All set to sail..

and I've booked my ferry, I'm ready to sail. ( a sing along to "I'm leaving on a jetplane")

Well, my bags are definitely no packed yet, so I gotta do them tonight, and need to sort out my finances a bit, then check the timetables for the bus and train I'll be taking tomorrow.

Finally, I'm heading to South Island, been wanting to be there since April. I remember, at the beginning, I said that I would only spend bout a month in North, and then travel my way down to New Plymouth to see Nana, and then down to Wellington to see Brian & Lillian. Well I did both of that.. only bout 2 months later! But it's all good, I had lotsa fun, and did not regret a single delay.. except for one, which I really should have done it from Day 1 itself. Sigh, this will always be in the corner of my mind. ( G - you would know exactly what it is aye)

For the past few days, there has been so much thoughts in my mind, mainly about my future. Been job hunting for the past 2 days, and to start doing that, I gotta update my CV and write a cover letter. Given the fact that I've probably read more than 100 CVs in the last 3 months of 2008, I should be pretty good at writing my own! But, trust me, it wasn't easy at all ! I had to look at so many sample resumes to finally complete mine. Well, I was probably trying too hard, cos I know what the employers would be thinking when they look at it. ( esp when you have a critical one!)

Anyways, that's done now, and I'm good to go ahead with the job hunt. And no, it's not a real impressive one. I basically listed down everything I did in the past few years, and made it a simple, straight forward one. Applied for a few today, and let's just keep my fingers crossed!

If anyone of you were to pay attention to world news, you would have read about the earthquake down south. I was on my bed texting a friend around that time, and my bed rattled for a few seconds. To be honest I didn't know there was an earthquake till a friend down in Singapore texted me an hour later, asking if I was alright. The exact question was " are you ok ????" notice the 4 question marks? Thanks my dear..

But here's the news clip..

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- New Zealand was spared a destructive tsunami after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck off its South Island, the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
A tsunami warning issued by the center was in effect for about 2 1/2 hours after the quake hit at 9:22 p.m. New Zealand time yesterday, with the residents of Auckland and Wellington advised of a possible threat, according to e-mailed alerts. No other countries in the Pacific were affected. The quake was followed by a magnitude-5.8 aftershock 19 minutes later.

Interesting to know.

Breathing the city life in Welly

We are finally in Wellington.

Well, it's just me now. Therese is now in Kaikoura. We left New Plymouth last Friday, after spending a good few days on the farm, and up to Mt Egmont National Park. It was a good few hours walk, but the view up there was totally worth it !

After a few hours drive on the Surf Highway 45, and then on State Highway 1, we finally got to Wellington. Stayed a night in Rosemere Backpackers, apparently it used to house a brothel.. interesting aye? And the best thing was the location, it's located right behind St.Paul's church. :)

Therese and I had the most crappy dinner that night, it was Fantastic noodles with canned tuna, and some curry sauce for me. Well, usually I'll be more than glad to have instant noodles, and not that I minded it that night, but as compared to what we had in New Plymouth for a week.. It was crappy. hahah

After dinner, we decided to walk around the city a bit. It felt really good to be in a big city again, after so much countryside and national parks. We walked along Cuba St, which is a pedestrian mall from the 60s. On our way, there was a young girl singing on the streets, and had a sign that says " I am saving for a new piano, pls support me." She was quite a good singer, and the second song that came from her was I'm Yours, so we sat down for a moment to enjoy the music, and dropped some coins in her piggy bank.

We called it a night after buying our vanilla ice cream from New World, (the far one, mind you ), went back to the hostel to enjoy our apple crumble and free internet. Yes, we had a crappy dinner, but we had apple crumble for dessert ! ;)

The next 2 days with Therese was spend sight seeing in Welli. We went to museums, churches, shops, and Weta Cave - quite an awesome place to visit, as it is a mini muesuem of all the artwork they have done for some of your favourite movies. Just to name one - Lord of the Rings ! LOTR fans will love this place as they are also selling figurines and souvenirs from the trilogy.

Therese set sail for the beautiful South Island on Monday morning, leaving me here to breathe more of the city air. haha. So I've been sitting around Brian and Lillian's house, reading and enjoying Oreo's company - their proud grey cat! It's been raining quite a lot down here, so there's nothing else better to do than to curl up with a good book. Having said that, I was out in the city though, went out to town to meet Norbert - a guy from Sabah whom I met in the plane. He is taking his phD here in Welli, we met up for lunch and I paid $8.50 for a bowl of curry laksa, but it was worth it cos it was a yummy taste of home! There are heaps of Malaysian restaurants down here in Wellington, never noticed that the last time I was here. But oh well, I guess it's a good thing for the Malaysians who are homesick. Lol.

For a change

Been a week since i left Hamilton now, been out and about and did many fun things.

First times added to my list : -
My first bungy jump - AWESOME !
My first Ski lesson - TIRING !

Am now in New Plymouth, been staying with Nana for a while, it's such a lovely change as compared to the many hostels and instant meals I've cooked myself. She would always put out a cuppa tea with her lovely homemade cookies and cakes. Ohh, she is spoiling me here ! It's an enjoyable stay out on the countryside.I spend hours listening to her talk about her travel adventures, playing board games and going to Women's meeting with her. This is such a good way to relax a bit !

Would be moving on down South pretty soon, am hoping to spend a few days on Viv's dairy farm before that. That should be a whole lot of fun !

backdated- Kiwipackhouse chronicles: Final chapter

Came June 19th, it was my last day at Apata. Finally the day came. My initial plan to stay and work for 4 weeks has been extended to 7, and I would have easily stayed for one more. But it's time to move on. Moving on and saying goodbyes are never easy. I never thought it was that difficult to say goodbye to everyone else at work, especially the girls that I've gotten so attached to. And then there are the people at Bell Lodge. It was hard saying goodbye. The only thing that I'm glad to leave is the job, and perhaps the w*****. No more of her patronizing sentences and her not-so-funny jokes. Thank god. Came last day of work, I managed to get myself together to speak to Mr.Short Shorts. Caz and Katy would be so proud of me !!

(G - if you are reading this, you would go LOL)
All in all, the kiwi packing job was quite a fun filled experience, never regretted booking that bus to Tauranga and checking in tor Bell Lodge. At least I've got a real Kiwi experience to tell when I get home.

Made plans to leave on Saturday morning, but have decided to stay another nite, so I booked my bus ticket on a Sunday afternoon. Was really glad I did that as that made way for many other things. Sat nite was a nite filled with mix feelings - excitement, upset, tireness, and rejection. But it's all good. Slept real good for once, and had a lil moment in the morning. Have to thank Sven for his shoulders.

Made pancakes for the lil group, and then lunch for Jess. And off we go to the I-site to catch my 3pm bus. Farewells are never sweet, but this one is! 9 people came to send me off the bus. Niklas, Matias, Yuko and Jess came with me. Chris was in town, and promised to meet at 2.30pm. Then came Therese with Ivy, Yuffie and Ling. I had to tell the driver to gimme a sec so I could hug everyone goodbye..It was really sweet.
.


4 hours later, I was back in Hamilton, where I first started. Well, it was also good that I had an hour in Rotorua before I got back here. And it was pizza nite again here at Trace's. What a deja-vu, as we ordered pizza too when i first arrived here.

Being here in Hamilton for a few days is really good, I got to recharge, upload and repack. Recharged myself again, got more sleep these few days, uploaded my millions of pics on facebook, and repacked my huge backpack - left out many pieces of useless Tshirts.

It's 2.30am now, and I think it's way past my bedtime, got an early bus to catch tomorrow. Am heading to Taupo tomorrow.
Good night.

i'm back !

Been away for far too long..have 3 days rest before moving on again, juggling between my laundry, my millions of photos and repacking for my next destination..

and for now.. to take a lil walk to the city.. to enjoy the sun !

will write later..