Sylvia's World...

As we are really afraid that we may missed our flight back home, we woke up really early and drove down to Christchurch to return the car and catched our flight back home.

We reached the airport quite early and as I was really sick of western food, we had japanese food for lunch.

While waiting for boarding, I saw the Kea bird puppet and because TFB really love the Kea bird, I brought that for him as a honeymoon pressie to remember the trip.

There was a slight delay and we boarded the plane at about 2.10pm NZ time. I did not drink this time, so no incident of me blacking out onboard the flight again. However, I did find the long flight really suffering and used up all my willpower to stay in my seat and not go crazy.

We finally reached Singapore at 10.30pm SG time and after a round of purchasing stuff at the duty free shops, we were on our way back home to see the dog.

You cannot imagine our happiness (both ours and the dog's) when we reached home.

It has been a enjoyable holiday as we get to admire the beauty of nature and we chose NZ as our honeymoon destination, because we wanted a place where we could enjoy each others company instead of just sight-seeing or going to the country to purchase stuff.

We really learnt to endure and cherish each other better during this trip and although it can get abit bored after a while (shops closed at 5pm, and we were quite lucky that we brought our lappie to watch show at night), we really enojoyed this honeymoon holiday.

Although I scared TFB by blacking out onboard, I was truly touched by him when I woke up and saw him having a really worried look on his face. Of course there everybody will have worried look on their face when somebody black out, but TFB's different because he look as if his own life has left him when I black out and he held onto me as if he is afraid that I will fade away anything.

I have only seen this expression once on Old Man's face when I told him that Grandma is in a critical condition. That is how I know that there is no other person who is more suitable for me as a life long spouse than TFB.

Went for our hermal pool session today and after the thermal session, we rented a double bicycle which was really cute from this kiosk and rode around the tour for one hour. At least we managed to exercise again in Hanmer Spring.

After the cycling, we set off to Kaikoura which was about 2 hours away from Hanmer Spring and we reached Kaikoura at about 2plus.

Checked into the hotel and we ended up watching kungfu panda 2 as it was showing on the TV before going out.

We went to visit the seal colony which was along the road and saw seal fight and many many cute seal pups

Discovered that there is a lavender farm nearby and we decide to pop by to see if the farm is still open. Luckily, the owner was still waiting for his guest to arrive and we could walk around his shop to see and buy things.

We tried lavender ice cream, lavender chocolate (which was really thick and when I bite in, I felt sleepy due to the lavender smell) and lavender butter cookies.

After spending about 1 hour there, we set off to look for crayfish in the town and realised that crayfish in NZ is actually lobster and we had a really good dinner to end our long holiday in NZ.

Set off really early today as we are travelling to Hanmer Spring which is about 7 hours away.

After enjoying the really delicious brekkie in Fox Glacier prepared by our host, we set off at about 8plus so that we can include breaks in between to avoid a long and tedious drive.

On the way there, we stopped at Hokitika for lunch and a bit of sight seeing and Ross for some gold filtering fun before heading straight to Hanmer Spring.

Reached Hanmer Spring at about 4ish and check in to the hotel. As we brought a package (includes a massage, one thermal pool session, one sauna session and hotel stay), we were allocated the hotel and cannot chose. We were pleasantly surprised that the hotel allocated to us is a really nice hotel and has a jacuzzi pool in the bathroom too.

Went for the sauna session and massage session but have to arrange for the thermal pool session tomorrow as it was already too late and the spa place was closing.

Was really glad that we arranged to stop over Hanmer Spring as the long drive and travelling is really tiring for TFB and the massage and sauna was good for him to relax abit from the long drive before going back to Singapore.

Believe it or not, I tone my fatty legs quite alot by the trek up and down the mountain to see Fox Glacier. No, it is not a figment of my imagination, I DID tone up my muscle... q=

However, that also indicate that my legs was really sore and day 2 at Fox Glacier was spent whining abit about my painful legs and unfortunately, sunburnt face. It was not a very bad sunburn, but a very mild one, but I still dont like it.

Despite my whining about not going out because of the sore legs and sunburn, our host, Karen encouraged us to go for a walk at one of the route at Franz Josef to see the Franz Josef glacier. We went for that and spent about 20 minutes trekking up the pretty steep forest walk to get to the point to see the glacier (from afar). Spent a good 10 to 15 minutes there going touristy thing like taking photographs and reading about the story of Franz Josef Glacier. There is a very romantic Maori legend for the glacier (this is taken from Wikipedia):

The Maori name for the glacier is Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere ("The tears of Hinehukatere), arising from a local legend: Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountain and persuaded her lover, Wawe to climb with her. Wawe was a less experienced climber than Hinehukatere but loved to accompany her until an avalanche swept Wawe from the peaks to his death. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many, many tears flowed down the mountain and froze to form the glacier.

After sight seeing at Franz Josef Glacier, we went to the West Coast Wildlife Centre to see the Kiwis! We realised that Kiwis are in a quite bad situation now as they are being hunted by Stoat which was originally introduced to hunt and curb the problem of rabbit multiplying in NZ, but stoat decides that kiwis are easier preys since they do not run as fast as rabbit and ended up preying on kiwis instead.

After seeing the kiwis, we took at break at the cafe before roaming around the town and explored the town abit before heading back to our B&B for a rest in the afternoon. Was initially planning on going to a salmon farm to see the salmons and have them for dinner, but we set off at about 4pm and our host told us that we are really late to head to the farm since they will be closed.

We decide to head to Lake Matheson which was recomended by the host to view the very beautiful Reflection Lake during sunset.

That is when I realised that I am either Ariel or I am none of the Walt Disney princess. Simply because, I cannot run thru a dark forest to save my life, instead, I may end up killing myself before any of the evil creatures that are trying to harm me get to me. And for the part about Ariel, it is a belief now and will only be validated once I go into the sea, but since I dont think I will ever go into the sea, we will just stick with the possibility that I maybe Ariel. Hahahahah!

The hike in the forest took about 45 minutes to reach the lake where the husband was fortunate enough to capture a really still shot of the lake when the wind stop for a split second. The hike out was about another 45 minutes and the whole place was REALLY beautiful. Okay, it look like Macritchie Reservoir for a moment, but Macritchie Reservoir dont have natural mini waterfall and is definitely not cold and pleasant to walk in. This mini exercise further tone my already painful legs further more... =D

After the hike, we had dinner at a really nice cafe, which I have forgotten the name (haha!) before heading back.

The sun set at about 8ish daily and we wanted to go and see the glow worm there. Therefore, we headed out at about 9pm and unfortunately, we went to the wrong place to see the glow worm, we sort of chicken out because the forest was really dark by then as the night sets in and we got out quickly and headed back to our B&B.

Rested quite early as we prepare ourselves for a 7 hours drive the Hanmer Spring the next day for a good massage and soak in the thermal pool!

Started our day quite early today as we needed to travel down to Fox Glacier and wish to avoid the mistake that we made in Lake Tekapo by starting out late and ended up in Te Anau late, tired and miserable.

The night before in Queenstown, we were checking out Fox Glacier and realized that we need to book the guided tour if we wish to explore Fox Glacier and decides to book the latest schedule available at 2.45pm.

It was a relatively pleasant drive from Queenstown to Fox Glacier as we took the scenic route. Although the route is winding, the sceneries was really good and as we gets closer to Fox Glacier, the dense forest on the side of the road made the drive a really pleasant one. The forest felt like Jurassic Park forest, but in a cold climate.

Reached Fox Glacier at 2pm, but got lost abit as we could not locate our B&B location and end up reaching our very nice B&B at about 2.20pm. After a very fast briefing by our host on what to wear and bring to the Fox Glacier, we reached the tour station at 2.35pm just in time to gear up (wearing their boots and jacket) and head to Fox Glacier.

There are two packages offered in the Fox Glacier website and the one that we chose, mentioned that the tour is family friendly. Therefore, we conclude that it is a relatively relaxing and easy walk… we are SO WRONG. We forgot that being family friendly does not mean that the tour is Sylvia friendly.

We had to trek through rocks and climb on top of rocks to ascend upwards towards the top of the mountain so that the group can descend down to the glacier top and hike on the glacier top and explore the glacier.

I got to the point just before the descent, on top of the mountain and looking at the descend route, which has not visible steps, I chicken out. I told the group to go ahead with the glacier hike while I wait there at the mountain top for them.

I may have sounded abit harsh on the trekking part, but the whole glacier itself is really beautiful. It is an overwhelming feeling when you realized that these glacier that you are staring at is unfinished pieces right from Ice Age and you are actually seeing a real piece of artifact right from Ice Age where you can get so close to. The feeling is really awesome!

Although I did not travel with them to the glacier, it was wonderful sitting on the mountain top, looking at the surrounding and admiring the glacier. To me, I do not have to touch nature, step on nature or conquer it; I am content to live alongside nature and live together with it.

However, the weather at the area is indeed cold and after a short while sitting there, I found myself feeling sleepy. Not a good sign as it may indicate that my body is trying to shut down to conserve energy since it is really cold. I forced myself to stand up and started jogging on the spot to get warm. So, it is quite a experience for me because I trekked to the top of the mountain, next to the ancient glacier.

Initially, we wanted to book trekking at Fox Glacier for one day and Franz Josef for the other day, but decide to book the Fox Glacier first and we are so glad that we did not book the Franz Josef one too, because I will never want to go on the trek again after knowing how difficult it was for Fox Glacier trek.  

By the time we got to the tour station, we were really tired and hungry and stopped by one of the place that our host recommended for dinner.

Since  we had a long and tiring day, we decide to have an early night to prepare for our walking around tomorrow.