Cost breakdown (for 2 pax in SGD):

Flight (Air NZ) SIN-AKL-CHC -$3775

Europcar (29/3-14/4) - $1.5K

Klook Pass New Zealand (Kaikoura Whale Watching, Fox Glacier Heli Hike, Te Anau Glow Worm Cave) - $1310

Klook Pass Queenstown(NZONE Skydiving & Milford Sound Cruise) - $915

Sky Diving top up from 9k ft to 12k ft - $160

Sky Diving handicam package $324

Accommodations: Total $3177

Redwood: Redwood Hotel (1N) - $98

Kaikoura: Alpine View Motel (1N)- $156

Greymouth: AirBnb (1N)- $118

Fox Glacier: Westhaven Motel (1N)- $137

Queenstown: Coronation Lodge (3N)- $790

Te Anau: Kingsgate (1N) - $140

Bluff: AirBnb (1N) - $200

Dunedin: Hotel St Clair (1N) - $190

Oamaru: Oamaru Motor Lodge (1N) - $168

Lake Tekapo: AirBnb (3N) - $800

Christchurch: AirBnb (2N) - $380

28/03 - Thursday

Requested to WFH just so I could have more time to prep and do last minute packing for the trip. Showered and left home at about 6.45pm, dropped off at terminal 3 to check ourselves in. We went to the Marharba lounge in terminal 1 after that since hb had some complimentary access vouchers to utilize and also the fact that we agreed to meet up with Kereen and Gilbert there because they were catching a flight at the same time but with different destination. 

They served beef curry, oyster sauce chicken, pizza, char kway teow, pasta, chicken satay, bread, cakes, fruits and drinks including alcohol but only decent food was actually the beef curry. Pasta was bland, kway teow was too sweet. We had a small bottle of apple juice each but it was kinda tough opening it that it spilled a little. 

Left the lounge around 9pm so that we could get to our boarding gate on time since it was at the opposite end of terminal from where the sky train was.

Flight was ok, even though there were many kids but probably also because we had our earbuds on. Watched barbie while having the black pepper chicken rice from in-flight supper menu then listened to the in-flight music while getting some sleep.

The air stewardess got us to leave the shades closed because they knew most people would be asleep and there’d be sun rising in our face or something. We woke up at 6 or 7am SGT (not sure where were we then) and the sky was already fully lit up. It would have been nice to see sunrise but I was too tired. At least I managed to see some stars!

29/03 - Friday

Breakfast served was the Singapore Fried Carrot Cake which was yummy and we were actually delighted to be able to have it again since our last flight to Beijing. 🤭

Watched some Shinee concert video on the in-flight entertainment. Interesting because they used videos from past concerts for different songs and made it into one with some reflections of the members, most importantly not leaving Jonghun out. 🥲 Anyway, we landed shortly at Auckland, I did not even get to finish the last part of the video. 😂

Landed at about 1.30pm (NZT), waited anxiously to get off the plane because we had a flight to catch at 3pm and the timing was a little tight considering that we had to claim our baggages before catching our transfer flight to Christchurch which is at the domestic terminal about 10-15 mins walk away.

So much for giving us express lane to clear the customs at Auckland airport.. it still took us quite a long time to claim our baggages because it only came out at 2 ish, leaving us with less than an hour to check in and get to our boarding gate. We brisk walked and ran a little on the way there with our luggages, I’m considering my workout done for the day 😂

When we got there, it just seemed like the plane wasn’t ready for boarding yet so it was fortunate that we had some spare time to visit the washroom first. We only found out that the flight was slightly delayed when we got on the plane. 

Short flight, about 1.5 hours and without in flight entertainment but they made an effort to still provide some by screening some Q&A on the little screens which was used to show the safety video. Pretty cool! We were served with some snacks like popcorn and cookies. That was about it. Landed in Christchurch at 5pm, this time round our baggages were already on the carousel when we arrived there. 

We then tried to collect the car for our trip but it was too early as we were set for 7pm collection so we looked around, got the salmon avocado sushi (NZ$14.79) like what we always had in Aussie but more expensive 🤨

Sat at a cozy corner and waited till about 6.30pm before we walked back to Europcar for collection as advised by the staff earlier but we ended up still collecting at 7pm because there was 2-3 groups in front of us and it took quite a while for each group. 

But yay! We’ve got a brand new car (red Kia Stonic) to drive. Took photos just in case, lowered the back rest of the rear seats just so we could accommodate our luggages as the boot was too small to fit our 2 large luggages.

Drove off to Redwood Hotel to check in for the night. Thankful for innovations, we managed to check in even though the staff has left for the day.

Anyway, not the best but still a decent hotel with ample space. The room heater was making lots of noise although it didn't really bother us.

We walked down the road after settling our luggages in to get some food and 2 bottles of water (NZ$6) 

Redwood fried foods, got ourselves crumbled blue cod fish (NZ$12), chips (NZ$4.2), garlic aioli sauce (NZ$2) and burger (NZ$6.8). It came with lots of chips and we couldn’t finish it at all. 

Washed up shortly after to rest for the night. 

Kaikoura next!

30/03 - Saturday

Woke up early at about 7.45am just to leave Redwood at 8.30am for Kaikoura, excited for whale watching cruise today! 

We had our breakfast at McDonald’s, was happy to see that they serve fries for breakfast as well. Of course I’d choose fries over hashbrowns!

Hb got himself the NYC Benedict Bagel which consisted of egg, bacon, cheese and hollandaise sauce while I ordered the sausage mcmuffin. It came in a set for 2 with drinks (we picked hot chocolate) and hashbrown/small fries. Bill totalled up to be NZ$16.7.

Sausage mcmuffin was similar to the ones we had in SG but slightly more moist compared to SG’s. The NYC benedict bagel wasn’t that nice on the other hand. So I glad I picked the safer choice🤭

2 hours drive to Kaikoura, the views were rather similar to Aussies except with lesser animals and no roos. Weather was rather gloomy too, it rained during part of our journey but the entire day was just cloudy but thank goodness that it wasn’t raining in Kaikoura and we could continue with the activity.

We arrived around 11.15am while our tour was supposed to be at 1.15pm. Explored the place and waited for our turn but it got delayed till about 1.40pm before our bus pick us up from the meeting point and was told that it the ride would highly likely cause seasickness so I decided to get the seaband (NZ$36) from the store as a precaution on top of the pills that I've prepared to alleviate the effect.

The jetty was about 5-10mins away, it seems like it’s their private jetty without much traffic. We got on the boat and it sailed quite quickly out to the sea. 

Our guide was quite a funny one, he tricked everyone to put on our seatbelts when there was actually none. He also said that our captain is named Jack but not Sparrow as his last name and to let them know if anyone of us spot the water spouts by the whales which can go as high as 6 metres, which we will then be rewarded with a firm handshake with eye contact.😂

There were a couple of stops for the captain to try detect the whales with their Hydrophone, which they managed to find within an hour. We even saw some albatrosses and seals from afar, wasn’t even able to snap a photo of it.

Anyway, it was kinda amazing that we managed to spot 2 sperm whales and were told that the first one seemed like a new visitor to the Kaikoura waters while the 2nd one we spotted had a name which I can’t remember🤣

We headed back to the marina after the 2nd whale’s dive. Slept through half of the ride feeling a little dizzy but fortunate enough to not have a serious sea sickness probably because I was well prepared. Phew! I would have been feeling worse if I puked. 

Checked in at Alpine View Motel, settled for a bit and went out straight to take a look at the beach right in front and a walk in the town centre to shop + dinner.

It was just a short row of shops and quite a few of them were already closed by the time we got there. Managed to get a magnet (NZ$8.5) though! Dinner was at The Whaler Bar (NZ$90.07) because we had some feels for steak and we. saw from the information book in the Motel that this place serves porterhouse steak.

Ordered sticky BBQ ribs, whaler’s legendary porterhouse steak and a creamy mushroom soup to share. Hb was telling me that the soup that I had ordered costs NZ$19 and we instantly figured it out when it was served. The portion was huge with 2 slices of garlic bread and hb said that it was the soup spoon style where they blended the mushrooms in. There were probably shit loads of mushrooms in it. 

Everything was great, sticky BBQ ribs were flavourful and the meat fell right off from the bone the moment we poke it lightly with our fork. As for the porterhouse steak, it was cooked exactly like how we wanted it to be, medium rare, and it is not easy because many restaurants can’t even do it right. We picked the mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes for it, the amount of mashed potatoes given was super generous! Mushroom sauce was also flavourful and filled with mushroom slices we even used it on the other sides.

Spent NZ$29.81 on grocery shopping after to get ourselves some supplies for breakfast (eggs, cheese, oil, snacks, granola, etc) then back to the motel to rest for the night. It was still early but there was nothing much left to do. Both of us ended up dozing off at the sofa for about an hour before we showered then to the bed.

31/03 - Sunday

Slept through hb’s alarms to wake up and prepare breakfast, he ended up preparing everything all by himself, only waking me up once he was done. Ooops, but nothing new actually.

Simple granola with milk (Redwood hotel heh) and scrambled eggs with cheese for breakfast!

We left the motel at about 9.30am and went to the Seal Colony, which was a 10 mins drive, in hopes to spot some seals. We went down to the beach area but wasn’t able to spot any fur seals. View was nice though, then we decided to do a mini trek up the lookout for a Birds Eye view. We managed to spot some from afar, especially on the far right where there was indeed a colony there. It would have been nice if we could get up close but it was quite a distance from where we were. 😅

Spot the seals

Drove off to the Lewis pass next, it was a 2 hours drive and I napped halfway because I wasn’t feeling very comfortable with the many road bends. Anyway, we wanted to do a hike at Lewis pass but most of the trails required at least 2-3 hours one way and we didn’t have too much time to spare considering that we had to get to our AirBnb. We did the Alpine Nature Walk which was a loop and hb thought that it was 20 minutes one way but it turned out to be 20 minutes loop. Hahahah. Guess that was a good start to our hike?

Somebirdy came to accompany me while waiting for hb who was in the toilet

😍

🥰

😍

We then headed to Greymouth after to check in at our AirBnb, another 2 hours drive with a pit stop at the petrol kiosk to add fuel (NZ$118.35), which I napped almost the entire journey this time round. 

Got to the apartment, met the host and hb had a short chat with him about the area while I waited in the car. Checked out the studio that we were going to stay for the night. It was a cute little house with a nicely decorated room but the downside was the semi outdoor toilet which was like an attap house built with wood, which also meant that we’d be exposed to the outdoor temperature and it would not be ideal to shower when it’s cold outside (like now, although the temperature is still bearable). The toilet was also a combustible one, in attempt to be more eco-friendly, which meant that we weren’t able to flush with water but instead, we would have to turn on the knob to release some saw dust to cover our wastes up, like pet litters. I wouldn’t dare to poop in it and had to do it elsewhere. 😅 

That aside, we got out of the apartment to hike Point Elizabeth, explored the area a little and grab dinner. Hb was going to drive us to the town centre but it looked like a dead town, we only remembered after that it was a public holiday (Easter Sunday). 

Not exactly rewarding but needed to move.

At the town centre..

Ended up at KFC (NZ$24.48) since mostly fast food were open. We shared a chicken slider and a zinger box which consisted of the burger, 2 wicked wings, fries, mashed potatoes and a cuppa soft drinks. We felt that SG did the zingers better because the patty was dry here, since it uses breast meat, slider was small and dry too, the mashed potato tasted a little weird. Wings and fries on the other hand were decent.

Drove around the town centre for a bit before we decided to check out the north and south breakwater point to have a look. Nothing much there, just watching albatrosses for a bit and went back to the apartment shortly after.

I think we got back around 7pm and I was glad that we did because we figured that it would be wiser to shower earlier in case it gets colder at night. We only found out only then that the lights in the toilet/shower was actually dim and it was already quite dark when I started to shower. I can’t imagine having to shower in almost total darkness😂

It was also funny that the tap for the shower was located outside the doors, so we had to turn it on before we head in for our shower. It wastes quite a bit of water there while we take off/put on our clothes and it also meant that we can’t dry ourselves in the bathtub because the water keeps running till we get out of the door = extra coldness. Kinda glad that it’s only for a night actually. 

We got in bed early at 9ish not because we wanted to sleep but because of the heater in bed. We were just chilling and dozing off for a bit. I was still fighting the urge to sleep while hb slept earlier since he is gonna be the one driving for the next 2 weeks. Hehe. 

01/04 - Monday

Woke up at 9ish because check out time was at about 10am while we didn’t have any planned activity for the day except to drive towards fox glacier. Had breakfast at Sevenpenny (NZ$58.19) before heading off and the food was ok. My egg benedict with spinach and mushroom was a tad salty because it was more like cream of mushroom rather than sautéed ones. Hb had the wrap with scrambled eggs, bacon and hasbrown which was not that bad. Hot chocolate was decent though! 

We made an impromptu decision to drop by Hokitika as a pit stop and since we initially planned to stay the night there but ended up staying at Fox Glacier. Took a short walk in the town centre before we came across the national kiwi centre and thought that we should visit it since hb wanted to see the kiwis (not the fruit, but the bird which is near extinction). 

Entrance fee was about NZD36 per pax and we just went on without much thinking. It was a small centre with some fishes and a kiwi room. We started off walking around and checking out some fishes/frogs then we headed up to feed the giant eels which looked kinda disgusting. Not sure what we were given to feed them but it was an experience seeing the eels trying to inch up to reach for the food. 😂

We then slowly walked to the kiwi room to see the kiwis. It was nestled in a dark room with very very dim lights that I could hardly see anything but because they are nocturnal with poor eyesight, so photography and videography was also not allowed in the room to protect their eyes, we were given a photograph of it instead and we even bought a figurine of it and a magnet home (NZ$19) 🤣

Interesting fact is that NZ used to house about a million of them but they are only left with about 65k of them currently and it is kinda an offence for your pet dogs to bite/kill them since they are protected. 🤔

Anyway, we spent quite abit of time there and left for the Hokitika Gorge (55mins drive from Greymouth) next. It wasn’t exactly in our plans to walk the trail there but we just went with it since it was rather short. The information board stated a 30 mins walk to the suspension bridge and 45 mins walk to the beach, hb said that it should be one-way but it ended up like we completed them within 1 hour round trip. Beautiful views of the turquoise lake!

It was then another 2 hours drive towards fox glacier where we’d be staying for the night. As usual, with me sleeping throughout and feeling guilty about it. 😅

Arrived at Westhaven hotel, left our luggages in the room and we left to explore the town centre. Nothing much actually, except for a few cafes/restaurants around. We drove to the fox glacier peak viewpoint but it was too cloudy, we could only see half of the mountains. We left within 5 mins and decided to drop by lake matheson since we were passing by it. It turned out to be another trail but we were lazy to do it considering that we already did one earlier and the clouds were just a bummer.

Would have been nicer with clear skies..

Would consider it tomorrow if the clouds are gone 🙏

Dinner was at Betsey Jane. Got myself the pan fried salmon which comes with salad while hb got himself a beef burger which comes with fries and an organic apple & blackcurrent raspberry juice. Everything was good! We really loved it and total costs NZD72.73 incl credit card and I think PH surcharge?

Back to the hotel after to prepare a little for the glacier hike tomorrow morning. 🤭🤭

02/04 - Tuesday

Early morning because we gotta reach the fox glacier guiding centre by 8.30am to check ourselves in for the heli hike which we booked via Klook!

Good thing was that we booked our accommodation very very near the centre (right opposite) so we could sleep in a little more and getting up as late as possible at 7.30am.

Layered ourselves with at least 2-3 layers of apparels before heading there as recommended (I layered with ultra warm heat tech from uniqlo, long sleeve shirt and the michellin layer of my jacket then followed by the gears they provided, I was sweating a little at one point). Assembled at the centre, the reception checked us in and weighed us as well as our bags to plan for the seating arrangement on the helicopter and to ensure that our belongings are within the weight limits. 

Waited for a bit till we were led to the other room to have the safety briefing and to put on the gears like the wool socks, leather boots, waterproof jackets, over trousers and a water resistant bag. Took a shuttle to the helipad after we were done preparing, we were split into 4 groups because each helicopter only takes up to 6 pax excluding the pilot. Lucky us, we were chosen to take the front seat for the tour. 

kept in the big yellow bag for transporting on the Heli

The heli ride was about 3-4 minutes, we were given crampons to tie against our shoes so that we can walk easily on ice. We were also provided with hiking sticks which definitely helped me alot during the walk. The tips and tricks we received from the guides was to stomp our feet so that the spikes from the crampons will be securely gripping onto the ice, keep our feet shoulder’s width apart and raise them high for each step so that we do not get tripped by the floor or accidentally kick ourselves. 

The entire hike was about 3 hours and I was really tired near the end of it but it was really fun and interesting. Our guide, Ivar (aka the Swedish guy) told us many stories and randomly chatted while waiting. He was funny and quite good looking, reminded me of Kristoff from frozen 😂

He brought us around the glacier to look at the mini ice caves, drank from the glacier waterfall but also ensured our safety by detouring when he found that the ice stairs were not well maintained enough and is unsafe for use.

Left the glacier after 3 hours, got back on the helipad and the first thing we did was to remove all the gears, I had to remove my heat tech because it wasn’t really cold enough to keep it on. 

We then went to pick our car from our hotel and drove to search for food which we settled with Cafe Neve (NZ$70.05) just 1 min drive away cause we were kinda lazy by then to walk to and fro for the car. Hb even went to refuel (NZ$49.71) while we were waiting for food. Tried the Chocolate shake, it was good so we decided to get another one in Banana flavour (NZ$8.5) for the road. Regretted it so much🥲

It was then a 4.5 hour drive to Queenstown without any pit stop which I obviously slept through most of it.

Checked in to Coronation Lodge. It’s the cleanest and biggest accommodation by far but parking could be a little problem when there’s too many cars because the lots are limited. It’s really close to the town centre though! Like just 5 minutes walk down the slope. 

Laundry room!

2 mini walk in wardrobes

Craved for asian food but we were just afraid that we’d get diarrhoea from spicy food, we settled for Japanese food at Kappa instead. Not bad! Just didn’t like it that the eel was freshwater ones which tastes fishy but we still managed to finish it. Total bill was about NZ$113 for just that few dishes 😂

We strolled back to our apartment after dinner to clean up the car’s windscreen (by semi wrapping the wiper with wet tissues as lazy way of cleaning) then to chill for the night. We were pleasantly surprised to be able to stargaze from the balcony even though there’s light pollution and it’s not very bright as compared to gazing them from the mountains/forests/in complete darkness.

Happy to end the night with clear skies for the first time throughout this trip so far!

03/04 - Wednesday

Skydiving day! Left for the Nzone centre at about 10ish for our 11am booking. 

Registered ourselves, went through a briefing and the staff asked us a second time on whether we’d like to attempt 12000ft instead of 9000ft because it’s less scary due to the pressure, you’d feel like you’re floating instead of falling. We went ahead for it after the staff asked the second time. Topped up about NZ$80 each for the change to higher altitude and also NZ$199 each for the handi-cam photo/videos which is smart of them because they do not allow the use of our own gopro cameras. 🤨

Got on the shuttle bus at about 11.15am to get to the drop zone. The ride took about 20-30mins and when we got to the drop zone, we had to wait for the reception staff to let us know which load group we are in, ours was 19 while they were preparing for group 16 then. We had about 30 mins for us to visit the washroom, shop for merchandises and watch the crews pack the parachutes before they called us in to put on the suits and gears.

Did not manage to get a photo with hb in full gear because everything was happening rather quickly from putting on the gear to meeting our tandem masters (Angus and Will) to briefing by the tandem master and then hopping onto the plane. We were supposed to also keep all our belongings in the locker with no loose items on us at all, which made it more difficult to get a photo. 

Only photo of us in full gear

The plane ride up to the altitude we signed up for was about 15 mins. There was a guy who signed up for 9000ft and obviously they jumped off first. Followed by hb and I, who were the next ones to get off (other than the staffs). It was a little scary just moments before jumping off but since we were supposed to be in a banana pose, it left us with no choice/chance to hesitate since tandem master is the one who will be pushing us off the plane and without any delays. 

The first few seconds of the free falling, we were just disoriented and turning almost like we’re in circles and upside down till tandem master manage to stabilize us facing downwards. There was no feeling of heart falling out at all like when we’re on a roller coaster. Indeed felt like we were floating instead but at that point when I was trying to look around, the wind got into my googles and my eyes, tears started flooding my eyes. I just kept blinking to clear my eyes so that I can have a better look at the views. 

At about 30-40seconds later, the tandem master opened up the parachute and removed the goggles for me. Eyes were still tearing and I had no choice but to use the back of the gloves to wipe it away, without even thinking whether it’s clean or not😂 desperate calls for desperate measures.

It all happened in a flash and I feel like I can’t really remember what I saw during the dive. So I’m glad that I paid for the handi-cam video/photos which included pre and post jump interview (me feeling all awkward).

The landing was ultra smooth like I just had to lift my legs up in 90degrees and we just slided onto the grass patch without any discomfort at all. 

Took our time after that to chill and remove everything, got each of us a t-shirt (NZD45 each) as souvenirs hehe.

Left in the shuttle bus, we were dropped off in the town centre where we just spent the rest of our noon/evening exploring the area. First stop was to get some fried chickens from KFC (NZ$13.48) because I was craving for it then got some stuffs at the shop “remarkable gifts” for cousin.

Cookie time was next, where we got a cuppa vanilla and double chocolate shake (NZ$13.27) to share. Super yummy because there were cookie bits and a scoop of triple chocolate ice cream, no wonder we kept seeing queues for the shop the previous night. Went back to our apartment to change out, grab our shopping bags and such then we went on to do some window shopping before we stopped by Patagonia ice creamery & chocolaterie (NZ$24) to get some patagonia dark chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate coated cone and iced chocolate drink. Ice cream was super thick and flavourful while the iced chocolate drink didn’t feel as intense probably because the ice cream covered it. We were super full from all the shakes and ice creams by the time we finished them and wasn‘t able to have dinner any time soon. 

We just continued exploring the town, walked up to ifly area and hesitated whether we should ride the gondola but decided against it since it was NZ$59 per pax round trip plus the fact that the sky was cloudy again and we wouldn’t be able to get very nice views. Oh wellll.

Chanced upon their arcade, cool shit to have horse riding

and super huge claw machine

autumn leavessss

Sat at one of then benches after that just to chill before we were hungry enough for dinner which was at about 7.40pm by then. 

Saw a pizza man!

Hb wanted korean food ever since we passed by the korean restaurant "I Love Kimchi" the previous day, craving for army stew since it was cold and drizzling a little.

There was a queue and while we were waiting, overheard some chinese tourists saying that the shop is apparently a popular one trending on socials. Guess we made the right choice then!

Waited in the line for about 30mins and we managed to get in. Ordered an army stew, bulgogi and sweet fried potatoes. It doesn’t come with sides so we had to order it separately at a cost and both mains came with a bowl of brown rice. Total bill was about NZ$68.85 for all those, not too expensive actually.

Food was yummy and our tummies were happy. Army stew was meant for 1 pax, not much noodles in it, only had kimchi, noodles, luncheon meet and small pieces of beef in it. Tasted pretty ok and got thick towards the end. Whereas for the beef bulgogi, it was interesting to see that it comes with broccoli and cabbage. We loved it even though it gradually becomes more salty the more we ate them. Good to have with rice to neutralise the palate. Heh.

Back to apartment to chill and rest after that.

04/04 - Thursday

Woke up at 7.15am so that we could leave our apartment on time to catch our bus to Milford Sound at about 8.30am.

It was a long 4-6hours ride with several pit stops.

First was to pick other guests from other stops then towards Te Anau for toilet and breakfast break (Spent about 12.50 on Banana cake and hot choc here), followed by Eglinton valley viewpoint, mirror lakes, knobs flat, lake gunn, falls creek, monkey creek before reaching Milford Sound Terminal at about 2pm while our cruise sailing time was at about 2.30pm.

The cruise ride took about 1hr 45 mins, lunch coupon was distributed before we boarded the bus to redeem some pies and snacks (free flow drinks) on the cruise while just sailed around milford sound, taking a turn just as we reach Tasman sea. It was very calm and peaceful in there with a couple or small waterfalls and little rainbows on it. 

Even spotted some fur seals suntanning on a huge rock!

Took the bus back after the cruise, it was a 5-6 hours ride straight back to Queenstown at 8.40pm with only 1 pitstop for toilet break.

We walked straight towards the town centre to get ourselves dinner. Hb decided on Fergburger (NZ$57.3) since it has always had a long queue whenever we passed by it the past 2 nights.  

I think we took about 30minutes from queuing to getting our food. Pretty fast and pretty good but we kinda struggled a little to finish because hb ordered the big AL which is like double portion although it was shiok. I ordered the bullseye which is actually ribeye grilled to medium 🤭

Walked back to the apartment after that, had a good soak and packed for the next four nights before calling it the night.

05/04 - Friday

Leaving queenstown today, it’s already halfway through the trip in the blink of an eye while it felt like we just arrived not long ago.

Got up at 9am because we had to leave Queenstown by 11 and we planned to get croissants (NZ$11.9) from ferg baker as well as hot chocolate (NZ$7.5) from patagonia for the road.

Pumped petrol (NZ$50.01) on the way and we took about 2 hours to arrive at Te Anau. Chilled and checked in ourselves at RealNZ for our glow worm cave tour which will happen at about 2pm. Was afraid of the sandflies that could be flying around me, so I got a bottle of the insect repellent (citron oil?) at NZ$4, applied and ended up tossing it away at after the trip because it kept leaking.

The tour was quite an interesting one where we took a cruise to the cave area and then had some briefing and talk about the glow worms followed by a short nature walk then into the cave for a boat ride in total darkness where I wasn’t even able to see my fingers.

The glow emitted by the worms were not very bright. It was a little dim like weaker flow compared to the planktons in the sea. Watching it while we were on the boat in total darkness actually still required some level of focus there and if I stared longer, I believe that I will feel pain in my eyes but good experience! 

Too bad, photos aren’t allowed, but bought a magnet (NZ$10) as souvenir.

Checked in to our hotel at Kingsgate around 4.30 after the tour, had an apple which we’ve gotten from the Milford sound cruise then headed out for an early dinner at Ming Garden Chinese Kitchen (NZ$82.78).

Yay to finally have some chinese food and something spicyyyy. 🤭

Hb says that the best thing was actually the chilli oil 😅

To be fair, food was still not bad ok.

Drove back to our hotel, we decided to walk out to do a short stroll along the lake and it was so cold we feel ourselves freezing. 

Caught the last few episodes of vigilante after we washed up before sleep🤭 

06/04 - Saturday

Woke up to find a post on Aurora Facebook group that someone managed to picture the southern lights at Te Anau lake. Oh wells, we were too cold and lazy to get out there though, but kinda regretted being lazy. heh.

Checked out of Kingsgate just before 10am, drove straight to Invercargill for brunch at Esk Street. Wanted Vietnamese pho initially cause it was cold and raining but ended up having spicy ramen, some sushi and karage instead (NZ$50.50).

Took a short walk at the mall then headed off to get some hot chocolate (NZ$7.9) at seriously good chocolate company, a small cafe 3 mins away from the mall and the hot chocolate was good. They even served with a chocolate spoon which we just dumped it into the hot choc and drank it up🤣

Carried on with our journey to bluff, it’s a beautiful place but too quiet and has not much activities going on. There are also very little shops/restaurants around, which feels boring so we ended up chasing sunsets and starlights then going to the supermarket to shop for some food and drinks for dinner. We ended up with a rockmelon, sandwiches and garlic bread, paying about NZ$31.04!

looking really quite dead

some random display

Murals

and more murals

Walking towards the lighthouse

Apparently popular sign

Watched the sun setting, had our dinner, caught the movie “green land” on netflix then showered and we were out again to sterling point to star gaze as well as to attempt taking southern lights. 

The sky was clear the first few minutes then the clouds came. We met another older couple at the sterling point who were trying to catch southern lights as well. They were so friendly and shared with us on the direction of the lights and even showed us pictures.

Unfortunately, we weren’t well prepared to take photos of the lights but they were kind enough to offer sending us their photos of the lights and if they manage to take some nice photos over their next few days of the trip. 🥺

Feeling like a loser now. Hahahahahh

But anyway, we chatted ans stayed on for a little even after they’ve left in an attempt to wait for the sky to clear up but to no avail. Gave up and decided to head back instead since the weather app states that it’s gonna be cloudy the entire night. 

Hoping the skies will be better for the next 1 week!

07/04 - Sunday

1 week left 🥲

Lazed in bed for about 15-20mins before starting to prepare at 9.10am. 

Checked out before 10, drove back to Invercargill central to get some food. Vietnamese food (NZ$44.5) today, since it was raining again and we almost had it yesterday but decided on something else. 

Hb ordered beef banh mi while I had the pho bo. Banh mi was not bad while the vermicelli of the pho had a rough surface instead of the smooth kway teow kind, the soup tasted a little bland compared to those from other places. 

Chilled for a little, cleared our bowels before we went on towards Dunedin for the night. Dropped by nugget point lookout in between and did a mini hike to the lighthouse to see some rocks/seastacks which looked like nuggets. Spotted some fur seals halfway through the hike, we stopped by to observe for a bit. 

We drove past a beach while heading to nugget point earlier, spotted 2 seals just lazing on the shore taking a nap and told ourselves that we’d come back to have a look and we did! Hb didn’t wanna walk down the beach while I was kinda insistent on it and just went ahead 😂

Saw the seals just laying perpendicular to each other then one of it got up a little and inched towards the other to cuddle up. Pretty much like what I’d do 🤭

Left shortly, checked in at Hotel Saint Clair and dropped our bags in the room then went out to the beach area to get ice cream from one of the 2 ice cream trucks. Cookies and cream for me and raspberry white choc for him, bill totalled up to NZD 16. The portion was extremely huge and worth for money! Yummy too!

Such nice gesture to provide makeup remover

View from Balcony

Took a peek of the room next to ours which has beach facing windows

We were just eating it by the beach for a while but moved into the hotel lobby not long later because it was too cold especially with the strong winds. 

Headed to the Dunedin central after that, we went straight to Maccas (NZ$11.8), got some nuggets and fries to snack on because yes, nugget point made us feel like having it. Tried exploring the area but most shops were closed by then (They close around 5pm), so I guess we’ve got no fate with their shops~

We just kept exploring the town, strolling through the university of Otago, looking at the menu of the restaurants around to see what we could have for dinner. Settled for Chong’s Chinese Restaurant the moment we saw spicy food on their menu. Almost went for the mala xiang guo but we got turned off by the price (about NZD4 per 100g). So we ditched the idea and got the fried rice & scallion noodles instead (NZ$58).

Strolled back to the carpark after dinner till hb said that weather app indicated clear skies and figured it’s the best time to try catching southern lights. we quickly walked back to the car, drove back to the beach in front of our hotel to try snapping photos but it was too bright there, we switched location and drove out to Otago Peninsula which is about 30 mins drive away.

The drive towards Otago peninsula was mostly dark with very little street lamps and it required lots of concentration to drive in the dark in case any animals jumps up to the road (a rabbit jumped out and I got a little shock). When we arrived there, we couldn’t even see what was surrounding us. Tried snapping a few photos but to no avail (cause of clouds) and so we left not long later as it seemed like the clouds would not be cleared anytime soon.

Had to park the car outdoors facing the sea because hotel’s underground carpark was already full. It’s gonna get more dirty 😕

08/04 - Monday

Checked out just in time at 10am today, had breakfast at Long Dog Cafe (NZ$61.71) since it was just 5 mins walk away from the hotel and where we parked the car. 

Brunch with sea view! 🤩

Had Egg Benedict with mushroom and spinach while hb had Bagel with bacon, hashbrown and sunny side up. We got hot chocolate and vanilla shake too. Food was not bad, good atmosphere too.

Wanted to get to the city centre to shop around but ended up just leaving the town because we couldn’t get a parking lot. 

Went straight to Oamaru, towards the blue penguin colony only to find out its ticketed entrance (of course, we didn’t research much). We stood in front of the reception thinking whether we should pay to get in. Looked through the brochure and decided on the day tickets, only to be told that it’s not available and we just left the place instead.

Took a stroll around just looking at the sea with turquoise and dark blue color then spotted some seals lazing around a platform.

Walked into del mar restaurant cause it has very good views of the sea. We got 2 scoops of ice creams in a cup (NZ$10.2) to share as an excuse to seal watch. 

We chilled for a little, went to the Oamaru harbour to take a walk. It looks like a cool little town filled with everything old school/antique looking. There were lots of antique cars, even the playground was designed looking old school! Ventured into Victoria Precinct by chance, lots of victorian styled buildings and shops selling old items from that era.

Checked into our hotel after at about 3.30pm. We shifted all our luggages into the room to repack them at night. Chilled and took a nap till about 6pm before getting out for dinner at the Last Post (NZ$73.44) because I felt like having some steak. 

Oops... blurrr

Drove down to some lookout to try picturing the southern lights, caught some photos of stars instead but the light pollution was rather strong there. 

Took a little break from stargazing to go woolsworth/countdown to do some grocery shopping but bought snacks to bring home instead. 😂

We then found a better spot for stargazing at the bushy beach but still no southern lights as it’s probably not something we could capture with our iphones/gopro. Oh well, good enough for the pictures that we’ve managed to capture. There were some colours in the pictures which I actually believe it should be air glow instead.

At least we saw many cute bunnies in the dark 🤭

09/04 - Tuesday

Maccas for breakfast (NZ$29.9) today again but it feels like normal mcd lunch/dinner because they serve fries and nuggets in their all day menu! Hb likes the nuggets here ever since we tried it in Dunedin. Heh

Moved on towards our next stop, also our last 2nd stop of the trip - Lake Tekapo.

Stopped by to see some elephant rocks and apparently that area was under the water 25 million years ago but now it’s 200 meters above sea. 😱

I’d say it looks more interesting than the stonehenge.

Drove past a turquoise coloured lake and it turned out to be Lake Pukaki and the Mt Cook Alpine Salmon Shop was just around the corner from where we thought was just a lookout. Of course I had to get some salmon sashimi (NZ$26 for 200g) even though it wasn’t planned at that time 🤭

The view there was just too stunning but the wind was so strong that it almost blew me away literally. Couldn’t get enough of the lake, we went on to another lookout with the other angles of the lake and the mountains at the back which looks like a part of the them were disappearing.

Walked around the church of good shepherd once we reached lake tekapo. View was nice too but just the wind being way too strong.

Checked into our super pretty airbnb for the next 3 nights. There were tables and chairs on both the front and back of the apartment balconies, perfect for stargazing.

Hb napped for a bit before we got our butts up to explore the town centre. It says shopping mall but was nothing like the ones we’ve seen. Just a few shops around. 

Walked through the shops trying to find something for dinner but ended up walking towards the supermarket (NZ$42.33) because hb suddenly felt like cooking some carbonara with shin ramyeon and blanched spinach.

Chilled our night away just watching physical 100 on netflix then going to the back balcony to take some photos. Not sure whether it’s aurora or light pollution but I’ll take it as it is aurora. 🤭

10/04 - Wednesday

Woke up slightly later than usual since we didn’t have to check out. 

Drove out to mt john observatory to have a look. Had to pay $8 entrance fee for driving in to the road since it was a private one.

View was not bad, we sat for a while to enjoy the view and got a cuppa matcha (NZ$7) but the matcha tasted horrendous. 

Brunch was at the greedy cow (NZ$58.47) which we already decided the night before since they usually close at 4pm.

Food was supper good, we had the creamy mushroom risotto, beef hotpot (basically a portion of beef stew with omelette on a hot plate) and iced chocolate. We loved everything!

Back to the apartment to chill again and to watch physical 100 for a bit while deciding on the trail to walk.

Picked the Cowan hill one because it says that its the most popular one with panoramic views but it turned out to be like walking in partial forest and dried grassland. 

Checked out the dark sky project because it offers mt john summit star gazing tour although it costs around SGD150 per person, we signed up for the 8.45pm slot and left it up to fate in hopes that we would be able to see/picture some aurora. 

Parked the car near the church before we started our trail walk. It was drizzling a little during our walk but we continued because we don’t think it would get any heavier. We took our time to to walk, spotted hares but views were not rewarding :(

Ended up at the opposite of the church sitting on a bench beside 3 ducks just people/duck/scenery watching.

Got hungry, we went straight to this Ramen Tekapo place only to find it closed for the day and the other japanese restaurant called Kohan was fully booked for the night so we just ordered takeaway (NZ$59) and had our dinner at home. Left to the dark sky project office at around 8pm cause we had to check in 20 minutes before the tour starts. 

The tour guide came 20 minutes before the tour time as well and gave us a weather update telling us that it would be cancelled in view of the drizzle and thick clouds. They then provided us with 3 options, which was to postpone the tour, switch to indoor virtual experience (and get partial refund from the price difference) or get a full refund.

We picked the first option since we still had another night to spare but only chinese tour was available at 8.45pm the next day. Took up that slot anyway.

And so, we completed the entire season 2 of physical 100 thanks to the weather.

11/04 - Thursday

Loving this breakfast with a view!

We were supposed to get up earlier to go for a hike at hooker valley but it just kept raining. We slept in a little more in hopes that the rain would stop but to no avail even though we already dragged out a little by having brunch at greedy cow (NZ$50.34) again and to refuel (NZ$78.28). Decided to still drive out anyway since mt cook is about an hour away and who knows it might not be raining there but it turned out to be raining harder than tekapo and it just got heavier while we were waiting out in the car. 

Didn’t take us too long to drive off because I thought there might be a risk of flood on the roads if keeps raining this heavily. 

Still had to stop by Mt Cook Alpine Salmon Shop (NZ$30) to have some Salmon sashimi and Hot Chocolate. 

Started on a new short netflix series (Chicken Nugget) since we were unable to do anything much, dinner at Ramen Tekapo (NZ$62) and we even managed to finish the entire series of Chicken Nugget because our 8.45 and 11pm (yes, we postponed from 8.45 to 11 as our last chance) dark sky tour ended up getting cancelled as well😕

12/04 - Friday

Check out day, it rained the entire day yesterday but it was 5 degrees and still drizzling when we woke up . 🫠

Washed up, packed our luggages and left the apartment at 9.45 since we had to hand the keys over at the office in the village center which is just 5 mins drive away. 

Ate at greedy cow again because I really love the risotto there and wanted to have the beef hotpot but they didn’t have it so we got egg benedict with mushroom and spinach instead. 

1.5 hours drive after that to get to Opuke Thermal pools and spa for a hot dip since it was cold outside. We paid NZ$31 per pax for 2 hours and towels at an additional NZ$5 each. Shower and locker facilities were available at no extra cost but not the toiletries. The pools, shower, washroom and changing room were in the unisex areas and none of them were gender segregated.

Changed and locked up our belongings, we refused to get into the solar tube which was a tub for cold dip and only stayed in the hot pools to warm ourselves. Spent lots of time in the lazy river with the pool noodle foams then the rest of the time hopping between pools. 

Washed up around 30 mins before time was up, dried my hair while hb went to dry our swimsuits in the spin dryer near the lockers. 

We were both feeling nice and warm after the soak and ready for the next 1.5 hours of journey towards Christchurch. Popped by the Dress Smart outlet mall first because it closes at 5ish. Wasn’t expecting to get anything but I managed to bag a 3-in-1 jacket from Kathmandu (NZ$200) and jeans from ck (NZ$79.90)while hb bagged 2 t-shirts (NZ$89 for 2) + jeans from ck (NZ$79.90) and beanie (NZ$12.99) from mountain warehouse. Sounds like good deals~

Checked in to our Airbnb close to 6pm, then out for dinner after a while at Miss Peppercorn (NZ$85.68), which was listed as food nearby in the information book of our apartment. 

Ordered the salt pepper chicken (NZ$15), wok tossed bok choy (NZ$16), Spicy Pork Wanton Soup (NZ$17), Biang Biang noodles (NZ$18) and You Po noodles (NZ$18). Both our noodles ended up to be the same thick and long noodles just in different sauce. Food was good but it was noodles overload and we couldn’t finish it. Even the cashier laughed at us looking at how stuffed we were. 😂

13/04 - Saturday

Started our day at New Brighton Seaside market. It was a really small one, interesting but really nothing much. Think we were only there for 30 minutes because we managed to get some food. Had the sausage sizzle (NZ$2.5) and the Malaysian fried noodles with 4 prawns (NZ$16), which was actually char kway teow but was so good we wouldn’t mind for another serving (though we didn’t). 

Walked towards the beach area then we left for the Christchurch farmers’ market, another small market but this time round nothing caught our eye and we just walked and looked for about 10 minutes then headed to the city center. 

cute bb

Went to the riverside market, it was crowded but we weren’t hungry at that point so we just bought a cuppa biscoff shake from gelato & tea then kept walking on and to search for the tram terminal wanting to buy the all day pass which was at NZ$40 but realized it would be cheaper to buy off Klook at about NZ$32. 

So yes, we stood outside the office, bought off Klook and went straight in to redeem the tickets. 😎

Explored the city center by tram, it was one of the oldest tram that we took, made about 100+ years ago? The tram master was very entertaining and rather humorous while introducing us to the places that we pass by. There were many nice murals on their buildings which the tram master said to enjoy while it lasts because it’d be covered up by the new upcoming buildings. 

We sat through a complete circle and alighted near Kathmandu because hb wants to check out some jackets, continued exploring shops around the area until we made the call to sit at the 2nd level of the riverside market to just chill and decide what we should have for dinner.

With a cuppa hot chocolate that I didn't like.

We ended up with a pepperoni pizza from base woodfire and 2 pc fried chicken from empire chicken. Both were good! Pepperoni was really filled with pepper unlike the ones we had in SG. The fried chicken tasted something like the korean soy flavoured ones so I quite like it!

Woolworths for some snack run and then headed back to the apartment to pack, soft boiled eggs for supper (cause it’s our leftovers) then rest for the night.

Loots for cousin/nephew which we bought in Queenstown

14/04 - Sunday

Last day in NZ! We woke up a little earlier to do our final packing before checking out. Soft boiled eggs for breakfast to finish up the remaining 3 eggs we have.

First stop today was the Riccarton Sunday market. It was so much bigger than the last 2 weekend markets that we went and had many interesting things to see. From gardening to what looks like 2nd hand kitchenware, books, decorative items (antique or not), tools, food, etc. 

Of course we only get edibles, ended up with mini donuts (NZ$5) and pad thai (NZ$15) for lunch.

Dress smart after that because hb wants to shop at Kathmandu again for a raincoat and managed to get one. Cookie time was next to get some cookies (NZ$64.73) for colleagues only to find out that they do not sell the shakes there and queenstown was the only one in NZ 🥲.

Quake city after that to have a look at their exhibit mainly about the 2010 christchurch earthquake. We paid NZ$20 each for the entrance fee. The staff was so nice and friendly asking us where we were visiting from and then after we were done with the exhibition, he came to us showing us a picture from a book of our SG army boy who helped out after the Christchurch earthquake and we could feel that he was very appreciative of it, left us feeling proud being a Singaporean. 🤭

Anyway, the exhibition was quite interesting like they have an hour long video of the victims sharing their experience and also how they feel maybe 10-15 years after the incident. There were also displays of the damaged building structures, some historical ones etc. They even had some simulations on liquefaction which made it easier to understand what it does. I think it’d be sitting through the videos if we had more time 😂

Went back to the city center to get the art pieces for Boris then for our late lunch at riverside market. Chicken empire again, we had the snack box which consisted of 2 pc chicken and crispy hand cut potatoes and Smokey T’s beef brisket burger where the beef was apparently cooked for 12 hours. Both didn’t disappoint!

I love the bee series of art!

too cute

Ice cream after that at rollickin because they had banoffee flavour, not bad, but could be better.

Tried to pack all the snacks and art pieces into our luggage before we left for the airport to head home.

Good thing was that we managed to switch to an earlier domestic flight from Christchurch to Auckland, otherwise it would be too rush again or we might even miss our flight but we’re safe!!

His

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