Christchurch, New Zealand

Loving my new "office"... especially when the view outside is snow cap mountains !! :) not more boring buildings or jammed up roads... hehehe...

The cool thing about my new job is that you work really really really hard for 10 hours and then you are rewarded with a beautiful habitat and a holiday that you are paid to have! How cool is that man... say, if i was still in office, i'd have to work 10 years to get such a reward... ain't i right there matey? and even that, i have to be the one to pay for it...hehehe...sorry, jz had to rub it in...

Moving on, after work, make up off and hair down, sleep needs chucked in the drawer for the moment...wrap self like a newborn baby, layers and layers of clothing and out into the ccold i went with my other bird friends... hunt for food first.. so we landed in Drexels for some breakfast style lunch.. rounda chitters then off for sightseeing... the shops are not so interesting for me.. boorringg.. next... took pictures and walkaround the famous chirstchurch cathedral square...walked along Avon river... so beautiful u'll never believe it! when i resize my pictures, i might put it up.. its exactly like my story books! all in real life now.. sigh.. so beautiful.. there were ducks swimming, people punting (someone rowing a gondola boat for you) and i can see the base of the river so clearly!! oh yes, there was also a huge sperm in the sqaure!! hahahaha... art week in CHC...

after that, had dinner... then more walking around, and went to supermarket.. everything cheap cheap... ok jk... the chocolates are the cheap dirt!!! buy again... (previously in adelaide bought tons of chocolate already!)..bought some sauces, of which i tried one just now for dinner - cheese and onion herbs.. blown away... nyam nyam...

after that, finally get to sleep.. SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP.. then up early for tour.. found out no such tour anymore.. haha.. so we modified and created our own tour..

first stop - antartica.. this is actually the USA research centre on Antartica.. its something like a science research centre but they have stuff for visitors, a total replica of life in antartica... first thing we did is went to see the penguins feeding... so nice.. but darn smelly...then went into the antartica STORM!! hehehe... its a snow room where they replicate the temperature in antartica and had a snowstorm!! damn cooollldd.. i was already wrapped like a baby, then on top of that i added another winter coat that they lent us! it was still cold despite TWO winter coats!! crazy... hehehehe.. it was -15 degrees.. the worse in has gone to (in Antartica itself) is -89 degrees... giler giler...

next, the hagglund ride... foo fantastic! couldnt help screaming my head off tho.. oopss.. hehehhe..its a snow vehicle that they use in snow areas.. the tyres are wrapped in chains...so they took us up and down not one, but a few high hills.. and this thing had like 3 "cabins" and i was in the last one, can u jz imagine the impact.. first we're climbing up slowly.. slowly.. and pow! u lose ur breath as they go down hill!! hahaha.. its meant to replicate the ice/snow hills that the workers in antartica have to plough through.... then ... if they cannot get up the hill, they go around it! so that means that the vehicle is tilted right up to 35degrees and ur in it!! scary... see pity this people.. be glad ur sitting in a boring office! just on flat ground! hahaha..jk!

then... myself and another fren bought backstage passes specially to see my darling penguins and learn more ( u know me, anywhere i go, animals come first! hehehe).. so we went to see penguins, and i fed one and touch... ok lah... quite dry and oily very cute...my own one on my bed,more soft.. hahaha..but it was a lovely experience nonetheless..

after that to gondola (the cable car gondola, dunno why they love to use this word)... foo foo foo.. .this one no words or pictures can describe already! u need to see it to know it! the view.. magnificent!! beauuuuttiifull... sheeps on the mountains grazing, ocean as blue as the sky... weeather cold and crisp... grass jz tempting you to lie on it.. wow! so we birds hung out and took tons of pictures needless to say.. a lot of potential models.. hehehe..

then back down to the foot of the hill to Lyttelton.. for some fish and chips... its a beautiful small quiet town.. something like south of Switzerland to those who have been there.. the part with PWC in it.. haha.. sorry forgot the name at the moment.. then back to habitat to hibernate...finally get some chance to watch a bit of tv but not much coz another early morning next day...

So next day, went to art market, something like Msia flea market.. much nicer of course...ate bratwurst and dropped all my onions as i walk along.. so i had an onion trail behind me... hahaha..its so huge the whole thing, can't help it.. hehehe...sshhh... saw some beautiful paintings, but very expensive... really wanted to get it tho, coz i was speaking to the artist and they're so passionate of their work.. sigh.. spent too much money earlier.. too bad...

stumbled across a beautiful beautiful fantastic park!! and this is where i discovered what life is all about!! its just so relaxed and beautiful... beds and beds of beautifully defined flowers.. the trees were so nice they look fake.. the oak and all were really brown..and then you see families strolling along, parents taking their kids out to play or for a walk.. teenagers and some working adults just strolling along, enjoying the air and taking their time.. this was saturday, where most Msians and Singaporeans would be hard at work still!! haha.. but really, it was very touching.. the Avon river also flows through the park, and once again it was so beautiful... you see people canoeing, parents and children and couples.. the elderly were just sitting around and walking around holding hands.. there were so many ducks in the river, mandarin ducks, brown ones and black ones... and guess what!! there were also ducklings!!! hehehe... couldnt touch coz scared i fall in.. heheh..

and then i also saw a hospital bed by the river with someone in it.. i was like wha..? and then i discovered that the hospital was jz next to this blessed heaven.. and i knew life here was so worth it! they care so much for the man that they let him lie there in the park.. he's definitely going to recover! :) if only there were more medical professionals who does it that way.. but i know there are always other factors involved...

so in all in all, the big picture, wow! won't you agree with me that is what life is all about? its about enjoying nature with your loved ones..taking a break every now and then and not be a workaholic...work is not everything and neither is money... the quality of the essence of life is simply that! i am so glad i didn't spend all my time studying hard! so glad that i lived by the principle "balance"... :) tho more heavy on playing as usual.. hehehe

if i could, i would love to spend my whole day there, but there were prior arrangements.. so reluctantly another bird and i pulled ourselves away from the park and went back to the habitat.. only to get into a beautiful champagne peach toyota camry :) lovely combination of my fav colors :) and off we went to Kaikoura - 2H 30M journey from CHC... went there, supposedly to whale watch.. but didnt... just went to where the ocean ends and saw fat fat seals..at that moment in time, i truly wanted to be a fat lazy brown seal... when i saw it, it just yawn and snorted, and turned another way to continue sleeping in the sun.. wow.. if only i could do that all day long.. food and habitat is no worry.. how nice to be a seal... shit... why am i not one...

then had seafood along the roadside...ok let me backtrack a little... we originally wanted to go and visit Mt Edoras (Lord of the Rings mountains) where they actually did their filming... the real name is Mt Potts...but we didnt, and in the end we were quite glad we didnt coz it was v expensive and we got the same deal anyway :) while driving to Kaikoura, WOW WOW! MILES AND MILES OF ROLLING HILLS... SNOW CAP MOUNTAINS IN THE DISTANCE... it was breathtaking!! breathtaking i say!! i initially also wanted to go to sheep farm (yes animals again, hehe in fact was hunting for kiwis!) so but glad i didnt go too, there were simply millions of cute furry and also sheared sheeps along the way... there were also horses, cows of all colours... it was wonderful! we stopped at a vineyard, on your left is the vast beautiful sea whereby you can spot whales on good days, and immediately when you turn right, first you see a vineyard, green and brown in color, and direct staring you in the face is another snowcap mountain! how great is that man! u've got to be there to understand the enormosity of the scenery.. wonderful!

after that, we wanted to go to Akaroa ( been dying to go here since day 1) but halfway we turned back because it was simply too late into the night... guess it wasnt meant to be ;(... on the other hand, something has to be kept for another time right.. hehehe...

so that was it folks! a beautiful trip... one thing that really amazes me (aside from the life and scenic views) is that when go on job, everyone was a stranger, and yet we managed to have such a good time with each other and return as friends... life is amazing in its own ways isnt it? :)

Next stop, Johannesburg, will try my best not to spend too much money there... just one visit to the lions den to carry baby lions and then back to habitat to sleep... i hope.. hehehhee *fingers crossed.. yes animals again... can't live without them...hehehe...