NEW ZEALAND (III)

Woke up at Rototua all ready for another busy day. I luvvit when my hair is waved perfectly, good day hair makes everything so much easier and more bearable.

We spent the morning touring parks and taking strolls. It was pretty early, so early that the ducks were still asleep. Those things floating on water? Yes, those're the ducks I was talking about ha ha.

New Zealand is reaaaally clean. The locals were telling me how Singapore's known to be clean.
I quickly replied, "No man, hands down to New Zealand" ha ha ha.

Evidently my family members are all pretty tall. I don't know if it's the Malaysian genes but we're just the way we are, genetically-born this way. So don't ask about my diet or exercise regimes, it's really mainly my genes.

After we're done with the parks, we caught a domestic flight to get to Christchurch. And this is where all the exciting parts began cause the South island is known to be much much prettier and more exciting than the North.

The moment we touched down in Christchurch, we were brought to the Antarctica Centre which was just 5 minutes ride away from the airport. It was pretty cool there (pun intended). They've a room where the environment was stimulated to be almost Antarctica-like. Temperature in Antarctica could go as low as -80degree and the room was set to -18degree..... Despite the leeway given in the inaccuracy of temperature, I was freezing-dying inside. The stimulated windstorm didn't help at all haha.

That day was pretty wet in general. After the Antarctica trip, it began to drizzle more. But tour being tour, and for money to be worth every single penny, we went down to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. If anyone's going to New Zealand and is comparing between Rainbow Spring and Willowbank, please choose the latter. We couldn't see shit in Rainbow Spring, not even the main highlight: kiwis. But in Willowbank, they have a nocturnal house so that the kiwis would think it's night and roam around freely (and timidly) for the tourists to see. #clever

Fun fact: Kiwi with its size comparable to a chicken, however lays egg waaaaay bigger than chicken's. Its egg itself takes up 25% of its body weight. #femalepride #wearestrongerthanyouthink The male then is in charge of sitting on the egg till it hatches #fairenough haha. 

Fun fact: Keas are extremely smart birds. They're very playful and friendly towards humans (if they want to). However, they can be pretty destructive if they want to as well: chewing off rubbers from cars, resting on sheeps to dig into their organs. Sheeps have this particular organ which keas love and appears to be very beneficial to them. Sheeps though, can't live long without that organ. Hence, farmers began to hunt and shoot keas whenever they're sighted within the compound. Over the years, the number of keas dwindled fast and they're now facing extinction. 

I am still amuse by how the keas have a thing for sweet stuff just like us humans. They love honey. So the carers were feeding them spoonful of honey when we were there visiting. And what they say in NZ, if you're having ice cream (in the wild), better watch out for the keas hahaha. 

Fun fact: Tuatara is also another species facing extinction in NZ. They actually have a invisible "third eye" located right on the top of their head to watch out for predators. The eye can't see but it senses the light. This helps because it will know when an eagle is hovering above it or when predator overshadows them etc. Now I won't if other reptiles or insects have "third eye" too haha.

Was obviously over the moon when we arrived at the Heartland Hotel and got to stay here for a night. This place looked so lovely he he. That's the coach driver btw haha.

Postcards I got for Shamo.

Aaaaaaaaaaand, that's it. Sorry I'm ending this abruptly again. I realized I've so many more days to go for New Zealand. I'm thinking to compress all the other NZ logs together, still figuring how though. Y'all looking forward to my skydiving video? Heh heh sooooon sooooooooooon.




NEW ZEALAND (II)
NEW ZEALAND (I)