Love Is A Believing Creature

All photos by Soroosh:

(Lake Tekapo)

(Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown)

Okay, this one’s by me hehe (notice the Dr. Pepper? #Merica)

(Millenium Hotel, Queenstown)
(Hyde Park, Sydney)

(Castle Hill Koala Sanctuary, Sydney)

(City Centre, Queenstown)


(Skyline, Queenstown)

Celebrating our one year anniversary at Strawberry Fare, Christchurch, followed by a hilarious night at Scared Scriptless.

Our Japanese Guests’ Day Two

On day two we went to Akaroa and it was such a nice day and such a fun time that it turned out to be our guests’t highlight. So far! As in, don’t go away yet, there’s much more to come.

I’m so predictable. Kapiti black doris plum and creme fraiche is my faveeeee.

Treated myself at the gift-store! Sooo cute, right?

Ugly but delicious.Gosh, I love NZ apricots! So did our guests. This is because apricots, alongside some other produce (such as good cheese, brown bread and beetroot) are hard to come by in Japan.

This has got to be the funniest photo. Here’s Yuko and her husband awkwardly agreeing to a photo by my crazy dad as Juri takes yet another selfie!
Beautiful Yuko.

The small houses in Akaroa are so adorable. Soroosh? Let’s go. 


Last but not least, a great Kiwi lunch: battered fish, squid rings, onion rings, L&P and Wattie’s tomato sauce.

NZ Roadie: Take One

Ever since I started writing, and I don’t mean blogging, I’m referring to the basic “the cat sat on the mat” shenanigans, I have had a very serious diary addiction. The endless potential presented by brand new notebooks with completely blank pages just waiting to be filled with an infinity of possibility (scribbles) has always been so damn appealing to me. In short, I have come to find that NZ Roadies and the spontaneous possibilities of the open road, provide me with the same high as a new kikki.K notebook.

Impromptu summer roadies are an oasis amidst the suffocating, sand-in-places-it-shouldnt-be, uncomfortably hot and sometimes lonely dessert which the average person’s chaotically busy modern life has become. Schedules, meetings, to do lists, deadlines, birthdays, weddings, funerals, other humans, etc, etc; sometimes one simply needs to get away (drive away, to be more specific). In fact, most often we tend to get so far stuck in our monotonous routines that we forget what spectacular treasures lie around the corner/a couple hours drive away.

Take NZ for example, apparently the tourism industry has overtaken the dairy industry as NZ’s largest export industry as more and more Lord of the Rings fanatics arrive to get an up-close-and-personal glimpse of ‘middle-earth’. Although I’m a NZ citizen, one of fifteen years to be specific, there’s still so many strikingly beautiful NZ sites that I’m yet to visit, which brings me to the irony that many a foreigner have seen and experienced more of my hometown than I. For example, did you know that just two hours from Christchurch lie two of Mother Nature’s incredibly breathtaking (literally, as a lot of climbing is involved) masterpieces? Castle Hill (as seen in the climactic battle scene of the 2005 movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and the Devil’s Punchbowl (a picturesque waterfall of 131 meters)!

Lastly, if these photographs don’t inspire you to eagerly leave your office in order to frolic in an open field, then maybe this collection of figuratively delicious quotes on Nature, will:

“Every time I stand before a beautiful beach, its waves seem to whisper to me: If you choose the simple things and find joy in nature’s simple treasures, life and living need not be so hard.”-Psyche Roxas-Mendoza

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.”-Sylvia Plath

“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars.”-Helen Keller

“Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.”-Maori proverb

“After a visit to the beach, it’s hard to believe that we live in a material world.”-Pam Shaw

“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.”-Khalil Gibran

NZ, why you so beaut?!

Forget Paris, Audrey. Akaroa is always a good idea. (Especially when organic strawberries and peaches, classic Kiwiana ‘fush and chips’ and Kapiti Black Doris plum and creme fraiche ice-cream are present.) What about you? What’s your favourite Summer indulgence? X