8305

As we are wrapping up to prepare for North Island tomorrow, I am silly enough to extrapolate our distance to the wharf tomorrow, to conclude our distance travelled in South Island.

The lucky number is 8305km, which is interestingly enough, my birth year with month! Great way to remember our journey here, and proud enough to say, we left much of our footprints, in most part of South Island.

Nostalgic feeling

We are experiencing a very nostalgic feeling, as we are preparing to leave South Island in another day. This feeling will definitely linger as long as it can take to blow away, as we had really seen many spectacular and breathtaking landscapes and met some really fantastic people along our journey. You know you belong to the fantastic group and had made an impact on our life, as you are reading this post.

These 4 months or so had been really smooth sailing most of the time, with some bumpy problems along the way which got solved along the way too :) We are so reluctant to leave, yet still excited about how much North Island can be different and unique from South. You definitely need comparison before you can determine which is more memorable.

Having said that, it's time to continue finishing up my lunch off Kenepuru Heads. Last note, we are not missing in action. We are just enjoying every single moment and thus little time left to blog it down. Apologies to our "fans". Haha.

Let's stay tune and give our support to some of the best posts coming up, from our author, Clover :P

Signing off, nireyor - Roy

Lunch in Kenepuru Heads

Simply enjoying overnight Dominos pizza off Kenepuru Heads, which is the starting of the Kenepuru Sound. The drive in actually took 2 hours.

The view is gorgeous along the way. Will it affect the way I take lunch when I am back in Singapore? I don't know, and I don't want to over analyze it now.

Let us enjoy my lunch for now :)

Morning ache

This morning woke up with aches and sores on my upper top body, was thinking what did I do yesterday to result in this. And I remember! Its in the Cowboy Bar where there is a corner that they house this mechanical wild bull, and it will topple the rider down in its many turns and stops. I tried once in Taipei arcade and I did it again yesterday, and it shove me down really hard after about 15secs? I remember Taipei's bull is gentler, I managed to stay for 38secs!

I didn't know it had such a big impact on me now that I ache all over. What to do when one is physically old and challenged?

Anyway, that did not stop our plan to go ski again!

Aggy's shack

Mutton bird also known as Titi!! Remember to try this local Maori delicacy in this local vintage shack!

Cowboy Bar in Queenstown

It's really worth to chill out here after a tiring day in Queenstown, whether after a beat day in skiing, or after a bungy jump! Nice theme and ambience, cheap beers and on top of that, free games!

The only downside is it is hard to find. Try finding it yourself!

Hardwork at Lorneville Holiday Park

While we are in Lorneville Holiday Park, which is just slightly 5km north of Invercargill, I did not slack on myself. I volunteered to do the lawn for Karen, the owner of the park. So she tasked me to cut the edge of some of her lawns.

It was hard work as it is purely manual work. I had to press down hard to be able to cut the lawn with the circular cutter.

Although hard work, I enjoyed myself fully, to be able to help others. What's more, I had cooked up a lamb roast to reward myself and Koh Leng Leng for a hard day at work :)

Queens Park

You definitely will not regret your trip to Queens Park in Invercargill. Be prepared to reserve at least half a day if you want to enjoy fully here, as the Queens Park consist of many areas of flora and fauna to be explored. There are the small farm zoo which houses most of the farm animals, the Aviary which contains all bird species you see in New Zealand (except kiwi), winter garden, Japanese garden and many others!

We were really impressed at the upkeep for such major projects within the park itself. They are really very well maintained, despite the many diversities within the 200 acres park.

No wonder Queens Park is Invercargill's pride and joy!

Hayes & son hardware shop

Want to lose your man for a few hours? That's exactly what they market themselves - Hayes and Son Hammer Hardware Shop. This is also a shop that display motorcycles and Indians, which is really interesting. There is also a movie, "the world fastest Indian", which is filmed here on the lifestory of the owner's grandfather or some sort. In any case, the Indian here is the indian bike that looks like a bullet, and not supposedly an indian man.

Highly recommended for a visit for anyone, as Invercargill had nothing much and this is suited for all age groups. For those movie and bike fanatics, this will be a place you wouldn't want to miss.

I had my share of fun there, just pity that I didn't take enough photos :(

Bluff, where the highway begins

Bluff is a town fellowship of Invercargill, and seriously, the marketing of the town "where the highway begins" sounds a bit lame. Yes I agree that state highway 1 starts from here and works all the way to Timaru, but, that's not what Bluff is famous for! You got to try the bluff oysters here. No joke, it's a local delicacy.

Anyway, we were quite unlucky to arrive the Bluff town lookout with fog covering the whole town! Can't believe it right? It only cleared up after we left the lookout point.

Back to the topic, people travel to Bluff to mark their conquest to the southern most of south island, but behold a secret. Read the Stirling Point entry!

Stirling Point, the nearest to Stewart Island

Stirling Point is in Bluff, and Bluff is considered most south of south island until we found out that slope point in Catlins is actually more south. Anyway, it's always great to be here, it's quite a nice spot to be in, considering its rather built up, have nice sea breeze and you have a light house!

Invercargill Top 10 Holiday Park

Note: there is no oven in this holiday park! I mean we didn't expect Top 10 to be missing an oven, and so we had defrosted a chicken to roast tonight and poof, the shock came after payment for the night stay.

Lucky we have resourceful Roy, we are still able to enjoy a roasted chicken for the night!

Sakura

One less thing to do in Japan! Seriously, we weren't expecting to see Sakura here, since we thought we can only see cherry blossom in Kiwiland.

Isn't it nice to see spring coming? :)

Maori stone art

This time, the stone art is in Maerewhenua site. Seriously, we were quite disappointed since the arts are almost fading and you can't make anything out of it. So you can stop imagining you can decipher something out of nothing. Perhaps, you might fare better by paying $10 for a Maori Stone Art Museum in Timaru if you are really interested in Maori culture.

Elephant rocks

Imagine seeing many rocks that resembles like elephants. Ok, you will need some serious imaginations or you are a fanatic of elephants. How can rocks look like elephants? If its only 1 rock, then it shouldn't be hard to imagine, but so many rocks around...

These are part of a heritage fossil trail around Duntroon. It is quite out of the way and definitely you will have to go there specially.

We had our joy of photo takings there, since, erm, I am a fan of elephants. Peaceful animals eh? I had one of the most spectacular jump done here.

Omarama, place of light

We wanted to stop over in Omarama for the night, but there seems to be nothing! There were just many Asian tourists (should be Chinese) walking on the street and that's about it. The last time we researched, there seemed to be only a hot tub activity in it.

Luckily, we found some merino statue for some pretty pictures.

Lindis Pass, an enjoyable journey

It's so enjoyable to drive thru Lindis Pass, with all the driving done between 2 mountains. It's an indescribable feeling, but I am definitely looking forward to our next pass - Arthur's Pass.

260km

We had drove 260km to Cromwell today. It is an accomplishment to go such a long distance in a day isn't it?

Invercargill, Stewart island and Bluff coming up

Just like title, but perhaps it's time for bed! There are more to come after those!

Catlins

Welcome to the Catlins. It is one of the area that is well kept and pretty, with some amazing rain forest and coastal area. You can refer to the previous few entries - they are all depicting Catlins variously areas.

It is one of the places where Koh Leng Leng and I enjoyed.

Waipapa point, for the light house lovers

Again a point where a lighthouse is situated. We must had been to at least 5 lighthouses in Kiwiland.

But there is some history on this lighthouse. For those who loves history lesson, here is your place. It seems that there are lots of shipwrecks in this area, including a very fatal one, thus the reason to build the lighthouse.

Do take a look as there are some short walks to the lighthouse for the healthy or healthy-wannabe.