#nzwh

南極光比你想的還要難能可貴。

-------------------------------------------------- 對我來說極光就應該是一個，肉眼就可以看得到、去很冷的地方就看的到，的一種現象，極光會像是一個綠色的布簾，就像是平常照片看到的那樣子。 在紐西蘭時，每當朋友再說今天的極光數值很高，我就會覺得說應該找一個光害比較少的地方，就可以看得到了吧! 這個可笑又無知的想法，在我聽到朋友為了追南極光，要在寒冷之中蹲點可能三個小時以上，就改變了。 - 紐西蘭雖然已經很南端了，但是還沒有進入極圈範圍，所以南極光並不會像北半球那麼的明顯。就算今日的極光數值已經很高了，你肉眼看到的可能也只是一片霧茫茫的白色雲體。別人不說，你不拍照也許根本就不知道你看到的南極光。 - 那天在看南極光女王的邀約下，說要一起去拍極光(她拍我看XD)，我們約好上Cardrona雪山，我以為這只是一個1個小時就可以結束的行程，結果我們至少待了兩個小時以上，才一半我就已經宣告不行冷到爆了。(雖然朋友的朋友，只穿夾腳拖跟一件吊嘎跟薄羽絨外套，待的都比我久。) - 那天我滿心期待可以看到美麗的綠色極光。大家說著數值很高數值很高，我就以為我真是幸運可以見到南極光。我不知道上山之後，天空跟平常沒什麼兩樣，就是天黑，布滿的星星，可以看到銀河，像是極光的東西一點都沒有看到，我以為是時間還沒到吧，所以就繼續等囉。結果當朋友說你看前面白色那一塊，像霧一樣的東西，就是極光喔!!!! 看我朋友越發興奮的說，今天的極光蠻明顯的，而且越來愈爆發，真是搞得我一頭霧水啊!!! 嗯嗯嗯嗯嗯嗯?跟我想像中的極光不一樣啊!!! 結果一問之下才知道南極光為什麼受到大家寵愛與追隨，就是因為，南極光比你想的還要難能可貴。

紐西蘭因為地理位置還沒有進入極圈，好發沒有像北半球那麼明顯，所以並不是肉眼一定可以看得到的一個現象。然後極光也會因為每個人的眼睛感光能力不一樣所看到的顏色也有可能不一樣。基本上用相機長時間曝光就會拍的到，只是說可能會爆發很多，有時候可能爆發很少，所以可能要待比較長的時間拍比較多的照片才能拍出很多很明顯的樣子。南極光還有一個很有趣的事情是，因為亮度不會向北極光這麼的明顯，所以基本上南極光可以拍到星空跟極光。北極光因為他已經肉眼可以看到，亮度很夠所以不需要長時間的曝光就可以拍到，所以犧牲下來的就是星星不會很明顯。星空加銀河加極光!，可以說是南半球限定呢! - 我們那天就是一陣一陣的，剛去的時候雖然數值已經很高，但是還沒有這麼的明顯，相機也拍得到只是南極光很微弱。之後過了一個小時之後非常明顯，肉眼看到的白色的霧，或是說那個雲體變得非常的濃，也變得有點更大了，那時候拍出來的照片就非常的明顯是極光。 - 那天得到了很多關於南極光的新知識! 我很高興南極光女王邀約我去看極光，跟我說了很多南極光的故事，還幫我拍了很多美美的照片，還攙扶在雪中行走困難的我，真是感動萬分O口Q   下次我們可以選一個天氣不要那麼冷的日子拍極光好嗎，哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈

Photo: Never stop dreaming 流浪世界的腳步​

那天我第一次賞櫻花。

雖然我很常去日本，也在北海過待一整年過，但是我從來都沒有賞過櫻花。

北海道working holiday的時候，那時候春天是待在北海道鹿追的農場，是有看過櫻花樹，但是沒有看過安排好的的櫻花樹群景點。所以我一直沒有很了解，一整排、一大片的櫻花樹群滿開親眼看到震撼感。

每年雪季結束，在櫻花真正盛開之前我們就會離開日本了，其實說起來雖然很想要賞櫻花，這是每每想到那些爆炸的人群，擠來擠去的搶拍，以及滿滿的人聲或烤肉味，就會覺得說算了看看別人拍的照片，開心開心的這樣就好了，所以賞花一直都不是我特別會安排的行程。

這一季待在紐西蘭很難得的待到了春天，我沒有想到的是這裡的人也這麼愛櫻花啊，紐西蘭種的櫻花樹比我想像中還多，幾乎路上都看得到，看樣子紐西蘭人也被美美的櫻花煞到了。那天因為Wanaka里長有推薦的賞花景點，加上女王Joan也想要拍花跟人像的照片當練習，所以我們就默默促成了一團賞花拍照團。

-

這是我第一次看到成群的櫻花樹，兩大排滿滿的盛開櫻花，地上散落滿滿的櫻花瓣，隨邊抓都一大把花瓣，灑下來，很美。第一次的賞櫻花就獻給Wanaka了，一條路上兩排滿滿的櫻花種的滿滿的，花兒滿開的派對，舉辦得很盛大，隨邊拍都很好看，我們隨處的走，Joan幫我們跟著拍或是定點拍，到處幫我們找題材，我們拿起花瓣幫對方灑花增加效果，張張都美的經典。不管是低的樹或是矮的樹或是花牆，我們都玩得很開心，看著這些花心情都好了起來。

終於在那一天，我懂得賞櫻花的美了，那粉紅色，陶冶又治療了我們所有人的心，我那一直無法體會的心，賞著賞著，我也懂了。

又是進入冬天的步調。 1718的冬天，最後一季在可樂留念，我的思念，只能無限延續了。

1718的安比，很棒，不管是雪場還是團，還是夥伴，可以說是完美，度過了一個完美的雪季過後，迎接我的卻是離開。現在很好，過去很好，我過去所接收到的全部都是好的，只是就算在好，人也是需要離開舒適圈，離開同溫層，嘗試不一樣的自己。我時而覺得後悔時而覺得慶幸自己開始滑雪這件事情，我到現在還是無法論定這是好還是壞，好是我認識了各位，壞是滑雪改變了我整個人生方向，雖然說是方向，但是我也從未有方向，方向一直是不明的不明顯的是渾沌的。

日本冬天結束，原定0401直接出發去紐西蘭，最後也因為各種因素選擇了五月中旬出發。在台灣的這兩個月，有點也不是說輕輕鬆鬆，煩惱了很多關於紐西蘭的事情，找工作找房子找住宿等等的，實在是把我煩的兩頭燒，還在台灣的我不太能理解紐西蘭的各種狀況，希望很多事情定下來，卻又定不下來，有時好幾天煩悶到整個晚上無法睡覺失眠一晚上。朋友都說來了就會沒事，但是還是有一推擔心。這次出門不像之前去澳洲時做了很多功課，這是有一點有準備但是沒有準備完全的心情，心情上跟之前的打工度假差很多，沒有過多的準備也沒有過多的順其自然，旅行對我或許就是這樣。

It has almost been an unbelievable journey these three weeks ever since the 20th of Jan 2017. I didn’t know what to expect when I decided that, 

“Oh, perhaps I should apply for NZWH.”

After all, I have been talking about it for 7 years and I’ve always been making excuses. First, it was financial constriction, and then it was job commitment, and then loan commitment. Well this year, it was “Whats if I come back and couldn’t find a job for a long time??” - well, I know, that was a very lame excuse. It was valid, but lame nevertheless knowing that one couldn’t really tell what the future hold. 

I asked a friend, should I or should I not. She gave her elaborated opinion, one which I highly appreciate of and I made up my mind to pursue it. The application date was on 5AM, 20th Jan (Malaysian time). I decided to make my way to Sudo Brew, a cafe which boasts of it’s fast speed internet and 24 hours operation hours. I was lucky and immensely grateful that Mr J decided to come along with me. I was there at 4AM, all logged in and prepared. 

The time came and the registration was opened. I tried, oh I tried very hard, to load the pages and fill in the details/forms. Only thing was, the competition was extremely tough. By 10AM, I was still trying to load the pages. That was how bad it was. At the land of down under, my sister was battling out, trying endlessly on my behalf. At 1PM, still there weren’t any luck. By then, I was hungry (with very little money left) and I was very tired. Sister decided to ask me to go back and have lunch while she stayed on to help me fill up the form which she managed to but was stopped short at the final page. Before she could submit, the page stopped responding and there were numerous rumours and finally a notice was put up. 

Please come back on 25th January 2017 for further update

W.T.F? Wtf was that suppose to mean??? Is the quota filled? Did anyone manage to get in? Am I suppose to now get up every day at 5AM try to submit the form while hoping someone will be disqualified?

And I did. Woke up at 5AM for the next 2 weeks to be exact! When 25th Jan came, no updates were given. Which to be honest, I was getting frustrated. All the time, what a coincident, I was also reading a book; a fable about chasing your dreams: The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho. The famous quote:

And when you want something, all the universe will conspires in helping you to achieve it.

I tried to not lose hope until last week, finally there was an update:

The NZWH will open again on 10 Feb 2017

YAS THIS IS IT!! So yesterday, I woke up filled with hope. I have a good feeling but at the same time I was very nervous. I checked the form again and again. At 5AM, I hit ‘Send’ and say a little prayer of hope. It took the page 20 minutes to load and finally the payment page was shown. Immediately punched in my card number and voila, the payment was made!

I don’t know if my application will be approved but I hope it will and I have a good feeling it will be. And I know, it is out of my control now that I have done all I could. What I’ve never expected was the things that I learnt along the way during these time. I learnt about persistence and dreams. How badly you want something will says a lot about you. And if you want to achieve something real bad, you’d do anything you can within your power to achieve it.