Day 8 Oamaru

Before our arrival, 'Oomaru', the name gave me a boring impression, my mind kept on imaging a small and dull town waving to us. Therefore, I never have high expectation towards this place. The only things that attracted me to the town was the famous little blue penguin and the yellow eyed penguin.

After I arrived this town, I knew I was wrong, totally wrong. It was almost out of my expectation, the town was so lovely and so unique.

The street in the town was well decorated, I felt that I stepped in a live art musuem.


After I came here, I learnt that this town was famous with its landscape and architecture.


The acrhitecture was famous in 19th century.

The Opera House in Oamaru



It was worth to come even just walked around the town.

Even the shop and the ladies who sold lollies were lovely. I felt that I fell into the world of comic.

After exploring around, we went to the famous White stone cheese factory in Oamaru. Yes, Cheese, I was coming!!

 There were a lot of award winning cheese produced by this factory. If you are a cheese lover, don't miss the chance to visit this factory.

 Everyday they will prepare a few free samples for the customer to taste. But the tasting was just not enough for us.

Therefore, we ordered this platter to satisfy our stomach!!! Personally, I love the Brie produced by Whitestone. It was so smooth, so creamy and the taste of cheese was just nice. OMG, this is the best cheese I tried in New Zealand. 

After satisfied our stomach, it was time to prepare ourselves to witness the smallest penguin in the world!! Stay tune~

Day 7 Lake Tekapo

Finally we reached Lake Tekapo. The weather was not really good when we reached there. It was a cloudy and windy day.

Lake Tekapo is famous with its turquoise blue. The colour is due to the "rock flour"; the glaciers in the headwaters grind the rock into fine dust and those particles combine with the sunlight result in Lake Tekapo's unique water colour.

It was still amazing with such a bad weather and I believe the view will even wonderful with a lovely weather.

This post wouldn't has much words as picture speaks louder than word.

The Church of Good Shepherd

The Collie Sheepdog and I

The view from the window inside the church.

After the photo session, we went for the Mt John Walkway.

On the way up to the hill

 The view from Mt John

 The wind was really very strong on the day we went for the Mt John Walkway. When we reached the top of the hill, we were nearly blew away  by the strong wind!! Yes, I never exaggerate, all of us squad down for a long time just to prevent being blown away.

 It was really dangerous to go up the hill when the wind was strong. You might just fell down the hill just because of the wind.

Accomodation: Lake Tekapo Budget Accomodation

Cost: $20/ person

Description: The view from hostel was amazing. There was a window on the ceiling for us to enjoy the stars before we sleep. 

Day 6 Christchurch - Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony

After the Akaroa day trip, we returned to Christchurch. We were lucky, because this night was the first match of the Rugby world cup! Due to that, a  big screen was set up in Hagley Park for all the supporters to gather and enjoyed the match together! Actually we didn't know about the opening ceremony, thanks to the information given by i site in Christchurch.

I don't really know about Rugby and I never watch a complete rugby match when I were in Malaysia. But since it was a world cup and I have the chance to witness the grand opening ceremony, I must go!! Yes, typical kia su attitude. But, I still want to go!

 Kiwis really love rugby and the Rugby world cup was just like the Football World Cup for them! A lot of kiwis brought the All black flag to support their Rugby team!

Some kiwis even painted their face to show how supportive they were!

Hustle and bustle in Hagley park just because of the Rugby. Kiwis flooded the park to show their enthusiasm towards rugby. Although I don't know about Rugby, but I can feel excitement of the kiwis. The opening ceremony was really grand. Auckland was blazing with firework in conjunction with this World Cup.I wish I were in Auckland at this moment.

Thanks to the big screen set up, we able to have a look on the opening ceremony of the Rugby World cup, enjoyed the Haka performance that Kiwi and Maori proud of. At the moment I post this blog, All Black already become the champion of the Rugby World Cup. I know my blog update is rather slow. Anyway, Congratulation!!!

Day 6 Christchurch -> Akaroa Part I

At the moment we stepped in Christchurch, our mood turned 180 degree. Before we came to New Zealand, the news on television kept on reporting on the earthquake happened in Christchurch, our local newspaper kept on publishing the impacts brought to Christchurch, we knew how serious was the earthquake. But at the moment we saw the collapsed building right in front of us, it really depressed us.

 The collapsed building can still be seen everywhere in the city center.

The 2 photos were just showed a small part of Christchurch after earthquake.

The map highlited in red was the red zone in Christchurch. The whole area was closed since earthquake until now for the repairing job. It was really hard to imagine, an earthquake destroyed such a beautiful city.

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Since this blog is about my south island trip, I shouldn't talk too much about the tragedy. After we reached Christchurch, our first destination was Akaroa, a beautiful French settlement. Akaroa was just located 1 hour driving distance away from Christchurch. Over here, there are some famous activities like swimming with dolphin, kayaking, jetboating, fishing.

There was an tourist drive when you going to reach Akaroa. This drive allows you to have a overall view on the beautiful Akaroa by driving.

We spent the whole morning and walked around Akaroa.

I found an artist in the town.

And he offered to draw a portrait of mine. Good drawing right?

We also had a short walk to look at the scenic view from high.

There were a few food that must be tried in Akaroa.
1) Fudge

There was a famous fudge selling in a souvenir shop called Pot Pourri in town.

The fudge was really smooth and rich in flavour. You may asked for tasting before you purchase them.

2) The local bakery shop
 There are 2 local bakery shop i would recommend.

a) The first one is called 'Danish Pastry'. Over there we tried Chicken, Brie Cranberry Panini and thecombination was really special and delightful. It was so nice until I forget to take a photo on it before I tried it. :P

b) The second bakery shop - L'escargot Rouge - Deli to Go

This bakery served some french bakery. Since Akaroa was a french settlement area, we should try some food related to French!

Croque Monsieur. It was actually a toast topped with cheese and they put some ham as a filling. The toast was very soft  and the melted cheese gave some pleasant flavour.

3) Fish N Chip

Yeah, Fish and chip is the food that everyone must try in New Zealand. There was a Fish N Chip shop in Akaroa - Akaroa Fish shop.

They served some typical fish and chip. Hmmm, standard fish and chip with average taste.

They served steam fish as well! This is something special about this shop.

Akaroa is not really happening, but if you look for a place to unwind, this is the right place for you.

Of course, we returned to Christchurch after our Akaroa day trip.

Day 5 Kaikoura Part II -> Christchurch

There were always a lot of nice view while driving in New Zealand. 'Wao, What a beautiful scenery' This kind of compliment became a norm throughout the trip. But during our way to Kaikoura, one of my friend said 'I saw a fur seal on the road side!!' Huh?? Fur Seal on road side? Ridiculous!! How can a fur seal just lying on the road side? My friend of mine who was driving start complaining and she said that she wanted to have a look on fur seal as well. At that time, we saw a lookout point just right in front of us and we drove our car there.

 At the moment we walked in the lookout point, we knew we reached 'Ohau Point Seal Colony'. We accidentally walked in a seal colony!!

 There was a platform for us to stand and viewed the fur seal playing at the shore.

 I always like the way how kiwis set up the tourism attraction places. Here is a very good example, they found the fur seal colony and they set up a sign board, a proper platform so that tourists can come forward and have a look. They even set up an information board so that tourists can know more about fur seal.

So, if you are travelling to Kaikoura, when you are able to reach, pay attention to the left hand side, there is a sign board written 'Ohau Point' and u may just grab a chance to look at teh seal colony for FREE~

In Kaikoura, there was another place for fur seal viewing, that was Keen Point Car Park. Car Park? Yes! The cute fur seal came and conquered the car park after it was built. 

There are slight differences between two attraction points. Of course, there are more fur seals at Ohau Point compared here. But you can just see the fur seal from far at Ohau Point but over here, the fur seals just lie on the road a few meters away.

Be careful of the fur seal! Don't ever think that they are harmless, fat and hard to move. If you stand too near to them or you have some sudden movement in front of them, they might thought you want to attack them and they will attack you! Never doubt of this. My friend of mine tried to stand near to one of the fur seal to take a photo, but the seal suddenly roared at her!! It was really scary.

After the photo session, of course, it was time for us to proceed to the next destination again - Christchurch. This night we stayed in Christchurch.

Accomodation: Kiwi House

Cost: $25/person

Description: The room of the hostel is too small, we were arranged in a room for 6 but you can hardly move around even there are shelf for you to put your luggage. The duvet is surprisingly heavy and I can hardly breath if I cover it. Honestly I don’t like this hostel but we book it because other hostels are fully booked/ expensive.