C'est LA viE

yes i am at Melbourne now! haha, since i visited Sydney last year I seems like addicted on visiting Aussie

or perhaps is become a mission? Oh well, just bcz it was so close to NZ, so i like to use the chance to visit

moreover, i have no idea when will be the next time i visit NZ, though i am visiting Gold Coast (Aussie) end of this yr too =P

I actually arrived last night, around 10pm, but took me nearly an hour to cross the custom border and unload my luggages because there were too many ppl

Not surprise Aussie is a tourist's favourite country.

I even met a HK TVB star, but he is just a small supporting role and seems quite arrogant, so worthy to mention much about him

move on to my Melbourne trip, i come with my cousin who currently staying at Sydney this time

so grateful that she able to join me for my trip though she actually leaving back for her work at Sydney one day earlier than I, i still appreciate her spending times with me in the weekend at Melbourne

We are staying in a rated 4 stars hotel - Mercure (Garden treasury) this time, very nice room.

Got a garden view from our room. And we actually gone to the city for supper last nite after checked-in. As i was told by others before, Melbourne indeed are crowded with Asians....=S

Today we actually spent most of the time with my high school classmate, Rachel

Perhaps it was not a good day for us as it was raining the whole day, but we had a good time for lunch and dessert =)

Lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant, Thanh Ha, recommended by Rachel, impressed by this large Vietnamese pancake!

i just knew this dish today, never seen it at any other Vietnamese restaurant i tried before. Apparently not many ppl know how to make this dish

it is a very unique dish, using lettuce to wrap the crispy rice cracker, grilled pork, bean sprouts etc...and dipped in sweet and sour diluted fish sauce

it was so huge, we couldnt finish it!

the restaurant served diverse menu, which some of them are firstly seen for me in a Vietnamese cuisine

I had ordered a broken rice dish for myself, well, is not that special, but the flavor indeed is new for first attempt.

For dessert, we back to the city and gone to Brunetti!

Awesome view! I was so high when i saw the dessert, me and leng couldnt resist the attraction!!

We were so struggled to choose the dessert, and poor Rachel couldnt join us because she is allergic to eggs! =(

We felt really sorry to have these in front of her

though she kept on saying she was happy to see us eating happily....=S

The strawberry mousse cake though looked attractive and nice, it was really yucks...=S

but the Sacher Torte I chose was really yummy! good texture and not too greasy =)

I got quite a good conversation with Rachel but I actually rarely talked to her during high school, and we dint contact each other at all since we graduated from high school.

So i am happy that we got to catch up and happily spending our time together

perhaps because Rachel also good with conversation and networking, thus my cousin was joining us as well.

I was surprised that Rachel is also leaving Melbourne for good too after spending her life there for almost 6 yrs (about the same as me in NZ)

Guess we have the similar thought about life in oversea....

Rachel dint join us for dinner at night, Paeh Leng and I went to the famous Spanish bar restaurant - Movida

the restaurant is really small and crowded with ppl, we went around 5.30pm and couldnt even get free seat

we waited for almost half an hour in the tiny busy shop while enjoying the Sangria which is real good!

We got our seats around 6pm, and we ordered quite a few tapas and a main

I had forgotten what had we ordered, but most of the dishes are unique as the Southern American cuisine dish i tried in Auckland before.

We were so full after dinner, so we had a long walk along pesdestrian beside Melbourne Yarra river

the view is fascinating, i really love the night view in Aussie, they are all so lovely and romantic.

The pedestrian had turned into little Sesame street at night! LOL

We also gone into the recently opened Crown casino complex....then finished our walk at the Art Precinct

I was so admired by the Eiffel like tower =)

This really marked a good first night at Melbourne =)

So i come back Dunedin yesterday, and had been busy packing my stuffs

besides, also busy settling my banking process...well, i guess leaving processes are one of the stuff that couldnt be avoided

feeling a bit sad for leaving, but also excited on the coming future....

this is my last dinner in NZ...TT

Have 'Japanese' shabu shabu with kiwi cocktail at a korean BBQ restaurant formerly named as Hanami....

I also had a nice but emotional talk with Mrs Ng just now, not about myself, but about her life.

I visited Mr.Ng at rest home before my dinner, quite surprised he still able to recognize me, and i could feel his pain lying on the bed

the helpless feeling, emotion was so real and undeniable

and i felt so sorry for Mrs Ng and admired how she gone through everything, become strongerand facing all the things that she never need to know before

i am sorry i couldnt offer much help, and what could i do is just bless and pray for the best

after hearing her story, i am more fully confident with my decision for going home.

Life is so fragile, i would like to spend my precious time with my precious family~

Yes, is time to say goodbye to westcoast, i departed to Queenstown today.

it is a long trip, took the whole day to travel from Fox Glacier to Queenstown, but the trip was enjoyable!

I got a very quick stop after travelled for an hour, the bus stopped at a famous salmon farm and cafe for breakfast

i bought a smoked salmon roll and hot chocolate for myself, sitting at the corner of the cafe enjoying my salmon and saw this nice creature!

 the salmon was alright, i do think it was quite pricy. But it was a good deal for the fresh salmon which the cafe sold, too bad i couldnt bought it =(

And look what i found! Well, i have no idea what kind of bird is this, but really happy to spot it.   

anyways, time to continue my bus trip.

Before lunch, i got to stop at the famous Knights Point, West Coast for photoshooting

Then another good short stop at Thunder Creek falls where our bus driver got exchanged with the bus driver who driving bus back from queenstown travelled to Fox glacier.

The new bus driver is very polite too, intercity bus service never dissapointed me during my almost 6 yrs stay in NZ.

Lunch time at the Makarora Country cafe, I really like the concept of the interior design in this cafe.

They used old unique car plates to decorate the cafe

the vegetable soup was very highly rated by the bus driver, so i ordered one...

but please dont try it if u make yr next stop here next time, it was expensive and yucks, and nt filling at all....><!

Perhaps it was at country side, beside amazing view, there's nothing at all.

Even other food in the cafe was also very pricy....

before arriving Queenstown, the bus also purposely made us stopped at the local fruit store at Cromwell

and guess hw much i bought this dry gold kiwi?

Cost me NZD8!! for this small little bag! But i must admit it is good....

around 5pm, I finally arrived at Queenstown.

Look at my view from my backpacker! I stayed at the absolute lakeview backpacker, which is just right beside Queenstown lake.

for this time, i also finally visited the minus 5 degree celcius bar~

it is really cold in the bar, grateful that the warm puffy jacket and water-proof glove are provided

The bar actually is very small and everything is made from ice!

there are also many talented ice sculpture in the bar.

and i only learnt that the bar only allowed certain number of ppl visit at one time, and we are only allowed to stay for 20mins for each visit.

It was quite pricy for every visit, NZD15 for entry and another extra NZD15 for the bar cocktail

but for me, i got half price as i bought a grab-one 50% discount voucher.

the cocktail i chose - Chilly Vanilly is good to drink with the ice-glass, i felt like biting the glass like crushing an ice while drinking XD

i also met a friendly lady who willing to help me to take a photo and also chatted with me for a short time.

the experience in -5 degree celcius was wonderful with a tasty cocktail =)

then i made my step for dinner, and decided i wanna have meal at Ikazaya!

I went in Yakitori Daruma at town, and had the special menu - spicy fish roe pasta with grilled pork belly!

I must have forgotten the concept of Ikazaya, everything is small ==

but this pasta is really yummy! and the pork belly very crunchy and tasty!

following that, i ordered a plate of grilled beef tunk, hehe =)

oh well, chewy, and i wonder when will be my next time to try such a good textured beef tunk ....

lastly i got the special dessert menu - peach cheese cake...

but i think it is more like a cheese mousse cup. haha, but the flavor was not too bad...I was quite full after these and walked around this beautiful tourist attractive town.

see what i got again, lol...i must gained a lot after this trip!

Patagonia Chocolates must never be missed even my stomach actually dint have much space to be occupied anymore.

i bought the macadamia chocolate gelato again =P

good view, good gelato, good nite.

Thank god! the weather today was brilliant! and i was able to join a Holland couple from Melbourne for a helicopter scenic flight experience!

of cause it was nt cheap, actually cost me nearly NZD400 >O<!!

oh well, as i mentioned in my previous post, i had decided to do this anyways....

so here I come....and soon another European lady joined us too, so the whole helicopter occupied

the helicopter is quite small, but spacious enough for 5 of us (include the pilot)

this was my first time on a helicopter, i was really excited and a bit nervous hehe =P

when the helicopter took off from the ground was just scary, seems like losing gravity while hanging in the air...

i could feel my heartbeat gone faster but soon i tried to ignore the scary feeling because i only had 30mins to enjoy the view in the air ==

the tour i took was exploring the twin glacier with snowfield landing...Twin glacier means the Fox glacier and the Franz Josef glacier

at first, it was green, then, it gone all white!! wooooah!

We explored the Franz Josef glacier first then the helicopter landed on one of the snowfield on top of one of the moutain

Of cause photo time!!

Coincidentally there's also another helicopter (from other company) landed few mins after us. And i got chance to take photos with both pilots =)

we were just allowed to stay on the snowfield for about 7mins...it was warmer than i thought which was good!

then we backed to the helicopter and view the fox glacier!

It was so close! I was so lucky to sit at the window seat again! As we were told that all of us will got shuffled for different seats before and after snowfield landing, but luckily i was sitting beside the window at both times! =D

the fox glacier is really beautiful! Especially i got to see the top of the glacier where i got chance to see the ice formation!

The shape was very magnificent...natural force is real amazing!

I just wonder how could the ice stayed in this form for such a long time, but actually the ice will melt and the glacier is moving all time.

I still feel a bit shame for missing out hiking on the glacier, hopefully i got this chance in the future....

the flight experience gone so soon, i back to the ground again...then i took the cab to fox glacier because i want to explore the glacier with my foot this time!

the path is very smooth at the begining, then it become steeper and steeper....

i was told by other tourists that it will be more steeper further up but the view is worthy!

yes it is! I got to see the glacier from 100meters distance away~

though i was not able to step on the ice, but i was satisfied to able to see the glacier at this distance

thus i got a 'success' feeling after reaching the lookout point

of cause i actually could view the glacier even closer (beside doing the glacier hiking), but i was not allowed to as it was too dangerous...i could only view the glacier from the provided closer point...

 (see hw close those hikers were!)

as u can see, warning sign were surrounding everywhere....

and see what i found at bottom of the glacier!

Such a great mirror effect, which is actually better than lake Matherson!

the water is so clear, until i couldnt tell how deep is the river @@

dinner tonight was steak! I must said there's not many options for meal, i was bumping here and there and looked at the menu outside the restaurants again and again

while not dragging until the last minute as there are not many restaurants but more ppl were having dinner, in case not getting a free table, i just gone to Cook Saddle cafe.

The steak was alright, but i was glad to have it instead of instant noodle =P

alright officially arrived west coast and exploring this awesome place today and tomorrow

i was enquiring the glacier activity centre if the weather was good enough for heli-hike activity

Although the weather was sunny, apparently it was very windy on top of moutain which was too dangerous for scenic flight

I was told all the helicopter flights in the morning had been cancelled and flights in the afternoon were due to be confirmed

meanwhile waiting, i decided to walk to Lake Matheson.

but before that, i had a good brunch, vege quinche at the glacier centre cafe...

then i started my walk:

the road is flat, cz is actually a 'highway' (yes NZ termed this kind of road - highway)

so many cars passed by me, they must thought that i am a freak...bcz i was the only one who was walking along the road =='

but the scenary beside me real awesome!

 perhaps those cows also thought i was mad....

I was too naive to think that it's only took an hour to arrive there, i walked about 40mins and realized my feet was so sore and painful

so i decided to not further taking risk and turned back to the glacier centre

then i also got more detailed information about the glacier walk and learned that my current knee condition actually not allowed me to do such a risky activity TT

one of my bucket list is yet to be achieved TT NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

but for not making my knee condition worst, i decided to cancel my walk but taking a scenic flight tomorrow!

I guess myself already here, and perhaps not going to revisit here again, i will just spend some money and take the chance to ride a helicopter!

However, i still have to pray for the best luck to ride on the helicopter providing a good weather and also ppl who can join me because the helicopter is not flying if it only carrying one passenger.....fair enough

but i will just leave that for tomorrow since i couldnt do anything anyways

so i just caught a cab to Lake Matheson, i guess i made a good choice for not walking bcz it is really far....

anyways, i arrived and explored,

apparently lake Matheson is famous with its clear water and reflection of the snowy moutain around.

but too bad it was very windy today, i couldnt see any reflection =(

and also got an awesome lunch! 

even the bird also want to steal my lamb burger =O!

it come so close to my table, that's why i captured this!

also saw a pukeko!

i guess i also shouldnt have stayed 2 nights (plus in a single room), because fox glacier is really a bloody rural empty town

there's nothing to do beside glacier walking and lake matheson...==

so i decided just have a simple dinner - instant noodles and chips, and stayed my 'luxurious' room and watching TV ==

Anyways, i got to relax =)

p/s: the washing machine in my motel use special 'bear token'

cute XD