Thursday, November 24, 2005

Our Trip to the Owlcatraz

On Monday, we went on a school excursion to Owlcatraz, a sanctuary for owls about 30 km south of Palmerston North. We arrive at 8.45 am and was transported by a local bus there. Me and JB volunteered for the trip and we were tasked to look after J and another Kiwi boy, W. The system here is that parents are ask to volunteer for trips like that to lessen the burden on teachers.

Beside Owls, there were other animals including ducks, hogs, emus, deers, a giant cow, donkeys and of course sheeps at the park. The children really enjoyed themselves and the trip include a train ride round the estate.

J is really enjoying himself here. After school, he will be at the park either doing trampoline jumping, feeding the wild ducks and swans or playing rubgy with me at our backyard. J will also be performing a lion dance performance during the annual Christmas Parade to be held at the Square on 3rd December. This is also the day where Kiwis light up their home X'mas trees.

Thats all for now and enjoy the December holidays.

Vincent

Sunday, November 13, 2005

We Have Finally Settled Down

Today is the beginning of another week and I was supposed to follow J on his school excursion to Owlcatraz, a bird park , a 30 km ride from Palmerston North. It was postponed till next week because of the bad weather today and hence this give me the opportunity to update my blog.

We have more of less settled down now after getting our rented property last Friday. We have made many new friends, attended the weekly meditation classes held at one of our friends place, J has even enrolled in a Chinese class here, have got our New Zealand car license, applied for a few job openings here, got our telephone and internet line going and even made a 200km trip south to Wellington.

The journey was Ok except that the weather was not that fantastic. We were passing through the rural Manawatu where we were welcomed by the beautiful scenary of mountains and hundreds of animals feeding on grass. It was a good journey for me to accustome myself to NZ roads again after an absence of 15 years. I was also please with the performance of the car and the handling was good. To be fair, I was only travelling at 100km/h as I do not want to get a speeding ticket on my first trip outside Palmerston North.

I will be getting a lawn mower in the next couple of days after doing research on this subject matter for the last 4 days. For someone living in urban Singapore for the past 40 years, you really do not know much about lawn mowing except that it is part and parcel of life here in NZ and you need an equipment to do the job for you. Robert even suggested getting a almb to do the job for you which is not a bad idea.

My impression so far of Palmerston North is that people are very laid back and very friendly especially the sales people. When you want to buy something, they will explain to you in every detail, give you a quote and ask you to shop around other places for better quotes and you decide not to buy anything, they are still friendly towards you. Another thing that impress me is the honesty and trust given to the public. In supermarkets here, you do your own weighing and check out at the counter. If this happens in Singapore, all our NTUC, Giants, will go bankrupt one day. Taking about food, we can get practically anything here including prawns, belacan, brahms paste, bak hu, frozen roti prata, practically anything and so if you are heading to NZ sometime, do not be bothered to stock food up.

Vincent

Monday, November 07, 2005

My first 2 weeks in Palmerston North

Hi everyone,

It has been almost 2 weeks since we arrive here in Palmerston North and even though we have been kept busy with running around trying to get settle down as quickly as possible, we are actually enjoying the slow pace of life here in laid back Palmerston North.

I am able to write this blog for the first time because I have managed to get my internet account going only today. Below is a detailed account about our first 13 days in New Zealand.

We left Singapore on the 24th October and after a grand sending off by my relatives, friends, and colleagues we were on our way to NZ. The flight to Auckland was uneventful except that we only have 2 hours of sleep throughout the journey. When we arrived in Auckland, we manage to clear custom without any problem while the immigration officer smile and said welcome home matey. We waited for our domestic flight for about 4 hours and had to pay about NZ$150 because our hand luggage was too big and cannot be checked into the little domestic propellor airplane which can carry only 30 passengers. When we arrive at Palmerston, Lionel was there to pick us up together with our 120 kg worth of luggage.

The next day was quite uneventful except that we slept most of the time at Mid City motel to catch up on our sleep and to make an appointment with BNZ on opening our accounts the following day. On the third day onwards, we were kept busy looking for houses to rent. The process was very tedious. First, you need to view the house on the outside and if you like it you make an appointment to view them just like an open house with other viewers. If you still really like it, you fill up a form together with other applicants and the landlord will choose the best tenant based on what you have written including your employment status and references form your previous landlords which put us in a very disadvantaged position. We were getting quite desperate and frustrated because an application we put in at Conway Place was rejected even though we were the first to put in the request. Just then, we were then even contemplating of buying a house rather than renting one and even ask my dear sister if she could raise some loan from Singapore. Luckily for us, on the eighth day, we saw a house with only 3 potential tenants. The other two viewers decided to go for other properties and that make us the sole interested party and hence we got our place. It is a very quiet street, a cul de sac in NZ terms meaning that it has no through road, with lots of fruit trees at the back of the garden, a huge garden 800 square metres land area, 3 bedrooms and about 3 kilometres to town which is considered far by Palmerston North standard. It also have a garage which is important in winter and also I may need to mow my own lawn and get a lawn mower soon.

Beside the house, we had no such problems with buying a car as there were more sellers than buyers here in palmertson north. We had 3 choices a $13,000 2000 Honda Accord at 91,000 kms, a $16,000 2002 Toyota Corolla hatch with 56,000kms or $17,700 2001 Honda Accord with 55kms. After test drives we decided to go for the better $17,700 Honda Accord as we may need a little more power and safety when driving to faraway towns. So far I am loving the car as It would take me about 10 years to pay off the loan in Singapore but over here, I manage to pay all in cash.

J is enjoying himself here. School is fun and often he comes home with some sticker praising him for some deeds he does in school. He has no problem adjusting to school life here in NZ. He loves to go to the many duck ponds and feed the ducks here in Palmerston. He is also beginning to help me in taking out the weeds from the garden.

As for the weather, it is unpredictable. We can have sunshine and rain within a day for several times. Generally, it is getting warmer and the sun rises at around 5 and set at around 9pm. It can be cold at night when temperatures fall to 7 degrees while day temperature can range from 13 to 20 degrees.

That is all for now and will update you further.



Vincent

Saturday, October 15, 2005

8 days To Go

After one and a half year of planning, our migrating to New Zealand will actually take place in 8 days' time. How time really flies.

For the past 2 weeks, we have been busy with packing, throwing unwanted things, buying new things to bring into NZ, more packing and for myself helping my students with their exams and assignments. I will definately take a few weeks break when I reach Palmerston North on the 25th Oct 2005. Of course, there will be sad goodbyes to my family and friends but the world is getting smaller and communication and travelling is cheap and do not be surprise if you find me in Singapore this time next year. Things are getting into shape now. The movers will be coming this Wednesday, Junius have stopped school since Friday, will be giving our house keys to our tenant on the 23rd and will be selling my car this Monday.

For all my friends in Singapore, I will miss all of you and cherish all the moments that we have spent together but always remember to keep in touch. As for my family, I will always remember the love that you have given to me, Joo Bee and Junius. I will update you with our new life in Palmerston North once everything is settled.

For now take care and adios in 8 days time.

Vincent

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Getting Ready for Move to New Zealand

We are now in the midst of preparing our big move to New Zealand. We have engaged Crown Movers to transport our things from Singapore to Palmerston North and it cost us $9K+ thanks partly to the high crude oil prices.

Our house is also in the market for rental/sale but I doubt the buyers are able to match our asking price due to the weak residental market and buyers prefering to buy houses in the primary market. So, in the meantime, we will rent out for 1 year first and assessed the situation.

As for the airtickets, we are waiting for the travel fair from the 9 -11 September at Suntec City to get the best airfare deals. At the moment, Air New Zealand has the best 1 way fare of $870 from Singapore to Auckland but there is no baggage allowance.

Lastly, we will be organising a farewell party for friends and relative this Sunday, 4th September.

Vincent

Monday, August 01, 2005

Cat (Miao) Gave Birth

Today, we sent Miao and Seng Chye to Mt Elizabeth Hospital and at 0217 am, Miao gave birth to a bouncing little baby boy. Congratulations.

Today, we also arranged for two moving companies to quote us - Crown Movers and Asian Tigers. Also arrange with Wilson from ERA to arrange a meeting but he did not call.

Vincent

Friday, July 29, 2005

Getting a real estate agent and a mover company

We are in the process of getting a real estate agent to either sell our condo or rent it out. We are also looking at the possibility of getting quotes from moving companies to carry our stuff from Singapore to Palmerston North.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

NZ dollar coming down

Today the kiwi dollar dropped 1 more cents against the Singapore dollar. That is really good news because every cent drop mean I save $1000 bucks if I change $100 K. Waiting for the kiwi to drop to about $1.10 before exchanging.

Vincent