e had breakfast and lunch there, a cafe called REBO. Nice service and food. Nice environment to study too haha. Later, we bid goodbye to New Zealand and said hello to sunny Singapore. Craps. Acclimatise again. I don’t mind going back again. Its a nice place. I recommend it to all if you want a place to just relax. But try to go for like 9-10 days at least if possible. At least can experience more activities, like skiing, fishing, shopping and eating. That’s my story of a trip to New Zealand in December 2005.”

Wee…. Here comes part 2, kind of late… probably forgetting details from the trip. Its like 2 and 1/2 weeks since the trip… Haha… I took the domestic flight to Christchurch. Nice place. Weird customs though… Using the old methods… Like dogs (cute ones too) to fight drugs and bombs and stuff… Not that computerised… So takes awhile getting into New Zealand, especially from International flights. That’s me and my bro. He’s the one in the brown windbreaker… Can’t seem to put the picture here… Here’s A Link to it.

This picture is taken near Christchurch (I think), where in the background is the largest piece of flat land/plateau in the South Island or the whole of New Zealand. Another interesting fact, they do not have much traffic lights… especially on the highways or the outskirts of towns. Later, we went to the city square. Nice buildings and suclptures, but not much towers are like 30 stories high? Only a handful of them, the rest are like at most 5 stories tall. Later, we had dinner at a Thailand restaurant. Served quite nice food. Nearby was a supermarket, was about the size of our regular Fairprice (not the the one in Bedok Central…) or Cold Storage. Alot of sweets! Haha. A lot of chocolates and the usual merchandises. Alcoholics and wine lovers will love it there. Big wine selection and wine. They also have a TOTO/4D gambling game there, its called Lotto or something, haha. Later we were transported to our deal hotel
First night in New Zealand, we stayed at a nice hotel, Elms hotel. Quite cosy. No air conditioners though. They have an invention called a radiator, a.k.a “THE HEATER”. Word of caution, open the windows with extreme caution. Its either the wind outside is cold or the bugs will come in and bite your ass… and body. Learned through experience, furthermore, they aren’t tiny like Singapore versions, they are bloody huge… I think Singapore’s largest is equivalent to their standard versions. So you can imagine if you find a humongous one… I hope you do not find one. Its rather unpleasant.
TV channels are great too! Depends on your location too, ^^ Watched “The Grid” and some other TV series. Me and my bro bought pizza from a nearby petrol kiosk before watching grid. It was our first time cooking a ready-made pizza. Haha. The attendant also didn’t know how to microwave it… Instructions was to microwave for like 20 - 30 mins? But I kept quiet, as after 10 mins, it smelled nice and started to get overcooked, “chao ta”. Haha. While watching “The Grid”, we realise some parts weren’t cooked yet… Haha. We just ate the “cooked” parts…
Next day, we set out for some farm. A lot of crappy stuff sold there, toys, Omega-3 tablets, face lotion… Werid… But some face lotion was said to be very good, the tour guide was also using it and buying some for ex-tourists. Quite cool. Took a picture of a sheep (i think), scratching its head…

Will contiune another time… Part 3, soon… Hope I still remember…

Wee, its been a lonngggg time since I last blogged. Time flies I guess.
This will be part 1 of my trip to New Zealand during the last days of the year 05′.
A word of caution, if you feel nausea during reading of this post, please close your Internet Program immediately! Haha. The post would only contain, sheep, cattle, deer, horse, hill, grass, mountain, hill, sea, rivers, lakes, and more sheep…Maaaaa….
Hmm, first day, took the plane from Changi Airport(duh) to Auckland in North island of New Zealand. Flight time, 10 boring hours, no personal TV and games, the movie selection sucks too. Then, had a transfer to domestic flight to Christchurch in the South Island. For those who didn’t learn about history/geography of New Zealand, the country is separated into 2 main islands. Some moron in Chan Brothers forgot that there was a think called direct flight from Singapore to Christchurch. Idiot, could have taken a SIA flight with onboard games and personal TV. ARgh.
Food on the 1st flight was fabulous, service was wonderful too. But the pilots’ English can be a little too fluent at times, till they sound like they are talking some alien language. JHIAUYDUIWQKJHASFAS. The latter flight, drinks and snacks were served, I liked the manuka cookie, delicious.
I noticed 2 weird things. First, international to domestic, you have to check in your luggage twice. However, domestic to international, just check in once and the process is automated. Zzzz. Wondering what are they thinking…
2nd thing, there’s something freaking wrong with my passport… At every custom checkpoint, sure have some moronic problem. Its either I look like a terrorist because the picture in my passport is slightly different or the custom officers can’t find my passport extension stamp… Haizz… Just to note, at Auckland, it was the 2nd day already. So 1 day spent just to fly to New Zealand. What a waste. And the five hours difference in time is irritating for the first few days. I also had to acclimatise to the weather there. I like the weather there in Summer. Almost perfect.
Good thing was, 19 people in the tour group is SQUEEZED into a 50++ seater coach. Cool eh? Don’t forget the tour guide and the driver.
Are you feeling nausea yet? Want to vomit? Haha. Will continue the another part another time.