To Wellington and Back

I'm back at the office now, staring blankly at the white screen of my computer. Just yesterday, we were in windy Wellington, skipping happily to anywhere our feet would take us. The big smile on our faces only accentuated our 'asian-ish' features, pushing our eyes to slits like a Chinese drawing. But who cares when you are in Welly. We balut eating brownies scatter the streets of the central business district.

In fact, our taxi driver to the airport on our last day was an ilonggo from Bacolod, and I was thrilled to brush up with the language that I have grown up with in the quaint little town of Marbel (which is now a city, by the way).

On our first day in Wellington, we also met up with a small group of Filipino friends, most of which know Poms from ACI Systems, and over indulged on Filipino food while watching a movie on DVD that is coincidentally currently showing on all cinemas all over the world. (*wink*) How more brown skinned can you get?

The next day, we met up with some friends from my university days and had lunch at a Japanese restaurant. Yup, we want our rice! After that, we had authentic gelato on a winter's day. But that's our way of giving tribute to our kiwi brethren.

On our last day, we rode the Wellington Cable Car (which is actually a funicular) up to the Botanic Gardens, and walked our way down the hill towards the Parliament buildings and on to both the old and new St. Paul Anglican Church, both icons in New Zealand architecture.

The evening saw us riding Air New Zealand back towards Christchurch to a sea of white skins. For a brief period there, we felt alone again, but the cold air of the South Island slapped us back to a grin as moonlight bathes the snow covered Alps in the distant horizon.

Winter Rambling

It has been a while since my last post here. Nothing much has change, really. Except I have noticed that longer days are slowly creeping back.

Ah, the sun! I used to hide from the sun. Now I chase it around like a dog does to its tail. And yes, I do the tongue flapping as well with much gusto.

It has been a harsh winter here in Christchurch lately. Not that it snowed. It just rained and rained. Last week was a respite with beautiful bright sunny days, but today the rain came back with a vengeance.

This morning the winds were even strong rendering my puny little umbrella useless. But if the rains were relentless, I was even more adamant. I braved it and rode the bus to work. Luckily I did not multiply, reinforcing the fact that my similarity with a Gremlin comes only to appearances.

And I know what you are thinking, but nope! I have curbed my appetite already. In fact, I am down 10 pounds since I arrived here in New Zealand. My daily walks and weekend treks are all coming to fruition.

I just wish winter would end so I can start running again.

So bye for now. This weekend, Christine, Onie and I will be heading out to Wellington for a windy weekend bivouac (except that we are staying in a four star hotel)! See you there?

My Camera is Back

I got my camera back from the repairs last week. They had to replace the shutter switch after just below 50,000 clicks. And they claimed the shutter will be good to a 100,000 clicks. Oh well, that is consumer electronics in a nutshell. We consumers are still easily drawn into buying products that are hastily and shabbily built by companies to beat the competition to a draw, knowing that they are bound to release an "improved" product iteration probably in a year's time.

But there is only us to blame.

So I trooped down to New Brighton Beach here in Christchurch last Saturday morning to test drive my camera. It was a good sunny winter's day and perfect for a walk.

All seem to be back to normal for my camera. Here are a couple of pics I took from it.

The Bus+The Driver = Memories

I ride the bus home from work almost everyday. I always arrive at the bus stop a quarter past five and just in time to see my ride manage the corner of Colombo St and Gloucester St.

Yesterday was the same, except that it was one nostalgic trip. Let me narrate the events for you.

As I boarded the bus, I was greeted by a thickly accented Chinese guy. Before I can even tap my card on the machine, the bus was rolling already. And faster than an express, I found myself at the doorstep of where we are staying in Parklands a mere 20 minutes later. En route we passed on two Number 70 buses, the same numbered bus that I was on, and one of which was an Express. Now that normally should never happen since buses are spaced at least 15 minutes from each other. But our driver banged the pedal to the metal, not minding the 15 ton weight that he was lagging behind the wheels. The big round visible signs with the number 50 signifying the speed limit does not seem to bother him. And on the roundabouts, he seem to think that he has the right of way, always.

Ah, yesterday brought back memories of the Philippines. The feeling of terror when riding the bus jolts me back to the streets of Manila, where there is a significant chance you could get into an accident on the road. Everyday when you step on that bus in that big metropolitan city of the brownies, you just feel numb from praying that you could get to work and back in one piece.

As I disembarked yesterday's bus, the cold air brought me back to New Zealand and made me ponder on the state of my life at this stage. But that is another story. And until then, let us hope that that is the last time I got on a trip down memory lane, so to speak. :)