Michelle
My new year started off with a bang! After the countdown at Civic Square, 5 of us (Jin, Minki, Sooyong, Sarah and me) went back to Taste of Korea where Jin works. He wasn't completely done yet, so we went back there to wait for him to finish up work.

The owner of the place gave us cake.. apparently it was her birthday.. so we sat, ate cake and chatted for a while (I listened to them chat, since I don't speak THAT much Korean)... and then Jin finished up and dropped me home. All of them went back home to get ready for our roadtrip.. they came by my place to pick me up and then we just checked the cars to make sure there's enough water etc before we left. And off we went at 2am.

We got to Napier at about 6am.. so much for watching the sun rise.. it had already risen by the time we got there! Us girls were so tired we just stayed in the car and slept.. and the boys went down to the beach and watch the sun rise.. after a little while, we all got up and decided to go to McDonald's for breakfast (the only place open at 7am). After brekkie... Jin and Minki slept in the car for about an hour.. and the rest of just just relaxed.. some of us actually slept too.. and at 9am we left went to Marine Parade and took a nice walk along the waterfront.. and took lots of photos. Jin went off in search for a park bench and settled in for a nice nap. The rest of us woke him up about an hour later and off we went!























































Park Estate Wines - just a random winery we saw on the side of the road - still in Napier but not too sure where it is located exactly, so we stopped by. Unfortunately they didn't open till 11am.. so we just settled for taking photos outside and then went on our way.



































Honestly, I have no idea where this is. I was asleep in the car and the next thing I knew was that we've stopped and Jin said he saw a little river that he wanted to go to.. and there was a railroad track.. and we climbed up on it. I've always wanted photos on the railroad.. and I finally got it! :) The scenery was pretty too!









We then headed down to Palmerston North.. I think by this time, we were pretty hungry and needed to fuel up with some lunch! After our lunch stop at Palmerston North, we decided to go to a beach and so we looked up beaches on the map and decided on Himatangi Beach. It was pretty cool since you get to drive your car and park right on the beach. There were quite a lot of people around.. some with quad bikes too. Lots of families having picnics and lots of other people tanning in the sun. The boys stripped down and jump straight into the sea for a quick swim. None of us had extra clothes with us.. so us girls decided not to be that reckless... LOL! But we did have our own fun.. we turned up the music and just danced on the beach.. it was great.. the warm sun on our faces and cool ocean breeze... totally carefree and fun... it just doesn't get any better than this.

See the beer in the photo? Unfortunately, it rolled around quite a bit in the trunk and when Jin posed with it for the photo.. I think it turned almost upside down...and so all that came out were froth... needless to say, no one got to drink any of it!





















We finally got home at about 7.20pm... and all of us just wanted to get out of our grubby clothes and take a shower... and we were meant to go out for dinner after everyone freshened up. So I was all set and ready to go.. and texted Jin.. I told him to text me before leaving his place to pick me up and I didn't get a reply.. so I thought.. ok.. they're not ready yet.. so no biggie.. I watched tv and checked my emails a bit.. and uploaded photos from my camera. And then came almost 9pm and still no news.. so I rang Minki and he said Jin had collapsed into a deep sleep! Poor guy, he must be completely exhausted!!!! And Minki said to give them an hour since Sooyong and Sarah were still packing.. and then came 10pm.. no news yet again.. by now I was a little hungry... so I texted Minki again.. and apparently everyone else had crashed too! So that's the end of our dinner plans! Hahahah... I had noodles.. scrapped a little and fell asleep!

I am so happy that my first day in 2008 was such a spontaneous, happy, fun and crazy one! It's such a great start to a whole new year! I feel so positive about everything!
5 Responses
  1. penuttpie Says:

    yea! so glad you had so much fun!


  2. ~currant7 Says:

    those are fun photos!
    wonderful to see you so spunky as how i remember you to be. :D


  3. Mireille Says:

    love the awesome pictures. Wanted to wish you a very happy 2008


  4. Shirley Says:

    looks like it was a FUN trip!


  5. Silvitanova Says:

    Happy new Year!
    Great pictures!!!!