Lavender Farm, Kaikoura Peninsula

Scenic road from Lake Brunner to Kaikoura Peninsular..

Lavender garden near Kaikoura, entrance $2

Our first time visiting a lavender farm, so beautiful although it is not the full season yet.. There are many types of lavender planted here and they have a cafe serving lavender teas and scones of course!

Arrive Kaikoura. Its a long time since we have seen such turquoise blue sea!

Seals resting at Point Kean Carpark

Kaikoura Peninsular Walkway*****

Whalers Bay

Very happy to see so many types of birds here.. We just love to take pictures of animals and birds =)

Dinner @ the world's famous Kaikoura Original BBQ stall, small sized crayfish $50 with little rice, garlic bread & salad. Not really worth it on our opinion... Hehe

Beautiful sunset at South Bay

Love this colour!! No edits at all.. 

Free camped at Okiwi Bay DOC camp (smelliest doc toilet ever!)

Auckland with Balz & Jenny

We met Balz and Jenny during our Diving course in Cairns, and today we meet them again in Auckland. It was just amazing how helpful this couple can be. They fetch us to the Backpackers car market and advised us on car buying in Auckland which we know little of. We saw one van recommended by the staff there, a Toyota Estima with a built in bed. $4200 for the 1995 van which had done over 300,000km is a bit too expensive for us with the mileage done. Apparently there are some negative reviews about the Auckland car market from overpriced vehicles to problematic vehicles. Best to check online about them. The other websites for backpackers van trade is backpackerboard.co.nz. They also have a lot of information of job vacancies and travelling in NZ. 

 Auckland Fish Market****

 

Then we had a beautiful lunch of fish and kumara (sweet potato) chips at the Auckland fish market. P&A also bought salmon sashimi to share. Balz and Jenny have never tried them before. Seems like Balz accepting the yummy flavour!

Rangitoto Island from Devonport lookout. This island looks similar from every point of view... There are hiking trails available in that island.

 Jumping on the Rangitoto..!

 Auckland, City of Sails...

Its really fun because Balz and Jenny wanted to try Asian food. So we went to the chinese grocer and got a Malaysian curry paste. Malaysian dinner it is! We cooked curry chicken, tofu and kailan in oyster sauce.

It was a great night indeed. Learned a lot about Swiss culture, mostly eating culture. Hehe.. Hope to see them again in Auckland when we're back :)

Snow Skiing for the FIRST TIME!

LAST 10 DAYS in PERTH (II)

We met up with Celestina, a hometown friend of Peters’. She is so good, bringing us to top eats of Perth. And coincidently, her friends who are hairdressers from Singapore came for visit and we had our haircut! Just in time, before going to New Zealand. So here we are at Ciao Italia$$, very famous for its pasta and wood fired pizza. Long queue at the front, but its really worth the wait!

Savouring the true Italian wood fired pizza and pasta at Ciao Italia$$, East Perth. Their tiramisu is quite good too. Sicilian Pizza and Chilli King Prawn Pizza. Both also very tasty! $26 each..

Tiramisu...

San Churros, at James St.. Spanish Doughnuts and chocolate drinks..

The churros are slightly overpriced, 6 churros and 2 choco dip for $14! for a dessert...

Crema de Fresa milkshake is quite good too, not too sweet. Blend of yummy strawberries with white chocolate. Paying that much money for dessert, we savour this doughnuts and milkshake real slowly.. LOL. Surely they are heavenly good when dipped in the milk choc and caramel dipping!

BIG soft comfy shoes.... found at Harbourtown shopping center.. Ideal for winter! 

Snack of Gelare's waffle, half price on tuesday!

Nao Japanese Ramen @ Murray St... Yums but not as good as Freo's market Ramen... =P

Little Caesar Restaurant$ at Leederville. Selling their famous dessert pizza. This is Choc Mudhoney, which is chocolate mud cake and honey on top of a pizza, with white and milk choc tablets.

Medicating the sweet tooth!!!

At Fremantle Market*****, open from fri-sun...

So we are back at Fremantle, a city just 30mins from Perth. Come here during fri-sun cause that's when the shops opens!

Dokusoi Ramen$ shop at Fremantle Market. The best full flavour ramen in PErth and Freo so far! Priced from $7.50-$9.. YUMS!!!

Macaroons at Freo Market...

Many street performers in front of the Freo market.. If there's nothing to do you can always stand and watch whole day =P

The fishing boat harbour @ FREO

Dare to try this gelato?

E-SHED Markets*** Place to get souvenirs.. The prices here for nougats and macadamia nuts are a bit more expensive than those in Chinatown (william street)..

Coffee time @ Fremantle Bakery.. Kahlua and hazelnut cake, a big piece for $6.50..

Beautiful sunset... This may be our last sunset in OZ...

The eating continues @ Cicerello's Fish & Chips$$.. Oh and Chilli Mussels! The food is good but not as good as the first time we had one year ago... WHy??? The fish got soggy and mussels cold... probably we took quite a long time taking photos.. LOL.. The chilli mussels at Bella Roma (also in Fremantle) are said to be YUMMY too.. but we haven't got that big a stomach after a whole day eating spree in FREO.. lol...

NEXT: The very last day =)