Till we meet again

Having lots of mixed emotions now.

Can't breathe.

Heh.

I donno what to think.

Missin' everything which I had experienced for the last 5 mths.

And thank you one and all who have played a part in my wonderful experience here.

Till we meet again.

Willowbank Wildlife Park on 27th June

After that day of snowboarding in Mt Hutt, my legs muscles and arm muscles have ached alot. I think it must be becuase of the fact that it's been a long time since I exercised as WS indicated and also, I didn't do my appropriate warm ups before snowboarding. Anyways, re-visited Port Hills on 26th June and had a 30 min walk to some lookout before heading back to the gondolas. Had lunch at the "China Kitchen" in the city and found that they raised their prices by a dollar! Grrr....

Had dinner at Westfield Riccarton Mall and ended the day thereafter (cos' I woke up late). Promised to wake up earlier the following day and met WS to have brunch in the city at Subway (AGAIN!) and then to Willowbank Wildlife Park.


Signs at the entrance of the park.

We bought a packet of animal feed for 3 NZD and went in to the park and really hand-fed many animals! We were like astonished and shocked when the deer walked out of its enclosure to 'smell' us for the animal feed that was in my right pocket. I was eye-wided! I mean, imagine u walk into this park and you see animals walking out as and when they want to leave it's enclosure!??!


This one just walked out of its cage to sniff me out for food.

And YESH! They kept licking my jacket and my jeans!!! It was a bit daunting when animals as tall as me start to move so closely to me with its mouth ever following your hands (cos' it thinks there is food inside)! There were ducks everywhere of all different sorts trying to get the food which we bought as well. TSK. basically every animal just came charging at me for the food lar. But it was darn cool when we came to the wallabies! They kept jumping and standing on their hind legs to unzip my pockets for the food!


Wallaby standing to grab the food.

Close up picture of Wallaby. Super cute! Kept hopping up to me!


Eels that stuck their heads above water onto the pavement for food. So many of them!

There were sheep, lamas, horses, asses, ponies, bunnies, birds, (i forgot what else) and kiwis. Yesh, we went into this enclosure to quietly observe the kiwis!

Was walking through when I saw this:

I can almost think of some people to be put into this box. :)

It was raining thereafter and the saliva from the sheep just makes my hands even colder. So we ran to the cafe and had a cuppa before we continued. Spent the entire day there! Felt really good! It was almost the same as the Deer Heights Park in Queenstown, just that this seems to be slightly more expensive.

I never thought that I would enjoy myself this much. But it was really worth that visit!

Last day in my Ilam Village bedroom

141 days since 11th Feb and now, yesh, it's about time.

Time to move on to the North Islands and then back for 1 night in Christchurch before leaving this wonderful country.

As I look at my apartment now, it looks like it was as empty as I first arrived: the cupboards are bare, the fridge are empty, the living room is plain simple and my bedroom is just creepily void. K is in the other room packing her suitcase for her departure on the 1st July (1 day after my trip up).

And as I sit in my room on a rainy Saturday looking out of my window (with my heaters finally working again), I see people strolling along the pavement which I walk to get to campus each day. Somehow, something within tells me that I'm going to miss this cool (to cold) leisurely walk each weekday. The Eskrine building where I stay to use the Apple computers with windows operating systems, the labs where I used to do my 'R' package and the tutorials conducted for my data communications course and my intranet online multi-player gaming in the Linux computers in the computer science labs.

141 days seem to pass really fast. Surprisingly, it didn't move that quickly while I was in (read: hell.) I came, attended lectures and sat for the final examinations just like in NUS, with the only difference being the fact that I had the luxury of travelling around NZ, attended live rugby matches, catching a movie in the biggest screen in South Island, boarded one of the world's best train rides, snowboarded in the popular ski field of Mt Hutt, did a good amount of trekking, immersed myself in the environment of my host family and the coolest thing of them all, it was a pleasure to hang out with so many people (who are cool like me)!

Ever since I came here, every weekend is filled with some activity of some kind. And as I flip through the newspapers each day, my eyes would skim for weather section so that I would know if I'm ever going to experience ice age or if I would have the chance to build a snowman in my room. Then, my eyes would read off the temperature in Auckland and almost at once, my heart will be filled with envy. Ha! but I feel proud of the fact that I'm in the South islands cos' that's where most of the beautiful scenary of New Zealand is.

Snowboarding at Mt Hutt! WHEE!

Woke up at a darn amazing early time at 6.20am to have a quick shower and grab a bite before WS met me outside my flat to head to the bus stop outside Churchcorner Countdown to wait for the Snowbus which is slated to arrive at 7.35am. YEAPS! Pretty excited this morning as we are headed to Mt Hutt for our inaugural ski session!
[Just to add: Mt Hutt has the longest ski season in the entire New Zealand and is the 'best' ski field here. This year, 2008, most ski fields are slated to open by end June but apparently, due to the erratic weather behaviours, they are not able to open up and currently only Mt Hutt has opened since 23rd June] ;)

The trip there was an experience itself as this is the first time I'm actually heading towards Methven area passing by the Rakaia River Gorge (shown below)
and the vast plain fields where the 'sheep and the antelope play'. New Zealand sure never fails to fascinate me with the amazing sights!

Then as we turned into the road leading to Mt Hutt Ski Area, I was just awed as the bus travelled through snowy landscapes and it was so high up! There was no barrier between the bus and the cliff and we were 1m away from it! A very narrow road! And I just kept looking at my side to ensure that we didn't veer too near to the edge.... *phew* Anyways, as the scenary changes from the usual winter Canterbury plains to the snowy Ski fields (as below), my excitement level increased accordingly.



It was so amazing when we finally reached the top!



We had the ski passes, equipment sorted within 1 hour before our lesson actually begins so... it was very hectic. And you think that it was more than enough eh... Basically, it was really messy for during the hour of preparation cos' I had so many layers of clothing/sweaters/jackets that it was hard to monitor which one had my ski pass attached to (the ski pass is attached to a zip on a jacket via a metal hook), where my camera is, where my keys/USB memory stick is, my wallet, etc. It was in a messm, really. So DARN MESSY.



But as soon as it was sorted, we learnt to balance on the snowboard and before long, we realised that it was actually a pretty exhausting activity. Cos' after each slide down, we have to unclip the fasteners that clips the snowboard and my footwear and carry the mammoth-weighing snowboard up again, trugging my super heavy boots (worse than army boots). Then, we have to squat down/sit in the snow to clip the fasteners with the boots and snowboards again before attempting to stand up and glide down. So, I wanted to skip this leh cheh stuff by just unclipping 1 side and gliding my board forward with a lil' push from that 'free' leg. Apparently, it was more energy-consuming than I thought, so after some time, I just did the normal way again.

And we did this for an hour before my instructor actually told us to use the platform that brings us up. ......................... And I thought it was only meant for those using skis... Sheesh.... There was this 1 run where I almost landed in this tiny lake as I didn't see where I was going and I went eye-wide for a moment. Thank goodness man, else I think I really can be a snowman there already.

Towards the late morning, the weather started to change from a normal nice no wind day to windy south-westerly winds and snow. That was when my hair became frozen. yesh, frozen. Taking photos was so horrible as it was difficult holding the camera with my bare hands (hard to control the buttons when your fingers are ballooned to twice the size), but still WS insisted for a photo shot. And there was this one moment where I really got a bit worried for my hands, cos it was soo... [okay i shall not describe it here, but yeah i was worried]

Basically, I fell many times during each run and yes, I think I sprained my left wrist cos' I was too lazy to wear the wrist guard initially, but after that, I decided to do so, considering that my butt, knees, wrist and hands start to hurt. Apparently, the weather forecast for tomorrow is not favourable for skiing and thus, they might close the road to Mt Hutt which means that I get to stay at home to rest my knees.


Can you guess why the above chains are attached to the wheels of the bus when we are leaving and not when we are going to the ski field? (hint: think of its purpose)

Was looking through the video clips and remembered that WS took a movie clip of my unprofessional snowboard run. As such, I decided not to post it up. So what's this clip that is on here? :)

Post Exam activities and trips

As I submitted my Data Comms exam paper and walked out, I couldn't help realising that everything I had been enjoying working hard for came to this day. The end of exams signified my entire stint here in NZ.

Wells, not really, actually, considering that I'm heading to Mt Hutt tomorrow for my 2 days of Snowboarding adventure meant that it was actually just the beginning. And I'm leaving for Picton the next Monday on the 30th June via the TranzCoastal which is departing at 7am (i have no idea how im gg to wake up) and my afternoon Interislander from Picton to Wellington, marking my first city in the North Islands.
Thereafter, I'm moving up to Lake Taupo, National Park, Rotorua, Waitomo Caves, Auckland and Paihia to the northern most pt (Cape Reinga) of NZ for some sand dunes and enjoying the 90 mile beach bus trip. Thereafter, I will be back in Auckland for 2 more days before catching an afternoon Pacific Blue Flight at 1445 hours to CHC at 1605 hours.

Would be spending the last night at All Seasons Hotel before leaving here on the 13th July at 4pm to Sydney via Air New Zealand. Spending a night in Sydney before catching a noon flight to Gold Coast on 14th July. Would be travelling back from Brisbane to SYD on 19th morning flight (which I would have to chk in 3 hr earlier cos it's departing from the International Terminal).

So when am I returning to Singapore? Wells, let's just say, I should be back ard that time. Do keep a look out on the tagboard. I'm posting it there! :)

And yeaps, my plan as shown:

Alrights, as usual, gotta sleep soon! 2 days of skiing tml which means that I gotta be up at 6am cos' the Snowbus is coming at 7.35am!

For more details, open this.

All Blacks vs England (44:12)

Heh! Finally, my first rugby match game live! :)

It was wild, very wild! Other than the fact that the stupid card reader on the Metro bus was faulty and made me pay $2.50, the entire experience on a whole was awesome!

As the bus turned into the lane where the stadium was, everyone exited and made a beeline to the AMI stadium. With a seating capacity of 36,000 for this rugby match, it is a no wonder that the place looked like the people attending NDP in Singapore. The only difference being the fact that most people here are keen rugby fans who have a passion for watching the game while NDP attracts people cos' of their goodie bags. Nonetheless, we arrived approximately 15 minutes before the start and were entertained with the band playing familiar music and fireworks. Planes whizzed past as sort of a mark of respect for the VIPs who attended the event (aka me).

See the crowd?

And yesh, we even sang "why does love do this to me"!



In was pretty obvious that the All Blacks were more supported than the England team since it was held here in Christchurch. I think it would be the other way round if the match was held in London. Ah wells, it was a good match and I cheered for both.
Anja really knows how to crack me up, cos u see, during the play, i kept clapping hands for both the All Blacks and England team whenever any of them scored a point.

Anja: u are clapping for the wrong team.
ZG: oh yeah, they did well so I clapped.
Anja: erm... but they are England!!! Aren't we supporting All Blacks? (waving her All Blacks flag)
ZG: erm... yeah... but er...
Anja: (talking to S and me) Erm guys... I think we need some team-spirit here...

HAHAHAHA! And during the second half of the match, S clapped when England scored. And Anja went "people, team spirit..." <- HAHAHA! So funny thinking of this!
Anyways, we were kinda like novice, so thankfully Zack was there to explain the game to us. :)

It was really cold man and yet these people in the field were playing in their shorts?!?!?! No prizes for guessing how many layers I wore. (Hint: same as Anja)

And yeah, England did well and so did the All Blacks. This is my first live rugby game and sure, I'm awed by it. Just that I can't help thinking of the fact that 2 min of the game cost me $1 NZD in terms of the ticket pricing. Sheesh.

Apparently. Rugby is a real rough game and yeah, I saw blood on one England player that was tackled. Ah wells, makes me feel like that time I sprained my finger while playing is like... nothing compared to what I see...

And yesh, All Blacks won with 44-12. England did wells anyway and so I think they deserves applause too! :)
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Yeah, today on Saturday marks the 2nd last examinations here in UC and very soon, I would be unpacking and leaving my room in 1 week's time. My last night here would be on the 29th June and I'm taking the 7am TranzCoastal (dont ask me how I'm ever going to wake up) to Picton before catching the 1.45pm InterIslander to Wellington. Didn't take the flight cos' I heard that the 3 hour cruise is really good and moreover, it cost me $39 NZD. Anyways, I will be uploading my schedule from 24th June onwards on my geocities server and I would (hopefully) provide a link then?

And yesh, the schedule will also indicate my current tentative RTU date to SIN from SYD. But that is, as I say, tentative. It is highly dependent on the admission package from NTU, any family commitments and the August KrisWorld inflight entertainment.

Can't help but feel a tinge of saddness knowing that I'm going to leave my room in 1 week time. And I'm going Snowboarding for 2 days maybe next week, cos apparently, I think there is a very high chance that I might just want to skip Fox Glacier since it's so expensive. Ah wells see how...

So far, all my examinations have been fairly alright. My leadership exam is pure memory work and somehow I think I should be able to pass. Don't think I can score that well, but yeah I tried. Wednesday's coding theory was too simple that left me a bit complacent such that I forgot to answer 1 part, but wells... no pt dwelling on that. Before my Saturday morning paper at 9.30am, the 8 of us caught a 545pm Narnia: Pince Caspian movie at Hoyts, Riccarton before dinner at Mcdonald's. A great movie! I think I caught her crying while watching the ending.

And Saturday's paper went on smoothly as well for time series since we could just bring anything to the exam room. So yeah, just copy from lecture notes back to exam script. Heh. I think passing shouldn't be a problem. Just wondering if I can fulfill my lecturer's expectations of getting the good grade as mentioned previously.

So here I am now, sitting on my comp just returning from my Rugby game. Heh. Time passes so fast. But yeah, not the right time to be emo as yet. 1 more paper to go. Stay tuned! I will blog again soon on Monday where all my schedule will be released.

See ya then!

It's the final countdown

The Final Countdown

We're leaving together,
But still it's farewell
And maybe we'll come back,
To earth, who can tell?
I guess there is no one to blame
We're leaving ground
Will things ever be the same again?

It's the final countdown...

We're heading for Venus and still we stand tall
Cause maybe they've seen us and welcome us all
With so many light years to go and things to be found
I'm sure that we'll all miss her so.

last stats lab

Today is my last lesson and last lab session with my stats lecturer.
Heh. Seems really fast. It was almost like yesterday that I learnt how to use R package.

So far, everyone here has this impression that Singapore is a vvvv nice place with great food (and I totally agree only on the food part!) and NUS is a very reputable university and now most of my lecturers expect me to get a decent grade in my final examinations here. Ha! They don't know how much I'm struggling within!

To be absolutely frank, I do love the pace of teaching here and I think that it does give me ample time to explore, think and enjoy the sights (literally). The people are nice, warm and friendly and my experience in NZ so far just signalled to me how much I would miss this place when I leave here in approximately 1 month time. And Marcole even said that he would write my reccommendation letter and be my supervisor if I choose to study here for my postgrad!

Compared to NUS, most of them don't even know of my existance. Ah wells.

On a lighter note (as always, I end on a lighter note), I'm heading to Akaroa this Wednesday for a day trip! ;) And yesh, since it's a morniing trip, I told Kat to kick my door and scream if I'm still in bed by 8.30am and she went "yeah don't worry, I will..." (-,-)

p.s.-- gotta be at the Christchurch city i-Site by 9am.

NZ itinery finalised! 1st post exam activity starts on 25th June.

And yesh, finally done with the planning for NZ part of my trip. Currently, I'm hesitating if I should go ahead with Cairns or just simply return to SYD where I will just spend another 4 days there and then back.

And as I told Eva, if the inflight entertainment for August on Singapore Airlines is better, I'm going to move the date back.

---------------------

Had my last meet up with my host family here in NZ together with the gang. Had pizzas at the best pizza place in Christchurch. There was so much food left and they were packed as takeaways. Went to Garden City Bowl thereafter in the freezing cold (since temperature was 0 deg then). Paul trashed us all (as expected) with Catherine coming in close. And I came in 2nd too, but u must count from the bottom... (-,-)

Headed back to Coffee Culture thereafter to chill over cuppa warm drinks and had some refreshments that were made specially by the family. And for the first time, I tasted coffee beans inside the coffee... No wonder Caesey was staring hard at me when I dipped it in my similar-to-Moccachino type of double shot expresso.

They sure know how to please their customers when they serve drinks with some distinctive patterns on the froth of our coffees! (shall upload the pictures later when I have a renewed bandwidth). Each of us received some Maori pendant that is sort of like a farewell gift from them.

Shall post the heart warming pictures later too.

---------------------------------

Something interesting happened when I called home yesterday when I wanted to talk to my Dad.

1st try
Unknown: hello?
me: (sensing that the voice was not what I expected to hear, I said "sorry wrong number" and ended the call and attemped to call again.

2nd try
At once I picked up the phone and ensured that I dialed the right number this time.
"Hello?" came the same voice from the other end.
I was speechless for I was extremely sure that I pushed the right buttons on the telephone and having studied the statistics of drop calls, LCCS calls, mismatched calls in telecomms studies, I couldn't believe that both attempts to call home is futile.

While thinking, another woman took over the phone and spoke in Chinese "hello?"
woman: 不要怕, 跟我讲你要找谁?
Obviously this is not my Mum's voice so I went "erm..."

Then, she asked if I wanted to speak to (my dad's name) or (my mum's name). Then I realised that I pushed the right buttons all along! I attempted to tell her my name but apparently it must have been either the lousy cheap call connection that she couldn't hear what I said or she doesn't really know who ZG is.

Basically, my call ended thereafter.

Wah lau, I thought my parents changed the home number or shifted house without informing me. I could almost immediately picture a scenario where I have to stand outside the house 10pm at night with my luggage and all cos' the helper refuses to open the door for this 'stranger'.

My gut feeling tells me that I gotta stay in Singapore's hostel on my first night here.

Thank goodness I applied my YHA card already so at least got discount.
Or is anyone kind enough to house me for 1 night?

Let the battles begin

It snowed today! Everyone dashed out when the snowing got heavier and smoother (or so they say) and at once, Ilam Village turned into a battleground. I had to prone and hide behind some pillar before dashing out in the open to gather some snow ammo so that I could attack with my Snowballs. Snowballs whizzed around the open battlefield and some hid behind a fir tree while others were openly waiting to be airstriked. Some even attempted to simulate a canon shot to the 2nd or 3rd floors but apparently, it seems that the snow power ain't that strong.

Almost got hit when the closest snowball whizzed by me less than an arm's length from my body. Thank goodness for my stealth, I managed to escape unharmed. To think that I thought my alliance members were trying to be farnie when they told me to quickly take cover.

Apparently, my experience in army splinter cell does come to good use. ;)

Good Day Mr Lim, Please make your selection:

Please select Ski field(s):
Mt Hutt (Methven) / The Remarkables (Queenstown) / Coronet Peak (Queenstown)

Indicate starting date of activity:

Select day(s):
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / more (pls indicate)

Type of activity:
Snowboarding / skiing / both / just on-looking

Any other comments:

I don't wanna return

Just remembered that I can now check out inflight entertainment for my return flight to Singapore already since they release the movie list for the upcoming month.

2 more weeks before I leave CHC for North Islands, 4 more weeks before I wave bye to this beautiful land and abt 6 more weeks before I start to miss my life as a nomad in Australia and NZ.

I dread the days when my exams end, cos that meant a step closer to saying bye to all my wonderful friends here.

It has always been rumoured that 2 years changes a person (read: hell) but, as my predecessor JK would say, "you think army is life-changing? Wait till u go for exchange!"
And that, my friends, is indeed so true. Ask anyone who has spent months overseas and you will get the same answer. It is only thru' such personal experiences that you will get to learn things beyond the classrooms and it also broadens our mind to see things as a whole. Each new day is a new experience altogether and I'm glad I have this wonderful opportunity.
It felt like yesterday when I attended the first Beach party with K and even attended orientaion with her to get our student cards. Then came the Sumner BBQ organised by UCSSS and I got to know more peeps from there. At the same time, been out almost every weekend with the peeops from ops Friendship. Dinners, late night drinks and trips to other cities in NZ are so common. And this experience doesn't stop here. I was learning material at such a pace that I could really catch up and understand it sufficiently to give myself a certain level of confidence in the final examinations. The list was endless. I just loved my time here.

Even so, I knew like all my other wonderful experiences, it has to come to a closure.
Despite so, it has left me with awesome friendships that are forged and indelible wonderful memories that I could take with me for the rest of my life.