The Unbalanced Libra..

I worked only 2 days this week.. Supposed to be a super long weekend, but so far, the past 2 days had been sucky.

Yesterday, i took Dad to the hospital for day surgery to remove his cataract.  Thought it would be a quick procedure, so i brought Bria and C along.  Ended up staying in the hospital for 8 freakin hours from 8am to 3pm.  Poor Bria also had her whole feeding and bathing schedule disrupted.  Don't know why the stupid hospital people asked us to reach at 8am when my dad could only go into surgery at 12pm!

By evening time yesterday, i fell sick with fever and flu.  Went to see the doctor this morning, and spent the most of today drifting in and out of sleep..  Just finished a telecon with my colleagues from Fairfax about an hour ago.  Still have a bit of flu now, so worried that i will spread to Bria.  And it's not helping that she keeps wanting me to carry her! = )

Hopefully will feel better tomorrow.  My mom in law wants to bring Bria to Pasir Ris Park tomorrow morning, and i really want to be there with my baby.  Last weekend, we had a free stay at Grand Copthorne Waterfront.  Bria had 2 days of swimming in the pool, and slept really well at night.  Lucky loh, else K and I will be sleep deprived, especially since we didn't bring C!  We will be bringing Bria to KL and Genting during the Hari Raya Haji long weekend.  It's gonna be 5 days without C.  Keeping my fingers crossed that Bria will be a good girl, else I will be really really exhausted!  Anyway, for now, i will just focus on enjoying my long weekend.. = )

Its been raining the whole freakin day today.. Well, as the weather forecast predicted, its supposed to be thunderstorms today, so i guess showers are already a bonus.  

K and I went to Universal City Walk for the most part of the day.  Didnt go into Universal Studio though, but we ended up spending the whole day there shopping and eating., and watching people scream on the roller coasters.  We went to the Takoyaki museum, which is a total spam, cause its not a museum at all.  More like a food court with all the different (but same) Takoyaki stalls.  

I also bought more things for myself today.  Got this really cute Elmo handphone holder for myself and for S birthday present, and some handphone / keychain accessories.　K got himself a terminator and spider man handphone accessory, and got me the elmo and snoopy ones.  We also bought a nice pink snoopy winter scarf for Hannah..

One more day to my birthday!!  K and I had such a long long day yesterday that we overslept today.  We were supposed to wake up at 8am to go to Nara, but woke up at 10am instead.

We had our first Takoyaki (octopus balls) yesterday night at this little restaurant specializing in Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki (pancakes).  We got to make our own Takoyaki!  I thought that was soo cool.  It seems so easy, but when i tried to do it, i find it so challenging!  Not easy to make the mixture into little balls.. In the end i asked the waiter to help me.. haha..

Just came back to the hotel and using the hotel lobby laptop again to blog.  K and I went to so many places today.  First, we took a 45 min train ride to Nara and explored the different temples and shrines at the Nara Park.  We also got to see the famous deer of Nara.  Took so many photos of the deers roaming freely around the park.  There were also many kids and little babies chasing after the deers.  Bria would have loved it so much! 

After Nara, we headed back to Namba for more shopping and food.  Bought some clothes from H&M for myself, some very kawaii childrens socks for Bria and Hikaru, and a big and very pretty Mickey Mouse jewellery box for myself to put my earrings, hairbands and stuff.   Told K that this will be my birthday present..  = )

Then to end the day, we shared a delicious bowl of soy sauce ramen.  Overall, today has been quite an enjoyable experience.. = ) 

I will officially turn 29 tomorrow, dont know whether to be happy or sad.. haha.. One year older, one year wiser?  

Im actually typing this on a laptop at the hotel lobby.  There is no wireless internet here, so i cannot use my ipad.  I actually typed in this blog entry on my ipad at the Haneda airport while waiting to board the plane.   Had my first meal in Narita aiport - a terrible bowl of Tokyo ramen.  Total waste of my gastronomic juices.

K is sitting at the hotel lobby now, waiting for me to blog.  Got this survey from this company called "ＦｉｒｅｆｌｙＳｉｎｇａｐｏｒｅ", and they are gonna pay me $200 for blogging every day for the next 4 days for Phase 1, and then doing something for them on my Facebook for Phase 2.  Its gonna be a challenge, since i will be traveling around and there is no wireless internet here in the hotel.. But i will try my best.. 


So far the trip hasnt been too enjoyable.  After 12 hours of travelling on the plane, bus and subway, i just managed to check into the hotel.  Poor K had to lug the big luggage up and down stairs cause we could not find any elevators at the train station.. sigh..
 
Yesterday was a crazy day.. My big boss came and I sat through a host of presentations from 10am to 5pm. By the time my turn came to present, everyone was half asleep already. But I think my interesting and energetic presentation perked them all up..=) The downside was, I only started the days work at 5pm. So I was rushing like mad to finish my work before I go on leave.  By the time I reached home, it was already 7pm, and I missed my chance to feed Bria her dinner. So I brought her into my room and played with her, had my dinner, and then cleaned her up. I kept talking to her, telling her that daddy and mummy will be flying to japan, that she will be staying at grandma house for the next 5 days, and that she must be a good girl. It was only after I cleaned her that I started getting ready.  And that too became a mad rush. I ended up forgetting to bring my hat, sunglasses and swimming costume. Sigh..

Anyway, Bria slept in the car on the way to the airport. She held my hand while she slept. And the more I look at this sleepyhead, the more I fall in love with her... When we arrived at changi airport, I whispered into her ear and told her that I am leaving. And she tightened her grip around my fingers. It's as if she know mummy is leaving.  So sweet!  It's been more than 10 hours since we left Singapore, and we still haven't reach our destination. And I miss my baby so much!

I love Japan. To me every time I come here, I will always see or experience something fascinating. Their food, their customer service, their creativity and sophisticated technology. I saw a guy tap his hand phone on the boarding gate machine. How cool is that! I also caught a glimpse of the yellow Pokemon aircraft that ANA bought.. So cute.
  


And the toilet! The little buttons to warm the toilet seat, to activate flushing sound etc. Now they even install an LCD screen in each toilet stall for advertisements! Plus they have baby chairs installed so babies can sit which their mummies do their thing in the toilet. How thoughtful! I wish Singapore toilets had these too.

Today we leave New Zealand and head home. EK and S drove us to the airport at 8am in the morning after squeezing all our 3 months worth of luggage into whatever boot space we had.

As we wheezed past the streets and people going to work and to school, I can't help but think if i will miss this place and when we will be back again.  We reached the airport about 20 minutes later, and said our goodbyes.  By the time EK and S comes home, my baby will be 1 month old. = )

K and I checked in our luggage and headed straight to the lounge for breakfast.  After changing seats twice, we got ourselves a good spot in a secluded corner with a big round table.  Food was nothing impressive.  I had salmon potato pie, banana, apple juice and this really cheesy thing called "Mousetrap." Cute.  

So far, the best lounge is still the one in Singapore.. and Tokyo!!  I still remembered taking a lot of the lounge food on board the airplane when i was in Tokyo.. My neighbour on the plane must be wondering how come i got more food than her.. haha.. = )

We spent almost 2 hours in the lounge, K using his laptop whilst i flipped through magazines, before finally boarding the plane at 1030am.  We tried to change our NZD into SGD at the boarding area, but changed back again when we realized that there was a transaction fee of NZD16.  hahaha.. complete waste of time..

Our 10 hour flight was uneventful.  I watched 3 movies and played mahjong. Didn't really sleep much.  Kept asking for water and going to the toilet..  Food was so so, although they had really nice chocolate ice cream for dessert.. = )

We finally landed home at 5pm , 1 hour ahead of schedule.  As predicted, K's mom had not arrived at the airport yet when we came out cause of the early landing.  So we strolled to the food court at T1 for my first meal in Singapore after 3.5 months.  I was so looking forward to my favourite Hokkien Mee.   But as luck had it, the stall was closed.. Sigh.. so i had teriyaki salmon, soya  bean milk and kuay chup instead.  Still nice lah, but would have preferred Hokkien Mee.  K's mom and sister came and we caught up with each other over dinner.  I bought my favourite marble cake from Bengawan Solo for breakfast over the next couple of days.  

We finally reached home around 7plus, then had to leave again to go to K's auntie's house to collect our car, say hi and distribute the kiwi fruits we bought.  K's auntie made a passing remark that my baby is a boy when she saw me.  Interesting.. = )

Our long day ended when we came home around 10pm.. By then, i was exhausted and still in New Zealand time zone (i.e. 2am).   I was so glad that the house, despite my fear, was spick and span.  Apparently, my tenant had cleaned the floor before we came back.. Sweet!

K and I slept like babies throughout the night in the comfort of our bedroom, and with air conditioning to mimic the cool NZ weather we have gotten so used to..   = )

I went to bed early after our heavy dinner, so i can wake up early tomorrow for our 11am flight.  K chose instead to start clicking furiously on his mouse in another game of War Craft with EK.

Half of me is looking forward to finally going home, but the other half is starting to miss NZ already..

The Jailhouse accommodation is actually an actual jail that has been converted into a backpackers hostel. I must say the owners did a very good job at the converting it into a modern accommodation and yet maintaining the original look and feel at the same time. We actually slept in actual jail cells with bunk beds and heavy iron doors. And the toilets are all shared. Even their toilet seats have like barbed wire designs on them. They also have this little board for you to take pictures with and pretend you are a prisoner. Cool right! The downside is, the room is so cold that even the blankets and our portable little heater didn’t do a good job keeping me warm. I ended up sleeping cold at night and waking up cold in the morning.. Plus, we cannot use the wireless internet inside our room cause there is no reception at all due to the thick iron door. We can only get wireless connection in the main living lounge area. Which makes sense cause inmates are not allowed to have any forms of communication inside their cells. = )


Today was a slow and easy day for us. K and I went to the immigration center in the town center, while EK and S started their job search. For the past few days, K and I have been in deep discussions about whether we should stay in NZ and have the baby or go back to SG. My mind has been a big puzzle mess because of this. Anyway, our trip to the immigration office was pretty much a fruitless attempt. Basically, we need to either get a job offer here, invest half a million here, or study here. So far our best option is to study here. But that costs money. We visited a Taiwanese immigration lawyer’s office after that, and spoke to his secretary. The lawyer wasn’t in, but we left our number and he called us back in the evening. The lawyer sounded pretty positive and confident, like he knew some loopholes in the system. He said he could get us a permit based on my educational qualifications, and asked us to send him our resumes and he would revert back to us on Monday. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

We headed back early today, and had leftover pizza for dinner, plus honeydew, instant noodles and fried omelette. I bought myself some Japanese bread for my tea snack in the afternoon, and it was delicious. Will have the remaining 2 for breakfast tomorrow. = )

My boss called me from Fairfax yesterday night to discuss about my returning to work earlier than planned. It was all bad news.

2 months ago, when I had informed her that I will be going back to Singapore earlier cause I had become pregnant, she had kept my hopes high by saying that she will get me a short term project assignment so I can work for a few months before having my baby in December.

After 2 months of no news, I was finally told yesterday that I won’t be able to go back to work in September. Because the HR guidelines in Singapore doesn’t allow me to shorten my unpaid leave application, and it doesn’t allow my bosses to “create” a short term project work for me just because I want to shorten my unpaid leave. To cut the long story short, HR did not want to set precedence for other employees by being lenient with my case. I had applied for unpaid leave until 31 Jan 2010. So that was when I could go back to work. Which means I will be jobless for more 5 months when I get back to Singapore next week.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, I was further informed me that I won’t be eligible for my 4 months maternity leave. Because the government regulation is that I need to work for 90 continuous days before I deliver my baby in order to qualify for the leave. There goes another 4 more months of income. So total I will lose 9 months of income. Which is a whole damn lot of money!! Sigh..

K and I are exploring the possibility of having the baby here in NZ and not going back to SG.. Initially, one of the main reasons why we wanted to go back to SG to have the baby is because of the 4 months paid maternity plus my job. But now there is one less reason to go back.

If I am to go back to SG, I will definitely have to change my lifestyle. No more social life and meeting up with friends for coffee or shopping. No more nice fancy meals at restaurants.. The baby will also cost us a bomb so need to save up for that. Talk about going back to the harsh reality of life! I don’t want my holiday to end!! = (

It actually stopped raining this morning, so the 4 of us decided to pay a visit to the famed Franz Josef Glacier while the good weather lasted. We had breakfast, loaded our luggage into the backpacker storage room, and drove off to the glacier. We chose the shortest 20 min return route to the glacier lookout and strolled leisurely, enjoying the nature and the fresh air.

I was quite disappointed when I finally saw the glacier.. The glacier was gorgeous, but the lookout from where we were standing was too far away from the glacier to truly enjoy its beauty up close. I’ve always wondered what a glacier is and how it is formed.. Learnt all that from the look out point. I also met a young family with their really happy little baby. Their baby was smiling all the time. Absolutely adorable! I hope my baby will also be like that. = ) After taking some shots of the glacier, we headed back. On the way back, we saw another family, this time an Asian family with their little son and daughter. The little girl was running along with her mother following closely behind her. All the while, she is smiling and laughing to herself. Very very cute little girl. And very pretty too! It‘s really interesting how we human beings tend to pay a lot more attention to certain things when we are in the situation ourselves. Like how I am noticing more babies on the streets now that I pregnant, compared to before..

We had wanted to visit Fox Glacier after Franz Josef, but it started to rain again, so we headed back to the backpackers. On the way back, we stopped by at a Mobil kiosk to pump some air into our car tires, then went back to the backpackers and checked out.

Next stop: Greymouth. K drove the 2 hour leg to Greymouth. We stopped over and had lunch in a small town called Hokitika. The rest had burgers and fries, while I had hotcakes with banana and bacon on maple syrup in this little cafe with a whole collection of really cool tea pots. Felt like bringing some of them home myself!

After lunch, we went to the information center to see what there was to do in Greymouth. After 10 mins of browsing through the brochures, we decided there was nothing to do in Greymouth, so decided to hit the roads again and drive all the way back to Christchurch.

We started droving from Greymouth at 3pm and only reached Christchurch around 7pm. For dinner, we bought 2 boxes of sushi for $10 and 2 Jumbo pizzas from Pizza Hut in a small shopping mall. While waiting for EK and S to pay for the sushi, I fooled around with K in the mall and pressed my palms on the sides of his face. 2 guys walked past us and started to make these really loud funny noises to tease us. K got pissed and shouted to them: “What's your problem man?!" I was so worried they will get into a fight. But luckily the 2 guys just looked at us and walked away. I think they both looked quite shocked at K‘s reaction. After the incident, I talked to K about it, and asked him not to do that again cause if a fight really break out it will be a mess. But he just said his arms are itching and that the 2 guys were just bullies who were too fat to fight him anyway. =)

We began our search for our accommodation for the next 4 nights: The old Addington Jailhouse, and found it after driving around for 15 mins. Not wanting to have our pizza cold, we headed straight to the kitchen and tucked into our dinner without even checking in or unloading. So far, I think this is the coolest place we’ve stayed in!

The alarm didn't go off today at 7am as planned. We had forgotten to set the alarm, and all 4 of us got up only at 830am to have breakfast.

After checking out of Colonial Village motel and loading our luggage into the boot (which was quite a feat cause it was raining), K drove the 4 hour leg to Fox Glacier / Franz Josef. It rained non stop all the way for the next 4 hours. As we drove up the mountains towards Cardrona at Wanaka, we had snow fall. It was beautiful. I tried to take pictures and a video shot, but it cannot justify how beautiful the real thing looked and felt.

Along the way, I started on a book by Ellen Degeneres, which tickled me so much i actually enjoyed it. Lunch was fish and chips and a bowl of deep fried stuff (nuggest / spring rolls, samosa etc) at a small city called Haast. For some reason, I felt so tired after lunch that i fell asleep with my mouth open for most of the drive after that.

We finally reached the town of Fox Glacier around 3pm. The town is so small we only took 15 minutes to drive around before deciding there is nothing there, and continued driving to Franz Josef about 40km away. Franz Josef is a much bigger town, and we found our accomodation at a backpackers with free 24 hr internet access. It was still raining by the time we checked in and unloaded. And there is practically nothing to do except go for glacier walks and glow worm caves. But since it's raining, none of us wanted to do either of the two.

Having unloadedour stuff, the 4 of us walked to the nearby (and only one) supermarket to buy ingredients for dinner. We had pan fried egg with ham, mushroom and cheese, fried rice with chicken and vegetables, and maggi instant curry noodles. Everything turned out very nice except my instant noodles, which was soggy and does not taste anything like curry at all.. = )

K and EK are playing War Craft on their laptops again now.. EK and S have just returned from their glow worm cave exploration with 2 other Taiwanese we met at the back packers. I wanted to go but K advised against it cause it was (and still is) raining and the caves / paths might be slippery. Well.. too bad!

Since there isn't anything to do here, and weather forecast is still going to be rain tomorrow, we will most likely check out and drive again to god knows where.. = )

Our alarm went off at 630am today. K and I had breakfast, packed our subway and peanut butter sandwich for lunch and stood outside our motel and waited for our coach to pick us up at 715am. There was another middle aged Korean couple making the same trip to Milford Sound as us. While waiting, the man suddenly started doing push ups by the side of the road in the carpark where we were waiting.. Strange man.. = )

The bus finally came about 10 mins later, and it was quite full. Our guide, Bruce stopped the coach less than 5 mins after we boarded, and told us the bad news. Milford road was closed due to heavy rain, thereby increasing the avalanche hazard levels to medium. He gave us the option of alighting there and then and getting a refund, or taking the risk and driving to Milford, which was another 2 hours ride away. He told us he was pretty confident the road will re-open. He even said he was 70% sure. But, he said, in the event that the road is still closed, the tour company will take us to the glow worm caves exploration tour. K was totally not comfortable with that. He was pissed that the tour company was even thinking of replacing Milford Sound with the glow worms cause the latter only cost $51 per person, whereas our Milford tour had cost us $150 per person. A few folks left the coach, but I wanted to take the risk, so we went ahead.

K and I slept most of the way, having only slept less than 6 hours the night before. About halfway through the journey, Bruce updated us with good news: that the tour company managed to get a replacement with a cruise to Doubtful Sound instead of the glow worm caves. But we had to pay $14 per person., which was supposed to be a bargain cause the usual price was more expensive. Plus, lunch won't be provided cause we are last minute transfers. So those who didn't bring their own lunch had to buy from the cafe at the port before boarding the boat.

And so, that was how our trip started. From visiting the (to-be) 8th wonder of the world, to its supposedly inferior cousin. Some people say Doubtful Sound is much nicer cause it's more natural and less commercialized. I can't really judge. Cause it rained throughout the cruise, and we can't really see much except for lots and lots of super high waterfalls cause of the rain.. Everything around us in the fiord was so misty i felt like i was in a dream. Except for the noisy sound of the boat engine!

We had our lunch and tidbits on board the small boat and the cruise boat. When we boarded the cruise board, we were told there would be free muffins and soup for us.. So everyone started to queue up eagerly. Then, after doing a quick headcount, the staff there realized there weren't enough to go around, so we went back to our seats empty handed.. = (

The only highlight of the cruise was when the boat got really close to this huge waterfall and provided an excellent photo opp. We were so close I could feel the water splashing on my face! Other than that, i think we kinda wasted our money. Plus the whole journey was really exhausting. We had to take the coach, then a small boat, then another coach before finally boarding the big cruise boat. And then repeating the whole process on the way back. = ( Getting there basically took up the entire day already. The actual cruise in Doubtful Sound was only 1.5 hours.

Nonetheless, it was a nice cruise and I breathed in a lot of fresh misty air along the way. Another romantic activity for K and I in Queenstown! = )

Queenstown is supposed to be THE city of adrenalin pumping activities. But K and I did none of those extreme sports like sky diving, hang gliding, rapid jets or bungy jumping. Instead, we had a rather romantic time in the adrenalin pumping city going for gondola rides and a walk in the gardens. How ironic!

Yesterday, the 4 of us drove up to the nearby Arrowtown for a look see. K loved the little quiet town, but I soon got bored of the place cause it was totally not happening at all. We strolled around, went into their gold mining museum, went into their "Remarkables" sweet / candy shop, took some random photos, and went to the post office to transfer ownership of the car to EK. Our initial plan had been to visit the Lord of The Rings location site, but we couldn't find any info on it. So we headed back to Queenstown.


For some reason, I was rather moody yesterday and got into a minor argument with K again. I was quite upset with the fact that there was no plan to do something for today, cause I didn't want to just wander around aimlessly again like we did yesterday. K said the plan was to explore the place and just walk around. But I wanted to DO something. I mean, we are in bloody Queenstown! I wanted to ride the gondola, go and see a kiwi bird, whatever. Cause obviously, i can't do any of the extreme sports. = (

Anyway, we went to Queenstown, had lunch. The 4 of us split up cause i wanted Japanese while they had Chinese. We met up after lunch and headed to the Queenstown Gardens to check out the place, take pictures and see how the game "Frisbee golf" is played. Basically, it's like golf with 18 holes and all, except the holes are targets on a tree truck or a metal basket that you have to aim / throw your Frisbee at to score. After the gardens, we stood around a skate park and watch people skate board before ending up at an ice-skating rink where we parted again.


K and I went for the gondola ride while EK and S went ice-skating. We were to meet in town in the evening for dinner. My mood improved when we took the gondola up and took in the spectacular view from the hill top. The place also offered luge rides, and i would have done that if i wasn't preggie. These ones definitely looked much better than the ones in Sentosa! We saw people bungy jumping (and screaming their lungs out) there, and took pictures of the snow capped mountains, which looked totally 2-dimensional to me. We also chatted over a muffin and cappuccino at the cafe. It was nice. = )




K and I had planned to catch the sunset before going down hill again, but somehow missed / couldn't see it. So before heading down, we shopped at their souvenir shop and checked out their $55 dinner buffet spread (which looked really good!).

The ride downhill somehow seemed much faster.. = ) We met up with EK and S around 630pm, had Macdonald's for dinner, and headed back to the motel after that, with the intention to turn in early cause we had to wake up for our Milford Sound excursion tomorrow morning at 715am. We ended up using the net and only turning in past 12 midnight with only 6 hours left to sleep.. Sigh..

Happy Birthday Singapore! Today marks the 44th birthday of my country, and also the 64th year since the city of Nagasaki was bombed to pieces.

We are all in Queenstown now, the land of extreme sports. Just had dinner 2 hours ago, same stuff as yesterday. EK and S are on talking terms now, so everything is back to normal. = )

EK drove the 2 hours leg to Queenstown this morning and we arrived slightly past noon. We checked in the first cheap motel we could find, a 2 bedroom apartment at "Colonial Village". Our landlord for the next 3 nights is a Korean man who keeps thinking Singapore is in China.. Sigh..
The apartment is pretty decent with electric blankets, good heaters, TV and a nice kitchen. Plus they provide FREE wireless internet! Yay! = )

When we checked in, K also booked our tour to Milford Sound on Tuesday morning. Hope everything will remain normal for the next 2 days so our trip don't get disrupted!

We explored Queenstown city after checking in and unloading our luggage. For lunch, K and I went for Mexican, while EK and S went for Thai. Lunch was delicious but a tad expensive for the small portions they served.. I had Enchiladas while K had Quesadillas.. = )



After lunch, K went back to the apartment to take his handphone, while EK, S and I went shopping at a small mall.. We got bored after a while so decided to shop outside on the streets instead. We ended up having award winning waffles with 2 scoops of Gelato. haha.. K joined us not long after the waffle was served.. otherwise he would have missed out on the delicious dessert! = )

What followed after was more aimless wandering along the streets and window shopping. I was looking for maternity clothes, specifically a new pair of pants to make me feel less uncomfortable. In fact, I have been desperately trying to buy some new pants. I have reached the stage where not only can i NOT button my pants, i can't even zip them halfway. So basically, i am wearing all my pants without buttoning and zipping. So half the time, it's like falling off as I walk. So uncomfortable!!

K and I popped into a few shops but to no avail. Either too expensive, or too ugly. I was finally saved by Glassons, where I bought a pair of stretch elastic black leggings for a cheap $25. I wasted no time at all and wore it on the spot. What a big difference!! Looks like i am stuck with this one pair of leggings for the next one week before i go back to Singapore! = (

Before embarking on our road trip to Te Anau, the four of us popped by the Otago weekend market in the morning for a look see. And boy am i glad we did.. It's by far, one of the better weekend markets we've been to so far. We bought eggs, plenty of apples, some vege and chicken meat for cooking dinner tonight. I also bought myself this chocolate hazelnut cake cum bread looking thing called a brioche, whilst S bought herself a pie. Both turned out awful cause they were too cold and hard. K and I were so happy to finally find a stall selling fresh soya bean milk that we bought 3 cups at $1 each. We also bought 10 steamed dumplings which tasted so good we decided to buy a whole frozen packet of 50 pieces from the delighted stall owner.



K drove the 2 hours leg to Te Anau. On the way, we stopped for lunch at KFC in a small town. EK and S had an argument over lunch which turned physical, and ended with S crying. So the entire drive to Te Anau (and after) was rather awkward for both K and I..

Our accommodation in Te Anau was a decent $50/ night hotel called Fiordland Hotel. Each couple had an ensuite bedroom with a fridge and free tea, coffee and 3-in-1 milo! Plus they had a big kitchen and a lounge area with a pool table, comfy sofas and a huge TV!

After checking in and unloading our luggage, K and I drove out to check out the small town of 1800 people. EK and S both stayed in their room. We went to the information center to check out the conditions of Milford Sound, and were told that the roads will only open on Monday after the whole avalanche mess has been cleared. And the tours for Doubtful Sound were fully booked. And there was nothing else to do in Te Anau except their glow worm caves tour. Which meant that we basically had nothing to do. Bummer..

About 30 more minutes of driving around, and K and I were back in the hotel. We did our laundry, lazed around in bed, crunching on our cadbury chocolates and watching a video on the laptop for about an hour before S came knocking on our door, suggesting dinner time.

So the 4 of us made dinner in the common kitchen: pan fried dumplings, mee sua, stir fried spinach and kai lan, and steamed rice. And the 3 of us discussed about our plans for the next day while S remained mostly silent throughout and looked like a lost puppy.. = )

After dinner, we headed to the lounge area and watched "The Last Samurai" on the huge screen TV, while the boys played pool.. We all turned in after the show about 1130pm after our first long and boring day in Te Anau...

Despite having a good heater to warm up the room and a comfortable bed to lie on, I did not sleep well last night. K's heavy snoring totally kept me awake. Plus, I got up several times to adjust the volume on my windows media player, which I had set to play classical music MP3s throughout the night. The stupid thing about classical is that every piece can go from very soft at the beginning to very loud in the middle, then suddenly soft again. To put it short, I don't think I slept much at all.

Today was chocolate and theatre day for me. The 4 of us skipped breakfast and indulged ourselves in delicious dim sum in the city center. Regardless, this is still the second best compared to the dim sum we had in Wellington. After dim sum, EK and S went shopping around the city center, whilst K and I rushed off to the University of Otago to catch a short play called “Paper Cut”, performed and produced by their theatrical students. The play tells 3 different short stories about the brevity of passionate love, coffee and baby Jesus. As we walked through the campus which was buzzing alive with students from all nationalities, I suddenly felt a strong urge to go back to my studies again. I missed campus life so much!! We paid $10 for 2 tickets for the play. It was all very good acting and production given that the cast and crew are all students, and the limited budget they had. The only props they had were 2 chairs. And the play didn't even take place in a theatre or on a stage but in a lecture hall and on the floor. Nonetheless, we thought it was good.

After our play, we met up with EK and S, who had bought themselves some sandals and boots from Number 1 Shoes. We walked towards the Cadbury chocolate factory and spent the next 2 hours there touring the factory and learning about chocolate making and the history of chocolate... During the short 1 hour tour, we were given about 4-5 different types of Cadbury chocolates. Plus extras that the guide gives out to those who answers her questions correctly during the tour. My favorite Cadbury chocolate now is Snowballs: Marshmallow coated with chocolate and sprinkled with coconut on the outside. We also witnessed a whole tonne of pure chocolate cascading down like a waterfall into a huge bucket for 30 seconds. That was so cool! Too bad we can't take photos during the tour!!



We bought ourselves more Cadbury chocolates after the tour, and then walked around the visitor center and immersed ourselves in the history of chocolate before heading out for dinner. The 4 of us split up again for dinner, cause I felt like having Jap food whilst S wanted Thai. Because we were the first customers, the restaurant gave us a complimentary plate of Gyoza. So nice right! Between the 2 of us, we had Japanese vege patties, 8 pieces of sushi and a teriyaki chicken bento set with tempura, more Gyoza, spring rolls, salad, fruits and miso soup. I think I am hooked on miso soup these days.. Always feel like one bowl is simply not enough!

After dinner, the 4 of us met up in one of the shopping malls and planned our trip tomorrow. As of this morning, workers were still clearing the 1 metre thick snow from the avalanche at Milford Sound. So most likely we won't be able to go. But we are still heading down South anyway cause otherwise we have too many spare days left before K and I fly back to SG. I bought myself a cookies & cream and chocolate ice cream cone at the mall, and ate it in the cold as we walked along the city streets. So shiok!!

After walking around aimlessly, K and I decided to head to the public library which closes late at 8pm today. EK and S had split up from us by then, and we were to meet back at Hogwarts. After about 45 minutes of free internet browsing at the library, K and I strolled back to Hogwarts. Tomorrow we will all wake up early at 7am and start our next road trip to the town of Te Anau. Goodbye Dunedin, I'll be back!! = )

Exactly 64 years ago today, the entire city of Hiroshima was bombed to pieces. 64 years later on the same day, something inside me too exploded. And to me, it felt like the entire city of Hiroshima exploded inside me. I have not felt so much anger and hurt inside me for a very long time. Once again, I do not wish to blame it on my changing hormones. But I must admit I am becoming really sensitive and touchy these days.

Once again, it's the whole thing about me needing attention much more than ever now that I am pregnant. Attention I have received, but not as much as I had hoped for, especially from the one person I truly needed attention from.

Today we checked out of Wanaka and drove another 3 hours to Dunedin – “A City of Firsts”. Dunedin is home to NZ's first University (Otago), first chocolate factory (Cadbury), first daily newspaper, and also the place where the first telephone call in NZ was made. We also have here the world's steepest street (Balwin St).

After having Japanese Bento sets and seafood Udon soup for lunch, we set off on our search for accommodation, and settled at a backpackers called “Hogwarts” - the former home of a pretty wealthy bishop. This place is actually the best of all the backpackers we have stayed in so far, with a huge double room, good heater, and decent facilities. My bedroom even has a small staircase leading to a small reading area with a large comfy sofa facing the window.




After checking in, the 4 of us headed to Otago Peninsula for some penguin and seal watching. We had to go down and climb up steep sand dunes just to watch a few ugly seals and one pathetic penguin which kept coming onshore and diving back into the water when he saw us. Quite cute these flightless birds! = ) But I didn't like the seals. Seals / sea lions remind me of some people I know – So ugly but yet so full of themselves and complete show offs.



My Hiroshima bomb went off at Otago Peninsula when we climbed up the steep sand dunes back to our car. Since nobody cared whether I am pregnant and might hurt myself while climbing up and down the steep sand dunes, I had to depend on myself and climb up without any help. I forced myself to climb up even though I knew I was not in the best of physical shape. I was panting so hard along the way cause it's so difficult to climb up on sand that just keeps slipping off beneath your feet. I fell on my hands a few times and once just fell. At one point, it was so bad I felt all the air being knocked out of me, and got so dizzy that I nearly fainted. But I continued on. If nobody cared, why should I? Perhaps I should just run all the way uphill, fall a few more times and have a miscarriage along the way. All the better... I cried to myself in the car on the way back..

After Otago Peninsula, the 4 of us headed to the library to use the free internet for browsing. We had to pay if we wanted to check our emails. So stupid. At about 730pm, all of us got hungry and headed to this Korean restaurant for dinner. I had BBQ chicken with tofu stew and side dishes.. The rest had kim chi stew and spicy seafood noodles. Everything was so spicy that I ate until I teared and sniffed.

S had a craving for ice cream after dinner, so we went to Macdonald's for their 50 cents ice cream cone. S bought one for me, not realizing that I should not be eating soft serve ice cream while pregnant. So K ended up having my ice cream instead. We headed back to Hogwarts after picking up a few apples from the supermarket.

Tomorrow we plan to visit the Larnach's castle and the Cadbury chocolate museum. So far I really like Dunedin. It has a really young population so it's not like a ghost town after 5pm (unlike most of the cities we have been too), many beautiful cathedrals, and lots of shopping and restaurants serving decent and cheap food because of the large student population here. Plus, they have a huge hospital, a castle and penguins. = ) Dunedin is definitely on my list of cities to stay in NZ when we move here for good.