Weekend Escapades

It's back to some blogging business since the mid-term break.

4th August 2007
After rescuing our poor car from hijackers, we finally got to the wheel and drove to Thames, the biggest town in Coromandel.

Almost 2 hours later, we reached with ominous clouds welcoming us.
Bad luck ensued and we were soon trapped in Food for Thought Cafe as rain poured outside.

Award-winning pie: Coromandel Catch

Halfway through breakfast, some of us heard some Asian-looking folks speak in an accent which sounded suspiciously familiar. Serendipitously, they were Singaporeans! And that was where we acquainted with Hui Ling, a law-commerce student also mugging at University of Auckland.

The day continued insignificantly (or at least not worth my time blogging) until a cannot-make-it driver (AKA me) took to the wheel. Shortly after encountering a near miss, every else in the car was kept at the edge of the seats. Heh.

Ironically, even though I was the least experienced among the drivers, I accidentally covered the most precarious part of the journey, crossing mountainous Coromandel Range. While most passengers envisioned me driving ourselves to the watery graves at the side of the road, we remained largely dry.

A quick stop along the mountains to satiate the trigger-happy hunger in all of us.

Smoking kills.

Feeling lost, anyone?

With time fast running out, we decided to make Driving Creek Railway, New Zealand's only narrow-gauge mountain railway, our final stop.

No, I don't have a sign fetish. But this is simply lame.

And off we go!

Nothing in particular exciting about the cranky old train trip, but it certainly was interesting to see it attempting to negotiate the steep slopes by changing tracks, going back and forth up.

First Sighting of The Silver Fern

"The early British colonists and colonial governments strove to replace forest with farm land for economic survival, but the price was very high by ecological standards. Vast areas of magnificent native forest were wontonly destroyed."

In the past decades, much replanting of the Kauri forest have been carried out to restore it's original beauty. The guide suggested that we returned a few hundred years later so we would have an idea of how it looked in the past.

He wasn't kidding. This tiny Kauri tree is 20 years old, so you can imagine how ridiculously slow and huge it can grow up to.

And on the top is... Eyefull Tower, the pseudo-Eiffel Tower.

OOoo. *Click goes my camera*Camera-whores

Like all other weekend outings, the day was over too soon.

Dinner for me was this Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pizza) in Umaiya Restaurant. Innocuous as this photo might seem, but it was the last picture I took before my first nightmare in Auckland began.
Yes, some of you might already guessed it.

That was the time I discovered that I had LOST my bloody wallet.

11th August 2007
After the not-so-good memories associated with renting a car, it was back to taking a ferry. This time, our destination was a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, Rangitoto Island.

By the way, Rangitoto is Māori for 'Bloody Sky'. Hmmmm.

Small insignificant pieces of rocks

And we walked...

And we did pull-ups...

And we walked again...

To reward those who bother to "scale" the 260m volcanic cone, they built a touristy lookout area, furnished with benches and shelters.

It was picnic time where everyone wowed each other with the amazing array of food. Including Made in Malaysia mooncakes. (Thanks Jeremy!)
Nah, it ain't wine. Just a container to store water, once again complimentary services from Jeremy.
While I?
Still taking photos of the magnificent view.
With filled stomachs, we headed straight for the formidable, pitched dark LAVA CAVES.
After a grand total of less than 10 minutes, we were back into daylight!
What the...

Fake grins of achievement

Flora and fauna was rather unique...

After emerging unscathed from the Lava Caves, we walked again...

And walked...

And walked...

For a moment, the over 2 hours hike back to the wharf almost reminded me of army. *Shudder*

But certainly, what was most frightening was if one were to miss the last ferry at 4PM. With zero eateries or shops or even a source of potable water, spending overnight on the island was really not something funny.

Rewardingly deadbeat.