A visit to Weta Cave, Wellington

another late posting ...but biar lambat asal update ..tak macam org Keramat ngan Kuantan kan kan kan :-)

Went to Weta Cave - kecik jer tempat nya ...it housed workshop utk movie Peter Jackson like Hobbits, Lords of the Ring, Tin Tin, Avatar, King Kong etc ...and shop for souveniours ..entrance masuk sini percuma ...but kalau nak masuk workshop baru berbayar ...akak pergi utk look see look see ajer ..actually went there in October last year .. I was stressed out by my data entry but it was a nice sunny day in spring ..terasa rugi tak keluar ..so make a spontenous decision to go out for brunch ngan my friend, then melencong sekejap ke Miramar - utk ke Weta Cave ..pas posing posing, terus mintak dia drop me off di opis ..hahaha the life of PhD student ..kerja kerja jugak..but bila ada peluang jalan, harusssssss .....

the months of Oct- Dec - my life is basically office office office ... macam kena crushed ngan trolls ajer hahaha

entrance to Weta Cave ...

actually kecik ajer tempat nie ..but orang tak nak missed tempat nie sebab nak ambik gambar with the trolls ...ngan Gandalf etc ...kalau rushing and takde masa ...like me, we spend about 30 mins here ... but dia ada free documentary ..about 25-30mins ...kami tak tengok pun hahaha maybe next time aku stay on for the documentary

masuk masuk jer ke sini, akan jumpa this three trolls - from the Hobbits - meet Tom, Bert and William ..hahaha masa kami sampai takde orang ...so sakan aku posing...kawan aku layan ajer hahaha nasib baik ada photographer ok! but masa nak kuar tu ingat nak posing lagi ...takde makna nya coz by then punya ramai orang kat sini ngan the trolls ...sampai berlaga vontot ..sebab tempat dia kecik jer ...

the main purpose I came here ...hahaha to take photo with Golum @smeagol hahaha and the ring is a necessary accessory hahahaha ..

hahaha ..my precious ....my precious ....

and jumpa pakcik Gandalf ...dia macam tak nak selfie ngan akak le ...ngades org tua tu!

sementara tu, ada gak le benda2 lain in here ....but tak banyak ...sebab tu aku kata 30 mins tu cukup sangat!

 kaki Bilbo - yang dia pakai in the film 

 a hobbit's custome ...huduh kan kuku kaki dorang hahahah

 tak ingat nama mamat nie

Peter Jackson also buat King Kong ..and rupanya some scenes of King Kong dibuat kat Welly ..there you go ...one of these days aku akan cari kat mana tempat tu ..cerita king kong pun aku ingat ingat lupa hahaha ...but aku ingat ending dia sedih

pas look see look see ..and we bumped into a friend gak kat sini hahaha ...tapi tak bergambar ..we came out ..ingat nak posing lagi ...but like i said ..orang ramai kat laman trolls tu ...so aku selfie ajer lah ngan si troll tu for the last time

reason buat posting ini??? hahaha it is a prelude to my trip to Matamata ...to Hobbitton ..insyallah next week ....watch this space for more updates on Hobbiton ...

Self Drive to Golden Bay 3: Sunset watching at Pohara Beach, Takaka

sambung from previous posting

After our coffee break at the cafe in Takaka, we went to Pohara Beach - atas suggestion the cafe owner. We looked it up kat map kitorang and look for direction. it is about 10km from Takaka township ..and masa kami pergi tu memangdah nak sunset ...it is quite a pleasant drive sebab the sun was finally up ...the whole day pagi tu we were actually spending time in a pretty soggy weather ...gambar pun tak lawa sebab kelam ...tiada langit biruuuuuuu

pantai dia sangat panjang ...and when we arrived air dah nak pasang ...so air dekat dengan tebingan ..sebab kalau air surut ..at low tide, it is such a wide low lying area ....ahead from this beach is another beach called Liger Bay ...kami takde masa at the time, so tak gi Liger Bay ...

the view memang sangat sangat cantik ...matahari baru nak set at the time ..we stopped quickly at the designated car park and just spent time there ...playing along the water edge ...posing sakan ..and just admired the view ...there was only one other guy there - walking his dog ..so, it was like we were at our own beach :-) the beauty of jalan jalan when it was winter!

areas around Pohara Beach nie banyak rumah org kaya ...their holiday homes, their summer baches ...and kat sini pun banyak gak le holiday bach untuk disewa ...maybe one day I'll come back ..and rent one of the bach (angan angan salam untuk menggapai impian kata abang ngah) ...

we actually dipped our feet in the water hahaha but not for long ..nak mampus punya sejuk!!!  rasa cam nak stay lama lagi kat sini but at the time we knew we still have over 1.5 hours drive back to Nelson and we still have to drive over the Takaka Hill ....it is an unfamliar road and very berliku liku so tak nak letake a risk balik in the dark ..dah le minah nie punya turn drive ...dia tak biasa drive belah kanan! She is from Germany kan, where they drive on the other side of the road hahaha ...so dengan berat ati we leave this really wonderful place ...a good ending to our Golden Bay self drive day trip ..

our drive back ....we have to drive over that hill in front there ...jalan berliku and sempit ..it is wise to take precaution drving in NZ sebab jalan dia sempit and in many places akan tetiba jadi one lane because of bridges over creeks, or stream or rivers ...the whole drive to Farewell Spit ni we encountered numerous one lane bridge ...so have to be extra careful ...and they have strict speed limit around town ...dalam kawasan town, speed limit in most cases is not more than 50km/hour ...

see that unique signpost??? hehehe only in NZ - beware of penguins crossing :-)

as it happenned, hari ujan just as we were about to start the climb over Takaka ..jenuh le Berna drive ..and it tooks us over 2 hours to reach Nelson ...lega sangat bila sampai Nelson hahaha ...

Self Drive to Golden Bay 2: Golden Bay to Farewell Spit and Pupu Spring

Dalam dok belek belek photos baru ingat yang aritu tak buat posting lagi on my Golden Bay trip hahaha bersawang giler lol pergi masa winter aritu, now summer baru ingat nak but posting! so this one is the kesinambungan from the last posting : where we drove over Takaka Hill and stopped at Hawkes Lookout (posting here). From Takaka Hill tu, I drove downhill towards Takaka town but tak singgah as we aim to go to Farewell Spit ..so only photo stops along Collingwood ajer ..we didnt detour to Marahau or Kaiteritei coz we were going there the very next day ...for our hiking trip (posting yang nie dah lama published)

a brief stopover at Collingwood

masa nie low tide and nampak the low laying area ...huge area

 stopover on the way to Popuanga ...sebab segerombolan lembu nak transfer ke ladang menghalang perjalanan kami

The original plan is to drive to Popunga and then frolicking kat sand dunes di Farewell Spit and a walk at the beach ..but weather was awful ...ujan sesaja ...so cant go to the sand dunes ...sampai kat Popunga ..we went to the cafe for lunch ....cafe tu overlooking Farewell Spit ...

 sumptous lunch ...overlooking the Spit sambil wishing we could walk there! tapi takde rezeki aritu

kalau cuaca elok, the spit is the must-visit place ..wonderful sand dunes and on that side jugak ada this really lovely beach ...we dont want to risk going there ..so, pas lepak2 lunch here, we drove back ..ati sangat berat meninggalkan tempat ini coz we felt like we missed our opportunity :-(

sand dune - takleh bawak kereta here ...perlu ikut tour or walk :-)

then on the way back to Takaka tu, we accidentally found a beach..on an off beaten track ..tak tau nama beach tu apa hahaha main masuk ajer ...and along that track banyak bach - a kiwi slang for holiday homes - and beach was empty ..kami berdua ajer kat beach at that time ...beautiful view ..hahaha nobody mandi le kan ..as it was in the thick of winter lol

from this unknown beach we went to Pupu Spring ...nama penuh is Te Waikoropupu Spring ..tapi short is Pupu Spring ajer ...tempat ni is a sacred place for the Maori ..air dia takleh disentuh ..itis actually the largest feshwater spring in NZ ...since renyai renyai masa kami sampai ..we only short cut jalan jalan kat situ ..tak follow betul betul its 1km track! hahaha ...but seriously, a very clear beautiful water! 

 entrance to the Spring 

 kami tak ikut the track ..but using shortcut ..walking 10 mins ajer :-) so takde banyak gambar the huge pond of clear water tu

only went to the river section ajer

from there we continue to Takaka town ..a small hippy town..lots of artisan shops and crafts ...the weather improved masa we reached Takaka ...matahari keluar! hahaha we decided to stop for coffee pas membeli souveniours ....sand tak sangka, we acatually went to this cafe yang owner dia sarawakian! hahaha ....org negeri aku weiiiii .....

aku tahu dia sarawakian coz of the decor lol nampak terendak melanau ka dinding kedai tu :-)

so we got talking and we mentioned yang kami nak balik to Nelson, and were disappointed coz cuaca tak best and have to cancel Farewell Spit ..she suggested kami gi lepak Pohara beach dulu before balik ...and to watch sunset kat sana ...Pohara dekat kata nya ..and dia bagi direction gi sana ...so posting for Pohara Beach and sunset watching tu nanti aku buat separate ..gambar banyak :-)

Wellington summer

Dah mid-summer dah kat Welly ...weather has been on off sunny..windy ..rainy ..a typical summer in Welly. But like all Wellingtonians are fond of saying - nothing beats Wellington on a good (sunny!) day ...memang betul ...aku dari mula jejak kaki ke Welly telah diterapkan idea yang if the sun is shining - try as much as possible to go out and enjoy Welly's lovely sunshine ..kak shidah le yang bagitau like that ..sebab aku kan sampai in the summer of 2013 ...and aku malas kuar ...selalu tido lol so she is so against that ...now i know what she means!

pohutukawa - very synonym with Welly's summer

close up of the pohutukawa blooms

aku dah cuba sedaya upaya untuk try to get out more masa summer nie ...apakan daya ..tak mampu nak kuar jauh masa long xmas break sebab kerja memang banyak ...now, dah lega as I have completed the major task. so since data entry done, next step is data analysis and on going literature review ...i am hoping to get more free time (tanpa rasa gulity tak kerja hahahah) ...semalam, selepas book my percutian mega (tunggu posting meletops bulan depan yea) I rushed home ..sebab dah invite friends for dinner at my place ..hosting my first dinner in 2015 ....awayway, my flatmate Gabby commented yang pertama kali dia nampak aku balik well before the sunset hahahaha ...and she even said, please lah balik awal pas nie so that kiter enjoy dinner kat garden sama sama ...heheheh ...

so pagi nie aku ambik peluang lepak rumah (kerja dah submit to supervisor and waiting for his feedback) sebab takde kerja yang super urgent ...and the fine sunny weather tu memanggil manggil aku keluar ..so, I just bring my laptop, my work ...and my book outside at our picnic table under the plum tree ...and work from there ...such as lovely summer weather ....

we have our own plum cherry tree in front of the flat ..and sekarang sedang masak ranum ..super sweet cherry and fresh dipetik gitu .....but banyak kat atas pokok tu ..so plenty of birds "melepak" kat situ jugak ....so, aku kerja at the garden ..with birds surrounding me ...and my flatmate sunbathing at the lawn ....and our neighbours were playing with their kids outside ..semua enjoying the summer weather

 burung and plum cherry ...tak kisah dah burung nie ..takde takut2 dah

 roses at our garden ...berseri seri ...pastu langit kan main biru lagi ..kan liz kannnnn

plum cherry masak ranum ....heavens for burung!

Last weekend aku spent one of my weekend kat rumah gak ...and my flatmate and I dok fruit picking ..dapat semangkuk gitu ....we dont want to take more sebab tak nak membazir ...siap plan nak buat plum cake :-) dia yang nak buat ..bukan aku ehhh ....

we left a day kat dapur to make it masak ranum ..sedap oiiii ...fresh gitu 

sebab summer kan ..bunga bunga pun cantik2 dah ...I have yet to go to Botanic Garden ...maybe minggu depan akan jalan to Botanic garden to the rose garden ....tapi bunga2 kat opis aku pun cukup berseri2 bila summer nie ....

 one of the office plant yang sentiasa segar mekar ...providing lovely colours to my pemandangan terperap dalam opis

 sekarang memang musim lilies ...this one is Blue Lily of the Nile

another addition to our office plant ...P's fav plant for now ...siap kata sah plant ni akan mati kalau dia tinggalkan untuk aku ....

summer weather kat welly tak semestinya panas selalu hahaha hence org kata..kalau panas, just go out and enjoy it ..sebab half of summer time selalu ujan lol it happenned on NY eve ari tu ....memang ujan selebat lebat nya ..and angin kuat ....

 that's our picnic table ..tempat aku lepak buat kerja tadi ....and the pic was taken on NY eve at 7pm..see, pokok pokok plum tu sekangkang kerja jer from our front door :-)

that's my posting on Welly's summer ...and a note to myself - to try to enjoy what's left of the summer :-) have a great weekend everyone - wherever you are.