When I woke up the next morning, I opened my eye. Took a deep breath. Rubbed my eyes. I was still alive and had not gone to heaven as claimed by the previous guest here. I opened the curtain and found cars were starting to gain in number on the once quiet highway the day before. As we couldn’t find any grocery shops nearby yesterday, we decided to order a specially made breakfast from the owner of the motel.
Well, we tried Sushi King, Sakae Sushi, Jogoya, Tenji, Hajime Sushi and Jusco-after-8pm-got-discount sushi. But all these are prepared by either Malaysian or Bangladeshi workers. Not by an authentic Japanese. Since the owner is a Japanese lady whose family stays just next door, we requested her to cook for our breakfast. Japanese style! After the heavy gastronomical food we had yesterday, we suddenly felt that we were eating at Shaolin temple’s canteen. Just with some extra fish served. With the cool weather in New Zealand, a sip of warm soup and a hot bowl of rice make you feel like eating dinner at home.
A good breakfast like this gives you the extra “oomph” and energy to kick start your day. It’s time to head to our next intended destination. Arthur’s Pass. Before that, we saw a drawing at our motel showing that along our way to Arthur’s Pass, we will pass by a film location. Have you heard of this movie Chronicle of Narnia? I knew Lord of the Ring being shot here. But I guessed this Chronicle thing is also gaining some reputation with the second installment of the movie just shown this year. Both movies are so famous that both of us don’t even bother to watch a single episode of it.
“Since it is along the way, why not give it a try?” I told Han Ching.
Soon, we saw signboard showing “Castle Hill”. And we thought all these “castle”, “knight”, “fairy” sure related to movie like this Narnia, LOTR or Harry Potter. Castle Hill is a high country station in New Zealand's South Island. The hill was so named because of the imposing array of limestone boulders in the area reminiscent of an old, run-down stone castle. To my surprise, the front of Christ Church Cathedral that had collapsed during Christchurch earthquake was made from Castle Hill limestone. Don’t worry then, if they were to rebuild it, material is still aplenty here.
The limestone stack here reminiscence me of Stonehenge in UK. Though this stone are not properly stacked, I’m sure it will be famous if there do some spring cleaning and tidy up. One thing I like about New Zealand is that their tourist attraction spots are not as crowded as other country you see. Though this spot is being well publicised, it is indeed a far relaxing sightseeing location compared to back home. For example, I can have the whole Castle Hill all by myself during my time there.
You can pose “chok” face.
Do silly things.
Take panoramic shot.
“Ok, enough! Time to move to Arthur’s Pass or else cannot reach there on time” Han Ching scolded me.
So much for all the fun. It was only 11am and she was anxious and worried already. It was like a joy bubble being burst abruptly. We stepped on the pedal and made our way to Arthur’s Pass. Please don’t get confuse that Arthur’s Pass is named over Arthur Conan Doyle, the Scottish writer, most noted for his stories about the Sherlock Holmes or King Arthur, the legendary British leader in medieval histories. This Arthur has nothing to do with them.
Initially, judging from the Google Maps, I thought this to be another Taman Negara or Bako National Park. But it’s totally different. For instance, you don’t get to see crocodile in their river. Ok, by the way you won’t get crocodiles in New Zealand. The township and the pass were named after Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson who had been tasked to find out if there was an available pass out of the Waimakariri drainage basin into valleys running to the West Coast. I found it not really that special except crossing that freaking long span bridge where only one car can pass at a time. By noon, we had reached our next accommodation. Mountain House Backpacker.
This was really a decent backpacker stay. I think our double room is even bigger than Tune Hotel. The only difference is the toilet is again being shared. With no sign of supermarkets along our way, we did not manage to get any snack or food you see. We had to go to the nearest stalls to buy some slightly expensive sandwiches. Inside there, Han Ching saw some food to cook. Well, if there is something that she can cook/ handle, she will snap the opportunity to showcase her talent. She was so excited that she thought of making a feast out of it! I asked her what she going to do with it with no bread, no spaghetti, no sauce and no cooking oil. Now, it’s my turn to burst her ecstatic bubble.
Ignoring her, I grabbed some burgers and also some sandwiches in order to save my lunch. Luckily, coffee and tea were available for free in our common kitchen. Taking a sip of hot beverages while enjoying the cool weather with lush greenery surrounding the environment is truly relaxing. It makes you feel like a cowboy in the wild. With sky a bit gloomy and it started to drizzle, it somehow hampered our movement around. So we took a nap instead.
When we woke up, it was already time for dinner. Well, it’s Han Ching time.
Rewind please.
“No problem” she assured me. (Time when saying it: 1.03PM. Location when saying it: At the Arthur Pass shop.)
As we moved towards the kitchen we could smell nice aroma scent seeping through the door. We saw a group of middle aged uncles and aunties in the kitchen. The aunties were of course hustling and bustling near the stove while the uncles were sitting calmly on the table sipping up some red wine and waiting to be served. As we were the only so-called “juniors/ beginner” (correction, I’m intermediate, the one beside me is the beginner) the kitchen, we moved sheepishly to a stove a bit further away from them. After warming up the stove, we were trying to find out what were they preparing.
Before that, let me explain to you what backpacker’s accommodation is. It’s a low budget motel/ hostel with usually shared toilet and bathroom. All the amenities are shared. That inclusive of kitchen, fridge, kitchen ware, toaster, water boiler, chinaware, cooking ware, washing detergent, cutlery and if they are kind enough they will provide free coffee, tea, sugar, salt, condiment and cooking oil. It’s a stark contrast to what those 3 to 5 stars hotels offer. To summarise it, it’s all come down to the price one has to pay. Generally, those cheapskates with tight budget like me would prefer this especially when it comes to a country where their currency is higher than us.
So back to our kitchen, I was shocked to find out what they were actually preparing. Lobsters! Yup, each person one. I even saw one lady was grating some parmesan cheese on top of the fried lobster and then put it into baking. It was as though I was travelling with a group of 5 stars hotel chefs. At that time we were shrinking in size smaller and smaller each time they took out some add-ons from the fridge. Why?
This is why?
Our only dish for that night!
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