Planning a trip to the Gold Coast - yes its really happening!

So who wants to go? 7 nights in a 5-star hotel $959 pp inc flights! Travel date around August, September, October. Who's keen?

For more details see Flight Centre

The deal is in Q1 Resort and Spa, one of the best hotels in Gold Coast, the tallest residential tower with great views of the beach. Located right in the heart of Surfers Paradise too! So real close to the shops and food places, and of course the beach.

South Beach Miami on a typical winter day

I wish I were in Miami...

Epic South Island

Is it more kiwi-like to go to the South Island or to not?  - or is it just an Aucklander thing?  Well of all the places I have been to, which is not a lot, the South Island is by far the most amazing, the most epic, and the most beautiful.  I have travelled the North Island extensively, Rotorua is fairly exciting, New Plymouth, Muriwai, Cathedral Cove, Goat Island are all very nice beaches but none as complete as places around the South Island.

On our first day, we landed in Christchurch.  After picking up our rental car, we went straight to Fox Glacier via Arthur's Pass stopping at Franz Joseph Glacier.  The straight roads and massive planes immediatly struck me with awe.  The mountains that loomed over us could only be descriped as EPIC - I don't know how many times I've mentioned that already, but I said it a lot more in the car!

All the scenery was unreal.  Its the only place where I've seen pictures, and then see that the real thing is just as good.  There were a few places where it was raining and misty, and we didn't have such a great view, but we caught a break in other places so that was good.

Another awesome thing about it was the heritage.  There are plenty of history to see, lots of old buildings.  Theres plenty of Gold mines, including the Chinese Settlement in Arrowtown, which was home to many of the first chinese to settle in NZ.

There are plenty of activities, plenty of tourists and an overall great place to spend your holiday.  I wouldn't mind living there for a few months, working and traveling in the weekends.  Would be a welcome change from borring old Auckland for a while.  But I think it would get borring soon, as most of the townships were pretty small.  Christchurch being the largest city, but Queenstown being the most interesting and happening.  Oh and its home to the great Ferg's Burgers, the best burgers in New Zealand!

I'm already looking forward to going back.  I would love to see it in the South Island when all the mountains become snow capped.  Go on some other adventure activities, and just experience it all over again!

Random Pictures from HK Trip

Pinapple Rice

Noah's Ark from the front

Christmas Deco at Langham Place, Mong Kok

Dedicated Smoker's Room at Incheon Airport, Korea

Bibimbop (before mixing) on Korean Air

After Mixing!

Mango Sago!

Hustle Bustle in Mong Kok

Dog on a skateboard

Christmas Tree at Tsim Tsa Tsui

Rice Burgers from Moss Burger

Re-Release of the 97 Penny Hardaways!! These were my first ever basketball shoes.  Also one of my favourite NBA players

Giving tips to Tiger Woods - "See that woman, thats not your wife!"

My man Mohammad Ali

 

The King lives!

MJ

Teresa Teng

Opening of the 2009 Asia Games

Hong Kong Trip 2009

I just got back from Hong Kong yesterday and am incredibly jet-lagged.  Having flown Korean Air, the flight left HK at midnight and arrived in Seoul, before finally getting back to NZ.  Although my sleep patterns are way off, Korean Air has been the best airline I've flown (having flown just Air New Zealand and Air Brunei).  The food was fantastic!  Bibimbop for mains and the service was great, unlike other airlines, they were actually keen to give out food.

Anyway, in Hong Kong we did plenty of shopping, visiting most of the major shopping areas, eating as much street food as possible, and visited a few trourists sites like The Peak, and Noah's Ark, and even got to see the opening of the Asia Games.

The above pictures are; view of Hong Kong from Tsim Tsa Tui, Eddy and Eddie at the Wax Meseum, Snoopy Land entrance, Portugese Egg Tarts from Macao.

What I miss most about Hong Kong will be family and food.  Sure the shopping is great, but there is only so much you can buy, and there's only so much someone needs.  The food is available anytime anywhere.  Its great that shops are open so late and there is food every few blocks.  But my extended family is what is most important in Hong Kong.  I had the privilidge of attending my cousin Shirley's wedding.  Seeing my grandparents (gong gong and por por) in such great health.  Seeing my cousin's Kevin and Vivian reach the next level of education. 

 

The pictures above are; Inside the Grand Canal Shoppes, The Venetian Hotel, Macao, 1:1 replica of Noah's Ark, Kathy and me with my cousin Regina at a bar in Lan Kwai Fong, at my cousins wedding, Shirley and Edmund (same name!) the two lil ones are my cousin's children - Shirley has two older siblings and they each have 2 children each and just a few months apart!

For anyone going to Hong Kong and want to go shopping, I would recommend Mong Kok; Langham Place and Argyle Center for Girls, and there are plenty of shops on the streets.  For the guys there are two Computer shopping malls, one cellphone shopping mall, and "Sports shoe street".  Other shopping malls include Harbour City in Tsim Tsa Tiu - a gigantualan shopping mall actually made up of three shopping malls stretching 3 kms.  Festival Walk - Kowlon Tong, CityGate - Near the Airport, something like Dress Mart.

For those looking for food, MongKok offers the best range of street food like siu mai, skewers, and smelly tofu.

Some of the best sights to visit; Noah's Ark - the world's only 1:1 scale model with a great exhibition inside, the Hong Kong Laser show that starts every night at 8pm which can be viewed anywhere on the harbourfront, check out the business district in Central, theres The Peak for a great view of the city scape, Wax Museum.

New Blog: Road Tripy

Hi everyone, I've set up a new blog to help plan my upcoming trip to the South Island.  Firstly, head over to Road Tripy and have a look at the plan.  Although if you go too early, there may not be much there.

If you are keen to come, leave a comment (here or there) and I'll sign you up.  Feel free to leave comments as to where you want to go, and what you want to do.

The general plan is to fly to the South Island and drive all around.

My original plan was to get a one way ticket and fly to Invercargill. Then starting from the Bluff, drive all the way back to Picton, ferry over to Wellington, then back to Auckland.

Plan B, is to fly to Christchurch, drive south down to Invercargill, then back up to Picton, then down to Christchurch where we fly off back to Aucks.