Queenstown, Hong Kong, and home

We made the drive into Queenstown again, and after finding parking for the day, we split up into our respective bungee and non-bungee jumping groups.

Kayaking in Roys Bay, all-terrain in Glenorchy

We walked back down to the waterfront in search of breakfast, and decided to stop at Alchemy Wanaka.

Fox Glacier to Wanaka

Sunsets are always romanticized, but I personally have always been a lover of sunrises. However, I realized why people like sunsets - you're already awake, and often in a place where the sunset is accessible. For sunrises, you have to wake up when its still dark and chilly outside, bundle up and wait amid the mosquitoes for the sun to peek over the horizon.

Franz Josef Glacier

We started the morning off with a jaunt around Okarito Trig Walk.

Through Arthur's Pass into Hokitika

A gloomy sky greeted us in Christchurch; we cooked our breakfast on the barbecue-meet-stove outdoors, and then packed our bags. Our hostess had suggested we visit the top of the hill for a view of the city, and we stopped by for a quick, rainy visit before hitting the road again.

Along the peninsula to Christchurch

Another morning, another early drive. We made a stop at Kaikoura Peninsula, and begin hiking up the area.

Picton & Blenheim

As per the norm in most of my trips, an early morning to catch the ferry to the South Island. What was perhaps slightly, but sadly not entirely out of the norm, was the change of mood.

Wellington

We woke up and decided to go to the McDonald's with the plane (which is actually a play area) for breakfast. The offerings were pretty similar to breakfast back home, and I made a mental note to try the Kiwi burger if we stumbled across another McDonald's.

Lake Taupo

After dropping off a majority of our luggage in Auckland, we hit the road towards Taupo.

Auckland

As we bid adieu to Hong Kong, I loaded my playlist and prepared to knock out for eleven-hour flight to Aotearoa.

Farewell for now

I feel a lot of guilt when I think about my grandmother. Living halfway across the world, we have always lived apart, save for a few months when she lived in Canada during my childhood. I always asked why she didn't live with us all the time, but as she didn't speak English, wasn't able to drive, and was nearly deaf, life was a lot less convenient for her here.

Long distance friendships

Tai Tam Reservoir 

Sai Kung

Our original hiking destination on my first day back in Hong Kong was supposed to be Sai Kung, but due to the MTR delay, we had our impromptu hike to Stanley instead. For the entire trip, my friends had been telling me about the beauty of Sai Kung, and I was raring to go.

Travelling solo

The first time I traveled by myself was a short trip of 2 days; I decided to take the scenic route to visit my friend in Manchester from Amsterdam, and stopped in two cities for a day each. Unfortunately, I sprained my ankle and made it a lot worse from all the walking-around-because-I-was lost that I did.

Lamma Island

The idea of being able to hop on a ferry and land on island has always seemed so incredible to me. To offer a local, albeit shoddy comparison, the short journey to Centre Island from downtown Toronto gets me excited. The scale of this is much greater in Hong Kong, with the many outlying islands; so on a free afternoon, my mom and I decided to pay a visit to Lamma Island.

Family from a distance

Tian Tan Buddha

I really wanted to go see the Big Buddha last time I was in Hong Kong. I went when I was a kid, but have no recollection of it. Unfortunately, black rain made it impossible (well, highly not recommended) to go, and we spent our last day wandering around Causeway Bay and Victoria Park instead.

Tai Tam

I wish I could tell you I was trying out a new photography style, but in reality I had accidentally changed some camera settings when I last used my camera during my descent at Bukhansan, and I didn't have the time or realization to change them. I had thought it was due to the rain that the photos were so grainy, as my viewfinder got blurry due to the moisture, but that was only part of the reason. The sharper photos from my phone are interspersed throughout.

I arrived back in Hong Kong the night before, and I was absolutely knackered. I enjoy being in new places, but the to-and-fro part is a decidedly less enjoyable part, especially when it involves overseas immigration, customs, lines, and luggage woes.

Maybe I brought the bad luck of the TTC with me, but a historic signal outage issue caused mass delays with the MTR that morning. It took my friend a long time to travel a few stops, and so we, like the rest of Hong Kong, flooded to the streets to take the buses.

Bukhansan

The original plan was to arrive at Bukhansan early in the morning to avoid as much of the crowds as possible... but the unexpected late night led to last minute changes. I grabbed a convenient breakfast yet again, and managed to get to the base around 9am, where I couldn't resist buying more kimbap from the many stalls there.

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Across the river

I started the day early again, and left for Samcheongdong around 7am. My last visit to Seoul had included Bukchon Hanok Village, but it had been packed with fellow tourists, and I wanted to see if I could come back and catch it at a quieter time.