The Cost of One & NZ2

So recently my dad told me to get life insurance.

Coincidentally, my brother was talking about how he was getting life insurance a couple of days prior to that too. Then there was the news about the MH17 passenger airlines getting shot down, with a devastating death toll of 298. And not forgetting MH370, the missing flight carrying 239 lives that simply vanished. On a smaller and more personal scale, I'm a self-confessed road rager (in my yearbook at the end of my high school, I was given the title "worst driver" of my year, though in my defense, the one and only accident I was involved in was not actually my fault); my field of work is not exactly the safest (being attacked by clients is definitely not unheard of); and I'm a bit too lazy to care very much when it comes to general self-care. Oh?Muscle strain? Stop playing badminton for a week? Yeaaaa maybe.... nah.

Make that very lazy. And head strong. You there, stop nodding please.

On a side note, it will be interesting to find out how much this life is worth to the insurance companies. I was always reminded that I'm an investment which my parents make on a daily basis, and I don't doubt that. In fact, I will never be completely aware of exactly how much investment my parents put into me. Looking at it retrospectively- there's the big stuff, like how they paid for my music tuition fees for years, some of my uni fees, but also the small- every square of toilet paper, every gigabyte of internet, every drop of water etc. Not just money, but time, love and effort... this defiant, stubborn child was never an easy one to take care of. While life insurance (money) can bring little, if any at all, comfort to bereaved ones, it can be considered a responsibility to get it. At this stage for me, it's also a note of thanks for investing in me. In the future, that will change when I have others depending on me, but for now....

New Zealand 2!

From NZ 2014

Continuing from Hobbiton, we were given a treat at the end of the tour at The Green Dragon, where we had some ale and food. We tried their ginger ale (non-alcoholic) and their apple cider. Unfortunately, the only one who could take alcohol in our group was P, so she downed most of it (sorry!) Their food was quite interesting- that pie was amazing, filled with chunks of beef and rich gravy. Their cold pie was almost like a meatloaf in texture and came with a chutney side.

We headed back to our hotel after the tour and wandered around the CBD area.

From NZ 2014

The one restaurant I didn't bother finding out about was where we had dinner that night. It was some Thai restaurant which was very mediocre. We get better Thai from restaurants in Sydney. It was an impromptu walk-in, so that was probably a mistake on our part. Note: research!!

Or, if you are internet-less and cannot do research, go where the crowd goes.

From NZ 2014

There was a horde of people amassed outside this ice cream joint. Giapo, as it turns out, is like the New Zealand equivalent of Messina in Australia. Their website boldly broadcasts themselves as "New Zealand's Best Ice cream". Not too far off from the truth I'd say, because their ice cream was serious business.

Their website has a really interesting recipe for a Hot Ice Cream, check it out.

From NZ 2014

The next day, we checked out of Waldorf Auckland and flew to Queenstown, picked up rental car II and headed to our next stay. Our accommodation was almost hostel-like, but we had our own bathroom (yes, that is all I care about when it comes to accommodation). It was significantly colder in Queenstown and we saw snow-capped mountains along the way. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we noticed the grass and fauna sparkling with frost.

From NZ 2014

A quick check-in, bag dump, and we were out again. I'm not sure where the plan to visit Lake Wanaka came from, but it was definitely worth the long and scary drive there. I'm not the only one thankful that I wasn't the one driving- B shouldered that load and did a great job at it too. We stayed at Lake Wanaka for the whole evening, mastering the art of skipping rocks across waters and tree climbing while waiting till sunset before heading back.

From NZ 2014

Queenstown is actually a really cute place. We were scheduled to snowboard the following two days, so we checked out the place where we were going to rent out boots and board for the next morning before the hard task of making up our minds as to where we would have dinner. 

So many restaurants, so many choices. We settled on an Irish pub... based solely on the pie on their menu.

From NZ 2014

That's one man-sized pie right there: Pog Mahones’ famous pie with a puff pastry casing served with mashed potato & fresh homemade Guinness soda bread. Technically that was B's order, but he probably ate about 1/4 of it while the two of us girls helped ourselves to it. The stonegrill menu was on special, so I ordered a Canterbury Beef Fillet- 200gm of prime beef fillet served with portobello mushroom, with sides of onion rings and salad. Came sizzling with a knob of butter and instructed to slice it up thinly to cook. It was good. Really good. The photos look terrible because the pub was dimly lit, but that was probably the best dinner we had there. 

We had room for dessert of course. Their apple crumble was freshly made and their Bailey's cheesecake nice and not too heavy.

Thus concludes Day 1 Queenstown. The following two days mainly saw me sliding miles on my backside and ploughing through skiers and snowboarders indiscriminately, but no one wants to know, so this really concludes the whole saga of New Zealand. 

I kid. More food for next time.