16/12/23 Sat: Woke up
at 6.45am and had simple sandwiches we bought yesterday for breakfast. It was a
short drive to the Franz Josef Heli Hike centre and at first, we were told that
the heli hike (S$556.13 per pax) was on but it was only at the briefing that
the guide told us the pilot said weather conditions were poor and there’s a
possibility of storm kicking in the next day, so they had to cancel and Klook
refunded me for the trip. It’s disappointing but oh well, maybe we’ll do that at
our future trip to New Zealand!
We spent the morning trekking
the Callery Gorge instead. The signboard at the start said “40mins one-way” but
we took like 1h 45mins for the round-trip… the people there have long legs or
what? Lol.
There were many slopes
up and down and by the time we got to the gorge, the water was not blue-ish but
greyish instead, albeit it was probably due to the heavy rain the day before. *The
bridge shaked a little and I was slightly scared haha.*
Back at 10.15am or so
and we drove to the Forest Walk for a glimpse of the glacier. Our viewpoint was
3000m from the glacier and it was only a short 30-minute return trip.
Rested at our Airbnb
before Potato drove us to Matheson Café at Fox Glacier town for lunch. He had beef
brisket poke bowl (NZD 22.5) while I ate chicken ramen (NZD 24). It reminded me
a bit of mee soto lol but the overall flavour was not bad. I liked the miso
peanut sauce from his dish too.
We embarked on our close
to 2 hour’s walk on the Lake Matheson Circuit in the late afternoon. *I was
clad in the “Ahjumma” fashion lol! Practicality works la!*
Saw some Takahe at the
beginning where we walked under the hot sun. Came to Reflection Island and saw
a Singaporean family there. It was, unfortunately, not still, so there was no
perfect reflection. It was not blue either. *My toes, especially the big right
toe, was very painful by now because it kept hitting the front of my boots when
we hiked Roys Peak.*
Dinner was the best
thing that happened today, I guess? Potato suggested Alice May restaurant and I’m
glad I listened to him. We went in at 7pm (and another Singaporean family sat
beside us again~) and we both ordered their garlic and chilli prawn pasta (NZD
32.9 each). I rate it 5/5! Although it was a bit pricier, but seven prawns were
all deveined! Not many eateries in Singapore de-vein prawns and not to mention,
it was yummy. We tried the Alice May draught (NZD 7.5), which had nutty apple
and caramel taste towards the end… not bad.
Furthermore, there is a
story to Alice May restaurant, about Alice Parkinson who was sentenced to hard
labour after killing her heartless lover Bert West as he did not fulfil his promise
to marry her, but feminists of the Socialist Movement and many supporters
petitioned for her release. The owner of the restaurant was one of Alice’s many
grandchildren and that pub was dedicated to the memory of Alice and her son.Finished another can of
Pals we bought… it was sweet but ended with bitter Vodka note… not to our
liking.
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