OMG!! I'm finally back from my tiring but fun trip! It turned out to be more of a camp than a holiday...So much for $2,700... Anyway, it was really a different experience and I want to go through it moment by moment right here. The beautiful scenery in New Zealand was really breathtaking and the people there were super friendly! They would say hi when they realised you were tourists and the cars would stop even before you got onto the zebra crossing! IF you asked for a photo with them, they'll just be like 'Sure!'. They are soooo sweet. Anyway here goes...
DAY 1
The flight was intense... It was a 10 hour night flight from 9.15pm to 7am in the morning Singapore Time!! and through the flight, I DID NOT SLEEP AT ALL!! The first day was horrible. I just wanted to fall asleep the whole time. Because New Zealand was 5 hours ahead of us, we landed at 12pm in the afternoon and I was already freaking sleepy. Anyway, we first headed off to a crater formed by a hotspot volcanoe and it was gorgeous. Take a look...
Me & Ling Ling, a friend I met there
We then proceeded to an Art Museum which frankly, I was a little too tired to go. But I had to go anyway. The artworks were really nice and creative. But I was too tired to appreciate them, I just kept thinking 'when will we be able to get back to the hotel?'
This artwork was really cool because the flowers were 'pulsating' ; Air was being blown into different flowers at different timings. So it looked like the whole sculpture was breathing. It was really gorgeous.
After the museum visit, we finally went back to the 'hotel' so we thought... BUT WE ENDED UP IN A YOUTH HOSTEL!!! Ahhhh... It was horrible, we were all shocked at the rooms. It was just one room with 4 beds shared by other guys in our group. There was only 1 toilet in the whole level!!!. I was just hoping I could get some sleep...
Night time was horrible! The youths in the hostel ( not from our school ) were creating so much noise!! they were running about along the corridors and were shouting and cursing and having fun. They even asked our girls to hurry up showering and that they were taking such a long time!! SO RUDE! and at midnight, when everyone was abotu to sleep, an indian man suddenly started blasting loud indian music!!! Everyoen was so irritated. The girls together shouted 'SHUT UP!!!'. So anyway that was the first night. I managed to catch about 4 hours of sleep from midnight to 4am.
DAY 2
Woke up at 4am when we were suppose to wake up at 6am. I guess the beds were really uncomfortable. Anyway today we went to the river to collect data. I thought it was really fun because we were able to get into the waters and I took really some incredible pictures!
I asked my friend to take a pic of me. Turned out quite nice.
Stones were really slippery to step on. I fell quite abit. My legs were bruised
Took some modelly pics of Jeannette, a friend I met there.
After this, we went to visit the Maori Tribe people. At first I was apprehensive because I thought they were gonna eat us while we're sleeping. but they turned out to be really friendly and nice and modern! They were so hospitable and sang and danced for us and taught us weavings and traditions. It was really amazing.
This was where we slept for that night...
IN A BIG HALL!
Although I really loved the trival designs in the hall, sleeptime was really unbearable. People were snoring so loudly I thought I was in a zoo or something. People were sleep-shouting...So I decided to go out at 3am to take a walk outside( Which was not allowed) and the night was really beautiful. After I went back to bed at about 2am, I took a motion sickness pill that would cause drowsiness and I fell straight asleep.
DAY 3
Woke up at about 6.30am when everyone else was already awake. I was hoping I didn't sleepwalk because that's what I usually do when I'm sleepy. But luckily my friends told me I didn't do anything in my sleep. thank god. Anyway,we woke up to a nice breakfast prepared by the Maori Tribe. We then headed to a kiwi farm! It was sooo gorgeous. The breeze,the fruits and the cute kiwi cart we were on. It was a nice experience.
After this, we went to a dock to have lunch and took some scenic photos...
We then went to a museum in Whakarewarewa.
And finally, we went to see geysers and mudpools at Whakarewarewa thermal Valley. It was really fun!
That day was really fun. But I lost $300 SGD singapore dollars!! I was so angry at my carelessness... =(
Anyway, we went to our accomodation after that which was another youth hostel and still looked horrible lol...
DAY 4
We woke up and went to a park to look at some thermal springs and mudpools. The tour guide even told us that in the past 2 years people have died while falling into the 60 degrees celsius boiling water...
After that we visited a dam and then went on to a rainforest where we saw amazing limestone landforms...
We then proceeded to our accomodation. WHICH WE LOVED!! IT WAS FINALLY A DECENT ACCOMODATION WITH PERSONAL TOILETS!!! and it was 2 storeys with 4 beds!!! Ahhhhh! It was heaven!!!
We then headed for dinner and the final de-brief. Where we sharedo ur reflections. I was chosen to share my reflections and I spoke my mind and said the accomodation really sucked the past few days and my teacher was like ' You really wrote suck? the principal is going to read it pls change it' LOL. Anyway during the night, there was sooo much drama...
Some NZ dudes (around 5 of them) told our guys that they liked the girls in our group. Then they told us to introduce them to the girls. But the girls didn't like them because they were 15 LOL! and we were like 17/18...Anyway the teachers saw what was happening and chased us back to our hotels. Then my good female friend, Ashwini, went running over to my hotel and that was when teachers were doing their nightly checks to see if everyone was in their room. and girls/guys were STRICTLY not allowed in each other's accomodations. So Ashwini was panicking like hell and she went to hide in the toilet and it was sooo funny. and then all of a sudden 2 other girls from our group came over to our hotel to asked what was going on and they were caught my the teachers...
Funny shit...
AND THE FUNNIEST THING OF THE NIGHT. our next door group guys( 4 guys ) , 1 of them was sleeping inside while the other 3 guys were outside watching , had their door close WITHOUT ANY KEYS!!! LOL. It was so funny because they were throwing pebbles at the guy sleeping inside to try to wake him up but he just snored away!!! so the teacher asked us to accomodate them and we were up until like 2am before my friend decided to use a long pole to open the door ( which worked). The drama filled night really bonded us. and I finally fell asleep at 2am on the 2nd floor. But when I woke up at 6am I was on the ground floor LOL. So I guess I sleepwalked. Anyway that was what happened on the last night.
DAY 5
Long bus ride from Waitomo back to Auckland. Before a 10 hr flight back to Singapore!!!
and look what I got for souveneirs!!!
HAHAHAHAHHAA!!!! Stuff I took from the flight! haha I know I'm a cheapo, but whatever! LOL
<3
Lazy Leon
