FIFA World Cup - a Month of Sleepless nights.

I have blood shot, lost concentration at work (borderline actually), panda eyes and sleepless nights for at least 2 weeks. If there wasn't any time difference then I wouldn't be having these symptoms and marking the sofa with my body shape. This year is the 2010 FIFA World Cup, held in South Africa. Thirty-two (32) countries competing to see which team will be the best for the world cup (and probably a good door stopper!).

I am not going to lie to you, I don't always follow soccer; nor do I have a favourite team. Don't get me wrong, I like watching the game (not just always the obvious when women like footballers (!)) I like watching a good match. However when that 4 years of the FIFA World Cup comes around; I go all gaga and wooo hooo! If the Socceroos are in the cup. I support Australia...and a few other teams may I add. When one of the teams I cheer for is eliminated I go for the next team....don't we all?

"The sport that stops the nation...." Whoops that's Melbourne Cup. Guess the FIFA World Cup stops a nation when your team country is playing a match. Generally die-hard fans go to the local sports bar/club and watch the games while drinking a tasty cold beer; or just gathering with friends and family watching it in their 50inch plasma screen at home. If there is no time difference then the fans are probably ordering take-away food instead of cooking because they are glued to the screen. Well since Australia watches the football in midnight well er its probably just a cuppa coffee and snacks that are left in the pantry and left-over meals. *Ho hum.*

People who aren't a huge fan of football (soccer for the non-european countries and the point a few dislike calling it soccer), trust me you will turn to be a temporary die-hard fan for a month! *Fingers point at Vivian* Regardless how much knowledge you know about football; you instantly become God in understanding the game (bullshitting or not) you just feel as if you do. Tehehehe.

The games so far have been good. Only a few drove me insane and the referees!!! What's the deal with them. Some have given poor judgements in some games i.e the recent goal England 'supposedly' scored against Germany recently and giving straight red card to Australia's Harry Kewell when they where playing against Ghana week ago. Wasn't happy Jan!

Another insane thing are the vuvuzelas. At the beginning to the end it just drives me insane. GRRRR, but if you're into watching the game (on tv) guess it just doesn't bother you with selective hearing - the referees, players, Les Murray and the other commentators. At least theres not much to go till the cup is over in a couple of weeks.

Sam, Santo and Ed Cup Fever has been following the World Cup since it started, the middle and of course the end. It's such a crack up. If you don't know what it is, its just a 30min show where they discuss about the previous games, take a mickey out of certain players, matches, have 'interviews' with a few of the world's greatest former soccer players and coaches. Hilarious. That's what TV's suppose to be!

Now girls, don't get too excited... yes being shallow for a bit sometimes girls just like to watch the match because of the soccer players. Yes i.e Ronaldo, Messi, Villa, er the whole Spanish and Argentian team, South Americans, USA, Germany..err whatever tickles your fancy. A month of perve-fest. No hard feelings there guys......I'm sure when there's women playing sports you perve as well. HA!
Right now it's close to crunch time as each group are playing towards the quarter/semi and then the finals. I wonder who will be going to the finals? I will go for Spain, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Netherlands and Argentina. GO teams GO!

It'd be a tad depressing for me when the cup is over. OH well...another 4 years in Brazil next. I just hope Australia gets in the next world cup. Guess I just wait for the next world cup - the Rugby Union World Cup in New Zealand....at least the time difference is only 3hours :).

V x

AJ Hackett Nevis Bungy Jump

Orginally Remy and I were only to do the Nevis Arc Swing, nevertheless, we both decided to to the Bungy Jumping. (Don't know what possessed us to do it!). It's not Queenstown unless you get to do bungy (or equivalent). It's not for the faint hearted, and even the last time I went to Queenstown with Lani and Neil, there was no way to do it. 1. It was winter wonderland in Queenstown = FREEZING 2. Were on a schedule to just snowboard and 3. Didn't in a million years think of doing it.

Now that million years have come....I have decided in my crazy mind to "DO IT!" Nike style. So Friday 7th of May we went to the Bungy Shop to book for our jump on Saturday 8th of May. Lucky we didn't pay full price as it was 20% off if you've done a jump/swing with A.J.Hackett...once paid...no turning back. Yikes!

The eve of the jump, Remy and I were at the Altitude Bar @ the Base Queenstown Backpackers and I get a missed call from my brother Ray. I call back......
{viv} "Hey Ray, What's up?"
{ray}"Are you in hospital?"
{viv}"What? Errr..I'm in a club" (doof doof noise in the background)
{ray} " Oh, cause there was a news in Yahoo about an Australian falling from bungy"
{viv} "Huh? Nope. (Ray reads the article to me).
{viv} "No because I'm in Queenstown, not in Christchurch"
{ray} "Oh that's good, because we were worried."
{viv} "Remy and I are all good; we are bungy jumping tomorrow"
{ray}"Okay....(and can't remember what else we talked but then say bye).

*Sigh*
The night before, we went on a Pub Crawl. The Pub Crawl was good, however after the 5th pub we lost the group so Remy and I ended up at the World Bar for a while before heading back to our room to sleep..ready for the next day ahead.

8th of May we will never forget. Read on the site about the accident that happened to an Australian lady and who was in the Christchurch Hospital recovering from her bungy fall. There are risk taking these activities, however I was rather annoyed by the news..honestly (and quietly) it made me nervous because it could happen to anyone who does it. About 130pm was our jump; again the bus with other 'jumpers' to the Nevis Bungy place.

Drove past the Kawana Bridge Bungy, which is the very first commerical bungy jump - 43m and then 15mins was our destination. Firstly checked in and weighed again with the harness and then followed one of the staff member to the platform; gawking at the place where people were jumping off; a cable wired platform..the only way to get there was a cable transporter thingy....4 of us got onto the cable transport thingy, Remy, 2 Swedish girls and me. Got to the platform and I was extremely nervous and shaky. My hands were tremoring while I hear scream after scream of the people jumping off and then seeing them through the glass view on the floor.

A very long way to the bottom..how about 143m??? Remy and I made our own bet to see, who out of us to was to jump first. Paper, scissors and Rock game out of 3. I lost so I was planning on jumping first. Unfortunately they went by weight so I had to be the last..and him the first again.
Lots of picture taking *click click*. I stand at the viewing area, cheering on Remy (Cheering?). The staff member asked Remy "Are you ready?" Remy: "Non"...counting down 3,2,1..JUMP..nope. The he jumped. I just heard a faint "arghhhhhhhhhh!"....after 2 jumps from other people, I was the lucky last. Can't describe how I felt sitting on the dentist-seque chair having my legs bounded together. Guess pissed off, excited and nervousness.

Shuffling like a Geisha to that 'plank' I look down thinking "I cannot believe I'm doing this!" My stomach had butterflies....oh my gosh, oh my gosh...! Waved and posed for photos then the guy counted down...3,2,1..JUMP...then all over. Whoosh! Such a breathtaking view of the lake and mountains...8.5seconds its over. Between those second yes I screamed my head of, I think I may have shut my eyes for a split second.

Wow! What a jump. Sense of accomplishment that I can tick it off my list to 'things to do when travelling'

Afterwards back onto the Cable Transporter back to the base, brought the dvd and photo and then headed back to Queenstown centre back to our place and saying to each other "OMG; can't believe what we just did!"

Would I do it again? Yes...scare myself all over again.

Until then...

Adios

Vxx

Te Anau..rest.eat.go.

Still relling a hangover from the night before, Remy and I went for another 2hr or so ride to Te Anau; a stop over to go to Milford Sounds.
What's there in Te Anau? Of course there is activities to do like Milford, rafting, sightseeing, walking in the forest/parks...but seriously I find it BORING. OMG Remy and I are bored out of our minds. We just can't wait to go to Milford Sounds then back to Queenstown.

Dead boring and even the backpacker place we are staying is dead quiet. T___T

Adios

Vx

Adrenaline Freak

So today was a rather THRILLING day. Of course it was hard to get up early - round 845am; had a not-so-warm shower, quick drink of lemon tea, miso soup and Toffee Pop biscuits; and then Remy and I left our room round 950am, grabbed a hot drink on-the-go then headed to the Station to wait for the bus to head to the place for the Shotover Jet. Once we went there, got over to wear the long black jacket and safety jacket and then a 'souvenir photo shot' from the Shot over Photographer, before heading to the Jet boat.
I don't know how long we were on the jet boat, but sure it was an amazing hair-raising ride. Our driver/pilot Glenn is crazy. Travelling at 85km/hr and when Glenn did the 360degree turns, the people on the sides of the jet boat got rather wet, as well as some people in the middle of the boat.
Gosh I'm mean, I let Remy sit at the side. *insert evil laugh*

After all the jet boating and some interesting historical info from Glenn, stepped off the jet boat, back on the bus to the Station. Afterwards went back to our place to just get changed to other jeans/socks/shoes and then hurriedly went to Subways for a quick lunch before heading back the Station for our Nevis Arc swing. Went to the Station to get 'checked-in' and weigh and waited for 1pm to get on another bus. Our friendly dread-lockin' driver took us for a 40min drive to our destination. Even starring at the window, seeing the Hanging platform I was already nervous. Feeling, excited, scared and shit-scared at the same time. I just love scaring myself...even to death.

Once we got to the destination, need to make a 'pit stop' and then went back to get re-weighed and checking in etc before 2 of the crew members took us to the 70m walkway thing (can't remember ) to the platform to have our safety gear on. Remy went first and he was upside down. I was nervous for him. The crew member didn't do much of a countdown, instead just push the button then ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. It's a very high swing indeed. My gosh my turn next.....

...So I just sat up facing the cliffs meters away from me, I give 2 of the cameras a smile before the lady pushed the button and I screamed. Words cannot really express how scared and fun it was. Being suspended for a couple of minutes before going back up, I looked down still was so high up, probably another 80meters from the rushing river, mountains and grass area. Shit I just had to do it again.

Remy and I did the swing again, this time Remy was facing forward sitting while I was facing backwards. Personally facing backwards scared the hell out of me that I screamed more than Remy (and probably made his left hear just a tad deaf!)
Its such an amazing activity. Got footage and photos of it which I will share at some stage via Facebook.

Next adrenaline rush probably Bungy Jump @ the Nevis Bungy 134m. I"m already scared.....SHIT!

Until then

Adios

Vx

Stop, photos, drive, stop,photos, drive,eat,drive.....

Hrm I think I'll skip the Kaikoura section. Making long story short, went and saw the dolphins in the Delphinidae boat, some swam with the dolphins and others just watched. Remy and I just watched and it was good. A pity I was feeling rather sea sick, as it was rather rough sea to get to the dusky dolphins. They are pretty cool close up...I slept most of the way back to the wharf.


So Hanmer Springs after Kaikoura, searched round for a place to stay, with thanks to Remy he found a place called Hanmer Backpacker. A very comfortable alpine style place, that was like your own home, and what backpacker doesn't give you FREE ICE CREAM!!??? Lol. Yes they owner gave out free ice cream, yes 10 different kinds of flavours too! That's the first. Our room was small but cosy.
The next day got up just before lunch time, ate Mi Goreng Noodles then headed to the Thermal Spa and Pools.
It was wonderful. Of course it was cool and the breeze was even colder, but it didn't matter, because the thermal pools were wonderful. Temperatures ranging from 35degrees celsius to 41degree celsius, hot but wonderful. Later we booked 30mins in a steam room then 30mins in a private pool. It was nice...then back in the 40degree pool. Great view of the moutains, tree tops and the sound of birds chrip and the lovely kiwi accent.
Afterwards, went and had the great ol' tucker of fish and chips @ a place called Captain Mike's Fish and Chips. The shop keeper was cool, because she gave us a pen and we wrote on the store's window, yes we vandalised the window, but don't worry because plenty more people did the same thing :).
Then back to our temporary place for free ice cream then sleep.

Left Hanmer Springs round 10am for our trip to Fox Glacier. Stopped over at Greymouth for lunch before embarking for more driving, stopping for photos, more driving, photos for the beautiful scenery of Arthur's Pass, more scenic road sides then finally at Fox Glacier. Cold but nice.

Next...Fox Glacier walkin.

Until then

Adios

V x

From Yestersday's Post

From yesterday (27 April 2010) Obviously didn't get up from the alarm, which was set at 930am; instead lazed round the bed til about 1045am, got ready before having a brunch at the What Restaurant downstairs. Again a NZ$12 brunch of *Fush end Chups* yes beloved fish and chips, which was really good! Instead of wondering round the town centre, we headed straight to our hired Toyota car on the way to Akaroa. About a 3hr drive from Christchurch. Driving up and down the paddocked landscapes, zig-zagging through more paddocks, past cows and of course sheeps. HA! Remy and I spotted some on the road; as we were approaching them, Remy honked the horn and boy oh boy can they run so fast! ZOOM! Zooming to the hill and then gwaking at us as if we were so rude to them.

Finally reaching Akaroa, it is a small habour-side town. It is a cute place and the places there reminds me of movie sets. English and French Settlement in the heydays (talking about 1800s!) and nowadays, Akaroa still has its French influence, from 'Rue Jolie'; the French Flag, buildings and the 'Boulangerie du village.' Had a delicious hot chocolate, while Remy had his cappuccino and a yummy caramel biscuit. Chatted for a while then off to another 2hour drive (someone tell me why its faster driving back than driving to the place?) back to Christchurch to our hotel.

Went back to our room then watched some TV (I was watching Angels and Demons, unfortunately didn't get to finish the whole movie..) before heading to the sauna, yes trying out the hotel amenities.Stayed and chatted for about 20mins before heading back upstairs for a shower then out to the town for dinner. HRM for dinner didn't know what to have so we wondered about saying ..."how about this? how about that?" And then later ended up having Chinese food. Then back to the Hotel So lobby for our fix of free wi-fi then back up to the room for sleep. -__-

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Travelling again

Hello my fellow friends,

Another up-date to my travelling bug er bug!?!?! Bahahaha. It should have been yesterday, but after all the travel, checking out the stuff in Christchurch, was too tired to blog about yesterdays events! So here it goes....

MONDAY 26th APRIL

..Off goes my Daft Punk alarm to 6:00am. I turn my head to the left and reach for my iPhone alarm, "right snooze" 9mins later Daft Punk's "harder, better, faster, stronger" goes back on, snooze, then repeat, then 6:30ish I go to Remy "aight get up and get ready" We get ready and get all our gear packed and finalised. Mum seems to be excited more than Remy and I, (guess its just because we're still tired). So off we all go, yes my whole family - Mum, Dad and Ray come with us to the Brisbane International Airport. Once we reached the 'departures' section, dropped our bags off, "Have a safe trip, enjoy (in between with hugs and kisses)" Remy and I go to the check-in section to well check -in our luggage as well as our flight stuff, then off to the custom/secturity section before having some breakfast of Red Rooster goodness.

9:40am is our flight to Christchurch, flying Pacific Blue. We get in and the cabin crew make a mickey of their names; when they are introducing themselves to us "So welcome to flight DJ80 and taking care of you are Sandy, Mandy and Candy...." Most of the trip I was catching up on snooze, awkwardly sleeping on the side, giving my left side a very good stretch! (ouch!) Woke up in between, listening to music, my frenchPod and then chomping some Burger Ring chips. Our flight was about 2hrs and 30mins, as we were 20mins early than the expected arrival time...not too bad.

Arrived in Christchurch Airport, yet again through customs to get my passport scanned (unfortunately not stamped :() and bags off the conveyor belt then back to security to check no food etc, (cause you know NZ is angst if bringing something that ain't legal!) so I just checked in my Chips! Yes my Doritos chips because I didnt want to dis 'em. Later Remy went to check out the car hires. Went to Budget but they wanted like $1000 something for hiring a car for 16 days so we went to the Britz section, Remy negotiated with the guy and got it for about $542NZ for 16days, so then got a free shuttle to the place where we go and hired a car. After that finally got our car, small/medium white car and with my Dad's trusty GPRS (Thanks Dad for lending it to us) we headed off to Christchurch city to our hotel - Hotel So. It's such a small and trendy hotel with free gym, sauna and of course Wi-Fi! So I recommend you all check out this hotel when staying in Christchurch; not a bad area, as its close to city centre.

After settling down in our hotel room, Remy and I ventured downstairs for Dinner, very cheap from 5pm its $NZ12 Dinner, it was cheap and had steak with chips and salad, YUM! Then we headed out to Oxford Tce and took some tourist photos before heading to another restaurant/bar to have a beer. A bummer I had a throbbing headache, I didn't get to finish having it (:() then after went to the 24hr store to buy some Neurofen (which funnily enough the Korean or Japanese Shop-keeper was suggesting to me 'it was very good to have') well er I'm a nurse lol but I just agreed with what she said. Then back to the hotel, watched a bit of tv before falling asleep. zzzzzzzz