没有理由，需要理由么？

随心而来， 随意而去。

何可何不可？

 

什么时候该努力争取？什么时侯该安分守己？可不可以什么都不在意？

After 12 hours of quality sleep from my 8D7N trip, I am ready to share some interesting anecdotes of my first overseas family trip.

 

As I had to catch the 7am flight from New Plymouth to Auckland, I woke up before day break. I fell asleep on the plane the moment I was seated, trying to catch as much sleep as possible, knowing that it would be a long day ahead.

 

It was a pleasant surprise to bump into Steffen as I walked out from the terminal. He just flew from Perth and was waiting for his connecting flight back to NP. We chatted till he needed to board the plane. At 8.20am, I was left all alone again, with 4+ hours to kill, before my family's arrival :( Fortunately, I found a free Samsung internet terminal to continue reading the gripping story of 《情不自禁》 from 墨妖. I found it a very touching story focusing on the theme on family values, set in the hugely popular Qing Dynasty under the reign of Kang Xi （是的，是清穿文，可是粉好看，绝对不是言情小说) -  strongly recommended.

 

At 12.40pm, I finally saw my dad, mum and my two brothers walking out to the Arrival Halls. Yeah! I called the car rental company from I-site and off we went to search for the motel that we would put up for the night. We found the hotel fairly quickly and as everybody is tired, we rested a while in the room. Fei and I tried the trampoline outside the hotel and it was a lot of fun!

 

Mum was determined not to waste the daylight in the hotel, hence, she dragged all of us out and we drove to Auckland city. The first stop was to the Mt Eden. The view from Mt Eden was as pretty as before but the wind was blowing mercilessly. We ducked back to the car and drove off to the Auckland Museum. We missed the turning, and as none of us was too keen to the trip, we skipped that part of the itinerary and went to Mission Bay to look at the sails on the sea.

 

It was pouring in the evening as we walked down Queen's street. So, we decided to retire early as everybody was very worn out - me from the lack of sleep in the past 1 week, my family from the long flight. It was hard to navigate in the rain and dark. Thanks to Wises's step-by-step instruction, I managed to bring everybody back to the motel, phew! Everybody hit the sack by 8pm. Zzzzzzzzz....   

 

Best quote of the day:

"Auckland is a big farm...."

"The sails look old, unlike the ones in the TV touring programme."

 

 

Rise and shine! Mum and I woke up first to cook breakfast for everybody. Everybody had a bowl of the old good Maggie mee with big fat prawns, sausages and bacon. Very yummy. We returned the car and boarded the plane to Queenstown. 

 

It was drizzling slightly when we landed and it was cold! But the view was breathtaking with snow capped mountain surrounding the airport. Khai and I went to the car park to collect the Toyota Previa we rented. We found the car alright but we soon found out that none of us knew how to get it switched to "Drive" gear! Fortunately, there was a kind traveller who gave us a hand. For safety reasons, we had to step on the brake, before we could shift the gear! Something new for us to remember..

 

Queenstown is quite a compact city. We drove for a while and before long, the famous Lake Wakatipu appeared in our eyes. It is the longest and third largest lake in New Zealand. Its length is a whooping 80km! We parked the car by the lake and took a stroll to the city centre. We saw a huge tree which my dad took to his liking. It was quite a funny sight to see my dad taking photos under the huge tree. The stark contrast seemed to have dwarfed my dad.  

 

After lunch, we went to Deer Park Heights, which claims to be the largest LOTR film shooting site. Llamas, goats and mini hourses roamed freely here with a few more types of animals behind fence. The llamas were just so cute! And two mini hourses were brave enough to stay so close to our car that it blocked our entrance! We drove all the way to the summit, and the view was fantastic! I could imagine Frodo and his fellowship travelling on this path, stopping by to drink water from the lake where I stood. Mountains, lakes and local bushes made perfect backdrop for photo taking :)  

 

Arrowtown was an ex gold mining town. It was saddening to visit the Chinese village and saw the huts that housed the miners once upon a time. The village was located away from the heart of the town. The huts were very simple and tiny, but flesh and blood had called them home once. The mining workers were invited here  but were never welcomed. The miners were mainly from Guangzhou. Shocked with the harsh weather and mean winter, they preservered. They worked hard but were discriminated and scorned by the local society for many years. Still, they had worked hard with the only dream to return home one day. They could only keep to their own community and grit it through. Their dreams to return home were dashed, many managed to do so only after their death. Only in 2002 that the government had formally apologized for the legal discrimination, and acknowledged the contribution they had made.

 

Gibbston Valley is an up and coming winery area in Central Otago, not far away from Arrowtown. We swung by to have lunch at Gibbston Valley, followed by a wine cave tour and wine tasting. The restaurant was located amidst the winery, with beautiful tulips around. Beautiful setting! The lunch was immaculate. But the rose color 2006 Blanc de Pinot Noir, complementary from the restaurant with a coupon I presented, was my favourite. The wine tour in the cave was quite interesting and I picked up a fact or two about wine making.

 

On our way back, we stopped by at Kawarau Bridge, which was the first commercial site for Bungee Jumping. There wasn't anybody doing the plunge and I didn't have the guts to do the jump either, so we were quite contented with taking pictures on the bridge :)

 

We then started the drive to Te Anau. It was still bright and sunny when we arrived. But we soon noticed that our neighbours were fiddling with some chains which he tried to fit onto his car wheels. Curiosity piqued, we asked.

 

"I am travelling to Milford Sound tomorrow and the bus drivers told me that it is required by law to carry snow chains before we enter the highway to Milford Sound. Moreover, we need to be able to use the snow chains in case of black ice."

 

What!!??!!

 

I was puzzled over the snow chains and ski rack instructions when the Car Rental customer officer first passed me the rental guide pack. But she merely shrugged it off that I wouldn't need to use it when I asked. So I took for granted that it wasn't worth finding out more. And now this...

 

Sigh... Khai, Fei and I took out our snow chains and began to study the instructions. We couldn't quite figure it out. Luckily, our neighbour gave us some tips. He was from Australia and worked in the Air Force. Our snow chains were quite different from his. He spent almost 30 minutes with us and we managed to grab the basic principles, our fingers almost frozen by the biting wind.

 

True enough, we were stopped at the gate before entering the highway to Milford Sound. We were asked about the snowchains and Fei managed to show suffiencient "skills" and familiarity about the snow chain that we were let passed easily. Phew!

 

Day 4 was a day dedicated to the appreciation for the force of Nature. First, we experienced 5 earthquakes. One of it woke us up during our sleep. The scale of the earthquake was 6.9 and we could all feel the tremble. And it was pouring non stop for the entire day, despite my fervent praying for it to stop as we would be taking a cruise. I had never seen such extended pouring in NZ.

 

Milford Sound has been called the 8th wonder of the world and I was determined to take a photo of the Mitre Peak with its distinct triangular reflection on the lake. The boat we chose was a small one. As it wasn't associated with any tour groups, all other passengers were independent travellers too. The atmosphere was cosy and friendly. The captain, clearly sensing my unhappiness over the weather, promised me to stop the rain. Although he didn't manage to achieve that, we were compensated with the view of stupendous falls during our cruise. It was amazing to see so many huge waterfalls at one go. Truly awesome! And it was funny to see the captain intentionally drenching a fellow passenger who had stood at the front deck of the boat, by guiding the boat through one of the waterfalls. Haha! The passenger was sporting enough to endure through and we all gave him a round of applause when he came back into the boat.   

 

 

Puzzling World is Wanaka's key attraction and our first stop in Wanaka (after numerous stops to take pictures with cows, sheeps, orchard, that is). My favourite place of all was the Hall of Following Faces. As I walked around in the room, famous faces such as Mother Teresa and Albert Einstein followed me around, watching my every move. The faces were made from concave surfaces, but they looked as if they were from convex nature.  A shame that my camera ran out of battery but fortunately Fei recorded a a movie clip as he walked around the Hall.

 

With great anticipation, we then drove to Mt Cook. I have seen the signature Mt Cook white lily on brochures and postcards and was so disappointed when I didn't see it. My daad couldn't stop laughing, seeing my disappointment painted clearly on my face..

 

However, the drive to Mt Cook was definitely worthwhile, if just to see the turquoise blue Lake Pukaki. I simply couldn't get my eyes off the lake. It has to be the prettiest lake that I have seen so far.

 

Lake Tekapo is located at altitude of 900m above sea level. At 6+ in the morning, I heard my dad waking my brothers to watch the snow. It was snowing outside! And the whole place was covered in snow. It was the first time for my family to see snow and my first time to see it in NZ. Very thrilling. Needless to say, we took many more shots in the snow, with the snow, on the snow.. 

 

Before continuing our journey to Christchurch, we visited the famous Church of Good Shepherd and the statue of Shepherd Dog. It was still snowing still and it looked surreal, when I could so clearly recalled the church in spring just the day before..  The drive from Lake Tekapo to Christchurch was like a journey through the time tunnel. At first, snow flakes were floating down and the pine trees were covered in white. As the trees receded, the snow thinned down until we could see the greens again. From winter to spring in half an hour!   

 

The first impression that I had of Christchurch was the number of cars. There were a lot more cars on the road than Auckland, even when we were just on the suburb of the City. But it is still a beautiful city with a lot of Victorian buildings and beautiful gardens. After lunch, we decided to venture out from the Christchurch to minimize driving time on the last day. Hence, we drove out again to visit the University of Canterbury and Lincoln University. I liked the latter better, especially with the egg-shape wire frame art piece next to the library. Fine work indeed.   

 

Fei suggested to have dinner in Akaroa and I thought it was a fine idea. We couldn't be more wrong. The drive to Akaroa was the most difficult throughout the journey. Akaroa is a French village about 90km away from Christchurh. It is by the sea, and we fully expected the drive to be a straight and smooth drive. However, it turned out to be very windy! We had to travelled along the rugged banks of the peninsular circumventing the mountains. The drive was longer than we expected. The town is rather pretty, though a little too quiet and there are hardly any restaurants! We were worried about driving back after the sun set. Hence, we had to skip the idea of having dinner, but headed home after spending only 30 minutes in the city....

 

But we weren't always unlucky. We were very fortunate with two sunny days in Christchurch. On the second day, we went punting along Avon River and took the famous tram ride. Both were something that mum had looked forward to doing. We then visited the Botanical Garden. I simply loved the landscaping. The tulips, daisies and the trees of various colors. Words are simply insufficient to describe the beauty. Please refer to the many photos that I took in the Botanical Garden. They should worth many thousands words...

 

We visited Willow Bank for Kiwi Encounter and a Maori Cultural Performance. It was my second Kiwi Encounter, but my first time of being less than a feet away from a Kiwi, without a glass in between too! Just a shame that I wasn't allow to pick it up... The Maori Cultural Performance was a very nice experience, allowing us a glimpse to their history, culture and beautitful songs. It was a small group that day and all of us got invited on stage - the women were taught to use the "Poi" in a dance, and the men were taught to do the "Haka". Beautiful evening..

 

After sending my family off at 4.45am. I drove back alone to the motel. I woke up again at 9.30am, checked out and had brunch in 叙缘居 for dimsum. It is a Chinese restaurant serving mainly Guangzhou dishes.  Simply delicious for someboy who had been deprived for an extended period of time. I voted it the best restaurant on my South Island trip :)  

 

I had to return the car by noon, but since my flight was not till 4pm, I had a couple of hours to kill. I decided to visit the Antartic Center. It was a very nice experience. I arrived in time to watch the feeding of penguins and the snow storm simulation. Definitely better than Kelly Tarton! The blue penguins were so cute and adorable.

 

The flight home from Christchurch to Wellington was my best flight so far. I flew over plains, rugged mountains and blue sea. As the plane made its decend, the sky, mountains and sea were all in different shades of blue, decorated with white clouds. It was a scence that I shall always remember. Sigh..

 

Home sweet home.  

 

从来没有看过这么大的天然湖，从一端完全看不见湖对岸。 “一湖死水”， 完全不能套用在这湖上，因为也许面积太广，风吹过，湖边竟然泛起了一层层的"湖“浪。。傍晚，坐在湖边看拍婚纱照的新人、黑天鹅，心里很平静。就这么坐着，直到夕阳西下，吞没了一声叹息。。。

 

Huka瀑布倾泻而下的水有着最迷人的蓝色，像是能流动的海蓝宝, 漂亮而不哗众取宠。水冲到河面卷起白色的浪花，更像是童话故事里不断滚动出蓝色棉花糖的搅拌器，勾出回忆, 一幕幕，诉说着故事。 乘坐的船接近瀑布时，阳光透过空气里的水珠，形成了多道彩虹，似有似无，似近还远。 每一道彩虹的出现及消失，是那么美丽而又脆弱，承载着梦想、希望。。。

 

这是一座三周前才爆发的活火山，可是这一点都没有阻止热衷于滑雪的爱好者，还有具大无畏精神的我们。坐着滑雪梯上山，好高好高，叠叠山峦，在云间雪里。欣赏那震撼的景色，即使滑雪下山时跌了好几次，也不遗憾了。 雪化开，化为没有。。。 

 

无心插秧的机缘下，驶进了43号高速公路 - 那著名“被遗忘的高速公路”。入夜，车子完全被黑暗吞噬，路上几乎没有人烟。难得看见屋子，屋里也没有亮灯，不知道还有没有人居住，还是主人已经搬离多时。 所有电话失去讯号，收音机只有沙沙的噪音。 车灯打在路两边的反光灯，在黑暗里，白得非常诡异，指引诱惑着车子，开向一条没有止尽的前方。。 可是，这时候，只能前进，而不能后退。。。 

 

友人非常激烈地指控马国华校生思想狭窄，爱搞民族主义、小圈子，已经到达害国殃民的程度。他身为非华校生，感觉被边缘化。 我觉得那也说得太严重了吧，我们何德何能，有此影响？我一向风花雪月，粉饰太平，没有忧国忧民的抱负，甚为汗颜。。。

 

况且我觉得这世界上是有好人坏人、男人女人、聪明人蠢人、善人恶人。 可是，这都和种族、国籍没相关。 没有特别优越的种族，只有优秀和低劣的个体。 是我想法太幼稚？也许我的确活在美丽的泡泡里，呵呵。 而也许我该大量召集大家住进这个泡泡屋里，那么会不会多一点太平，少一点纠纷？