Memories of Heart - New Zealand March 2011

Our 30 years + old classmates reunion began on February 27, 2011- in the land of pure fresh air - New Zealand.
After almost 13 hours long haul flight, we arrived Auckland airport. Went through a very strict bio-security check. One of my friend forgot to declare an egg in her handbag. The outcome , she was fined NZ$400.0. So folks, remember to declare before customs in New Zealand.
I met my old friend at the airport. I could still recognise her and called her while she was wondering around whether we were arrived or not.

                                                      Auckland airport arrival hall

My friend drove us to downtown to meet other friends in a Chinese restaurant.

The old classmates in front of the restaurant

While most of the friends were couples, so they checked in the service apartment near downtown. As I was alone, my New Zealand friend had a room for me in her house. After dinner we walked back to the house. There were no street lights. The sky was very clear with all the stars in the sky. You could see clearly the Taurus, Orion and many others. It was so quite that you could hear one's breathe mixed with the sound of the insects.

February 28, 2011 to Christchurch

We were so excited that we began our South Island 6 days tour. We flew to Christchurch in the morning. Christchurch had the earthquake two weeks ago. We were afraid that our tour might be cancelled. The tour guide confirmed that the places we were going were miles away from Christchurch. Our tour comprised with about 40 people from different parts of the world. We stopped by a small town before we were heading to the Lake Tekapo. 

 

Around noon, we arrived at the Lake Tekapo. The first caught in our eyes was the Church of the Good Shepherd. This small stone church was built in 1935 on the side of the Lake Tekapo to the glory of God as a memorial to the early settlers of the Mackenzie basin.

The Church of the Good Shepherd

The church was by the side of Lake Tekapo.

Lake Takapo

Queenstown - a place where there's so many unforgetable moments. The coolest experience in Queenstown was the Minus 5 Degree Icebar. In the Icebar, you would experience an unreal adventure that you would never forget. The vodka cocktails or cold drink were served in a glass made from ice whilst being surrounded by 18 tonne of hand sculpted ice statues, furniture, bar and walls. The entry fee were expensive and only last for 15 minutes per session. We thought that for such a high entry fee we should stay longer than 15 minutes. We were wrong. As we got our drink in about 5 minutes and we felt the coldness inside. Before we entered the Icebar, we were provided with down jacket and gloves. The air was getting colder and colder but the time went so slow. We began to take some action to keep us warm. We had to dance to the rock music and dance around the Icebar to get some warmth. 15 minutes passed than we were out to the real world.