There was no work available especially near holiday time (Christmas and New Year). So, we decided to set forth to Dunedin on Christmas Eve to give ourselves a big break after a fortnight of hard work, concurrently to have a look at the celebration in the city. To our surprise, there wasn’t really a festivity, especially on the Christmas Day itself. The streets were so barren that it looked like a “dead city”. Maybe they are fond of spending quality time together with family members instead of heading out. By the way, New Zealand is a country with very high percentage of elderly people staying around, while the youngsters build their careers elsewhere. So, it’s not an uncommon scene where some of the streets, especially in the outskirts are only crowded with grey-haired uncles and aunties on weekdays. LOL!
The only thing that we treasured a lot in Dunedin was the easily accessible free wifi. Being in the suburbs for too a long time made us hunger for the chance to hook up with our families and friends back at home. Other than that, there weren’t really any interesting places for sightseeing though, except for the steepest street in the world, known as Baldwin St. Another noteworthy place to take a look at would be the University of Otago. It centred on a very large ground area, but the faculties were scattered everywhere, among other shop lots and houses. I’m not sure if this applies for other universities as well, but it was truly an eye-opener. The rest of them are just buildings, old buildings such as the Taieki Gorge Railway Station and the First Church, while places like Cadbury Chocolate Factory imposed tour charges. And finally, we gorged up a satiated meal of all-you-can-eat buffet at the price of $13.80/pax (plus public holiday charges) before we left Dunedin.
When the holiday season was over, so were the cherries. The latter could last probably the most 6 weeks. Towards the end, our work load began to decrease too. Very often, we would work only for half a day and off for 3 days during the weekends. That’s pretty much a sad state of affair, and soon we will have to pack our bags and search for new jobs again, keeping our fingers cross again next time around.
Since it was another long break for the weekends, so off we go once more for another daytrip to Queenstown. It was about a 100km from Alexandra, but the road was pretty winding and treacherous at times. Hence, we cautiously drove our way there in about an hour and half. Queenstown is the most happening town in the southern island and a must-go for the bold, adventurous people. Bungy jump, skydive, parasail, paraglide and jetboating are just some of the many adrenalin-pumping activities available here. If you are a thrill-seeker and are wandering how to spend your tons of money, please do not hesitate to come here. You would thank me for that! Due to the terrifically exorbitant prices, we only managed to engage in one slightly moderate and not-so-extreme activity – The Luge. The objective is to sprint down the winding and slightly inclined tracks in the sledge. Although it lasted about 2 minutes, we had a great time there, and were definitely worth it. Another memorable thing in Queenstown was the gigantic burgers that we had for lunch. Seriously BIG!!! We then had a scenic walk around the harbour at Lake Wakatipu overlooking The Remarkables. On our returning trip that evening, we made a short stop at a nearby town, called Arrowtown, where it used to be a gold mining area. Just like a typical small town, there was nothing much to see, and it’s another barren town especially after working and visiting hours. We took a stroll in the Chinese Settlement Garden before heading back to Alexandra.
First time ever, we had to celebrate Chinese New Year far away from home. We had a simple 3-dish reunion lunch on the eve. No sumptuous food, but that sufficed. We were given an “off” day by our employer on the first day of CNY. Hahaha!! Do you really think we had such a great boss? This was just a sign of our D-day, and it fell exactly on the second day of CNY. The end of cherry season marked the end of our working days. Darn! But come to think of it, it wasn’t really that bad. At least the days of having to stay in an uncomfortable cabin that bring lots of inconveniences, plus the discomfort of having to use filthy amenities were finally over. On top of that, we were officially “liberated” from the uncertain days of the unreliable work, and we could start up on our voyage again. Lesson learnt: Be optimistic.
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