Chez La Mer @ Akaroa

It's been a week since Katy & Therese dropped me here, and I am loving every single day here. For starters, I like running the hostel on weekends, don't really mind the cleaning in the morning, and absolutely love sitting out in the garden under the sun!

I will have one more week in this pretty lil hostel before I make my way back up north. Having a bit of a mixed feelings. Am happy to go see some friends before I head back to Hamilton and pick up my stuff to go home, but at the same time I really wanna stay here longer...or maybe forever??

But I know that I'm wanted back home.. at least sissy would be happy to have me back home again. Don't worry girl, I'll be back in 22 days.. Hang in there ok ?

A holiday within my holiday

A quick look at my calendar, and I realised that I only have one more month in NZ, and that will be the end of my holiday. oh dear.

As I planned out my last one month in NZ, I realised that I don't have much time to waste, so I drew up a concise 30 day plan. As a result, I have also decided to go out to Christchurch this week as I don't want to spend time there when I leave Akaroa. I was lucky enough to catch a ride with Alan & Linda - an Australian couple who stayed here on Monday night. They were such nice people, and it was a great drive out over the Banks Peninsula.

I had to catch a $7 shuttle from the airport to the city, but it was just a small price to pay compared to how much the Akaroa Shuttle would have cost me. I checked myself into Coachman Backpackers as that was the nearest hostel, though I was only carry half the weight of my usual luggage, I thought there wasn't a need to walk that far to stay in a hostel for the same price. Christchurch is a very nice city, and the very wide roads makes it look bigger than it is. I hopped on the Christchurch Tram, and did a loop around the city before I explored further on foot. I made a quick decision to go to Hanmer Springs the next day, have always wanted to go there, eversince I saw the ad of Hanmer Springs Hot pools. So I made my booking at the i-site, and walked away as a happier person,just poorer by $74.

Met up with Victor for dinner, and had Japanese food. Yum ! It was a good place and seems to be very popular as the little restaurant was quite full even on a weekday. My dinner cost me $11 for a beef teriyaki with Japanese Curry, and the meal also came with unlimited salad, rice, miso soup and water. It was a good deal aye?

Met up with Soon Young for a bit, just in case I don't see her again before I leave NZ. Victor and I then went for a lil walk around Christchurch, he showed me some of the nice places in the city, and we made a quick stop at the casino. In the ladies room, they have a coin-operated hair straightener.. I thought that was pretty weird. Maybe some ladies have better luck if their hair was nice and straight. Hmm..

The weather then went harsh on us and started pouring, so I got dropped off back at my hostel at 10.30pm..went to bed straight away.. and I slept like a baby.

My shuttle was at 9.30am, and it was a 2 hours ride into Hanmer Springs. Found out that Nadine was on the same shuttle, we both have the same idea obviously. But she was only on a day trip as she needs to fly home the next day.

Hanmer Springs is a nice lil town, almost too small infact. But it's a great place for a one night retreat. I got myself settled down at Hanmer Backpackers, and ate my lunch -a Chicken and Camberie pie from Hanmer Bakery. It was yum ! I have all evening to soak in the pools, so I thought I'll do a short walk. Took the track up to Conical Hill to check out the view of the whole Hanmer Springs. It's amazing how it's a view of pine trees and snowy mountains on one side of the place, and just flat grounds on the other side. The view was breathtaking...at least the track up the hill was !

I went into the hot pools at 4.30pm, and didn't get out till 7.30pm ! I felt like a sponge then, warm and wrinkly, but definitely more refreshed though ! Had a quiet and early night back at the hostel.

It was a good lil trip out to Christchurch and Hanmer. Met up with Therese and Katy before I went back into Akaroa. Well, Katy was just a plain coincidence. :)

From a farm to the sea

Meanderine Farm Stay
That was where I was for 5 days, it was a fun filled stay on the lovely farm with the many animals. The farm is in North Loburn, Rangiora - that's 30 mins from Christchurch. Therese has been woofing on this farm for bout a month, and her host said it was ok for me to stay a few days if I was willing to do some work for a few hours. And I am damn glad I did go and stay with her instead of coming straight to Akaroa. The farm was a lovely place, there were hundreds of animals on it! Well if you count all the ducks, geese, chickens and the fishes.. I think there should be 500 animals. When i first enter the living room, the dogs were just jumping on me... and I wasn't used to that at all. Well, I do like dogs, but I'm scared of them most of the time.. but after 5 days with Bailey, Sherry, Rummy, Gin & Kahlua..they all love me now ! Yeah I am such an alcoholic... hehe

Katy came by to visit us on the farm on Wed cos HER mountain was shut for the day, so we went for walks and player Rumikarb and had an amazing dinner. Wouter - Therese's host makes the best macaroni ever ! It was such a nice evening, it was like the good ol times, and the only thing missing is Caz's presence..
The next day, we all went on a lil roadtrip ! woo hoo... Well, I have to be in Akaroa to work of course..but it was nice that the girls came with me and stayed one night. We biked around the Akaroa and had fish and chips.It was a good weekend, and a good break for Therese.

So there's where I am at the moment.. Chez La Mer, in Akaroa...

Au Revoir...

life after queenstown..

1st stop-Dunedin

After being in Queenstown for 10 days, I began to feel a lil sick. ..But as soon as the updates of the condition of Milford Road came in, and I accepted the position in Akaroa, the bigger picture was much clearer. So I finally made that trip down to Milford Sound, and it was just amazing! I wonder if it's possible to be overdose on beautiful sceneries.

After a long day of travelling from Queenstown to Milford Sound, I still had to pack my bags as I was leaving for Dunedin at 7.45am the next day. I'm tired, but I really can't wait to move on ! The driver was a very nice man who offered bits and pieces about the places that we pass by. It's a great way to know the surroundings. 4 hours later, we reached Dunedin, and the first thought that crossed my mind was " Boy do I love this city !!" It was so different, such a classic one! I put my heavy rucksack over my bag and began to walk towards Hogwartz -the backpacker that I wanted to stay in ( and supposed to work in).After a few very steep streets. I find myself standing infront of a huge building with the tiniest gate ever, and on it was the name Hogwartz. As I pushed open the gate, I find another flight of stairs ! Gosh, when I finally set my bags on the ground, I couldn't feel my back at all ! But it was all worth it, because it is a very nice hostel, and there were no bunk beds, just nicely made single beds in warm cozy rooms.

I did a bit of exploring that afternoon, on foot of course. This other Malaysian girl who was wwoofing in the hostel showed me around town. We walked to University of Otago, Dunedin Library, Dunedin Railway Station and the many churches in town. Took some pictures of the beautiful buildings too.

Day 2 in Dunedin - I had an early start, 8am. I managed to visit the Baldwin St, did the Cadbury tour, the Speights Brewery Tour, the library again and some cute lil shops in town. Decided that I should move on again, after a few texts and some mind battling thoughts, I booked on a bus to Christchurch the next day. Am goin to stay with Therese on 'her' farm for a few days.

2nd stop - Christchurch , 30 mins.

Arrived in Christchurch at 8pm, after 6 hours on the bus.. Gosh that was a long ride..Was so glad to see Therese, and will be living with her on the farm for a few days !

Mission Accomplished

It's done..

and I would just say it was ... FUN !!
I did it backwards.. with my hands behind my head and off the platform i went ! woo hoo !!!!!!!!

Was quite tempted to do a second jump cos it was only 39dollars ! but I didn't.. instead i bought the dvd for 45 dollars. sigh.
The group of Aussies with me all jumped twice, and 2 guys did it 3 times.. and in the end, they paid almost 200 dollars more to have ALL photos, All videos..

Oh well, i'm thinking bout the Nevis Bungy now.
LOL

The mission...

checked in.

Location : 37, Shotver St, Queenstown

Time : 15mins to the mission

Heartbeat : still normal and pumping

Damage done : $179 and my weight is 3 kilos up since Taupo Bungy !

Am blogging from the Canyon Swing office, gotta wait till 2pm to go out and do the big swing.. Am so excited bout it, just watching the clips of other jumps got my heart skipping.

Questions I'm asking myself now are :

1.Should I buy the video though I know it will cost me more than a second jump?($39 dollars only for 2nd jump!)

2. Which position do I wanna jump off?

Anyone wanna sponsor my video? mom ? u there? :P

oh well, I'm going to sit down and wait...

Over and out.

updates from down south

Been 2 weeks since I left Picton, been doing quite a bit of travelling with Lais, yet another German girl. We drove down ( technically SHE drove) the West Coast of South Island, and our last stop together was Te Anau, which is the connection to Milford Sound. We spent 2 nights in Te Anau waiting for them to clear the road after avalanche , but that didn't happen in 2 days. So I hopped on the Naked Bus and got to Queenstown on my own. And just in case you are wondering, NO, we dun get in the bus naked. ;P

Queenstown , Day 7, to be honest, I'm gettin a bit bored of this place. Don't get me wrong, Queenstown is a happening place, it's like a Sat night every night ! But if you are not a lil rich to splurge on the adrenaline pumped activities, or the snow sports, you can be bored, and it's so much more expensive to eat out here too ! Then again, i guess if you have got nothing much to fill your hands in the day, you can be pretty bored living anywhere !!
It's a good thing that I managed to get myself into this lil job at night. It's something that I should be pretty good at by now. I work 6.30PM - midnight, 5 nights a week. It involves a lot of persistence, talking and sometimes to bear with some swearing. Yup, I'm on a telemarketing job. It's so funny when I got in on the first day, and found out that I had to make calls to Australia. I can't run away from that can I ? Obviously the 2.5 years at ME trained me hard to bear with the nasty people at the other end. Then again, I AM the nasty one, don't think I will fancy being bugged by someone on the phone, especially after a long day at work, and you trying to make tea. ( *Tea means dinner btw)

Oh no, the negative thoughts are coming in, stay positive amanda, embrace the job, you need to love it to make a sale! am bearing with it as it supports my wait in Queenstown for Milford Road to clear up, and it also pays for my bed!

Looks like a cloudy day outside, maybe I'll go for a walk, just maybe. Legs are a bit sore from the Queenstown hill track yesterday, which i carelessly not bring my camera, and clumsily fell down.. sighh