fiordland = fun fun fun (:

if had three hands, i would give the fiordland trip a three thumbs up :) in short, the scenery was spectacular, the friends were fantastic, and there's nothing to complain about! ok, prepare for a really long and elaborate post about my trip, so if you don't want to read about it, dont go any further :)




ready? :):):)



Wednesday
i had to wake up at 6am to get to school by 8 and i was going to die. i had never risen that early in the morning here, and the freezing whether + the fact that the sun had not yet risen = very very grumpy and cold jo. i was a bit hesitant about going too, because i was having the nervous jitters cos chess wasn't going with me. jen drove me down to school in her pajamas, and we were 20 minutes early because she had to drop something to brent. i refused to get out of the car because i felt so silly lugging about a duffel bag, a pillow, a mogu, a sleeping bag, and a carry-all bag. i procrastinated until she literally screamed for me to get my ass out of the car. unwillingly, i dragged myself out and stood there waiting with a stranger until i saw tomono. end of jitters :)

bus trip was not bad, i sat with rema, who slept all the way because she had just come back from saudi the night before. i didn't rlly know anyone, so i kept to myself and looked out of the window and stoned. the scenery during the ride there is not that interesting because its just miles and miles of farmland. i forgot to add that just before the bus left the building, i had this crazy feeling i was going to get my period, so i took a few precautionary measures if you get what i mean :) 30 minutes to reaching te anau, i have this sinking feeling ive got my period and im just dying in my seat and not moving, with girlcramps too. when we reached the backpackers, i ran to the loo, and lo and behold, no surprise there! thank goodness i just just made it, and guess what, i didn't exactly bring another pair of jeans so PHEW and THANK GOD!

i expected a really crusty and smarmy backpackers with disgusting facilities, but it was pretty good! it was opposite a lake, and it had a dorm with bunks for 4 or 8 people and shared shower and loo facilities which were more than adequate because throughout our stay there, i never even went to the loo or shower with someone else in it. our room had 2 bunk beds, a sink, a full mirror, some shelves, and a heater!!! i was so happy and rema and i promptly set the temp of the room to sgp/saudi weather conditions :):) rema (saudi), tomono (jap), gift (thai) shared the room and it was really great. there was a seperate block with complete kitchen, dining and lounge area with a fireplace and it was really nice too. i saw the accommodation conditions, and i was happy already. hhaha.

we had about 1-2h of free time, where the guys promptly went to a liquor store to stock up on alcohol, and we girls went for a walk to the lake. rema continued her sleeping stint in the room. we were going to go to the glow worm caves and everyone was leaving but rema was still sleeping. we yelled and shook her to get up but she didn't stir. she is amazing i tell you, but eventually we got a sleeping rema out of bed and into the bus. took a boat to the caves where we met the first of sandflies. yuck yuck. OBS flashbacks! glow worm caves were amazing. ive been there before but i think i was too young to fully appreciate it. it was freezing but it was so nice to see star-like bits on the cave walls in the pitch black of the cave. it was the first of wow, god is amazing thoughts.

dinner time was cooking instant noodles in the kitchen. yuichi and tom had started drinking beer socially before eating anything, and with beer in an empty stomach, a tipsy tom is hilarious. he is still conscious of his actions, but he talks more than he usually does, and a lot more relaxed and i took videos for chess to see. that night, they did not drink much and we spent time just talking. there's just so much time in the night! it got dark at about 530pm and that's about when we have dinner. so say we sleep at 12, there's about 6+ hours to kill. it was crazy but a nice feeling because you know you have all this time to spend just hanging around with friends.

some guys got drunk soon after and i think it was my first time seeing actually completely drunk people. it was quite funny because this guy was talking so much, and also complete rubbish. he was talking so much to me, and i've never spoken to him in my life. after a while though,all this drunkeness gets annoying. went to bed at midnight, but kept getting woken up when people came through the back door. that's the thing about nz, all the walls are literally paper-thin and everything from one room can be heard in another room. drunk people came back late late late, and woke me up and got me so annoyed. i think i actually went to bed at 3 that morning.

Thursday
tomono and i woke up at 5 in the morning to shower. and that rewrote my record of earliest time woken up in nz again. but we had to be at the buses at 730 so it wasn't too bad. the showers were waarrrmmm :):) it took a few hours again by bus to milford sound, but i slept allll the way. it felt good and after that, i was smiling again.

milford sound was a cruise ride through the sound and that was about 2.5h, maybe? it was very very very nice. although we didn't get to see dolphins this time, we got to see sea lions swimming in the water and pretty waterfalls. we had such nice weather, and i just spent most of my time on the upperdeck feeling the breeze in my face. in sgp in mgs, being in a christian school, you could always talk about god and lament about his good ways and things like that, and i think i miss that a lot. my school, being non-religious, has not many christians. and you see, this is where tom comes in :) everything around me was spectacular. think spontaneous waterfalls caused by rainfall, rainbows, sea lions splashing in the water, incredible rock formations, and gorgeous weather. i just wanted to go, wow! god is so creative and wonderful. it was so nice to have tom around to talk about god and how amazing it is to think that he created all this and to bask in the beauty of the surroundings.

i couldn't sleep on the bus ride back, so i sat in the back with tom and yuich. it was quite funny because it was quite a bumpy ride an yuichi was tossing and turning in the back seat. sitting in the back seat of a bus is fun because it's like a mini rollercoaster, but long-term, i don't think my tummy would make it :P we stopped by this little walking place which took us through to this amazing waterfall and the rock formations produced by the hydraulic action of the water. it was so pretty the rocks, and the little stream on top look like a scene in LOTR when smeagol(?) is catching fish by a river.

reached te anau at 3+ after lengthy bus ride, and we went to the supermarket to buy supplies for rema's b'day surprise. she turned 18 on friday and she was terribly excited, but i think a little bummed that her friends wouldn't be around for most of her birthday-day.

dinner was early again because we were starving. i had 3 minute instant singapore fried rice courtesy of my mum. it was seriously not-bad tasting although it didnt look that flash. yum yum mum! the guys were drinking again on an empty stomach. thank you tomono for saying you wouldnt drink too much because you wanted to be around to help prepare for rema's thing! the guys were playing drinking games, and their faces were getting redder and redder. then another group of people (m'sians,hk-ers,chinese) came into the lounge armed with whisky, vodka and everything powerful and potent, to play their serious serious crazy drinking games and i left the lounge.

tomono got slightly high on a can of beer and i nearly died laughing. i was talking to hans, jay and duncan in their room when i heard whispering and bumping against the wall. i looked out to see gift and tomono playing spies. tomono had her hood up, and she was shooting and all. it was hilarious! and gift and i were egging her on going monster! monster! she sobered up shortly after that though, but not fast enough for me to get a funny-ass video of her to show chess :) as the drinking games went on, people were getting more and more drunk. armed with a blanket, tomono, myself, and the 3 taiwanese boys sat on the deck and were just talking. as it got colder, and i got sleepier, we migrated to their room, and they all played card games. i went to take a nap and got a mozi bite o my cheek. but that aside, it was a not bad night.

tom and yuich and ko (all japs and drunk/tipsy) wanted to go to the lake for a walk. so tomono, myself and gift quickly rugged up to go with them lest they do something stupid like swim in the icy water. i'm so glad i went because immediately by the lake, i looked up and saw the most awesome sight. it was a clear night, and all i could see were stars. the sky was encrusted with frostings of glitter with bits where the stars were extra bright. you could see the milky way and it was amazing! even a drunk tom was looking up and marvelling. you never see this sort of thing is singapore so i was extra in awe. wanting to look after my friends, i went down to the late and was rewarded by the most awesome nightsky. it was truly wow wow wow.

rema's surprise went well. i lured her into the dining area, and the place was dark an filled with (a packet-full of) balloons and she was so happy. her happiness made it all worth it, and im so happy we could make her smile. she looked so so happy and grateful. HAPPY BIRTHDAY REMA!

Friday
woke up at 6am with tomono to shower early again. nice nice hot water to shower in! thank you again tomono for being my inspiration to wake up ridiculously early just to shower and dress nicely! we went horseriding, and before today i had never seen a person fall off a horse, let alone three people! at least there were no major injuries. there were two groups: quad bikers and horseriders. it was nice to get on a horse again after a long time, and thank god i didn't fall off. the horses were a bit crazy and i was a bit freaked out, but i hung on like an idiot and bounced as the horse trotted. i am not trained, hence the ugly image of me riding. hahahaa.

came back smelling like a horse and was on the bus. slept for an hour, and spoke with tom the rest of the trip. i woke up this morning with a sore lower back and a sore groin. the horse was too wide. hahaha i feel like a slug.

the trip was great all in all. i had an eye-opening experience staying at a backpackers', being amongst drunk people, and also had a great time bonding with friends. $160/- for that? well worth it :):):) i would definitely pay more. well. good job you, if you read all this without blinking! :P