is quite nearby. Then, we went to Hagley Park North which is just opposite our hotel to check out the famous pathway in the park lined with cherry blossom trees. However, when we were there, all those trees were no longer blooming. We were late by around two weeks (time when their blooms were at the peak). We were so disappointed. We then walked to the nearby Botanic Gardens. There are a lot of things to see here from art sculptures, different areas of gardens, small lakes, conservatories, etc.
After that, we paid a quick visit to Canterbury Museum (free entry) and walked around the beautiful historical building complex called Arts Centre. The vibe here is so cool with those beautifully preserved heritage architecture. We then had a sumptuous Japanese premium buffet dinner at Koji Restaurant before calling it a day.
On Day 2, our first destination was the Air Force Museum. We were amazed by huge collection of war aircrafts in this museum which is also complimentary to visit. Next, we went to Brockworth Street Art Gallery where a series of murals were painted on wall along a pedestrian walkway in a neighbourhood. That is quite interesting but the location is quite hard to find and I was expecting the gallery to be at least a little longer.
Next, we head to the city area for sightseeing, Our first stop in the city is New Regent Street. The street is very short but looks cool when its famous city tram passes through it. Our second stop is the Cathedral Square. Here, we saw the ruin of the Christchurch Cathedral previously damaged by 2011 earthquake. The cathedral is now undergoing reconstruction. Our third stop is the Christchurch Art Gallery (entry is free as well). Got to see some fascinating art displays in here but mostly didn’t get what those exhibits inside mean. Proves again that I’m an ‘architecture’ person, not an ‘art’ person.
On Day 3 (last day in Christchurch), we head to Westfield Riccarton Mall again for window shopping before having dimsum for lunch in a Chinese restaurant few bus stops away. Then, in the afternoon, we proceeded back to the city area to visit the Transitional Cathedral. This cathedral designed by famous Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban is constructed of cardboard tubes (forming massive roof), timber, steel, concrete and polycarbon. Unfortunately, there was a private event on-going in the cathedral and I couldn’t get in. We then head to view Bridge of Remembrance (historical bridge built as a memorial to those lives lost in the past World War I).
We also walked around the City Mall nearby (pedestrian mall) as well as The Crossing mall (also in the vicinity). We then paid a visit to the Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial along the Avon River, built in memory to the 185 lives lost and those injured from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Finally, we had our early dinner at the Riverside Market before heading to the airport for flight back to Queenstown in the evening.
That wraps up the highlight of my brief 3 days 2 nights trip to Christchurch, New Zealand. I believed we have visited most of the major attractions in this beautiful city. We will still come back to this city in the finale of our planned 2-months long road trip later on. If you are interested, you can actually view more of my photos of this trip (there are 50 photos) in my Facebook or Instagram page.
Today is my off-day for the week and hence an opportunity for yet another road trip to nearby places from Queenstown. For this week, me and my friend were opting for St. Bathans’ Blue Lake with several stops along the way; Kawarau Gorge, Cromwell, Clyde and Alexandra. St. Bathans is only about 2 hours drive from Queenstown.
This will be most likely our last one-day road trip from Queenstown as we will be soon embarking on a full-time road trip (over 2 months) across the entire New Zealand from mid of next month. We have about a little more than 2 weeks of work left before The Remarkables ski mountain closes for the season. It is already spring here and temperature is getting much warmer now.
The first stop of the day is at the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge. This bridge is the location for the famous AJ Hackett Bungy Jump (world’s first commercial bungy jump operation). Well, I was just a spectator watching other people doing the stunt. I find the price too expensive and I also don’t think I have the courage to do that.
Next, we moved on to Cromwell, a town known for many fruit orchards surrounding it. That is why we saw a huge fruits’ sculpture there. We also went to explore its heritage precinct located next to Lake Dunstan. Beautiful lake view along with several restored historical buildings in that area. We didn’t left the town without a brief stop at the town’s lookout point.
After that, we went to Clyde. Here, we quickly viewed the Clyde Dam, Clyde Bridge and passed through its old town. We didn’t spend much time here as we have to go straight to Alexandra for lunch and more stops ahead. At Alexandra, we checked out its Historic Bridge and saw the famous Clock on the Hill.
We then went to our last stop; St Bathans’ Blue Lake. It was actually an old mining pit. Once it was abandoned and then slowly filled with water, the remaining minerals in the soil gave the lake a distinctive emerald color. The lake is surrounded by exposed cliffs and walking tracks. When we viewed the lake, we didn’t really find the lake’s color striking (probably due to the cloudy weather during our visit). It is more to greyish and I have no choice to edit the colour of the lake’s photos to make it more emerald-like as it should be.
There goes the end of my one-day road trip today. Not too tired (distance is not that far and there isn’t much walking required today as well). Before ending the post, I would like to inform that my blog here will be witnessing its 14th anniversary tomorrow (28th September 2022). Happy 14th birthday to my blog! Started way back in 2008 and I’m still having it pretty much active with frequent new posts (thanks to me) and constant views (thanks to you)! It is certainly on a roll!
Me and my friends originally planned to have a quick one-day road trip to Cromwell, Alexandra and St. Bathans yesterday. However, we had to postpone the plan after noticing bad weather from weather forecast we checked on Monday. Then, we saw that the weather would be perfectly fine today at Milford Sound and hence we immediately agreed to this destination for this week’s road trip instead.
If you didn’t know what is Milford Sound; it is a fiord (long narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs created by glacier) located on south-west of New Zealand’s South Island. The place is about 4 hours drive from Queenstown and is acclaimed as the country’s most famous tourist destination. It has been always called as the eighth wonder of the world too, hence a must-visit place when you are in New Zealand!
We took a cruise for a leisurely sightseeing along the fiord. The cruise took a little less than 2 hours and goes all the way close to the mouth of the fiord that opens up to the Tasman Sea. Spectacular cliffs, breathtaking snow-capped mountains, impressive waterfalls and pristine waterbody surround the area with every view along the cruise that will leave you truly amazed. It is unfortunate though that we didn’t get to see any wildlife though that are usually spotted there like seals, penguins and even dolphins.
There are also much lesser waterfalls visible today as compared to videos taken of the place by other people in the past that were shared on YouTube. One of the best parts of the cruise is that they brought us closer to one of the larger waterfalls to have a real feel of the intensity of water falling off from a great height (although the time the cruise stopped there was too brief). Anyway, the views are no less spectacular and the overall place do reminds me of Halong Bay at Vietnam with very similar features.
We didn’t just go to one place today for the road trip. There were also a lot of beautiful lookout points along the way to Milford Sound from Te Anau. We also spotted a lot of kea (a threatened species of large parrot native to New Zealand’s South Island only). By the way, we also paid a quick visit to Te Anau (checked out its beautiful lake and had lunch at this town) and Manapouri (also saw its lake and beach) since these two small towns are along the route to Milford Sound from Queenstown.
We depart from Queenstown at about 5.30am and only returned home at 8.00pm. Certainly a long tiring day but was feeling great and awesome to have visited Milford Sound. Truly a remarkable place.
Tuesday and Wednesday are my weekly off days from work at The Remarkables ski restaurant and hence these two days have become my ‘weekends’ now. It was very good and clear weather on those two days this week and hence I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to head out for some fun!
On yesterday, me and my friend head out back to The Remarkables not to work, but to ski. I fell down much less often this time and managed to complete one entire beginner’s (green) route without any fall at all. That was an improvement that I’m quite happy for and it looks like my skiing skill is progressing. The snow was pretty good and it was clear and sunny all day long yesterday, making it a perfect day for skiing.
The schedule was a bit more busier today. In the morning, we went for a walk up to the Queenstown Hill, The track up to the summit of the hill took about one and a half hour. Some parts of the track are quite steep and also slippery due to several icy and wet surface (this hazard is expected when you are hiking up a hill during winter). It was quite an exhausting hike but the view at the summit made up for it! The panoramic view over Queenstown, The Remarkables, Lake Wakatipu and all the mountains at the background are truly spectacular! There was also an interesting sculpture called ‘Basket of Dreams’ near the summit where you must not leave without taking a picture with it. Then, it took us about 45 minutes to head back down from the hill.
In the afternoon, we went to Glenorchy, a small town about 45km away from Queenstown (about 45 minutes drive from Queenstown) for a quick trip just to snap some cool pictures. The most photographed landmark in that small town is none other than the small Glenorchy Wharf Shed in red colour. There is also a jetty just behind the shed that offers visitors another spot for some photo taking as well with snow capped mountains and the lake as the backdrop.
Since we were already in Glenorchy, we travelled a bit further up to a rural place called ‘Paradise’ which has been used as settings in films and television. I have no idea why the place is called ‘Paradise’ but at least now I can say I have been to the ‘paradise’ on Earth! The surrounding area here is pretty much empty and is used for sheep and cattle farming. Finally, we head back to Queenstown in late afternoon for an early dinner at a Thai restaurant before going back home. It was a tiring but a very satisfying day with fascinating visits to Queenstown Hill and Glenorchy (took so many photos today…) before ending the day with an awesome dinner!
Vincent Loy's Online Journal 