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Visiting New Zealand – Part Two

I guess there should be a part two to my New Zealand trip, even if I’m a little lazy to type out a long winded post about it. Heh.

Just chilled a little on the second day in Christchurch. Made breakfast at cj’s place. Pancakes, eggs and bacon, plus lattes from his machine. He has a nice big backyard overlooking a mini jungle of sorts. Very serene and it’s just tranquil enough for you to just doze off on a lazy chair outside. Stayed indoors and went out only for lunch. Stuffed myself with more eggs, bacon and coffee. A common food in New Zealand is kumara, which is probably just an exotic name for sweet potato. You can have it boiled or fried like chips, dipped in aioli, which is a garlic mayo kind of sauce.

Went to the local Belgian Beer Cafe for dinner and had nothing but steamed/baked mussels. New Zealand green lip mussels are huge, and oh so tasty (as opposed to the scrawny looking ones in Melbourne after going back and comparing). There was a special pot of mussels for the day, a mustard and wine sauce steamed mussels. It was so good I soaked up every last drop of sauce like a sponge. Had ice cream for dessert and went up Mount Eden for the night view. Auckland’s skyline is rather flat and wasn’t very inspiring for photos.

Fast forward to the next day, took a drip down to Piha beach. It’s a black sand beach due to previous volcanic activity, making the sand a fine dust of gray. As with all beaches by the sea, you can smell the saline in the air and there’s a nice cool breeze just enveloping you. You do note a sense of carefreeness as people just take their time to soak in the sun, or kids at play building sand castles or just throwing mud at each other.

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Also went to the Auckland Museum on our last day at Auckland. Vyanne missed the Maori Hakka dance and was disappointed, as that would have been a highlight of the trip. Made our way to the nearby greenhouse (called the Winter Garden) and I was tickled to see eggplants growing in abundance in a controlled environment. Was also watching ducks by the pond before it started raining on us. Heh, that was the last bit of Auckland we saw before leaving for the airport to go to Christchurch, and if I’m up to it, I might write about that leg of the trip as well.

Where to Turn?

Appetite is proportionate to happiness. Probably haven’t been feeling as great in recent weeks. Used to be able to down a kitchen sink and still have room for more. Just easily contented to not be hungry these days.

I wonder at times if I just go with the flow too easily. If people say it’s so, I think it is so. I don’t stamp my authority hardly enough, and will just accept whatever that is tossed to me. I have never had much reason to complain about things, and even things that do annoy me just fizzle away after I get bored of it. Don’t hold grudges, no reason to, find it a waste of energy. It’s how I am, just accepting things as they are. Not a rebel, not a pioneer, just simply me.

Yet, I am troubled by this behaviour. It just seems so wrong, especially when people are vocal about their own beliefs and I’m just meek about most day to day things. The only time I get argumentative is when comparing processing power/bang for buck in computer parts and camera technology. I’d hardly call that important enough to hurl abuse at anyone who’d disagree with me, but it’s something I’m more passionate about. Which leads me to the point that I lack passion in the more important things in life. To do what I believe in, and to have beliefs worth defending.

I also think at times, that I’d rather not receive no for an answer, and the alternative to not hearing no, is to just not hear an answer at all. When there is ambiguity in the answer, you don’t have to face it directly. Again I feel that this is wrong and it troubles me, but sometimes there is no right answer but you need to take a stand. I only wonder at times, but take a sideview to the issue. It’s hard to look at the big picture when you are afraid of thinking and the consequences that come with it.

Heh, I finish this post and am no wiser to where I was before I started it. I can only ponder.

How Would You Feel?

Not terribly active writing this month. Heh, just spending time with Vyanne and friends when not working. Plus gaming when I just need something temporary to take my mind off things.

Heh, find myself of the reckless sort. It should be a big transition, moving from Melbourne, a place I’ve been at for more than 7 years now, to a totally foreign place that I’ve only ever heard of and seen in movies or TV shows. Then again, I don’t feel that much inside. There is hardly any excitement or fear in me and I think it just feels weird that I should be feeling that. The one thing that’s constantly been in my mind is the people I’ll be missing. When I came to Melbourne to study, I knew that things would be temporary as I’d always have an annual return ticket to Malaysia, so there was always something to look forward to, going home to friends and family. Now that I’m working, things revolve less around a fixed schedule and you feel apprehensive on what’s going on next in your life as nothing is planned or fixed.

Now I’m going to a far away land and I have only ever met 3 of the people I will be working with. Unlike when I came to Melbourne, I had Jack in the opposite room in the hostel of sorts we stayed in. We were all students from foreign places coming to learn and make friends. Not that I was terribly sociable back then. Heh. I am going to a new place where everyone has already settled into their lives and I will be the one intruding on the daily schedules of people.

I do adore the people I’ve come to known here in Melbourne. They’ve been good friends and housemates. Heh. I have learnt never to forget the generosity given by people and as much as I can, I’d like to be reciprocate the kindness.

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On a side note, to humour myself, I’m typing this blogpost on my spanking new Dell laptop. Computers are basically the only thing that can keep me entertained other than hanging out with friends. TV doesn’t quite do it for me as it gets dull after a while and books are unimaginative when you aren’t concentrating on it. Heh, a PC is useful for keeping in touch with people, writing boring, random blog posts, post processing photos, listening to music, watching videos, gaming etc etc etc. You get the picture. Heh.

It’s a decent system, with an Intel Core 2 Duo at 1.83GHz. 2GB of RAM and a smallish HD of 80GB, but at least it runs at 7200rpm, for the performance (I know, geekspeak). It has a 12″ widescreen and the last time I used anything of this size was on my first laptop that I got in 1998. Other than squinting most of the time to see the smallish text, the screen is quite bright and fun to use. Another big plus is this is the first time I have a laptop (well only on my third one now) that has a decent graphics card in it. I only need it so that I can run games looking at least partially decent on my laptop. Heh. So far World of Warcraft and Command & Conquer 3 run fine on it. Heh, not too fussy on the gaming end as long as WoW runs. While I’ll be out of the same time zone as the people I normally play with, it’s still manageable.

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So how do I feel going over? Heh, just pending the US consulate interview. Always apprehensive with things and I don’t feel comfortable until everything has been stamped and returned to me in the proper order. It’s just that peace of mind I need before I can go on thinking about other things. I’m probably very ill prepared for this trip but I will make the most of it. Can I pack my life in a suitcase? In terms of material posessions, nothing much I need to survive on other than my computer and camera. So it’s a partial yes. On the other hand, I will miss my friends and family very much. I will adapt, as most people do, but I will constantly be reminded of home, and strangely enough, Melbourne has become a home of sorts, even if I have only been here for seven odd years.