Kiwis & Maoris.

Kia ora(Maori greeting)!

Hoi hoi hoi (Aussie style)!
Aha.. Indeed, I've learnt quite abit from my rather short trip to the land of the Kiwis (both the bird and people), New Zealand.
It was cool (literally; 18/19 Degrees Celsius with wind!)..very laid back..early (this, i don't like).
I saw many many Kiwis. Well, I mean the people (did you know the New Zealanders call themselves that??). As for the bird, it was just two. I still remember their names; Atu ('the other half' in Maori), the teenaged female and Rod Stewart, the old male bird. They named the latter such because he's half blind. I didn't know the musician of the same name is.

Rotorua
The Kiwi bird is sooooooo rare (it's endangered), i only got to see it in the bird sanctuary (can't remember the name). (Pictures will be up by year-end) It was a pretty funky experience, schmoozing with tha birdies... Hearing the annoying f(d)ucks quack-squawking-quacking away.

Tribal village- ONE Maori fella caught my eye... (oh my roving eye..goes for dark men all over the world...) He was...cool. Stern and serious looking, what a charmer. Bahaa. No chance to snap him though, pity.

Auckland
We went to an apple orchard on the second day. I had a fun time there. Never will i eat apples the same way again. I had like what, 6 normal-sized apples and 2 small ones. Apple feast...madness. It begun to rain when we were there & so with great difficulty trying to walk on the slippery, soft earth, we picked apples, off the trees and ground. The women (aunt & mom) stuck with just gathering fruit from the rather short trees with strong branches whilst childish dad and i pelt each other with the juicy red fruits picked up from the wet soiled grass. I was happily enjoying my plucked apple when i felt a hard thing bounce off my back/ribs. I had to have my revenge of course. Sweet revenge. I roped in my born & bred in NZ young cousin to assist me & she duly hit daddy dearest thrice. What good aiming. Using his ol'friend as a shield, yet still got smashed. Fookin' hilarious balls!

There's a shop in the CBD area similar to our local Value For $ shop- which sells most things for $1.05- 'cept it's a $2 shop, which means things there are about two times dearer.

Rich food everyday. (Super) Fine Dining twice in a week.
I could explode had i not move much. (Mee-shell dee roly-poly dolly)
1st night in NZ: Dinner at the revolving restaurant in Sky City Tower with the family (and friend of dad's).
Typically bomb-priced menu.
A first being served by white men. Heh.

Last night: Fine cuisine again at an exquisite (I'm only saying this cos' of the few special themed-rooms, otherwise it's just the boring stuffy main dining hall) restaurant co-managed with the club/ pub downstairs, at the Harbor Front.
Again, we had killer priced delicacies. (crabmeat soup, anyone?)

(updated on Jan 11th...as left off on June 12th, 2005)
It was all in all, a lovely experience...yes, once in awhile, we still do talk about it & wish we could return to the cool cool country (Singa's quite cool these days too) but that, remains as talk, for now.

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