The New Zealand Chronicles//Part Three

   

             Our last day in Queenstown was definitely my favourite because it was the most memorable part of the trip. One of my goals for this trip was to either go bungy jumping or paragliding. Since touching down in Queenstown, I knew that I would be revisiting New Zealand in the near future so I decided to leave bungy jumping till next time and went paragliding instead. Paragliding was definitely one of the greatest experiences i've had in my life so far. It was so comfortable and I felt safer paragliding than I do in a plane-and I love plane rides! According to my instructor, we went the highest he had been in two days- I honestly didn't expect to go that high up. Paragliding is definitely  the best way to enjoy the view as well as get your adrenaline kick!

          Instead of taking a flight back to Auckland, we decided to drive up to Christchurch and fly from there. On the way to Christchurch, we spent one night at Lake Tekapo. Lake Tekapo is a lake(duh!) in the South Island of New Zealand, a short two to three hour drive from Queenstown. Once again, we spent the day driving/walking around the lake. It is such a beautiful place- much like all of New Zealand! Although there isn't a lot to do there, the scenery was spectacular and made up for the lack of activities.

          Some of my favourite memories from school involve stargazing with my friends on camp and ever since then i've always loved the stars! Lake Tekapo is located in the Mackenzie Region which is renowned for the clarity of its sky and low light pollution and was declared a gold level International dark sky reserve in 2012- which in simple words means that its a pretty great place to check out the stars! Unfortunately, the one night we spent there was cloudy so we didn't get to see any stars but we did see a pretty spectacular sunset! Although I didn't get to see any stars, there were a few alpacas in front of our room which definitely made my day!

            The next day we drove up to Christchurch, which while being the the largest city in the South Island was probably the most quietest city i've been to. Due to the recent earthquakes, Christchurch is  still being rebuilt but it was amazing to see how the people were working around their short comings. For example, there is the Re:START Mall, which is a bunch of stores in containers- a very cool concept if I may say so!

RE:Start Mall

              The next day, we headed back to Auckland for the last few days of our holiday! We spent the days hanging out with our family friends and relaxing as much as possible. My favourite moment from those last few days was definitely heading into the city with friends and hanging out by the harbour.

         I honestly cannot wait to go back to New Zealand. It was such an amazing trip and it was definitely sad moment heading back to reality in Australia! 

Till next time New Zealand!!!

The New Zealand Chronicles//Part Two

              After spending a few too many days lounging around, we put our adventure hats on and headed to Milford Sound. Milford Sound, a fjord in the South Island of New Zealand, is a five hour (well, we took five hours with all the stopping!) drive from Queenstown. The drive is spectacular as you drive through the mountains, and we ended up stopping far too many times to take pictures!

Early morning fog.

                

               Upon arriving at Milford Sound, we stepped onto a boat- well a cruise boat-which took us around the fjord. Now i'm not a big fan of boat rides, however the calm sea (thank you, weather Gods) coupled with the spectacular views made it a VERY enjoyable and memorable experience. My favourite part was definitely when we were at the point where the fjord met the Tasman Sea. It was so surreal because, one moment we were surrounded by mountains and then the next there was a vast expanse of sea in front of us. Apparently, it is almost impossible to see the Sound from the Tasman Sea- Captain Cook and many other vessels have missed the Sound while travelling around the coast. The other highlights were seeing the seals and the numerous waterfalls. Despite being an exhausting journey, it was definitely worth it because the views were amazing! There are also lots of nice places to stop at on the way to and back from Milford Sound, such as the Mirror Lake.

Hello, Tasman Sea!

SEALS!

Mirror Lake

                          The next day we drove to Arrowtown, a quaint gold-rush village 15 minutes away from Queenstown. The main part of the village is Buckingham Street which is filled with heritage buildings that house restaurants, bars and shops.  Interesting fact- there is also a Chinese settlement in Arrowtown which was set up by the Chinese gold miners who had been invited by the Otago Provincial Government to mine gold in the 1860s!

          In the afternoon we went for ANOTHER walk around the lake- it's amazing the amount of exercise you put up with when you are on holiday!  I loved that this trip was so casual that we could take as many walks as we wanted, and stop wherever we wanted to take a picture as we weren't on any schedule as such- definitely the best type of holiday!

Just keep swinging!

Till next time.....

The New Zealand Chronicles//Part One

           

Yes, that is a bear beanie!

              I can't remember the last time I went on a proper holiday and recently my family and I decided to visit New Zealand. We have only been once before and there is so much to do in this beautiful country that we decided to go again.

              The first stop on our trip was Auckland, a city in the North island of New Zealand. The first two days were spent lounging around and on the third day, we ventured to the city centre. After browsing through a few shops, we had lunch at Elliott Stables. Located on Elliott Street, Elliott Stables consists of a bunch of restaurants with a central courtyard where you can sit and eat. It is a definite must see, especially if you are a Harry Potter nerd as it has a very Diagon Alley feel to it! Later in the evening we headed to a night market. The highlight of the night market was sorting through mounds of rings for the perfect one- the seller literally had over a thousand rings!

Rings!Rings!Rings!

My chosen few.

               The next day we departed for Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. Honestly, neither words nor the enmillion pictures I took during the trip can accurately represent the beauty of this amazing town- everyone should add this destination to their bucket list! The first few days in Queentown were spent driving in and around Queenstown, walking around the lake and taking as many pictures as possible!

The view from our balcony.

A copper house in the mountains?!

The Travelling Converse.

Artwork in a cafe we visited.

        There's still more to come, so stay tuned for part two! 

Summer Shoes

   

      Summer is definitely my favourite part of the year. Despite the horrific heat waves, the frizzy hair and the swollen toes, summer always brings a smile to my face. The best thing about the sunny season is summer fashion- the various prints, the bright colours and the fact that I don't have to lug around my coat everywhere I go.
      Summer also inspires my inner DIY goddess and the other day, whilst surfing the internet, I stumbled across this adorable tutorial for bumble bee print shoes. Although they took a bit of time, they were cheap as chips and all you really need is a bit of patience and a steady hand.

      

 To make these cute shoes all you need is:

* Any cheap pair of sneakers or espadrills

* The cheapest yellow nail polish you can find

* A black permanent marker

* A pencil with an eraser at the end

         All you need to do is dip the end of the pencil in the nail polish and dot it all over the shoes. I ended up doing two coats so that the yellow stood out against the denim print of the shoes. Then, with the marker, I drew on the eyes, stripes, wings and stinger for each bee- this was the most tedious part! And voila, you are left with a pair of adorable sneakers that add a bit of character to any summer outfit!

p.s. I apologise for the billion pictures, a few too many were taken!

Till next time....

Happy New Year!

          I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season and had a great New Year! I for sure did and since the New Year calls for new things, I thought i'd do something different and show you what I wore for New Years! New Years this year was very low key, but very enjoyable none the less. I spent it at home with friends and family, eating, drinking, chatting and playing a few games of Uno.

         I was unsure of what I was going to wear but luckily a package from Asos (a sneaky purchase I had made before Christmas) arrived on New Years Eve-coincidence, I think not!

         I kept it simple, pairing these pink shorts with a simple black shirt I bought at a market. For shoes, I kept it comfortable and wore a pair of black sandals that I got from Novo. I accessorised with silver rings I bought in India a few years ago, a bracelet I got as a present and a watch my mum found at the local op shop.
                                                                 

                                                     
        With my hair, I kept it simple by using products that defined my natural curls. After washing my hair, I used the John Freida Frizz-Ease Curl Reviver Styling Mousse at the ends of my hair and sprayed the VO5 give me texture Dry Texturising Spray all over. I recommend John Freida product for people with have slightly curly and/or frizzy hair- it really helps tackle the frizz and makes my curls less limp. For the face, I just slicked on some of the COVERGIRL Lipslicks Smoochies Lip Balm in Luv U, Maybelline EyeStudio Color Tattoo 24HR Cream Gel Shadow in Bad to the Bronze, Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner and the L'Oréal False Lash Telescopic Mascara.

          As you can see, my goal was to look great with the least amount of effort put in. I was very pleased with the end result! As I was busy having a great time, I unfortunately wasn't able to take too many  pictures! I hope you all had a wonderful New Years!

Till next time....