04/07/2010
After collecting our Estima from Juicy Rentals, we departed our North Island trip heading towards Kaikoura. According to our plan, we should be proceeding to Hamner Spring to have a look but we were too late when we departed, so gave up and headed straight up to Kaikoura.
our Estima!!(though a bit old aged...)
Kaikoura, a town in combination with ocean and mountains, is famous for eco-tourism. The extension of the sea brings abundant marine animals to this town, thus the tourist attractions are whale watching, swimming with dolphin and seabird watching.
Once entering Kaikoura, we were driving along the coastline. The scenery was awesome yet mind-soothing. We stopped by at Goose Bay to try our luck whether we can see any seal. Too bad, the luck is not at our side...
Once entering Kaikoura, we were driving along the coastline. The scenery was awesome yet mind-soothing. We stopped by at Goose Bay to try our luck whether we can see any seal. Too bad, the luck is not at our side...
So we just continued our journey to our kingdom-like temporary home!!
our room...
haha, 老千poker card!!After having our Indomee+egg lunch, we drove to Point Kean to look for the seal colonies. We stopped by at South Bay and took some pictures.
nampaknya orang ni owe many people money wo....
Finally we reached Point Kean!!
see the seal lying there?its lazy pose cheated me and its angry roar scared me off!!
Kaikoura can be translated as 'meal of crayfish', thus having a meal of crayfish is a must when visiting Kaikoura. Crayfish industry still plays an economic role in this town. Stalls selling crayfish, either cooked or raw, can be found along the road. Crayfish, which are freshwater crustaceans, are generally known as small lobsters. So, no doubt, crayfish is our dinner!!
cheese-baked crayfish with salad and fries as sides
fresh raw musselsAfter dinner, we went to the well-known Fyffe house front to have our self-organized star-gazing tour. The surrounding was dark and quiet. We lie down at the roadside looking up the sky observing the amazing star-filled sky!!
05/07/2010
After having breakfast, we departed to our first destination of the day, Wither Hill Vintage. Wither Hill vintage is located in Wairau Valley of the Marlborough region. Marlborough is New Zealand's largest wine making region, producing the majority nation wine output. This region contains soil that are fertile for grapes to grow.
Wither Hill vineyards are flourished, with varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris planted at their vineyard site.
Ting Feng is sleeping almost throughout the whole journey.
Wither Hills Vintage
the very kind and friendly staff organising our wine tasting session.
CHEERS!!
Wah!! so many wine bottles!!! Wish it's my wine cupboard leh~~After the wine tasting session and wine shopping, we proceeded to the Picton Interislander Ferry Terminal for our ferry ride across Cook Strait to Wellington. The journey was 92km and took 3 hours to reach North Island. Interislander operates 3 passenger ferries and the one we took was Kaitaki. Kaitaki ferry is the largest ferry operating on New Zealand waters.
Guess what were we doing while waiting?UNO!!
We drove up the ferry and parked our car according to the instructions of the workers. Each of us need to pay NZD61 per journey. And from here, we started our journey to the North!! We could walk around the ferry throughout the three-hour journey admiring the scenery of Cook Strait.
HAHAHAHA!!!
see~~ what's there?? stars? money?? $$$$
When the journey ended, the sky was getting dark. We drove around Wellington until GPS guided us to Te Papa Tongarewa Musuem. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and Te Papa Tongarewa Musuem is the musuem of New Zealand.
Te Papa Tongarewa Musuem:
(Te Papa Tongarewa = the place of treasures of this land)
the Colossal Squid
Night view of Wellington from musuemWe continued to have a walk around the musuem before departing to our Wellington temporary home of the night...
The Parliament Building of New Zealand
say hi to the Parliament door! =)
the Beehive, Executive Wing of Parliament building(even the PM's office is here...but of course i didn't get to see the PM..)
After taking pictures with this iconic building of Wellington, we drove back to our accommodation and have a good rest before starting a brand new day!
~jj~
~jj~
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