C'est LA viE

總算有一天可以把工作抛在腦后，離開閙區到戶外走走了

原本還以爲爸爸口中的一日游可能最後也是會泡湯（因爲之前發生了），沒想到這次還順利辦成

其實這次的2天一夜是我弟的中學的家教協會主辦的，爸爸因爲去年是籌委所以被邀請參加了（還可以攜帶家人），真好~

我們這次的目的地是- 林明。。。位于彭亨州，接近関丹的一個山區小鎮

明明是星期天卻要6點起床趕上旅巴，約下午一時才抵達林明。

吃過大魚大肉的午飯后，我們就開始自由活動了==

其實整個小鎮真的沒什麽景點可看的，天氣也很熱，我們只去了在半山上的博物館

就是在山上的那個

沿途自拍。。。太陽其實超猛烈的！

博物館其實距離小鎮大街有一段距離，我們都走到汗流俠背，終于看到大門了

這座博物館麻雀雖小但五臟俱全，礦產的展覽相當詳盡，至少了解了原來採礦是這麽一回事了

原來以前的人採礦都這麽辛苦，要深入炎熱的底層賣力，我們現在其實真的很幸福~ 

猜猜看這是什麽？（右邊）。。。雪糕製造機！這個怎麽看來都像是洗衣機之類的吧？

看似簡單的擺設也有好玩的時候，好比人生就看你如何享受當下。。

或許是初次主辦，所以時間上的安排有點失策，自由活動允許的時間對於這個景點都需要用車抵達的地方實在太長，加上天氣炎熱，集合的時刻又遲遲未來，大家都苦不堪言。

接著即使總算上了巴士，三時左右到達要入住的民宿，就讓大家休息直到6時傍晚在民宿bbq....這麽一來，整個下午都像是自由活動了==

我們入住的民宿-綠原小筑。，其實還沒完全蓋好，但是有10幾閒套房已經可以入住

床質還算不錯，加上也有冷氣，所以我的自由活動都從看書不知不覺成睡午覺了

傍晚的bbq 也算不賴，原以爲是一般的熱狗，魚丸，雞翼。。當然這些都有，不過還有方魚，花枝~

民宿老闆也準備了咖喱山豬肉（重口味！），炒米粉，炒飯，果汁等。。。

第2天的行程才算精彩（就覺得應該把其中的一些活動移去前一天），又是一大早起床爲了。。。5.30am去市集吃面！

沒錯，5.30早上，而且一大早就擠滿了人群，我想周末到林明的遊客都聚集在這了，爸爸甚至得排隊買面！

這個看似平平無奇的干撈面是林明的‘山水面’，因爲這裡有山有水，加上是手工製造，口感滑順而且可以和熱騰騰的‘山水釀豆腐’搭配，滋味清新~

一大早吃那麽大碗面還真的很不習慣，不過慶幸我填飽了肚子，否則我應該沒力氣爬上山頂去尋覓彩虹了！

吃過早餐后我們就乘上這種所謂的噸噸車出發到彩虹瀑布了，這是林明的一大景點！

沿途不算太崎嶇，畢竟一直都在車上，我們經過雲海還停下拍照呢~

只不過車子只能停留在離彩虹瀑布的行人佈道的入口處，我們不管男女老幼都得過河登山。。。

我在還未開始運動就必須浸濕下半身了，因爲過了一條小溪才會開始“佈道”區，其實所謂的佈道就很像我在紐西蘭的tracking, 整個就開始懷念以前在那裏和前同事登山的時光

不過能夠重新tramping，真的很開心！

只是這次的挑戰有點不同，尤其登的越高，越接近瀑布區是，佈道都變成石頭時，真的要用一旁設置的繩索來助力邁前

其實真的很擔心爸爸，畢竟他腳傷，這30分鐘的路程對他來説都相當艱辛，尤其是下山時更傷膝蓋。。。

死要臉的老爸還一直呈強，不肯讓我扶，甚至連我的手拉他一把也不情願==。。幸好一切無大礙。。。

而且等待了應該有半小時，總算看到朦朧的彩虹了！

經過手機程式修飾后，彩虹出現了~

所以你看見的未必是真的。。。。

這瀑布其實是勝在夠高，但水量挺少的。然後因爲陽光的照射就會形成彩虹，和雨後彩虹的道理是一樣的

下山了后，換洗后，簡單吃過民宿準備的午餐后，我們就check out 了。

我們出發到吊橋去。。。造訪另一端的土產店

只是我們的團裏有一個長不大的大叔一直故意搖晃吊橋，搞得我們都花容失色！

土產點地下室的廚房這是正在製作蛋散還提供試吃，算是林明的特產，香味撲鼻而來，口感酥脆，甜而不膩，我們也不假思索的買了2袋回家

接著另一家賣的‘山水豆腐花’（就全部食物前都加山水就變林明美食似的）也很吸引人， 一小碗看似平凡的豆腐花拿在手上竟然像液狀的感覺不斷在晃動

我還以爲是老闆賣錯了，應該是豆漿。。。不過吃了一口，我的媽啊，是豆花沒錯，但這麽那麽綿，那麽滑溜溜的！

感覺真的是很天然，就名副其實的山水版，不會太甜，像豆漿的味道卻不是液狀，也不會太固狀，就這種半液半固的口感真的很驚喜~

我想我應該不會回來造訪彩虹瀑布，但這個豆花可能會吸引我回來林明耶。

其實林明還有一些其他的景點和美食，對於忙碌生活的城市人的卻是個親近大自然的不錯去處

馬來西亞也有這種世外桃源，我們真的應該感恩  ~

Last day in GC was very relaxing, basically we just spared our time at the Pacific fair shopping mall during day time.

Look how my bro was enjoying his coffee at the mall....

Then we went to the Gold Coast beach for the last time in the evening =)

Dad was walking bare foot for the first time on GC beach, he dint really go to the beach since he arrived GC.

All of us were enjoying our time on the beautiful sandy beach

You could tell how excited we were, because the wave was very strong, and the water for sure was very chilling, and weather was windy too.

It could be dangerous if small kid went to swim without surveillance.

Mum was our photographer all time!

Look what we found ! A small crab ~

As we thought the wave was very strong to swim, there were a group of old guy went for kayaking!

We did have a good time at the beach, we spent almost 2 hrs there.

Dinning option was picked by dad at the GC Coolangatta surfs club restaurant, apparently it is opened to public. More convenient was it is just located right opposite our hotel.

Well, we had to join as temporary member which only last for a day, but no member fees was charged lol.

Apparently they served a variety of menu, and we could tell the food supposed to be good as the restaurant was crowded and the portion size was amazingly huge with its considerable price.

All of us ordered for different meal, I guess we were very happy with the last supper celebrated with this big feast in western style.

Dad ordered T-bone steak, very huge portion size!

It was cooked in medium rare, so the steak was succulent and juicy, yummy!

Bro changed his mind, he dint order steak this time but called for fish of the day

I dont understand why this fish is popular then, it was not very nice.

My cousin ordered rump steak which was medium cooked.

Though it was not as juicy as my dad's medium rare cooked t-bone, but the taste was very good as well.

Mum sticked with fish again, she ordered tasmanian salmon with asparagus.

Just as what I thought, the salmon fillet was overcooked. The taste was mild, the only thing i liked on the plate was the mashed peas.

For myself, I chose lamb fillet this time:

There were nearly 6 big pieces of small fillet, very tender and chewy. Yummy was the summary. =)

We were greatly satisfied with our meal, and had some photos in the restaurant.

Cow indeed is a huge animal!

Dad and mum were having fun playing Elvis and Marilyn...Lol...

It was a fun night!

GC trip come to the sixth day, we went to Brisbane!

It is very convenient to visit Brisbane from GC,  just one hour train trip then u can travel from a beach paradise to a busy big city.

The train itself was very clean and long =)

We arrived Brisbane around 12pm...and the central train station just located at the CBD centre, from the station we were able to access the shopping malls, and main streets etc.

Christmas decorations were spotted almost everywhere, we could feel the xmas atmosphere was stronger than in GC.

We dint really explore the city of Brisbane because it was so hot and humid!

The only historic building I saw is this:

May I send a postcard to Santa and ask for a big present? hehe =P

Well, lunch time then:

we went to this Jojo's kitchen located on 2nd floor of a shop along main street and have steak:

Dad was saying his frens recommended him to try out Aussie steak, so we actually were looking at all the displayed menus around to find a good deal.

We had this sirloin steak at Jojo's, as the price was reasonable though i think the steak was just normal.

Mum skipped steak again and ordered fish n chips, but her meal was very late served and I was telling the restaurant manager about that during check-out

He was very nice, he apologized for the bad service and offered us 20% discount of total bill.

We were actually very surprised, well it is actually very normal and a must-do thing to keep good reputation. I also used to getting such good services in NZ, just I had left NZ for half a year so had been no longer being treated nicely. This only could be considered as good service!

We dint do much thing in Brisbane, just window shopping and stayed indoor most of time.

Oh we did go to the market nearby, and bought some fruits.

Look what I found, apparently the banana was waxed in red color at its tip, and from yahoo answer, it is a mark to be classified as Pacific Coast Eco bananas (an Australian family owned banana farmers)...

Anyways, dinner on day 6 was back to the Japanese restaurant again, haha u really could tell how passion we were into that restaurant.

I had fresh salmon toro (fat belly) on rice....hmmm I prefer salmon fillet more =) (The toro was very mashy, though it was good when combined with wasabi, marinated ginger and japanese soy sauce)

Yes shopping is the must-do activity during travel, and the local shopping mall is the destination not to be missed!

We went to GC Harbour town on day 5, for those who familiar with Aussie knew that Harbour town is a shopping outlet centre gathered all favourite and well-known shops which selling the out-seasoned items or sales items.

All of us got our gadgets today, I got myself a Fossil branded watch and bag hehe =) Here's come my shoppaholic nature =P

While others got their wallet, their shirts, their foot wears, their swim suits....etc.

Lunch was inside the Harbour Town shopping centre too, we got this lunch special at "Fasta Pasta" (yea, we really cheap and sticked with special all time) at an Italian restaurant.

The special lunch family combo comes with 1 garlic bread:

2 pizzas (own chosen flavors):

We chose rimini pizza (something like Hawaiian pizza, with virginia ham, pineapple, tomato sauce and mozarella cheese) and cacciatore pizza (marinated chicken, sliced mushroom, onion, capsicum, tomato sauce and mozarrella cheese)

and 2 spagettis/pastas (with own chosen flavours):

we picked spaghetti bolognese (u can tell from the photo, it's sucks! =( )

and another pasta we went for fettucicne carbonara, I could cook better than the chef....=S their spaghetti are generally very bad, or perhaps the chef or us were having a bad day then.

My cousin was worried that we had eaten less vege, so she side ordered this:

a caesar salad which cost AUD14! U are kidding, there's not much bacon or vege in it!

For dinner, we back to the Japanese cuisine we had on day 2 after we had a disgusting meal at a thai cafe in previous night.

Dad seems to fall in love with Japanese meal! He kept on thumbed up with the japanese short grain rice and the crispy karaagae chicken.

He ordered the same meal again =D

(I agreed with him, the karaagae was good, and the number of karaagae given was really generous!

As for me, I finally got to try out the ramen I missed out on day 2 because it was all sold out.

their ramen was not too bad, but i still prefer the ramen I tried in Sydney, yes babe =)

GC trip comes to day 4 - in Warner's Brother Movie World!

We actually bought a theme parks combo ticket which can access 3 theme parks with AUD99 dollars, the first theme park we accessed was at SeaWorld which I reblogged few days ago (see here)

The only theme park we left out during this Aussie trip was Wet N Wild because none of us can swim =S LOL

Back to Movie World, the theme park isnt that big that I thought, but I do like how they designed the theme park.

We were welcomed by a lot of movie characters around:

They will suddenly appeared right beside you as well, and apparently if u wanna take photo with them (all characters come together), you have to pay 20 AUD tho.

Unless u rather just take photo with one or 2 characters standing beside the street and willing to line up.

There were not many shows in the movie world, mainly we watched the car stunt show:

The FMX overdrive (freestyle motorbike stunt show):

Batman Show - this was the worst show ever, I thought it must be cool as all of us knew how great the Night rider is, but it was not hold in a theater, it was hold at the main street in the park. All of us have to stand beside the border and it was so hard to watch the show as there were two tall European standing right in front of me.

The only scene i watched was the arrival of the batman car ==

While Batman only appeared less than 10mins, I totally couldnt see anything!

Perhaps this was the clearest photo of batman which I had taken......

The whole show perhaps last only 10mins the longest, and showed late!

We even stood for the lousy scooby doo show just to wait for the batman show =S

I really dunno what they were acting....and the costum was not good either.

Alright I seems to whin too much, may be I had been expecting too much.

At least I enjoyed the decorations in the park such as the main street:

Oh ya, we also watched the Ice Age 4D show in the theater!

This special xmas show last about 15mins and it was very funny and joyful. =)

Our lunch at Movie World was also worth to mention, we had burgers at Gotham city.

You were right, is the batman city! We come to a small batman world....

The lunch was alright, but it was better as compared with the tiny Domino's pizza at SeaWorld.

I also loved the time we spent at the looney tune world where is the children's paradise....

All the rides here are customized with looney tune cartoon characters~

Ooh so cute!

Took so many photos at here:

Haha, "bugstop" =P

Too bad none of us are adventourous or thrill lover, it was indeed a waste to come all the way here but not playing any rides.

Well, I admitted I am chicken and I do felt comfortable by not riding any of them..

There is one Wild West Fall adventure ride at the Wild West Area, the area is designed as the wild wild west movie set.

I dint take the photo of the ride itself, but caught this special tool:

As the ride is a water roller coaster, WET is unavoidable....so u can pay 5 AUD to get yrself dry! such an amazing making money way~

Oh that is also a small graveyard at the wild west zone named 'Boot Hill'

Alright check out other rides then u knew how chicken I was:

The Green Lantern Coaster:

Superman escape (roller coaster):

Batwing Spaceshot:

We are happy with just taking photo with the batcar:

Then, thrilled roller coaster at Arkham Asylum, it was also first featured in the world:

Lastly, the scooby doo ride, I nearly went for the ride, but u knew I am a chicken afterall....

In summary what I enjoyed the most in movie world? Ice Age 4...LOL

Day 3 in Gold Coast, we went to the city centre of Gold Coast - Surfer's Paradise!

Well, apparently there's no 'city centre' in GC, but according to the I-site officer, most happening events could be found along Surfer's paradise beach.

But before exploring the beach and town centre, we had lunch special at The Groove Train.

There were mainly 2 types of special offered lunch meals: chicken or pizza, I was the only one having pizza, while others just sticked with chicken

The service was very good, my brother suddenly got nosebleeds and the waiter was very helpful on assisting us.

Well, I guess we had too much hotty and oily meals since we arrived GC, moreover my brother dint drink enough water, so his usual problem - nosebleeds attacked...

In general, service was good, portion size was huge, but taste was nah....but if u plan to save a penny in Aussie, The Groove Train is a good option as it is almost everywhere in Aussie.

Then we move forward to the beach, passed through the city centre....

Witnessed the big Hard Rock cafe Guitar!

Ripley's museum! Ticket was too pricy....=(

And...the beach!

the CBD is on the opposite of the beach, i guess working here must be cool!

There is also a night market every Friday to Sunday along the beach, so is a good attraction for tourist and locals to spare time.

The market mainly selling artistic crafts, some small bakings stalls could be seen.

Check this out:

The lady was displaying her pet - a huge snake! Tourists can take photos with the snake by paying 20 bucks =S hmmmm....

I just found out GC is holding the Commonwealth game in 2018!

Alright, time to have dinner, we went to a Korean restaurant as we visited too many western cuisine since we came.

I forgot which restaurant we went, but it was a BBQ restaurant, luckily we still able to eat korean stew.

We ordered a big pot of korean authentic stew which containing beefs, veges, seafoods, and sweet potato noodles..

While my brother still suffered from nosebleeds, we specially ordered him a bimbimbap.

p/s: The cuisine was really busy during our visit, they were running out of staffs so we dint stay for long especially we need to rush for bus back Coolangatta too.

Day 2 at Gold Coast, we took our first bus ride from Coolangatta, all the way to SeaWorld!

Luckily we had researched all the ways to access Gold Coast via bus/train, and bought this super convenient travel card:

The card itself cost AUD20, but come with a AUD10 balance in the card, and you can top up on top of the 10 dollars credit balance.

I must said, transport in Gold Coast is super expensive, perhaps may be due to the long distance we had to take since we lived very far away from tourist attractions and city centre. The GO card actually just save a few dollars from normal fare, and you just have to simply tab on the machine on the bus and also tab off after u hopped down from the bus. The good thing with the GO card is you can refund the remain balance (which include the AUD10 dollars cost of the card itself) at the airport when u left Gold Coast.

My dad and bro were patiently waiting at the bus stop, actually the buses come quite on time so far in the week we travelled in Gold Coast.

Distance to Seaworld took us almost an hour, u could tell how far we stayed away from the destination.

Luckily the line at the ticket section was not that long which i expected, we got into the theme park quite early.

We first rushed to the fish detectives (sea lions) show.

There were 3 sea lions in total, they are so abdorable and well trained, thus the comedy was quite funny.

Then, we went to the dolphin area. Seaworld actually set up a specific give birth area for the dolphin....

This was also the first time i was so close to a dolphin, well u have to pay extra to get even closer with them. =S

Of cause we dint miss out the show with dolphins named 'Imagine'

The show began!

Those dolphins are really incredible in jumping!

Doesnt they looked like swimming in the air??!

We decided to ride on the tram after a long walk.

The tram actually go around the whole SeaWorld theme park, and I actually dont think the theme park is very big, perhaps it is just slightly larger than Genting Theme park in Malaysia.

Good thing is there are 3 tram station which actually shortened the walking distance from one side to another.

We got to watch the spongebob show on time.

Here come Spongebob!

And Patrick!!

Of cause not missing out the spongebob house!!!

Then we went for lunch, everything in the park is very pricy, we thought we were safe if we chose Domino's

But the pizza was so tiny, it claimed as personal pizza, but seriously, it probably just slightly larger than an appetizer...

I get Neptune Pizza which is a Seaworld exclusive pizza, the taste was just meh....

While others got meat lovers pizza....

After lunch, we went to watch the stunt show on the water!

Well, my camera memory was full right on time, so this was the only photo i got. Basically they were just playing around with the jet ski and some new jetlev pack which was shown in the photo.

Then, we continued walking around the park, and also visited other animals. There were empire penquins...

Seals...

Pelicans:

Stingrays:

We come right on time when the feeding section began, visitors are able to buy food to feed the stingrays. They come so close to the edge of the pool as their mouth is underneath, so they have to lie closer to the wall in order to be fed. They swam super fast and water was splashed everywhere!

We then move to the shark bay which have two-level exhibition offer viewing from both topside:

and underwater:

You can even spot people snorkelling and diving underwater because it is actually linked with the topside.

The sharks are indeed aggresive from their appearance.

This school of fish always swim passed me while I was enjoying photoshooting and viewing the underwater activities.

Then, we went to see the polar bear!!

This is the small polar bear which is the only Australian born polar bear.

While his parent was very lazy, it was sleeping at the begining, only awaken after a few minutes

There's other attractions in the park such as different kinds of rides:

Stores:

Dinasour island:

But we dint go any other rides except for the monorail i mentioned earlier because none of us is challenging and love adventure. =S

However, I still enjoy my relaxing day at Seaworld!

We had dinner at the Japanese restaurant closed to where we stayed. I was plan to order ramen initially but the ramen were all sold out! They must be yummy!

Then, i switched to karaagae udon which was good as well, i loved their karaagae! <3

P/s: dad started fall in love with Japanese meal, LOL.

Alright is time to reblog my trip at Gold Coast 2 months ago =P

It was a sudden plan for Gold Coast trip in the begining of last year but i was quite happy with this opportunity. =)

Our plane actually departed at night, and we arrived Gold Coast international airport in the early morning.

The crowd at the airport wasnt too bad, we were able to find a shuttle to get to our accommodation.

Weather was suprisingly very cool and not too humid....

Our hotel is actually located very close to the airport but very far from the city centre =S

This is where we stayed - beach house seaside resort hotel, Coolangatta. Apparently, there's a building construction undergoing upon our arrival, but goodness the noices wasnt too bad affecting us.

Due to our early arrival, we spared some times at the member lounge before our room was ready.

Dad and bro were enjoying their pool section, i did join for a short while and still able to play well after my last game in NZ nearly a year ago..

Our room was yet to be ready after 3 pool games, we decided to come back after lunch. We chose the fish and chips shop just right in front our hotel.

We had family pack which come with 4 grilled fish fillet, and a bowl of chips, some potato croquettes, a few crumbed scallops...

In general, the fish was quite fresh, moreover is the cost still considered quite reasonable.

We did concern about the cost in Aussie as we all knew it was not cheap, especially my ANZ travel card was not able to be used (blame ANZ!)

Therefore, we did take note about the price tags and our available cash fund all time. But of cz we still enjoyed our time in Aussie! =)

We gone for a short walk after lunch, Coolangatta is located at the southern part of Gold Coast, apparently the beach at Coolangatta was well praised by locals and travellers. We decided to go to beach later before dinner.

This type of bird were spotted almost everywhere....

Our room was ready in late afternoon, we were happy with the interior and available facilities afterall.

We have a well equiped kitchen, and dinning area, there are 2 rooms in our unit, and the sofa my bro sat on can be transformed to a bed and there was where he sleeping in that week =)

Our balcony is facing the beach! Awesome!

A close up!

and I also can spot the Coolangatta town centre on the other side from my balcony, check out the small christmas tree.

After we unload our luggage, shower etc, we went to the beach before the night fallen.

Amazing! The sand is so soft, white and smooth....and look at the sunset glow, oh my...it was so pretty!!

You even can spot the Gold Coast city centre - surfers paradise from here!

We indeed lucky to be able to live at Coolangatta.

My hotel is at the middle, u can see the construction beside my hotel...

Even the moon had appear =)

Alright, that's my first day at Gold Coast, which finished with a kebab dinner at Coolangatta, taste was....meh....but still grateful with it =)

On the last day of Malacca trip, we woke up quite early and went to the food we missed out on the previous night:

this is like a Malacca version 'bak-kut-teh', come with a pork + intestine herbal soup and yam rice.

The general taste was mild and refreshing...but i am from Klang, so i still preferred the original Bak Kut Teh =D

Mr. Yap was very crazy that day, he purposely drove down to Malacca to meet us for lunch.

Well, we still felt irrestitable to the Nadeje mille crepe, so here we go again:

We ordered 5 pieces in total:

everyone just couldnt stop eating....

If you think this was the end of our trip, u were wrong, see what else we pursuited on our way back home

 l

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V

we went to Seremban for the famous grilled crab! Indeed delicious =D

this made the end of my trip, and i am looking forward to go there again when I got paid =D

Our trip continued today with more fun and challenges on the second day, because we walked a lot!

actually i was totally fine as i think i dint walk as much as compared to those tracks i had been to during tramping/hiking in NZ.

But i was very happy and enjoyed myself along with yimei and bean on the outing day.

We kicked off our outing today with a yummy chicken rice at Jonker Walk (the old town centre):

I never like hainanese chicken because i dont like the texture and the oily taste, but this hainanese chicken recommended by yimei was very smooth and tender.

i love how the rice balls go together with the chicken =D

After we boosted up our energy level with the yummy breakfast, we started explore the herritage township.

of cause creating fun photos  is a must-do activity!

We started our first stop at Christ Church, then continued with walking up the hill for the St.Paul's church, then all the way down to A-famosa..

I guess i was getting high as well, because I started all the weird posing for the photoshoot...hehe

ok here's come a normal one:

Then I met a dinasour!

..........................sorry, i was getting high again~

We continued our way to the newly built Menara Malacca (Menara = tower) by passing the little train exhibition area.

And finally got there:

not this far, is this close:

This is the first gyro tower built in Malaysia, and also my first ride in a gyro tower =)

It cost RM10 per person with the presence of MyKad (FYI: Malaysian identity card).

I actually got a little nervous when the moving platform where we sat lifted up from the ground as I am mildly suffered from acrophobia.

But it was awesome to see how Malacca city was organized, especially for the Jonker walk, it was really impressive!

After seeing from the top, we went on the ground and exploring the Malacca history in a cool ship.

Then we were getting hungry after using up the energy on walking, we went for lunch.....tada!

I had the nyonya asam laksa while yimei and ing bean picked the 'nyonya asam laksa kahwin baba asam laksa' Lol

their names are so funny, which means the nyonya married the baba, i mean the laksa ==

FYI: u can find out the nyonya and baba's story here .

The laksa were very yummy, good in taste and portion size. I was so full! But still got stomach for the yummy durian nyonya cendol, OMG

I ald got excited after hearing the name! I love the gula malacca (malacca cane sugar) pouring on my cendol, the smell was unforgettable, and just boosted up my appetite.

Then of cause, it was a recycle activity: eat-walk-eat-walk and eat again...no, we just finished lunch so we continued walking, exploring the shops at Jonker Walk.

I found so many good stuffs, but too bad i was poor and out of job, i swear i will come back again after i got paid from my future employer.

Before that, let's just keep on walking =.=

Jonker walk actually shared some similarity as Georgetown in Penang, it was surrounded with unique artistic shops, and street art.

We also visited the nyonya and baba museum where the old story about peranakan was told.

too bad i can only show u the entrance bcz photo is prohibited in the museum. However, all the furnitures are well preserved and good maintained.

The nyonya's story is interesting, and the tour guide is a good story teller. I quite enjoyed the 1-hr tour in the beautiful nyonya house.

Then, we went to the temple nearby for a pray.

Bought some nice drinks and an egg-y ice for replenishing our thirst.

It was a good and long day, had dinner at a restaurant where well-known with creamy prawn noodle soup.

It was a fun trip after all, no wonder bean bought this for a good souvenier:

and all of us also got a friendship band to memorize this wonderful trip =D

Ok, i am very slow & lazy recently, must come back to the blogging world asap...hehe

is time to update or i shud say re-update my previous trip to Malacca which was happened in September last year oh my =.= is 2014 now!!

It was a very fun trip bcz i was with my besties for a trip for the first time after back home since July (2013)

Yimei come with this idea in order to clear her leaves, but a very good time for both ing bean and I as both of us were jobless anyway =S

I have long time never been to Malacca, especially after Malacca got listed by UNESCO world herritage site since 2008 because of its historic, well preserved buildings

So i was very excited and looking forward for the trip. We had dim sum at Bkt tinggi with kok chin before we drove there. Poor kok chin couldnt join us....

This was the first step for us in Malacca:

Yes, mille crepe!! Finally i was able to try out this cool dessert!!

See how excited i was!

Nadeje had been a familiar name to me when i was still staying in NZ, had been looking a lot of photos of frens taken with the crepe cakes.

Indeed, the mille crepes are very yummy, i love how they tastes smoothly & not heavy at all though u can see plenty of layers of cream filled one by one.

Not all the flavors are great, but overall they are still worth to try and give a big thumb!

I love their appearances a lot!

Woman will never say NO to dessert, unless they are dieting....go to hell diet, dont border me when i am on trip! lol

So, yimei brought us to the kampung (villages) area to try the famous coconut shake!

THIS IS A MUST-TRY!! They are SUPER GOOD in taste!! Felt so relieved having this shake in such a hot weather, such a humid environment...back to heaven, oh yeah =)

We were living in a hotel for this trip, got lucky that we actually got upgraded for a bigger room which contains 2 king-sized beds, well enough to fit in 3 of us.

i forgot to snap a look of our room, but it is a quite comfy room, the only thing i was not satisfied with was the shower.

The water power wasnt strong enough....=S

After we checked-in for our room, we continued our trip for dinner again, lol, this is indeed a food hunting trip.

But i was quite looking forward for the dinner then because we were going to try out famous satay celup because it had been representing an icon of Malacca.

We went to this famous satay celup restaurant, and tried out almost 40 sticks!!

I think it was just ok, not such a great taste which ppl have to get too overwhelmed with. But perhaps i had a picky palate then.

Then after dinner, we were so full, so we went to the old town centre to go for a walk.

Getting excited with the big guitar at HardRock cafe.

I only found out Malacca river could be so beautiful at night. (when the light gone, when the floating rubbish 'vanished' , when the brownish river was unseen)

The night had fallen, so we moved into the mall to have some drinks while waiting to meet another fren who worked in Malacca...

but too bad he was very busy and unable to meet us, i guess next time then, if there is a reunion again....

We had chatted so much that night before we closed our eyes, gossipping all the past happened in high school

the girls, the rumours, the boys, the teachers, the studies, the events, the friendships....

i am really grateful we are still connecting each other now, friendship forever my dearest!..

Penang indeed had changed a lot, the city had become cleaner and safer.

In this 3 days n 3 nights trip, we had eaten so much food. I actually tried so hard to browse online hunting for the infamous street food.

Dad was telling me how he missed the 'apom' which he got to taste long time ago when he travelled penang with my cousin.

To not dissapointing my dad's appetite, i sacrified my sleep and woke up early these 2 days to locate the apom stall where my cousin visited before.

We were quite lucky as the stall is very close to our hotel, and we finally got it!

Well, it is really yummy i must agree =) No wonder dad was so excited everytime he mentioned about apom.

FYI- the stall is located at the kopitiam right opposite the police station at Jln Burma. Please be early to get them, there are 2 types: a plain one, and with filling (banana) one.

After meeting with yongwah on 2nd day, i got to meet my other old fren - huey tyng on the 3rd day.

Old time memories at Inti just come across my mind, we must admit that time pass really soon. =)

That's all for my raya trip, well shame of me as i was too excited about the good food and dint really border taking most of the photos. =P

Ok, I am on my track reblogging the key dates happened to me since i back home.

I am starting it with the Raya trip which happened in early August - 3 months ago, 2 wks after i back home.

So i went to Penang with family, as Raya fall on Thurs and Fri, totally gained a long weekend (i guess no point for me, bcz everyday is weekend to me now =))

But it is a good time for family trip then! I had booked the accommodation before returned home, i had been tip-toeing about visiting penang since i left home to NZ

well, every Malaysian knew what happened to this beautiful city in terms of political view, which truly what i supported (ok no politics talk)

So i am anticipating on stepping penang island, especially to discover the world herritage chew jetty area.

Tada!:

Basically chew jetty just similar as pulau ketam (an island close to port klang), everything is down to earth,  due to the well-preserved old villages with population who had different surnames, the place had successfully enlisted as world heritage site.

I did feel a bit sorry as a traveller, because i do understand the locals must be annoyed by us as we by passed their corridors, and pipping their house all time

well perhaps for some locals, they were using their advantages to sell something, see what we got:

a very yummy bubur cha cha, this is my favourite malaysian dessert after all

Well another reason of chew jetty getting so popular is because of this artistic, creative artist - Ernest Zacharevic

This great Lithunian artist had produced a few amazing street art works around chew jetty, as well as at the old-colonial building/shops area right opposite the jetties.

unfortunately due to the nature power, some of the brilliant art work had been faded as times goes by. But I was told that Ernest is heading back penang to 'repair' his former pieces.

Then we walked to the old-penang town area (old colonial buildings area) to discover other creative art works. Too bad we were running out of time, and there wasnt any map/instruction leading us where we would able to find those amazing art pieces, everything is about 'exploring'!

But we still managed to find some of the greatest work.

Besides the famous Ernest's work, the 101 Lost kitten project is also the main highlight of this unique old george town

I really appreciated how this group of artists brought out the msg saving those stray animals by using their creative skills/ideas.

Well, for Ernest, definitely undeniable he is really talented, he really understand the good use of those abandoned items on street to create such amazing piece of work

 This perhaps is one of the famous work he produced, and too bad it was public holiday, lines were everywhere, we just couldnt border lining up for photos.

I would like to revisit here again sometimes, in a normal working day. I believe i am able to spend more time viewing the artwork, but not just simply photoshooting.

same as the evil but abdorable minions, they really attacked malaysia market so crazily....i still think it is abit over for the trend, but indeed they stayed popular for a reason....

Well there are what i could summarize for the street art, please, if u are planning to go penang...NEVER MISS this place!

If possible, try to explore every single corner, u will be surprised for what u going to encounter, and definitely get amazed by their effort...(suddenly felt really sad about the Malaysia banksy happened in Johor). FYI, if u are too tired for walking around, just hire a bicycle, there's plenty ways to get one.

The reason we were rushing was because i had planned to meet my NZ fren - Yong wah on the same day.

It was a good time that we able to meet at the charlie brown's cafe at the newly developed Quay Straights.

It was my first time spending on these types of themed cafes, but i dont mind as long as it is not hello kitty...lol....(ok, i am sorry to kitty fans)

Indeed, snoopy is cute, and we were having fun with the interior and exterior design of the cafe.

Kiss me please?...

haha, my bro is waiting for school bus as well...

It was a good catch-up with yongwah, happy to know that she got a great job and also wish her all the best in her future.

today is all by myself, but went to so many places today.

From the Fitzroy garden opposite my hotel to the beautiful church nearby, then lost in the complicated multi-lanes city centre.

Fitzroy garden is very big, i guess the concept is like the Central park at NY city, and it will be improved into a better scaled and beautiful garden

i specifically like the model tudor village, is like a mini village, so cute!

the fairy tree also very unique...

And i saw some unique bird in the garden, look at this, is it a bigger version of kiwi bird?? lol

And parrots also are the most easily spotted birds in Aussie

for the church located nearby, i was hesistated to visit initially, but i was thinking since i was ald in Melbourne, why not?

luckily i had gone there! Is the magnificent St Patrick Cathedral church~

i really impressed with ppl at old days, they are real talented to build such an amazing architecture!

just like last time when i was at Sydney, the St Mary Cathedral is also very beautiful, especially inside the church, however photos were prohibited there

but i am grateful that St Patrick church is allowed for cameras! And i also donated a candle for wishes. =)

then i had a nice Spanich breakfast at the cafe in the Fitzroy garden

it was real yummy, so much better than the breakfast i had yesterday at Hopetoun tearoom.

After this, i went to yarra river for more artistic sculpture~

I really in love with such an artistic city....

but then when i was so lost at the multiple lanes city centre!!

i was holding the complicated map in my hand, and confused with the direction i was standing at, wondering around the lanes, looking for the sign of streets, and struggling to go where i should visit.

anyways, i passed by so many unique lanes and arcades which Melbourne famous for~

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I also visited Laurent! And order this special patisserie with a hot tea.

i sat at a beautiful corner, where i was able to see the ppl passed by in the narrow lane through the window in front of me.

too bad i was full from my good breakfast and unable to shout for macarons~ but i do have a small square shaped macaron on top of my dessert =D

however i still bought other macarons from a shop named La Belle Mitte, but the service was real rude and the macarons were just alright.

for lunch, i gone to a greek cafe! I was kinda sticked with Greek cuisine when i am in AUssie since i got chance to have awesome greek dinner at Sydney last year.

especially i realized there's a greek precinct in the city centre, but at last i went in to this cafe which is not located in the precinct (and ended up i wasnt able to go there)

while last time i had a proper fine Greek meal, this time i tried Greek style street food!

It is at Kalamaki Greek Street food at Londale St.

I got a virgin tzatziki, which is kinda like Greek kebab, pita bread wrapped with slow roasted lamb with tomato, chips and red onion.

The portion size was big enough tho i ordered just a small one, and the lamb given really generous! A lot~

the chips are so crispy, and good for combination with the lamb, salad and pita bread...

i passed by the china town after lunch, and took the bus to Melbourne museum and the World heritage site - Royal exhibition building at Carlton

i dont think it is so special, even tho it is world heritage site. Well, building is indeed beautiful...

After taken the free shuttle bus to city suburb, i decided hopped on the free city circle tram to Docklands, where is another water wharf in Melbourne city 

but apparently i missed the stop while i was in the public free tram

and it was super crowded inside the small compartment (tram) so i just couldnt border taking another loop and stepped out from the tram

but then, i was lost after i got out from the tram!

and walked for so long only arrived at Docklands...

i dint visit much attraction at Docklands bt walked across the beautiful bridge~

then also just walked along the pedestrian beside the Yarra river and went back to city centre

worst was my stomach started cramp and pain! I couldnt even find a good restaurant for dinner because my stomach started hurt when i walked

i was real pissed that time and really hate Melbourne at that moment! lol

but then, i was calming down myself and back to hotel at the end. I just simply had a dinner at the restaurant inside the hotel.

The wine was real good, very fruity, but the Tasmanian Salmon....omg, sucks!

It just ruined the whole fillet, and i think i could do a better job...this was the worst food i had for my trip and unbelievable it was my last supper in Melbourne =S

i was kinda bad luck too, because the hotel service ordered the wrong shuttle for me to airport, they called for a air bus! which a shuttle come to fetch me to the central station where i need to transfer to an airbus!

I was real mad! and helpless, because i have many things with me, i am leaving for good, not holiday!

so i was real panic and uneasy with carrying all things up to the bus by myself, and couldnt imagine for the troublesome i will have later on the bus

well it might be just an hour trip (yes the airport is far), but i just couldnt stand, perhaps i was quite impetuous too, i just walked like a mad lady, very embrassed, struggled to pull my bulky luggages to the taxi stand outside the station

the distance is actually very short, just 1mins walk, if u are not carrying anything....

it took me extra 2 mins because i had too much 'barriers', and the taxi driver was very unhelpful, he only started asked me do i need help innocently after i got my steps closer to his taxi while he actually had already seen me walking from far away!!

excuse me? do u still need to ask?!

anyways, the taxi fee was real expensive, but i arrived the airport safely and smoothly

i just couldnt wait to get on the plane and head back home soon....

p/s: Melbourne is still a very nice place, i was just having a bad night =S

Today is all about outdoor! Went to Brighton today for viewing the famous colorful bathing box along the beach, which is also the attrative point made me visit Melbourne before gone home.

But to make our trip more energertic, we had awesome breakies...Tada~

We bought these from a very cute macaron stall at Block Arcade yesterday.

We also made our first attempt on riding Melbourne train today! But before that, we finally walked in the Hopetoun tearoom at Block Arcade

We passed by this shop yesterday while walking around the lanes and road at the city centre, and there were so crowded with a long line waiting outside the cafe too

but the cakes at the exhibition window looked so yummy, and making us so tempted to try!

and this morning, we finally walked in with no line waiting outside (cause it was early)

We ordered a savoury green eggs and ham breakfast and a sweet strawberry roll cake for sharing

The roll cake is really yummy! It is so soft, and the cream is not greasy at all.

But the green egg is just a normal scrambled egg.

Then, we bought our myki card (a transport multi-use card in Melbourne) and gone on the train to Brighton beach

and we arrived after nearly 30mins! with an extra 15mins walk....

indeed colorful, indeed beautiful!

we stopped for almost 30mins, and continued our food hunt at somewhere at the St Kilda beach

we were lost on our way to this famous burger place for lunch because of the complicated tram route but we did arrive after nearly 2 hrs later

Lunch at NSHRY, facing the St Kilda Beach, we managed to arrive here 1 hr before the kitchen closed!

I ordered the soft shell crab burger, it comes with the seaweed salad which is very unique appearance for Western menu...

I guess this restaurant is more like a fushion rather than western dining cuisine.

I have a nice watermelon juice =)

The chips are super yummy, with the given 3 sauces, i specifically like the wasabi salad sauce =D

while for the burger, i love it a lot too, because the soft shell crab is so crispy and it matched with the burger very well!

Paeh leng chose the wagyu burger for lunch, i got a small bite, very juicy but i couldnt tell its difference with normal beef patties though

i preferred my soft shell crab haha.

We must be crazy, we got tempted to try the pork belly burger on the menu and tada!

We ordered another burger for sharing, and this grilled pork belly is definitely the best! Very Good!!!

Of cz we finished everything except for the chips and i took away for dinner tonight for myself because Paeh Leng is leaving back to Sydney tonight TT

Well, guess i will be just enjoying my lemon meringue by myself tonight =_=

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