1.18.2007
NZ'06 (Days 5-6)
3rd December'06
We went white-water rafting! At Yiling's urging, we signed up for the Shotover river rafting, the rougher river with 8 rapids. But the day before that, Freaki and I chickened out and called to switch to rafting on the Kawarau River, with just 4 rapids. Needless to say, Yiling was disappointed.
Once we reached the place, however, it turned out that whichever river we were going to would not matter to Yiling. She was barred from rafting because she couldn't swim.
They drew a 'K' on the back of our hands so that we'd get on the right bus.
As Yiling couldn't get in action, she became our camerawoman. As it turned out, there were no professional photographers that day to capture our action shots! So we have to settle for these, great thanks to Yiling!
Does anybody remember River Anduin from Lord of the Rings?
Now I can say I rafted down River Anduin. =D
As you can see, it has really quiet stretches, so we were not straining to keep ourselves from capsizing all the way. I had quite a bit of time to gawk at the beautiful scenery around me. (The canoeist in our team was quite something to gawk at, too, =P)
See the right raft? That was the raft I was in initially. After the 2nd or 3rd rapids, however, a 4-person raft approached our raft to ask for 2 rafters. Because... they needed a bit more muscle.
And so that was how I came to be loaned out for muscle, along with Freaki.
First time in my life!
Pardon my grumbling, but I’d rather have stayed in the first raft, Benjy da guide was such an eye candy!
He had this habit of peppering his speech with “Sweet, ehs?”, and Yiling actually thought that he was saying “Sweet ass?” Now that just sounds totally out of context! I still think I’m right.
Benjy and our 2nd guide Carl kept talking about how whopping the 4th and final rapids would be, I overestimated the power of the rapids and was still eagerly anticipating it when I realized that we were heading for shore.
Bummer.
Yiling was waiting on the shore to take a picture:
Me, Carl, and Freaki
Carl's from America. Don’t you just envy these people, jetting all over the world chasing summers and having fun?
Because Yiling missed out on all the fun in the morning, the three of us decided to bomb $99 on jet boating so that she could at least get on some river.
The jet boat took us 6km up and down Shotover River and it was awesome. I feel that the price is a little too steep, though, and I wouldn't want to do it again! Not for $99, certainly.
Since we were feeling so broke after the jet-boating, we started eating in at the YHA that night and did so for all subsequent nights in NZ. (It's actually quite a fun experience pottering around the kitchen and watching big, burly Caucasians cook. Never mind that they're making chicken sausages most of the time. =P)
It was still bright and sunny after dinner, so Freaki and I decided to go for a walk by Lake Wakatipu.
Bimbo photos coming right up...
Chips and ginger beer by Lake Wakatipu
Then we found a stationary wheel and I climbed in between the spokes.
4th December'06
We spent the morning on the coach to Te Anau. It was a lazy day as we only had a Glowworm Caves trip scheduled in the afternoon.
We had to get on a ferry to reach the caves, across Lake Te Anau.
I wanted to take a video of us speeding across the water, but the wind was so strong, the video looked like the cameraman was experiencing an earthquake.
I couldn't even open my eyes!
自拍
Apart from the zits on my forehead, you might notice that my face is pretty much caking. I got sunburned from the glacier hike! When I smiled I had wrinkles on the sides of my mouth, not to mention crows' feet around my eyes. It was a preview of what I'd look like in...30 years? Not pretty.
Anyway, I like that photo because of the reflection in my sunnies!
被风吹走的夏天
It reminds me of the brain-freeze advertisement for 7-11's Slurpee.
Sorry for the onslaught of those photos. Photography wasn't allowed at the caves so I thought I'd compensate with these blown-away pictures. =P
Here are some pictures without my face marring the scenery:
Beautiful clouds
Beautiful wake
In case you guys wanna know, the caves are 12000 years old, which makes them pretty young in geological terms. O.o There is other wildlife in the caves, but we couldn't see any, obviously, because unlike glowworms, they don't glow.
It was a nice trip, apart from the sandflies bugging us at the cave entrance. We just lurrve shiny things, don't we?
kira-kira!
一闪一闪亮晶晶...
The lights on gloworms' butts look like pretty stars in the night sky, when viewed with the naked eye. A video close up revealed the slimy things though, eww.
We found these in town after the caves trip.
Pretty flowers
In NZ, heaps of lupins grow with abandon along the sides of their roads, and they're considered weeds. I'm not sure if these are lupins, but they sure look like lupins to me!
Just a little something that happened...
We were walking along the shore of Lake Te Anau, shivering from the icy wind, huddling under 3 layers of tops, when we spied two little boys having the time of their lives jumping off the pier into the water, in swimming trunks.
As we walked by the boys, they jumped out of the water to come jumping all around us.
Boy 1: Hi!
Us: Hello!
Boy 2: It is very cold...!
Amused, we could only stare at them from behind our jackets and scarves, while nodding our heads vigourously. In the meantime, their sisters were laughing so hard, they were already on the verge of rolling onto the ground from where they sat on the bench!
Folks there lead simple lives.Labels: new zealand, queenstown, te anau, travel
