7.53pm 16/11/05

Room 604 YHA, Wellington

I could barely walk now. Hopefully after having enough sleep, i can later go out for night scouting. Overall, it was quite an amazing day, knowing the fact that i went through all kind of pain through out the walk around Wellington. Just as I was overjoyed with the fact tha i finally escape the jungle and get back into civilization, I was kicked staright down into a deep valley by realising that i had been walking on the wrong path from the very beginning.

Anyway, althought i got up to the wrong hill, i still manage to conquer one of the peak around Wellington city. I was quite proud when i was standing next to the unknown statue that standing tally on the peak. But as the wind getting stronger, i started to become chicken and afraid of falling down from the tiny peak area.

Unknown statue on the peak of the unknown hill that i conquered

the bushes that protecting the statue. I had to suffer the iche caused by the weed in order to stand next to the statue

view from the peak


i only managed to snap a few photo from the top with one hand holding hard on the statue. After standing on top for merely a minute or so, i cowardly crawl down to the flat land. sigh, how useles of me :)

after conquering the peak, i am beginning to feel bored and wish to end this endless walking. But it only happened after another few hours of endless walk. Just as i thought that i might die of dehydration, i vaguely see an old man walking into a shabby building. Although i prefer to see a Hobbit rather than an old man, but i am still joyfully run towards the buidling. Without realising it, i was actually back to the civilization and that shabby building was build next to the entrance of this jungle. I knocked on the door and asked for water, and the old man was very friendly and guide me to the kitchen. After galloped litres of water and filled up all my water bottle, i take a glance at the building. It is club house for some community bagpipe association. The old man was making arrangement for the performance tonight and he invited me to come over again tonight. I certainly love to come over, but i know there is no way for me to climb all those mountain again just to see a performance.

After recharging myself, i continue my way to get back into the city centre. Along the way, i walked passed a golf course, a garden, another jungle before ended up in Victoria University. THEN only i realised that the walkway i chose is no way near Victoria University. Eventaully, i gave up looking for a way back to the YHA. Instead, i took a bus home.

saw the lonely planet guide for New Zealand lying on the bed next to mine again. Is there anyone that did not use this book for guidance besides me bagpacking New Zealand?!!

6.53pm 16/11/05

Asian Kitchen, Corner of Cuba Street

Felt cheated even though it was me myself who made the mistake...I got a bit hungry and as I was hunting for the best bargain in town,I saw this restaurant that pasted their Menu on their glassy door. One of the item on the menu caught my eye - 'Nasi Goreng for $7.95'. sound pretty good for a dinner in Wellington. So i walked in and tried and make an order. But i was offered another set of Menu.


I asked the waitress for the menu that i saw, and i was told that it was the LUNCH Menu! Damn it~ now i have to order the cheapest food on the menu - Green Curry for $14~ !@$#@!$....i swear to myself that i'm gonna tear this restaurant down if the Green curry not worth that money...


i hate to admit it, but turn out that the Green Curry is pretty impressive. The spiciness of the curry was altered to suit the Kiwi taste, but i like it that way. The mildness allowed to taste the sweetness of other ingredient in it and yet it doesnt lose its curry flavour. But if i was given a choice, i will still choose to go Sampan and pay $6 for a bowl a noodle soup with complimentary chicken bone :)

6.30pm 16/11/05

Cuba Street

4.30pm 16/11/05

Oriental Bay, wellington

It took me bloody 5 hours (!!) to reach this small little beach. but instead of walking all the way to oriental bay, i chose to take a bus (after 4 hours and 40minutes of walking). Why? because i took the wrong path from the very BEGINNING!!!
instead of walking along the 'Southern Walkway', i followed another walkway call 'city to sea walkway', and i only realised it after almost 5 hours of walking! the funny thing is, instead of climbing up Mount Victoria, i ended up in University of Victoria. this is stupid......

university of victoria

now i start to wonder which peak that i had actually got up to. there is this funny looking statue on top of the peak,which i thought its representing Victoria! i must admit that it was fun though, and i did get to Oriental Bay eventually anyway.

and i thought this is how the legendary Victoria looks like..

i was quite disappointed with the fact that there is nobody in this beach. This is kind a small for a beach but there should be people crazy enough to come over and have a swim.

the only creature in this beach

My leg is kind of numb now after playing with the cold sea water. Also, the wind is getting really strong now and the sand is hitting me REAL hard now....better run quick...

10.35 AM - 130PM 16/11/05

Snapshot along the walkway

there's all these sign around the city to guide you throughout the walkway. If you look carefully, this signboard is guiding me to another walkway and i didnt realise it until the very end of my adventure!!

its amazing how the mountain view change so rapidly along the way. this slightly bald mountain view is quite common

there's gate around to prevent car ( and perhaps possums?) from getting access into certain area, and the tourism board was kind enough to build a stairs like structure for explorer to go ahead...thoughtful..

this is so mild seven's advertisement right?

looks like a huge-ass whale swimming in the air...

i stood there for quite a while when i snapping this shot.....green plus blue just so soothing...

seaside view

geographic pole on a not so high hill...

i had almost 20 shots that is identical to this.....looking at the sea beyond the horizon is just so spectacular....damn...wish i could stay there forever

a small island not far away for shore

quite a number of housing area build around this bay...lucky bastard...

apparently this area filled with poison that is mean to kill all the possum...possum is a pest here n yet its a protective species in OZ....how ironic...

the bus here are all cabled....i kinda like it...

10.35 AM 16/11/05

Kenny's Cafe

A brand new day! yesterday my portugist roommate warmed me about his snoring, i thought he was jsut saying it out of courtesy, but it turns out that he snored bloody loud~ the good thing is, i was pretty tired, so i still managed to sleep without any problem. Just as i was on the edge of seeing Catherine Zeta Jones in my dream, a Californian came in and occupied the final empty bed. He has to rush for a morning bus on the next day, thus we didnt d omuch talking. Apparently he's been to dunedin and regret that he only spent 2 days there...if i am not wrong, so ar he is the only tourist that i met did not choose to skip dunedin town due to time constriction....

Enjoying my breakfast now.....yum~
Anyway, after the breakfast i am planning to walk on a 'Southern Walkway' which will take about 4-5 hours to finish the whole walkway. i will be taking bus from city center to Island Bay, then climb over Mt victoria and reach Oriental Bay and have some fun on the beah~ Hopefully then i would still have time to check out Embassy Theatre, the premier site of Lord of the Ring.

6.44pm 15/11/05

YHA WELLINGTON

finally got to meet my roommate. He's from Manchester and he owns a season ticket at OLD TRAFFORD!! how cool is that~ had a bit of chat with him. Apparentlly he just got back from America. He will continue his journey in New Zealand for another couple of weeks before heading to Melbourne and stay there for another half a year. It's amazing that how many people actually had travel the world. I'm starting to feel inferior now for seeing the only tiny bits of the world. Another roommate came in at a while later. He's from Portugal. Although i've been stayin in Dunedin for 2 years, but never in my live manage to meet up with so many people, with so many different backgrounds, this is getting exciting,woohoo~
anyway i shall start planning schedule for tommorow now......

so hard to plan your schedule when you have such a nice view from your bed

5.52pm 15/11/05

YHA Bagpackers, Wellington

it took me at least an hour to arrive the goddamn YHA Bagpacker.

Didn't expect that the harbour is so far away from the town. To be more specific, i didnt expect wellington tp be that BIG. finally i've come to a REAL city.

Capital of New Zealand

car parks + crates = city

courtney place

Zebra anyone?

Courtney place

open cafe/pub

i am sharing this room with other 4 fellow bagpackers. When i was havign shower, one of the suppose-to-be-roommate came back and left just as i was rushing to dry up myself and get out of shower to greet him.
arrived Wellington for almost 2 hours now, but i've already heard ambulance siren twice. This city defintely have a faster pace than Dunedin (DUH!). My room has rather wide flat window that i can easily enjoy the view from my bed, Right in front of me is the New World supermarket and slightly further away its the harbour.

well, i guess Gong recommended me a right place! (i was cursing him 2 hours ago for choosing a bagpakcers that is so far away from harbour, SORRY MATE~).
BIG city with a panoramic view of sea and mountain, I'M LOVIN' IT~

1.29pm 15/11/05

On the Cruise from Picton ---> Wellington

this is such a huge cruise! i wasnt expecthing something like this at all, there's bar, restaurant, huge family area, 'reclining area' ( area for you to relax and read some books).

the actual size is at least 10000x bigger than this picture

currently they are building cinema and casino in this cruise (another sign that its getting more Asian around the area,sigh..) and the top deck is a open area where you can have some sun-tan and photo session....

photo

this giant ship is so stable that it actual manage to decieve that i am on a land transport. Well, i guess that's because it is cruising REALLY slow.

i think they agreed with me too..

oh, before i got up to the cruise, the train went past Malborough, Blenheim. Then i was told that those unknown plantation is actually wineyard! i cant believe that wineyard can be so beautiful! sadly the grapes are still growing, i am sure the vie would me far more stunding if i come a few months later

i didnt manage to catch the canadian name, but it took me a while to realise why his accent sound so familar to me. OH yes, one of my favourite lecturer Sheila is from Canada too!
back to this giant cruise. there is this 'i-station' machine that give information of NZ famous tourism spots, and the coolest part is that the machine can actually print out voucher! in order to make myself looks more like an Asian tourist (hehe..just finding an excuse to get discount voucher) , i printed out a couple of voucher which includes cheaper deal for skydiving, bungy jumping plus a numbeof x-game. i'm still dwelling whether i should try all this extreme game or not,so i shall keep all the vouchers,hehe.....Oopss, i've totally forgotten t check on the map on how should i walk to the YHA bagpackers. Maybe i should go try and check it on the i-station again,haha.....