New Zealand wasn't my first choice with regards to living overseas. In fact, I was in the dark of its real beauty. I was aware of it from The Lord of The Rings (my favorite epic movie ever!!!) but I never thought that the actual place is as majestic and amazing as it is off screen.
Things were being sorted and planned for another country but then that nation wasn't meant for me. As I was so desperate to go somewhere new, I asked around and remember New Zealand. My friends who were already here that time seemed happy and satisfied with their lives. One of them even told me I would fit right in as my outdoorsy personality is perfect for the place. I eventually convinced my family to help me travel here to look for work. It was a big risk and absolutely not an easy task of leaving my loved ones behind especially my two sweet furry babies (my dogs... I miss them heaps). But I had to do it. Just had this mantra in my head while battling homesickness "If you don't risk it, you'll get stuck".
For the first few months while still converting professional licenses, processing visas and job hunting I was starting to see how pretty NZ was but not much yet though. As soon as I finally had a job my goal was to get a car since it's a necessity with getting around here conveniently-- especially reaching the wonderful backcountry destinations.
With my first car, Sheldon (if you watch The Big Bang Theory, yes it's named after Sheldon Cooper hahahaha) I started to see more of this beautiful country. My adventure mobile was a humble hatchback that I treated like a 4WD. Some of my friends who went on adventures with me can attest to those funny drives (safe drives though, for sure ;))
Sheldon, my wee adventure mobile
As I recollect while writing this post, the first walk I did at Bluff with my two friends during the summer in 2014 was actually the one walk that resurrected the outdoors person that I was. From that day on, I knew I would go to more places here and see more of it. Hike more of NZ one track at a time. I am ever so thankful to that day and to my friends that the sleeping trekker that I was has now woken up.
As I said I'd share highlights from my 2016 NZ adventure. Oh my... It's a lot! Hahaha. Here they are:
Middle Earth Adventures 2016
Ben Lomond Summit track
Rob Roy Glacier
Roys Peak
Cathedral Caves, The Catlins
Lake Marian
Glacier Basin track
Earnslaw Basin track
Castle Rocks
Organ Pipes
Hooker Valley Walkway, Winter 2016
Omarama Clay Cliffs
Elephant Rocks
Lake Benmore Peninsula Circuit
Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo
Moeraki Boulders
Skydiving above Wanaka with Skydive Wanaka
Rock & Pillar
Revisiting Mavora Lakes
View from Sealy Tarns track
Hooker Valley Track
Milford Sound Cruise with Southern Discoveries
We added kayaking to our Milford Sound Cruise package
We did Lake Hauroko track as part of our pre-Kepler track training, being the newbie NZ trampers that we were.
Look at that view! :D
It has been almost 3 years since my last post here. While I have put myself on house arrest for the past few days for flu reasons (it hit me, bummer!), this blog suddenly dawned on me again. Oh yes, I have missed making entries here. I used to be so religious in posting even though I know I'm only reaching little to no traffic... but what the hell, I'm having fun anyway.
Sooo... for the past years I have been tramping, camping, driving around most of south island New Zealand, wallowing on its awesomeness (during my days off work, of course). The NZ landscapes have enthralled me so much that I became addicted. There was a point when my week was incomplete when I can't go hiking. I know, right? That's how beautiful this country is. Crazy beautiful-- you would not believe this place actually exists but yes it does and I am very blessed to be an expat here.
These are highlights of my escapades for the year 2015; I'll do another for 2016. Here it goes...
Middle Earth Adventures 2015
Ocean View Track, Bluff
Waituna Lagoon,
Autumn in Arrowtown
Waipohatu Falls Track, The Catlins
Waipohatu Falls, The Catlins
Blue Mountain top, Tapanui
Titans Rock Track, Piano Flat, Waikaia
South Mavora Lake
Lake Hauroko, Fiordland
McLean Falls
Along the Kepler track, tackling the steps on our way to Iris Burn Hut
Our tired faces on day 2 of our Humpridge tramp
This year resurrected the outdoors woman in me; I was a part of an outdoors group back in my university days but after that I have become stagnant. New Zealand is the perfect place for me to reawaken my passion and live the outdoors dream again.
I have been looking forward to seeing Kimbra perform live since I came here to New Zealand. She had a show earlier in August that I missed for some reason. I decided that I would be on the look out if she ever comes back to promote her latest album, The Golden Echo.
Lo and behold, a pre-sale of tickets to her show on 18 November was popping in my Ticketmaster notification. I became undecided at first because my circumstances that time didn't seem to be favorable to me watching concerts. I visited the Ticketmaster website everyday to keep updating my cart; always clicking the "remember for later" button as to the purchase of the concert ticket.
Exactly a week before the concert, I finally decided to hit the "Buy" button. There's no turning back, I'm seeing Kimbra-- finally!!! I have been listening to her ever since her Vows album, long before Somebody That You Used to Know hit the worldwide charts. That video posted on Tumblr by Sirens' Songs of her live Two Way Street performance at Sing Sing Studios won my heart. Since then I got caught in the web of Kimbra's awesomeness. Whoah!
The venue was The Powerstation. It was perfect for the performance-- standing right next to the stage was right where I wanted to be.
The event was a promotion of her new album hence most of the songs she performed were from The Golden Echo. She opened the show with Teen Heat, which was the first song in the record as well. Settle Down, Two Way Street, and Cameo Lover were the ones she played from Vows. After performing Miracle, Kimbra and her band exited the stage and we were all surprised that that was her last song. We were screaming and shouting her name asking for an encore. She couldn't resist leaving us hanging. (You just can't do that to your fans, Kimbra. Hahaha.) She ended the night with Come Into My Head with incredible energy and passion.
Kimbra is commended for showing how passionate she is of music. Her live performances are proof. She always gives her best, bringing so much energy and vibe in every song. In that concert, I witnessed that and it's spectacular! Artists that project their burning love for the music they make are those that strike me the most. Kimbra is one of those artists. I can see how she's doing a splendid job.
I am looking forward to another Kimbra concert. In fact I'm still hung up on that show. Can't help browsing my gallery from time to time for the pictures and videos of that night's performance. You can't blame me though, I just love Kimbra. She's simply amazing!
My shots from the show:
Watch a few videos I took from a few chosen songs (they're shaky; I was actually moving to the beat. Hehehe.)
