I think I really over-do this.
8th July 2009 till 6th October 2009. To say that I was only traveling New Zealand was a real understatement.
I still remember when I first started off on this journey to New Zealand. I remember how I was carrying so much in my luggage (most of them are irrelevant items, which I don’t need). I remember how I felt that it was as if there was a sense of homecoming. (I was born in NZ)
Fast forward 3 months and I am already back in Malaysia. How fast it has been. This has been an amazing journey for me. Especially love the scenery for which I experienced here. It has been said that to look at the beautiful scenery of the world, you would have to visit this three countries: New Zealand, Switzerland and South Africa. I guessed I have already seen a third of the world’s natural beauty I guess. =P
I feel so grateful to be given this opportunity to really enjoy this wonderful environment and scenery at a young age. I hate to say this but I think that many people residing in NZ actually take the beautiful scenery for granted, because they see it almost everyday. They might not even know that the scenery here in NZ is actually very beautiful.
I thank my parents for giving me this opportunity to visit NZ. Never realized how much I miss them until I am here. I was only here for 3 months, so I can only imagine how much more I would miss them if I were to travel abroad for my studies like some of my other friends.
I would give a rough summary of what I have done in this previous few months here.
Arrival on the 9th of July: Picked up by Kenneth and Charlene. Was already amazed by the scenery the moment I stepped out of the airport. I can’t imagine that even on the first day, we already created a havoc with the car.
First month or so: The first month or so was simply adjusting to the environment for me. I didn’t have the urge to really travel around NZ straight away, realizing that I have tons of time to travel. I spend more time researching and reading about what to do here instead. However, I managed to visit a few places as well. Places include Rotorua (my birth place), Taupo as well as Turangi. My time during this first month was roughly just getting used to the culture and the weather especially. I still remember the temperature on the first night was negative 2 Celsius, a pretty tough change to accept when you come from a place that have a weather in the thirty Celsius.
I was just plainly reading a lot during this period. I was basically moving between Auckland and Hamilton during this period.
Second month: I did the skydive and the bungy in Taupo during this period ( That’s two other Life List done!!! woohoo). Totally loved the experience that it gave me. Everyone should definitely try it if they have a chance. That was the highlight for the second month. The rest of the month was just the usual chilling, reading and running kinda stuff. It might seem normal, but it is actually what I love. Just getting to feel what I enjoy during this period. Plus, I get to do the two activities that I love doing most; reading and running. What more can I ask for?
Read tons. Books from Deepak Chopra to Marianne Williamson to Malcolm Gladwell. I didn’t really count how many books did I actually read, but I could have easily have read around 30 books during my 3 months period.
Did a fair bit of running as well. Decided to enter the Sri Chinmoy 12-Hours Self Transcendence Race (another Life List Item) which was on the 3rd October. Trained and ran pretty hard, hoping that I could actually run the whole 12 hours. My training during this period was easily 100 to 140km per week; pretty tough considering that my fitness base wasn’t really there. But I trained hard tho, hoping that I could actually work my way through the 12 hours. ( I would provide a race report soon.)
Third month: This month was practically the same from the previous two months, just reading and running tons, except that I traveled much more than the previous two months. Travelled to the majority places in South Island.
The journey was such: We flew from Auckland to Queenstown, and started our journey up north. We spend our first two nights in Queenstown.Queenstown is a beautiful place to be at. Love how it feels like is a small town and with beautiful scenery and all.
From Queenstown we headed to Mount Cook, Lake Tekapo, Arthur’s Pass and Christchurch. We then sat a train from Christchurch to Picton and then a ferry from Picton to Wellington. The ferry crosses from the South Island to the North Island.
From Wellington, we drove to Taupo and Mount Maunganui (one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen).
I would try to post on those places which I really enjoy in another post, before I leave for Burma.
These are just some of those pictures which I have taken during my trip.
I would like to grateful thank the Yews and Lais for all the help and kindness in letting me stay and learn there. They have done tons of good to me. I wish them all the best.
