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The last stop in the South Island for me was Queenstown.
And let me tell you something, THAT iconic and cinematic backdrop is even more spectacular when you see it with the naked eye.
Stunning. It's just RIDICULOUS. That range of mountains that you can see are called the Remarkables and they are surrounded by all these pretty meandering coves of Lake Wakatipu. It's just visually breathtaking and I wish I had made the effort to go up at night and get the night shot. As usual, laziness prevailed! LOL!
So the bus trip to Queenstown was one of the longer bus trips I took, so I wasn't really looking forward to it. When I was waiting for the bus, this Swedish started talking to me. Perfectly nice guy, but you know when you just can't be arsed having THAT conversation again? Where are from? How long have you been in NZ? Blah, blah, blah. I managed to escape him on the bus but he caught up with me when we arrived and when he suggested having dinner together, I just didn't have the heart to say no.
I spent the next day sightseeing with another girl in my hostel who came and asked to hang out together. Straight outta high school, she had never been anywhere by herself and her youthfulness and inexperience was just truly endearing! Awwwww..... The weather was GORGEOUS - perfectly sunny, hot and clear and we hit up the gondola for the spectacular views and to ride the luge. Wicked fun.
Queenstown is the adventure capital of NZ. You can do anything here - skydive, bungy, canyoning, white water rafting, off road biking, anything. The problem is, it costs a bomb to do any of that stuff so I settled for some good old fashioned walking and a day trip to Milford Sound. I did go to NZ with the intention of doing a skydive, but not in Queenstown. I was saving that experience for Taupo in the North - one of the skydiving capitals of the world.
Queentown was all about my trip to Milford Sound. I will never thank my friend enough for ordering me to go there!
Milford Sound is often called the Eighth Wonder of the World and it's not difficult to see why. Part of the World Heritage Site of Fiordland National Park, the area is raw wilderness with jagged, mountainous forested zones , broken up by deep sounds. The Milford Track is a 4 day 53.5km hike and is described as one of the world's best walks. Of course, the track was never on the cards for me given my time restrictions, but I did get to drive along the Te Anau-Milford Highway which is 119km long and gives you the most incredible views of this insane scenery which means that you just never stop snapping on the camera.
This area of NZ is the wettest. Naturally, everyone wants THAT perfect postcard picture, but apparently even in the summer, there is just the most ridiculous amount of rain. And when I say ridiculous, I mean it - 7 METRES A YEAR!!!!! It was no exception when I went, (in fact 2012 had been wetter than most) but I didn't get caught in it until I was on the cruise going through Milford Sound. The crappy thing about the rain was that I'm still mastering my camera settings and I haven't worked out how to take decent pictures in grey and gloomy conditions so I'm gutted that I haven't done them justice. I was glad I went when I did though, because just 2 days later, the whole area of the Milford Track was flooded and trampers had to be airlifted out of the park.
When we got to Milford Sound and were about to get on the boat for the cruise I was rooted to the spot at the first sight of it. So insanely stunning and breathtaking - the water was completely still and super dark and then there were these mammothly sheer rocky cliffs covered in forest protuding out the water.
I was gobsmacked - I mean, there is no where else in the world like it. And of course I was super excited as it was on the locations for the LOTR movies. Isn't it amazing?! We didn't see any dolphins, but there were seals resting out on the rocks. I kept trying to keep everyone's words in my head "Milford Sound is better when it rains". It's not a lie - the waterfalls were spectacular - I'm just gutted with the quality of my pictures. The whole experience was truly magical and even now when I look at my pics, I can't believe that I was there and I feel so lucky and so happy that I decided to go.
There will be a whole album of Milford Sound so keep an eye out for it on FB.
I spent my last night in Queenstown staying in a luxury 5* hotel.....for no other reason than there was no where else available! Not that I was complaining - after spending the last few nights in a hostel, I was looking forward to a decent night's sleep with my own bathroom and without having to worry about anyone else. I was knackered after Milford Sound and spent the day relaxing. I headed out to the infamous "Fergburger" which is allegedly NZ's best hamburger. I had to wait 30 minutes for it and it was pretty damn good! Stuffed and unable to move, I went back to the hotel for a nap before heading out in the evening with some guys that I had met a couple of nights before. So much for my good night's sleep - I didn't go to bed until 5am and was up just 3 hours later. What a waste of a comfy bed! It was funny though, becasue Queenstown was exactly half way through my trip and it's amazing how quickly 9 days can pass when you are surrounded by such magnificent beauty.
Check out the pics on FB if you haven't already. Hope you'll enjoy the ones to come!
xoxo
On Boxing Day, I left Christchurch for the ridiculously stunning little town of Tekapo in the MacKenzie Basin.
The most incredible thing about this place was the lake. You get the most PERFECT unobstructed view of the Southern Alps, Mount Cook against a backdrop rolling hills across the most ridiculously turquoise Lake Tekapo. Seriously - it's impossibly blue and when the weather is clear, it's just jaw-droppingly stunning. It totally looks like a postcard - I could hardly believe it.
I was a bit concerned when I left Christchurch because it was grey, cloudy and raining. My main objective in Tekapo was to take a scenic flight over the famous glaciers and Mount Cook and just chill out. I got increasingly worried that I wouldn't be able to do the flight because of the weather, but when I arrived at my hostel, I was told that the weather would be better the next day, so I decided to take the risk and wait. So on the day I arrived, I just grabbed my book, hit up the supermarket and sat by the lake having a picnic and reading. For HOURS!!! The downtime was welcome after spending so much time with my friend's family and being a tourist in Christchurch. I spent so long just staring across the lake at this incredible backdrop wondering how a country could be THAT beautiful. When it started to get chilly, I headed back to hang out at the hostel instead.
In Christchurch, I mainly met Germans - here it was Chinese. EVERYWHERE. So crazy. I still got to kick back and read my book in peace though and it was nice not to be thinking about time or work or schedules or clients or...anything! The hostel was on the lakefront and the view was simply stunning. I was hoping for more of a sunset, but it was way too cloudy. I got the cutest surprise though when I saw a couple of wild rabbits hopping about in the garden - SUPER CUTE!!! Awwwwwwww!!!!!
This hostel literally had one of the comfiest beds I had ever slept in. The pillow was super soft, the duvet even softer and I slept like a log. The next morning was GORGEOUS. Just gorgeous. That was it - I decided to shell out the NZ$300 for a scenic flight over the MacKenzie basin. It was what I had stopped there for anyway, so it would have been a crime not to do it. It turned our to be just 2 of us and we got a much longer flight than usual over Mount Cook (the highest peak in Australasia at 3,764m), 150 other peaks of the Southern Alps. the Tasman, Fox and Franz Josef glaciers and of course the stunning Lake Tekapo. We were both literally speechless as we took in this breathtakingly phenomenal scenery.
Numpty here though forgot my camera. Well actually, I was charging the battery the night before and then forgot to put it back in. I was in the plane and my heart literally sank. THANK GOD FOR SMARTPHONES!!!!! And mine isn't actually too bad for taking pictures, as you can see in the pic above. It was cool though because the German girl put her pics on my SD card when we got back so I had a copy of them all. She was snapping away frantically the whole time bless her. Naturally I was grateful. but when I actually checked out the pictures, they really weren't any better than the ones I had taken on my phone! HAHAHHA! Her camera was mediocre at best and she hadn't used the zoom at all, so all the pictures had the window frame or wings of the plane in them! DOH!
It was really amazing though. My time here was super chilled out and it was exactly what I needed before I hit Queenstown and then manicness of being a tourist would start up again!The flight was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. If ever you get down there, I highly recommend doing it. Nowhere else in the world has nature like this.
The Tekapo pics are already up on FB - the ones of my scenic flight will be up soon in their own special album so stay tuned!
xoxo
I am super happy that the new season of PR has started.
I watched the first episode today...and was MORTIFIED at what Heidi Klum was wearing!
A sheer black top with a black bra underneath - really?!
Ergh!
The only thing that I am enjoying about this ghastly winter season is the fashion. I absolutely LOVE wearing my skinny jeans with insanely high heeled boots and oversized knits and jackets. It's a really interesting time to work as well, because I'm always observing what people are wearing.
And for the record, down jackets shouldn't be worn with suits ladies!!!
I've had a lot of conversations with clients recently about beauty and fashion. I've noticed a lot of patterns emerging amongst women regarding what beauty actually is.
For women under 30, the majority think it's at least 90% physical appearance. One of my clients told me that her resolution was to be sexy. When I asked her what she thought she had to do to be more sexy, she told me that she would wear heels every day, short skirts or shorts and never trousers, put on a lot of make up including false eyelashes and not wear too many layers. She would never pay for drinks in clubs and flirt as much as possible.
HUH?
The problem is I've known this girl for a while and she's pretty. The fake eyelashes that she was wearing when she came to the lesson completely dominated her eyes so that you couldn't even see them. The idea of lashes is to open up your eyes, not hide them. She was also wearing foundation so thick that you could probably leave a nail mark in it. She's gone from being a pretty girl to just looking cheap to be honest. Not that I told her that, mind you! I just felt sad that her perception of beauty and sexiness was so warped that she didn't realise that she was beautiful and sexy anyway. =(
Talking to women over the age of 30 was a different story. They all agree that of course beauty is partly physical appearance, but they also recognize the value of inner beauty. I heard some really wonderful things about the characteristics that they believe make up inner beauty. 2 women told me that they admire my character and when I asked them why, they told me because on the outside I appear strong, confident and passionate, but after they got to know me better, they recognized a sensitivity, generosity and kindness that they may not have thought was originally there. *blush*
Awwwww.
I was flattered actually and that was kind of echoed in something that my friend told me yesterday. An old friend from Saga was in town and as we were catching up, he told me how surprised he had been a few years ago when I agreed to be an MC for a charity Christmas party. He told me that someone had suggested asking me, but he had said that there was no way I would ever do it, so when I agreed his perception of me completely changed.
I know that I may appear selfish, but everyone has more than one side. The key is to dig a little deeper. The people that know me best didn't have the most favourable first impression of me nor me them. It just goes to show.
Don't judge a book by it's cover.
And even though I'm totally judging what Heidi is wearing on PR, well....she supposed to have a stylist and doesn't have an excuse!
HAHA!
xoxo
On my second day in NZ, I took a day trip from Christchurch to Kaikoura. It's about 2 and a half hours north of Christchurch on the bus and is a little coastal town renowned for the most amazing marine life.
Unfortunately for me, when I set out in the morning, it was grey, gloomy and drizzling. I still had the option to go whale watching, but it was expensive and even though they promise to return 80% of your money if you don't see any whales, I didn't fancy being out on the water in that weather. LOL - I was thinking about hte quality of the pictures that I would have ended up with!
So after a nice brunch in a cute seaside cafe, I set off on a walk. Kaikoura is really unique in that you have mountains so close to the sea. I couldn't get a clear shot because of the weather, but I can imagine that on a clear day, it would look stunning.
This is the best shot that I could get, but you can see that there it's super cloudy so you can't see the moutains clearly.
Since I couldn't get out onto the water for any snorkelling or whale watching, I hit up the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway, which is a 2 hour clifftop walk which weaves around the coast, through the forest and back to the city centre. It was a really nice walk actually, nothing too taxing, which was good because the weather suddenly changed and the sun was blazing down on me. I had sunscreen in my bag, but for some reason I didn't feel the need to put it on.
Oh my....how I regretted that decision the next day! I woke up lobster red with a bright white sunglasses mark. No amount of make up could save me from the humiliation that I had to endure for the next week!!
What was really interesting about tramping in NZ is that when you meet other people on the trails, they say hi to you. At first I thought it was so weird but then it started to make me smile and I really got into the whole spirit of it. The only people who never responded were the Japanese! LOL!
Kaikoura is very much a touristy little town centred around one street, which was brimming with souvenir shops, fish and chips and CLAMS. You could eat clams in a billion different ways there!!!
I only spent about 8 hours or so there, but it was definitely enough. The city centre just had huge groups of families loafing around, so after the peace and quiet of my walk, it was the last thing I wanted to surround myself with. I got back into Christchurch at about 7pm and went for dinner with my friend and his family. It was his dad's 72nd birthday, so we had a cute lil party at home.
Very picturesque though, there's no denying that. And defintiely worth a visit if you're passing through there on your way to Christchurch or Picton.
Check out the pics on FB!
xoxo
I've only been back from New Zealand a week and already it feels like it's been months.
It's a shame but I'm trying as hard as I can to hang onto that feeling that I had when I first returned.
So I have begun the immensely time consuming task of trying to sift through all of my pictures. Going through them, I find myself grinning from ear to ear and even the ones I took on my smartphone take my breath away. Really. It would take me forever to put them all up in just one album, so I decided to upload them place by place as I sort through them. You should see my computer - split into folders and sub folders. LOL! But it's definitely the easiest way to do it because going through one folder takes hours. I'm not messing with the colours - just a bit of cropping and sharpening. I want you all to see the pictures just as I did and just as they were taken on my camera. I spent hours over there playing with my camera settings and FINALLY I feel that I have a decent understanding of how to play with them to capture different effects and colours. I know they're not perfect but I don't wanna change them. I don't even have Photoshop installed on my computer! And that's the way I like it.
The first pictures up on FB are of Christchurch so that's where I'm gonna start.
I first arrived in Christchurch on Dec. 22nd to be greeted by my ex-flatmate here in Japan and his wife. They left Tokyo about a year ago and despite my insane tiredness, I was super happy to see them.
No rest for the wicked - it was back to their house to drop off their bags and out again. My flatmate's parents were in town as well, so all of us went for a drive in the mountains up to the Crater Rim Walkway for postcard picture views. They were stunning. Breathtaking. Although the winding roads and my friend's need for speed left me feeling worse for wear squashed in the back seat between his wife and mother. That evening we headed to a little Irish pub. OMG my tired state was not ready for what I was to endure. Awesome but extremely crude locals who called upon every ounce of wit that I had to keep up with them. It was fun, but man I was way too tired for all of that. Still, nothing a few Bacardi and cokes couldn't sort out!
More about Christchurch. Or what's left of it! The entire CBD of the city has been shut down. It's called ther Red Zone. There are abandoned buildings everywhere while look like they could fall down any minute and piles and piles of debris just THERE! It was really shocking because the extent of the damage of the March 11th earthquake was only seen on TV. This time, I was seeing it first hand and unwelcome memories came flooding back. It was really sad to see. And shocking. Why does the city centre still look like this after 2 years?! If I hadn't of known any better, I would have thought that the earthquake had just happened. How can you just stick a fence up around a city centre and just leave it there?! It's weird. But that seems to be the NZ way - slowly, slowly.
They have a restart program. They're trying to rebuild the city centre and at the moment, it's all centred down one little street. It's a good effort, but it's located smack bang in between all the destruction around it, which is a little unsettling. I wonder when they are planning to actually clear the centre so that the proper rebuilding can start. Such a contrast to Japan.
Christchurch Botannical Gardens are stunning. I just fell in love with the rose garden and spend AGES in there with a goofy grin on my face as I went round admiring all the different colours. I was really embarrassed because I had gotten burnt the day before on one of my walks and had the WORST sunglasses make I think I have ever had in my life. Bright white and the rest of my face was lobster red. DOH! But it was so nice to just kick back on the grass and read a book. Even though I took my Kindle with me, I ended up buying Fifty Shades of Grey in a second hand bookstore and shamelessly read it in public, ignoring the raised eyebrows that I was receiving from passers-by.
Christmas day was a quiet affair in my friend's house. The whole day was spent watching TV which felt weird because I hadn't done that for ages. Restless before dinner. I went out for a ride on my friend's sexy Ducati. The roads out there are a dream for bikers. So wide and windy - it felt amazing to be speeding down feeling the wind in your face. Little bit strong, mind you, but exhilirating all the same.
I'm not gonna lie - Christchurch certainly wouldn't be my place of choice to live in NZ. I don't think it has anything to offer and I feel a little sorry for my friend's wife. Just because there is nothing there - not even any decent shopping since the centre has been closed down. Props to her - I would be bored shitless. There are a lot of great places around it though. I only went o Kaikoura from there, but had I had more time, there are plenty of other day trips I would have taken.
Hope you enjoy the pics of Christchurch that I've posted on FB already and there are more to come over the weekend. Maybe. LOL!
xoxo
Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
And YES, I will eventually get round to telling you all about my trip to New Zealand. For the time being, I'll sum it up in one word for you....
PHENOMENAL.
That is a very, very special country and after things calm down a bit and I've had time to sift through the 700+ photos I took, I'm gonna break it down place by place for you! =)
It's been an OK couple of days back at work - busy and straight back to the grind. It's always like that after I come back and it ends up feeling like I've never been away. But I can honestly say that my trip to NZ was kind of a life changing experience and I'm now looking at things a little more differently....that's as much as I'm going to share, sorry! HAHA!
So in my break yesterday and after work today, I hit the sales. Now I never normally go to certain high street stores, but recently when I've been asking people where they bought some of their gorgeous clothes, they all told me they were high street so I thought I'd give it a go.
4 stores, 6 hours and 80,000yen. That's the damage for this year.
It sounds like a lot of money, but seriously, I got SO MUCH stuff for that money. The problem with high street is that I'm pretty sure half of it is going to disintegrate in the washing machine! LOL! But it was so cheap, I just couldn't resist! I've got like 2 jackets, 3 pairs of shoes, about 7 shirts, 8 pairs of tights, slippers, god knows how many tops, about 3 or 4 dresses...I can't even remember now! And all of that is on top of the tops, dress, shorts and 3 pairs of shoes I bought in NZ. What can I say? It's sales season and it's not my fault this stuff was so cheap! LOL!
The problem I have now, is trying to make the space for it all. Seriously, 80,000 yen in high street stores is a crap lot of clothes and my draws are already bursting, as is my wardobe and I don't have any shoe space left so it's definitely time to clear out the closet! I would easily be able to throw clothes away if I had worn them to death and they were manky, but loads of stuff is pretty new, barely worn, in great condition, expensive and some clothes still have the labels on! Because of that, I'm kinda like hmmmmmm....about giving it to charity - especially the new stuff. Ideally I'd like to sell it but over here, I haven't got a clue where to start with that. I thought about taking it into work but then I realised that half of it would definitely be too big for the staff and wither too big or small for my other coworkers. i can't actually think of one girl I work with who is the same size as me. So that's shagged that idea!
And then it's like when you look at stuff and you don't wanna get rid of it because "one day you might wear it again". LOL! I have so much stuff that when I look at it, I think it's so cute but then I haven't actually worn it for a couple of years. But I might wear it this year you know! HAHA!
If anyone knows of a good way to sell clothes, then let me know!
And I'll be updating about my trip soon - I promise!
xoxo
