Busy Bee.

The entire family were busy the past few days in preparation for my 3rd brother's wedding. We had a pre-wedding reception at our house on Saturday and the actual wedding dinner took place yesterday at Cyberview Lodge Resort and Spa in Cyberjaya.

The highlight of the day is definitely the 'after dinner party' we had with our cousins in the hotel bar. Using Christmas countdown as an excuse, our actual intention was to drink and get drunk. And to get the groom and the bride drunk (obviously). There were less than 15 people but we drank 2 cartons of wine (24 bottles)! At the end of the night, most of us were pissed drunk.

The groom and bride is heading off for their honeymoon tomorrow. Poor me. Had to take care of the cafe while they are away for 2 weeks!!

Craving.

Pork Backbone Soup from Buttumak at Upper Queen Street, Auckland.

One of the yummy meals I had in Auckland during my 1 year stay. Thanks to Jack for introducing. It's funny how everything else in this restaurant is not yummy, except this. Hmmmmm....

SE K610i

To be frank, I am really satisfied with my current mobile. Everything about it is just right. Everything except the joystick.

Since my current mobile is worth RM400 (for trade-in), I am mobile hunting again.

This is what I am eyeing on. Looks good, no?

Ooops.

Updates will be slow because I am hoooooooooooooooome!!

Felt so good to be home. Besides the weather, everything is just fine :)

Location 10: Auckland

Home sweet home!

It was nice to be 'home' after the long vacation. I actually feel exhausted!

There wasn't any sightseeing to do in Auckland, really. This is the only place we find that deserved to be photographed. The Auckland Museum. Among all the museum I visited during this trip (Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, Te Papa in Wellington and this), I find Canterbury Museum is the only one worth spending time for.

We went to Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World in Mission Bay. That was a total rubbish! Waste money and time.

Sailing was part of the itinerary simply because Auckland is also known as 'The City of Sails'. Unfortunately, our booking were cancelled because Mother Nature wasn't being nice to us. Too windy for the America's Cup Sailing Experience :(

Anyway, this mark the end of my Great NZ Tour postings. Didn't realise we did so many things until I post it up. Heh.

Location 9: Paihia (Bay of Islands)

From Whakatane, we drove to Auckland for an overnight stay then headed up further north to Bay of Islands.

Our first sightseeing tour in Paihia brought us to Cape Brett. We had to take a cruise (again) to a place called 'Hole in the Rock'. As the name suggest, what we see were a hole in the rock. Duh. The 'rock' behind me has no hole merely because it wasn't the actual 'Hole in the Rock'. Its just that I like this picture and I wanted to share it. Heheheheh

With recommendations from Yohei, we went to this restaurant for our first actual seafood dinner in New Zealand. The food was yum!

This is what we ordered. 1 kilo prawns!

Next day, we joined a tour excursion to 90 Mile Beach and Cape Reinga.

After completing our journey along 90 Mile Beach, we headed to the sand dunes for sand surfing! This is the sand dune we had to climb before surfing down and touching ground in less than 10 seconds. It was hard to climb because the sand were too soft!

This is the lighthouse in Cape Reinga. Cape Reinga is the northern end of the North Island. It separates the Tasman Sea from the Pacific Ocean.

This is what we did before being driven back to Paihia. This is pretty much the end of our Great NZ Tour. We are driving back to Auckland soon for the finale. Heh.

These characters simply means, "I have graduated!" (shiok sendiri...)

Location 8: Whakatane

Whakatane is where New Zealand's most active volcano resides. It was a short drive from Rotorua and we arrived earlier than scheduled. We joined a White Island Volcano tour, which include a boat ride to the volcano and also hiking it. The volcano is still active. In fact, Whakatane had an earthquake in the morning, measuring at about 5.2 on the Richter-scale!

When we arrived at White Island, there were some scientists who were conducting research and checking if the earthquake affected the volcano or not.

This is the beginning of our seasick journey. We had to take the boat, pictured behind me, for more than 1 hour to reach White Island. The waves were being very cruel to us all. After the tour, we had to spend another hour or so to go back :(

Inside the main crater of an active volcano is quite scary. No one has any idea when it will erupt!

We are not terrorist! Seriously, we would have died without the gas mask. The sulphur and those chemical-ish stuffs mixing around smells so punguent and suffocating!

Location 7: Taupo and Rotorua

Eva flew back to Auckland after we arrived at Wellington. She had been around North Island before so she decided not to join us for the rest of the tour. Cheryl and I continued our journey up north and after a brief stop at Taupo, we headed to Rotorua.

The bright-white-glaring-spot-behind-our-head on the top right corner of the photo is actually the Huka Falls in Taupo.

Aside from Bungy, Zorb is another adventure sports created in New Zealand. We had our share of Zorb earlier, before this photo was taken. The ball was filled with hot water and we had to slide in from a hole. Once inside, I felt as if I was gonna die. Hot and stuffy and I had to share the ball with Cheryl! Did I mention that I am slightly claustrophobia? Anyway, we had to manually push the ball from inside and then roooolllll all the way downhill.

Rotorua is kinda like the only place in New Zealand that has hot springs, thermal stuffs, geysers and mudpools. Behind me is the Pohutu Geyser in action!

Rotorua is also kinda like the only place in New Zealand that has the most Maori occupants. I am pictured here with a Maori warrior, who is doing the traditional 'bulging eyes and protruding tongue' thing to scare the enemies.

Location 6: Wellington

Kaikoura is our last stop for South Island. We took the ferry from Picton, crossed the Cook Straits and arrived at Wellington, New Zealand's capital city. No, Auckland was never the capital city.

Wellington is our first stop for North Island. After more than 1 week in 'small' towns, we were very happy to be in Wellington. I would have to say that shopping in Wellington is much much better than Auckland!

Cuba Street is where all the things are. It's just like Queen Street in Auckland. Notice the huge-ass umbrella on the left side of the photo? So cute, you know!

Wellington's Town Hall. Seriously speaking, I didn't even taken a photo of Auckland's Town Hall...

The Beehive! Cheryl and I joined the 1 hour Parliament Tour which brought us into the Beehive for some sightseeing. Quite cool considering that it is a working parliament.

Location 5: Kaikoura

Besides hot air balloon and glacier hike, another 'first time' for us were whale watching. It was a total of 8 hours drive from Fox Glacier to Kaikoura for the infamous Whale Watch. The weather was nice but it didn't stop the waves from crashing onto our boat. It was a bumpy ride and I have to admit, I almost puked due to seasick.

Main entrance of the Whale Watch office.

Little Nicky, the giant sperm whale is taking a plunge!

Location 4: Fox Glacier

The glacier is the place that I was looking forward to. I've been to a glacier in Norway but it was different because I don't get to hike it! This time, we actually paid to hike the glacier. The hike was very very very very tiring but nevertheless, it was fun and a great experience!

Dressed up with all the hiking/tramping gears, I am ready for the hike! Behind is the Fox Glacier that we are going to 'conquer'!

I am on the glacier! I am on the glacier!

For that moment, it felt like we were at Mount Everest... hahahah! Really salute those who climbed Mount Everest. This glacier is already so hard to hike. Imagine Mount Everest!

Ngai Yat Fan, I told Eva to pose for this photo specially for you. 'Chu Pa Jieh lai ler!'

Location 3: Queenstown

Because of some mismanagement problem on my part, we were rushing like mad when we arrived in Queenstown. It was extremely hard to get a parking in town and we spend quite some time rounding the town over and over again to find a spot to park the car. By the time we managed to park the car, we were told that the Kawarau river is not available for white water rafting (the reason why we were rushing at the first place!). When we made the booking early at this Kawarau bungy place, this new girl did not tell us about the closure. In the end, we rushed for nothing. Blegh.

Queenstown's steamer wharf is behind us.

Taken after the Shotover Jet ride. The jet was so freaking fast that when the raindrop hit us on the face, we thought we were gonna bleed all over!

Inside the gondola on the way up to some hills for Cheryl's 'The Ledge' bungy.

That's her bungy platform on our left! She has always been the braver one between the both of us. It was surprising that she was extremely nervous before the bungy!

Trying not to fly away at the Milford Sound cruise.

Location 2: Dunedin

On the day we arrived, we were given a parking fine/saman because we exceeded to allowed parking hours. We were supposed to park for 30 minutes maximum but we parked for over 2 hours. Heh. The fine was, thankfully, only $10.

We joined a Cadbury World factory tour and were given some goodies. The whole factory were so 'chocolate-y', I felt like puking after only 15 minutes touring the factory. The whole tour lasted over an hour.

As you can see here, Baldwin Street is the world's steepest street, as recognised by the Guinness Book of Records.

Here I am, at the start of the steepest street. We managed to walk up to the top :)

Larnach Castle, New Zealand's only castle.

The contradiction of signs. This photo was taken just outside Speight's Brewery factory.

Location 1: Christchurch

This stop marks the beginning of the 'Great New Zealand Tour 2006', which brings us to most of the main cities in both South and North Island.

Each post will be dated according to the day we arrived in that particular city. Enjoy and jangan jeles!

Me and my cousin, Cheryl, in Cathedral Square on our first day.

Woke up at 3am to prepare for our first hot air balloon ride. This picture was taken at the location where we will be taking off. Behind is the hot air balloon before inflation.

Cheryl and Eva is part of the 'crew' who helped inflate the balloon.

View from the top! We are about a couple of thousand feet above. Scary for someone who is afraid of heights (i.e. me)! The balloon here is another one which took off around the same time as us.

Holiday!

The long awaited holiday is finally here! I'll head off to Christchurch in about 12 hours.

The entire trip will last for almost 3 weeks, covering major parts of South Island and the North Island.

I'll update once I get back! Till then, try not to rot! :)

Answer.

Naaaah, Ngai Yat Fan. Here's a wonderful picture of your lemon.

So gross, you know. When I open the cover, "dust" just flew out. Blegh. Then when I throw into the sink-blender, the dust kept coming out from the hole.

Next time when you wanna get rid of hangover, finish all the lemons!

High School Musical.

Okay. This is definitely a movie 'budak kecil'. Soooooo typical!

Nevertheless, I kinda enjoyed it. The songs are quite nice. The leads have great voices. :)

Thanks to Brandon who 'gave' me the file for the movie.

Mou Liu.

Very boring aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Exam was over for me yesterday but today I felt like dying already.

If it wasn't raining like shit today, I would have gone "shopping".

And my fighting partner decided to dump me here and flew home. @%$%*

I will remember you.

Even if you smell like coconut oil and curry.

Trivia.

NGAI YAT FAN! (If you are reading this) Guess what I found in my fridge today.

A yellow-kindergarten-like-tupperware that belongs to Eva.

Do you remember what we put inside and brought it along for the Matakana trip one month ago?

Try and guess.

Qualified.

The certificate that cost NZ$150.

Oh so happy! First time in my life (I know, so sad...) that a lecturer/tutor actually take my work and showed it to other students as example.

Today's class was about frothing milk and latte art. Latte art! Something that I love doing! I haven't lose touch la. Did a couple of hearts and a rosetta. So kembang la. Everyone was looking and 'oh-aaaaah-ing'.

Go Departure Lounge if you want to see my certificate! ;)

Another One?

Today's my cousin brother's 21st Birthday. The youngest of us is now an adult. Haih, time passes soooo fast!

Anyway, I'm just gonna take this opportunity to wish him a Happy 21st Birthday!

My first exam this semester is in 2 days time! (totally random...)

Tribute.

My experiences tell me that late night phone calls/SMS is not necessary good news.

Received a text from my brother just few minutes ago. Before I open the text, I was able to see a short preview of it on my screen. "Cody die this noon......"

I stumbled to open the message and the the whole text is "Cody die this noon at the back garden after fighting with a snake. Only he is brave to attack the snake"

Wwwwwwwwhhhhhhhyyyyy??

Why God takes him away even before I get to spend more time with him?? I only remember him as a mischevious puppy, constantly disturbing his brother, Casey, and my other dogs.

My dad would be devastated once my brother break the news to him. Losing 2 precious in less than 2 years is especially heart breaking for him.

I just hope this time around he won't rush to buy a new puppy.

"Rest in peace, my dear Cody. Don't be afraid, for you have done something really brave"

Stay Strong.

To my chinese wayang kaki who is going through a stormy time now, HANG IN THERE!

You will live through it. :)

Go party, watch chinese wayang, have fun!

Coffee Crazy.

"Life's too short to drink bad coffee"

Attended first half of the Barista Beginner course today. Did some theories and made a couple shots of PERFECT espresso. Hahahaha. I am sooooooo gonna use that word to annoy my brother now.

In my opinion, the most important and informative part about the course is when our tutor taught us how to use the tamper and 'pack' the coffee powder in the portafilter correctly. The tamper has to be handled correctly and the hand have to be ergonomically correct. Then, 20 kilos of pressure has to be exerted from above when packing the coffee. Sounds hard huh? It is for those who has never 'messed around' with a coffee machine before. Since I have some basic knowledge (although most of it are not entirely correct), I find it quite easy. :D

Next week we are gonna learn how to froth the milk and maybe learn how to do latte art. Not that I can't do latte art. Just wanna see how I can be better. ;)

Paid $150 for the course so I better make sure I get something good out of it!

BDP.

Had a major presentation today for my Business Development Project paper. Basically, we had to present the business plan we've been working on for the whole semester. Quite a hectic job, really. I don't remember when was the last time I actually meet up with my group soooo many times to work on the project.

Maybe 1 year ago. With Bliques. Aaaaaaaaahhhhh. I miss those days!

Anyway, back to BDP. I'm glad it is over. This is kinda like the end for my student life. No more uni. At least not until I decide to continue with my postgraduate studies, which I doubt is anytime soon.

Oh wait.

I've just enrolled for a 2 days short course at AUT. Nothing major actually. The course is called 'Barista Beginner' so basically I learn how to make coffee. :) Something useful for my cafe, you know ;)

Celebration.

Selamat, Hari Rayaaaaa
Kepada saudara serta saudariiii
Setahun, hanya sekaliii
Errrr... lupa dah....

Anyway, Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends. I know Raya is supposed to be on Tuesday but according to Jun, Raya came early in the UK. So if any of you are in a country where Raya had already begun, this greeting is for you!

Maaf Zahir Batin!

Millionaire's Club.

Who said student life sucks?

Wine and dine at West Brook winery in West Auckland.

Need I say more? (Picture taken at 'black sand beach')

The fun should stop here. Serious study should now begin as the exam is in 2 week's time! :/

11+1+1

Equals to 13.

I now have 13 people in my family.

One sis-in-law by Christmas and one more 'lil Loo around June next year.

I believe my niece is waiting patiently for a new sister/brother to bully!

-5

At this very moment, there is a live concert by some New Zealand band going on in my uni's campus. Although I am currently in my room, it felt as if I was there at the concert. If only I can see the stage from here. Then everything would be perfect. I don't have to purchase ticket at all!

Yesterday was Kate's last day (again) in New Zealand. She's heading home to Taiwan after more than 1 month holidaying here. As a farewell, we had dinner at Seoul, a new Korean restaurant in Upper Queen Street and headed to Minus 5, an ice bar. So cool (no pun intended)!


We had to pay $27, which is inclusive of entrance and 1 cocktail. It's a giant "fridge", I tell you.

See how cool the 'cups' are?