Was trying to clear off some pictures from my overloaded folders. And I chance upon some pictures which I have forgotten. That happens when one has several hundred folders with several hundreds pictures in it.
How time flies and the pic above which felt like taken only yesterday outside one of New Zealand's the oldest University in Dunedin, is 2 years old. This is sort of a continuation of my Travel Memories to Middle Earth - Part 1 and Travellling Again? Part 2 written and posted earlier.
(We drove from the South Island : Christchurch - Lake Tekapo - Queenstown - Invercargill - Dunedin and back to Christchurch.
Flew from Christchurch to the North Island: Auckland - Rotorua - Wellington - Blenhiem (stayed 3 nights) - Christchurch and home. With several stops at various other places, but not staying the night, the trip took us a little more than 2 weeks. Wish we stayed longer).
After the stay at Lake Tekapo, we drove to Mount Cook, had our lunch there and later proceeded to one of the most beautiful place I've seen - Queenstown where we stayed the night. We left the following late afternoon albeit reluctantly and proceeded to Invercargill!
We arrived Invercargill, New Zealand's southernmost city late evening where we stayed a night at a very charming motel. I still remember the owner, a tall elderly gentleman when showing us around commented how short I was but quickly changed it to 'petite', that I must be careful in the bathroom as I would probably have problem reaching for the water heater.... iishhh 'celaka punya orang'! hahaha.. And no, I did not have any problem and no, I was not offended at all. He wasn't that wrong after all..LOL.
As usual we did our rounds around the city the following day, and later left sometime late morning to Dunedin with several stops along the way.
A few miles before Dunedin, we saw a small cold storage store selling fresh and frozen seafood. We stopped by and we were delighted to find lots of fresh fish, mussels and other sea food priced so reasonably too. We were surprised to find too that there were selling fresh fish heads at only 50 cents each! Fish heads? Why? We were guessing that some Asians or rather Malaysians must be staying nearby ..hahaha...
We literally jumped for joy at finding something so cheap at a most unexpected place. We bought a large cut of the salmon flesh and 3 fish heads.. yes 3! It was so cheap after all and we thought we'd make soup of the 2 and another one to bring to our next destination, which was Christchurch, the following day.
As the weather was cold, we were not worried of it getting bad. Still we kept it well in our airtight plastic container and we thought if it starts smelling bad after that, we could just disposed of it somewhere.
After roaming the streets of Dunedin the following morning, we started our long journey to Christchurch in the early afternoon. The journey was supposed to take 5 hours but it took us longer due to several stops along the way. We reached Christchurch around 9 pm and started to hunt for accommodation near the airport as we had to catch an early flight to Auckland the following day.
Bad luck as all the motels were all fully booked and some with vacant places were not within our budget! I was thinking about the fish head since we could not find a place to cook it, we gonna have to throw it for sure. We decided to spend the night at the airport. But what about the raw fish head? Luck would have it, the cold weather had kept it good and fresh and so we decided to keep it.
We left the car at the designated location and lugged our luggage and the the raw fish head to the airport! Yeah, the raw fish head slept with us at the airport floor and flew with us to Auckland, 1 1/2 hour flight away. Guess what we did first thing when we arrived our lodging in Auckland?
Lovely memories of Auckland roaming about the city, shopping and going up the sky tower to savor the stunning scenery.
How time flies and the pic above which felt like taken only yesterday outside one of New Zealand's the oldest University in Dunedin, is 2 years old. This is sort of a continuation of my Travel Memories to Middle Earth - Part 1 and Travellling Again? Part 2 written and posted earlier.
(We drove from the South Island : Christchurch - Lake Tekapo - Queenstown - Invercargill - Dunedin and back to Christchurch.
Flew from Christchurch to the North Island: Auckland - Rotorua - Wellington - Blenhiem (stayed 3 nights) - Christchurch and home. With several stops at various other places, but not staying the night, the trip took us a little more than 2 weeks. Wish we stayed longer).
After the stay at Lake Tekapo, we drove to Mount Cook, had our lunch there and later proceeded to one of the most beautiful place I've seen - Queenstown where we stayed the night. We left the following late afternoon albeit reluctantly and proceeded to Invercargill!
We arrived Invercargill, New Zealand's southernmost city late evening where we stayed a night at a very charming motel. I still remember the owner, a tall elderly gentleman when showing us around commented how short I was but quickly changed it to 'petite', that I must be careful in the bathroom as I would probably have problem reaching for the water heater.... iishhh 'celaka punya orang'! hahaha.. And no, I did not have any problem and no, I was not offended at all. He wasn't that wrong after all..LOL.
crystal clear water of Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown, a mesmerising place..
Queenstown's stunning and awe inspiring scenery! It is like a dream..
Queenstown
Above: Charming motel at Invercargill. The night was cold at -4% C but we were kept warm and comfy. That car is our ride.
As usual we did our rounds around the city the following day, and later left sometime late morning to Dunedin with several stops along the way.
one of our stops along the way, where we bought some souvenirs for home.
A few miles before Dunedin, we saw a small cold storage store selling fresh and frozen seafood. We stopped by and we were delighted to find lots of fresh fish, mussels and other sea food priced so reasonably too. We were surprised to find too that there were selling fresh fish heads at only 50 cents each! Fish heads? Why? We were guessing that some Asians or rather Malaysians must be staying nearby ..hahaha...
Source: Google Pics
our din din... now where's the fish head soup?
We literally jumped for joy at finding something so cheap at a most unexpected place. We bought a large cut of the salmon flesh and 3 fish heads.. yes 3! It was so cheap after all and we thought we'd make soup of the 2 and another one to bring to our next destination, which was Christchurch, the following day.
As the weather was cold, we were not worried of it getting bad. Still we kept it well in our airtight plastic container and we thought if it starts smelling bad after that, we could just disposed of it somewhere.
Streets in Dunedin -
my feet were killing me with all the walking. Even with my comfortable boots, they were crying.. "please release me!"
my partners in crime... one the 'driver' another the 'cook'.
I was the photographer and bookkeeper. Another friend, our porter and assistant photographer .. hehehe
After roaming the streets of Dunedin the following morning, we started our long journey to Christchurch in the early afternoon. The journey was supposed to take 5 hours but it took us longer due to several stops along the way. We reached Christchurch around 9 pm and started to hunt for accommodation near the airport as we had to catch an early flight to Auckland the following day.
Goodbye Dunedin... till we meet again.
Bad luck as all the motels were all fully booked and some with vacant places were not within our budget! I was thinking about the fish head since we could not find a place to cook it, we gonna have to throw it for sure. We decided to spend the night at the airport. But what about the raw fish head? Luck would have it, the cold weather had kept it good and fresh and so we decided to keep it.
We left the car at the designated location and lugged our luggage and the the raw fish head to the airport! Yeah, the raw fish head slept with us at the airport floor and flew with us to Auckland, 1 1/2 hour flight away. Guess what we did first thing when we arrived our lodging in Auckland?
Lovely memories of Auckland roaming about the city, shopping and going up the sky tower to savor the stunning scenery.
Awesome sights of Auckland as seen on top of the sky tower
Auckland
Just showing off .. am terrified of heights and feeling vertigo..
We left Auckland the following day to Rotorua where we stayed for 2 days and later drove to Wellington. We stayed the night in Wellington and the following afternoon, took the Islander ferry crossing Cook's Straits to NZ's South Island and land in Picton.
(to be continued).
(to be continued).
our Rotorua lodging
our simple dinner.. hmm.. am sure we had meat too..
autumn leaves
baaa... baaa..
final pic in front of our lodging in Rotorua before the long journey to Wellington.
(to be continued - final part)
