Greetings from FungiLand

Greetings from FungiLand aka Whangarei!

I arrived here in the evening last Saturday wearing like I was in winter under the warm weather. This kind of weather is the kind that every student in Dunedin would ask for! Say bye to winter coats!

It is certainly true that Whangarei Airport is like a bus stop – a bigger and sophisticated bus stop. I would say it looks more like in between a bus stop and subway station. Hmm…subway station in Auckland is way more stylish than this. You will have to see it yourself in order to get the full picture of this tiny airport. It is a 10-15 minutes drive to my flat in town. 

 In Dunedin Airport

 Inside of the plane to Whangarei (only 20 seats)

 I was curious what this thing is. Rupanya air conditioning

 In front of Whangarei Airport

The flat that I am staying here is homey as it resembles my flat in Dunedin – the interior gives me a sense of heartwarming feeling and feels at home rather than depressing in an ancient house, like a backpacker I stayed in Kaikoura back in third year for my rural externship. 

 The rack in my wardrobe

 My room. Sorry for the mess. Only bed is provided.

 Shower room

 Living room. Seriously, I think that red carpet is ugly but it is my landlord's so just need to live with it.

Whangarei is not as bad as I thought. It still has most of the shops that are found in Dunedin. The best of all is the weather! Although it can get really hot and humid on some days, it is better than the chilly weather that you feel in your bones back in lower part of South Island. Currently, I am waiting for my stuffs to arrive so I can settle down completely. I guess I am going to get a big headache when I need to unpack and arrange everything nicely in my room. I have a problem here. I don’t think everything can fit in my room as it is slightly smaller than the one in Cargill flat.

Bed is the only furniture provided in my room so I need to get my own furniture including kitchen utensils like plates, bowls, pots and cutlery set. Since my flat is pretty new, (according to my flatmate, this flat was renovated from top to bottom and hence we are the first to stay in this newly designed and clean flat) I have the tendency to buy new things. I need to save money! Though the flat is clean, I still clean every corner of it to get rid of the remnants. *poof*

 Love that tv!

 Kitchen! My favourite place especially my stash!

 Errr... toilet

 To my room

On the second day, I explored town under the scorching weather. After succeeding in finding New World which is about 30mins walk, I went back home. Then I consulted my brainy GPS for Kensington Pharmacy just to say hi to the staff there. I followed the direction given and guess what? I passed by New World! I should have just gone straight! I walked a total of approximately 4 hours under the sun. I even got myself soft serve cone from McD and it melted so quickly.

Below are photos of the main town

 I still get lost even though I am using a GPS *hopeless*

My car reached here after I finished work on the first day. It was my first time driving in New Zealand, not to mention driving alone.  It is a Honda fit 2001 silver in colour. The first thing was to fill up the tank as it was approaching E. The petrol station is just right opposite to the pharmacy but it took me longer to get there as I passed the junction.

Okay, it is just like in Brunei, drive in, stop and open the tank door. No! We have to fill it ourselves. First thing, I searched for that fuel’s “handle” but I couldn’t find it. Therefore, I just asked for help from a cute brunette *wink*. I said, “hey, it is my first time filling petrol so…” Without any hesitation, he said, “Yeah sure”. I also told him I couldn’t find the thing to open the tank’s door. Luckily he told me that this car which has a central locking system so he just opened it from the door itself. I tried it after that but could not open it. *whoops*

 Two digits! Can buy toto or 4D? 

Next mission was going home which again took me longer than usual to get home. Not only that, I reached the pharmacy 15 mins later instead of a 5 mins drive the next day even with my GPS. I can drive but my sense of direction is quite poor/bad. Parking is my worst nightmare in the car world.

 See my parking. Initially I parked at one of the 3 parking lots there but I find it is easier to park at the space my car is at right now even though it is still cacat

 Kensington Pharmacy

Thank you to Jon and Art for spreading some loves to me in FUNGILAND! 

Hey People! I know this is very late but for those who haven’t watched the Taiwanese drama “Autumn Concerto” (下一站，幸福), I highly recommend you to do so. You won’t regret! =D Trust me.

Back to work. My working timetable is erratic. Sometimes I work from 8.30-5, 9-7, 10-9, 10-8, 9-9, 1-9, 12-8 and etc. I even work during New Year eve and New Year.  I guess the worst is going to be that 12 hours period as we can’t really sit down apart from our break time. So far, I like my workplace but ask me again a month later. I might say the opposite.

Christmas is just around the corner! Merry Christmas my fellow readers! Sadly enough, I will be working on Christmas Eve till 7pm. I will attend the xmas eve service at 9pm at Equip Church.

*Oppsie* I am so long-winded! I better stop now and do some cooking so that I can pack my dinner box for tomorrow. 

Anyways, I cooked these two dishes here. I enjoy cooking very much and am still waiting for my baking equipments, keyboard and my giant teddy bear! *hug* I miss him already.

-The End-