Leaving on a “jet” plane…
(I had typed this up in my laptop at the end of the day, but had no Internet access so could not upload it until July 21st because I had no time?)
My aunt wanted me to try some lamb before I left NZ, so she made me breakfast of lamb and mashed potatoes. It was pretty heavy, but it was more like brunch than breakfast as I knew I’d be skipping lunch. It was 10am before I knew it, and I rushed through a hot shower, and did my final packing, including a box of fruits for my mother.
Jin and Auntie drove me to the airport, and helped me check in my luggage and the fragile box of fruits and honey. They saw me off about 11.30am, and I wandered around the duty free shops before boarding my plane which was scheduled to depart at 12.50pm.
I had been sniffling all morning, and was sneezing a lot before I boarded. I was like… my first day in Auckland I was sick; now my last day I?m sick too!!
I was fortunate as my seat was 11J which was the front row where there was plenty of leg room; plus there was no one sitting next to me! I put all my spare stuff into that seat.
I took a nap after taking off, but it was very light sleep as everytime the stewardess came to give us something, I woke up. For example, when she came to give us salted peanuts; and later when she came by with the lunch trays.
After a hot lunch of fish and potatoes, plus custard buns and potato salad, I felt much better and stopped sneezing. I didn?t really want to sleep, so for the next few hours I watched movies and played TV games. I managed to watch three movies (Be Kind Rewind, Spiderwick Chronicles, Over Her Dead Body) and one episode of Everybody Loves Raymond before I had to surrender the headphones at 7.30pm.
I took a light nap as we were touching down, and wandered about the duty free shops at the international terminals before catching the train to the arrival hall.
And… I was back in hot ol’ Malaysia.
Well, I did swear not to complain about the heat anymore after the cold in New Zealand…
I’ll be back, NZ! And this time, I plan to swim with the dolphins in summer!
July 10, 2008
Back in Auckland
(I had typed this up in my laptop at the end of the day, but had no Internet access so could not upload it until July 21st because I had no time…)
We woke up a little later than usual… We rolled out of bed at 8am, and started packing up. Unfortunately my bag was too full and I yanked too hard… and broke the zip. As it was, the bag had already lost one side of the zip (it was supposed to be double zipper), and now that this zip broke, the bag was virtually useless 
We went for breakfast, where Jin finished the last Indomie Goreng, and I had four pieces of toast with margarine and maple syrup. We then checked out, and Jin and I had to carry my luggage bag to the car.
We drove over to Hell?s Gate thermal park where we had a free entry voucher (free from yesterday’s Maori Village package), and walked through looking at the bubbling, boiling mud. It was really boring and smelled of sulphur, and I wished we had gone to Wai-O-Tapu instead.
At the end of the walk, we came across a small workshop where people were carving into the wood. I felt a bit lazy and didn?t really feel like doing it, but we did anyway and I?m glad we did. I didn?t think I did well at all and the carvemaster, David, kept saying that I was only looking for compliments. But I told him that I was merely highly critical of what I do, and when he found out I used to be a teacher, he said, no wonder. He pointed out correctly that I didn?t need to fix my carving except for one tiny area to be rounder, compared to the others. He helped chisel my name into my piece of wood. We then soaked our wood carvings in lacquer, and left them to dry.
I decided to sign up for the mud bath and spa even though it was a bit expensive ($70) but I figured I might as well try it since I was already there. The mud bath and spa were mud and sulphur waters taken from the thermal park itself. It starts with a mud bath (even though it was in the open, I had sort of a private one. They were all enclosed by wooden fences) in a concrete tub, where the muddy water temperature was between 38 to 41 °C. I could only sit in there for about 20 minutes, and I rubbed mud all over my body to exfoliate. I was not allowed to dunk my head underwater nor rub mud on my forehead because the water was acidic and would sting the eyes badly, but was allowed to rub mud on my cheeks and chin.
After the mud bath, I had to take a super cold shower to balance my body (or something like that. I don?t know what it?s supposed to balance), then I was allowed to sit and soak in the public sulphur water pool for as long as I like. The temperatures of both pools were about 40 °C, I think, with one slightly hotter than the other.
I sat there for about half an hour (until 1.30pm) before taking a shower and rescuing poor bored Jin. We then hit the road onto Auckland, stopping by the Zorb on the way.
When we got to the Zorb, I was so calm and relaxed that I didn?t really feel like doing it. I found out that only the wet one was available, as there had been an incident that morning – the dry Zorb had rolled down, hit the fence and bounded in the air. So because of that, they had to stop the dry Zorbs for the day. The wet ones were still available because it was safer, as there was weight.
Bummer… I wanted to do the dry one because I didn?t want to get wet again, even though the dry one was more expensive. I know it?s a fun activity and ordinarily I would want to do it, but I just wasn?t in the mood.
I thought about it, and decided to do it, because I know that I would regret it if I didn?t. So I signed up, stripped down to my bikini (plus a sleeveless shirt so that I wouldn?t get too cold), and waited. A white van came down to get me and six Australian girls, and even though I had been there first and they had already gone down the Zorb, the girls were not considerate enough to let me go first. They quickly chatted up the guy and jumped in 3 at a time in the Zorb.
I wasn?t eager to get jumping though, so I patiently waited in the cold for my turn. Because I was solo, I had the option to choose the straight path down, or the zigzaggy. I chose the zigzag path because it was longer and looked way more fun.
I got in, had some warm water splashed in with me, and when given the signal, I got up and walked the ball into the zigzag path. And when I started slipping and sliding in an out-of-control ball, I screamed with delight. It was really super fun… I am so glad I did it; I had no regrets!
There was a photographer taking photos, and the photo CD cost $25. It was really expensive, but I bought it anyway because I figured that memories were more important than money. And the photographer did a good job.
Jin was feeling too queasy to drive, so I drove all the way to Auckland. We took longer than we anticipated, possibly because there were many vehicles on the motorway. By the way, the motorways are free (no toll) and most of the time are one-laned each side, although in some parts there are two lanes for overtaking.
We reached Auckland about 6pm, and Jin called Auntie Geok Hong to find out how to get to her house. Auntie Geok Hong said to turn off at Greenlane, head towards Newmarket and make our way to Dominion Road, but Jin was not familiar with the place and made me get back on the motorway and took a longer way that she was familiar with to Dominion Road. Better to be safe than sorry!
I managed to find the way to Hillsborough Road towards Lynfield, and I kept driving until I saw the Countdown supermarket I recognised!!
We reached the house about 7.30pm where everyone was patiently waiting for us, and I met Esther, my cousin for the first time.
Dinner was rice with Nando?s chicken, and we had the caramel mudcake which was Ben?s favourite. I even managed a bit of ice-cream.
Jin and Auntie dominated the dinner table conversation with talk of Asian foodstuff and spices which Jin was dying to get to take back to Dargaville with her. Esther found it hilarious. Esther left soon, and we hugged goodbye.
Uncle and Auntie lent me one of the luggage bags to replace my broken one. Thank goodness I have relatives here to lend me a bag!!! 
I was quite sad to know that it was my last night here… I was reluctant to leave because I liked and enjoyed my stay in New Zealand. But I had to go back to Malaysia because I … have to save up for my next trip back here!
July 9, 2008
A touch of the Maori tradition
(I had typed this up in my laptop at the end of the day, but had no Internet access so could not upload it until July 15th)
We woke up about the same time again today. Jin said she was too sore to go snowboarding, but I couldn?t really decide. I wasn?t sore or stiff – just a little around the shoulders and shins, but I barely felt the stiffness at all. Anyway we rolled out of bed about 7.20am, and started packing up before going down for breakfast. We had pancakes again, with lemon juice + maple syrup, and banana and kiwi.
We checked out about 8.45am, by which time I made up my mind that I would snowboard for half a day. Jin said I could use her boots and snowboard so I didn?t have to rent any, and see if we needed to get a lift pass for Happy Valley.
It was a little colder than yesterday, and as we were driving to Whakapapa Village, Jin asked me if I really wanted to do this. I told her that I think I would regret it if I didn?t.
It was a beautiful day just like it was yesterday, and we didn?t need chains to drive up. Because we arrived a little later than yesterday (about 9.30am), we had to park even further down, at Daypark 6 I pulled on the ski pants and my jacket, and put on her boots in the carpark, and then we trudged up towards the entrance to Happy Valley.
The signs didn?t indicate whether we needed a lift pass for Happy Valley, and Jin went to customer service to ask, but there were too many people in there so we just jumped onto the chair lift down to Happy Valley.
I strapped on the board and I attempted to snowboard… only to realise that I had forgotten everything I had learnt! Jin helped me down the slope as I tried the toe edge, but did quite badly. We then took the chair lift back up the slope and this time Jin tried to guide me down using the heel edge, but I fell a few times and cursed really loudly.
Finally halfway down I started to get the hang of it, and managed it on my own although I fell a few times. I went up the chair lift again and tried both the toe and heel edge all the way down. I managed it, even though I was pretty slow.
I had promised Jin that would be my last, but I wanted another go again and she said OK, so I went down the slopes again. While I was tempted to try another round, at the chair lift someone was checking the tags and I heard her telling a couple of boys that they needed a lift pass, although she let them go. When she saw me, however, she didn?t stop me, and I thought OK… maybe that means it?s time to stop!!!
So back at the top, I found Jin sitting comfortably inside the Bistro, and I bought myself a hot chocolate before we made our way up back to the car. I stripped off all the cold and wet things before we made our way onto Rotorua.
I had already binned my sunnies yesterday, and could barely keep my eyes open anyway, so I took a short snooze before Jin woke me up at Taupo, as she wasn?t sure if I wanted to do the bungy again. I thought about it, and decided against it even though I had a $55 voucher. I didn?t feel up to doing the bungy again, and I was feeling a little queasy for some reason.
We stopped by Lake Taupo as it was too beautiful to pass by. I took some scenic shots, before we walked right up to the water edge where an Australian black swan, green-headed ducks and some mallards were. Jin even made me climb a small tree for photo shots before we made our way onto Rotorua.
On the way we stopped at Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland which Jin said was really worth it (entry fee $27.50 pp) because the champagne pools, colours, and boiling mud pools were beautiful. However I suggested we come back the next morning because there was a sign which said that the Lady Knox Geyser erupts every morning at 10.15am, so why not catch that?
We went on to Rotorua where we stopped by i-Site to enquire about the Maori villages. We signed up for the Mitai Hangi and concert ($92 pp) because not only were there a hangi dinner and concert, but we could also see glowworms… plus it was slightly cheaper than the other village ($95pp). However with this package, we could get a free entry to either the museum, Hell?s Gate Thermal park, or the Wildlife Park. We ruled out the museum immediately, and I tried to decide between the thermal park or the wildlife park. In the end we opted for the thermal park because I wasn?t really interested to pet lion cubs… and anyway we were told that the lion cubs were now too big to carry for petting. I didn?t really want to see lions because it’s not like I haven’t seen any before!! However because Wai-O-Tapu and Hell?s Gate were in opposite directions (Wai-O-Tapu was in the south whereas Hell?s Gate was in the north) we couldn?t really see both, so it looks like I have to give up Wai-O-Tapu
We also enquired about lodges, and were recommended the Treks Backpacker?s Lodge. It was only $68 per night for a room with ensuite bathroom and we could pay at i-Site, so we did.
We drove over and found it was a new lodge – so many of the facilities were still in excellent condition. In fact, it was the first decent backpacker?s lodge I?ve stayed in!! There were plenty of salt and pepper and herbs, unlike the others; and everything was so clean and tidy. Instead of open cabinets under the sink where everything was randomly placed, they had closed cabinets with labels on to make it easy to find things. There were signs on the fridges that ?Everything will be cleared out on Monday (or Wednesday or Friday, on different fridges) at 11am. No exceptions!? which I guess is how they keep their fridges free from rotting food. The lounge was so comfortable and inviting; in fact I?m sitting in their dining area at the bar typing away.
Our room doesn?t have a heater but it was still hot; Jin said it?s probably because the room is very well insulated and keeps the heat from the afternoon. We have a twin bed room, and it?s really very cosy. We even had a key card and a key each.
We had checked in about 4pm, so after dumping our things in the room, we went for a walk in town. We stopped at a few souvenir shops, and finally bought some things from a souvenir shop owned by a Pakistani because the things there were so much cheaper. Jin bought some bone carvings, whereas I bought some cheap metal bling-blings and some paua necklaces.
On the way back to the lodge, we stopped by the Pig & Whistle which was a bar, because Treks gave us each a voucher for a free drink (house wine/beer/soft drink) so we sat in there and chatted while enjoying our drinks before making our way back to the lodge.
Jin took a quick hot shower because it was cold. I had on only my jeans, a sleeveless and a long sleeve shirt, and I was freezing colder than she was because she had more layers than I! She called me crazy for wearing so little but hey I thought I was acclimatising. I just pulled on my reversible waterproof jacket though and strapped on my knee guard and ankle guards because my legs felt a bit weathered from the skiing and snowboarding from the past 2.5 days.
Our voucher indicated that the pickup from our lodge would be between 5.45 and 6.10pm; and we were at reception by 5.50pm but the lady told us that the bus had already left. In fact, before we had even got back to our room, we had told her that we would be in our room in case the bus did come before we were there, but she told us she had been so busy that she was unable to tell the driver to wait. Plus, two more people had only just signed up, so the bus driver thought that he had everyone as he thought he was only supposed to pick 3 people up, not 5. She called him and he said he would turn around to pick us up.
We waited and waited and waited, and it crossed my mind that if we didn?t get to go tonight, we?d have to ask for our money back, although it was indicated that no refunds would be given. But damn, I wanted to go!
Our bus finally came about 6.15pm, where the nice jolly man apologised. He told us there would be about 100 people tonight, which was only ?a few?… there were about 240 last night. We made it to the village by about 6.25pm, and went in and sat at table 9 to wait for the show to start. It started about 6.40pm, where a local speaker started the ball rolling. He gave us a brief description about what was going to happen tonight, and then asked for someone to be the ?chief of the tribe of four winds?. He told us that ladies were excepted, because we were too precious. ?As we used to say,? he explained, ?if a man dies in battle, it?s only one life lost. But if a woman dies, a whole line of generation is lost.?
An elderly Englishman called Paul volunteered, and then the speaker asked all of us about the countries we came from. There were about 11 nations altogether: England, Australia, New Zealand, Guatemala (apparently it?s the first time in 6 years they have someone from there), Malaysia (us plus a whole bunch of other Chinese), Holland, Switzerland, India, Russia, and other places I can?t remember. So he called us the Tribe of Eleven Nations.
We then went outside to look at the hangi where our dinner was being cooked. The hangi is this big hole in the ground, and they cooked lots of stuff over fire and hot rocks. There were kumaras (sweet potatoes), potatoes, chicken, lamb, stuffing, etc.
We were hungry, but dinner wasn?t ready yet. We were going to take a little walk into the forest, and fortunately blankets were provided as it was cold!! We went to a shallow stream and waited for the Maori men to arrive. They came in a 10-men canoe and did a brief performance for us on the water. Their coordination was amazing.
After that (at about 8.10pm), they led us to a ?theatre? with plastic chairs and a wooden stage, where the Maori performance was conducted. The performance was about half an hour, with many different dances, weapons demonstration, and ?games? – they even made us stand up and learn some of their ?sign languages? (just different hand movements which mean different things). They finished with a haka dance before adjourning for dinner. I recorded their performance on video, although during the haka was I hoping they would finish soon as my battery was really low!! The performance was good – I was very impressed by their level and their ability. But I must say that it was a little below expectations as I felt it was so commercial. I guess I shouldn?t have such high expectations.
Dinner was buffet style, and there were heaps to eat. And they were all really good!!! There was ranch salad, fried rice, potatoes, kumaras, simple salad, lamb, chicken, stuffing, and garlic bread. I had a cup of tea, too. I took a little bit of everything and managed to eat almost everything on my plate but couldn?t quite manage the last of the potato and kumara. Dessert was chocolate log (just chocolate cakeroll with cream), trifle (which was really sweet), and fruits (which tasted like they came out of a can).
At about 9pm, they split us into two groups – one group had paid to see Rainbow Springs or something like that. The rest of us grabbed a torchlight per pair, and followed our guide into another trail in the forest which was really, really dark. Along the way he made a a stop where he explained about the different types of ferns which the Maori men used. One of them was the silver fern, which made a silvery reflection when the moon shone upon it, and they used that to help them find their way back to their village if they got lost. The base was poisonous, so they dipped their darts in them to kill their enemies more quickly. Then he pointed out some other types of ferns (I can?t remember their names) which were used for weaving, house construction, food and medicine. I remember thinking, my god if they used the wrong fern they could accidentally kill themselves. How do they tell the difference? They looked the same to me!!!
Then we went on to another stop where he showed us a wooden fence which he explained was constructed around the village to protect it from enemies. The horizontal posts were typically very far apart to prevent enemies from climbing over, and the vertical posts were typically much closer together. He also explained that when an enemy was killed, its head would be placed on top of a post. If there were many heads on the posts, it means the village was strong. If there were few heads, he said, ?it means that it?s a new fence!?
We then went onto a trail and saw some glowworms by a bank. I couldn?t take any photos though because it was too dark. The glowworms cannot be seen if there are any lights, so the flashlights have to be switched off. They were just tiny pinpricks of fluorescent light, so the camera couldn?t pick them up.
We walked on a little further to Sacred Springs, which had bubbling sand and super clear water. There were eels and trouts swimming in there. The trouts were from California, he joked.
?We can?t eat the eels and trouts from this spring, because if we do… there?s only bubbling sand to look at and it?s really boring.?
And that was the end of the tour. The guides were really funny, which made it quite enjoyable.
We got back on the same bus we arrived in, and reached our lodge about 9.45pm. Jin went straight to bed, whereas I made myself a hot chocolate and sat out at the lounge. I?ve just moved myself to the couch because I felt a bit cold. Didn?t make any difference though. I guess I just don?t have enough layers on 
There are no fires or heaters in this lodge; I guess it?s just the insulation that keeps it warm. There are coffee machines ($2 per cup) and a junk food dispenser. I?m still cold, but I need to take a shower before bed. I didn?t want to shower before I sat out and typed because I wanted to be nice and warm before I snuggled into bed.
Did I mention that this lodge also provides towels and a bottle of handwash? It?s super!! Too bad we?re only staying here one night. And too bad that now that we?ve got oil and salt and pepper and stuff, we?re only making toast in the morning…
(A little later)
Just had a nice hot shower. The water smells of sulphur. I guess it?s because the water here are all from the ground, all naturally thermally heated.
July 8, 2008
Of skis and poles
(I had typed this up in my laptop at the end of the day, but had no Internet access so could not upload it until July 14th)
Happy birthday to me!
I was warm when I went to bed, but I was cold when I woke up Jin and I finally rolled out of bed about 7.35am, and went down for breakfast. We made pancakes which turned out fine this time! We had pancakes with lemon juice and maple syrup, and kiwi and banana on top. Yums.
We made it to the top of the mountain without chains, as it was such a lovely day. There was barely any ice on the road, and there were many people making their way up too. We parked at Daypark 4 yesterday; this time we had to park at Daypark 5 which was further down
This time we didn?t bring any foodstuff with us, because we learnt from yesterday that we wouldn?t drink our water nor eat any of our food (although we were very thankful for the fruits and the yoghurt during the wait for roadside assistance) as we opted for hot food from the Happy Valley Bistro.
I decided to sign up for Discover Ski today, because I figured that I might as well try skiing while I?m all the way here. We arrived at 9.45am, so I got my skis, boots and poles and hung around until the 10.30am class started.
There were about 9 or 10 of us, with 3 Asians (the other 2 were a couple). Here?s what we learnt (in order):
- Learnt about our skis and poles, and how to strap ourselves in.
- Glided on one ski.
- Strap both feet in, and learn to glide forward and backward.
- Learnt to side-step up a slope.
- Learnt to stop by forming a wedge (?V? shape).
- Glide forward on both skis, jump (to test balance), and stop
- Glide forward, slow down with a small wedge, keep going, stop with a bigger wedge.
- Learnt to form the opposite wedge to stop going backward, and same formation to climb up a gentle slope.
This was all in one tiny section of the slopes
Then we moved on to:
- Learning to turn left and right by maintaining the wedge, and turning the feet, but without leaning.
And then:
- Go down the slopes in small sections by turning left/right, and also weaving.
When we made it all the way to the bottom, we took the chair lift up, and waited for our instructor, Chris to give us a final briefing before dismissing us.
During the simple glide and jump, Chris actually asked me, ?This isn?t your first time skiing, is it?? to which I told him it was. He said I wasn?t bad. Woohoo!!
I was one of the few in the group who didn?t fall at all during the lesson. There was one other man, but he had skied before. Everyone else fell, especially the Asian couple. Perhaps they weren?t very good at English, but they didn?t really follow the instructions. For example, when we were taking turns to do the simple glides, we were supposed to side-step up, but for some reason, they were trying to push themselves forward, and of course kept sliding back. And even when we glided forward, we were supposed to do a small wedge to keep our speed under control, and Chris had to keep yelling at Steven (the Chinese guy) to do a wedge… all the time! I think Chris was rather impressed that for a first-timer, I caught on pretty quickly and was able to maneuver rather well. It?s really like ice-skating, or rollerblading, and since I can kinda do both (albeit at a very basic level), it?s easy to pick this up.
In fact, I didn?t fall at all whenever I skied today. I did fall though, but on other occasions…
I skied all the way down practising what I learnt, and when I made it to the bottom, I didn?t want to get in line with the long queues at the chair lifts, so I tried the other lift (the one you sit on and it drags you up along the snow – I don’t know what it’s called), but because it was my first time and I didn?t know what to expect, I promptly fell right off. Unfortunately, my ski pole got caught in the seat thing, and although they yelled at me to let go, I did try, but it took a few seconds before I managed to let go completely. Because of me, they had to stop the lifts because the seat I was on had been yanked off. Someone even had to come down on a motored snowcar to see what was wrong. It was sooooooo embarrassing…
I went back to wait for another try, but many of those in line just kept going until finally one lady smiled and allowed me to give it a go. I managed to get on without falling this time, because one of the workers yelled at me to stand straight.
However the lift only went halfway up the slope (I didn?t notice!), so when I got off I called Jin to find out where she was. She was at the cafe, so she glided down. In fact, during my class, she had a break at the cafe with hot choc and fries, and after that she continued with her snowboarding. Yesterday I had been really cold; today I was really hot!
We made it to the bottom, and then took the chair lift up; then we took a break. Well, I needed a break because I hadn?t had one, so we had hot chocolate each, and she got a donut and I had a chicken salad sandwich. It was such a lovely day out so we sat outside and had our meal, before having another couple of runs down the hill.
There was once when we got to the top of the hill, and there was another small slope higher which was accessible by the same type of seat lift; so I had a go on that lift and I managed to get up fine; but I dismounted too early, and I slid back into the next skier and we fell!!! It was so embarrassing. We had to scoot out of the way for the next skier, and she even had to help me unbuckle my ski. I had trouble putting my ski back on (like the true beginner I was) and glided down to where Jin was laughing at me.
The wait for the chair lifts were ridiculously long though… there were too many people today. We spent most of our time waiting in line instead of spending it in the snow!
After the second run, Jin wanted to go to the lower mountain, so she went up while I had another go down the hill. I got onto the chair lift with a boy, but my ski got stuck and it snapped off when I was seated, and the worker had to run after me to hand me my ski.
It was about 3.30 when I returned all the rental stuff and took the chair lift back up to the main center. I sat with a white lady from South Africa and chatted as we went up; and promptly fell on the ice the moment I got off.
My boots had no grip at all and I couldn?t even walk up a tiny slope as I kept sliding; so I had to crawl on my knees up the slope and crossed over to the other side to wait for Jin. There was free hot blackcurrant juice which kept me warm while I waited, but I didn?t need to wait too long. As we were walking I unfortunately found out that my sunglasses were broken… in fact, during the ski lesson, the left leg had lost the nuts, and the only way to keep them on was to wear the hat; but as we were walking, I found out that the other leg was lost; so I had to bin them. And as we were walking and talking, my blackcurrant juice went down the wrong way and I suddenly had to stop, squat, and cough to Jin?s surprise.
The walk down to the car wasn?t as bad as it was yesterday even though it was further, mainly because there was no wind today. It was really a beautiful day!
I wanted to make a snowman, so we drove down to the flat fields near Chateau Tongariro. I tried to make a snow angel that didn?t work out; I tried to make a snowman that turned out pathetic. Well, at least I tried… the snow just wasn?t right for the snowman.
We drove back to the National Park Village and Jin wanted to look for a leash for her snowboard, so we followed some signs until we found a ski shop. The leash was too expensive for her liking though, so we left and went back to the lodge.
The past few nights whenever we came back we always found our heater was not working, and today was no different. I had to ask someone to come up and fix it.
After a lovely hot shower each, we dragged ourselves downstairs for dinner about 6pm. We each had the same thing we had last night – Jin with her Indomie Goreng and fried egg, and I had the cheese bake + pak choy + garlic. She had juice this time though, and I had the Belgian hot chocolate. We only had the pear for dessert because we were so full.
I?m not stiff yet, although Jin was quite stiff today. My shoulders are a bit sore though, and my knees are bruised from yesterday. My right hand is a bit weathered, because when I slipped on the icy road yesterday, I landed on my right bum and my right wrist. Today it was made worse because when I fell off the simple lift, the pole strap yanked across my wrist, and I have a bruise to show for it. It?s like I ?single-handedly? stopped the lift from working… literally!!
My shins are also aching because the ski boots are really stiff. I think it?s also partly because my pants which I pushed into the boots with my socked feet were not smoothed down properly and the folds must have pressed against them. They had hurt from the moment I wore them, and the pressure was there the whole day. I didn?t think of the pain when I was skiing, but everytime I stopped (when I got in line for the lifts, when I took a break for lunch) the pain was very ?visible?. When I took them off, I could see the swell on my shins. It?s very similar to wearing ice-skating boots; the boots are very stiff and held the feet very firmly. I find ice-skating boots very uncomfortable too.
Personally I think I prefer snowboarding to skiing. Yes, skiing is a lot easier (and I didn?t fall at all, even when I got off the chair lift compared to snowboarding) but that?s the thing… beginner skiing is so easy, whereas beginner snowboarding is loads harder! And although I don?t really mind falling, what puts me off about falling when skiiing is that it?s so hard to get up. There are the poles and the skis to think about… I?ve seen people struggling to get up when they fall during skiing. Even when I fell off the simple lifts, it was a real struggle trying to get up again. For snowboarding however, it?s so easy to get up as there was only the board to think about. And since snowboarding is a lot harder to control and maneuver, it?s a greater challenge for me.
We thought of getting up early to do half-day snowboarding or skiing, but Jin is too sore and stiff right now to even consider it. I think I won?t be too stiff tomorrow (but then, you never know), and am tempted to snowboard again. But I don?t wanna do it alone… and anyway there are still plenty of things I want to do in Rotorua!!
Jin has been asleep since about 8pm. I?m not even tired out, although do feel a little tired.
Well, that?s how I spent my birthday this year… learning to ski and snowboard!
July 7, 2008
Snowboarding at Whakapapa!
(I had typed this up in my laptop at the end of the day, but had no Internet access so could not upload it until July 14th)
I had an awesome day today!
We thought of waking up early enough to catch the 8am shuttle to Mt Ruapehu, but we couldn?t get up so we stayed in bed until about 7.30am before finally rolling out of bed and down to the kitchen for breakfast. We found out that the roads would only open at 8.30am anyway, so there was no point waking up that early.
We had breakfast of Indomie Goreng and I made a hard boiled egg too, but I was too full after the instant noodle, so we brought the egg along in a bag with some Brunch bars and bananas and water bottles. We dressed up and then drove to Whakapapa and had chains installed on the front wheels of the car so that we could drive up the icy roads to the slopes.
We took a very slow drive up the mountain, where I found it freezing collllddddd… We parked, and then took a long walk up to the rentals area, and signed up for lessons (Discover Snowboard for me, Next Step Snowboard for Jin). Then we took a ski lift down to the Happy Valley slopes which was the beginner slope.
Jin already had boots and a snowboard, so I went to get mine. Jin taught me to put the boots on. When I went to get the snowboard, the guy was very cheeky… he told me to face one way, and then he suddenly gave me a push… and it was all to find out my stronger foot. He said that he did it to one girl, who then kept walking and he had to call her back.
Jin?s lesson would only be at 12 noon, but Discover Snowboard was every half-hour, so Jin suggested I also take the 12 noon lesson so that we wouldn?t be waiting for each other unnecessarily. It was only 10.45am, so Jin suggested that I try a fair bit of snowboarding. She taught me to bind my left (front) foot to the snowboard, and then tried to teach me to scoot with one foot. I was horrible at it She also tried to teach me to use the edge (heel or toe) and I couldn?t manage it. I kept falling over and I was really frustrated. I also tried strapping both feet in and wasn?t really much better at it.
Finally at about 11.30am we decided to head back up for our lesson so we took the ski lift back up the Happy Valley slope. I waddled over to where a group of people with snowboards were waiting near the ?Whakapapa School? signs and at about noon, a group of instructors came out to speak to us. They split us into under-13s (9 of them) and over-13s (7 of us). Fortunately I wasn?t the oldest one – everyone else was probably in their late 20s or in their 30s. I was the only Asian though; everyone else were whites who seemed to be from or are staying in NZ.
They started by teaching us to glide with one boot strapped in and the other boot free; and then to try to turn the board with the one boot still strapped in. Halfway down the slope, they told us to strap the other boot in, and then told us to try to balance with the board; and to stop the board, to lift our toes so that the heels would dig into the snow. Then we were to try little turns by lifting our back toe up, and pressing our front foot downward. I kept falling I was horrible at the turn. Managed it at one point though. However there was once I collided with another beginner and getting all tangled up with him.
After trying it all the way down, we took the lift back up with one boot still strapped in the board, and as I got off the lift, I fell… Fortunately one of the instructors was there to help me down.
This time, they taught us to use our toes instead of our heels; i.e. by digging our toes instead of digging our heels. Using the same concept to turn, we would need to flatten our front foot, and dig our back toe in. I managed this better than the heels, although I also kept falling.
The important thing is, as one of the instructors told me earlier, was to keep my hips square with my legs; to keep my body straight, and to always keep my knees bent. For the toe-digging, the torso should be straight, and the knees bent; knees can bend ahead of the snowboard.
The lesson finished about 1.45pm, and I was about to have another go when Jin came down. Jin told me that she had been the only one in her class, and she had her own private lesson, which was so cool!! I tried to glide down (not very gracefully), and then decided to go for lunch. The queue at the ski lift was long so I suggested we walk up. I regretted it as it was really tiring to carry the board uphill…
In the Happy Valley cafe, we got some hot chocolate and some hot fries… after we got warmed up, we decided to have another go on the slopes.
The wind was getting quite strong at this stage, but we decided to try anyway. I fell numerous times, cursed several times, but more or less go the hang of it with the toe-digging way instead of the heel-digging way.
We got in line for the ski lift (wasn?t going to climb back up again!!!) and some idiotic white guy cut our line, by conveniently chatting up this white girl in the next line, and glided in front of us.
I fell again as we got off the lift… this time very ungracefully. I fell sitting on the back binding of the board… AND IT HURT!!! It hurt so bad I fell on my back and slid all the way down the small slope, and my hat came off. I was kinda in other people?s way, but I couldn?t get up because I was in pain. One of the men manning the lift took my hat and gave it to me and told us not to block the way. It was embarrassing, but hey, it hurt!!!
I had to wait a few minutes for the pain to subside, before I strapped on my boots again and had another go down the slope. The wind was really bad this time, and when we reached the foot, they said the lift was going to be closed soon (about 4pm). Jin and I took off our boards and held them as we went up the lift. We strapped them on again one last time and then glided our way to the rentals section where I returned the board and boots. Then we took the other lift back up the carpark.
I had a fall and slipped on the road once, and hurt my right ass and my right wrist. The injury wasn’t serious, but it was still painful nevertheless. We finally made our way to the car where horror of horrors… the battery was flat. Jin had accidentally left the car lights on!!! We tried asking the car next to us if they had jumpstart cables but they said they didn?t, and they left us without offering any other help.
Fortunately that very morning Jin had signed up for comprehensive motor insurance over the phone, and she called roadside assistance. It would take 45 minutes they said, to get someone from Whakapapa Village up, and since we didn?t have a choice, we removed our boots, crawled to the back seat where we had brought a duvet from her home, and snuggled there trying to keep warm. There was a jam on the roads as people were trying to drive down anyway, so we convinced ourselves that it didn?t make much of a difference.
AA came up in 30 minutes instead of 45 minutes, and in a matter of minutes had the car jumpstarted. We didn?t even need to wait or anything, we could straightaway drive off!
Our chains were removed before we barely started down the roads; but I suppose it was easier downhill than up, and Jin made it very slowly down the hill. We got back to the National Backpackers, and had a nice warm shower each. At about 8pm we went down to make dinner – Indomie Goreng for her, pasta cheese bake for me, this time with garlic and pak choy; and we had a fried egg each. Jin told me that some people have been pinching our milk though, as there was only 2/3 left – we had only used a little bit this morning for our Milo. Well… I suppose you can?t expect much from a budget lodging like this. Anyway, we cut fruits for dinner, and then went back up to bed.
Jin?s asleep now, and I?m awake typing this. I took a painkiller, and I hope that my bum won?t be too sore… as we want another go on the slopes!! Thinking of doing ski this time, although would love to try snowboarding again. But I only have 2 days here, and I might as well try the works.