The past few days.....

It's been 3 frustrating days since friday till today, where the weather has prevented us from going to Mt Hutt to learn snowboarding or skiing. Going to try again tomorrow to get on the mountains to learn before I go back to Singapore since the chance of trying it is close to 0(unless snowcity is considered in the equation).

Been on msn messenger the past few days and chatting with some friends. Many of them have arrived back in Singapore from their exchange programmes, ranging from France to HongKong, etc. I'll be back myself in 4 days time. Feeling ambivalent since I'm sad to leave beautiful NZ but happy to go home as well, after having spent 5 fruitful months here in Christchurch. If any incoming SEP students are reading this, I wish you all the best and have a tremendously enjoyable time just like my batch did.

Last night, we all managed to sing karaoke for the first and last time in christchurch at this place called Ancestral. It's a really popular place with asians. Reminds me of kbox and partyworld back in Singapore.

This morning, went to upper riccarton methodist church for possibly the last time because I am leaving NZ on thursday. I have been switching between this church and Arise, which most of my fellow R&R hallmates attend.

Went to the recreation centre to do cardio conditioning on the treadmill and chanced upon the biggest sporting event in malaysian students calendar called "unity" games. It's a 4 day event and this year the event is being held at UC. Stayed and watched a bit of the basketball games; the cmsa team is supposedly very strong and have not lost in 9 years; at least that was what I was told. Left after an hour of watching to go find food (in the end it was a simple choice of muesli bars since it was already in my room).

On another note, going over to uni hall for dinner with hongkai, binjuan and veron cos they are heading to queenstown, wanaka, milford sound, etc and I'm sure they will have loads of fun. Hopefully they see some falling snow (We've been hoping for it since we arrived and even discussed it in our get-togethers before arriving in NZ half a year ago).

Mt Hutt Trip Cancelled

Rain cloud at 6 am
Rain cloud at 5 am
Rain cloud at 4 am
Rain cloud at 3 am
Rain cloud at 2 am

Absolutely gutted that Mt Hutt has been closed for the day due to rain. Should have expected it since the weather has been decent for the past week. It was bound to happen, on the day we wanted to go up. (Forecast was for snow on the mountains when I went to bed at midnight).

12am: Went to bed around midnight after preparing all the necessary warm clothing for the expected ski/snowboarding trip
6am: Stirred from sleep, didn't want to get out of bed though
6:09am: Hongkai smsed asking if it was still a Go because it was raining in Christchurch. Told him to carry on preparing since I did not get any call.
6:23am: Received a call from SnowFun's Andy saying Mt Hutt has closed for the day due to rain.

Therefore, I am going for an early breakfast at 7:30am. Let's see who is up early like me. Maybe other potential skiiers/snowboarders? Or those having exams at 9:30am. Had I known the trip was going to be cancelled I would have gone to town last night. There's like 4 people left on my level, out of 11 of us. I can hear my echo down the corridor at times. Weird, interesting and eerie at the same time.

At least now I can send some postcards which I promised my friends a couple of days back.

Exams Over, Holidays Begin

Yup, finally the exams are over. Hope I clear all of them. Especially Systems which I stayed up till 2.30 am to study for it and woke up at 6.30am on the day of the exam just to try and revise more in the hope of passing it. That must have been the least amount I ever slept on this exchange programme, since usually I get my 7 hours of sleep daily. But that's all inconsequential now since it's over. I still remember the day before the paper, the whole lab(civil suite) was filled with people studying systems. Suddenly the professor appeared and everyone swarmed around him asking him questions and hoping for some hints which he refused to divulge. There must have been like 40 of us surrounding the poor guy who was sitting at the table.

The past few days have seen the hall population dwindle to less than half the original number since many of the hostelites have gone home, some as early as last saturday!

Probably spend the last few days catching up with the new-found friends over a meal and bidding farewell to them. It's been good times really.

Plans for the remaining few days are probably to head into the mountains to learn skiiing/snowboarding although it's really really expensive. And hoping for some falling snow man. (Note to those in Christchurch: If you see snow, call me or wake me up at any time and with any method!) I hope it snows when we are on the mountains.

And also of note, Binjuan has flown down from auckland to spend time with us here in christchurch. We'll definitely have loads of fun.

Exam Schedule

21 June(thursday) - ENCI 383 Environmental Engineering 2 - 2.30pm
23 June(saturday) - ENCI 415 Pavement Engineering - 2.30pm
27 June(wednesday)- ENCI 429 Structural Systems - 9.30am
28 June(thursday) - Maor 107 Maori Heritage - 2.30pm

Nikau Palm Gully Tramping

Stopping to take in the views and for everyone to catch up and drink some water

Nikau Palms(think oil palms) in the background.
Left to right : Paul, Dee, Pam, Brian (I think these are their names)
Near the end of the tramp, waiting for the rest to catch up.
Closed/Private Property. We needed a permit to tramp there.

Early Sunday morning, I woke up to catch the 7:33am Metrostar to Merivale Mall so that I could meet the christchurch trampers at the papanui road shell station. We were going on an easy tramp in Akaroa. The weather on friday and saturday was absolutely miserable, cloudy, overcast, intermittent drizzle the entire day. It was supposed to be foggy and overcast on sunday morning, and gradually turning fine as the day progressed. At least that was what the weather forecast was and it was true to its word, thankfully. On the way, I actually felt a little carsick even though I didn't eat anything for breakfast. The last time I felt this way was as a kid on the way up genting highlands. Luckily, we arrived soon enough.

And so a group of about 15 of us, adults, teenagers, kids spent the day on this easy walk. The terrain was almost entirely flat with maybe about 200metres of bushwhacking/stream crossing/boulder crossing.

The view was nice and spent some time talking with Pam, Samantha and Paul along the journey. Found out that Manuka is actually considered a kind of tea tree; Samantha was born in Singapore; Paul was thinking of stopping over in Singapore for a short while; Brian was actually in Singapore in 1976!

6 weird things

1. I cannot wake up late, I wake up naturally by 9am, although I feel tired throughout the day.
2. I eat before I sleep, every night. chocolate or muesli bar.
3. I live out of my suitcase. Clean/washed clothes are thrown into my lugguage. Dirty clothes are thrown into the laundry basket.
4. I must watch tv or use the internet, every night.
5. I have not worn all the clothes I brought from Singapore.
6. I don't use more than 30 sms/month even though I have txt2000.

Weekend Trip to the West Coast of South Island - Pakihi Walk, Hokitika Beach, Pancake Rocks

Pakihi Walk - View of the Southern Alps
Veron and Hongkai taking a rest and photos
Sunset at Hokitika Beach, opposite Birdsong BBH
Punakaiki Pancake Rocks; waves crashing on the rugged west coast
My shadow with very long legs
Proof that I was there
Departure from Greymouth back to Christchurch

And so after the Franz Josef Glacier walk, we drove about 16km north of Franz Josef township to take in the views of the southern alps. After that, we drove to Hokitika to stay the night at Birdsong BBH. Kerry the lady owner was very hospitable and helpful. And the amazing thing about the hostel was that after 730pm, the 2 owners go home, which means we backpackers are the only ones there. There was no tv but there was a really nice fire place so Hongkai, Veron, Risa(Hongkai's flatmate), Chris (Risa's friend) and I sat near the modern fireplace and played a game of "spoons", which could get violent at times. Risa and Chris had climbed the Fox Glacier that day and they were going to climb Mt Tarua the next day. It was a cold night so I used 2 hot water bottles which kept me sufficiently comfortable for the night, as long as I was under the blanket.

Monday morning, we ate bread with tuna and drank milk for breakfast. Once again, there was frost on the car so we had to use the thermistor and melt the frost. Then we set off for the pancake rocks in punakaiki, 1hr 10 minutes drive north of Hokitika. As it was not high tide, the effect created by the blowholes was not stunning. Apparently, the best time to visit the pancake rocks that day was at 7.30pm, when the high tide conincided with a south west swell, but it would have been too dark and late for us to visit then.

And so we went to eat Subway for lunch (our first meal on arrival was also Subway). Then we boarded the tranzalpine back to Christchurch - journey time was from 1.45pm to 6pm. We were lucky the weather was excellent. It had been raining the past week before our trip but in the end it was fine when we were there.

Weekend Trip to the West Coast of South Island - Franz Josef Glacier

Walking to the Franz Josef Glacier

Before the climb

During the climb
Hongkai
Veron
The rest of our group
View from the glacier
Regaining their sense of balance
Veron crossing the stream and Hong kai watching
At the end of a successful climb

Early on sunday morning, we arrived at the Glacier guides centre at 8.45am to collect our equipment and gear up for the half day walk we were about to embark on. Enjoyable walk, not too technical or difficult; 3 hours valley walk and 1.5 hours on the glacier itself.

Weekend Trip to the West Coast of South Island

View from the TranzAlpine train 1
View from the TranzAlpine train 2
View from the TranzAlpine train 3
Veron and Hongkai at Arthurs Pass
Me at Arthurs Pass

We arrived at the train station early saturday morning at 7.40 am for the 8.15 am tranzalpine ride that would take us to the west coast. All was well and easy. During the ride, we were allowed to go to the viewing platform. Suffice to say, the view was stunning but the windchill was also too cold such that I lasted the shortest time of 30 minutes before heading back into the carriage for some warmth. Upon our arrival at Greymouth at 12.45pm, we had subway for lunch before spending the rest of the afternoon driving down to Franz Josef township to spend the night. Had indian food for dinner at some touristy cafe but the food was good. Also bought some bread, chocolate and milk for the next day's breakfast.

Visit to the International Antarctic Centre

Outside the International Antarctic Centre
Outside the Antarctic Storm Chamber (which simulated 60knots/h winds)
Penguin Feeding Time
Search and Rescue team on the Hagglund

Stepping on the brakes in a stationary Hagglund
Antarctic Centre Shop
Antarctic Centre Shop
More souvenirs
Welcome to Antarctica

Last Day of School in University of Canterbury

Gateway Antarctica office.

The Antarctica course I took had 2 X 8am lectures every week.

Glad to have completed it. Hongkai and I at the Maori Department Signboard
Performing a sort of "completion" haka to signal the end of MAOR 107.
Our usual seats in maori tutorials.
Hongkai and I at the Engineering Department
Engineering Road-first time I actually saw it.
Veron, our kind photographer for today
Nicole and I at the Mix Cafe in UCSA building.
She's the UC Singapore Club secretary.

Queen's Birthday Tramping - Woolshed Hill

Snow covered landscape we were driving past
First serious frost of winter
Climbing
Alpine tramping, some snow
Alpine tramping, more snow

Darryl taking pictures
Climbing Woolshed Hill
Heading for a sheltered spot for lunch
Lunch away from northwesterly
At the end point, after descending through unmarked tracks and river crossing.

And so it was early monday morning which was queen's birthday holiday, 6 of us arrived at UCSA carpark at 7am to begin our day tramp. Initially our plan was to summit Mt Aicken but the weather was not too good, with winds at the summit expected to be about 90km/h. So we changed location and headed towards Woolshed Hill instead, which was further east, out of the northwesterly's direction. All of them were equiped for the tramp, with beanies, gaiters, boots, etc whereas I was wearing sports shoes (not a good idea as the ground is often uneven). It was the first winter tramp of the season and there was some snow due to the dump on saturday night. Snow was powedery (fresh). Darryl was saying powdery snow makes a crunch sound when you step on it. It is also the ideal type of snow for snowboarding and skiing. There were 2 germans, 1 french, 1 south african, 1 kiwi and myself. The germans and french was really quick even after 2 of them had done the half marathon yesterday. They were constantly ahead and had to wait for Darryl, Simon and me because we were busy taking pictures. In fact, Simon was so hardcore that his camera equipment weighed more than his tramping stuff such as food, water and warm clothing. The climb up was ok but steep at times. And for the 3rd week in the row, the tramping group I was with decided to venture beyond marked tracks. And for the 2nd week in a row, there was river crossing. Luckily we only crossed the river twice this time, but it was still freezing. Nonetheless, it was a decent tramp, even though we are all tired.