Don't Waste Your Life

The boat that brought us there.


Refreshed? Soon we'd be the exact opposite of refreshed...


The beginning of it all.

The distance we had to cover. No shitting you. By the way, Singapore our dear island is only 64km wide. :) This is longer.


The company. Of mad walkers. (notice we're all smiling normally, except one person)


Buddy Rebby enjoying our free jam-filled, icing covered chocolate muffins at Cnoc na Lear after a day of hard walking, for fear of not being able to get there before dark.


Because we are such slacker Singaporeans, we paid the boat company to ferry our luggage everyday to the next accomodation we'd be staying in. (Hey! We just wanted to enjoy our walk ok!) Here I must add our discussion on the Great Singaporean Mentality. A German looks at the guidebook and decides to walk the QCT. She thinks 'Hmm.. the book says it's normally done in 4 days. I could probably do it in 3.' Singaporeans take a look at the guidebook and say 'Hmm.. the book says it's normally done in 4 days. Let's play safe and do it in 5.'


Me slacking by the windowside at Mahana Lodge. Beautiful place. No one to disturb us. Sitting around doing nothing much. :) In case u're wondering what I'm staring at out of the window.. it's this...


This is the view. :)



The beautiful Rebecca. :)


I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121)


After huffing and puffing for 20 mins up Eatwells Lookout.. look at the view!!!


Views..

Views :)

Hiker-Me.


Hammock and Water. Perfect Nua Combination.


Haha.. scandalous pic! Okay we weren't on the same bed, as Reb says, but on different beds on the upper deck of our backpackers. We kinda decided to sleep head to head so that I won't haf to smell Reb's smelly feet or vice-versa. But then again, mayb my feet ain't smelly.
Hmm, i wonder why we didn't sleep foot to foot?


Before sleeping.. :) Oh. U see the bed across on my right hand side? The one with the shorts hanging on the bedpost? Well, there's an American from Florida sleeping on the bed below. Was having a good conversation with him.. and I thought he was really well-read.. cos he speaks well, he's not coarse, he doesnt say stupid jokes.. and he reads Francis Fukuyama can? btw for those who don't know, Fukuyama is one of the leading scholars on American politics and foreign policy. So i was chatting with him on all sorts of topics.. but then he didn't seem to know much about the world in depth actually.. and it was finally confirmed with the question:

'Erm. Hmm. So Singapore, where you come from, is it a free country? I mean.. you guys have a monarch running you guys rite?'


Me and Reb in matching colours!


Buddies!

Buddies trying to be funny..

Last day. 70km, 8 shagged-out legs, and 4 pairs of dusty boots later. :)

YEARH!!!!! WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Rebby decides to take a break.


She sells (picks) sea shells by the seashore. Oh did you hear? The Department of Conservation has declared sea shells on Anakiwa beach an endangered species.


Happily back to Picton.


My well-deserved dinner at Picton after 5 days of instant pasta and not a single scrap of meat. This meal had mushrooms, 2 eggs, bacon rashes, 3 sausages, chips, roasted tomatoes and a rump steak. Rocks!


My message to my company of mad hikers: I love you guys. You guys rock.
Apparently Junren says I said those words in my sleep. U see, everyone in my room hears me sleeptalk every night, but they could never decipher what I was trying except for this last night. They were right, I said those exact words. Cos before I fell asleep, those were the exact same things I was thinking of.

Rebecca was right. The time spent on the track, slogging it out on those ridiculous uphills, pia-ing the distances so we can reach our accomodation before nightfall, stopping and drinking untreated water, singing stupid army songs and a rap-version parody of 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' and a Chinese version of Britney Spears' 'You Drive Me Crazy', they did create a bond amongst us.

I'm particularly glad for Wei Hao, my permanent buddy at the back of the pack. He really pushed himself on despite the fact that at one point he was beyond his own physical limits. I admired him, because that was the same day he dedicated his walk to someone dear and beloved to him. Sometimes it's hard to keep those memories, but let's not let them go until we've tried our darndest hardest, my friend. I'm glad you opened up to me during the trip. I appreciate it, and perhaps it may even be something that was difficult for you to do. You rock, bro.

For you Junren, thanks for being a part of all this. For being crazy enough to sing the crazy army songs. For asking me why i do some things the way I do during the wallet game. For just being there.

For my dearest buddy Rebecca. Thanks for making us come on this with you. While I insist that you looked just as wonderful before the trip, I know you also felt really good with what you accomplished. :) Thanks for egging us on, and for waiting up. Thanks for always looking on the bright side of things. :)

Seriously. You guys rock. Queen Charlotte Track rocks cos it's got the best scenery I've seen in NZ so far, but it would've rocked less without you guys. It's the people that make the memories.