Nelson New Zealand: Interislander Ferry Views.❤️

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Happy 2016 to all! This post will be part of a series of posts that I will be doing about our lovely summer Christmas holiday in Nelson. I was initially a bit confused on how I was going to go about writing this… in the end I decided to just break it into the different highlights of the trip rather than making very detailed and lengthy daily posts that might be a bit of a bore to read. If you think it’s a better idea to write down all that transpired from the start to the end of each day, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. New ideas or writing tips are always appreciated! Alright, on with the post!😊

Our trip officially started when went aboard the Interislander Ferry bound for Nelson on the morning of the 24th. We were taking the ferry as we had never tried riding the Interislander from Wellington to Picton before and we had heard stories from people we know that it’s one to try due to the views. The journey takes three hours and passes by Pencarrow Head, Cook Straight, Marlborough Sound, Tory Channel and Queen Charlotte Sound.

Here is a link from the Interislander website that will show you a more detailed look about the voyage —->  https://www.interislander.co.nz/The-Voyage/Index.aspx#content

I experienced a bit of sea sickness in the middle of our journey, however, I was able to take some anti-nausea medicine (which was available in the ferry store) so I was still able to enjoy most of my time on the boat especially once we entered Marlborough Sound going to Queen Charlotte Sound. The site that greeted us was amazing!❤️




 

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Beautiful right? For those of you who haven’t tried the ferry trip from Wellington to Picton yet, I definitely recommend giving it a go (even if it’s just once if you really are not a boat person). It would be a nice tick off your bucket list 😉

Note: I left the photos unedited because I seem to like looking at them “untouched” and natural at the moment 🙂

New Year Camping!❤️

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It’s been a hectic last few days of the year… Travelling down to Nelson for Christmas and now drove all the way up to New Plymouth to welcome the New Year! 

Long and proper posts on said trips when I settle back to my routine when I get back home. Just doing this post to say Happy New Year to everybody! Wishing all of us a great year ahead! Cheers! Xoxo ❤️

  

* New Year’s Eve camping feast! Ushering in the new year with a full belly and great company. Enjoy 2016 everyone! *

Abel Tasman Coastal Track: The view to Bark Bay ❤️

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My Friends and I decided to do a short walk and beach trip on the famous Abel Tasman Coastal Track in Nelson on Christmas day. 

This post is just a little photo teaser until I’m able to start writing about our whole Nelson trip. Just a little too excited here to share how beautiful this place is that I just had to do one quick post! Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas as well!😊❤️

  
The photo above is of one of the many incredible views we passed by on our walk to Bark Bay. Nelson and New Zealand is just absolutely beautiful.❤️

 

Around two (almost three now) years ago, I made one of the biggest decisions I ever had to make in my then twenty-five years of existence. I decided to leave everything I knew and loved behind, for a chance at a much better life than what was available for me back home.

Initially, the anticipation and excitement of being somewhere new and experiencing new things was there… but then slowly everything just began to be a little bit overwhelming until most of what I felt was just fear, doubt and an extreme bout of homesickness.

I was lucky enough to have people in my life who were always there for me and who were always willing to listen when I felt sad and disappointed… Still, there were days when I still felt so down even after venting out all my frustrations to anyone willing to listen within my social circle. To try to pick myself up during those tough times, I turned to reading inspirational and motivaional quotes on the internet to help get me motivated and going and it helped heaps.

Today, I just wanted to share some of those quotes here in the hopes that it will also help inspire other people who are going through some challenges now. Here are ten of those quotes that helped me during my first few tough months when I moved abroad and hopefully it will be helpful to you too 🙂

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Ten quotes that got me through my first move abroad ♥

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I was browsing through old photos for my next blog post when I stumbled upon these and thought that I would post them instead.

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These are photos that I took from the viewing deck of Te Papa Museum Wellington. They’re not the best of quality as I only took them with my Iphone at the time but I just find it amusing that I was able to take a “day photo” and an “evening photo” of more or less the same angle on totally different days without even realizing until now. I guess that just shows how much I like coming here!

The viewing deck is located on the top most floor of the museum. Go to the lifts located near the information area and then head up to the sixth floor. When you go out the glass doors, you will be greeted with a fantastic view of the waterfront.

This place is one of my few favorite spots here in Wellington. The view from up here is beautiful and whenever I’m showing a friend around who’s in the city for the first time, I always bring them up here when doing the mandatory trip to Te Papa Museum.

What about you? Any special spots in your city you want to share?😊

Wellington Waterfront: Day and Night

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Find Yourself

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Stumbled upon this quote on Facebook and for someone who has been living abroad for a few years now, I found myself relating to it quite a bit. Flying thousands of miles away from home and moving to a new country is one great roller coaster ride. It will bring you out of your comfort zone and scare you. The unknown will make you anxious and nervous and make your stomach do flip flops. Wonderful new experiences will excite and exhilarate you. There are days when you question why you are doing what you are doing and days you wake up feeling so proud of how far you have come. It is one big adventure that will change you without you realizing. It is one great journey of conquering fears, chasing dreams and finding oneself.

It was the second week of October and my birthday was coming up so I started thinking on what I was going to do this year to make it memorable. Initially I thought about doing a themed party, but I didn’t have much time to really organize things and so I had to scrap that idea. Also thought about going bar hopping around town, but then I thought I didn’t want to celebrate this year by becoming drunk and hungover again— which is what I have always been doing for my past “early twenties years”. I kind of wanted to do something new or even at least be somewhere new. I then got to talking to one of my close friends at work about it and she suggested on heading up to the Wairarapa region and visiting the Castle Point Lighthouse.

I’ve heard from other friends who’ve been before how lovely this place was and I’ve seen some photos of it as well, so I’ve been wanting to visit the place for some time now. When my friend made the suggestion, I immediately said “Yes! Let’s go!” And so we started planning on it.

We couldn’t really go on my actual birthday because I was going to be working so we decided to go a few days before the day when we were all on a day off. Then, the day before the trip… it was freezing, cold and gloomy. We were thinking that if the weather continued to be horrible the next day, we might just have to cancel the whole thing which got me pretty bummed out.

The next day rolled around and luckily, it was a sunny day! Yeah! Checked the weather of Castlepoint on metservice as well and it also said it was also going to be a good day there. I then texted my friend and we then both decided that we’ll just push through with our plans as the weather was good.

Not ever having been to the area before, and having seen only photos of the lighthouse itself, I had this picture in my mind that by the time we got there, there would just be this little walkway going straight to the lighthouse and that was all we were going to see. Instead, I was greeted by this beautiful view of the beach with the lighthouse at the distance on top of a cliff. It was stunning!

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As it was already lunchtime by the time we got there, we were already starving and so we decided to hold off the sight-seeing for a little bit and eat some lunch. So we drove back a little bit to the Whakataki Hotel and bought some chicken burgers and fish and chips to go and then ate them by the beach.

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After hanging around by the beach for a while, we then decided to head up the cliff to the lighthouse. Once we got near, I was surprised yet again because there was still lots more of the area to be seen that’s hidden away from the view from the beach!

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After some mandatory photos at the bottom, we then headed up to the lighthouse (Yes, finally! Ha!). As I’m not the fittest person in the world (I’ve got a gym membership that I go to once every who knows when), the walk up made me a teeny tiny bit breathless (Haha) but the struggle was worth it!

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Past the lighthouse there was more walking, sight-seeing and photo-op sessions. The scenery the whole time was just beautiful!

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We were also able to take this crazy photo down below! Haha!

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Overall, a totally memorable trip! Really happy that I was able to do this as a sort of “advance birthday celebration” kind of thing and in the company of great people as well! Absolutely wonderful!

Castlepoint NZ

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Hooray!!! Mr.sun finally came out to play today!!! Pardon the over excitement but after a week of the horrible and crappy weather we’ve been having, I’m just really happy with how beautiful today was… And on my day off too! Yeah! Hello sunshine!

Spent my time strolling by the waterfront on this lovely day and I thought I’d list down some things you can do by the waterfront on a beautiful day such as this.

1. Have lunch by the waterfront. Sit down by the side and gaze out into the waters while eating your wrap or sandwich or eat in one of the many restaurants nearby. Up to you.

2. Rent a kayak. I personally want to try this out some time!

3. Go rollerblading. Try not to lose your balance!

4. Ride a quadricycle with the fambam or with your group of friends.

5. Ride on a paddle boat. Ideal for you couples out there. Haha!

6. Read a book and enjoy the sun!

7. Eat yummy gelato. You can buy either in the Kafee Eis stall near the bridge or at Gelissimo which is the gelato shop near Te Papa. Take your pick. Both are good!

8. Go diving into the water. The waterfront has spots where you can dive into clear waters below. It’s still spring and still a bit cold but some people are already daring enough to do it!

9. Just go strolling around and people watch.

10. Take lovely photos of this lovely day! Haha!

Speaking of photos, here’s some of mine for today!



Wellington on a good day: Waterfront.❤️

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Waiau River

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Started spring this  year with a trip to Hanmer Springs — a nice little resort town about 1 hour and 45 minutes drive from Christchurch CBD, South Island New Zealand. More about said trip in a separate post I’m doing about Hanmer Springs later.

This post is just about this nice lookout me and my friend stumbled upon while we were driving just a few minutes out of Hanmer Springs.

The lookout gives you a splendid view of a mix of plains, mountains and the great Waiau river. It’s a sight of nature’s wonders remaining generally untouched by the modern world. It’s like one of those amazing photos you see on postcards, only much more beautiful.

( The Waiau Ferry Bridge at a distance)

* The lookout is situated at the right side of the road if you are coming from Hanmer Springs.

* The Waiau River was used for the opening aerial shot of The Fellowship of the Ring showing the forested banks of the Anduin River.