Monday, May 10, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Just Another Star Story
当我们年老时,满天星空 --无限的回忆。
Penned a new song, here are the lyrics.
Just Another Star Story
Twinkle twinkle little stars
Each one's telling a story, a story of you and me
How I wonder what you are
带着我的思念, 天涯海角寻找你
My love, as I looked out of my window
The stars have been covered by my sorrow
I hope the clouds would clear
But there's something that I fear
Tomorrow, we'll hope for a better tomorrow
Twinkle twinkle little stars
Each one's telling a story, a story of you and me
How I wonder what you are
带着我的思念, 天涯海角寻找你
My love, as I looked out of my window
A star shining brightly on my shadow
It said to me up close
That's how the story goes
I will have an answer for you tomorrow
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Day 7: Gimpy & the One-eye Penguin
Handicap he is but rather nimble I say
Grab him for photos he will never obey
But feed him milk & happily he'll stay
The one-eye penguin has no name
Unlike the others she's not the same
Put him in the water & out she came
I must say that's a little lame
Set on a beautiful, sheltered harbour and overlooked by craggy volcanic hills, Akaroa is a popular resort village, some 80km east of Christchurch. We were supposed to visit a Korean lavender field on our way but they were closed that day - not a pity, we realized the field was about the size of a king size bed.
Shireen, our guide, owned the farm at Pohatu bay and had been working over the last two decades protecting White-flippered Penguins from introduced predators. Another couple (+ kid) was supposed to do canoeing but had to join us, albeit reluctantly, due to bad weather and had the word pissed written all over their faces. Shireen had to coax them like little kids and even revealed that her husband died at sea, so she tend to be more careful. In the end, the weather turned out okay, so she took them out the bay anyway.
*** As an aside: This is Weta, apparently some ancient "crockroach-like" insect that likes dark places, so they placed wooden structures with dark pockets to hide, to keep track & see if they are in danger of disappearing. They are as old as the dinosaurs but are now endangered because of forest fire & predators - dogs/cats/rats/birds/sheep (which could step on them).
Amazing but true .......Over one hundred years ago there was a scientist whose name was Walter Buller. He wanted to keep some weta for his insect collection so he needed some dead ones. Sir Walter proceeded to kill some weta but it was not that easy…… weta have been around since before the dinosaurs so they must be pretty tough right? RIGHT! One of the wetas was held under water for four days and survived, another survived being dropped into near-boiling water (ouch) and one chewed its way out of Sir Walter's handkerchief!***
Akaroa habour
违章
Dinner at Akaroa
Day 6: Hokitika Gorge & The Journey Back Inland
That was the end of West Coast, as we headed inland via Aurther's Pass back to Christchurch.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Day 5 - Once in lifetime experience - Helihike @ Fox Glacier
Our heli-hike experience started with a cranky bus ride to the take-off site. It was a really ancient bus - kind of reminded me of my primary school schoolbus, except it goes dead much more often (and it was only a 5 min journey). And one wonders if the chopper would behave the same. But the excitement on our faces were evident (mainly her since I don't get easily excited) as soon as we got on the helicopter. Being grossly underweight, she was put at the front seat and me at the back to balance the weight, seat belts tightened and ear muffs on. The chopper hovered over the ice-covered mountains and landed at ground zero. Teams 1 and 2 were already squatting with their backs at us as our chopper almost blew them off their feet.
Slowly, we climbed up the icy slopes. It was a spectacular sight as one looked down - the glacier stretches, meeting the sea at the horizon, where the weather appeared clear and sunny. Jeff said the thought of partying at the beaches in summer after work was what kept them going at times. A feature of the glacier was ice caves, formed by the ice surface bulging under pressure as the turns of the valley applied brakes on the sliding glacier. These caves come and go - the structure weakens as ice melts under sun and finally collapses. Jeff selected a few deemed safe and we crawled our way through - was extremely hard for the spikes to grip the ice blocks. Glaciers are such majestic structures, we were like ants crawling through my blanket, hoping that I won't sit on them.
The hike lasted 3 hours - Jeff said we had gone much further up the glacier than the other hikers that day. We returned to the landing site and rid ourselves of the hiking gear. The chopper that was supposed to bring us back came with the next group of hikers - in raincoats. By that time, the skies have turned grey and started to rain - I wonder how they could hike in wet, slippery ice.
When we returned to the town, it was sunshine again, typical of New Zealand weather. The highlight of the day has ended and we were ready for our next destination - Hokitika. I would be tempted to end the blog this way but there were more to come.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Day 4 - 人间仙境 - Milford Sound
We are heading to Milford Sound today, also known as the Eighth Wonder of the World. 似乎去世外桃源的路都特长,特难走。由于雪山相隔,从Queenstown出发,开车单程要5个小时,为了晚上赶到Fox Glacier, 我们一早就安排坐小型飞机去Milford Sound。说到纽西兰天气的善变,Milford Sound变化无常的天气又是纽西兰之最。去Milford Sound的飞机听说有一多半的都会因为天气而被取消或改程,而我们要等到飞前的几个小时才会知道。怀着担心的心情,一夜没好睡,清晨5点多就起身查询。虽然此时屋外阳光灿烂,但听说昨天夜里山区里还下了雪, 峡湾那边的天气还是不适合飞行。折中的办法是我们飞到Te Anau,再坐1-2个小时的车去Milford Sound。
Queenstown lies at the outlet to Lake Wakatipu
Thousands of Russell Lupin flowers create a carpet of color waving gently in the breeze along the Milford Road in Fiordland National Park.
如果按原计划直接飞到峡湾,就会错过这片花海。好像我们生活中无法避免的小波折,与其去难过这些不如意,不如换个角度,去欣赏路边的景色。
Our driver/guide told us a story about the well-known national symbol of New Zealand - Kiwi bird. Although named as a "bird", the kiwi is actually flightless. And probably due to the lack of predators, the kiwi didn't have highly developed protective and defensive adaptations. Kiwis are endangered due to habitat loss and imported animals. The "kiwi tragedy" started with the migration of Europeans. Prior to Europeans coming to New Zealand, the kiwi had enjoyed a secure environment for thousands of years. The Europeans first brought in sheep, but they soon got tired of eating lamb, so they introduced rabbits to the island. Due to the lack of predators, rabbit population started increasing at insane rate that upset the Europeans. And "Smart" humans soon came out a solution; they imported rabbits' predators to this land. However, when these foxes, cats arrived, instead of chasing fast-running rabbits, they discovered thousands of kiwis walking around leisurely, and decided that they are going to have “chicken” instead. (Pardon their ignorance since they had never seen kiwi bird before.) – Another tragedy caused by 人类的自作聪明。
途经一个小镇,名字已经记不得了。司机说大家都叫这个“厕所镇”,因为全镇只有2家人,公共厕所倒是有几十个(给游客用的)。也不知是真是假?!
油画般的Lake Hawea
河道转了个弯,Lake Hawea又呈现出另一种宝蓝色
Lake Wanaka
Sunset at the West Coast.