Snowboarding @ Mt. Hutt

23-24.07.2015

The main reason I plan to spend a year in New Zealand is to experience the four seasons. Well done, I have completed my mission! 

SPRING with the dull ice flowers @ Lake Tekapo; SUMMER activity: the Monster slide @ Christchurch; AUTUMN view @ Arrowtown; WINTER snowboard @ Mt. Hutt ski field.

Snowboarding is really fun and cool! After ended the factory job, I and a bunch of carrot-mates travelled to Mt. Hutt for our ski/snowboard session. We get a discounted group price with an all-day lift pass, lesson, ski/snowboard equipments and clothing rental. All together with gears and shuttle bus fare from Methven to Mt. Hutt, we only need to pay for about NZD160. 

This is my first time snowboarding, so I cannot comment much on the facilities there. Yet, the skifield there is large. I recomend for those first-timer, spend two day for ski/snowboard as the first day you needed to learn for a whole day while the next day, you can have fun!

My carrot friends! We celebrated the end of our job and ready for our ski/snowboarding on the next day.

Big Al's SnowSport, where we rented our helmet, goggles, and gloves. Note: those are not rented on the mountain.

Took the Snowman shuttle bus to Mt. Hutt (NZD20 return).

Hahah.. I was so professional!

The snowboard stand.

Stephenie and I, the organisers of the trip, took photo with our snowboard coach, Erick.

We love snowboarding!! 

Horticulture Job (2): JPNZ

20.07.2015

I had spent about 5 months working in Juice Product New Zealand (JPNZ). It is a japanese-owned company which operated by the local in Timaru. The factory produce mainly carrot juice, other than that, it also make juice from black currant and beetroot.

After worked in the factory I just realise that there is not only have orange colour carrots, it also come with yellow, red and purple.

Working in JPNZ was tiring but indeed, it is a way to earn and can save up an amount of money for travelling. The factory operate 24/7, a seasonal job which run from February to Octorber. Two shifts of workers, each work for 12 hours a day, with one or two day off in a week.

The operation composed of different positions:

• Yardman: Work outdoor, take care of the flow of carrots from the hooper into the factory.

• Grader/Cutter: Distinguish and remove spoil carrot/foreign substances.

• Operator: Run and fix the operation of the machine.

• Lab: Juice quality testing.

• Packer: Pack the juice in drums for export.

• Cleaner: do laundry for uniform and keep the cafeteria clean.

• Red head: Supervisor who manage people and jobs.

Cleaning in progress (CIP)!

Basically in every 36 hours, the factory will carry out a whole cleaning to maintain the stardard of cleanliness and hygiene. We hose, we foam, we brush, we water-blast the external; while the operator perform chemical cleaning inside the machine.

All in all, the job was physically consumed yet it is a good experience for me. The first time working in a factory, a chance for me to explore how the carrot juice is made. Besides, I had a great time with my carrot mates, working and living together through the days.. with different emotions mixed together.

Autumn Greeting!

14-15.05.2015

[Arrowtown >> Queenstown >> Wanaka]

The weather here has became colder and cooler. Period of daylight has seemed to be shorter, the sunset started to come earlier. I can see the leaves on the trees that lie along the road have turned their colour - from green to yellow, and some become red. It is the signs of autumn, the fall!

Maple tree @ Queenstown.

I had my autumn greeting at the season-must-visit place - Arrowtown! It is famous with its rich fall foliage colour at the hillside. The entire sides of the hills surrounding Arrowtown light up in yellows and orange. Amazingly beautiful!

The autumn scenery of the old police station at the Arrowtown Chinese Settlement.

With them.. Sylvia, Alice, Jiajia, and Kah Hou.

Fallen leaves on the ground.

Autumn colours at the hillside, Arrowtown.

Leaf no more!

After visited the autumn trees in Arrowtown, we move to our next station - Queenstown 

Anglican church at Queenstown.

Pinewood Lodge, Queenstown.

We stayed overnight in Pinewood Lodge, Queenstown that day. Surely, we enjoyed the Queenstown famous Fergburger and pork ribs! 

The face-size burger. I ordered Chief Wiggum (pork belly), planned to try its lamb burger next time.

Hello again, ribs and chips (The Flame)!

Mrs. Ferg Gelato. Having ice cream in the cold day was really a crazy! Hahahahzz.. :x

Next: Lake Wanaka.

The enormous view while on the way to Wanaka.

A sense of peacefulness at Wanaka Lakefront. 

The lone tree at Lake Wanaka. Can you spot the birds on the tree? Nice shooting. ;)

Relaxing trip with them. 

I like this shooting so much. The scenery was truely amazing!

The fall in Wanaka.

Maidenhair tree (银杏) 

Autumn is ending soon, and welcome winter.. 

The West Coast

4-6.4.2015

"New Zealand, how can you be so beautiful?!"

The Tasman sea, in the West Coast. 

I amaze with the scenery in New Zealand, the South Island. It never brings me disappointment yet gives me the feeling of 'Wou! Wou! and Wou!', it was beyond my expectation!

There was a long holiday in the April for the Kiwi, Good Friday and come with Easter Day after then. This time, i spent my holiday in the West Coast with my ex-uni mate. We finally got the chance to have our 'honeymoon' trip in New Zealand after a long meet up.

>>> FIRST DAY (4/4) <<<

Yeah, our trip started! We were at the Christchurch Railway Station, going to board the train to Greymouth.

A little signature tower at the railway station. 

We took TranZalpine Kiwirail Scenic Journeys, from Christchurch to Greymouth. It was my idea to take the train to the west, a must-do-task in my New Zealand trip. We spent NZD149 for it, the train facilities is real good, comfort seat, spacious with a large window for the passengers to enjoy the wonderful view outside. Unfortunately, the weather on that day was bad, heavy rain in the middle of the trip. Beautiful scenery was covered with mist and end up we slept on the train. How silly was that! (The total journey took around 4.5 hours.)

Boarding.

Huge window. The journey was began with a beautiful rainbow.

You can spot it was actually a double rainbow if you see carefully.

The scenic view.

How i wish it was a good weather, i bet the scenery will sure be very beautiful.

Arthurs Pass. One of the stop.

We spent the money for nap on the train! :x (the train was passing through a tunnel).

We reached Greymouth station! 

 

Greymouth is the biggest town in the West Coast. It shows much of its industrial roots and would not be considered an especially attractive tourist town. 

Greymouth has a history of coal and gold mining.

A random picture. Our face expressions were superb!

We paid for our stay in a backpacker hostel, Global Village. It was ranked as the top backpacker in Greymouth.

Ranking: 5/5

Experience: It was the best backpacker i ever stay in New Zealand. Global Village is beautifully decorated in a Global Art theme, provides amazing services and facilities like gym, sauna, and hot spa that seldom see in other backpacker hostel. Besides, the backpacker hostel also provides free bicycle and kayak. The place was nicely tidy up, warm and comfortable, a relaxing place for me.

The lounge:

You can see the lounge was well decorated, with comfortable sofas. 

The facilities: Computer, book & magazine, music instruments (piano, guitar), board game, separated TV lounge with great collection of world movies.

The rooms: 

The corridor to the rooms. 

We stayed in room 11.

The facilities:

Hot spa.

Suana & fitness room.

Awesome sauna experience. We sweat a lot! 

>>> SECOND DAY (5/4) <<<

Yeah.. We rented a car for a day to Punakaiki today. 

Company: Alpine West Car Rental

Experince: relatively cheap and good service. They will send you the car right to the place you want to.

We stopped by the coast line while we were driving on the way to Punakaiki. The huge sea and the blue sky attracted me. 

Our itinerary of the day: 

(Paparoa National Park)

Pancake rock >> Truman track >> Pororari river track

The entrance to the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. It is the main attration in Punakaiki.

The pictures we took all along the way visited the pancake rocks.

After that, we moved to the next station - Truman track. It was a short track that only take around 15mins to reach the end point. 

A short walk to a beach.

The short track was not enough challenging for us, therefor we decided to go for the other track that took around 2-3hours time in go and return.

The Pororari River track:

There was a swingbridge at the end of the track.

Punakaiki Beach Hostel - a little cute and cosy backpacker house just next to a beach.

I love this weather forecast the most! It was so creative!

Walked to the beach in the early morning.

>>> THIRD DAY (6/4) <<<

Mission: explore the cavern.

We did not go deep inside the cave, not really explore it but this was a nice experience for us.

There we ended our West Coast trip. 3 days 2 night, short yet fulfilment. Then, we took a shuttle bus back to Christchurch.

Castle hill.

***** The Food Of The Place *****

1. DP 1 Cafe (Greymouth)

The cafe offers breakfast and lunch. It is the popular cafe in Greymouth, nice food nice coffee. Reasonable price.

Ranking: 4/5

2. Freddy Cafe (Greymouth)

I ordered BLT (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato). The portion was good and the chips was nice. 

Raking: 3/5

3. Ali's Eating and Drinking (Greymouth)

They provide good food and the atmosphere was nice. 

Raking: 4/5

4. Pancake Rocks Cafe

Having pancake while visit the pancake rocks is a must? We spent NZD17.50 for the pancake set. It was truely expensive! Luckily the pancake was great with its pure cherries jam. Nice yet pricy. 

Rating: 3/5