1.31.2007
NZ'06 (Days 9-12)
7th December'06
After catching an earlybird screening of a 1/2hour movie of Fiordland in all seasons, we caught the coach back to Queenstown. It was yet another lazy afternoon, and we opted to visit the Wildlife Park cum Maori Cultural Centre.
I can hear you guys yawning already.
Well, it wasn't that bad... For 30NZD, I'd say it was fine.
I won't post too many pictures of my feathered friends, okay?
Just a few!
Tutuara
This unique animal from New Zealand is literally in a league of its own. If it dies out, a whole branch in the reptile family will disappear! How dominating, to occupy the entire branch huh? Since I wanted to post more information of this peculiar animal, I went and searched for it on trusty Wikipedia. Horror of horrors, it is described as a snake! Noooooo... It is most definitely NOT a snake. I'm starting to doubt open-source information. Hmph~
Anyway, this funny animal is unique because it possesses a third eye on the top of its head. It is believed that the eye allows UV radiation in for growth in its juvenile stage. This eye could also have been used to detect aerial predators in more primitive times. In adulthood, a layer of skin grows to cover the eye, making it look pretty normal like the one you see in the picture above. Scientists are still amazed at the presence of the eye, especially since it still is connected to a retina and brain and everything. (I figure you guys do not want the scientific terms yeah.)
It is a pretty lethargic animal, not moving much during the segment of the animal show dedicated to it, contented with just laying there on the lady's forearm. The lady explained that they live to such a ripe old age, they don't really do much at all.
Gee what a boring existence.
Maori warriors
We took this picture after a Maori cultural performance. See the guy posing behind me in the picture? I met him at the visitor centre before the performance. Boy, was he shy! (Very cutely so, heh~) He then morphed into this fierce warrior onstage, stamping his feet, popping his eyes, and yelling his lungs out. Whoo~ We chatted with him after the performance, and learned that his name's Patrick.
How disappointing, I thought it might be... Keheko or something. I dunno.
The Maori ladies gave a performance using those two fluffy balls you see hanging around their necks. Prior to that we could only wonder how the heck those two furballs were supposed to be played with when we saw them in souvenir shops. At the end of the show, they made us stand up and learn the "Hokey Pokey song" in Maori.
ringa-ringa - hand
waiwai - thighs
nono - butt
I can't remember the rest. We laughed our heads off when we realised that the Taiwanese compere Nono has a nickname that means "buttocks" in Maori!
Hey there Butt!
Pukeko
The Pukeko is a bird that is similar in appearance to the endangered Takahe, a flightless bird native to NZ. The Takahe was thought to be extinct, until a population was discovered near Lake Te Anau in 1948. (After 50+ years of conservation and protection and whatnot, the species is still endangered. >.<)
The above Pukeko was not in a cage when I took this photo, in fact, it is not even an exhibit at the Wildlife Park. Ironically, we were the ones in a cage, in the Kea cage, to be precise. As usual, the Kea we were viewing was exhibiting interesting behavior, picking away at its own shit and pecking at a piece of leather. Out of nowhere came this low rumbling sound, and it took us quite a while to realise that it was coming from this Pukeko outside the cage! By the time we rushed out of the cage, the Pukeko had wandered off to someplace that we couldn't reach. Aarrgghhh~
Paradise Shelducks
These ducks are so plentiful in New Zealand, they are gamebirds. The male has a black head, and the female a white head. Cute, eh? According to Wikipedia, they live in pairs and often mate for life. 鸳鸯？This isn't a very good photo, but I was the only one who caught both the guy and girl in the same picture. Hee~ You should see Yiling chasing after the ducks trying to capture a romantic photo, the male and the female would typically run off in opposite directions, leaving the frustrated photographer wondering which to chase after!
8th December'06
We showed up at the RealJourney's visitor centre at the appropriate time, to find out that we had to get on a steamship to Walter Peak Farm, on the other side of Lake Wakatipu.
TSS Earnslaw
This coal-fueled steamship was built in the same year as Titanic and is still running! Also known as the Lady of the Lake.
Red flag
Took this picture from the back of the vessel where I was sitting. Can anybody tell me what is the significance of a red flag at the back of a ship? I've been asking around for so long!
And here's Lousy's answer: Maybe a black flag brands it a pirate ship, a red flag means it's legal, and a white flag carries the message of surrender.
Har dee har.
Then i wandered to the engine room...
Passengers are allowed to view the shovelling of coal in the engine room. I took this photo just after the guy finished shovelling the coal and walked away.
I got tired of waiting for him to come back so that I could take a nicer photo, and I wandered off to the captain's room. (What is the proper name for the captain's room?)
Captain
Captain's Lady
Actually, I don't know if it's a she.
Horse trek
We arrived at Walter's Peak and the time came for my first horse-ride ever!
Me on Sharanz
Yiling was quite jealous that I got the white horse while she had to settle for a brown one. Well it helped that Sharanz is so small and that I'm smaller in size than the other 3 Japanese ladies around. Ha~
The scenery was breath-taking, and our guide told us that the "mist" we see at the top of the mountains was actually snow! I didn't know that it looks like mist when it's snowing on mountains. Yiling commented that she wanted to stay on her horse and wait for the snow to come, and our guide replied something like, "Hell no! I don't want to wait for snow! Only silly Singaporeans who have never seen snow would want to wait for the snow to come! You can wait and I'll be going home!"
He also asked Yiling how she found Sydney, to which she responded, "It's nice."
His reply? "How can it be nice? It's full of Australians!"
Geee...
For a beginner, the horse trek was fun, albeit a little slow at times. (The next time I tried horse-riding again, I had a lot of trouble with just trotting.)
Farm visit
We had an extremely hilarious guide who told jokes with a poker-straight face.
Example:
Guide, "You hear the generator running in the background?"
Some of us nod.
"That generator, is switched on for 12 hours in the day...",
Some of us nod some more.
"And, 12 hours in the night!"
PengZ
I don't know why I look like I'm so afraid of the bull.
Sheepherding in action
I love dogs!
Highlight of farm visit... wee lambs!
wee lambs
Prior to seeing the wee lambs, our guide was very excited at the prospect of the lambs crapping on us. To his utter disappointment, the lambs were rather well behaved!
Feeding of lambs
The lambs were just 8 days old!
Licking me face
This one was smart, it knew that my face was in need of a little moisturizing!
Lamb's Ears
The plants is named Lamb's Ears precisely because they're all soft and furry.
We got the opportunity to mingle around with ewes, too.
*Psst... See a GAP shirt wearing a little boy behind me? He (the boy) is the protagonist in a little drama coming right up.
Ewe, close-up
This ewe evidently thought my camera was food...
The guide was rounding the sheep up when the GAP boy ran into the sheep's field together with the sheep. While the rest of us tourists roared with laughter, GAP boy had a fine time running up and down the field amongst the sheep, before coming back to the gate, wanting to be let out.
Guide, "Are you from Australia?"
GAP boy shook his head "No".
"Really? That looked like something an Aussie would have done!"
We cracked up once more.
We got to observe a sheep being sheared, once again, by our hilarious guide. He had us in gales of laughter throughout, engaging in "sheep talk" with the sheep, even proposing to make things simpler by proceeding with the demonstration with a "sheep that has already been shorn".
*more laughter*
It was late afternoon by the time we boarded the TSS Earnslaw to get back to city of Queenstown. We had an extremely nice time with the pianist onboard, singing Christmas carols, campfire songs, a local love song set on Lake Wakatipu, 月亮代表我的心 and even Majulah Singapura!
I'm ashamed to confess that I struggled a little with the lyrics of our dear National Anthem. Aarrgh~
So bad.
9th December'06
Our last full day in NZ was mostly spent on travelling from Queenstown back to Christchurch for our flight back to Sydney the following morning. We did stop at what I think is one of the most beautiful places I've ever ever ever been to!
Lake Tekapo
The water's turquoise because of some glacial or alpine flower, I forgot which.
When I go back to New Zealand one day, I'd wanna stay at Tekapo!
My camera failed to capture the beautiful blue. =(
I don't know why, but we looked very grey-faced in almost all the photos with beautiful Lake Tekapo. =(
Of course, I just had to refill my water bottle with the bluest water that I'd ever seen in my life! =D
Sorry, Lake Tekapo is so beautiful I can't resist slapping pictures of it all over.
When we got to Christchurch, we were lost for quite some time, not knowing if we should take a walk in the city with all our barang-barang, or just head straight to the airport.
Memorial
That was a pretty nice memorial I took outside a church in the city.
Antarctic Centre
After depositing our baggage at the airport, we made our way to our last tourist destination in NZ: Antarctic Centre.
Antarctic Storm
We had the opportunity to experience a mock Antarctic storm, where the temperature dipped to -25degreesC! My hands were so frozen after that they really hurt hurt, and I had to warm them at the hot bar for ever so long.
See my cute beanie? I got it for 5NZD and I think that was the only place I could have worn it without looking ridiculous! Hehe~
I especially love this quote:
How true!
10th December'06
I'd like to tell you guys about how we nearly didn't have enough NZD to gain access to the international lounge and thus the flight back to Sydney! Still... I'm pretty tired of repeating it over and over again. Suffice it to say that we were pretty grateful to get back to Sydney safe and sound!Labels: christchurch, fiordland, new zealand, queenstown, travel
