Tonight’s moon is supposed to be the biggest full moon of the year! I took this photo earlier this evening, while having dinner. No, i don’t live in a spooky neighbourhood. I just edited the image to death to give it more impact … More drama. But the moon did look pretty amazing.
Hope you all had a great weekend!
YUZH! I’ve finally managed to find the time to write about something. I had meant to blog about Arrowtown last Wednesday but, for some reason, the temperature dropped and all of a sudden, it became too cold for my body to function. I had all these ideas going through my head but my feet and fingers just wanted to feel the warmth of my electric blanket. It’s really quite chilly – it’s much colder now than this time last year. Brrr ….
Anyway … Arrowtown. On the first day of my second South Island Sojourn (the first was in 2008), after dumping my stuff at The Base, I headed off to Arrowtown to witness their Autumn Festival. I seriously didn’t know this was going to be held on the week I would be in town. I found out about all about it some time before I had to fly off. I think I did a Google search on Arrowtown (I think I was looking for someplace to eat) and the Arrowtown Autumn Festival came up.
I just checked my credit card statement and was surprised to find out that I was charged for 1 night’s accommodation at The Base in Queenstown! I paid for my stay in cash! Anyway, I rang up and asked about this billing and apparently, they charged all the no-shows yesterday. HEY! I was there so they have no right to charge me extra! They said they’ll look into it and let me know before the day is through. The guy said they’d be able to issue a refund — they’d better!
I’ve stayed at lots of backpackers and generally, the people i hare the room with are nice, polite and considerate. They would talk in hushed voices, especially at night, and try to make minimal noise when they move around in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, the roommates i had on my last night at Queenstown were not from that group of people.
Whew! I’m finally somewhat settled after taking that wonderfully gruelling week of travelling. In case you didn’t know, I went to the South Island again, and visited three main cities in a span of 7 days! I went to Queenstown, which was still as beautiful as ever (and had half a day in Arrowtown and a whole day at Skippers Canyon), took the bus to, and spent some time in Invercargill, then took the shuttle and ferry to and spent a few days at Stewart Island. Of course I had to make my way back to Queenstown after Stewart Island for my flight back up to Auckland. I’m exhausted, have several hundred images I need to sift through and lots of stories to tell. I’ll sort out my thoughts first (and finish some articles I need to submit by this coming Monday). I hope to be more coherent tomorrow. Meanwhile, I shall leave you with this …
Crystal Clear Lake Hayes
It’s a photo I took of Lake Hayes, while on the bus to Arrowtown. It’s beautiful isn’t it? Well, the South Island is beautiful, I suppose it has something to do with the imposing mountain ranges which the North Island doesn’t have. The Remarkables at Queenstown really are remarkable and the mountain ranges that lead up to Wanaka and Tekapo are just amazing. Anyway. I’ll compose my thoughts first and write more stories tomorrow.
Adieu!
