Siu~V: NZ Day 3 : Rangiora

Yup, it's DAT cute a name!

I think I'll throw in more cute foreign names by showing you our 13-day travel plan - going to places where just saying the name makes you all perky.

21/9/10 (Tues) :

Today, I woke up to the smell of fresh pastry baking in the oven. Gaye had prepared a wholesome breakfast for us - buffet style. I had wheat flakes with milk (that was my first attempt to be able to visit the toilet for a 'long break') while dear chowed down a couple of Gaye's unbelievably tasty jam danish pastries. In all the excitement, I actually forgot to take photos of those pastries.

Browsing through the morning paper, it was quite alarming to know that the southern part of the island was really cold, some parts even snowing. It was dipping to a minimum of -1 degree Celsius and a maximum of only 4 degrees. (shudder)

But we knew we had to go anyway - can't possibly be staying 2 weeks at the farm! Plus Pete's assurance that the drive down south would be real beautiful and that we weren't be needing snow chains, helped a bit.

So, with a 'sei jao sei la!' attitude (that's 'if die, die lah!'), we began our 4 hour journey (about 270 km) to Lake Tekapo.
Coz we were still quite north of the island and it was early morning, the weather was as expected......calm.

Driving in NZ is super C-O-O-L coz it's :-

C - calm and relaxing

O - only one highway connecting all the places we wanted to go

O - 'orang'-less (i think there are more sheep than human!)

L - long and winding roads are plenty... they could have shot Initial D there!

Seriously, there were hardly any cars on the road.

In the first place, the places we went to weren't exactly swarming with tourists either. (Apparently, the peak season only starts from October)

It was like driving in the countryside and we passed through many small towns along the way. Everytime we drive pass a town, we had to instantly drop the speed limit down to 30km/hr from the 100km/hr we were at. Anyone who's been here would tell you traffic rules must strictly be obeyed in this country - the traffic police could appear out of nowhere to give you a ticket.

So far, we were lucky with(out) the police. :)

And here we were, driving ourselves towards the mountains...sweet.

When lo and behold, some signage along the road told us to stop for a rest and that's when we saw this...

CwAzEE BeautiFuL

'Bertapa di puncak gunung'

Back on the road....la...la..la..la..

Rakaia River / Gorge Bridge - A fishing spot

Stopped by a cute little town named Geraldine.

NZ has lots of information centres known as 'i Site', manned by the friendliest and helpful staff I've ever met; like Debra here. Best thing about the i-Sites is they will not hesitate to help you with any bookings of tour/ ticket/ accomodation/ etc in any part of NZ. All done with a huge smile too.

These people should be sent to Msia to train the locals manning the tourist centres.

Geraldine town looks like Lego-town.

Yey, we're on the right track. ..89 kms left till we reach the stunning Lake Tekapo.

'Naked' trees stand erected along the highway, welcoming us into a world of natural beauty and pristine environment.

Some areas were super cloudy like the sky was filled with giant cotton-balls.

Finally, time to pump petrol at yet another small town called Fairlie. As we just found out that petrol prices vary from place to place, we decided to get a full tank here, thinking that prices would certainly be higher in a touristy place like Lake Tekapo.

As it turns out, Fairlie town is oh-so-gorgeous with the sun shining brightly. Bet Lancer baby must be feeling all warm and fuzzy too.

The gas attendants recommended this little cafe for our light lunch.

mmmm, local cakes and pastries.....i can't wait to try dem. Guy behind the counter was sooo cute, i shy la to take a closer picture of him.

Terrific tasting pies at NZD 3.50 and 4 each.

Nothing beats sipping hot choc (NZD4) on a cool windy day. Here's a task for you : Try counting how many mugs of hot choc I had during my entire vacation.....coz I certainly drank a lot of it :)

Driving alongside such a view really takes your breath away...

And then, we finally saw it......

....Lake Tekapo!

Looks pretty dried up here coz I'm guessing it's like the start of the lake, but what's to come will certainly blow you away...or in this case, drown you deep since it's a lake.

All properly dressed now for photo session.

The unique turquoise colored waters are the cleanest I've ever seen!

And those snow-capped mountains looked so unreal, like i was looking at a giant postcard.

The Lake Tekapo is a Maori word ('Taka' - sleeping mat; 'Po' - night)

We kinda look funny in winter wear when the surrounding's dry without any snow, eh?

But gawd, it was sooooo freaking windy at that time, we couldn't even hold our cam cam still when taking pictures.

My fingers were freezing (even with my super gloves on), face numb from the strong winds, while my nose and lips were SO dry they felt like they were going to detach from my face and fall off! (i aint' exaggerating ya)

View from inside the church.

Situated along the shores of Lake Tekapo is the Church of the Good Shepherd, built in 1935. It was basically the only sanctuary to hide from the cold winds outdoors.

This is the Sheepdog Memorial

"In the 19th century, Scottish shepherds came to work on the pastoral runs of the eastern South Island. The high country could not have been farmed successfully without the border collies they brought with them. To honour these ‘canine Scots’, a statue of a collie has been raised at Lake Tekapo."

See what I mean?

I found ICE! ..... written on an orange cone.

This is our room in YHA Lake Tekapo priced at NZD 81/night. Everything looks so blueeee....I know someone who'll like it here.

Dun remember what I was trying to pull off here...

Only remember bringing this little pine cone back to Msia.....undamaged! muahaha

Dear doing stretch exercises to keep warm.

Mini golf was opened for public....but OUTDOOR mini golf??! That's madness with this kind of wind condition.

Walking along Tekapo town, we stumbled upon a few Japanese restaurants.

Back to YHA only to find the fireplace lit up....aaaaaaahhh...

Me in the kitchen making tomato sauce pasta and mushroom soup for din din.

That's me occupying 3 stoves all over the place...hahaha

The dining area and lounge was smaller compared to CC. Apparently, this was only a 3-star rated YHA.

Quality of accomodation here may be so-so but at least, we made new friends here.

We met 2 backpackers from Hong Kong, Angela (far left) and another one which I've forgotten the name. Afterwards, a couple from China, Zack and Mandy joined us as well. It was nice to have met some very friendly and bubbly Asians there and share stories about their experience in NZ so far.

We then got Angela to follow us to Mount Cook the following day since she was heading the same direction.

Early rest for today....Lake Tekapo practically shuts down once it's dark...I think I slept at 9pm!

Teeth chattering like nobody's business, I tucked myself under the freezing sheets; fully clothed with long John and all....crap, must be below 0 degrees out there.

It was crazy mad COLD at night....Our room had 2 heaters (tiny, old and noisy ones) but they didn't make us any warmer.

Talk about keeping moist during cold weather like this - me applying lotion was like me rubbing ice all over my body.