Welcome to the land of Akaroa, 1.5hrs drive to the east of CHC. It used to be a french colony and is situated on top of an open shield "dead" volcano. It was a nice day tour. Had mac this morning(got to fill up my stomach b4 I start to have fun) b4 I hit the Akoroa French Connection half day tour. 6 of us, initially unknown to each other and strangers(a sydney couple, Emily from Canada, Matthiew from Germany, Linda), were brought together by the driver, Ron.
We were given a commentary by Ron abt the history of CHC. A late city bloomer in 1850s, otherwise called as the garden city(feels nicer than our Singapore gardern city), Avon river as the river of life injected in to the city, etc. We went on route 75(their expressway no) around the scenic ride to Akoroa. We went to the beach to pick up coloured peddles from a peddle bench(you heard mi no wrong..it is a peddle beach, not a sand beach), to a peddler collector's collection, had coffee at a high lookout point overseeing Akoroa, the cheese factory finally dropped of at the town of Akoroa for some free and easy time. Some elected to laze around, some opt for the walking trails, I choose the 2hrs Akoroa harbour cruise to try my luck to spot penguins, dolphins and seals.
Was really chilling facing the pacific ocean and the Tasman sea(if I am not wrong). Spotted a pot(not school) of 8 hector dolphins. It was really nice!!! Wind was blasting straight at us(v cold!!!). After the cruise, managed to have a sip of flat white b4 I made my way back to CHC. There are only 400 occuptants in Akoroa, while most of the houses were owned by holiday makers.
As for dinner, I initially wanted to have it with my FO. However he was not available. Thinking that I might be having dinner myself, I made my way down b4 I saw Capt Tan and Capt Chung. B4 you know it, I am having dinner with the two capts. Stressed!
Turned out that the dinner was the best I ever had for my Second Officer training so far. You can never imagine how much you can learn just by eating lamb shank and drinking NZ beer. Trust mi, I had been alot not just from one but two Capts! Will remember their words and strive to improve oneself. Nice!
Will be making my way in bound to Singapore (SIN) tomo. Will be looking forward to spend CNY with my family. XIN NIAN KWA LE
Aliying :)
No comments:
Post a Comment