nz part seven

Queen Charlotte Sounds, on the way to Picton aboard the interislander ferry from Wellington. Forgive me but the following pictures will be more or less depicting the same things, blues greens and more blues, but it was so beautiful a sight I just had to capture every facet of the sounds. Heh thank god for the fair weather that day too!


The ferry leaving its trail in the brilliant azure waters



A RICH DEEP Blueeee






different shades of blue reflected from different angles, but wondrous all the same :)











wondrous blues and greens .. you've got to see it for yourself to really experience the sheer magnificence and absolute beauty of the sounds!!

from the deck of the interislander ferry

nz part six ..wellington city

sneak peek at the theme for the coming entry.. queen charlotte sounds from aboard the deck of the wellington to picton interislander ferry... beautiful deep blue!

okok for this entry we'll take a hiatus from the usual nature and more nature themes and dive straight into the city...urbanization!!

wellington city.. Victoria uni of wellington law school..elvin's hangout perhaps lol



frosted glass panels inside Te Papa, the wellington museum that's really quite impressively comprehensive in terms of variety of exhibits.

Te Papa from the outside

The Museum Hotel opposite Te Papa ..note the luscious green moss covering the lower face of the main wall towards us..wonderful contrast man..

Near the city harbour..jy in the foreground

interesting lamp-post along the harbour

monstrous slide that appeared freaky even to us adults..and yet this was meant for kids under the age of ten .. won't it be like a nightmarish experience for those kids? macam giant water slide without the water in those theme parks.. jy in the process of going down the slide without getting stuck halfway lol

sculpture along the wharves

yet another sculpture..abstraction huh...

inside the corridors of the cathedral beside parliament house

the cathedral itself..pity the light flare

the nz 'beehive'..main parliamentary building..damn ugly architecture but unique nonetheless

anyone can take a typical postcard shot..this one was taken from atop the botanic gardens..we took the cable car to the summit... yes it looks more like a tram but it's called a cable car though... vintage cable car

feeding ducks in the botanic gardens

taken from a tombstone, in a cemetary right smack within the botanic gardens..albeit towards the borders of the entire place..the botanic gardens are HUGE

This wasn't taken by me but i thought it may serve as good evidence of how late the sun set in nz when we were there..note the time on the clock: past 8.30PM, but yet it was still so bright that this shot could be taken without flash lol... ps, ww and jy..the CPF trio again : Coloured Plastic Frames threesome hahahahahaa

again, I didn't take this shot... shows us girls posing around the distal extensions aka 'legs' of some totally weird-looking metallic structure we found near our hostel(basebackpackers').. resembles something that emerged from the movie A.I... or maybe the matrix..who knows...

nz part five..lakes waterfalls mountains etc

am uploading all these pics from school right now.. time's running out ..am in the arts libr media corner hehh so had better make it quick... will give more details in the future when got time...



Christine Falls in Fiordland National Park

opaque turquoise lake(forgot the name!!) fed by glacial melt.. so beautiful! pity the developing fault at top left corner

more of the wondrous opaque lake..supposed to see Mt Cook and Mt Tasman in the background..and no the mountains aren't photoshopped..they're 100% REAL

Reflective Mirror lake..Waihia i think

More of the reflective mirror lake..pity the ripples..otherwise one can see a perfect mirror reflection of the southern alps

sheer majestia of the southern alps

awestruck and utterly cowed

stream tinted brown by tannins from fallen vegetation

tussock grasses in the pristine white beaches

wow lol

just look at the blue of the sea man..where in sgp can you get to see such a fantastic colour?

view from knight's point lookout

Lake nelson

crystal clear alpine waters..note the people collecting the fresh mountain waters below

close up of the previous waterfall =P

Lake Wanaka

Lake Wakatia..third largest in nz..also the LONGEST...beautiful blue sheen


approaching lake wakatia from the bus..en route to wanaka

nz part four..the flower special hurhur

orange rose from lady norwood rose garden


lovely rose spotted in the same garden as the following flowers on the way to christchurch




spotted these in someone's garden when the kiwi exp bus stopped for a toilet break on the way to christchurch..lovely eh??



don't know the name of this flower but it never failed to fascinate me each time I walked to the bus stop in Howick.. a whole bush of this magnificently pretty flower is especially memorable a sight..love the rich deep maroon/red venations on the petals


Brilliant red inflorescence of Metrosideros excelsa, or aka pohutukawa in maori..learnt a hell lot about this native nz flower from that Pacific biogeog course.. turns out the seeds of pohutukawa are incredibly hardy, being able to withstand sub zero temperatures at freezingly high altitudes... needless to say the seeds are wind-dispersed, often by high speed jet streams... sorry the picture's somewhat out of focus because the winds were damn strong that day and I was using iso200 film..hardly sufficient to capture speed unlike iso400 I guess



lavender; a shrub very common in the nz suburbs


yar yar I know there are heliconias as well in Singapore..but I just felt like taking a shot of it, cannot is it? lol



cherry blossoms in mid-spring..sakuraaaa