My breakfast every morning

This is my breakfast every morning. :)

three kiwi couple

These are my philipino cum kiwi friends. They are lovely couples and cooked Asian food almost every weekend.

Celebrating bryan's birthday at the restaurant

We have another feast yesterday. It's Bryan's birthday!

Bryan and Bev

This lovely couple is a mentor and inspiration to me.

Mountain radio

We learnt to set up mountain radio during emergency.

Fatty Ned

How do we get the students to experience the problem of arising from being fat. Just dress them up!

Update 18 Jun

Time flies, winter has started to set in and the weather’s turning cold. I have adapted myself well here and no longer miss home as much. I love the peace, the beautiful scenery, the warmth of the people and the leisure pace of life in this small town.

This term is a short term and it’s coming to an end soon. We started off with the immersion of the Maori culture and continues with the environmental awareness week. As far as conservation is concerned, NZders has done well in keeping and protecting their habitat. Possum, goats, stoats are considered pests and were introduced from Australia. They multiplied so rapidly that their population is out of control now. They thrive on bushes and destroy millions of bushes daily. Ironically, possum was considered a treasure in Australia. I definitely want to be an Australian possum than NZ possum. Though I don’t share the sentiments of NZders, it’s interesting to see how a common animal can arouse different feelings in different countries.
NZders did a great job in protecting the rivers of NZ, at least for the outdoor and fishing industries. OPC instructors would practice disinfecting all the gears and boats before shifting to the next river.

There’s harmful algae called Didymo in the south island which was not welcome in the north island.

Every household will have 4 different bins : the burnable, non-burnable, food scrap and the recycled. There will be a collection point where the household will pay for the different rubbish to be picked up by the town council every Friday.

We had sessions on RAM, outdoor first aid, equity issues, learning how to use mountain radios as well. One of the modules worth mentioning is the river crossing module. We had 2 days of river crossing during winter.

Day 1 : I have 3 layers of mid-fleece, a wet suit, but my teeth still chatter after my 7^th swim in the river. It’s cold… urghh..

Day 2 : I have 5 layers of thermals and fleece, 1 wet suit and 1 dry top [paddle jacket], 3 layers of thermal pants. This time, I was nice and warm. Totally “insulated”.

Going up the mountain to do navigation in poor visibility was another experience. There was a time when we have to go against the strong gale and the hail stones beating against us during our navigation. We just have to be very prepared and adequately covered when we are in the mountain.

I came to know a few philipino friends at my church and was glad to have them around. They ease my longing for Asian food and we practically feast every weekend.. So far, we have managed to discover how to cook chicken curry, chicken rice, dumplings, agar agar and red bean soup. I must try clay pot rice here. But I still can’t find a clay pot and the chinese sausages. Import of sausages is a no - no..

Still waiting for my mountain season pass to be delivered to me. I want to go up the mountain to ski. Need to get myself a ski instructor and learn how to ski before I go home. Exciting !

This is the tunnel we walked through during the Ohakune trail.

smoke at my car exhaust pipe

This is the usual sight in the morning.Probably due to the cold engine. It has done a great job of travelling 300 000 km. Always laid my hands and prayed for a safe journey everytime i drive. It has never failed me.. Praise the Lord.

tattoo on his face

The tattoo on his face indicate a story. But when i ask him about his story, he told me he need to tell me in his native tongue. Umm... this won't help.

Tree climbing

We have fun climbing trees. No full body harness, just a dynamic rope tying us around. We are supposed to spiral around the old poplar tree.

My new room

this is my room which will also be my final home. I shifted 3x within a span of few weeks. Can enter guiness record. :)

Coordination game

While the guys practise the haka, the girls practise the coordination game. Just throw the 2 paper sticks around. Sounds simple, but we can mess it up.

Hangi pit

To have the hangi feast, we need to dig a hangi pit. First they place the Manuka wood as the first layer, also acting as kinder and favour to the food, then they put logs in square formation to stabilise the hot stones and metal basket. The wood need to be completely burnt and the hot stones settled down as the top layer. 3 hours to cook the food. Total duration : 5 hours.

Jean and Danika

My church friend : Jean, she's married to a Kiwi and she's a philippino.

Nice to have her around. There is a Philippinos and Cambodians community in Turangi. Cambodians worked in the bakery.

Haka dance

The guys learnt how to perform haka during the maori visit. Great performance. They did the famous All Black Haka

Maori visit

Every Maori carving has a story to tell. This indicate the girl above the boy. It depicts how a female maori help to hide the male from his enemy.

Gumboots

I wear my gumboots everywhere during the course. It's such a wonder when we have to cross the swamps and rivers. No need to wash my shoes everyday

Possum trap

Possum is a common pest in NZ and they destroyed the bushes in an alarming rate. So traps were set to kill the possum.
Alot of possum were run down by the cars along the highway too. An ugly sight.

Change of the leaves colour

Most of the trees in Turangi town are deciduous. So they will shed their leaves during winter. Some are in the midst of shedding.

Fog and rain

It's a common sight during winter. Fog in the morning, but slowly clearing up during the day. Need to drive carefully though.

Volunteer service to department of conservation

As part of our environmental module, we are supposed to attach to Department of Conservation to do some voluntary service. Here we are, clearing the unwanted weeds and trees.

Lemon trees in my garden

We are not lack of fruits. Lemon, and oranges.. umm.. this is great.. Going to plant more cabbage and potato. :)

wood for the winter !

This is my first basket load of chopped wood. I learnt how to chop the wood for the winter. Bingo!!