Day 343 - MM Merienda

The first things I did when I got back home, in order of importance:

1) Ate chicken joy @ Jollibee!
2) Watched the season premiere of Gossip Girl
3) Met up with my friends @ Starbucks!

Hehehe! Just kidding. I missed everything equally. No, really! :P

Anyway, these are the girls from where I used to work. I miss them so much because not only do I no longer work in the same office as them, but I was also not in the same country for the last 5 months. I'm really happy that we still make time to see each other even when we're no longer officemates. Actually, two other people in this photo don't work for the same company anymore, too. So, I think based on that, I can say that we've all become real friends. :)

Day 342 - Sheep Souvenir

You'd think that on my 4th time in New Zealand, I would no longer find these sheep souvenirs interesting, but I still do! Because look! It's so cute! And it was on sale!

Anyway, I put him on the trolley while we were on our stopover at Singapore so he could see the Changi Airport, which in my opinion is the best airport in the world.

Fat sheep!!!

Day 341 - Last Meal Out

Today is my last day in New Zealand. IKR?! I can't believe I've been here for 5 months. But tomorrow I'll be going home. I'm excited because I've missed home so much, but I will also miss a lot of things here, including this meal: French toast with bananas and bacon + coffee. So of course, this is what I ordered at the cafe where we had our 2nd to the last meal in New Zealand.

There are a lot of cafes in Wellington, but I chose Cafe Mamba at Plimmer Steps for today because my sister and I found the food there really delicious. As did my dad and aunt whom I went with today. The only problem was the service was slow, but you can't really blame them for that because there's literally only one guy working -- he was manning the counter and he cooked our meals, too.

And with that, I bid New Zealand adieu. :(

Day 340 - Queens Drive, Lower Hutt

I cannot at all remember why I took this photo. Maybe I was looking at photos stored in my camera and took this by mistake. Either way, it's the only photo I took for today so by default, it's today's photo of the day.

Day 339 - Mahal Mo, Mahal Ko, Mahal Nating Lahat

Natawa lang ako kasi parang malabong conversation between two people 'yung mga title ng kanta. Try mo basahin nang sunud-sunod tapos imagine mo na taking turns sa pagsabi ng each line 'yung dalawang tao. :P

And yes, nagdala ng Magic Sing w/ Tagalog chips sa New Zealand 'yung isang friend ni Ate dahil ganun kami ka-deprived sa videoke. Hehehe!

Day 338 - Bridal Bouquet

Wedding day today!

I wasn't able to take a lot of photos because, as the maid of honor, I had a lot of other things to do. And well, we did hire a professional photographer to take photos. But I managed to take a few (less than 10), and at least one of them turned out quite decent. I think.

This is my sister's bridal bouquet. She originally wanted callalilies, but the florist said they were unavailable. No matter. I think those yellow tulips look really beautiful. :)

Congratulations to Z&E! :D

If you'd like to see the photos taken by the official photographer for this event, you can find them here: Driving off into the sunset by Adrian De La Fuente

Day 337 - Kissilhouette

Somehow the sun was too bright or my camera's too lowtech or I'm that bad a photographer that this shot didn't turn out right. We tried it again where the light's on their faces instead of behind it but the background for that shot wasn't so great. So I made this black and white and will just leave the rest to your imagination.

BTW, this is my sister's friend K with her fiance J and we were at the Petone beach (I don't know what that place is called exactly). Also: Yes, very cheesy and corny title for this post. Sorry about that.

Day 336 - LOTR Tour

Obviously (from this photo), today we went on the Lord of the Rings tour in Wellington. I've been on it before but the rest of my family hasn't. I think they enjoyed it. :)

Day 335 - Paraparaumu Beach

This is Paraparaumu Beach. It's about an hour drive away from Lower Hutt, I think. There weren't any people when we went, probably because it's not summer. We have been here during summer though, and on those times, we went crabbing. But today it was too cold to catch crabs, not that we planned on doing that.

P.S. Only 1 month (of course, it still depends on how many more days I skip taking photos) to go before the end of my 365 project. I'm kind of sad. What am I going to blog about after this?!

Day 334 - Road Trip 2

We went on another road trip, this time going to Cape Palliser at the end of New Zealand's north island. We had to rent a people mover this time because my brother and his girlfriend are also now already in NZ so we can't fit in normal cars anymore. Anyway, look at that view. I think going on road trips in NZ are the best kind of trips you can take when in NZ.

Day 333 - Strawberry Cheesecake

And because there was so much food on fiesta night, we didn't get to eat my birthday cake, which my Aunt B baked, until today. I'm happy she put strawberries on this cheesecake because I'm not really fond of blueberries. Anyway, it was yummy.

Day 332 - Birthday / Fiesta

I'd like to say that all this food is for my birthday celebration, but I do share my birthday with several other occasions. In this case, the Penafrancia Fiesta of Bicol Province, where most of my parents' friends who live in New Zealand are from. Not that I'm complaining. It's lots of food on my birthday! I couldn't be happier.

Day 331 - NZ KTV

We went to what I think is the only KTV place in Wellington, Taste of Korea, for my sister's "hen party". That's in quotation marks because my sister's not really into hen parties. We kind of just really wanted to sing our hearts out. We did go to a bar and had so many drinks after this, but that's another story. ;)

Day 330 - Entertaining Guests

We went to one of my aunts' house to watch the opening of the Rugby World Cup, which they'd recorded from TV. While we were waiting for my aunt to set up, her 11-year-old daughter J played the piano.

Day 329 - Clock at the Old Bank

Today we went around the Wellington CBD with my aunt. It's her first time in New Zealand so we went to the touristy places, like my favorite, the Old Bank Shopping Arcade. I love the atmosphere in it and this clock opens up every hour to show some dioramas about Wellington's history.

Day 328 - Place Card

I made several designs for the place cards that we're to use at my sister's wedding, and this one is the winner. Thanks to my aunt's suggestion. I think it looks really pretty. :)

Day 327 - Firework

We watched the fireworks for the Petone Carnival from a clearing on one of the nearby hills. I don't have a technologically advanced camera and I didn't bring a tripod for the occasion, but I think this shot turned out pretty good. Even if you can clearly see what movement my hand made when I took the shot. :P

Day 326 - Road Trip

Amazing views as we drove back to Lower Hutt from Taupo. I was lucky to sit in the front seat of our rented car. Lucky because I got to take photos like these. But not that lucky because I had to be navigator, too. Low spatial intelligence me. I don't know how we ever got home without getting too lost. Hehehe!

Day 325 - You Can Park Anywhere

Outside the Rotorua Museum, there was ample parking. But only because you can park anywhere. :P

Day 324 - Unique Photo Opportunity

That's me! And the many different kinds of sheep there are. I went closer to them because I didn't want to miss the "unique photo opportunity", which I kept reading about in all the advertisements for the sheep show at Agrodome. They're not wrong. It was a fun show to watch and the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere! ;)

Day 323 - Off the Beaten Path

At one point, my mom mentioned that her favorite parts of our trip was when we went to the places that weren't tourist areas. One such place is this one, which we only found because we got lost. I honestly don't know what part of Rotorua this is, but we got there at sunset and it looked amazing.

Day 322 - PRAWNS

As the cliche goes, a visit to Taupo wouldn't be complete without passing by the Huka Prawn Farm Restaurant. Unless you're allergic to prawns, like my poor brother. But he didn't go with us on this trip anyway so we were free to order as much prawns as we liked, which is a whole lot. Yumyumyum!

Day 321 - Looking at the Lake

My aunt looks out at Lake Taupo, for obvious reasons.

We stopped by the side of the road to take photos and lucky I got one that's so emotive. Of course, in reality we were being noisy talking about nonsense things. :P

Day 320 - Spring Starts September

These flowers were on the island in the middle of the road going to the mall in Lower Hutt. My dad and I were walking and we just had to take a photo. Spring's begun! Flowers all around have bloomed. :)