august 5-12, 2007

my girlfriend came again for a week holiday , this time we drove down to south island. she arrived in wellington on saturday afternoon, by sunday morning we were already on ferry to south island. we took the east coast route all the way down to invercargill. the journey from picton down south was just amazing, we drove on a winding road by the beach all the way to kaikoura.

we drove our 'mimi' again.. although she's not young and not on top of her shape anymore, but given the reality that she's sort of a 'fast-car' breed, she managed 150kph easily at 3000rpm the redline starts at 7000 up to 9000rpm, so imagine how fast she could go...


mimi - the 'black cat' nissan skyline - somewhere between blenheim and kaikoura



seals near kaikoura, i guess these are mom and her pup


at oamaru
we wanted to see the blue penguins, but from what've heard, they only come back from the sea in early evening and we missed it. so... no luck..


at moeraki beach


the boulders at moeraki
those boulders are more than one meter in diameter...


yellow eyed penguin in private penguin reserve at otago peninsula, close to dunedin


arrowtown
this town is beautiful during fall and winter, and again we missed it. anyway, there is a gold-era chinese settlement in here, several restored huts where they had lived, and stories about them. the chinese were subjected to much prejudice, especially during the 1880s economic depression.


arrowtown - one of the hut in the chinese settlement


us at arrowtown


at mt. cardrona


a church by the lake, lake tekapo


at picton - south island's gateway to north island.

more photos in my girlfriend's flickr album "fiction@love"


itinerary of the trip (boring stuff)

sunday the 5th

we took the interislander ferry, left wellington 8.45am, and reached picton 11.45am damage: 200$ for a car and 2 adults. we passed kaikoura about 3.30pm. reached christchurch about 7-7.30pm, and left about 8pm. reached akaroa about 9.20pm. we stayed at top 10 holiday park, the unit we rent was just fabulous, with a view overlooking the lake. damage: 75$ for a self contained unit (double bed, couple bunks, kitchen, attached bathroom)

monday the 6th

left the motel about 10.15am and went for a sightseeing in akaroa, too bad it was cloudy, and some of the shops were closed. reached timaru about 5.30pm, stopped for a while to see the sunset, not a good one either, it was hazy. reached oamaru about 7pm, but then we decided to continue driving and spend the night in dunedin. but when we're on the way to dunedin, we realized we sort of miscalculated where was the moeraki boulders. we went back to oamaru again, reached there about 8.35pm, and stayed at empire backpackers, the room was clean and pretty basic. damage: 52$ for twin bed without attached bathroom.

tuesday the 7th

we left the motel about 10am, went to blue penguin reserve, but timing wasn't correct, so we didn't see any penguins. we continued driving down south, reached moeraki boulders at 11.30am. walked on the beach to see the boulders... amazing big half sphere rocks! then we continued driving down, and reached dunedin about 2pm. we went to otago peninsula - penguin place; it's a private penguin reserve. and yes we saw few yellow eyed penguins, they were just going home around dusk from work (fishing i guess ), and we saw a couple seals laying around on the beach as well. damage: 66$ for the tour in the reserve. spent the night at aaron lodge top 10 damage: 75$ for self contained unit.

wednesday the 8th

left the motel about 9am, and went to cadbury chocolate factory... we saw chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, went for tour around the factory, and of course chocolate shopping. damage: 32$ for the entrance/tour fee. from there we stopped at the railway station, which really an antique beautiful building. then we continued driving down to invercargill, but just passed by, didn't really stopped in invercargill. finally we reached te anau around 7pm, and spent the night at top 10 holiday park. damage: 81$ for selfcontained unit.

thursday the 9th

we went for milford sound tour that morning, we left te anau about 9.45am by bus. but it was raining and cloudy and misty at milford sound, this was the second time i'd been to milford sound, my first time was wet and misty too, crap! we got back at te anau around 4.30pm. damage: 284$!! for wet and misty view of milford sound. but we had a good time, we had secured a strategic place on the cruise ship, so we had a good view of the surroundings. then we continued to queenstown, and spent the night at another top 10. damage: 84$ for selfcontained unit.

friday the 10th

left queenstown and heading for arrowtown, spent sometime walking at the historical chinese settlement. and then left, driving north. on the way we went up to mt. cardrona ski field, and she got herself a ski crash course for a couple hours. damage: 75$ (one person) then it started snowing... hmm.. it was damn cold, but it was nice to see snow coming down... we drove downhill quite slowly, to avoid slip, but it was fun, and we made it to the motorway safely and continued driving north. we reached omarama and spent the night at yet another top 10 holiday park. damage: 81$ for self contained unit.

saturday the 11th

left omarama, and heading to lake tekapo, and reached there about 12pm, walked around the lake, close to the church. and we continued driving north again, reached hanmer springs around 6 pm, but unfortunately the hot spring was closed due to gale which caused power failure. we spent the night at alpine adventure tourist park. damage: 79$.

sunday the 12th

time to go home, so early in the morning we were already on our way back to picton, on the way police caught us speeding, and gave a speeding ticket. damage: 170$. at 2pm we were already on the ferry to wellington, and reach wellington around 5pm. damage: 235$.


that's all.. a week holiday... just passed us by so fast..
but with all the damages, unfriendly weather, unlucky timing, we are all happy to had this short holiday


latest update: 31 aug 2007 - 01:34am