Day1. Shanghai - Sydney - Christchurch

After this trip, it occurred to me that the red-eye flight is actually a brilliant idea, especially when the destination is in another time zone! I spent all the time at the plane sleeping, except for the two meals at the beginning and before arrival. Having enjoyed the perfect rest, I was energetic and excited stepping onto the land of Sydney. It just feels right to put “Opera House” after “Sydney”, like to put “Fight” after “Pillow”. So it was as right as the pillow fight for us to visit the Sydney Opera House at the very beginning. Lacking of experience, we chose the convenient railway downtown. However, in spite of the convenience, any route beginning with or ending with the airport is unreasonably expensive. Taking a bus to a nearby station and getting on the train there should help us save money. Actually, we really did it on our way back to Shanghai. The railway station near the opera house is pretty close to the architecture. It was a beautiful day with some warm sunshine and gentle breeze. The only problem was that JJ’s suitcase was so noisy. I hated it. Apart from that, we really enjoyed the trail along the seaside. After spending the whole day near the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we went back to the airport to catch on another flight to Christchurch. It was almost midnight when this part of trip ended, due to the one-hour time difference although the flight was neither slow nor delayed. Walking to our hotel was so scary. We even couldn’t figure out which was the walkway or how to go across the road. But still, we made it.

Day2. Christchurch

It was the first day appreciating the beauty of NZ! We took a bus to downtown. After buying tickets from the driver, I finally needn’t worry about how to break my bills any more. It was new for me to sit on a vehicle driven on the left side of the road. Personally I thought JJ didn’t realize that it was so precious for him to be a passenger comfortably instead of a driver. It was very cold at Christchurch, at least colder than Sydney. We visited the Cardboard Cathedral, Christchurch Cathedral (under construction, almost missed), met a touring show, and took some rest at the lawn under the clear blue sky. How relaxing the life is there! The first raw Salmon meal (from the supermarket) and roast leg of lamb (which didn’t appear anymore during our whole trip) were delicious, as well as the golden kiwi fruits. Unfortunately we didn’t have any kitchenwares at our hotel or we could have bought more meat and other stuff. We just wandered around the city for a whole day, trying to get rid of the jet lag and preparing ourselves for the long road trip.

Day3. Christchurch - Greymouth

There were quite a lot of splendid views along the route from Christchurch to Greymouth, including a National Park. We climbed a hill which had teeny tiny trails just for one person a time, and one step for only one foot. We also discovered a cave. It took us pretty much time to get to one of the cave entrances due to the very steep slope down there. However the water in the cave was too deep to directly walk in without any professional facilities. After took fantastic pictures at the entrance, we went back via another road, passing the other entrance of the same cave which was a lot easier to get to. At a lake side (which I forgot the name), we saw a beautiful complete rainbow, hanging on the background of the blue sky, the green grassland, the navy mountain, and the clear water. A mist gradually appeared as it got late, and that was when we met a kind of fierce bird called “the Kea”. They LOVED cars! Walking on the top of cars probably gave them the feel of owning and reviewing everything coming to their domain. Poor JJ was too scared to come out from the car due to a huge kea wandering around the car door. The road situation was pretty good in general. The speed limit of 100km/h could be easily reached, and the huge grasslands along the road made me feel not that fast. A funny mistake happened this day: we opened a bottle of milk bought from a supermarket, but it was as thick as yoghurt! We were struggled to figure out whether it had gone bad, until Google told us that the milk in grey-cap bottles were non-homogenised milk. And they were supposed to be like that!

Day4. Greymouth - Fox

It was really worth to go back and forth to the Pancake Rocks! Apart from being a little bit worried about whether my jacket would be corroded by the sea water, the experience there was awesome! We put lots of clothes on including down jackets. I could stay there for a whole day just staring at the big wave and the splashing drops, listening to the weird howling from a cave. The rocks there were very strange and beautiful, too. They were really like pancakes as their name. Dad said they are called the shales. The road heading to Hokitika is nothing special, just very windy. The “HOKITIKA” sign made by branches was indeed good for pictures. I did my “Hit the mole” poses again! The horizontal branch of the character “T” was not fixed, making the artwork even more interesting. I didn’t know whether this was built for tourists only, or was something left by previous residents and happened to be a landmark and attracted the tourist by accident, but the idea was really brilliant. The Fox Town was really small. We had delicious salmon and lamb shank. Also, we met a former friend there and had great conversations, as well as some sparking wine. I was so excited thinking of going to the glacier the next day!

Day5. Fox

This was the most exciting day in the whole trip! We got to go to the FOX GLACIER finally! The helicopter made the trip even more perfect! The weather was great, too. Due to my light weight, I got the front seat with the best view. The jacket I bought just before this trip paid for itself. I could slip down in a very narrow cave with my face up, and didn’t have to care about whether I would get wet at all. It wasn’t cold up there. Actually, the air in the glacier was pretty warm and I even wanted to take some clothes off. I drank some glacier water and had some ice in my hand to keep cool. After several hours’ tour, I wasn’t tired at all, just wishing to do it again, which was too expensive to do so. We went to Lake Matheson afternoon. The rainforest trails were very suitable for having some hiking. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the famous still water of the lake which was described as a mirror. There was always some wind. But we did buy a stamp with that beautiful scene. After dinner, we tried to explore the Minnehaha Walk and look for the glow worms, but it was too dark, too scary, and most importantly, too cold. So, we decided to come back to our warm and cozy motel, and enjoy this rain forest in the next morning with bright sunshine.

Day6. Fox - Wanaka

The Minnehaha Walk in the morning was much better than it in the evening. The air was really fresh and sweet. How fortunately it is for the locals to have this beautiful small forest not far away from their town. The route to Wanaka was full of beautiful sights. We passed by a pile of white stones with doodles on them. I was really curious why there were so many people travelling with a mark pen, although some of the marks seemed to be written with lipsticks. Those stones were lying on a chocolate colored beach by the sea. There was a magic place with a watchtower, a sandy beach, a small jungle, a lake as well as the sea. All of them were gathering round in a small piece of land. We never got bored with all the lakes along the road, especially one with green water and a small fall hanging on it.

Day7. Wanaka - Queenstown

There was this attractive destination in Wanaka: the Puzzling World! It has all kinds of superb puzzling stuffs. Literally, I loved all of the interesting scenes there. The maze outside was more difficult than any mazes I had ever seen, partly because it was 3-D. Actually, I think it should be difficult too even if it was printed on paper. It took me about half an hour to get out, and the average time for us two was 55 minutes. So I got more than enough time to wander in the gift shop, but only to find that they were all too expensive. I only bought a postcard, with a red packet from Alipay. I was pretty happy that we saved ￥25 together from it. The puzzles in the cafeteria were brilliant too. I only solved one, but took pictures for some of others to do them later. There was the famous “That Wanaka Tree” in Lake Wanaka, standing lonely in the water. I was more than happy to adopt a new phrase for lonely things: That + location + thing. To get closer, I took off my pants and walked into water. The great thing was that I got splendid pictures that other visitors didn’t have, but the bad thing was that walking with bare foot on stones really hurt. Yes, it was foot, not feet, since JJ and I shared one pare of slippers. The water was surely cold, but when I was used to it, it turned to be comfortably cool because of the sunshine. To meet the appointment for our fine dinner (Flame Bar and Grill), we left the lonely tree and drove to Queenstown afternoon. Guests with reservations do get better seats by the window, and what makes it better is that they (we) don’t have to wait for like two, three hours! The ribs were the best I’d ever had. In fact, they’re the best I’ve ever have. It was almost four times as big as my hand and I finally got the chance to describe something as “brobdingnagian”. The way back to our hotel was not pleasant due to the darkness and cold weather. But after warming myself up in the room, I got the courage to go out to the balcony, enjoying all those twinkling stars in the sky.

Day8. Queenstown - Arrowtown - Queenstown

Arrowtown is a peaceful and quiet town near Queenstown. Many Chinese from Guangdong once lived there decades ago, hence there was a small settlement called Chinese Town. The old small houses were really rough, and the best one which was once the biggest shop nearby was even not as good as houses in Chinese rural area nowadays. Wandering around the small town, I got to have a glance of the early pioneers, of the work as gold rushers, of their lives, and of their ambitions. Many tourists and kids used a pot to do gold rush by the riverside. There was indeed something bling in the mud of the river. Good luck for them! Outside the small town, there was a quiet lawn with a gentle slope. I rolled down from the top again and again and again, until I got really dizzy and tired, yet very excited. We finally got a chance to have a picnic under warm sunshines. I had a steak burger and it was indeed delicious, much better than normal humburgers. There were many children running around, playing hide and count, shouting “You boys hide. I count.”. A baby girl kept walking around and her mommy just watched her from far away and let her go freely. The whole lawn was filled with peace and happiness that made me feel so relaxed. In the afternoon, we went to a market and bought some honey in the hive. At the Warehouse, we found several very cute shopping carts with colorful tall flags on them for kids. They were adorable!

Day9. Queenstown - Glenorchy - Te Anau

It was rainy again. We were not in a hurry, since the tour to glow worm cave in Te Anau was cancelled then rearranged. But we still would lose our change to go to Glenorchy if we didn’t risk the bad weather. So, allons-y! Fortunately the sky got brighter as we headed north. When we finally arrived the end of the lake, there was even some sunlight shinning on the red sand and stones. The weather got better leaving Queenstown. JJ stopped and started to call and talk with somebody for work at nowhere. The accommodation for Te Anau was a motel with shared bathroom. Two cute baby goats rested at the front of the reception. We almost did laundry there, but we didn’t have coins as well as the detergent. So, after eating chicken wings outside our cabin, we went go bed early, hoping the tour next day could happen.

Day10. Te Anau - Bluff - Kaka Point

This was a both relaxing and busy day! Our tour was delayed again, but the good thing was that at least it wasn’t cancelled. So we had nothing to do in the morning. JJ couldn’t get down from a seesaw in a park where we went to kill time. In the afternoon, it turned out that the long wait was totally worth it. We took a yacht to the cave and the yacht itself was indeed interesting. The first part in the cave had maintained path. We had to tie up our jackets in case the worms fell, and had to bent over for the rocks hanging on the top. After the fairly easy part, we took a small boat group by group to the deep cave, where was absolutely dark. Looking up, we admired these beautiful twinkling spots. Sounds familier? Yep, it was just like the sky with twinkling stars. We learnt that the glow worm was only bright at the larva period to attract other insects. They also made sticky strings to capture something to eat, just like spiders making webs. I went up to the deck at the returning trip. All the mountains were wearing white thin veil made of drizzles and drew a beautiful ink wash painting. After the relaxing part, we went on the road again and started our busy part. We made it to Bluff just before sunset and took lots of pictures of the sign by the sea pointing to several big cities and the South Pole. I had to admit that the public toilet was really high level. It felt like a spaceship (although I didn’t know what a spaceship felt like). The sky turned to black really fast. We had to cross a forest with no light except for our car’s. When we finally arrived at Kaka Point, I thought the whole village might have fell asleep. Soon, so did we.

Day11. Kaka Point - Dunedin

Our room was facing due east, which if we had realized that morning, we would have avoided the trouble of going all the way down to the beach for the sunrise. But after all, the scene was splendid. After the sunrise, we went to a lighthouse which was said to be a perfect place for greeting the sunrise. The desitination that day was Dunedin. We passed by several roads by the sea. The most exciting one was to a beach called the Tunnel Beach. The path to the beach was really long, although not as long as the way back because of the tiredness. A well shaped tunnel led us from a cliff to the beach. It was dark and moist in it. There were many stones by the sea with so many sea snails on them, which gave me goose bumps. Those stones made it hard to get to the sea, but still we made it. Dunedin was a busy city, much more busy than Queenstown. We had a fairly good dinner with lamb and salmon in the city, and the cocktail there was the best. In fact, I went to another branch of this restaurant just for the cocktail a few days later.

Day12. Dunedin - Oamaru

Dunedin has a famous historical train station, not only for the beautiful building itself, but also because of the running lines with splendid scenes. We jumped on one to the canyon. The train was old-styled, and passengers could go outside to the junction of two cars. Leaving Dunedin, we continued to head for Oamaru and stopped at Moeraki Boulders for a sec. The stones there by the sea were really round. I couldn’t believe they were natrually formed until Dad told me about the generation of those miracles. Some of the stones were cracked and seemed to be hollow inside, so that we could climb on and step in them. The trip was relaxing. We got to Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony a little bit earlier. Well, much earlier than expected. So we drove to a supermarket and got us something to eat. Beefs were really cheap there in NZ. After the sunset, we came to a big stand and waited for a long long time. But finally, we saw more than 100 teeny tiny Blue Penguins coming back home. They were really timid.

Day13. Oamaru - Lake Tekapo

It is said that Lake Tekapo is a heaven for star gazing. I’m not so interested, but obvirously I can’t resist the attraction of such a beautiful lake. But before this destination, we went to Hooker Valley Track first. It took us about four hours return. Our water-proof jackets helped us a lot since it rained almost all the time. But it seemed that the clouds only floated above the valley, and we even saw a rainbow as we drove away from the valley and headed for Lake Tekapo. Just before Tekapo, JJ was pulled over by a police car. He was complainted by someone about passing at blind area and was taught and warned by a nice policeman. The accomodation there was really good with brilliant view facing the lake.

Day14. Tekapo

After a delicious breakfast (during which we met another couple from England), we walked to the lakeside. It was so beautiful. We build a tower with several stones. It was not high, but I managed to took a picture making it seemed to be magnificent. There were several trails around. After having Japanese for lunch, we chose a fairly hard one with great passion. It was hard not because of a long distance or some dangerous zones, but because the uncertainty of the roads to go, and of how long it would take to get to the top and have a coffee. I was really tired at one of multiples summits of this mountain, wondering whether this was the real peak. When I got all wet (again) and impatient, we finally saw a round building, and found the coffee shop behind this building under a rainbow. I had a bottle of ginger beer. Eww. But JJ’s coffee was said to be not bad. It had a planet with a moon drawn on it. There turned to be a much more shorter path to the town, only about half an hour. It took us more than three hours to get there! Back to town, we went for some shopping for souvenirs and had pretty good dinner. JJ managed to cook himself some steak.

Day15. Tekapo - Christchurch

The fine breakfast was really satisfying. As a matter of fact, the most interesting part was not the food itself - although it WAS delicious - but the conversation with those English couple as well as the host and hostess. The journey from Tekapo to Christchurch was fairly easy. I can’t remember much about this part of our road trip. JJ said I spent much time sleeping. I blamed the cloudy weather. Even JJ was sleepy and parked the car at somewhere and had a good nap. After returning the car at Christchurch Airport, we walked back to the same Jucy Snooze Hotel again. It was not that scary in the afternoon. Oh, and I had another glass of cocktail as I said earlier.

Day16. Christchurch - Sydney - Shanghai

Again, we stepped onto Sydney Airport. This time, we became clever and registered our luggage, $22 for two small suitcase for eight hours. We bought an opal card and took a bus to Bondi Beach. This card saved us a lot for a Sundays’ discount. It was a rainy day, so there were no people lying on the beach. But still, some people were surfing on the sea. We took a walk along the seaside, wondering how busy it would be if it was a sunny day. The flight back to Shanghai was really enjoyable. I slept even more than the other way. After arrival, I went back home then headed to work with no rest at all, feeling refreshed. But I got distracted at work due to the holiday syndrome. Well, life goes on.