.... School is opening ...

Today is Friday, and in traditional me, I don't really study in Fridays except it's during exam time. But then, I've been finding hard to get back the study mood over the last few days. I'm still very much stuck in my holidays mood and this is bad. Term 2 seems tougher with more assignments and reports coming up. Tests and then the final exams. I need to pass. I really hope I can pick up again manz... 3 weeks of term break, seemed like a inter-semestral break. Wahaha... Now I've gotta get my engine up and running fast.

Anyway, I was back in school a couple of days back to work on my solar car model, and I found that the trees in the school have mostly turned red, and shedding leaves like nobody's business. It was so different from the case before I left for Easter break 3 weeks back. It's turning cold manz.. Been raining and cloudy over the past few days already...

And another pic of a poster put up in one of the engineering rooms: Bob the Builder. Wahaha... We've been talking quite abit about Bob during our Easter Trip too eh... Wahaha...

... 1st Movie & Bowling ...

Veron and I went to watch a movie at Riccarton together this afternoon. It was our first movie here in Christchurch, and thanks to Veron, we had a buy one get one free ticket offer, so off we went to watch. Ha.. And we watched TMNT... Keke.. Brings back childhood memories sia.. The new April O'Neil is so beautiful lor... It's so different from the one I knew more than a decade back. WAhaha.... But the graphics were great manz... Haha....

It was bowling later at night. It was organized by the SG Society and it had been a couple of years since I last bowled. Quite long though. And well, I did pretty well eh. Won a prize for being the the highest scorer in a game that night!~ Not bad for someone who hasn't bowled for a long time huh...

But I also realized they don't really practise alternate lane play here. I still remembered the first time I bowled, my friend was telling me not to move out and bowl at the same time with the person in the adjacent lane. It was impolite, he says. This is lane eitquette. Ha.. But here, everybody boh chup la.. Just go out and bowl, and it can be quite distracting though... Keke... But it was fun playing with them... Had a fun night... Keke....

Receiving my prize for being the top scorer

... Easter Break Tour [6-20 Apr 07] ...

We are all now back in Christchurch and frantically blogging on our holidays. There were alot small stuff which I didn't write, but I'll remember with the photos, so if I ever get to meet up with you, my friends, remember to ask me to bring my photos out, and to tell you stories... The stories of 5 crazy NUS Exchangers, travelling through the North Island. Ha!~

It'll be 2 more months before we, the Exchangers, will embark on another journey. Binjuan will most probably come down to the South Island by then and we will be going to Queenstown, Milford Sounds and Lake Wanaka. In the meantime, maybe there'll be a weekend trip through the TranzAlpine Railway.

A quick summary of our journey:-

• Dates: 6 - 20 Apr 07
• People Involved: Veron, Liling, Binjuan, Moses & Hong Kai
• Cars Involved: 2.4l Toyota Camry (BRJ326, from 6 - 16 Apr 07)
  1.6l Toyota Corolla (AJL147, from 16 -20 Apr 07)
• Distance Travelled: ~2200km
• Places visited: Auckland, Coromandel, Whitianga, Waitomo, Rotorua, Taupo, Turangi, Palmerston North, Wellington, Picton, Nelson, Motueka, Abel Tasman, Takaka, Kaikoura, Blenheim
• Highlight: TANDEM SKYDIVING!!!!!

... Day15: Kaikoura [20 Apr 07] ...

We spent a night at the Dolphin's Lodge at Kaikoura on 19 Apr 07, where our dear Veron met a cute Jap guy. Ha!~ She was like so happy after that can, and took a photo with this cute guy. Hee... He's one big female magnet manz... Argh!!! Muhaha....

20 Apr 07 was a very fine day and our Moses was going out into the seas to watch at whales. As for the rest of us, Veron decided not to go cause she's low on budget after the last minute decision to skydive, while I'm not really keen at looking at whale. Ha..

So we decided to visit the Lavendar and Animal Farm. There wasn't much to see at the Lavendar Farm as the season for lavendars has long passed and all we could see are 1 or 2 lavendars here and there and not very pretty ones too...

Lavendar Farm

The Animal Farm was better. The owner was shifting so we had a discount on admission. $5 (UP $7) plus a cup of feed. So we went around playing with the animals. There were llamas, sheep, pigs, chokes, ponies and wallabies. Oh, rabbits and guinea pigs too. The sheeps were fierce and desperate when it comes to food, and the rabbits and guinea pigs were too shy to come out and meet us. Ha.. And I was attacked on my chest by the little pony la. Haha... But I also got to have a ride on a cart pulled by the pony. Keke. Haha..

Animal Farm

And finally after the farm visits, we picked Moses up from his whale watching and were on our way back to Christchurch. 15 days of travelling, 15 days since we left.

... Day 13 & 14: Abel Tasman & Takaka [18 - 19 Apr 07] ...

Veron and I were abit high the next morning after our skydive, and Ha, yea, think Moses was abit complaining about it. Ha.

We decided to take a coastal walk at the Abel Tasman National Park. We took a water taxi to Torrent Bay, where we started our walk back to Marahau. The walk was supposed to take 4 hours, but we ended up walking for 5 hours. And we became so tired after that. And along the journey, we became very bored too, cos we were looking at the same things again and again for the whole 5 hours. Ha.. So we started to be crazy again, at some points in the walk. Ha...

Coastal Trek @ Abel Tasman National Park

Not letting down on the engine that we've started, we went for another tramp at the Takaka Hill Walkway. This was the idea of our good Geography teacher to-be, Ms Veron Kho. She had wanted to look at the Kaarst Landscape and the Tomos (sinkholes) that are found around the area. So Moses and I had to accompany lor. Haha... But then again, this trip is really called tramping la. It's more interesting, although shorter (2hrs walk only), as the tracks weren't as developed as those at Abel Tasman, and we also had to bash through forests, taking care not to slip, trip or get stung by some thorny bushes in the forests. It really required some brains and attention doing this tramp man.. Not too bad, I'd say... Ha!~

Takaka Hill Walkway

... Day 12: Motueka / SKYDIVING [17 Apr 07] ...

It was a quick drive to Motueka from Nelson and we reached that at about 11+, just before lunch. We made a quick visit to I-site and enquired about the weather to skydive, and it seems everything's all set to go, though there were a few big clouds in the sky. Everything looks fine and we were all getting ready to be picked up for our SKYDIVE!!!!

And so it was, Veron and I were picked up at 1245pm and were all geared up for another of our attempt at Skydiving. This time round, everything looks better and we boarded the place successfully, which would bring up to an altitude of about 13000 ft for the jump. The would be near to 4000m above the ground. Haha... Together in our load was another old uncle, and we were quite surprised he took the jump as well. To those who didn't dare take the leap, take cue from this grandpa manz... Muhaha....

I was the 1st to jump, and my jumpmaster's this handsome guy called James, and I had also another cameraman called Simon who would be taking photos and a video of my jump. I was nervous when we all hooked up our final gear and move towards the exit point. Haha... Took a few exit photos and out I went into the sky... Very fast, so said Veron... Ha...

In the plane before exit

The feeling was the best I've had... You just fall through and enjoy everything, air and clouds, passing u by at a speed of 200km/h at terminal velocity. I did all sorts of funny faces in midair during the freefall, and it seems that once you open your mouth, it's not easy to close it back. And in the end, I ended up eating lots of air manz. So much of jiak hong!~ Haha... I had contact with the cameraman for quite a bit of time and he snapped alot of photos of me in midair, in all sorts of funny faces, to the extent that he ran out of memory in his memory card to take my landing shots!!! Disappointing!!! ARghh!!!! Haiz....

In freefall conditions ~200km/h

And so, you freefall for about 45 seconds, losing an altitude of about 7000ft and then the canopy opens. Thereafter, you see Simon fall fast beneath you and it's time for me to enjoy the scenery. Well done man.. And that's not all! James actually made 2 spiralling moves with that parachute. It was spiralling so fast that I complained "dizzy eh" after he finished his 2nd spiral. Ha, but it was super duper fun!~ Wahaha!~

In 5 minutes, you finish your slow descent to ground and I've completed my first ever freefall. Ha, machiam the Red Lions during NDP eh?Fwahaha...

Exit photos & Cert of Achievement!

I've posted all the photos taken in mid-air and my freefall video on my multiply site. Just click on the "My Photo Album" link on the left on this blog to go take a look!~ Whee!~

Finally, everyone who ever has the chance to do this, pls go tandem. Even our dear Veron had no regrets skydiving!

After Dive photos.

... Day 11: Wellington / Picton / Nelson [16 Apr 07] ...

We wanted to wake up early that morning to go taking photos around the city centre again, but we took great effort before we could all get up. Ha... Darn funny, when i awoke, some1 else is sleeping, and when she wakes up, i dozed back off.. Haha....

As I said, Wellington has got very nice buildings and facades, but they also had a fair share of vandalism too. Ha.. But nonetheless, it was a good walk around the city centre, and BJ, Veron and I ended the walk with breakfast at MacDonalds. As usual, I find the serving @ MacDoc too small for its price. BK is better. Ha, it BK wasn't opened yet. Keke...

Wellington at Daytime


Wellington Misc Shots

Very quickly, it was time to check out of the hostel and that means that we had to split ways with BJ. She's going back to Auckland as term restarts next Monday, while we still have another week of break. I think I had a rather heavy heart at that. Afterall, she's part of the crazy gang and we fought and played hard over the 1 week plus together. It'll be for another 2 months before we have the chance to meet up again in South Island, and I await its arrival. And we'll fight and play hard again, after the exams!~ And of course, your skydive! Ha!~

It was then to the Wellington Ferry Terminal to catch the Inter-Islander Ferry which would send us across the Cook Straits back to Picton on South Island. The sights pass the Queen Charlotte's Sounds was fabulous. Another wonderful scenery NZ has to offer. Take a look!~

Inter-Islander Ferry & Picton

Lunch as pizza at Picton and then a drive to Nelson to spend the night. That's a dead dead city, I tell you. We reached there at 6pm, and we had serious difficulty trying to find some food-selling restaurants. They were nearly all closed. WTH!!! Argh!!!! *shakes head*

... Day 10: Taupo / Wellington [15 Apr 07] ...

The morning was good and the skies seemed much much better than previous days. I made a call to the skydive company and was told it was an all-go!~ Whee!~ Means that we could do our skydiving, finally. We got ready and sped our way back to Taupo for the jump.

As we drove along, I noticed the weather turning bad. Damn!~ But never mind, we geared up at the skydive venue and everything looks all set to go. The first load has jumped and our turn seemed here. Ha... But then, shucks!~ All made a quick turn, the plane returned after the first load and said that the clouds were too low for anymore jumps. 晴天霹雳!!! Wat the hell!!! Do chud stun at this time la!!! We waited for about 45 mins hoping the skies would clear, but nope, it was bad to jump. We had to de-gear. Hell, even greater disappointment sia. There's no way we could re-schedule for a jump a Taupo. Haiz... You can imagine the disappointing face on BJ...

Well, there was nothing more that we could do. But we said we'd go support her jump when we visit Queenstown at the end of the semester. Ha..

It was then off to Wellington. A long long drive and we took a lunch break and switched driver at Palmerston North, reaching Wellington YHA in the evening.

Not wasting any time, we went to walk around the city centre and took photos of the cityscape at night. Wellington indeed has got some very beautiful architecture around, and facades too. Take a look at Wellington at night!~

Wellington at Night

... Day 9: Turangi [14 Apr 07] ...

Again, it was a cloudy day, Veron, BinJuan and I waited at the motel the whole morning to see if the weather would clear up and if we could go skydiving, but the result was negative. We still couldn't jump. This was bad manz. Everyone were disappointed, as the faces showed. At some point, we had cancelled our booking, but we realized we could squeeze in one last chance the next morning. It would be the last chance for the 3 of us to do it together. Otherwise, Veron and I would have to do it at Abel Tasman without BJ. She had to return to Auckland on Monday, and won't be joining us to the South Island. We kept our fingers crossed.

The bad weather also meant Liling and Moses couldn't do the NZ's greatest daywalk - The Tongariro Crossing. Cos at the peak, you might just get blown off by the strong southwesterlies. Ha. But no worries man, we went for a 2 hours walk to the Taranaki Falls. We actually trekked in the rain la. Ha, all of us came out wet. Sian. Cold, but refreshing. Ha...

The Taranaki Falls

... Day 8: Taupo [13 Apr 07] ...

The rain has stopped, but it was still very cloudy. The clouds were grey and low, and so that means, we still can't skydive. What to do, gotta re-schedule again lor. To the next day again. Now we were really praying that tomorrow will be a fine day. Cause we would be at Turangi and that might be the last chance that we can do it at Taupo. Pray manz..



So in the meantime, since the rain has stopped, we decided to take a walk around The Craters of the Moon. It was the biggest Geothermal Fields in NZ and you could see steam venting out of the ground again. Ha.. Steam ah!~

We went horse trekking after lunch. Ha! I was the Prince Charming lor, the 白马王子. Ha, the horse I was on is a white horse. So lucky right. The trek was fun, although the horses are already trained to follow in lines, one after another, there were times which you need to control and rein in, and we were all taught the basics before moving off. And I tell, you, it's so funny, some of us rode on horses which were so close in characters as them. For example, our very adorable Binjuan, whose horse so likes to eat that much, it kept eating wild flowers along the trek. And worse still, it just didn't want to cooperate so that the 4 of us could take a decent photograph together. In the end, her horse was busy eating away, while the 3 of us were all sitting smartly on our horses in the photos. It was darn funny, I tell you. Fwahaha... I still wanna laugh.... Muhaha...

Horse Trek

... Day 7: Taupo [12 Apr 07] ...

This was a bad day. A very bad day. It was raining the whole day and it was very very wet. We had reserved to skydive @ 2pm that day, but obviously, we can't do it because of the stupid rain. So we got the kind owners of the motel to help re-schedule our jump to the next day. We were hoping the weather will do some miracles. But of course, we have our doubts, because it's blowing Southwesterlies and the forecasts weren't promising for the next few days. Haiz...

Prior to reaching the motel, we went to take a look at the Huka Falls, in the rain. There wasn't much drop in height, but the flow rate of the water was tremendous. You can imagine wat would happen to you if you have fallen into it manz. Dun pray pray...

At the Huka Falls

So in a wet wet day like this, we could only do some indoor stuff, like visiting a Honey sale outlet or something. I can't remember the name of the place. And also an lavaglass workshop. In the end I didn't go into the workshop, but went to the farm beside it and took some photos with the cows there. Ha. That was the closest encounter with cows for me so far since my 2 months stay in NZ. HA...

Cows and BBQ dinner.

And in the evening, ha, we went to buy foodstuff from the supermarket for our BBQ dinner. Ha, the motel has got an electric BBQ machine which we could use, so we decided to hide in and have some BBQ in the cold weather. HA. Warm eh... Keke....

What a shit day. Argh!!!

... Day 6: Rotorua [11 Apr 07] ...

Everybody woke up to a foggy morning, but luckily it cleared up just before we embarked on our journey to Rotorua. We reached Rotorua early before noon and the motel wasn't ready to take us in yet, so, we decided to go Zorbing in the meantime. Ha!~

Zorbing was darn fun. It's this ball-like thing which u go into it and roll down the slope in it. Ha.. And I did hydro zorb, meaning with water inside the zorb ball. I felt like in a washing machine, rolling here there everywhere and getting wet. It made me abit dizzy as I went down the zig-zag course, but it was so much fun inside. Ha!~ Hin ah!~

Binjuan & Liling didn't want to zorb initially, but we managed to get them down, so we went for another round of double zorb, this time down the straight course. Ha!~ It was just as exciting... Ha..

It's Zorbing Time!~

After lunch, it was to luge. Ha, it's like a go-kart, but driven by the pull of gravity. Another fun thing. And I drove like I was racing F1, overtaking many of them in the course. Moses was so stunned I went past him at the 1st bend after the starting point. Ha, and Veron said I went totally crazy. It was fun la, and I nearly flipped my luge over while cornering a bend in the advance course. Muhaha!~

Luge and Geysers

Rotorua has got a number of geysers too, and we went visiting one of the public geyser parks. That's free, while there are others that's chargeable. You can see the vapour coming out of the ground, and there is so much sulphur it made my clothes smell! ARgh!~

And finally, after so many days of travelling we went to relax ourselves at a Polynesian Spa. Ha. We spent an hour soaking ourselves in the hot spring water and it was shiok la.. Keke..

Jealous so far already? Haha... Better thing coming up soon!~ Hee...

... Day 5: Waitomo [10 Apr 07] ...

We were at Waitomo on 10 Apr. There weren't other things to do there other than go looking at glow worms. So we decided to go do the night abseiling which would allow us to see thousands and thousands of these glow worms in the middle of the canyon at night. Phew!~ It was a fun experience abseiling down the 150ft canyon. The sight of glow worms was marvellous.

Abseiling down the canyon to look at glow worms

These glow worms are actually pupae and when they grow up, they will die in 5 - 8 days. That's because they don't have a mouth to eat. Otherwise they would have been cannibals if they had one. At least that's what the guide told us. It was like seeing many many green stars at night. And indeed, when we went up after the abseil, we got to see loads of stars in the night sky. It was so so beautiful. You really get to see with your naked eyes, like the Southern Cross, the milky way, the orion belt and other galaxies. They were so clear in the unpolluted night sky! Ha!

And another thing worth mentioning, of course, our dear Moses probably got too nervous during his abseil that his leg actually went between Veron and her rope. Ha!~ We were wondering how they got entangled in such a mess, and the guide was like "I don't believe you 2 are not a pair!" Wahaha..... And that's the start of our jokes of entanglement through the rest of the trip. Haha...

... Day 4: Coromandel & Whitianga [9 Apr 07] ...

We started our journey to Whitianga in the morning of 9 Apr 07. It was a long long long drive to Whitianga. We missed a turn and decided to take the coastal route instead. The scenery was nice, but the driving conditions weren't. It was hilly and very winding. It really drained off alot of my concentration in the drive. I actually went down with a slight headache after the drive. It was that bad man. But then again, the scenery was nice, and the girls seemed to have a nice time taking the back seats. Moses took over from me after lunch and toilet break at Coromandel.

Accommodations at Whitianga was good. We had 2 separate rooms and all the stuff there look and seemed very new. We made our first dinner of the trip there, and it was fabulicious. Wahaha. Binjuan see this man. Ha... The girls took 1.5 hrs to make it, we used 15 mins to eat it. Wahaha....

We also went to the Hot Water Beach. We were supposed to rent a spade so that we can dig out our own hot water pools, but we were there when the shops were closing. So we had to juz soak our feet in the hot pools that other people have dug. Still, the water was hot. But it became real comfortable after a while. ha. I think my foot nearly got cooked too, it turned red. Ha... And Moses and Binjuan didn't dare to go into the hot water, but all said it was nice after we got them in... *Shakes Head* Wahaha....

Jump shot @ the Hot Water Beach

... Day 1 to 3: Auckland [6 - 9 April 07] ...

It was a super duper early morning on 6 April. All of us had to catch the early shuttle which would bring us to the CHC airport to fly to Auckland. The Qantas flight was a fast one, and we were in Auckland picking up our rental car in no time. Ha. It was a 2.4l Toyota Camry. Cool eh, I tell you, it's a nicer and more powerful car to drive, compared to my Altis. Obviously... Ha...

We met up with our adorable Binjuan at about lunchtime, and put our stuff in her room. We bunked in her place over the next 2 nights. It's a big room, but i gave me abit of a neckache, cos I didn't have a proper pillow.

We had wanted to go see the volcano at Rangitoto that day, but time weren't on our side and we decided to give it a miss, cos the ferry ticket didn't seem to justify the volcanic sights. At least that was what the girls said. But nonetheless, we took a walk around Missions Bay and then went up to the Auckland Sky Tower to take a look at the city's skyline in the evening. Not as fantastic as Singapore's city night skyline though. Ha...

Photos from the Skytower

Day 2 in Auckland was shopping day at Auckland's newest and biggest mall, The Sylvia Park. The girls could actually spend the whole day there.. Very impressive. As for Moses and I, we got tired and sat down waiting for a long time for the shops to close, so that ther girls would be out. Ha. Well, I didn't go back empty handed too. Got a hoodie from Hallensteins @ $60 and a beanie from Kathmandu @$20. The hoodie is good man. Good against cold and wind. No wonder all the ang mohs wear them. Ha..

Day 3 was spent at Long Bay Regional Park. It's a nice place there, one of the several nice beaches that we'll be spending our time there. We took a short walk around one of its tracks and left our impressions on the beach too!~ NZ-NUS EXCHANGE 07!

Photos from Long Bay

Later that night, Moses, Veron, Binjuan and I went for a short walk around the Auckland Harbour. Not fantastic though, and we took some photos. It was as if it's winter. Ha..

Cold @ Auckland Harbour. Ha!~

... Mid Semester Break ...

Yes! Today is the last day of term 1, and so that means it's the start of the mid term break. It'll be 3 weeks of break here, and I'll be away like 2.5 weeks of it? Ha... I'm going to travel around NZ man, and be a real full-time traveller. KEke..

Well, I'll be flying up north to Auckland very early tomorrow morning. Darn, got to catch the airport shuttle at 645am... Shiok right... Then we'll be staying at Auckland, and bunking in with the UoA exchange students, then we'll be off to places like Rotorua, Lake Taupo, Waitomo, Wellington, Abel Tasman and Kaikoura... I'll probably be back on the 20 Apr... Then it's rest for the weekends and then off to Hanmer Springs on Monday again... Ha... Steady!~

Yea, so I might not be able to check my emails that often, and I won't be taking my Sin HP along as well, so, hmmz, it might take some time for me to reply to anyone who tries to get in touch with me... Ha... But I guess there'll be some accommodations we are staying that has got connections, and I'll briefly check out my mailboxes... Keke...

In the meantime, best of luck in your mugging to all of my friends back in NUS or NTU, and have loads of fun too, to all other SEP students, in NZ and other parts of the world...

I'll be back with exciting photos... WAhaha.....

... Not so Good Day ...

Haiz..... Today wasn't a good day for me... Started off getting back my level 400 lab report.. Damn, I only just scrapped through and I think I'm at the bottom of the whole class. Their expectations of lab reports here are high I must say, compared to NUS, where we practically just smoke through. Hai... I just hope I'll pass this module at the end of the semester even though I'm at the bottom percentile and I still get over 50%? I just hope I pass this module manz... Once again, it really seems fluid mechanics is really not something for me.... So sad...

Everything after that seems to go wrong. I keep forgetting to do stuff, and I even knock over the cup of water I put on the carpet floor when I was ironing my clothes.. Damn.. Wat the hell!!!

The only good thing that happened today probably was dinner. Ha, made myself 大葱蛋... Delicious, but I guess I'll be expelling lots of air throughout the night.... Ha....

This is a bad way to end the term, really kills off some of the enthusiasm I have for the Easter Break. Hai... Hope to get them along the way after landing in Auckland...

Tomorrow is my last day of school and I'll post another last entry before flying off to Auckland on Friday morning.

Bad Day....