New Zealand - Part I

This past month has been a crazy whirlwind of packing, travelling, planning, apartment hunting, etc.  Basically it went like this.  Our apartment was packed up and our things shipped out the last week of April.  Following that we checked into a hotel in downtown Singapore for a few days, then headed out to New Zealand for two weeks.  After that, we flew back to Singapore and stayed at the hotel a couple of days to wrap things up and close a few accounts.  Then we finally made the big move and flew out to Houston.

So, now I'll try and recap our time in New Zealand, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do it justice.  After much research, we decided to rent a little car and spend thirteen days driving around the South Island.  

Our first stop was Kaikoura where we stayed with my best friend's brother, Caleb.  He's working there helping to run a college exchange program.  I can't believe this kid works and lives in a place like this! The beaches here are amazing and there's tons of marine life.  Caleb took us to a waterfall where seal pups gather and play.  The pups enter from the sea and crawl up the stream to the waterfall pool where they frolic without any danger from predators.

Driving along the coastal highway in Kaikoura

Delicious roadside stand selling fresh seafood

Kaikoura Peninsula coastline

Me and Andy about to head out on a hike around the Peninsula


The view from the top of the hill on Kaikoura Peninsula

Caleb and Andy foraging for some seaweed

Fresh seaweed for dinner - yup, we Chinese people love our seaweed!

For dinner, we had some fresh seafood as Caleb had gone diving earlier in the week and speared a butter fish and also caught (with his gloved hands) a crayfish, aka, rock lobster.  If you've never had crayfish, it's basically a lobster without the large front claws.  To this, we added some home grown bok choy and some fresh seaweed marinated in soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, and vinegar.  

We got to stay with Caleb at his program's house, called "The Old Convent", since it used to be, well, a convent.

The next morning, we drove across the South Island to the west coast.  At Caleb's recommendation, our first stop on the west coast was Punakaiki.  Most people visit Punakaiki to see the legendary Pancake Rocks and Blowholes.  The rocks are named such because their layers resemble stacks of pancakes.

The Rocks are most spectacular at high tide when the raging waves come crashing through the holes, making a huge splash.

I'm pretty sure we got drenched after this one.
I had to be quick about taking the picture in order to protect my camera!

It was a bit stormy, but we caught a pretty sunset before running back to the safety of our dry car.  

After a quick dinner at the only restaurant in town, we retreated back to our little cottage in the rainforest 

at Te Nikau Retreat.

     
Our cottage, the "Tui" was tucked away in the rainforest

The next morning we walked from our little cottage to Truman beach and did a little more exploring.

     

The beach was magical.  Crazy waves, little waterfalls, and all sorts of cool rock formations.  The tide was still a bit high, so we had to watch out for the waves.  

We came upon this wall, which I will call the "Wall of Death".  Andy crossed first, then motioned for me to follow.  

     
Come on honey, it's safe!

Well, Andy made it across safely, but when I was halfway across, a huge wave came ashore and pinned me against the wall.  I was engulfed by freezing cold water all the way up to my waist!  It took all my wits to keep my camera from becoming submerged in the waves.  Of course I screamed like a little girl - that water was COLD!

Here I am, sad and wet.

Despite being cold and wet, I still managed to muster up a smile and get a good shot of us together.

After Punakaiki, we continued down the west coast and stopped in Hokitika for some lunch.  We had yummy pizza at Fat Pipi's based on a recommendation of some friends who had stopped there a couple of months ago.

We found our friends, the Worleys, in the guestbook!

Andy and our leftovers from Fat Pipi's

After a delicious lunch, we drove down to Franz Josef glacier and checked into our hotel.  We stayed at Glenfern Villas, which was a couple miles outside of Franz Josef town, but had beautiful views of the mountains and Franz Josef glacier.

Our villa was on the left

Inside our villa

The view from our back patio-  the Glacier is in the middle, 

but the mountains on the sides are temperate rain forests.

Andy walking on the road behind our villa

Jump shot at Franz Josef

This is also where I shot the panorama that I shared in my last post - this place was spectacular!

The next morning, we woke up early to get ready for our Heli-hike.  We were originally going to do a day hike on the glacier, but a hole had developed in the glacier a few weeks ago so they were not allowing access to the lower part of the glacier.  But, they were still operating the heli-hikes since the helicopters could drop us off higher up on the glacier where things were more stable.

Sitting in the front of the helicopter!

Taking off

View of the glacier from the air

A little ice cave/hole on the glacier

Me in the middle of our hike - don't be deceived by my smile, it was a TOUGH climb for me.  Maybe it's because I'm getting old and am sorely out of shape, but half way through our FOUR hour climb, I was ready to quit.  I mean, the glacier was on a mountain - just think, mountain climbing on ice....

Andy, on the other hand, didn't break a sweat.  He looks like he's floating in this picture.

Our guide, Mike, who wore shorts and a t-shirt on the glacier and wielded a huge pick axe.

Despite the burn in my thighs from climbing ice stairs, and the sting from taking a big spill, I made it through the hike and here my smile is genuine - I was so relieved to be done!

Andy and Jennie - glacier explorers!

After all that physical exertion, we jumped into a helicopter and flew back into town.   We treated ourselves to some yummy lunch at Speight's Landing Bar and Restaurant.

My New Zealand specialty - white bait patties and "chips"


Andy's lamb stew

After we were happy and full, we spent the afternoon relieving our sore muscles by soaking in the Glacier Hot Springs (sorry, no pictures of that!).  Well, I think this is good enough for Part I of our New Zealand adventure.  I'll finish up the rest in another post!  Of course, this is just a small portion of the millions of pics I took.  You can check out the rest if you click on this link.

Checking In

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I've just been relocating from one end of the world to the other end.  We had an awesome time in New Zealand and Sydney, then jetted back to Singapore for a couple of days before heading back to Houston.  We successfully made our move back to Houston and are living in a temporary apartment in the city.  At the end of the month, we'll be moving into a more permanent apartment and all my stuff will be delivered!  I haven't been able to sew in about two months and can't wait to get my sewing area set up again!

Amidst the apartment hunting, I took a trip out to San Francisco for the wedding of a college roommate.  I also got to visit some aunts and uncles that I haven't seen in over 6 years.  Believe it or not, the last time I saw them was at my own wedding!  Crazy how time flies.

So, between the packing, moving, and travelling, I haven't had time to blog and even less time (and motivation) to edit my thousands of pictures from the above-mentioned events.  But, the past few days, I've made it a priority to spend time weeding through my pics.  I'm getting there!  Here's a sneak peek at one of my favorites. It's a panoramic view of the field behind the hotel we stayed at.  The snow-capped mountain on the left is Franz Josef glacier, which we actually got to hike.

This picture just about sums up New Zealand - GORGEOUS! The scenery was phenomenal throughout the entire country.  So, stay tuned, I'll get my posts up soon - I promise!

Telunas, Indonesia

I'm in the middle of moving, sitting in the now empty living room of our apartment taking a break from cleaning. I probably should've hired someone to clean, but I felt kind of guilty hiring someone because there's really no good reason I can't clean my apartment myself (besides the fact that my swiffer got packed and loaded).  

Anyway, while the packers were wrapping away yesterday, I finally managed to get my pictures from our Easter weekend getaway up.  This year, we celebrated Easter at Telunas Beach, Indonesia.  I'd heard rave reviews of this retreat from many friends.  It's a small place with huts over the water, in the middle of nowhere.   There's no TV or internet there and you can only reach the place by boat.  This place is so remote, Google maps can't even find it.  

Fishing boats - we rode in one of these to Telunas


Welcome to Telunas - we were greeted with yummy fruity drinks

Our chalet


Walkway to the dining hut


Beautiful view of the sunset from our patio

In the mornings, they brought tea and coffee to our hut so we could enjoy it on the porch.

The first morning, we forgot to tell them what time to bring the coffee so Andy went out to get it for me.

What a great husband!

We signed up for a jungle trek on the second day and went with a group of Germans who were also living in Singapore.  We took a boat to a nearby island and cruised on one of the inlets to our starting point.  It was like a scene out of "The River", just without all that weird supernatural stuff.

Jumbu growing in the jungle - these are my favorite fruit!

We trekked 2 hours to a waterfall and went swimming in the pool.  The water was super cold, but it was so refreshing after 2 hours in the hot and humid jungle.

Andy taking a jump from the ledge into the pool.


Refreshed by our swim and ready to hike back!

The rest of the weekend, we enjoyed the activities the resort had to offer.

We kayaked to a nearby island and explored a little

Gorgeous beach


Enjoying the beautiful view

We also did some swimming.  The resort had a high dock that you could jump off at high tide.  Andy decided to jump.  It was about 6 meters high...I chickened out and just took photos

      

I did manage to jump off the low dock :-)

One of my favorite activities over the weekend was shrimping.  We caught shrimp the old fashioned way with these tools that were basically forks with long handles.  We were each given a headlamp and we walked along the shore after the sun set looking for little shrimp.  The shrimp's eyes would reflect the light from our headlamps making them more visible.  Once we tracked them down, we speared the shrimp with our forks.  Andy and I caught a total of 24 shrimp! Too bad they were too little to eat. 

It was a wonderful and restful weekend spent relaxing in nature.  It was definitely a great way to celebrate Easter and be reminded of the beauty and wonder of God's creation.  

Alrighty, guess I've taken a long enough break from cleaning.  Time to get back to wiping windows!  You can see the rest of my Telunas pics in this album.

Moving (again)!

      

Well, it's about time I made the official announcement seeing that I'll be on the move in one week (eeks!).  We'll be hanging up our expat statuses and are moving back to Houston!   I'm excited, but things are moving fast over here, and it's hard to say goodbye to friends, organize, and oh I forgot to mention, plan a trip to New Zealand before we leave.  Yeah, we're a little crazy.  

Next Friday, we're heading out to New Zealand for a last hurrah in the Eastern Hemisphere for awhile.  We'll be in New Zealand for two weeks, come back for a couple of days to take care of a couple of administrative things and then fly out for Houston on May 16.

It's been a bit of a whirlwind since we only found out about our move a month ago and received definite confirmation a couple of weeks ago.  Luckily, the company is moving us so I don't have to do much physical work for packing and loading, but of course I'm trying to do a little organizing since we'll most likely be downsizing and putting things in storage.  

Now you may be wondering, downsizing?  That means we're gonna be in an apartment - why not buy a house?  Well it looks like we may be returning to the East in a year or so.  Right now, the plan is to be in Houston for a year or so and then move to Shanghai.  Life is never dull over here!  Obviously things can change (just like how our Singapore assignment was cut short), so I'm just learning to trust God and His plan for us and take life one day at a time.

On top of all that, I've had to say goodbye to many of my friends this week since next week will just be crazy busy.  I've met so many interesting people and had so many great experiences in Singapore, it makes me sad to leave.  But, on the flip side, being back in the states means being closer to family, which is a big bonus.