Author archive
19 January 2020
Cheap way home Today I slowly make my way towards my family in hometown Kuching for Chinese New Year. At this time of year flights there are expensive, but I found a special deal to Bali for NZD544 return, on Virgin Australia with great connections. Allowing for nightstops and the shorthaul flights to Kuching, it […]
7 January 2020
Above: Lake Pukaki on the drive back to Christchurch. The wind last night was worse than the night before. I had a long night sleep to make up for the interrupted sleep due to the wind and noise. After breakfast, we packed up and said goodbye and thanks to everyone. We hit the road around […]
6 January 2020
Despite the windy conditions, I slept quite well through the night. I did wake a few times wondering if the tent would blow over or if branches from the tree above would fall on us. Kim and I knocked on Brent’s caravan around 0815 for breakfast and a cuppa. It was around 1000 when Brent […]
5 January 2020
Kim arrived from Auckland at 0925 today. Despite the bad weather (again), everything went like clockwork. I picked him up from the airport, went to the supermarket to get some groceries for our camping hosts before going to the car rental agency. We had to add Kim as an additional driver simply by showing his […]
4 January 2020
Quite surprisingly, I woke to good weather today. Purau Bay looked even better in the improved weather conditions. I thought I’d make the most of the good day by exploring Christchurch city, a place I was once very familiar with. But the earthquakes of recent years have changed the cityscape considerably and I had never […]
3 January 2020
I arrived around 1130 and was picked up by a friend for a yumcha lunch together with several university mates. The afternoon went quickly with endless chats in the restaurant and at a friend’s house. I had organised my rental car for 1700 so that it would coincide with our intended return time on the […]
3 January 2020
I thought it would be nice to go see friends and relatives in Christchurch. It combined well with an invite to go camping with Kim’s friends at Lake Benmore. Despite being on a standby ticket, I managed to get to Christchurch without too many hassles during the holiday period.
12 November 2019
I leave Melbourne after experiencing the craziness of their weather. It was 9 degC when I arrived and went to a max of around 18 degC before having a day of 30 degC! Then it turned cold again. Talk about extremes! I had had too much sleep the night before last and suffered last night […]
9 November 2019
Despite the sleeping pill, I didn’t sleep that deeply this time. During one of the interruptions, I took another half and had about 4h in total. I managed to catch the crew as they were wrapping up their sale of breakfast. I was surprised that I’d be hungry at 0400 Malaysian time, which was 2h […]
8 November 2019
Today I leave Kuching for Melbourne via Kuala Lumpur. The flight leaves in the late afternoon, but I wanted to do as much as I could for Mum and my brother who recently had a knee operation. So I started the day at 0800 with getting their groceries, not entirely missing the rush-hour traffic. After […]