Return to Newfoundland
Wednesday July 31, 2024
Last year in August, we spent a week in Newfoundland, travelling all around the island and sampling the best of what it had to offer. What we discovered was a magnificent island with untouched beauty and so much fewer people than tourist hotspots like Banff. We vowed to come back, and this year, here we are again, only visiting the west side but getting the opportunity to revisit a bunch of places and cover some more of the remote areas. A week ago, we flew into Deer Lake, picked up our rental vehicles, did some grocery shopping, and settled into our Airbnb. Wifi was spotty and I could hear literally everything happening in the kitchen, but it was comfortable at least.
Thanks to my recent Canadian citizenship, I was able to get free entry for the whole car to Gros Morne National Park. We started off with the Green Gardens hike, a trail which leads to some rugged shoreline and some lush landscapes. In the afternoon, we hiked to Baker Brooks Falls. Both were a warmup for the next day’s hike to the top of the Tablelands.
Said to be a part of the exposed mantle, the landscape of the Tablelands is mostly barren and almost like an alien world, littered with interesting rocks and minerals. On the drive over, I spotted a female moose on the side of the road, which I found incredibly exciting and felt like my Canadianess had increased as a result. The start of the hike began on a boardwalk, and we continued past the end by following the main stream and began the ascent to the plateau. I find this kind of terrain interesting for hiking, and my long legs help me climb rocks with ease. At the plateau, we waited for the rest of the group to catch up and then crossed to the other side of the gorge to begin the descent. This terrain was unpleasant to walk on, and this was worsened by several black flies that perpetually buzzed around our heads. After an hour or so, we began the descent by following another stream back to the boardwalk. All in all, the hike took around six hours to complete. This was far less enjoyable than Gros Morne, but still an achievement to be proud of. We relocated to Rocky Harbour for our accommodation, where the Wifi was strong but I was on the sofa bed and had no privacy and no curtains to block the 5am sun.
With the major hikes out of the way, we did the Western Brook Pond boat tour, a cruise around a glacial carved valley with some fantastic cliffs and waterfalls adorning them. We were lucky that the morning rain had stopped in time for us to enjoy the time on the boat, and the clouds began to part slightly at the end of the cruise as well. We ended the day with a short hike around Berry Hill, and a sunset viewing at Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse.
On Tuesday, we started the long drive to the northern tip of the island. We stopped by Arches Provincial Park for a breather and continued to Port au Choix, where we saw several caribou (also known as reindeer!). Our Airbnb was in St Lunaire Griquet, and though I had a room to myself, the heating was dependent on the controls in the other room, and worse, the water smelt extremely metallic and unpleasant.
Originally we had planned to cover the historical Viking site L’Anse aux Meadows on Thursday, but since the forecast was looking wet, we brought it forward to Wednesday. We had also abandoned plans to visit Labrador due to complications with the ferry. It was fascinating to learn about the Viking settlement. Since migrating in different directions from Africa thousands of years ago, the arrival of these Norsemen marked the reunion of the Western European world with the Eastern travellers that colonised Russia and North America. We spent some time at Burnt Cape Ecological Reserve before returning to L’Anse aux Meadows for dinner at the Norseman Restaurant.
The clouds and cold rolled in on Thursday. We spent some time in St Anthony, admiring the view from Fishing Point. We spotted two icebergs floating in the sea, and drove to St Anthony’s Bight to take a closer look at one of them. We tried to follow the road along the coast to find the other, but that area was so devoid of accessible roads that we couldn’t really find a good viewing point, so we just went home and rested. Dinner was at a restaurant just five minutes away, and by that time, the rain was really bucketing down.
Our drive back to Deer Lake was long and boring, but we finished off our time in Newfoundland was a visit to the Insectarium. This was surprisingly interesting, and well worth the $15 and one hour we spent there. The butterfly garden lets you get up close with several colourful species of butterfly, and on the main exhibit floor, the staff were happy to take many of the live insects out for you to hold, including stick insects, millipedes and cockroaches! It’s been a wonderful week but I’m looking forward to being back in comfort in my own bed and apartment. Next week is a short week for work with both Canada Day and Independence Day being holidays for us.
Summer has been busy so far. I visited Little Canada, did Doors Open, saw Hadestown, and went to African Lion Safari. Matt visited from Cleveland and we went to the Illuminarium at the Distillery District, the cat cafe in Scarborough, and the fireworks for Victoria Day at Woodbine Beach. I had a very boujie dinner at Louis Louix thanks to FuzzyBot, and Korean barbeque lunch to farewell John, Tina and May. I finally finished the main story of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but still have a bunch of side quests to complete. In the meantime, I’m determined to make the most of the magnificent weather while I can, and it feels like I’ve accomplished so much already.
Posted by Jeremy at 2:11pm on Wednesday July 31, 2024 :: 0 comments :: 
2017
Sunday January 1, 2017
2017 is finally upon us. What a year it's going to be for me! In just over three weeks, I'll be starting my Big O.E. with the first leg of my journey from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur.
The past year has been good for me. I'm very proud of Doomsday Clicker and the financial success that it's brought PikPok. It's been a fun project to work on, and exudes the signature polish and gorgeous art style that PikPok games have. It's got that quirkiness and humour, and those systems have been fun to write. I took on a greater role in recruitment and we hired some cool people over the course of the year - some of whom I won't actually get to work with! I leave PikPok with my head held high, knowing I've made a positive impact on the company and proud of what I've achieved in my nine years there.
I got to see the Final Fantasy A New World Concert in Melbourne, and almost exactly a year later, I will be seeing the Final Fantasy Distant Worlds concert. I walked Lake Waikaremoana and barely survived with a bung knee. I went to five weddings, played piano at one of them and was a groomsman at another. We saw the end of Strawberry Fare, but went hard with Wellington on a Plate. There was Little Penang's fifth birthday, mooncake festival, hot pot, yum cha, late night trips to see the glorious night sky, badminton, squash, crocodile biking, and of course, karaoke. There was Pokemon Go and the ensuing hilarity of me being interviewed by the NZ Herald and Flava, and scoring a mention on TV3's Seven Days.
2016 has been pretty memorable for me and it'll go down as a pretty crazy year.
I've been spending the last week catching up with family and friends. Jules, Mana and I did the drive from Wellington to Auckland on Christmas Eve without any incidents. Christmas was spent in Waiuku on my sister's in-law's farm with loads of food and presents for the nine children in attendance! On Boxing Day, I bought myself a new laptop (that I'm currently using to type all this up) and spent the rest of the day on the North Shore at Mat's house with the Pokemon Gang. On Tuesday, I took James and Navi around Auckland for a whirlwind tour, visiting Western Springs, Giapo and the waterfront to check out the massive cruise ship, Ovation of the Seas. On Wednesday, I met Jono and Charlotte for yum cha at Sun World, then Jordan, Tessa and Mana for Korean food and some arcade games. It was my sister's birthday on Thursday and we had lunch at Carriages Cafe in Kumeu, then I was back in town for Bryce's stag do. We had dinner at Elliot Stables, then did an escape room and had drinks at Dr Rudi's in the viaduct. Friday I had dinner with Mel, Jarrod, Jono and Charlotte at At Bangkok, then dessert at Ollie's, and then on New Year's Eve, I was out in Cockle Bay with Jono and Charlotte again.
I've even found time to go to the gym while I've been up here. It's nice to be relaxed enough that I can sort out all my travel plans and organise things for the trip, and fit in time to catch up with people, eat delicious food, and lift some weights.
Here's to 2017 and the surprises it will bring me.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:40am on Sunday January 1, 2017 :: 0 comments ::
It's Cold
Monday January 4, 2016
Happy New Year - it's 2016! I'm finally back in Wellington after a long miserable 8 hour drive through very wet roads and chaotic traffic down State Highway 1. Of course, the first thing that greeted me when I got home was some jerk parked in my car park, so I wasn't particularly happy about that. Turns out he's in Japan for a few weeks and I can park in another car park for the time being. Lucky for him, or I would have towed his ass out of there so fast.
Over the past couple of weeks, I got to catch up with heaps of people. There was never really a dull day, I was always out meeting up for lunch or dinner, or if I had some spare time, I'd even go to the gym. There was yum cha and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, I was back at Milse and Giapo, and went to Nol Bu Ne and Shao Lin Kung Fu Noodle. New Years itself was spent with my school mates on top of Mt Victoria in Davenport watching some very disappointing fireworks on the Sky Tower. It looked like someone was just running around the rim shooting off Roman Candles. We were too busy watching the fireworks being let off on the mount that we missed the end of the Sky Tower ones... and there was no big finale either. Lame!
Work tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:19am on Monday January 4, 2016 :: 0 comments ::
It's Christmas
Sunday December 27, 2015
The last month of work has been pretty manic, with builds of all our games going out on various platforms and systems all at once. In our last week, we had our annual game jam, which was pretty manic, but the end result was a quality set of very impressive games from all teams.
Social wise, there's been a lot happening too. There was Campbell and Linda's wedding, we got some kittens delivered to the office thanks to Uber, we went out to Cape Palliser for a miniroad trip, there was the 80's Party IV and Jordan's 30th, and we had a week-long set of Christmas events to round out the end of the year.
Last Saturday, six of us began our roadtrip up to Auckland via Owhango, where we stayed the night. On Sunday, we headed to Tauranga for some white water rafting down the Wairoa River, only open 26 days a year due to it being controlled by a hydroelectric dam. However, due to some problems with the booking system, we had to be rebooked for 1.30pm instead of 11.30am, so we went up to Mount Maunganui for a squizz at the beach. I've never actually been there before, but the sand and water were fantastic and inviting. Eventually we returned to our white water rafting meeting point and geared up for an exhilarating ride down two Grade V waterfalls. It was an amazing experience and one to be remembered for a long time!
I didn't really make any plans with people before I arrived in Auckland, but as was expected, my calendar started filling up very quickly. On Monday, I was pretty tired from the roadtrip, so spent most of the time at home. On Tuesday, I met Mat and Will in town for lunch at Ortolanas and we got some take away Milse too. I went to the cat cafe on Queens St with Reagan and Erica, then met Mana out in East Tamaki for Korean BBQ. On Wednesday, I met up with all the Wellington crew for dinner at Kushi, dessert at Giapo and drinks at the Belgian Beer Cafe, before going for a quick drive down Franklin Road - and by quick, I mean a very slow paced crawl from all the traffic. On Thursday, I was at my sister's house catching with my nephews and then off to Tatsumi with my parents for an amazing eight course degustation.
Friday was Christmas, and that was double dinner at my sister's and then a family friend's house nearby. On Boxing Day, I was at Long Bay Beach with my schoolmates, and a good old traditional Kiwi barbeque at Mat's, and today I've been hanging with the guys from KCC. There's been mafia, Love Letter and Dota, and it's been pretty full on!
Posted by Jeremy at 10:11am on Sunday December 27, 2015 :: 0 comments ::
Merry Christmas!
Thursday December 25, 2014
It's been a busy time in Auckland, catching up at various eateries with friends and family. On Monday I caught up with the Pokemon gang at Sun World, Newmarket for yum cha, and then the Auckland PikPok crew at Tae Neung Korean Barbeque for dinner. On Tuesday, I met up with Matt at My Kitchen and then went with my parents to Tatsumi in Newmarket for their Christmas Special Degustation - sooo good. Expect an emotionally charged food blog post about this in the new year.
On Wednesday I was at Reuben's playing 7 Wonders with the Babel expansion and a quiet dinner at home before heading out to Milse in Britomart for some fantastic summery desserts. The night was not over yet though, there was some Smash Bros to be had at Julia's. Yuss!
And finally today, I got to see my adorable nephews - one almost four years old and the other almost a year old. We drove out to Missions Bay for a classic Kiwi Christmas picnic; we were one of many hundreds of people enjoying the wonderful warm weather around the city. We ended the day with a turkey roast back at home.
Early flight to Melbourne tomorrow!
Posted by Jeremy at 8:57am on Thursday December 25, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
Epic Karaoke
Sunday July 20, 2014
We had some epic karaoke on Friday night at New Kor. Ants, Jo, Luke, Mike and I met at 8pm for dinner there, but unfortunately the restaurant was full, so Mr Lee let us have some pre-karaoke while we waited for a table. And in the 45 minutes that we were there, we belted out some amazing numbers: Ants and Mike dueting Creed's "With Arms With Open" perfectly, in the exact same style; Luke and I hitting some sweet harmonies with Bette Midler's "The Rose"; some smooth baritone versions of "My Heart Will Go On" and "I Will Always Love You". So good.
After dinner, we were joined by Matt, Ben, Jill, Charlie, Jimmy and Thomas where the festivities continued for another two hours, hitting max crescendo with Bohemian Rhapsody as the night's epic finale. There was plenty of soju and plenty of song, and it was a fantastic night indeed.
It was an early start to the next morning however, as I played badminton for the first time in almost six months. With my leg feeling marginally tight, I was able to play on and off for the full two hours without too much strain and had a great time easing back into an activity I have been missing so much this year.
That night, I was at Jordan and Chloe's for their flat warming - a classy wine and cheese night. Another great night of fine conversation and an amazing selection of wines, cheeses and condiments, including's Nic's Cob Loaf, a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with cheese, sour cream, spring onions and bacon. The night's activities included Josh and Damon visiting the rave party downstairs, and a flurry of selfie bombs on Damon's Facebook page.
Music at Central Baptist went well this morning. I wanted to spend more time reflecting on the devastating news on MH17 - yet another tragedy for Malaysia Airlines as one of their planes was shot down over the Ukraine killing all 300 people on board - but there were plenty of other wrongs in the world to pray for. There sure is a lot of conflict these days... it's pretty depressing.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:32am on Sunday July 20, 2014 :: 0 comments ::
How do I summer
Saturday December 29, 2012
For the first time since I arrived in Auckland, it has been brilliantly sunny. I took advantage of the great weather by doing some laundry, naturally, and within a few hours all my clothes were dry! It's amazing!
I did more than just laundry though, a bunch of us went out to Karekare Beach, near Piha, just to chill in the sun. Though some dark ominous clouds rolled over around 3pm, they were nothing more than extra sunshade and the conditions remained warm and pleasant.
Just got back from an epic Korean BBQ place out on the shore called Arirang with my friends from CompSci. So much news to catch up on... no one ever keeps me informed :(! There was a huge amount of food and I was blown away by how cheap it all was as well. I tried freshwater snails for the first time, as well as cold noodles, and was spoiled for choice with the multitude of delectable side dishes. Nothing in Wellington comes close to the quality AND quantity at this place. Huge thanks to Laura for sorting everything out and cooking all the meat for us.
Yesterday I caught up with some ex-colleagues - Vaughan and Roy - as well as Alan, who had driven my car up to Auckland from Wellington via Taupo. We played a few games of pool and had a great meal at Erawan Thai on Jervois Rd. It was a little weird seeing my car up here when I didn't drive it up... after dinner we went our separate ways and I ended up at Ben's house for some board games (and Spaceteam!) until 1am. Citadels is slowly becoming a favourite of the group!
On Thursday I went for yum cha with my sister and her family. Nephew is still as adorable as ever, and was well behaved at the restaurant. It's so good to go with my sister because I get to eat things that my friends don't normally eat, like tofu and tau fu fa. I spent the afternoon just catching up with them, and then playing with my nephew after his nap. I feel so proud to be his uncle!
And finally on Wednesday, I went into town to check out Boxing Day sales. Yeah, it's not really like me at all. Queen St was full of people (lots of Asians lololol) looking for bargains; peering into some of the small shops, they're crammed packed with people who can barely move around, such is the utter madness of these Boxing Day sales. As for myself, I purchased a few items from the Warehouse: some bedsheets, new shoes, some socks.... nothing really that exciting. I remember walking around thinking about how much I hate shopping and that I can finally say I did the Boxing Day thing and that the amount I save doesn't feel like it justifies the chaos I experience in the shopping malls. Never again.
Posted by Jeremy at 9:21am on Saturday December 29, 2012 :: 0 comments ::
Over Overtime
Monday August 31, 2009
It appears that overtime is slowly phasing out, so tentantive rejoicing. The game hasn't shipped yet because we're still waiting for some issues to be resolved on the publisher's side, so in the meantime, most of us are just sitting at work, testing and playing the game and fixing bugs as they come through.
Boooorrrrrrring.
Derek's last day at work was last Thursday, so we farewelled him with lunch at Viva Mexico, and then Friday Starcraft, Friday drinks (2 for 1 at Blend lol) and Karaoke at New Kor. While it was all really fun, I prefer my karaoke to be a bit more "structured" per say - I can sing, but I can't yell and it pretty much turned into an alcohol-fuelled yelling match. Which was not optimal, but hey, we had some good group singalongs with Eye of the Tiger, Bohemian Rhapsody and A Whole New World.
I was involved with the Youth Band at church last Sunday, where we led the service. They sound really good and just need some polish for perfection. I switched music teams, so this coming Sunday I'm on the piano again (for the third Sunday in a row). Not that I mind, I just lose that extra hour of sleep on Sunday mornings!
Oh yes, I'm also looking to go back to Malaysia over Christmas/New Year's because my grandparents are celebrating their 90th and 80th birthdays in January. It's going to be great, I haven't been back to Malaysia since the beginning of 2003, and I'm eagerly awaiting the chance to taste all the delicious food back home.
Speaking of food, thanks to no overtime, I've been able to cook for the first time in what seems like a month. On Saturday night I had steamed tofu, stir fried bak choy and carrots, and apricot chicken! And because I could, I bought some bacon and had that for lunch on Sunday. By bacon, I mean the deliciously crunchy kind, not the soggy types you get on burgers or whatever. Soooo good.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:41am on Monday August 31, 2009 :: 0 comments ::
Ungh.
Sunday January 6, 2008
Yesterday, we went out for dinner and I had prawn balls :3 And it was awesome.
Anyway, after church today, we went to Wendy's for a quick bite, and with nothing better to do, me, Sam, Matt and Weng Hao went to play pool at Breakers. Wow, it was so incredibly hax. The final game, I managed to do that trippy "make the white ball hit the other ball twice for the win" and I also did the "random ricochet off everything for the win".
After that, Ted texted us saying he was finally back home in Auckland, so let's go out for dinner! And what better place to go to than the Korean place we went to three nights ago! Hooray. Nah it was a good meal. We ate and then stood outside for ages just talking. My legs were really sore.
Yeah then after that I was heading to Momo's with Matt and Weng Hao, when Cinta texted me saying I had a speeding fine. Ugh. What a horrible way to end the day. Rargahrgarghgrhgrhh. $80 too. That's like, 12 milk teas.
And petrol is bloody $1.759 per litre. Omg.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:28am on Sunday January 6, 2008 :: 0 comments ::
Errands and Driving
Thursday January 3, 2008
Okay, so I randomly decided that I would run some errands today. I wanted to get my exam scripts back, and I also wanted to visit some of my good friends from the Clock Tower, so I headed to Uni to accomplish all these things. One of my friends, Ritu, said she wouldn't be back at Admissions, but low and behold, who should I find walking up to the staff room at the Clock Tower? I shake my head in disappointment, Ritu :(
Anyway, it was good catching up with Mark, Tristan, Ritu, Mark, Alex and Anna. And randomly, Graeme walks through the doors of the Clock Tower looking to get some illegal documents verified, so lucky I was there to pull some strings. And I also got him an envelope and a stamp to send his documents off.
Anyway, in midst of all these things, Amy txted and was like "okay let's have dinner!", so I just hung around Engineering with Graeme until 6ish, then went for dinner at our favourite Korean place on upper Queens Street (I really like the fresh kimchi there). And of course, we went to Momo's, where I had a passionfruit nata. With the night still young (11pm, to be precise), we headed to the driving range for some fun. The driving range is great for stress relief. And yeah there's no real stress-causing agents at the moment for me, but it did wonders for my back, at least.
All in all, a really good night \o/
Posted by Jeremy at 1:07pm on Thursday January 3, 2008 :: 0 comments ::