New Zealand at last!

Seaweek 2010

2010-03-13T20:34:00.002+13:00

Anil and I went to Evan's Bay this morning to do our bit for the environment and did some beach clean up. While we were there, we had some fun as well.

The biggest mussel we ever saw!

The end result after everyone brought in their bags back. Among the rubbish there were shopping trolleys, chairs, tents, tyres, bottles of wine both opened and unopened and batteries.

While we were cleaning up the beach, others were having fun on the water.

My first attempt and cheap macro

2010-02-28T17:26:00.002+13:00

I was always intrigued by how people take pictures of insects so close and so wanted to give it a try. A decent macro lens will set you back by at least $600 so wanted to try using a cheaper option. This was buying a cheap prime lens and an adapter so that I can mount it in reverse. All for less than $50.

Here are some of the experiments. Still a long way to go to get pin sharp insects at close up.

And here are some insects.

Growing up changes your life

2010-02-24T16:28:00.000+13:00

When you are 8 years old or 11 years old (like my children), every birthday is a big one. You are keen or shall I say eager to tell the whole world that you are now one year older, and hopefully also, one year wiser. When you are approaching midlife like me, birthdays tend to take on a different feel to it. As much as I still enjoy being treated to a nice dinner, I prefer it to be a low key family affair. I realised this year that low key was not quite possible, thanks to Facebook alerts.

I remember an ad on TV sometime back about how we look forward to birthdays when we are young and then it tapers off when we reach our midlife years, then it springs back again as you age. I suppose when your age is a single digit, you look forward to the next one. It could mean moving from a junior year to a senior year, or that you have grown an extra 3 inches or even the mere fact that your shoe size has increased. Moving from 12 to 13 is a major milestone I guess. My son is so looking forward to that big 13 as he can then officially call himself a teenager. Then comes moving to college which is a rather significant step for him. Another year after that means independence - you can now legally stay home alone and don’t need a babysitter. After that each year has privileges of some sort like being eligible to drive, drink alcohol, date, work, vote and the list goes on.

When you reach your twenties, I guess this sense of “growing” tends to get a little fuzzy. How different is 24 from 23 or 28 from 27? I once remembered being stopped by a pedestrian asking for directions, who referred to me as “uncle”. I immediately went home and looked in the mirror. The only image that stared right back at me was a balding one, which was no comfort. It’s scary to note that the pop group I grew up with is now categorised under “oldies”. Songs my kids listen to these days are noise to me. As I grow older, I tend to try very hard to hold on to the earlier age as long as I possibly can. So, one day before I turned 40, I still declared that I was still very much 39. My son on the other hand who has another 9 months to go before he officially turns 12 has conveniently declared to everyone that he is now 12.

As I grew older, I was very conscious of how everyone else seemed to look younger. When I look at someone’s birth date now and see that they were born in the 80's or the 90’s, I cannot help but feel ancient. In my 40’s I went to see a doctor and felt nervous because he looked like a kid because he was in his 20’s. My first reaction was “Do I trust this kid with my life?” I fly regularly and each time I fly I cannot help wondering how young the pilots are now. We somehow relate age in experience to age in years and it only gets more pronounced as you grow older.

My wife and I often explain to our kids what childhood was like for us but it is difficult for them to grasp what it might have been like for us. I know my parents have tried very hard to explain how difficult life was for them which I often found hard to appreciate, let alone picture in my mind. Likewise, my son cannot imagine life without the TV or the computer, can’t see why we still need to stick a stamp on a letter when it can be sent with a click of a button.

For me at least, it feels like I am on this tightrope suspended in midair. On one side are the needs of my ageing parents as they hang on to me tighter as they approach their golden years. On the other side are my children who push me away wanting their freedom and independence.

This is as good an age as any to reflect on how much has changed between the three generations and yet how we are so interlinked. This is as good a time as any to be grateful that I have parents who still depend on me and children who still remember my birthday and take the trouble to make it special for me. And in between all this, a wife that ensures I don’t fall off the tightrope. What more can I ask for?

Asia leads the way again!

2010-01-19T08:01:00.003+13:00

For years while we were living in Malaysia, the sight of Chinese women wearing sun sleeves to cover their arms while driving were pretty common. When we got here to New Zealand, we hardly saw anyone wearing them.

This morning I heard over the radio, the Cancer Society urging people to wear gloves or other protective clothing to prevent melanoma (skin cancer). How bizzare, the windscreen which was proven at one stage to prevent UV rays from getting into your car and onto your skin, is now a myth.

While the Chinese women in Malaysia and other parts of Asia predominantly want to preserve their fair skin from getting a tan (at least that is what I think), people in New Zealand will be doing the same, probably with some style, to prevent getting skin cancer.

So, some business opportunity seems to lurk for those who want to make some money in this new and up coming trend. There are obviously more business opportunities out there. As time passes, someone will come up with more myths that were once facts.

Men's Guide to Ironing Shirts

2010-01-14T14:28:00.002+13:00

Saw this "3 Wise Men" ad on Air New Zealand's inflight magazine and thought it was funny.

The scanned image is really small so I will re-write the steps involved.

Step 1
If the shirt has buttons, unbutton them. If it has beads, sequins or anything metallic, throw it away. Same if it has rope ties. You are not a pirate anymore.

Step 2
Lay down flat on an ironing board, chest facing up. Sorry that should have read; Lay shirt down flat on an ironing board, chest facing up.

Step 3
Start with the collar. If you only iron one part of your shirt, make it your collar. Just remember to keep you jacket on all day if you do.

Step 4
Place one shoulder over the narrow end of the ironing board and iron the top of the back of the shirt. Repeat with the other shoulder. This can be quite tricky so turn off the telly, take your toast out of your mouth, stop checking the facebook, put on some undies and concentrate.

Step 5
Iron the sleeves from the top down, before opening the cuffs and ironing them flat. Try and get your cuffs so sharp that if you happened to be attacked by a man walking down the street, you could slice his throat with them if you had to. And yes we've seen that happen.

Step 6
Slip the shirt over the wide end of the board and iron the back. Here you can either iron with the back-and-forward method or the wax-on-wax-off circular method depending on whether or not you liked "The Karate Kid".

Step 7
Iron the front of the shirt, one half at a time. Don't get distracted by local body politicians, Mormons or Girl Guides selling chocolate Girl Guide biscuits at the door because you're almost there.

Step 8
You're done! Now place on a hanger. If the shirt still looks like your Grandmother's neck, give your mum a call to say you're popping over with a little something for her.

Hope all you blokes out there are now able to iron your shirts well. If you still can't go look at the yellow pages and find 3 Wise Men. They are in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Sydney. And no, I am not being paid to do this. Have fun.

15 days and 5kg heavier

2010-01-10T12:35:00.004+13:00

It was rather strange going back to Malaysia as a foreigner like we did.

After a gruesome 10 hour flight on Malaysia Airlines, I swore never to ever fly MAS again. The service on this particular flight was terrible to say the least. To begin with the food was horrible. We were served Malaysian food on a Malaysian airline but was nothing like what it was supposed to taste like. Next, two toilets on a 777 were closed off because the crew decided to use two of the toilets as rubbish bins. Lastly, the crew could not even speak decent English, given that a majority of Malaysians spoke decent English, albeit with a Malaysian accent. What an image that would portray to foreigners!

Despite the gruelling 10 hours, Ashwini was still all hyped up as the games and movies on board were excellent.

First and foremost, food! We were spoilt for choice. Two weeks was definitely not enough as there were more variety than we had room for in our stomach.

All this only goes well with a tall glass of teh tarik.

... or a cup of kopi tarik kau kau kurang manis.

One for the road... we just had to have banana leaf rice with all the frills and eaten with fingers...

Although Anil's version of eating with fingers was not quite what I had in mind.

Ashwini decided to use a fork and a spoon, so that she can enjoy her meal.

My all time favourite drink which I have yet to find in New Zealand.

Malaysian roads were fantastic but the problem with Malaysia was the drivers. No one seems to follow road signs, that is when you were able to find signs. A 2 lane street immediately became 4 lanes when speed fell to 40kmph. And when it fell to below 10kmph, you could not recognise a lane, as it was free for all.

I was wondering which part of "No parking" that this particular driver did not understand.

We were trying to find our way to KLCC, a major landmark in KL where the Petronas Twin Towers were located. Signs were visible from quite a distance from the city. However, as we approached the towers closer to the city, the signs were contradicting. One said take a right turn so I kept right but 50m before the actual turn, it said take a left. Then all signs for KLCC suddenly vanished only to reappear after we missed the towers. There were sign boards erected but a nice looking lamp post planted right in front of it. Then some smart Alec planted a tree right in front of the lamp post, making the sign way up front totally not visible.

We were Malaysians and had trouble finding our way around. Imagine what a foreigner would feel like driving in KL. At one point, I thought finding my way in Bangkok was a lot easier!

When we approached the towers, it was totally worth the trip, despite getting lost a few times. The imposing towers were fantastic, especially at night. Despite living in Malaysia in the past, we never made it this close to the towers nor have I taken photos of the towers. Father and son had to lie down on the road to get a good shot.

I soon realised that it was not only the signboards on the streets that were confusing. On our way back to New Zealand, I spotted this odd sign inside KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) where passengers were directed to the MAS Golden Lounge. Guess where it was placed and where it was pointing to? The men's toilet!

After 15 days in KL and 5 extra kilogram on me, not to mention the bags that was on the brink of being charged for excess baggage, we said farewell to KL.

The Magical Christmas Tree

2009-12-13T08:40:00.010+13:00

It is difficult to experience Christmas lights in a place like New Zealand where the sun sets at 9pm in December and doesn't get dark till perhaps 10pm. But that didn't stop the many people who came to see the beautiful lights at Frank Kitts Park here in Wellington where Telecom put up this huge tree filled with a myriad of lights of various colours. At the base of the tree were 4 phone booths where you can call Santa direct and place your wish list with his Sleigh Bells Answering Service.

You can see more of this at www.telecomtree.co.nz

Great Barrier Island

2009-12-05T19:49:00.002+13:00

Great Barrier Island is less than an hour from New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland. But when you get there it is a different world altogether. I went there for work last week and the journey there just blew me away and when I got there, I just couldn't believe that this was so near to civilisation.

The island had a population of about 700 people and has no reticulated electricity. So you need to have your own generator for your power. The island is sparsely populated and DOC manages close to 70% of the island.

Getting there was half the fun. The plane I took from Auckland was an 8 seater which I shared with a dog, several crates of food and chilly bins filled with frozen meat. Reminds me of the small aircraft I took flying to the interiors of Sarawak in Malaysia. There was nothing between Auckland and the Island but the aircraft had no life jackets and nothing on the safety booklets that talked about water landing. On the way there we saw several pods of dolphins on the water and even a whale. That was how low we were flying.

I stayed at one of DOC's lodges and just outside my balcony, there were heaps of native birds that one would have to search for elsewhere. They were every where to extent after the 2nd day I stopped taking photos of them. There were Tui, Kereru, Banded Rail, Kingfishers, Oyster Catchers, Brown Teals and many more I could not identify.

Here is the plane that took us there and brought us back in one piece.

Inflight magazine. Which other airlines will give you this???

DOC Ranger showing some of the work we do with the Brown Teal.

Banded Rail right outside my back door.

A pair of Oyster Catchers and their chicks.

Kereru or the New Zealand Wood Pigeon.

Kingfisher with a worm in his mouth.

A Brown Teal crossing my path to the river.

If you get a chance get to the Great Barrier Island. It is absolutely beautiful and well worth the visit. Perfect get away to just get away from it all!

Auckland and its outer islands

2009-11-28T07:43:00.002+13:00

One of the two last trips for the year took me to Auckland and its outer islands. Aucklanders are one lucky lot with so many beautiful islands just an hour or two away from the main land. Main land? Actually Auckland is on the North Island.

The week I was there, the weather was not too far from Wellington - windy. I tried taking this shot from North Head but the wind was so strong I could not take a night shot as the camera even on a sturdy tripod was vibrating violently.

As the sun started to set, the sky became a painter's canvas.

This was from the other side of North Head.

The next day, I went out to Rangitoto Island, a volcano just a short distance from populated Auckland.

The island is made up of volcanic rocks and main vegetation are Pohutukawa trees. Pohutukawas are also known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree, as it blooms around Christmas time. The view from the top of Rangitoto is absolutely fantastic.

Then we crossed over to Motutapu Island where DOC is doing a lot of work getting rid of pests, one of which was the hedgehog. Getting from Rangitoto to Motutapu, I crossed the world's shortest bridge over the Pacific Ocean!

This is the view of Rangitoto from Motutapu.

The dog trained to sniff out the most elusive hedgehog on the island.

The Pohutukawa flowers just starting to bloom. It will quite a sight when the whole island is red!

One of the island's many inhabitants.

Next week I am heading to The Great Barrier Island. And am looking forward to arriving on a grass stripped air field.

Sydney sights

2009-10-15T17:16:00.002+13:00

I was in Sydney for a couple of days this week. After my last meeting I had a couple of hours before my flight back home. So I went on a shooting spree with my camera.

The hotel I was staying for the night was right across Darling Harbour and I had a room facing the harbour. The night was clear and the view from my room was stunning!

The next morning was just as glorious with hardly any clouds in the sky. Lunch was approaching and I visited a restaurant highly recommended by a Malaysian living in Sydney. But then I passed by so many other food outlets until I couldn't decide where to go. I then ended up having lunch at an Indonesian food store and topped it up with a glass of "Teh Tarik" at Mamak.

After all that food, I needed to walk a little before catching a cab to the airport.

As I was coming back there was a street show and this guy performing made all sorts of weird faces, one of which was...

The White House in Auckland

2009-10-04T11:27:00.003+13:00

As I was walking along Queen St in Auckland, I came across a sign that said that the White House was just a few hundred meters away. And the sign looked pretty legitimate as well!

Was I dissapointed that this was only an entertainment centre and not Obama's holiday bach here in New Zealand.

My trip to the Far North

2009-07-28T20:44:00.002+12:00

I wonder why they call the northen end of the country, the Far North and the southern end of the country as the Deep South?

After having visited the southern tip of New Zealand, I now had the opportunity to visit the other end of the country, Cape Reinga. This is not quite the northen tip but the most northern tip accessible. The North Cape which is 3 km further north from Cape Reinga is a reserve where public has no access to.

On the way, up to Cape Reinga we took the 90 mile beach which is apparently about 90 km but hey, who's to argue. There was a 100km/h speed limit on the beach which is also part of the highway. Cars can drive on the beach during low tide although some did not quite make it. You see parts of vehicle buried deep in the sand, despite the warning.

A bus which was trying to cross almost in the nick of time. The driver had to go in to check the depth of the water before the bus could cross.

Parts of the beach where there are sand dunes are massive. People, mostly tourists, use these dunes to sand board, like snow boarding, only this is on sand.

And finally the Cape!

According to Maori legend, the tree right at the bottom of this cliff is where the spirits leave this world.

I made it to the tip!

Sunset

2009-07-22T20:20:00.002+12:00

Brilliant colours in the sky as the sun started to set this evening right in front of our house!

Africa

2009-05-31T21:05:00.002+12:00

I recently went to South Africa for a conference and after the conference had the opportunity to visit some of the most amazing landscapes and wildlife the African continent had to offer.

My journey started from Johannesburg to the world famous Kruger National Park. We spent 2 nights at Kruger doing a night safari and a whole day safari at the park itself. We saw 4 of the big 5 famed animals and a host of other animals and birdlife at the park. The journey then took me across to Botswana into the Chobe National Park. Another amazing park with heaps of wildlife along the Chobe River. Finally crossing Botswana into Zambia to the awesome, breathtaking Victoria Falls, a World Heritage Site.

Here are some of the thousands of photos I took. Instead of uploading to many sites, I have added some here but the bulk of it is in my Facebook album. Link on the sidebar.

Ellerslie International Flower Show

2009-03-15T15:19:00.003+13:00

I had a morning to kill while I was in Christchurch so I decided to take in the much talked about Ellerslie International Flower Show. After spending a few years in Auckland, this is the first time the flower show made it to Christchurch. What a success it turned out to be. The first 2 days brought in over 10,000 visitors a day. This was despite the gloomy and cold weather. From a cold 6c it warmed up to a nice 18c which was great for me.

Due to thw show, much of the roads around Hagley Park was off bounds to cars and some parts of the city was closed to parking. Right underneath the sign that clearly said "Keep Clear", I saw these two bikes nicely parked and locked! I wonder how they will be towed away.

With the warm weather and a clear day, the crowd was even bigger. By 10am when the gates were open, queues were at least 500m long and growing. After getting into the grounds, the queues were no shorter. While most of the exibits were outdoors, some were indoors and the queues were pretty darn long. The wearable arts exibition had fixed times and I was there at 10am but was apparently queueing for the 3pm show!

However, another queue was shorter, althought it still meant a wait of about 30 minutes. This was an indoor exhibition that won a gold award replicating an underwater garden. Truly amazing!

Among the many outdoor exibitions, this attracted a huge crowd. I found out why, when I was nearer.

Of course, like any other show, you have loads of free samples to sample. I brought with me a few fruits for lunch but with the amount of food given away, my fruits were safely left in my backpack.

Seaweek 2009

2009-03-09T19:34:00.000+13:00

Last week was Seaweek. We were supposed to go on a boat to Kapiti Island to experience the Marine Reserve. While the sun shone and the sky was clear, there was a fair amount of wind - which caused the sea to be pretty choppy. And the boat ride called off.

Since we were all out to go to sea, we decided to see what else there was. A short Google showed some other interesting things including a kids snorkeling experience in Island Bay. So we headed out to Island Bay and our two brand spanking new snorkelers had an experience of a lifetime.

Here are some of the marine creatures they got to see. These are just 50 meters from the shore at Island Bay.

Cuba Carnival

2009-02-21T20:46:00.002+13:00

We went down to Wellington for the Cuba Carnival today and it reminded me of life back in Asia where you see people everywhere!

There were over 1,000 Harley Davidsons of all shapes, sizes and colour. Some even brought in from across the Tasman for this event.

While the bikers took a break, there were bands playing in all corners.

We took a walk down Cubal Street where the height of all the foot action was and it was a mad house!

When you put all of Wellington and a cruise ship together, this is what you get.

And this reminded me so much of "Petaling Street" with all that flags tied across the street.

To get the best view of all these three people had the best seat of all - away from the maddening crowd below.

Humid Northland

2009-02-15T11:22:00.004+13:00

As the name suggests, it is the north of the North Island of New Zealand. While it is probably close to east of Central Queensland, the weather felt like closer to Malaysia or Singapore. It was hot and humid. Thankfully the hotel I was staying in had air conditioning but you can feel the heat just blowing into your face as you open the door. My walk to the office in the early morning which took 15 minutes had my clothes soaked in sweat. Quite unlike Wellington.

While I was in Northland, I got a call from my colleague up there that a Kiwi just hatched and if I wanted to see it. Why would I miss an opportunity like that? So I went along to witness the arrival of an endangered New Zealand native bird. It was still wet from the sack yolk but still an amazing little creature to watch.

A day after it hatched, it was all ready to be "processed" and sent off to the wild. A protected island off Whangarei where there are no predators. It was like a baby being delivered. I followed the ranger to pick up the chick from the bird recovery centre and he was flooded by phone calls from the press and local tribes. Had ceremonies lined up to be named. I was surprised to hear that we have records of who his parents were, where they came from and their complete history. With a microchip implanted, we can track exactly where they are in the forest as well.

And I certainly could not pass an opportunity to hold one.

I also had the opportunity to visit a bird sanctuary near Ocean Beach. It is beautiful part of Whangarei where surfers flock to catch the waves. Being so close to Auckland (2 hours drive) with its 1.5 million population, I was surprised to see how deserted the beaches were. Especially on the day I was there when the temperatures soared to 32C. Then again, that's how New Zealand beaches are, in general.

I can't name these birds except for the black one standing on a rock below is an Oyster Catcher. But I can assure you they are all native birds.

My trip to Haast

2009-02-08T00:44:00.001+13:00

The year 2009 looks like a year of travels for me. As far as work is concerned, I have travels scheduled across the country at least once a month and in some cases, more than once a month. I will be heading off to South Africa middle of the year, then there is the trip to the Pacific Islands and Australia after that. If all goes according to plan, might even be heading back to Malaysia later in the year.

As soon as we came back from our holidays in the South Island, I was off to Tauranga for a field visit. From one end of the country, I went to the other end, Haast. Not exactly the end but it is literally almost at the end of the road as far as the West Coast of the South Island is concerned.

I was taken aback when I arrived at Haast, a township with a population of under 300 people and not so many sheep either. The town has no cell phone coverage, so if your car broke down in the middle of the road you will not be able to call AA for help. The town is not on the main power grid so electricity is at best as good as it gets. There are several backpackers and campsites but one hotel, one restaurant and bar, one minimarket, one petrol station and that’s it! No banks, no ATM machines. A stroll down the minimarket aisles, I found no fresh vegetable or meat. So I asked a local how do you get fresh produce. The answer was rather simple – either grow it, hunt it or trade it.

One evening I went down to the beach and found myself sitting all alone for hours. Not a soul for miles and miles either way. You could literally be washed out to sea or fall dead and no one would have noticed. This is the perfect place to run away to. There is no cell phone coverage, newspapers arrive after lunch, there is only one radio station and sometimes you can hardly even tune into it. If you can't wind down here, there is no where else you could do it.

Despite the isolation or perhaps due to the isolation, the environment is pristine. The landscape is stunning. Nature at its best. There is a sanctuary a few kilometres south of Haast and if you wait patiently and don’t mind the constant stinging of the sandflies, you are bound to see at least several native birds. Take a drive down to Jackson Bay, where the road suddenly comes to an abrupt end, you are more than likely to catch a glimpse of the Crested Penguins that call this part of the country home.

Here are some photos I took while in Haast.

This is just the beginning. There are still many parts of the country I have yet to see and am looking forward to seeing.

I am off to Northland on Monday.

Fruits of my labour

2009-02-07T12:43:00.018+13:00

Not only fruits but also vegetables of my labour. The vege garden is growing well although the birds are also having a feast out of it.

This is our black grapes. Only one just turning black and we only manage to get three vines. It is only the first season and hoping more will fruit next season.

Then there is the lemon tree which is growing all the time but the fruits taking forever.

The mandarin oranges never survived the Wellington wind. We had lots of flowers but with every wind they went flying. Now all we have are leaves and we can only hope for better luck next time.

The blueberries started flowering but a branch broke off due to the wind and now its recuperating. Hopefully it survives.

The apples had a lot of flower at the begining of spring and everytime the wind blew, some of the flowers would drop off. Thankfully some survived.

Our vege plot made up of several varieties of tomato plants. Some we planted and some just appeared, possibly brought in by the birds.

We had a least 3 bags of them already harvested and more growing.

Apart from tomatoes, we have cucumbers.

And gerkins.

Two varieties of chillies, the long large ones and the small super extra hot ones.

And finally the herb garden which is made up of rosemary (not pictured), mint.

Coriander.

Spring onions.

And finally serai or lemon grass.

Discrimination

2009-01-11T15:42:00.003+13:00

What would life be like if you looked different? How would people treat you if your skin were another colour? What if you were a different gender? Or you had a disability? The Big Experiment is a New Zealand local series, a social experiment that radically changes people's identities and gives them the opportunity to walk a day in someone else's shoes.

We watched one episode of this series where a young white Kiwi lass was disguised as an Asian girl. She was dressed like a typical Asian girl and even taught to speak with a typical Asian accent.

This episode began by showing how she was treated at shops around Auckland when she was who she was and then again at the same shops after her transformation into an Asian girl. It was amazing how she was treated when she looked and talked like an one. At one outlet, she was completely ignored and at another one she was treated like she could not afford the items on display.

Until then I never really saw or felt discrimination in New Zealand. At least I never experienced discrimination here like I have in other Western countries I have been to. Maybe I was lucky or maybe I never paid any attention to it to notice it.

This aftertoon I went to the Harvey Norman outlet in Paraparaumu to print some photographs. While waiting for the photos to be printed, I was browsing at some cameras on sale. I asked a young white Kiwi how much they were selling a particular model. He said "I will be with you in a minute", and immediately walked to another customer who just walked in and attended to him instead. He looked at me from across the shop without feeling guilty about asking me to wait. After about 5 minutes seeing me still there, another sales person asked me if he could help. I politely told him that the other guy told me to wait but chose to attend to another customer who walked in after me and if he doesn't want my business, I will gladly take it else where.

It is interesting that we see things only after it was brought to our attention. Maybe discrimination is still being widely practiced, maybe this was a one off incident. After having lived in New Zealand for almost 4 years, I think most Kiwi's accept you for what/who you are and discrimination is not as bad as it is elsewhere in the world. I have real great Kiwi friends and none have made me feel that I am any different from them. But then, all it takes is one person to change the way you think.

Carols By The Sea

2008-12-13T20:42:00.005+13:00

Tonight we followed 20,000 other Kapiti residents and spent an evening singing Christmas Carols by the sea.

We had the traditional Christmas songs and Christmas songs with a twist like the New Zealand version of the "12 Days of Christmas".

Along with carols, there were free sausage sizzles, drinks and bouncing castle for the kids. And obviously the Man himself. What would Christmas be without Santa!

Food Glorious Food!

2008-11-25T19:31:00.001+13:00

My summer creation

2008-11-09T15:48:00.002+13:00

Summer is just around the corner and the day is getting longer as we speak. This calls for summer food.

Last week Vera made her Thai dumplings called "Thoong Tong" for one of her clients and I had the good fortune to sample some before it went away.

Not to be left behind, I did my own summer creation, the sambals.

This one is the Malaysian Sambal Belachan.

And this is the Indonesian variety I learnt while living in Indonesia some years back. It is Sambal Terasi Tomat which simply means Shrimp paste and tomato sambal.

Before I left Indonesia, I bought a book of 40 different Indonesian sambal from across the archipelago. One day will complete the culinary tour of the archipelago with my mouth watering chilli. For now am waiting for the summer chilli picking season to start, which should be around the corner. My chilli plant has just come out of hibernation and soon will be full of red spicy chilli.

Durian

2008-11-09T15:47:00.001+13:00

After more than 3 years, we finally got to eat the King of Fruits - the Durian. It brought back so many memories although this was a frozen one.

Can't wait to get back to Malaysia to have the fresh one.

My new baby

2008-11-09T15:40:00.001+13:00

Just got myself a new baby! Isn't she a beauty?

Guy Fawkes day or rather night

2008-11-06T13:19:00.002+13:00

The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605, or the Powder Treason or Gunpowder Plot, as it was known at the time, was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Catholics against King James I of England and VI of Scotland. The plot intended to kill the king, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in a single attack by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening on 5 November 1605. The conspirators had also planned to abduct the royal children, not present in Parliament, and incite a popular revolt in the Midlands.

Now this historic event is celebrated primarily in the UK and in some of its former colonies including New Zealand. As this is not a widely known event outside the English world, I am assuming many residents here who come from the non English speaking world wouldn't have a clue why we are celebrating the foiled attempt of this bloke who tried to blow up Parliament some 400 years ago!

However, what is easily associated to this day, and quite visible as well, is the sale of fireworks. In New Zealand, the sale of fireworks is bannned in general but you get a window of 3 days (formerly 10 days) to sell them. During this 3 days, shops go frantic selling fireworks with signs posted at every corner of the street, motorway, up on trees, tied to bicycles and this was good - a man in swimming trunks holding a placard near the beach on a cold night! It was windy and snowing in the South. I wonder how much he got paid - or how much profit there was in it for him.

Diwali

2008-10-26T19:23:00.002+13:00

It's Diwali around the corner but there is little festivities unlike back home. We went out for lunch at the Fisherman's table to mark the festival of lights while the temperature outside was single digit.

Art Splash 2008

2008-08-24T16:55:00.006+12:00

Last Thursday schools around Wellington took part in the 2008 World of Wearable Arts festival - Art Splash! A total of 20 schools took part in choir and wearable art made from various craft material.

Ashwini represented her school, Paraparaumu Beach School, in the choir. She was the smallest in the whole group and looking at the size of the entire group, it is unlikely that you may be able to spot her.

Up close and personal with a Hector Dolphin

2008-08-16T20:27:00.000+12:00

As part of my job, I regularly visit some of the work that is being carried out by my colleagues around the country. This time, I had the opportunity to visit the Akaroa in Canterbury. This is a beautiful part of Canterbury about 40 minutes drive out of Christchurch.

To get there, you will have to drive a rather winding road up Port Hills and down to the other side to a fantastic, jaw dropping sceneray of the volcanic water ways. The day I was there, the weather turned out to be absolutely georgeous! Blue skies and the sun fully turned on.

We took a boat trip down to the existing marine reserve and the proposed marine reserve right out to sea. All the way, you could see the sea teeming with marine life.

I saw a few blue penguins happily swimming in the sea, one seal taking a leisurely evening swim and playing in the water, a few on the rocks - sun bathing and a number of the endangered Hector Dolphins. There are only about 700 of them left in the wild and the shores of New Zealand are the only place where you can spot them. As you would have guessed, spotting these dolphins is a million dollar industry.

The dolphins were rather small in size. About a metre in length and were very friendly as they were swimming about the boat not bothered about the cameras or the attention. During summer, you could actually swim with them. And depending on the weather, you could literally see hundreds!

But for this trip, I had to settle for four!

What a sight!

2008-07-20T14:34:00.002+12:00

It was raining on and off today and Jazz did not get to go out or do much of anything at all. So all she could do was sleep on her favourite couch wher she does not only have a view of what's happening outside but also a nice soft leather "bed".

Sushi with a twist

2008-07-20T14:24:00.002+12:00

Vera experimented sushi today with a Malaysian twist to it. She added "sambal ikan bilis" (anchovies chilli paste) to it. Added that with wasabe and wallah! Perfect remedy for blocked nose!

Chillivaganza

2008-03-23T21:08:00.004+13:00

We went chilli picking last weekend and had a ball of a time picking all sorts of chilli. There were about 12 different varieties of chilli from the real huge, humongous ones to the small miniature "chilli padi" variety.

From the variety also, you will find the variance from the real mild ones to the fiery variety. There were ones that even our kids who don't take chilli can consume without any problems and there were ones that even the chilli king himself have trouble eating!

Here are some of the variety we picked. Note the varying sizes!

The ones on the left are known as "fire crackers" and these are mind blowingly HOT although they don't look potent enough! The bowl at the bottom of the photo was picked from our own garden. The small variety in that bowl is the Malaysian "chilli padi" variety, locally (as in New Zealand) known as "super chillies". The single long one on that bowl is known as "banana chilli", not that hot as us chilli eating folks would call reasonably hot. The bowl on the right contains two variety. This one clearly shows the two variety.

The giant ones are known as "Carazon Chilli" and the slightly smaller than the giant ones are "Mexican Chillies". The carazon ones are just red and juicy but not hot at all. The mexican variety are medium hot.

Now, just to show how big this chilli is, I took a photo with a teaspoon next to it for perspective. And I didn't even pick the largest that I could find.

All this went into a wok this evening and out came a deliciously tantalizing super extra hot sambal ikan bilis (also known as anchovies chilli paste).

And onto the plate as a condiment to the Malaysian unofficial national dish, "Nasi Lemak". Of course this has a Kiwi twist to it, cashew nuts and cherry tomatoes picked from our garden.

Car Wash Anyone?

2008-02-17T20:04:00.004+13:00

I just couldn't resist taking photos of this car wash in Wellington. For $399 a year you get your car hand washed for as many times as you wished, or $15 per hand job as this banner says.

What is more appealing is that each Friday, you get ladies clad in skimpy two piece bikinis washing your car while you get to sit in the car. The fine print below the ad sums it all up. "Keep your hands on the wheels at all time".

A lot can happen in a day!

2008-02-17T19:55:00.002+13:00

As the title of this blog says, we had quite a bit of action today.

In the wee hours of the morning in Auckland, a restaurant opposite a cemetery blew up sending glass and furniture across the street.

Early this morning, we heard on the news that a man drove his car into the library in Karori, in the literal sense!

Then there was this motorcyclist who rode off a cliff just out of Wellington.

Then as we were leaving the house for another action, a helicopter and a glide plane crashed mid air just 500 to 600 meters from our home.

After navigating through what we Wellingtonians will call horrendous traffic, we reached the action we were waiting to see. The second largest cruise ship, Queen Victoria, at the Wellington harbour. It was quite a sight, almost bigger then the Westpac Stadium it was anchoring next to. The Interislander ferry almost looked like matchbox replica.

Here Vera and Ashwini posing in front of the cruise liner.

I know its too small to see if this is the real one so, here is a close shot of the ship.

This is quite a day for New Zealand as headlines here don't usually have that many casualties in one day!

Gong Xi Fa Chai Kiwi Style

2008-02-11T20:26:00.000+13:00

Chinese New Year here is not a holiday but it is celebrated as a festival alright. HSBC sponsored a Chinese New Year Parade complete with lion dances.

We are finding it more difficult as each year passes to have a "traditional" new year's eve dinner with the family. It is getting further and further away from the Asian fare.

But what is Chinese New Year without Ang Pows?

What a scorcher!

2008-01-30T19:53:00.000+13:00

It is totally unimaginable!

This evening at 7.14pm the temperature here at Paraparaumu was 39.7 deg Celsius. It is now 8pm, the temperature has dropped slightly to 39.2 but the sun is still bright and does look like it is planning to set at least for another 2 hours!

Despite the heat the humidity is only 47%!

What a summer we have this year!

Our annual holiday

2008-01-13T09:45:00.000+13:00

As I was looking back at my posts I see that as time goes by, my posts have been further and further apart. The first post almost 3 years ago was almost daily and now, the last post was 4 months ago! There certainly are enough things to write about and share but I guess one tend to get a little lazy over time.

It was time again for our annual holiday. What an adventure this turned out to be! We always wanted to go somewhere we have never been to but when we visited Ohope last year, we really liked the place that we booked it this year as well. Since it was our second time to the same campsite, we decided to spend time doing stuff we did not get a chance to do on our initial trip.

First up, we booked on a fishing trip out to sea. Like 4 four brave fishers (that is the politically correct word to use for more commonly used term: fisherman), we went with our fishing rods, bait and all. Half way out to sea, Ashwini got sea sick, next was Anil and that left us with only two trusted fishers. In 30m of water we were looking for Snapper and the elusive Tuna which every other boat seem to say they were catching. Being beginners all we managed to hook was Mackerels, Tarakihis and a baby Shark! We thought catching the fish was the hard part but soon realised cleaning the damn thing was worse. I smelled like fish for the next 3 days.

Here's the fruit of our labour on the barbie!

Optiki had its annual Rodeo while we were there and we took the opportunity to see some real "cowboy" stuff that we normally don't get to see back in the city. It was fun, exhilarating and HOT! It was scorching hot as there not a single cloud in the sky. Quite an experience, I must say!

Also nearby is New Zealand's largest mud slide. We were told that the mud was imported from Rotorua, as if that would make it appealing. Just looking at the elevation of the fall and the speed made my blood run cold.

Then my sense of adventure kicked in and decided to join the brave kids! Ended up with bruises and cuts all over but survived. I thought even better than the slide was the "Super Shower" to clean yourself off the mud. A gigantic shower with cold water gushing from the roof at high speed to cleanse you! Man that felt good!

We still had quite a bit of time left on our hands and the weather was on our side. So we decided on venturing into some horse riding - inspired by the rodeo earlier. At the end of the 1 hour ride, my bottom felt like it had been hit by a bull! I wonder how cowboys ride on horses all day!

Still taking on the good weather, from land back to sea. Vera and I decided to kayak with dolphins at Whale Island which is about half an hour off shore from Whakatane. Again being green with these stuff, I capsized into freezing water almost immediately after I started paddling. That was refreshing but then found my balance and had a fantastic time kayaking around the island. Did not see any dolphins but was still amazing being able to paddle the 1 metre waves and going into caves.

We also took the kids out kayaking but not to Whale Island. We went to the Ohiwa harbour where the water is waist deep, just in case son decides to follow the father's footsteps in checking the water temperature.

Need to take kayak lessons when we return to Wellington.

Last event of the holiday was taking a look at the Annual Sand Sculpture Competition. It is amazing just looking at some of the sculptures being built and the stuff these pros use.

Sand castles took on a whole new meaning with this one. It was a city in the making complete with clock tower, bridges and moats!

One was trying to replicate a crayfish (also known as lobster) which was huge but not quite as stunning.

Then there was the imaginative Hedgehog, which we thought was quite interesting. They used pointy grass for the hedge effect on the body.

These must be Australians as they were trying to recreate the Sydney Opera House using sand.

This one was my favourite!

Then there are the watchers and the beachgoers who found the water more interesting than the sand.

Also during this holiday, Anil discovered his hidden talent!

Ashwini couldn't for the life of her understand why golf cannot be played like hockey!

What would camping be if not meeting up with old friends and making new ones!

It was time to return home now. I decided to take the East Coast route back home. My trusted GPS suggested that I drive to Napier via Taupo. Yours truly decided to switch the GPS off and follow instincts. Was heading east when I saw a sign suggested a shorter route. Decided to take it and ended up driving over 50km on unsealed farm roads. Scared the hell out of some cattle and sheep. Not sure about the shorter distance but the time taken was about 3 hours longer!

Luckily my Pajero was silver or it would have ended up a different colour. The trailer I was towing at the back had a dark blue cover. When we came out of the dirt track, it was a pale blue and was on the verge of turning grey!

My new job

2007-09-02T06:49:00.000+12:00

I just changed jobs, yes for those who know me, again! As some of my friends would know, I hate a desk bound job. While I don't like travelling, I love getting out and about. As part of my work, I have travelled to parts of the world most people don't think of visiting or want to visit, and to some places, even cannot visit.

This new role I have taken up is quite exciting as I now get a chance of visiting some fascinating parts of this country. My five weeks on the job has been really exhilirating. As part of my induction, I was sent to see what we do as an organisation and how we work.

This is just two of the modes of transport to work.

This one was taken as we disembarked on Tiritiri Matangi, a beautiful island 30km North East of Auckalnd.

Here is one with two of my colleagues at Karamea, one of the remotested parts of New Zealand.

This is the view from my transport to my place of work. Flying across the Southern Alps from the skies.

If only all offices are like this. This is the Heaphy Hut on the Heaphy Track.

Views from the hut.

And these are some of the living things I share my office with.

A native protected New Zealand bird, Kea.

A Takahe, an endangered New Zealand flightless bird.

Another endangered, New Zealand creature, the Yellow Eyed Penguin.

All in a day's work!

New addition

2007-09-01T22:13:00.000+12:00

It has been about 3 months since I last wrote anything down. I guess it is a bit like once you have settled in well, everything around you is no longer a novelty and there is nothing much that catches your eye!

We have been in New Zealand for 2 years now and we like it here so decided to add another member to the family, a four legged one. We were looking for a pet for awhile and came across this adorable face on a website. We went, we saw, we liked and Jasmine or Jazz for short, followed us home.

We have had dogs before and we, actually it was just me, never knew what Beagles were like. She has an energy level like you would never have guessed. She loves to play and she has not learned that the word "stop" or "enough" means we are tired. She is not only an extremely intelligent dog but also an extremely mischievious one.

After she came to live with us, my perspective of dogs has just changed!

Father and son fishing expedition

2007-05-20T17:01:00.000+12:00

If you have ever suffered an itch to catch a fish, the advice would be “don’t do it”. Instead, what you should do is to go down to Pacific Catch and buy yourself a nice sized blue cod or snapper. That way, you won’t need to put up with an eight year old whining, when one fine Saturday morning you decide to go fishing and spend time with your son. Shopping for fish is a lot easier and hassle free, to say the least.

Fishing has been a passion of mine for sometime but we lived in a land locked part of Malaysia for many years that the only fishing I could do was to walk down to the local fish market and feel, see and smell the fish. When we arrived in New Zealand, the sea was just a stone’s throw away and my interest in fishing was rekindled.

When I told Vera that I was going to take up fishing, she was a little sceptical and at the same time gave me “The Look”. A look that suggested “What do you think you are doing?”. Obviously she would not have known about my fishing as when I met her, I was already “land locked”.

So, how did I get hooked on fish?

My compulsion was probably inherited from my dad. He wasn’t a fisherman but he is one who loves his fish. It was my dad who taught me how to love fish. Penang, where I grew up, was surrounded by water and to find a fish was never too difficult, even if you can’t fish. My dad had a friend who was a fisherman and we used get all sorts of fish to try and often more than we can consume. Of course, being only my dad and I, who loved fish, didn’t help.

And the times I now recollect as the closest I ever came to my dad were when he would shake me awake at four a.m. on a Sunday morning, say in a whisper, so as not to disturb the whole household, “Hurry and get dressed before the fish gets sold out”. I would climb out of bed and get dressed quietly, then slip out of the house and hop on my dad’s motorcycle. It would still be dark but we would set off down to wholesale fish market, Chowrasta Market. We would pick the best catch of the day before it got sold, take it down to the corner restaurant, and turn the catch into a delicious pot of curry. We would then sit and have coffee and curry for breakfast. A weird combination but it worked for us.

These are the moments when everything that was unexpressed between father and son would fall into place and we would share all the love in our hearts without a word being said. This is the only time I had all of my dad as he was one who always worked long hours.

My son on the other hand, is not one who loves to eat fish, so the least I thought I can pass on to him is the love of catching fish. I am begging to find out even that is quite a daunting task, given his lack of patience.

Yesterday, we went on a fishing expedition at the Mana Wharf, complete with rods, reels and some fool proof power baits. Of we went, cast our rods, and “nada” not a single bite. After all of 5 minutes, Anil started checking to see if he had hooked a Barracuda. After about half an hour, it was stomach growling time. And an hour later, I was quite sure I did not want to continue to hear “I am hungry” like a broken record and neither did any of the fishermen in the area.

So much for our father and son bonding fishing expedition!

Next time, I will need to set a fish finder and find a spot in the sea with lots of fish. Then I need to find a super-duper bait that will find a fish to hook it (not the other way around). Failing which I will probably need to dive and hook the fish for him. Just to get him excited about fishing.

Imagine the things a dad needs to do to get his son to love fishing! Or shall I put it another way…the things a dad needs to do to spend time with his son!

On a roll...

2007-04-18T20:03:00.000+12:00

The population of Wellington is rather small in comparison to KL. I maybe wrong but I think it is in the region of about 300,000 or so. And due to its size, the likelihood or probability of being able to win anything from a contest or a draw is also relatively high. If there was one prize to be won in KL, the chances of getting that one prize would be one in 4 million and in Wellington it would be one in 300,000, assuming of course every resident participates.

A few weeks ago, there were tickets being given away by a local radio station (The Breeze) for the movie "Mr Bean's Holiday". Each winner was to get 2 free tickets to the movie. Vera called one morning when they said "Be the 5th caller...." What do you know? She was the 5th caller and won 2 free tickets. Having just 2 tickets, when there are 4 of us would mean someone needs to baby sit the kids, so we tried calling for another chance on another day. Bingo! We got another 2 tickets.

After the first win, I went over to their offices in the city to pick up the tickets. Had no problems picking it up on behalf of Vera. No identification was asked – just mentioned her name and got the tickets. Then a few days later when we got the second 2 tickets, I had to go to their offices again to pick up the tickets. This time the receptionist asked me "Didn't I see you earlier this week for tickets?" I said "Yes, but this is for someone else" to which she replied "At the rate you are doing favours, you better get yourself invited as well".

Last week, there were tickets to be given away for the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" movie. Kids were asked to call and talk about their strangest pets for a chance to win a family pass of 4. Anil called up this time and talked about his pet "fly" called William, which mysteriously fled from captivity moments after he won the tickets.

And just this morning, yet again another chance for a free family pass to "The Robinsons" was announced over the radio. This time, Anil and Ashwini called but only one won. Anil managed to get through and got himself a family pass for 4. As it coincides with Ashwini's 6th birthday, it will be her treat courtesy of The Breeze!

After this, we need to keep a low profile or might be banned from getting free tickets to the movies.

I was thinking...since the population of New Zealand at 4 million is only slightly smaller than the population of KL, I might try my hand at Lotto. Mathematically the chances of winning Lotto in New Zealand is surprisingly higher.

I read somewhere that the adult population in New Zealand is approximately 60% of the total, which is about 2.4 million people. I am assuming that of that, only 60% will play Lotto, which brings the number to 1.44 million. If 20% of that were out of town, out of the country or are in a hospital somewhere and could not buy a ticket, that brought the number down to 1.15 million. If half of that bought more than one ticket to increase their chances, that would make the total number of tickets competing for the $2 million, to be 1.73 million. So, mathematically, the chances of raking in the $2 million is one in 1.73 million.

Ok, I can start building my castle in the air. The foundation can come later.

Rain is rain by any other name

2007-03-28T21:41:00.000+12:00

How many different ways can we say that it is raining? That is the question!

We were and still are the last time I checked, planning on a holiday during Easter, which is a 4 day break here, to Taupo. So, we regularly check the weather forecast to see what the weather will be like. Which direction the wind is blowing and hence how cold it was going to be.

The heat and the lingering summer seem to be coming to an end as the holidays are approaching. It was bright and sunny with temperatures in the mid to high 20’s up until yesterday, but this morning when I checked, the temperature has dipped a few degrees and is now hovering around the lower end of the 20’s band. Still relatively warm I think (depending on the number of layers you have on) but given the fact that Taupo is situated on an elevated part of the country, the nights are going to be a lot colder.

Somewhere there, along with the lower temperatures, are those mean dark rain clouds coming our way from Australia. The website we use to monitor the weather is run by the New Zealand Meteorological Department (or Metservice for short) and is usually pretty accurate and changes every 2 hours or so. It uses these symbols of dark clouds to describe a rain cloud and with it a short narrative to describe the kind of rain. You get to see the forecast for up to the next 5 days usually but I was so tickled by how they described rain for the next 5 days.

To me rain is rain is rain. However way you see it, rain is when it spits down from way up there and you get all wet. The degree of smile on your face is relative to your age when it comes to rain. The younger you are the more you smile as you get to soak yourself with your clothes on and it is beyond your control. As you get older, you need to attend to the wet clothes and foul state of health after the rain all by yourself, so the smile slowly creeps away and we seek shelter. How else could one describe a weather so miserable when the clouds are dark, the air is humid and you feel gloomy.

The Metservice, on the other hand, has an interesting array of words to describe this. Here is what I saw describing rain!

Day 1 – Overcast with occasional rain

Day 2 – Periods of rain

Day 3 – Outbreaks of rain

Day 4 – Rain easing to showers

Day 5 – Showers clearing then rain developing

In short it was going to be raining for the next 5 days! Period! However, I still have not figured out what the difference is between rain and showers, though.

All in a day's fun

2007-03-24T22:04:00.000+12:00

This afternoon we attended an International Food festival here in Kapiti. We arrived at 11 in the morning and the dances had begun. There were lots of different cultural dances and food from the various communities that make up Kapiti. We sampled food from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Brazil, England, China, America and of course host New Zealand.

At the event, we migled with people from these ethnic backgrounds and had an invitation to an Indonesian get together next Sunday and an open invitation to camping with the Filipinos! Not bad for a day's event. We also got to meet and speak with Nathan Guy, National MP and the Alan Milne, Mayor of Kapiti Coast District Council.

All in a day's fun.

McDonald's Fun Run

2007-03-11T20:40:00.000+13:00

Summer is still here! It is still a balmy high 20's for now and the weather is good for all that outdoor sports.

This morning McDonald's together with Kapiti's Rotary Club organised a Children's Fun Run as part of the Children's Day celebrations. Anil took part representing his school, Paraparaumu Beach School.

At the start...

And, at the finish...

Save Hector

2007-03-10T17:55:00.000+13:00

New Zealand is home to the world’s smallest and rarest marine dolphins – the Hector’s dolphins.

Once distributed in waters all around the New Zealand coast line, these very special animals have now declined to just 7000 individuals and have been fragmented to a degree that threatens their survival. Read more about this on the Forest and Bird website.

Anil's school distributed this leaflet he is seen holding and asked students to go the beach and create a sculpture of Hector using things you find on the beach. His creation is below.

It was a real nice warm day for an end to summer but who's complaining? In about a month's time, anywhere near the beach would probably require a thick sweater.

My encounter with the former Prime Minister

2007-02-15T18:28:00.000+13:00

Yesterday was a memorable day for me. Not because it was Valentine’s Day. Actually that too, but in a different context which I would not dare to explore here. Red roses, chocolates and all even getting a chocolate at the Railway Station from a complete stranger was quite memorable in its own way. But, let’s not delve into that.

Now, coming back to the other memorable event. I attended the audit committee meeting of the company I work for. I have attended and presented at audit committee meetings in Asia but this was the first here in New Zealand. That wasn’t the memorable event but the people I met certainly qualified for that event.

One of the attendees at the meeting was the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rt Hon Jim Bolger. I am sure to some corporate high flyer, meeting dignitaries like that is an everyday affair but not to me. I was quite honoured to have met him, introduced to him and have a conversation with the man.

This morning, I tried to find out about his background, what he was like and what he did for the country while he was the Prime Minister. I learnt that he was Prime Minister from October 1990 to December 1997 and under his leadership, the country’s economy transformed itself from having the lowest growth rate among 29 OECD nations to one of the strongest. He now sits on and chairs several boards. What I really found interesting was that after he retired as Prime Minister of New Zealand, he was appointed Minister of State and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He then was sent to Washington as New Zealand’s Ambassador.

In contrast, a Malaysian Prime Minister like Tun Mahathir Mohammad, after retirement has left public office altogether, officially at least. Imagine what it would be like if he remained in politics as the Minister of Finance or something like that. As it is now, he is causing a stir, outside of government.

Like Jim, Mahathir was also a memorable Prime Minister whom I had the honour of meeting in person. Mahathir, changed Malaysia from a agricultural nation to an industrial powerhouse in that part of the world.

Shaking hands with Jim yesterday reminded me of my meeting with Mahathir many years ago when he was the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Both meetings were in Board Rooms of large corporations of their respective countries. At both meetings, they were in control even when they were not on the Chair. Both elderly statesmen in their 70s. Both have a similar sort of charisma. Despite their power and influence, both appear to be very warm and friendly. Someone you know you can talk to and will listen. Both just as sharp and just as shrewd.

I guess that’s what separates us from the great leaders of the world, and why only a few will get to that position.

Weekend at the Otaki Forks

2007-01-22T07:55:00.000+13:00

This weekend is the Wellington Anniversary and a 3 day weekend. We thought of going camping but then the weather was not all that great for camping. So we thought of going for a day trip to a nice spot.

We have passed the Otaki Forks turn off several times going up north but never knew what the actual place was like until a friend said it had a good campsite and a picnic spot. The Otaki Forks, obviously in Otaki (90 minute drive from Wellington), is the main western entrance to the Tararua Forest Park. Two tributaries, the Waiotauru River and Waitatapia Stream, meet the Otaki River here, and hence the name.

The forks is about 20km from SH1 and the journey is half the fun or shall I say half the adventure. The Department of Conservation officer I met told me that it was perfectly alright for a car to get there and I had confirmation of this from a work colleague who has been there. So off we went. After about 15km in the Otaki Gorge Road, we had to do a "river crossing" which we thought was so weird. The river actually flowed over a sealed road into the other side falling straight down a ravine.

Okay, that was adventerous, but not that bad we thought. Then immediately after that thought crossed our minds, we came across a sign that said "gravel road ahead". Now that got me worried as there were no indication as to how long the gravel road was and whether cars could use it. We waited for a few minutes, not a soul in sight. We whipped out our cell phone, just in case we needed to call AA. No signal bars on the cell! Since we had two confirmation that it was okay, we went aead.

The gravel road was actually not too bad. It was pretty much like this all the way with a small kilometre or so stretch of sealed road in between. After driving like we thought we were almost lost, we saw a sign "Picnic Area" and a DOC sign board. We took the turn off and came to the most beautiful picnic area I have seen.

The grass was green and the river just next to the grass area was so inviting. The water was crystal clear and they even has a toilet that flushed. It did not have hot water though but that wasn't too bad. There were about 4 other families there but the place was really big.

We later went into the river for a dip only to find out the water temperature was 15.1 deg C, or at least that's what my trusted Casio said. We braved the cold and went in. It was so refreshing. There were seveal deep pools suitable for kids as well as adults.

There are several bush walks from here from 20 minutes to several days cutting across the ranges. All the walks start from across the river on this bridge.

We did not attempt any on this trip as we were not geared for any sort of walking. With the wild weather last few months, some of the walks aren't actually that safe for now.

However, this picnic spot is very safe and we will be back when the weather is better. Afterall it is only an hour's drive from home to the picnic spot and is really great!

Craving for that authentic Asian food?

2007-01-14T11:06:00.000+13:00

Malaysia is a melting pot of three very distinct ethic groups; the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians. Vera and I belong to two of them. As people who have been to Malaysia would know, the food you get there is probably second to none. Food from Malaysia is quite different as the Indian food is not exactly what you will get in India and likewise, the Chinese dishes in Malaysia do not taste anything like what you might get in China. And don't event try to categorise the Malay food and everything else in between like the Nyonya and Mamak varieties.

We have patronised so many Malaysian food outlets here in New Zealand (some operated by people who have never been to Malaysia), but found the ones prepared in our own kitchen on a small scale is still the best. I am sure other migrants from other parts of the world feel the same.

We then thought of this concept of providing a "home chef" service in the form of a business, called Hire a Chef. We just started the website and are in the process of getting everything organised to get the ball rolling. It is still in its infancy stage and the website is pretty static at the moment. We will be filling in the "blanks" as we move along the process of setting up the business including some recipes that you could have only found in your mom's kitchen.

Click on the link above or the logo to take you to the website. Let us know what you think of the idea. Both the concept as well as the website itself. Any comments is appreciated. Thanks.

The world traveller

2007-01-08T19:20:00.000+13:00

I discovered this website on S & J's Blog about a tool that graphically illustrates the countries one has visited. I entered mine and here is a graphical representation of the countries I have visited in this world.

It is only 12% of all the countries on earth! That is only a fraction of what some others have been to.

I would be happy to have touched 25% before I leave this world!

Here is the link to this project. Click here to take you there. (I know, it sounds weird!).

Mid summer or mid winter

2007-01-04T20:43:00.000+13:00

Well, that is the million dollar question. Is it now mid summer or mid winter. We just sailed through the longest day of the year a few weeks back and technically we are in summer. However, if you had seen the temperature gauge lately, you would think we are still in winter.

We have this temperature gauge gadget that records the indoor and outdoor temperature and this morning when I woke up, I thought it felt more cold than it should. I looked at it and could not believe what I saw. The outside temperature read 1.5 degrees Celsius!

It is January and I can still see a lot of people with winter jackets and coats. There are the odd ones that brave walking around in shorts and tee shirts but the vast majority still wrap themselves up. Same time last year there were lots of flesh exposed! This year it is all under wraps!

The newspaper this morning had a report that said this summer is one of the coldest in New Zealand in 60 years. In fact the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research said it was the coldest since records began more than 70 years ago.

We have not been in New Zealand long enough to see the trend but people who have been here longer tell us that last winter was also colder than usual and it is still lingering on longer than it should. We had so much rain and snow last year, a lot of people were affected either by their crop destroyed, farm animals trapped in snow, houses washed down cliffs and even the odd earthquake. While we were having more than our fair share of the rain, our neighbours in Australia is having the worst draught in history!

The way we camp

2007-01-02T20:39:00.000+13:00

We have been camping even before we came to New Zealand. I was just amazed at how different the camping experiences are between what we experienced in Malaysia and how it is here in New Zealand.

This was our tent and how we camped in Malaysia. This was taken about 5 years ago and has not changed much.

This is our tent in New Zealand and the scene of the campsite here.

Note the differences in the access roads to the campsites.

The real difference the way I see it is back in Malaysia, campsites are not designated and you need to go and look for them yourself. In order to find one we joined a club. I belonged to the "Lanun Darat" or "Land Pirates" directly translated to English. Once found, most of us 4WD owners keep it a big secret so that no one else knows about it and it will remain clean and pristine for our exclusive use. Facilities are not even basic - it is pretty much non existent and you need to be completely self sufficient for the number of days you intend to camp. The only power source will be the odd car or truck battery used for lighting purposes. And due to its location and access you never went alone! We put up with wild animals and learn to live with them to some extent.

Here in New Zealand, campsites are well established. Most are privately owned and some by the Department of Conservation. A vast majority are located in cities or near cities where you do not need an all terrain vehicle to access. While we keep campsites a secret in Malaysia, campsites are widely publicised here in New Zealand. You can get brochures and maps and all are adequately sign posted. The phrase "self sufficient" here takes on a different meaning. You bring your own barbeque, fridge and stove so that you can cook yourself a meal without having to leave your tent.

If you are not inclines to be completely "self sufficient", the camp kitchen usually has multiple, refrigerators, freezers, stoves, ovens, microwaves, toasters and some even barbeques. The laundry has washing machines, dryers and ironing boards. The showers have running hot water. Where do you get food? Some campsites sell food and others have huge 24 hour supermarkets at their doorstep.

We went to a shop selling camp gear in Wellington the other day to look for accessories to "upgrade" our camping experience and was surprised to find that you can buy a solar powered hot shower, complete with a shower tent if you wanted. You can get a chemically treated portable toilet to take with you. This really got me - a three power sourced, portable 1.5kg washing machine and dryer. The three power sources used are gas, battery and AC power!

When you pick a campsite, you get to choose between a powered and a non powered site. If you walked by a powered campsite, you will no doubt notice the array of electrical appliances I described above. We have even seen a satellite dish outside a tent. Since the weather here can get pretty "chilly" especially at night even in summer (depending on where you camp), you can even bring your portable heater.

And how do you bring all this stuff? A trailer, of course, which is going to be our next investment!

In short camping in New Zealand is like going on a holiday at a resort. Actually, some of the campgrounds actually call themselves a "holiday resort". The only difference between a real resort and a campsite is that you bring everything yourself and the "resort" merely provides you with a spot and facilities for a small fee. Which is actually not too bad. We had a real good holiday by the sea at a fraction of the cost we would have paid to stay at a "real" beach front holiday resort. Of course our son wanted to bring his TV and Playstation with him but we only had a non powered site and besides, we did not have room even for the fishing rod which I wanted to bring with me. But that is going to change when we have our own trailer!

Would this concept work in Malaysia? A business proposition maybe for someone with a large piece of land and don't know what to do with it!

Annual Camping Holiday

2006-12-31T08:07:00.000+13:00

There are a few things that makes the Kiwis, Kiwis. One of them being camping. As we discovered last year, the Kiwi camping is not quite how we camp in Malaysia.

Instead of pitching and breaking camp every few days like we did last year, we decided to go to one campsite and spend most of our time at one location. We chose a campsite by the sea in the Bay of Plenty at Ohope Beach. What attracted us to this site was the amount of activities they had for kids during the Christmas - New Year holidays.

It was a 6 hour drive from Paraparaumu and we headed off with the Odessey all packed to the brim at half past five in the morning. We reached the campsite as my trusted GPS said we will, at 11.18 am. We got a site perched on a hill over looking the sea. Beach front property! Prime Real Estate! What a way to holiday!

When we arrived on the December 23 half the campsite was empty. There were tents scattered all over. Then the exodus began on Boxing Day. There were endless flow of campers, trailers, campervans, caravans of all makes and sizes and soon by evening, the whole campsite looked like some third world refugee camp!

The campground owners had lined up all sorts of activities for kids starting from scavenger hunts to talent shows and even water slides.

Ashwini took part in the talent quest. Although being the youngest to take part, she did not win anything as the others were well prepared for it and were a lot better. Here is a video of her performance. Not sure how it will turn out in a blog.

After a few days at the camp everyone made friends including the kids. We adults found out we were camping next to an older couple who were also from Paraparaumu.

Here is the other Kiwi tradition. What would a camping trip be without some Barbeque?

And barbeques are definitely men's territory! Here's proof!

Of course women can multi task which men can't. Ashwini seen here riding her scooter, eating breakfast and clinging onto her new underwater camera!

Just before leaving, we just booked for another stay at Ohope for next Christmas at a choice sea view section. We were advised to book latest by March if we wanted a slice of this view.

Happy New Year everyone!

A blast of light from space

2006-12-23T08:40:00.000+13:00

Yesterday afternoon Vera came running and said this must be the most incredible display of lights in the sky. Somewhat a rainbow but with no rain. In fact it was a bright hot summer day. I decided to capture this amazing display in my camera, right in front of our home.

Here it is...

This morning, I was reading the Dominion Post (our local newspaper) and this is what we discovered it was.

" It looks like a rainbow that's been set on fire, but the solar phenomenon is as cold as ice. Known in the weather world as a circumhorizontal arc. This multi coloured arc is caused by light passing through wispy, high altitude cirrus clouds which contain fine ice particles. This optical phenomenon is said to be reasonably rare.

Though similar in principle to a rainbow, the hexagonal ice crystals that make up the cirrus clouds are shaped like thick plates with their faces parallel to the ground. When light enters through a vertical side face of an ice crystal and leaves from the bottom face, it refracts, or bends, like light through a prism. If cirrus srystals are aligned just right the whole cloud lights up in a spectrum of colours."

Christmas Lights

2006-12-21T17:02:00.000+13:00

It's that time of the year where tree is lighted and presents abound. In the neighbourhood we live in there is also a competition for the best decorated home. Read that as the most lights! Since it gets dark only about 9pm, we were not able to capture some of the homes at their best. Here are some of the pictures I took. All we had at our place was a lighted Christmas tree and even that was inside, so no one would have known.

At all of these places, the streets were packed with cars, parked on both sides of the road, and in some streets you had to actually wait to get into your drive way. One of them was ours, as our neighbour who won the competition for 2 successive years had their lights all up and people were parking on our drive way.

These are the ones of our neighbours.

What we did not capture was the national winner of the best decorate home. This family won $10,000 for their effort in putting up 42,000 lights in their house. I can imagine where most of the ten grand is going to end up in!

Merry Christmas everyone as we will be heading for our annual pilgrimage, camping!

An orchard in the making

2006-11-17T20:03:00.000+13:00

This is apparently the time of the year to plant trees, flowers, shrubs, grass... anything that grows actually. So last weekend off we went to a local nursery in search of fruit trees to line our back yard.

We were quite surprised at the variety of fruits out there. We were thrown at growing fruit trees we never would have imagined every growing in the tropics! All we wanted was an apple tree and an orange tree. When we went looking, we found at least a dozen varieties of each. Then there were apple trees that had two varieties in one! That made process of deciding all the more difficult.

With so much choice, we decided to ask someone there for help as it how they taste as they are going to end up in our stomach sooner or later. After all those facts thrown at us, we decided on an apple tree with two variety "braeburn" and "royal gala", and an orange tree that is supposedly sweet called "blood orange". Together with that we bought a lemon tree and just couldn't resist a kaffir lime tree or in Malay we call it "limau purut". More Tom Yams on the way I was assured.

When we got home and planted them, I did a search on the trusted web to find out what the varieties were like. I discovered that there were at least a thousand varieties of apples. There is even a website that is dedicated solely to apple growing and tracing each varieties' anchestry. And to my horror, the bllod orange actually looks like blood! The tree has yet to fruit but I can't wait to see the fruit and even more, taste it! I took this off the web, take a look at this picture of a blood orange!

A sure sign of spring

2006-11-05T23:02:00.000+13:00

I wish I had a shot gun this morning although I am usually against guns and violence.

Spring has arrived but with a vengeance. There are lots of flowers around and the grass is rapidly growing. Together with this, weeds have also decided to take over our lawn. Where there are no bald patches on the lawn there are weeds. Weeds of all shapes and sizes.

Now where did the guns come into the picture? Well, you see… with spring comes flowers and with flowers come birds. With spring, the sun rises earlier each morning and the birds start their day early as well. Behind our home, there is a rather huge lifestyle block. Life style blocks are a little like living in the country. This particular one has lots of trees, a lake and animals. While it is a lovely landscape from our bedroom window, it is also where birds congregate each morning, rain or shine.

By 5.30 in the morning, the sun takes a crack and this is when Birds Anonymous chooses to have their morning meeting, sort of like a pre flight briefing. I am sure it is accompanied by free flow of bird booze and beak food, as it surely sounds like they were high on something. Trying to stay in bed on a weekend is really quite a challenge when you hear these pesky birds all talking at the same time.

I woke up and went to the window and I could literally see them staring at me, eyes dazed from all that drinking, I'm sure. Seeing that they outnumber me and that I am in no position to climb over the fence and knowing all too well that a base ball bat is harmless when it comes to creatures with wings, they continued even louder. If I could understand beak language, I am sure they were all laughing at me!

That is when I wished I had a shot gun!

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for nature and animals but just like we respect their space, they should respect ours.

Over the coming months, as the sun rises even earlier each morning and the more I get used to all that bird talk, I will probably be able to sleep through all that noise. And eventually the noise will turn into melody and then all too soon, I will be missing the chirping in the morning. I might even throw some fresh grubs on the lawn in the morning just to wake them up, entice them, to listen to them. That is when I guess they’ll wish they had a shot gun!

And then when I have gotten used to the sound of silence over autumn and winter, it will start all over again!

Guess that is one way of looking at the circle of life! How exciting!

That familiar buzz

2006-11-04T06:07:00.000+13:00

I am awake at half past five this morning for several reasons. One being it is about the time I wake every weekday to get to work. Now, even without the alarm blaring, I am still up at that time. Two, it is approaching summer and it gets bright by then. The sun is up and the mercury is slowly rising above the 10 degree. And lastly, I am awake because of a strange but familiar buzz.

When I heard this buzz in my ear, I almost thought I was back home. Wait a minute, that isn't quite right! Then I realised what that buzz was all about. Mosquitoes!

I have not heard that for almost 2 years! All the time we lived in Tawa, we had no trouble with mosquitoes. We encountered the odd ones when we were in Auckland last summer.

Our place in Tawa was 260 meters above sea level (at least that is what my watch says) and our present place in Paraparaumu is 1 meter above sea level. Is that reason why we have mosquitoes? The temperature here is often 1 or 2 degrees warmer than Tawa. Could that be the reason why we have these ancient creatures lurking around? Tawa is in the mountains while Kapiti is by the sea! Maybe that's it!

Gosh I wish I knew why, so I will know how to get rid of them. I will even if they were endangered! As I hate mosquitoes! I am not going to start my collection of mosquito cocktails, Mortein, Ridsect, Shelltox, Vapemat.....

That Kiwi tongue

2006-10-31T16:15:00.000+13:00

The other day, our kids were talking on the phone with their grandparents in Malaysia. After about five minutes on the phone with the young ones, I took over, and my parents said they had no idea what the two of them were saying. Mind you, they were speaking English and not Maori.

After about a year in New Zealand, the kids have picked up so much of the Kiwi accent and the odd Kiwi phrases which only a Kiwi could understand, let alone appreciate. Even as parents, we have to stop them mid way in a sentence and ask them what they meant or ask them to repeat that is a form understandable by whose ears have not been tuned to Kiwi. For this reason, Anil and Ashwini both tease us saying we are not Kiwis and will never be one!

Some of the ways certain words are pronounced make it very Kiwi. An example is the word seven. In English we pronounce it as "sev"-"en". But the Kiwis pronounce it as "see"-"ven". Then there is the word ten. In English it is pronounced as it is written, ten. In Kiwi, it sounds more like "tin".

Then there are the phrases. When someone says "thank you", in English we tend to respond with "you are welcome" or "not at all", but in Kiwi, you respond with "that's alright". In English you tend to wish someone "have a good day" or "have a good evening" but in Kiwi, you say "have a good one". I ask, one what?

When I was young, I was used to saying "my one" and "your one". And my parents often corrected me by saying the proper way to say it was "mine" and "yours". But in New Zealand, every one says, "my one" and "your one" and my kids say it's perfectly correct to use those words. We use to learn in school to say "expensive" when you mean something costs a lot of money. But here people say "dearer". I have yet to hear a Kiwi use the word "expensive".

Maori or locally known as Te Reo is widely spoken in New Zealand and is one of three New Zealand official languages. The others being English and the New Zealand Sign Language. However Maori is not a written language and hence there are no script. It uses Roman characters to write. As a result of this, the pronunciation of some of these words is rather "odd" to a native English speaker. In English the letters "ph" sounds like "f" but in Maori the letters "Wh" has the same effect. So Whangerei is pronounced as "Fangerei", Then there are other names of places like Whakatane and Whakapapa which I rather not translate here or this blog would turn out to be some X rated site.

Then there are some names with a "wh" but does not have the "f" sound. For someone new to New Zealand, that would be real tricky. So a suburb in Wellington called Whitby is not pronounced as "fitby", because we were told it originated from an English word! Is that confusing or what? If one assumed that everything else is pronounceable, then think again. Petone is another Wellington suburb pronounced as "pet"-"toe"-"nee" and not "pet"-"one". An Auckland suburb Onehunga is pronounced as "O"-"nee"-"hung"-"ah" and not "One"-"hung"-"ah".

There are some words in English that are considered impolite or outright rude when used in any context but here it is perfectly acceptable. You see advertisements and commercials using the words "bloody". And phrases like "bastards" are quite commonly used. I was quite confused when I heard this phrase, "... he was a bloody good bastard." Was that a compliment or the opposite? Apparently it was the former.

This is a serious “lost in translation” thingy!

Note: thingy is another common Kiwi word to denote “some thing”.

Kachiiiiing!

2006-10-30T20:27:00.000+13:00

Tomorrow marks the last day where 5 cent coins are legal tender in New Zealand. From November 1, 2006, 5 cent coins will be taken out of circulation and the remaining coins with the exception of the "gold coins" will take a new form.

See the new set of coins below.

The notes changed in 1999 when polymer ones were introduced. These polymer currency notes apparently have one of the most advanced security features that nobody actually bothers to check its authenticity, unlike in some countries.

Most of the notes in circulation have the signature of the Central Bank or here it is called the Reserve Bank Governor's signature on them, Alan Bolard. This morning I was shown a $20 note that had the previous Governor's signature, Don Brash.

For those of you not familiar with New Zealand politics, Don Brash is currently the leader of the main opposition party in New Zealand. The note is still legal tender so nobody actually bothers. But how many countries in the world would have the leader of the Opposition guarantee the value of its currency? Interesing indeed!

The day the ghouls came out to play

2006-10-28T07:30:00.000+13:00

It was that time again when the ghosts and ghouls came out to play.

The neighbourhood where we have now moved into invited us to its annual Haloween party. Main aim being we get to know each other. Since New Zealand is positioned to see the first sunrise and all, I guess that must have been the reason to celebrate Haloween earlier. The actual day is October 31.

The kids were all eager to trick or treat and got dressed up. Anil being the blood sucking vampire who scared the hell out of himself when he saw his costume in the mirror and Ashwini, the mini Bewitched witch all geared up with the latest Nimbus 2006. All costumes exclusive to the "Two Dollar Shop", in case you want to stock up on these items after readiong this blog.

There was no trick or treating as that is apparently an American thingy and there were no Americans in our neighbourhood. They weren't too dissapointed as there were other lollies on the table.

We adults had our gear but were too shy to put them on but when we arrived, we saw other adult warlocks, sorcerers, witches an ghouls all dressed up. There were an array of different models of broom sticks all stacked in a row. With all the witches congregating in one place, the spells must have had an effect as the home we went to was warm and cozy on the inside while the cold bone chilling rain was pouring on the outside.

The get together was quite good as we got to meet the other neighbours and the guy that built our home, Bob. Immediately I had this tune running in my head "Bob the builder....can we fix it...Bob the builder...yes we can". Thankfully, this Bob was quite a nice chap and did not cast a spell on me when I told him what was running in my head. We found out we had quite a few things in common. Building was not anywhere near the similarities. I demolish more than I can build.

We called it a day or rather a night when it was about time for the real vampires and withches to come out, and headed back home in the rain.

Never too early to get into business

2006-10-22T17:59:00.000+13:00

While it used to take a lot to start a business in the old days, it takes just a few clicks of the mouse to start one now. Online buying and selling has made businessman and businesswomen out of the average Kiwis. How is this relevant to this thread?

This morning, Anil, just used his pocket money savings to buy his first investment, a television off Trade Me (an online auction site) for $25. And at the same time our 5 year old daughter cleared her toy chest and placed a whole lot of her used toys on Trade Me for auction. Will she be able to rake up the $25 spent by her brother? Time will tell! As they say "one man's meat is another man's poison".

The modern day nomad

2006-10-16T20:38:00.000+13:00

While I have been quiet the last two months, our lives were far from hushed. Since the last post, we sold our house in Tawa, packed and moved up north to Paraparaumu. Below is a picture of our new house.

Paraparaumu is a nice little suburb up north of Wellington. While it is part of the greater Wellington region, it is not part of Wellington city. So, some of my friends say we now live in the country. Which is in a way not entirely untrue. The place where we live used to be farmland just 2 years ago and now has been developed into residential living.

There are still lots of farmland scattered around where we live. it is kinda nice living in a sort of a small town with a rural feel to it. For starters it is far far away. The ride to the city, where I work, takes close to an hour on a good day by train. Can you imagine what it would be like on a bad day? I took a taxi to the airport the other day and it cost me $192 one way and the airfare to Auckland from Wellington is only $140! So go figure!

The journey to the city is quite picturesque travelling past lush farm land and the rugged coast. October being the lambing season, the journey is dotted with white little lambs running after its mother in the mornings. They are quite relaxing to see. Then there is the fantastic coast line the train crosses. It climbs up a steep hill and from the train window the South Island can be seen among the morning mist. And on the return journey, a postcard perfect sun set awaits!

I will one of these days post a picture of the sceneries along the way.

Is it a surprise that Vera calls me a "Modern day nomad"? We have moved 9 times in the last 11 years we have been married! Is that a record or is that a record?

Kiwi obsession with sports

2006-08-04T08:46:00.000+12:00

Since we have been here, one thing I noticed with Kiwi's in general is - they love their sports. Probably the word "love" is an understatement. Kiwi's are obsessed with sports. Any kind of sports will do as long as it is a sport. Let me explain the obsession.

The hour long evening news on the local television has about twenty to twenty five minutes of sports news. The remaining half hour covers local news, the war in the middle east, international news, politics, business and the weather. The morning news which is about fifteen minutes long has sports news and "other" news divided equally. Sports news back home mainly covers soccer and any sports that has local participation. Over here, it covers every and any imaginable sport there is on the face of the earth. But to be fair, the twenty minutes sports news has at least ten minutes of rugby.

On a Sunday afternoon, if one did not have Sky, and if one is not obsessed with sports, like me, then one is doomed! Either resort to watching a video or read a book. If you turned on the idiot box, you will have sports in one form or another in every free to air channel. It is either rugby, soccer, golf, biking, running, walking, swimming or simply some commentary of some sports somewhere on earth. It is simply amazing!

The obsession with sports just does not stop there. It goes beyond that. All my life in Malaysia, all I can remember about athletes are a retired footballer and some over the hill badminton players. My 7 year old son on the other hand, within a year in New Zealand, could name at least half the All Blacks in a line up. My 5 year old daughter recognised Tana Umanga before she could make out how Helen Clark looked like. Now, my son's school homework has an element of sport in it, all in the hope that they do not end up as couch potatoes.

If you thought that was taking it to the extreme, read on. In mid winter when the mercury can drop to almost freezing point, you can still see people playing rugby. This is just not adults, even junior teams from the various suburbs and schools partake in winter rugby. Most of the main rugby matches are actually held this time of the year. We went to one "Hurricanes vs Chiefs" at the Westpac Stadium. The temperature then was 5 deg Celsius and winds of up to 30 kmph but that did not keep the fans away. People came out in the thousands all dressed up in their favourite team colours to support their teams.

Due to where New Zealand physically is (the other side of the world), when games are played in Europe, it is the middle of the night here. That did not keep Kiwi's away from sports. The last World Cup had people into pubs at 5 am to watch live matches and still go to work after that.

Kiwi's continue this sports culture by continuously looking to create new adventure sports. If bungee jumping was not enough, you now have reverse bungee, where you are propelled upwards instead of jumping down. Another variant is a 143 m jump from a cable car suspended over a canyon or jumping off a parasail high above Lake Waikatipu. If white water rafting was not scary enough, you now have black water rafting and rafting in a cave in darkness. What else can you do in a river? Oh yes, white water sledging. Then there is the "fly by wire", where you fly yourself, powered by a 60hp engine, across a valley at 170 kmph! And the legal speed limit on New Zealand motorways is 100 kmph. That's not all! There’s also sky diving, paragliding, hang gliding, heli-skiing, skiing and snow boarding, jet boating, mountain biking, 4wd motorbikes, quad biking (some designed especially for kids), the list goes on.

Where do you find all this? Not in Auckland of course! Not the administrative capital or the business capital but the adventure capital of New Zealand, Queenstown. Actually, I think it is probably the adventure capital of the world! If you can possibly think of a way you could pay some one to scare the crap out of you, you can probably do it in Queenstown.

In short, if you are obsessed with sports, New Zealand is the place to be!

The "bug" that kept us awake!

2006-06-17T13:45:00.000+12:00

For the past week we were kept awake at night wondering what that chirping noise was. It was not the typical continuous chirp but one that was like a second or two apart. It was also something that sounded like a bird trapped somewhere in the house, or was it an insect or a bug?

We had no idea what it was but the fact that it only sounded at night when there are no movements around the house got us suspecting it was an insect of some sort. But it sounded like a bird and was way too loud to be an insect.

This mysterious sound went on for over a week and we were quite curious to find out what exactly it was. Everything and anything came to mind.

This morning when we woke up, it sounded again! I said to Vera, whatever it was, it is begining to get hungry and is now making its presence known during the day. So, off we went on our search for the elusive creature, equipped with a broom stick, bug spray, gum boots and a torch light. We went under the house, then in the garage and tried to follow the sound.

As I was following the sound it sounded like now coming from the hallway upstairs. That got us worried. I stood at the hallway, right at the stairs and there it went again! It came from above my head. The second chirp, that gave itself away.

It was our smoke detector that needed a battery change!

Coming from a place where smoke detectors were not common, we had no idea what it was and how we would know when it was time to change batteries. And all this while, we had sleepless nights thinking a giant weta or some dark creature crept into the house at night waiting to pounce on us!

The wicked weather

2006-06-13T20:04:00.000+12:00

The north had a blackout, the south had a whiteout and we in the centre of the country had a blowout!

Literally, that's what happened. On the same day, the weather played havoc. We had lots of cold Antartic wind blowing from the south and that caused much of the South Island covered in blanket of snow. Some up to 60cm thick even on the beach! That resulted in roofs giving way due to the weight of the snow and power lines being cut off. As I write this some, 2 days after the storm, some folks in the South Island still have no power.

In Auckland, it was not the snow but the wind that brought down some lines in the main backbone of the country's power grid. That caused shops, business and homes in central Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city to come to a stand still.

In Wellington, being prone to strong winds, we experienced even stronger winds. Winds of up to 140 kmph in some exposed places. It blew off roofs and caused damage to homes.

The weather is getting colder by the day. We have so far recorded the lowest temperature in Wellington since we arrived! 0 degrees Celsius. Although we did not get the snow, I did see ice on the steps and even on the car windscreen this morning. The wiper had to scrap through the ice. The end result was something like shaven ice used for "ice kacang"!

Kiwis don't want your money

2006-05-20T17:48:00.000+12:00

This is kind of the opposite end of the spectrum when you compare businesses in New Zealand to businesses in Malaysia. Businesses here place a lot of trust in customers and they are not out to take your money. I am sure there are businesses here that does the opposite but my experiences so far are that they don't take your money unnecessarily.

If one walked into a post office or post shop as they are called here, you could just help yourself to all the stationery, envelopes and what have you without having to pay on the spot. Often I have taken envelopes, written on them, went to the counter to buy a stamp and I have to tell the lady at the counter that I am also paying for the envelope because she had not included the envelope in the bill. How weird is that?

Once we were going to pave our backyard with pebbles. So we went to the local Mitre-10 to buy pebbles. I wanted enough pebbles to fill a 4 square meter area. Mitre-10 sold the pebbles I wanted in small bags and it would take quite a few bags to fill that area. So I enquired if they had bigger bags or how I could buy larger quantity. Instead of taking my business, they told me to contact their supplier and said I will be better off buying from their supplier who could also include delivery with the price. They gave me the name of the supplier, the phone number and the likely cost!

Last Friday, as I was walking along Lambton Quay, my shoes gave way. I had a meeting to catch and I had 10 minutes to spare. I went to the nearest cobbler and asked him if he could get it fixed. He said it would take him 2 hours, for he needs the glue to cure and could not do it sooner. So, I told him I needed a quick fix and did not have 2 hours. He took my shoe, placed some glue on the soles and nailed it in and took him all of 5 minutes. When he was done, I asked him how much I owed him for that. His reply was "if I can't guarantee it will stay, I can't charge you mate". It is now about a week of walking around in these shoes that could not be guaranteed by the cobbler and it is still as good as new.

Go figure!

Becoming a Kiwi

2006-05-15T10:25:00.000+12:00

This morning right after my alarm clock rang me awake at 5.30am, there was another kind of alarm! An earthquake! Yes another one. Usually at this hour of the day, quakes are not as a result of the earth's seismic activity but the rumble of Vera's washing machine. I knew this time it was not my clothes rocking the earth as Vera has not yet started playing with the "big girls" toys.

This must have been quite a shocker as the house did wobble a wee bit for a few seconds. We later found out that it took place 50km North-West of Wellington out in the sea and measured 5.0 on the Richter scale. The star in the picture below shows where it took place. See the proximity to Wellington!

The last time we went through this, we went out and looked if anybody was evacuating and checked if the kids were alright. But this one was quite different. We lay in bed, as though nothing happened. I asked Vera "was that an earthquake?" and she calmly responded "yes, it was". After about ten minutes, we went to check if anything was amiss and apart from some figurines having moved from their original place on the display cabinet (probably out of shock), nothing was out of the ordinary.

Then I sat there thinking, if this was indeed a major earthquake, what would we have done? Then again, thinking how we reacted this time and how we did the last time, we knew we were getting used to being in New Zealand. Or becoming one!

But the fact of the matter remains! What would we do if it was a real serious quake?

Minister of what?

2006-05-05T15:20:00.000+12:00

The other day Ashwini's school had an open day for parents to come in and mingle with other parents and teachers. We were told to bring some fish and chips for snacks. The meet was scheduled at 5.30.

Of all days, I had to miss the train that of all days, had to leave on time. Then the train that I caught had to be late. To cut a long story short, we all were late because of me.

Anyway, we bought that fish and chips and took it with us but when we arrived which was close to half past six, others were wrapping up their left overs. So we decided to take ours home to eat.

As I was standing looking for other parents to speak to, I noticed this man approaching me. I said my "how are you's" and introduced myself. He asked me what I did for a living and I told him... then my turn to ask. He said he was a minister. I was stunned! I am standing there speaking to a minister? Wow! So I asked him which government department he worked for. He immediately blushed and said "no, I am a minister at a church". It was then my turn to blush. But thankfully, I was too dark to show the redness through my face. He turned out to be a priest at a local church!

Is there a difference between being a priest and being a minister?

This afternoon at a meeting with one of my auditees, I was introduced to someone who said he was from the ministry. Being a Friday, most offices dress casually. And this bloke was dressed in a Mao suit (a white shirt and a black collarless jacket buttoned all the way up). It really looked like a what a priest would normally wear.

Not learning from my previous mistake, I automatically asked him which church he belonged to. He started laughing and said I was not the first person today to say that. Dejavu! You know what happened after that...

I later found out, he works for Michael Cullen, the Deputy Prime Minister who is also the Finance Minister.

The sun still rises from the east but...

2006-05-04T18:10:00.000+12:00

I remember when I went to school, we learnt that the sun rises from the east and sets in the west. That fact of the matter was never doubted for an instant. Every morning, I would clearly see the sun rising from the east and without fail each evening the sun will set in the west.

When one bought a house in Malaysia, he or she will see to it that the house was facing east so that the house gets much of the rising sun which is not as hot as the setting sun. That said, most houses in Malaysia are linked or in Kiwi terms town houses. That means one would only need to worry about the front. In all likelihood if it is not an end unit, both the sides are somebody else's problem and the back as well. When I mean somebody else's, I mean there would be another unit on all the other sides. And if you don’t belong in the “circle”, in all likelihood, the back unit will be so close you can whisper the latest gossip and still be heard - that’s how close it can be so no sun will get in there!

In New Zealand, what one looks for in a house is very different. Well, we heard about this and somewhat knew this but until today, it did not really hit me. In New Zealand, the fact that the sun rises from the east and sets in the west has holes as big as the sun all over it!

When one buys a house here, it is important that it faces north! That is because over here, the sun does not travel the half circle over your head but takes a rather gentle curve rising from the east and setting in the north. I also learnt in school that at noon, one can't see your shadow because the sun was over your head. That may be true elsewhere but you may need to lean like the tower of Pisa to get no shadow here. So that explains why my sun dial did not give me the correct time. This was why I was at work before 7 every morning. The days I am in at 8 are when I used my trusted battery operated watch.

Being in a cold climate, one would want to heat up the house as much as possible. So, the house needs to be facing north to get as much of the setting sun as possible. And since most of the houses here are detached, the movement of the sun is important so that a house gets most of the sun as it makes its day round.

Earlier I said it did not hit me till now. That is because I am currently working in an office in Auckland, seated in a room 27 floors up with a view to kill for and also one that gets the rising sun. For some reason, the rising sun in Auckland is just as hot as the setting sun. Anyway, when I came in I thought “hey”, when the sun moves to the other side I won't feel so hot. How wrong I was! The sun travelled from one window on my left to the other window on my right. All the time the sun was on my back, literally.

Now after being in this building for a week, I mean in this sauna, I not only had a crash course on the sun, I think I have also developed a tan on the back part of my head and neck!

Bluff Oysters

2006-04-01T20:08:00.000+12:00

The Bluff oyster season just started last week with a lip smacking festival (www.bluffoysterfest.co.nz) last weekend which of course had to include oyster opening and eating contests. There has been numerous newspaper articles and TV reports about people slurping their prized Bluff oysters.

When I was in Auckland last week, I came across places selling 1 dozen of these fat succulent Bluff oysters for $110! That is almost $10 a piece. They better had included some pearls for that amount of money. It is outrageous but people still bought them or they wouldn't sell!

For those not from New Zeland or not familiar with New Zealand geography, Bluff is a small town at the south end of the South Island. It is located at the bottom of the South Island, in the province of Southland and is the 'Gateway to Stewart Island'. It is also the begining of State Highway 1.

When we first arrived in New Zealand, the oyster season had already started then. So all the hype ended before we arrived. Each time, we passed by a sea food shop, we saw them selling Bluff oysters. And each time we asked ourselves, why would anyone in their right mind buy bluff oysters when you can buy real ones for the same price. Then one day, when I related this to my office colleagues, everyone had a good laugh. Then we realised why they were called Bluff Oysters.

This year, we are going to sample some of these reknowned oysters before the end of the season. Some call it the finest in the world but we are determined to buy them at down to earth prices.

The Not so Jamie Oliver style of cooking

2006-03-28T13:27:00.000+12:00

I am on assignment in Auckland this week and have been generously offered an upgrade to a one bedded suite at the Citylife Auckland. It is not your average chic boutique hotel (far from it actually) but is close enough to the office which is all but 2 long minutes walk and a stone's throw from the downtown Foodtown supermarket.

This is my fifth stay at this particular hotel and as a gesture of my patronage, I was given a personalised luggage lock. It is quite large for an average lock but still no where near the size of the luggage lock my colleague in Wellington uses. You really don't want me to get into that, so I won't.

Since coming to New Zealand, I have tried my hand at the barbie, baking, and grill and it turned out quite well. As this week I will be spending away from the main chef of the household, I thought I'll try some cooking myself. So, off I went to Foodtown and bought myself some steak, bacon, eggs and fruits. When I reached the hotel, I realised that I had no oil or butter to cook the stuff.

I thought "hey", if I can grill steak in a barbie without oil, why can't I do that on the stove. So, I cooked the steak on a pan over medium heat. As it got cooked, it also got stuck to the pan, after turning it a few times, I am sure I lost at least 100g of meat on the pan. It finally turned out quite well although less than what I had paid for in weight.

After transferring the steak to a plate, I took the pan and splashed water over it under a running tap. That created an incredible amount of smoke in the room, which triggered the smoke detector, which caused the front office downstairs to call the room and simultaneously alert the housekeeping on the 8th floor to come to my room. I had to explain 5 different times to 5 different people on my cooking skills and why the rangehood did not function as intended. Hello! It would have if it was installed above the sink!

Just when I thought I could sit down with my 100g less of a steak and a glass of wine with Desperate Housewives on TV, I had another phone call from the Hotel Manager who so generously gave me the personalised luggage lock earlier, I am sure at this stage thinking if he wanted me for the 6th time at his hotel. I explained all over again what happened and he offered me a $20 voucher to be spent at the coffee house. Now, is that an insult or what? Me being me, accepted his generosity, but the cooking won't stop!

Community Service

2006-03-18T20:50:00.000+13:00

In order to raise funds, schools around New Zealand have all sorts of activities from selling chocolates to having a ball. Businesses give generously to these events and so do the public. Which is an amazing contrast to where we come from. Doing this in Malaysia would involve getting a police permit and not to mention raised eyebrows from the general public.

This morning Ashwini's kinddie (Kiwi for kindergarten) organised a fund raising barbie (Kiwi for BBQ) and parents were asked to help out. We took turns to do some work at manning the stall for an hour throughout the day. Yours truly was cooking sausages for this event!

For this fund raising project, the venue was at Bunnings Warehouse in Porirua. They provided the BBQ set with gas for free in addition to allowing the kinddie to use a prominent space at the entrance. The sausages were provided by local butchers and parents. Bread was supplied by a local bakery in the dozens. Even divine intervention was available! The Man upstairs made sure the sun was up and the sky had nothing but blue skies throughout the day.

We charged $1 for a BBQ sausage on a slice of bread. All proceeds went to the kinddie. I am not sure how much we raised eventually but during my one hour shift, we sold about 30 sausages.

Going away from the community a bit, the fund raising concept is a bit of Kiwi thing to raise money for whatever reason. I have seen kids playing a musical instrument of some sorts by the train station, street corner, markets, to raise money for one reason or another. Once a family of 4 kids played music at Cuba Mall in Wellington to raise money to buy new instruments for themselves. There was this one kid on Lambton Quay during the school holidays playing his violin to go for a holiday. He played exceptionally bad, but had a sign saying, "I may not play terribly well but at least my effort deserves a gold coin donation". And people gave generously. At the weekend market, we see kids playing one instrument or another with a hat filled with coins. Just as we were going back from this fund raising event, we saw another barbie stall just round the corner raising money for a school trip to Italy!

Anil is seriously looking at learning to play the cello. He has mastered “Hot cross buns” after 3 lessons. Even if he does not get paid to perform at the New Zealand symphony orchestra, I know he will be able to raise some money playing on the streets.

Despite the intentions of these "fund raisers" I applaud New Zealanders who give so generously. Can't see it happening anywhere else, really!

Husband for hire

2006-02-25T07:10:00.000+13:00

Before anyone gets any funny ideas, this is a real business in New Zealand. It started from an allegedly off hand comment made by a woman envious of her friend's handy husband. "My hubby is hopeless around the house," she moaned, "I wish I could hire yours for a while!" The seed was planted and Hire a Hubby is a serious business catering to people without the time, tools, skill or inclination to tackle jobs around the home and garden.

When I was back in Malaysia, I was more handy than an average Malaysian with my "tools" that comprised at that time - an impact drill and several wrenches, screwdrivers, nuts and bolts, a high pressure water blaster and an electric grass cutter. Hardly anyone in Malaysia cuts their own grass! I remember when a friend of ours shifted to his new house, I helped him fix all his lights and hang his paintings. I wonder if his wife moaned "I wish I could hire him for a while!" Guess not!

When we moved to New Zealand, I proudly packed all my "tools" into 2 boxes. When the New Zealand Border Control checked our package, they let it pass without a fuss. Knowing they are particular about tools coming into the country with possible contamination, I wondered why they were not too concerned with mine. Then, when we started knowing people, I realised that the average handyman here has at his disposal, several varieties of power saws, welding guns and tools I can't even pronounce let alone spell! The work I undertook to rebuild the bathroom, made me realise that I am nowhere near the average New Zealand husband.

We had a leak on our roof and judging from the state of our "rebuilt" bathroom, Vera decided we should call for a real husband... oops I mean real handyman.

Apples just harvested

2006-02-19T16:13:00.000+13:00

We planted an apple tree 5 months ago in our yard and the first bunch of apples are ripe for harvest. The tree we planted have two variety of apples, braeburn and royal gala.

These are the first and we have no idea which variety these are but they are simply great! Not too sweet yet. We were told that it takes a lot longer than 5 months.

There are a few more on the tree and we are hoping those will taste a lot sweeter.

Animal rights in New Zealand

2006-02-14T18:32:00.000+13:00

Crayfish is similar to lobsters we get in Asia. As it is in Asia, it is also a delicacy and expensive here in New Zealand. There are various ways to cook them and one of the most popular methods was to boil them while still alive. Most are sold alive anyway if one didn’t catch them. There was an article in the New Zealand Herald this morning about how one should legally kill a crayfish or crab for consumption. It seems that under the Animal Welfare Act, it is an offence and can be prosecuted if caught inhumanely killing a crayfish or crab, even for consumption.

The article said that it is inhumane to stab, drown or boil a crayfish, and that it is also against the law. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has issued a reminder on the kindest way to despatch seafood delicacies such as crayfish and crabs. The ministry says that it was also equally cruel to try and kill them with a blow to the head or other part of the body because they did not have a central nervous system but a spread out one. Drowning in fresh water was also inappropriate and caused "severe osmotic stress". The most humane way of killing a crayfish or crab was to chill it at between 2C and 4C until it was "insensible" and safely immobile. It could then be killed with a sharp instrument either by head spiking between the eyes, or chest spiking through the chest wall from the underside.

While there are still people being brutally killed in some parts of the world, activists here and internationally, are now debating on whether fish felt pain. I wonder where we humans are in the food chain.

The price for a better tomorrow

2006-01-31T20:26:00.000+13:00

Vera took our Honda for its routine maintenance today, which included the regular oil change, oil filter. When I saw the bill I was shocked. Not that it was expensive but the breakdown of it was so out of this world.

The cost of the oil for the Honda was $35.00 and the cost of disposing the used oil drained out of the Honda was $36.50! It cost more to dispose the oil (I am assuming it is because of the environment and all that) than to buy 4 litres of new engine oil.

There I go again, making comparisons to Malaysia and Indonesia. In Malaysia, most garages (Kiwi for workshop) will store the oil to be disposed off in a proper manner..hopefully but don't charge you. In Indonesia most garages will make money out of selling the used oil to some entrepreneur who will convert it to something saleable and sell it. So they make money from selling you the new oil and again from the sale of the used oil.

If you had followed my blog, I bought a Ford Laser sometime in November last year. I filled it up (the tank I mean) a few days after I bought it. It has been 2 months since and the price of fuel has gone up 5 times and down twice and my tank is still not empty! How economical is that?

The hidden valley

2006-01-25T18:08:00.000+13:00

The last leg of our holiday, we stopped at Rotorua, New Zealand's thermal capital. Almost the entire city of Rotorua smelled of sulphur, an acquired smell.

This place we went to is caled Orakei Korako or The Hidden Valley and is said to be the oldest and one of the finest in the world... or so the brochure says.

Lots to do in Auckland

2006-01-20T17:55:00.000+13:00

These are some of the things we did in Auckland, in between my work assignment.

This is Goat Island Marine Park where fish swim between your legs in the water. I don't have an underwater camera so cannot see the fish but trust me they are there. Big, small, long, short, blue, green...all shapes, sizes and colours were there.

This is a typical new Zealand beach. Even in Auckland, beaches are not crowded. In Asian terms, this would be referred to as a deserted beach.

We went for a bush walk was at the Kaitakere Forest Ranges where the largest Kauri trees can be seen. The oldest was over 1,000 years old with a 13 metre waistline. Giants of the forest as they are called.

How could we complete a visit to Ackland without a visit to Sky Tower?

No bungy jump for us. Even watching people jumping off makes one's heart skip a beat.

Again, a New Zealand holiday would not be complete without a Maori performance.

And one from a neighbouring Polynesian island.

Auckland here we come

2006-01-10T17:52:00.000+13:00

After 2 nights in Waitomo, it was time to head for creature comforts in Auckland.

Along the way, I saw this long bath right in the middle of no where!

We had communal showers while we were camping but an outdoor bath like the one above gave the word communal bath a whole new meaning. And later as I was walking back to the car, I saw a cemetary next door. Guess who uses the bath?

Just before we reached Auckland, we stopped for lunch, Kiwi style at a park in Hamilton.

The sun comes out to play

2006-01-09T17:49:00.000+13:00

After all that wind and rain, we decided to abandon the idea of tenting and went for a cabin instead at the next stop, Waitomo.

Just when we decided to take a cabin, the sun decides to come out. We had really nice weather from then on.

Next stop New Plymouth

2006-01-07T17:37:00.000+13:00

We still have 4 more nights before reaching Auckland so we still needed a tent. At that time all the cabins were full. We headed off to The Warehouse for tent hunting and got this new Kiwi tent but made in China. For $290, we thought it had to be good, if not better than our previous tent.

Next stop, Onaero Bay in New Plymouth. What a beautiful campsite that was! And what a spacious tent we have.

This is the campsite where the river met the sea and it was absolutely beautiful and the playground was a child's dream.

We were amazed at how some of the Kiwi tents looked like and what some of them had in their tents. Some had refridgerators, microwave ovens and some even TV's. The lanun camping we had in Malaysia looked like child play.

This tent, however, had other problems. It held the wind which started to slow down quite a bit since Wanganui. This time it rained more and the tent started to leak. The last night we had to put a raincoat over the tent to keep the water out.

Since it was only 4 days old, we decided to take it back to The Warehouse. Told them the tent was defective and they gladly refunded the full purchase price and even offered a 20% discount on another tent, which we politely turned down.

The Great New Zealand Camp

2006-01-03T17:23:00.000+13:00

On New Year's day we began our camping expedition.

All excited, we started our journey north to the River City, Wanganui.

We brought with us a 6 man tent that we used in Malaysia. Since there were only 4 of us, we thought that was more than sufficient to house all of us. We also thought that a tent was a tent in any language meaning one used in Malaysia would be just as good used in New Zealand. So we arrived at out first campsite.

No drama there! No bridges to cross or rivers to cross that my Honda could not handle. When we pitched the tent, it was all calm and sunny.

The following day, the weather took a turn and gale winds developed reaching 140 kmph. Our dear old tent was taking a beating. At one point, the tent was at a 45 degree angle. I seriously had doubts about where we might be sleeping that night. By the next day, part of it started to give way. By the third day, parts of our tent started to disappear and part of the front was missing the pegs. That is when we realised that we had to get something else.

Some of our "neighbours" still had their tents in tact standing and some did not even move in the wind. They used canvas tents and they were rock solid.

The fate of our tent...

New Year Holidays

2006-01-01T05:23:00.000+13:00

It is the 1st day in the year 2006 and we are setting off for our holidays.

We can no longer afford overseas holidays but our aim to go somewhere we have never been to still remains true.

Today we head north for the New Zealand River City, Wanganui and along the way visit Vincent in Palmerston North. Although Wanganui is a River City, we planned to stay at a beach campsite in Castlecliff for 2 nights before leaving for our next destination Onaero Bay in New Plymouth. The Onaero Bay campsite is by the river on one side and the sea on the other. What more could one ask for? After 3 nights there, we will be off to Waitomo, famous for its glow worms. And after all that camping to creature comforts - Auckland.

I end my annual leave then and go back to work. Since my first assignment for the year is in Auckland, the troops follow me and stay at the hotel where I will be staying for 2 weeks. On the return drive to Wellington, we will be breaking our 10 hour drive at a campsite near Rotorua.

The weather this morning indicated gale force winds tomorrow and pretty much rubbish weather the remainder of the week. With all that wind and rain, this is no doubt going to be one heck of a holiday!

This blog is going to take a break for the 3 weeks we are away as I will not have access to upload blogs or photos. Back in full swing end January.

Happy New Year from all of us way down under!!!!

Earthquake hits Wellington

2005-12-14T15:45:00.000+13:00

This isn't something new to Wellingtonians or even New Zealanders but it definitely is to me!

Vera and I were sitting by the rumpus downstairs looking at presents to buy for Christmas on the computer. This was about 9 at night. All of a sudden without warning, there was a rumbling noise for a few seconds and then it started again and went on for about 15 to 20 seconds. That is when we realised that it was an earthquake. A picture frame on my table fell. We were literally shaken despite the fact that nothing was damaged.

We went upstairs to take a look at the kids, who were sound asleep and then we went out to see if anyone was awoken. It looked like we were the only ones looking out as everyone else went about their business and no one was outside. While the rest of Wellington went about their lives, we were sitting watching each other.

This morning's newspaper reported that the earthquake hit near Porirua (near where we live) at 9.09pm and it apparently measured 4.5 on the Richter scale. The earthquake was 30km underground and was felt as far as 100km north of the capital.

Geonet has details of earthquakes in New Zealand.

The last earthquake I felt was when I was in Indonesia. I was asleep then and I thought that a truck was passing by until I read about it in the local newspapers the next morning.

This really puts things in a different perspective. All this time I was growing up, earthquakes were something that was far away and only watched on TV. I have never previously known anyone having experienced an earthquake. We have now come to live in a place where earthquakes are part and parcel of life. And the New Zealand fault line is just 10km from where we live and about 1km from where I work. This is real! This is not some National Geographic documentary! Schools teach children what to do in an emergency. Disaster recovery and business continuity are major risk factors in doing business in New Zealand.

Spooky isn't it?

Rimutaka Forest Park

2005-12-11T19:21:00.000+13:00

After the Makara, we drove to the other side of Wellington, east which was about 49km away to the Wainuimata where the Rimutaka Forest Park was located. We wanted to scout this place out for that camping trip we are planning during the Christmas holidays.

The camp sites were really good but the rivers were somewhat drying up. Not sure if there would be any water left in the river in 2 weeks times.

Just as we were leaving, we could not resist another bush walk. This one was made to suit the elderly and disabled. So, I was pretty sure we would make it without breaking a sweat. This track was coincidentally named the "Tawa Grove". And we discovered that Tawa is a tree which is pictured below.

P.S. Tawa is the suburb we live in.

Makara weekend

2005-12-11T19:11:00.000+13:00

The weather was supposed to be cloudy with rain but Metservice was wrong! The wind took a turn and the weather changed for the better yesterday evening and this morning was bright and sunny.

After the bbq last night, we decided to venture into the waters. Makara is on the west of Wellington and the drive there was absolutely stunning passing farmland and miles and miles of pines. The sea was not really one that was suited for swimming as there were lots of rocks but was mild enough to play.

There were about a dozen cars when we got there about 10.30am and a few trampers for 8km of beach.

The sea was like the rivers we used to go to back in Malaysia. Crystal clear water with fish everywhere, corals, slugs and shells still very much alive.

Later, after soaking up the sea water and filling up the belly, it was time for some New Zealand bush walking. We went like 500 meters and it was starting to go up hill so we decided, that's it!

BBQ Buka Kedai

2005-12-10T20:46:00.000+13:00

In case you are wondering what that title is all about, it literally means "open shop" in Malay. The weather was finally warm enough to open our barbeque set that was sitting on the deck. And coincidentally, the bank I work for gave all its employees a set of bbq utensils as a Christmas present.

So with the sun at 23C, bright blue skies and little wind, we were off to the Mad Butcher to get sausages, chicken, lamb and pate for the night.

Barbeque New Zealand style!

Anil's Christmas Disco

2005-12-09T22:32:00.000+13:00

As Christmas is approaching everyone's having Christmas lunches and dinners. Even schools are not spared. Anil tonight was going to attend his very first Christmas Disco.

Man is he dressed to kill!

The tree is up

2005-12-08T19:54:00.000+13:00

We just had to get a tree! How else would Santa know where to deliver those presents Anil and Ashwini have asked for?

The kids had fun decorating the tree. Some of the decoration on the tree was made by them in school. Can you guess which one?

Vera's New Zealand driver’s license

2005-12-06T22:51:00.000+13:00

Our Malaysian driver’s license is only valid for one year in New Zealand. The one year starts from the first arrival in New Zealand, regardless of when that maybe. If we had arrived in New Zealand as tourists 10 years ago, our license would have been useless by now, but since we came here in March last year for the first time, our licenses are valid until March 2006. After which we can't drive legally. My having an Indonesian driver’s license in addition to a Malaysian one was of no help. How can they not recognise an Indonesian license? If one could drive in Jakarta, anywhere else on earth would be a piece of cake!

I really don't understand the logic behind this at all. If we are allowed to drive here without being supervised for a year, don't see why we need to sit for a practical driving test to convert the license. Well, being a normal person as I am, I will not bring it up until I have my name printed on a New Zealand driver’s license.

Since Vera does most of the driving here she started with the process of converting her Malaysian driver’s license to New Zealand driver’s license. If one holds a drivers license from the UK, Australia, US or South Africa, all one needed to do was to pass a theory paper. But if the license was issued elsewhere, one had to go through a theory paper plus a practical driving test.

She passed her theory paper with flying colours in one go but her first attempt at the practical test failed miserably. She was quite sure it was the tester's fault and not hers. Each test costs $70.80 so to minimise the damage, she went for a "refresher" course and then sat for the practical yesterday.

The result? Passed!!!!!

We had a celebration of sorts yesterday to honour her passing her driving test the second time around, first being in Malaysia many, many moons ago. The celebratory meal included bow tie pasta with "porcupine" meat balls prepared by Anil. Go figure that one out.

Now it’s my turn to start mugging for those dreadful tests! How I hate tests!

North Pole calling

2005-12-03T18:57:00.000+13:00

Christmas takes a whole new meaning here in New Zealand, especially for Anil and Ashwini. First they received a letter from the North Pole. Next they went for a pajama Party with Santa last week. And then there was the never ending Parades all over the city.

And this morning Vera discovered a new way of getting the Santa experience. There is a website hosted by iHug (www.santacall.co.nz) and you could send an email to Santa, write a snail mail letter to Santa and you could even speak to Santa. That last one was something different so we tried that.

Ten minutes later, the phone rang and it was a "long distance" call from the North Pole for Anil and a few minutes later for Ashwini. They were speaking to Santa himself and telling him what they want for Christmas. And they send the wish list to us by email.

Now it's time to get that Christmas tree and gifts! They have heard from friends in school that Santa comes down the chimney after they sleep on Christmas eve. With the size of our chimney, Santa would need to go on a diet! But, we'll see...

Have wheels will travel

2005-12-01T19:32:00.000+13:00

After 6 months in New Zealand and after 6 months of being driven around by Vera, I decided to get my self a set of wheels. I did not want to spend a lot of money on a car and neither did I want a car that will fall apart when I shut the door.

I went on a search for that car all over Wellington. Most were either beyond my reach or would not take my weight! Finally I stumbled upon this 1990 Ford Laser 1.6 Hatch. It looked reasonably tough (Ford Built Tough immediately came to mind) and was not going to burn a hole in my pocket. After test driving it and getting the green light from the local AA and the other half (more important than AA), I decided to get it.

And here is the $650 car!

The whole process was amazingly simple. Since this is my first purchase from an individual, I wanted to be sure I was not taken for a ride. I called up the Land Transport Department (LTSA) and was given a detailed walk through with what to do.

I was told that the seller would have to inform the LTSA online about the intention to sell and I as buyer would also do the same online. I decided to do it in person just in case something went wrong. It took me all of 5 minutes for the change of ownership, and the cost? $9.20! And all I needed to show was my driver's licence, which by the way has yet to be converted!

That night, the seller drove my new car over to our place and I sent him back.

Next was insurance! For that price did not want to get a comprehensive. So went for the third party cover. All I needed was the details of the car for the cover, no need for proof of registration or anything else. I am now covered.

That was it!

Pot of gold

2005-11-26T20:00:00.000+13:00

If only the saying was true... but the rainbow surely is.

It rained all day and just as the sun was setting and the clouds clearing, a beautiful rainbow emerged across the sky and the view from our home was stunning.

Ride of my life

2005-11-21T16:49:00.000+13:00

This morning's wind in Wellington must be the left over from yesterday. I was scheduled to be in Auckland this morning so it was an early morning taxi ride to the airport. It was starting to get cloudy by 7am this morning and as we approached the airport which faces open sea, the wind got gustier. And it started to rain as well. The forecast this morning was 65kmph but I am sure it was a lot stronger than that.

I got the window seat by the wing on the flight to Auckland this morning and as the Boeing 737 was taxing to the run way, I could see the tip of the wing fluttering due to the strong winds. The plane came to a halt just before turning to the runway to take off, waiting for more flights to land. From the window at my seat, I could see flights landing with the wings not parallel to the ground. It was shaking to the left and the right as one wheel touches the ground and the other barely. It was a bit like an amateur trying to land an aircraft for the first time.

Shortly after that NZ410 was ready for take off. The engine roared and it taxied to the runway to take off and then stopped, as if trying to muster all its might for the take off. As it was stationery on the runway, I could feel the aircraft violently shaking from the wind outside. Then the captain turned the throttle full and was moving ahead. Just as the aircraft left the ground, must be about 100 meters above ground when it suddenly dropped without warning. There were screams from passengers in the aircraft. Then another few seconds later, another dip. After this second dip, the aircraft was quiet except for the sound of the engines. Several seconds later, the jet was above the clouds and was stable and the fasten seat belts signs were off.

What a relief. It took all of one minute to be airborne but an eventful one minute. It was a ride on my life. After travelling all over the world, I thought landing in the old Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong took nerves but after today, Wellington Airport is definitely a close second.

Santa Parade in Wellington

2005-11-20T20:33:00.000+13:00

We braved the wind and the sun and went to see the Santa Parade in the city this afternoon.

There were thousands waiting along Lambton Quay by 1.30pm half an hour before the parade starts. And despite the crowd, we met several people we know! That's how small Wellington is.

The Kiwi version of Rudolf!
Meet Rudolf the Red Nose Kiwi...

And Santa himself...

Windy Wellington

2005-11-20T19:26:00.000+13:00

The wind here in Wellington is really strong. Something out of this world if you ask me. This morning as I was reading the morning papers, the wind was so strong I saw the clothes line move past me and before we could run out, it fell over the deck and on the ground below. The clothes got dirty and the clothes dryer broke apart.

Just when I when back to reading my papers, a bird, as it flew across the deck went spalt on the window due to the strong wind and fell on the deck. It was totally dazed. We took it and put it in the bush and after about half an hour, went off flying again.

This evening as Ashwini was riding a bicycle and was struggling to move the wind came from behind and moved her along without even the need to paddle.

Anil turns 7

2005-11-18T22:32:00.000+13:00

It is the big seven, the age that seperates the kids from the boys, according to Anil. At least it has been for the last few birthdays.

This birthday he wanted it to be a speacial birthday with no girls. Just his closest friends, Leo and Patrick.

After the birthday at home they all adjourned to their favourite restaurant for dinner. Guess where? McDonald's of course!

Letter from the North Pole

2005-11-16T23:27:00.000+13:00

Since moving into this place, we often find in our letter box, letters addressed to the "New Owners" and sometimes letters addressed to us welcoming us to our new home! It is amazing how these people find us! A few days ago, a letter from Dominion Post (local newspaper) welcoming us to the neighbourhood and as a gesture giving us newspaper subscription for 13 weeks at half price!

So far, the letters have been addressed to the adults in the family . This afternoon in our mail box two letters of a different kind were there, to the kids. Anil and Ashwini received letters from Santa Clause and post marked North Pole!

Wonder how they found their names. Perhaps, Santa has connections in high places!

Summertime at the beach

2005-11-13T10:13:00.000+13:00

The day was great and we just had to explore the many beaches around the city. We drove to a few only to find the sea too rough for our liking, until we came across this, just out of town in a place called Island Bay. Really pretty and nice litlle beach which is about 7 minutes from the city. From the pictures below you know how crowded it can get!

This is Anil getting ready for a spectacular dive!

We drove a little further to the end of the road and was stopped by this sign "4WD Vehicles Only". The rest of the track is along the sea against high cliffs and amazingly deserted beaches.

I need that Landrover Discovery now!