It was Macho's birthday on the 22nd June. He turned 3 years old that day. I put in the effort to try to come back from Wellington so I could spend birthday with him. Of course, he had no idea it was his special day but I think he can probably remember one day in the cold winter, don't know why, he would have lots of presents and good food... and last Sunday was the day..
I arrived Dunedin that morning and went to New World straightaway to get him some of his favorite food and a toy for him..
Needless to say, he had a lot of fun eating all the steak and mince.. until he had diarrhea..
5 days later, the remains of his birthday toy (he tried to steal a piece away when I was taking photos of them.. )
It has been a very interesting past 2 weeks for me.
I traveled to Wellington and did a 1 week hospital placement at an awesome hospital there. I had to catch a bus to Christchurch as my flight to Wellington departed from there. And before I flew to Wellington, I had a short visit to a resort near the airport and it was so beautiful and awesome!! It has a golf course and the room has a magnificent lake view.
The name of the resort - Peppers Clearwater
The room was nice and spacious with nice, good quality and thick carpet. The bed is huuuggeee (super king?).. and the bathroom.. bigger than my room in my previous flat *_*"" Definitely enough space for me to exercise Pilates / Yoga in it and not bruising myself from kicking anything accidentally. It was so comfortable I probably wouldn't mind sleeping there (actually, think about it again, I would) because it even has floor heating.
And the view from the balcony... thumbs up! I would go back if I want to have a relaxing holiday one day.
After the quick stopover at the resort, the staff drove me to the airport and I flew off to Wellington. The experience at Christchurch set me up for a good 'holiday' in general. During the time when I was in Wellington, not only did I enjoy my time at the hospital, I also got a chance to meet up with some wonderful people especially the lady who rent one of her rooms to me. She has shown me too much hospitality and because of that, I felt my trip was much better than it would have been without her. Her house, like what she said over the phone, is indeed a very nice house. Imagine, I paid NZD120 for a room, and together with it; power, phone, food (she was happy for me to eat anything from her kitchen) were all included. Over and above, her bathroom has jacuzzi @_@..towels etc were all provided -like staying at a motel / hotel!! Oh and also, because she works at the same hospital, I got rides to the hospital every morning and some evenings. How much better could it get?!
During the week in Wellington, I ate out a lot and whenever I ate out, I chose Malaysian food.. to reminisce wonderful memories of delicious food back home. Char Kway Teow is my favourite dish and needless to say, I ordered the same dish (haha) everytime. Eventually, I managed to try this same dish at a few different Malaysian restaurants: I can't remember the name of the first Malaysian restaurant I went to *_*, Sungai Wang @ lower hutt, Taste of Malaysia @ lower hutt and KK Malaysian Restaurant @ Wellington city. And of all the restaurants, I think the Char Kway Teow at the first restaurant which I can't remember the name is the best (haha, very informative I know). However, the foods in KK Malaysian restaurant is greeeaaattt!! Very authentic and the serving sizes were BIGger (compared to the other few restaurants). Most importantly, the food there is cheap! NZD8 per dish.. yum!! Highly recommended and would definitely go back again. Apparently there is also a KK Malaysian restaurant in Auckland and the food is just as good?! I wonder if they are run by the same owner? Anyways, I ordered Mee Rojak when I was at KK but I took away the chicken rendang, Char Kway Teow and Mee goreng so I could continue pamper myself after I returned to Dunedin..:)
Mee Rojak
Chicken Rendang
I came back to Dunedin happily and felt too satisfied having my food cravings taken care of...
I am having my holiday now and it's been 3 weeks since I have been free from fixed schedules. During this holiday, unlike last year, I don't get the chance to go home and enjoy life back in Asian countries. This time, I get the opportunity to go to Mount Cook and Wellington! :)I went to Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo during the first week of holiday and I must say, it was a great great experience! I utterly enjoyed my trip and for the first time, I actually appreciated NZ's scenery whole heartedly.Lake Tekapo has one of the most beautiful night skies in the world and star gazing is a popular thing to do when tourists visit the place. There is an Canterbury University built observatory where it holds a very powerful telescope. There is a star gazing tour every night where the tour guide would introduce the different stars etc and people get a chance to experience the powerful telescope. Well, it was certainly very tempting to try but too bad, it was too expensive - NZD65 per person! Eventually, I decided to just star gaze with my naked eyes haha. Cheap and convenient. Was told by a friend that apparently the city council has a rule where the houses in the area were not allowed to install lights that shine towards the sky as this would hinder the reflection of light from the stars.. very interesting indeed.There is also a cafe built beside the observatory named Astro cafe. It is in general built of glasses and it has a million dollar view where people get to enjoy the scenery of Southern Alps and Mount Cook while having coffee / sandwiches. I had lots of fun looking at the wonder of nature while having my cup of Latte.
There are also Salmon farms around the area. Apparently the salmons are extremely strong and lean because they swim against the water flow in the river. Whatever it is, I didn't really pay much attention as my main focus at that time was to: BUY the SASHIMI and feast on them. On top of that, I also had the opportunity to feed the salmon and introduce Macho to his favourite food. I think I overdosed myself with sashimi in the 3 days.
Then it's the Mount Cook. All I have to say about that place is - it is beeeaaaauuuuutttiiffuulll!! The snow, the hotel, the scenery, the glaciers..
Take home message = MUST GO!And after the 3 days of fun-filled road trip, Macho was the most exhausted 'person' *_*"" He was so exhausted he slept through the night and day after he got back to Dunedin..........
