The price for a better tomorrow

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...