Traipsing around the Wairarapa.
*note*Photos have been posted! see end of this post :) But... I haven't put any commentary for the photos so you might want to wait a bit ... hehehe.
Gosh, I have been kind of neglecting this blog lately heh? Apart from rants and long posts that are well, comtemplative, I don't think I've been updating you peeps about what I've been up to huh? Alright.
Well, I've been rather busy. Yes, and parents are here and all. It feels sort of weird blogging considering they are oblivious to my blog(and I'd like to keep it that way thank you very much pls) and well, they could just ask what I'm up to and I don't like to lie(I don't like to lie outright but I don't mind keeping things from their knowledge).
I think I might just stick to posting my pictures up on my facebook account. Other than the occasional few pictures here on this blog. It is, as many people have pointed out, so much easier to upload pictures onto facebook. Somehow having to resize and upload things in an order to post on this blog gets to my nerves rather easily nowadays.
I will link those albums directly from the appropriate posts though.
So... anyone who finds this against what they want because they are unable to view the pictures through facebook? Speak now or forever hold your peace.... alright.. maybe not forever, you could always just ask me and I will sort it out so you can see it.
So, let's begin. I was up in Auckland then came down with my parents 2 days after my birthday. Since then, it's been a mix of playing tourist and balancing out with work. Thus, the busy-ness. so far, I've been around Palmerston North, to the windfarm again and the Manawatu Gorge. I've also travelled around the Wairarapa district covering Masterton, Carterton and surrounding towns as well as the wine area of Martinborough where I found out they're building a Le Cordon Bleu. Then went down to Wellington for 2days and a night where I indulged in enough good chinese food to make me happy and a Malaysian meal.
Okay.. will continue post AFTER dinner.. lalala..
Okay, maybe type a bit more.. mum's gone to shower first.
Day 1 of Wairarapa trip -- 18th Jan 07
Left work early after spending a few 9 hr days at work. Left for Masterton, stopping on the way at Bruce Conservation centre.. a breeding place for birdies.... mostly birdies. actually.. ALL birds. and some eels....
In Masterton, we went around doing nothing much really. Visited a few gardens.. had the worst.. I repeat, the WORST KFC meal in my life! The chicken was SOGGY.. and SUPERBLY oily. Even by KFC standards alright. I literally felt SICK after the meal. The fries were uncooked and soggy and OILY. The seasoning wasn't mixed into the chips but simply added as an after-thought on TOP of the chips IN the box.. and there was a HAIR in my mashed potato.. *groan*. Mum and I were literally sick after the meal from the excess of oil. Yelch.
Day 2
Woke up and had breakfast at a cafe recommended by a workmate. Then, we proceeded to the next town, carterton where we visited the Richmond gardens. An Italiannate garden as it is described. Apparently one of the most beautiful or well, it's well known in NZ anyway. It's privately owned and cost like $10 to just traipse around. By appointment only.
Had lunch (you'll see that the theme of our holidays have quite an emphasis on good food as well) at a apparently really famous cafe called Wild Oats cafe. Apparently the 'best' bakery in NZ. Well, the bread's good. I have my reservations about its cakes.
Drove to some swing bridge... after having to drive through kilometres of country road and 15km of winding dirt road.. I drove.. wheee! Walked across a swing bridge for the first time in my life.. it was scary.. yet.. It wasn't too bad. The thing that scared me most was the motion when the bridge swung. The up and down movement was a bit sickening but when the bridge tilted over.. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... Mum didn't make it across.. hehehee....
Then, we drove back.. Drove to Mt. Holsom.. mm. Mt Holds-something? Holdsworth? Something along the lines, it's hard to miss if you're in Masterton. Had a look, didn't want to walk around so we just basically drove there and made a u-turn after getting there and proceeded onto Castle Point, a beach town. Had to drive through winding roads. I fell asleep in the car as I had been driving the whole day.
Castle Point's like any NZ beach town. small, with nothing much except for its beach.. It was cold and cloudy. Walked up to the lighthouse when it started to piss down.. Light rain lucky.. but Boo.. didn't get to traipse around the lighthouse much:( That was a bit of a waste.
Drove home to a meal of instant 'har mee'(prawn mee) made with prawns and taugeh(beansprouts) purchased from Pak n Save.
Day 3
Woke up and hmm.. I can't remember what we had for breakfast. oh yes, we'd bought some scones and cakes from Wild oats cafe the day before. We then proceeded to.. Martinborough? Yeah, we did. Arrived there.. walked around the town centre before moving out to the wineries.... which were like.. literally? 2 streets away from the town centre!!! lol.
SO... we did some wine tasting.. and bought a couple of bottles of vino. Had lunch at a cafe in a winery called.. er... Old Coach cafe? Something like that. Lol. Yes, me and names.. lol.
Following a nice lunch, we then proceeded to drive to Wellington. Didn't stop anywhere as we didn't think there'd be anything interesting on the way... or at least, nothing really interested us. I drove to Wellington! Hehe.. had to drive UP a hill/mountain range and down again. Gosh, that was an experience. I think I can handle Camerons or Genting now.. whee hheeee.. bring it on!!! ngek ngek. Good practise as dad put it.
Got to Welly and checked into our motel... and we slept.. hahaha.. It was SO HOT.. and we were kind of exhausted. After a good recharge, we headed out and looked for the cable car.. Goodness. that was a mission to find as it was like in a building and the entrance was through an obscure alleyway. Totally drove past it! easier to find while on foot.
so, took the cable car up to ermm.. I forgot that peak:P ahhaha.. but then walked around the Botanical gardens. We literally walked DOWN the hill to reach the 'main' garden.. jar dou-.-. We had to walk back up as we had a 2 way ride on the cable car.. though, mum wanted to just flag that but when we whipped out the map, we realised, oh gee... we're like, on the OTHER side of the hill now.. so, back UP the hill we went ^^. haha. It wasn't too bad a walk really.. just really hot day though.
After making our way up the hill, down again we went on the cable car. Upon reaching down, we walked back to the car for a drink of water and walked to the harbour. Didn't do much there, just took some pictures. Went looking for food. The place we stayed was really close to where the good food is at on Courteney Place. hehehe.. I liked the location of the motel. After walking up and down Courteney place searching for a good place, we stumbled upon a chinese restaurant on Tory St, just off Courteney. Dinner was a standard chinese meal. A much needed one though. Ah, yes, still very much a chinese at heart. I need my asian food. Had a light-ish dinner and then went to Cafe *Eis, much recommended by Lucy dear. Hehe. They do have very good gelato though, I do admit. I love their almond one and their vanilla was good. Their rum and raisin too.
Walked around town a bit before going back to the motel.
Day 4
Final day of the trip, woke up and had to check out.. While waiting for the restaurant to open for yum cha, we went up to Mt. Victoria peak. Nice views but ARGH.... there were SO many insects.. like invasion of insects rawr rawr !!!!! Drove back to city, found a park and walked to Cuba mall. Looked around and then quickly made our way to the restaurant for yum cha before it filled up! hehe.. Well, Lucy said it's real good and it's imperative that we get there early. So, early we were! 11.15am I believe. Haha.. had a feast.. We were starving as we didn't have much breakfast as we were keeping our tummies for yum cha.. gosh.. had SOOO mmuuuchhh foooodd..
It was pretty good, though, I find that their steamed dim sum wasn't as good. There were some good ones though.. mm.. :) Wouldn't mind going there again. Erm...forgot the place. It's the only chinese restaurant that's on the second floor along courtenay place and it's close to the traffic lights. Intersection between courtenay.. and.. uhh.. okay.. I don't know.. hahahahha.. :P It's on the cafe *eis end.
We headed to Te papa after that. Spent a couple of hours there.. Te Papa was free much to my delight. bwahhaa.. a lot of museums in Welly are free.. But, of course, don't be stingy and do donate some $$ when you're there.
After Te papa, we made it in time to have a look at the old St. paul's church and saw the beehive from afar. Got.. very.. lost driving around. Me driving. Dad navigating.. Me short tempered and Dad, well, getting worse with navigation with his age.. mm.. sigh.. We found a Malaysian place and had an early dinner before driving back to Palmy. I drove back as well. wanted to learn the way back so next time I make a trip to Welly I will be able to find my way around.
That.. was my trip.. Boring? i guess, so.. I'll post the piccies on Facebook and link them here.
See Day 1, 2 and Martinborough photos HERE
see Wellington photos HERE
see more Birthday photos HERE
Gosh, I have been kind of neglecting this blog lately heh? Apart from rants and long posts that are well, comtemplative, I don't think I've been updating you peeps about what I've been up to huh? Alright.
Well, I've been rather busy. Yes, and parents are here and all. It feels sort of weird blogging considering they are oblivious to my blog(and I'd like to keep it that way thank you very much pls) and well, they could just ask what I'm up to and I don't like to lie(I don't like to lie outright but I don't mind keeping things from their knowledge).
I think I might just stick to posting my pictures up on my facebook account. Other than the occasional few pictures here on this blog. It is, as many people have pointed out, so much easier to upload pictures onto facebook. Somehow having to resize and upload things in an order to post on this blog gets to my nerves rather easily nowadays.
I will link those albums directly from the appropriate posts though.
So... anyone who finds this against what they want because they are unable to view the pictures through facebook? Speak now or forever hold your peace.... alright.. maybe not forever, you could always just ask me and I will sort it out so you can see it.
So, let's begin. I was up in Auckland then came down with my parents 2 days after my birthday. Since then, it's been a mix of playing tourist and balancing out with work. Thus, the busy-ness. so far, I've been around Palmerston North, to the windfarm again and the Manawatu Gorge. I've also travelled around the Wairarapa district covering Masterton, Carterton and surrounding towns as well as the wine area of Martinborough where I found out they're building a Le Cordon Bleu. Then went down to Wellington for 2days and a night where I indulged in enough good chinese food to make me happy and a Malaysian meal.
Okay.. will continue post AFTER dinner.. lalala..
Okay, maybe type a bit more.. mum's gone to shower first.
Day 1 of Wairarapa trip -- 18th Jan 07
Left work early after spending a few 9 hr days at work. Left for Masterton, stopping on the way at Bruce Conservation centre.. a breeding place for birdies.... mostly birdies. actually.. ALL birds. and some eels....
In Masterton, we went around doing nothing much really. Visited a few gardens.. had the worst.. I repeat, the WORST KFC meal in my life! The chicken was SOGGY.. and SUPERBLY oily. Even by KFC standards alright. I literally felt SICK after the meal. The fries were uncooked and soggy and OILY. The seasoning wasn't mixed into the chips but simply added as an after-thought on TOP of the chips IN the box.. and there was a HAIR in my mashed potato.. *groan*. Mum and I were literally sick after the meal from the excess of oil. Yelch.
Day 2
Woke up and had breakfast at a cafe recommended by a workmate. Then, we proceeded to the next town, carterton where we visited the Richmond gardens. An Italiannate garden as it is described. Apparently one of the most beautiful or well, it's well known in NZ anyway. It's privately owned and cost like $10 to just traipse around. By appointment only.
Had lunch (you'll see that the theme of our holidays have quite an emphasis on good food as well) at a apparently really famous cafe called Wild Oats cafe. Apparently the 'best' bakery in NZ. Well, the bread's good. I have my reservations about its cakes.
Drove to some swing bridge... after having to drive through kilometres of country road and 15km of winding dirt road.. I drove.. wheee! Walked across a swing bridge for the first time in my life.. it was scary.. yet.. It wasn't too bad. The thing that scared me most was the motion when the bridge swung. The up and down movement was a bit sickening but when the bridge tilted over.. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... Mum didn't make it across.. hehehee....
Then, we drove back.. Drove to Mt. Holsom.. mm. Mt Holds-something? Holdsworth? Something along the lines, it's hard to miss if you're in Masterton. Had a look, didn't want to walk around so we just basically drove there and made a u-turn after getting there and proceeded onto Castle Point, a beach town. Had to drive through winding roads. I fell asleep in the car as I had been driving the whole day.
Castle Point's like any NZ beach town. small, with nothing much except for its beach.. It was cold and cloudy. Walked up to the lighthouse when it started to piss down.. Light rain lucky.. but Boo.. didn't get to traipse around the lighthouse much:( That was a bit of a waste.
Drove home to a meal of instant 'har mee'(prawn mee) made with prawns and taugeh(beansprouts) purchased from Pak n Save.
Day 3
Woke up and hmm.. I can't remember what we had for breakfast. oh yes, we'd bought some scones and cakes from Wild oats cafe the day before. We then proceeded to.. Martinborough? Yeah, we did. Arrived there.. walked around the town centre before moving out to the wineries.... which were like.. literally? 2 streets away from the town centre!!! lol.
SO... we did some wine tasting.. and bought a couple of bottles of vino. Had lunch at a cafe in a winery called.. er... Old Coach cafe? Something like that. Lol. Yes, me and names.. lol.
Following a nice lunch, we then proceeded to drive to Wellington. Didn't stop anywhere as we didn't think there'd be anything interesting on the way... or at least, nothing really interested us. I drove to Wellington! Hehe.. had to drive UP a hill/mountain range and down again. Gosh, that was an experience. I think I can handle Camerons or Genting now.. whee hheeee.. bring it on!!! ngek ngek. Good practise as dad put it.
Got to Welly and checked into our motel... and we slept.. hahaha.. It was SO HOT.. and we were kind of exhausted. After a good recharge, we headed out and looked for the cable car.. Goodness. that was a mission to find as it was like in a building and the entrance was through an obscure alleyway. Totally drove past it! easier to find while on foot.
so, took the cable car up to ermm.. I forgot that peak:P ahhaha.. but then walked around the Botanical gardens. We literally walked DOWN the hill to reach the 'main' garden.. jar dou-.-. We had to walk back up as we had a 2 way ride on the cable car.. though, mum wanted to just flag that but when we whipped out the map, we realised, oh gee... we're like, on the OTHER side of the hill now.. so, back UP the hill we went ^^. haha. It wasn't too bad a walk really.. just really hot day though.
After making our way up the hill, down again we went on the cable car. Upon reaching down, we walked back to the car for a drink of water and walked to the harbour. Didn't do much there, just took some pictures. Went looking for food. The place we stayed was really close to where the good food is at on Courteney Place. hehehe.. I liked the location of the motel. After walking up and down Courteney place searching for a good place, we stumbled upon a chinese restaurant on Tory St, just off Courteney. Dinner was a standard chinese meal. A much needed one though. Ah, yes, still very much a chinese at heart. I need my asian food. Had a light-ish dinner and then went to Cafe *Eis, much recommended by Lucy dear. Hehe. They do have very good gelato though, I do admit. I love their almond one and their vanilla was good. Their rum and raisin too.
Walked around town a bit before going back to the motel.
Day 4
Final day of the trip, woke up and had to check out.. While waiting for the restaurant to open for yum cha, we went up to Mt. Victoria peak. Nice views but ARGH.... there were SO many insects.. like invasion of insects rawr rawr !!!!! Drove back to city, found a park and walked to Cuba mall. Looked around and then quickly made our way to the restaurant for yum cha before it filled up! hehe.. Well, Lucy said it's real good and it's imperative that we get there early. So, early we were! 11.15am I believe. Haha.. had a feast.. We were starving as we didn't have much breakfast as we were keeping our tummies for yum cha.. gosh.. had SOOO mmuuuchhh foooodd..
It was pretty good, though, I find that their steamed dim sum wasn't as good. There were some good ones though.. mm.. :) Wouldn't mind going there again. Erm...forgot the place. It's the only chinese restaurant that's on the second floor along courtenay place and it's close to the traffic lights. Intersection between courtenay.. and.. uhh.. okay.. I don't know.. hahahahha.. :P It's on the cafe *eis end.
We headed to Te papa after that. Spent a couple of hours there.. Te Papa was free much to my delight. bwahhaa.. a lot of museums in Welly are free.. But, of course, don't be stingy and do donate some $$ when you're there.
After Te papa, we made it in time to have a look at the old St. paul's church and saw the beehive from afar. Got.. very.. lost driving around. Me driving. Dad navigating.. Me short tempered and Dad, well, getting worse with navigation with his age.. mm.. sigh.. We found a Malaysian place and had an early dinner before driving back to Palmy. I drove back as well. wanted to learn the way back so next time I make a trip to Welly I will be able to find my way around.
That.. was my trip.. Boring? i guess, so.. I'll post the piccies on Facebook and link them here.
See Day 1, 2 and Martinborough photos HERE
see Wellington photos HERE
see more Birthday photos HERE
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