Hike Up and Down Rangitoto Summit @ Rangitoto Island

This was yet another outdoor adventure for the girls, including the adults, during our stay in Auckland - a grueling  2-hour 45 minute hike up and down Rangitoto Island!

Sitting majestically just off the Auckland coast, Rangitoto Island is a 600-year old volcano. It boasts a unique landscape of rugged lava crops, lush native bush and sandy coves. We hiked to the summit for some spectacular 360 degree views of Auckland.

From the car park, we walked to the jetty to board a ferry.  We saw an animal activist volunteer and the kids pleaded with us to donate some money to help save animals from cruelty...

In the ferry, on our way to Rangitoto Island.  It was chilly in the morning and we were wishful that it would not rain as it rained every day ever since we arrived in Auckland.  Thank God, luck was with us and the day we went to Rangitoto, the weather was pretty kind to us- sunny and hot.  I wished it were cooler as we sweated quite a bit under the hot sun for almost 3 hours.
 

Before the hike...

 


The kids snacking in the ferry...


Our hot, long and gruelling hike up to Rangitoto Summit. Notice the black volcano rocks surrounding us...







The ferry was superbly clean unlike those in our country.  Healthy snacks and juices were sold inside the ferry.



Walking on black lava soil throughout the path up to Rangitoto Summit.  The reddish stuff on the ground are flowers from the New Zealand Christmas trees that grow wildly in the jungle.  It was very hot and the puteri lilin you see here had to use an umbrella *coughs*







Beautiful flowers from the New Zealand Christmas tree...






After an hour of hike, our prize was the breathtaking view of Auckland...











We could see the city of Auckland opposite us...









From the Rangitoto Summit, the kids were ambitious enough to venture out further to the Rangitoto Lava Cave. And we had to take another 20-minute hike down a steep ravine to the cave.  When we were at the entrance of the cave, the kids were raring to crawl inside the cave to check out what's inside!  I stayed outside with Sarah just in case...








After our 2-hour 45 minute hike up and down Rangitoto Summit, we were all exhausted. Alycia had to change into her shorts as her jeans had blood stains from her fall.  Cass had a fall too and had cuts and grazes on her chest, tummy, palm, knees and arms.  But my girls are tough soldiers and they did not shed a drop of tear!  Sherilyn  had to use my umbrella to support her hike down the hill and she broke the umbrella. As expected la, from the Drama Queen.






More snacking on our ferry ride back to Auckland...


Once back in Auckland, we walked to a nearly mall and had sushi for lunch...


Then had Movenpick ice cream to cool ourselves down...

Tooth Fairy Does Exist!!

Today must be Cass' lucky day. Today is the day that she can finally tell all her friends that a tooth fairy indeed exist... in broad daylight!

This morning we went to a coffee shop for breakfast. While waiting for a group of senior citizens to leave the table so that we could have that table, an old man in this coffee shop saw Cass and stroked her cheek and commented that she is cute. I have seen this man several times in the past somewhere in the neighborhood. I was across the table and could not hear the conversation between the old man and Cass. About half a minute later, the old man shoved his hand into his trousers pocket and took out a RM100 note. I saw him happily mumbling something to Cass and Cass looked shy. She looked at me, as if trying to get an approval from me. She knows that she is not supposed to talk to strangers. I walked over to the old man and was shocked to see him put the RM100 note onto Cass' hand. I asked him in Cantonese "why are you giving money to her?!" And his cheery reply in Cantonese was "because she called me "uncle" ma". Before I could say NO to him and pass back the RM100 note to him, he quickly walked away and 'vanished' into the crowded coffee shop! I was just too stunned to even chase after him. Everyone of us was floored.   Just like a fairy godfather who came and slowly faded away in a mist, like in a fairy tale movie!

Some si lai seated at the next table were watching our short drama and I heard them saying in Cantonese "Wah, really 'seng tang loa yan' (Santa Claus) in real life, give away money like that!"

A few minutes later when Cass was eating her bowl of noodles, her shaky tooth came off!  She took out her bloody tooth from the corner of her mouth and said "mummy, that man is a tooth fairy!".  All of us were in disbelief that a real life tooth fairy came to give her RM100 for her tooth!

When I finally came to my senses, I realized that what had just happened is wrong.  The fact that Cass accepted money from a total stranger with me not objecting to it is just so wrong. I am sending the wrong message to her that it is ok to accept money from strangers.  There are too many sick perverts out there who are preying on naive kids like Cass.  I kept telling her over and over again that she should never accept money again from strangers and told her stories of how kids get lured, trapped and never get to see their parents again all because of accepting things from strangers.  I guess a human's instinctive reaction to money (especially if the amount is HUGE!$!) given right in front of us is to accept it first.
 
To Cass, she still thinks that the old man is a real life tooth fairy as he came at such an unbelievable and impeccable timing!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth. How very apt this song is for Cass on our Boxing Day!

Holiday In Auckland - 17 December 2014

After dinner at home yesterday, the adults went to Sylvia Park for shopping.  One of my SILs and BIL stayed home to babysit the 5 kiddos.

I managed to grab some tees that were on sale at Pumpkin Patch and T&T for Alycia and Sherilyn.

After shopping for the kids, hubs and I went to Park N Save to get some groceries and a cartful of chocolates!   Whittaker's chocolates are pretty cheap in NZ and this is our third (or was it fourth?) round shopping for Whittakers!

Whittaker's is the biggest chocolate brand in New Zealand, in front of Cadbury.

This is just part of the loot.  Later hubs spotted more chocolates and added them into the cart! I think these chocolates will be perfect gifts for family members and friends from our holiday in NZ.

Auckland Trip - Day 8 (17 December 2014)

We had planned to bring the girls to the Butterfly Creek today but darn it, it has been yet another wet and chilly day today.  So plan B came into place - indoor activity... and off we went to the skating rink.

It was Cass' first ever ice skating experience.







The drama queen is pretty good in this.  In her second attempt today, she managed to skate independently, without the aid of a brace!



After ice skating, we had Chinese noodles takeaway before crossing over to Burger Fuel.  As I had said before, nothing makes the man happier than food!










Anyone visiting New Zealand should try L&P or Lemon & Paeroa,  L&P is a sweet soft drink manufactured in New Zealand. Traditionally made by combining lemon juice with carbonated mineral water from the town of Paeroa, it is now manufactured by multi-national Coca-Cola.

 

Random Pictures In Auckland (14 & 15 December 2014)

Homebound on Sunday as it was drizzling the whole day.  So the kids played Monopoly and other board games.  It has been wet and cold here in Auckland almost daily.  Temperature is about 11-20 degrees Celsius.




Lunch at home on Sunday.  SILs cooked.







On Sunday evening, we went to cousin A's aerobic gymnastics concert.  It was another eye-opening experience for the girls.  The senior performers are national gymnasts and danced really really well.








Yesterday (Monday), the kids played soccer, roller-skating, scooter and hill climbing at Barry Curtis Park.  After burning off loads of calories climbing up the hills, hubs brought them to dig into some sushi at Bruce Lee's Sushi.




The dog lover in me just cannot help patting those super cute doggies and snapping pix of them!

Random Pictures Taken In Auckland On 12 & 13 December 2014

12 Dec 2014.  Cornwall Park.  New Zealanders are dog lovers.  You see doting pet owners walking their dogs everywhere - from the park to the market.  We could not resist playing with and patting this friendly Golden Retriever at Cornwall Park.





Lush greenery at Cornwall Park.  The air is crisp, cool and fresh, just the way I like it!




12 December 2014 - At  Barry Curtis Park.  Cass and cousin L.









Pretty daisies are seen sprouting everywhere in Auckland.  My flower loving Cass just could not resist plucking some to bring them home.






Doting aunt S (from Hawaii) with her nieces and nephew.




The girls (and even I!) were so excited when we saw some swans swimming in the lake along with some Mandarin ducks!










The girls playing soccer with their soccer loving cousin, L.  Can you spot me playing as well? ;)








The kids conk out within seconds every nite after a day's of play everyday. They find sleeping in sleeping bags a novelty and prefer sleeping on the floor inside the sleeping bag vs. on the bed.

Day 3 in Auckland (11 Dec 2014)

Local fruits are pretty cheap  here.  Yesterday we spent over NZD90 just on fruits!

I wanted to buy everything that I liked at the fruit store from gigantic strawberries to blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, avocados, yellow kiwis, apples, oranges, apricots, peaches, baby plums and much more.

How could I not resist getting 5 of these avocados selling for only 50 cents each?!!

















And this is our loot from our fruit-shopping yesterday.... enough to last us all for a week.




I am in love with the beautiful flowers and trees  in Auckland, in particular with this Bohutukawa tree, also known as New Zealand Christmas tree.   These trees are seen everywhere and are such a sight to behold, along with the colorful flowers.  From afar, the Bohutukawa trees look like our Malaysian rambutan trees.

Alycia And Sherilyn In Auckland - Day 2 (7 Dec 2014)

Early this morning, A & S went to the Xmas tree plantation with their cousins, grandma, aunts and uncle to choose and chop their Xmas tree to be brought home for decor!  For the first time time of their lives!  When Cass saw the picture via Whatsapp, oh my, she was gasping and green with envy!   Hopefully when we are in Auckland, we will be able to bring the girls to experience fruits picking.






Despite being summer in New Zealand, the weather is cool and breezy - just my perfect kind of weather for outdoor activities!

Alycia And Sherilyn In Auckland - Day 1 (6 December 2014)

A and S are having a time of their lives in Auckland, though they only had 3 hours of shut eye last night this morning.

Their flight was delayed for 1.5 hours and by the time they were out of the airport, it was close to 2am Auckland time.






See you girls in 3 days!! :)
— feeling excited.

See You In Four Days!

My lucky girls - traveling with grandma again. This time to Auckland.  Five years ago it was to Hong Kong when Alycia was 6 and Drama Queen was 4.  They had a blast in Disneyland.

Five years ago, Cass was in dire need of a surgery and could not join her 2 che ches in Hong Kong.

This time, she won't miss the fun for sure. 

See you my babies... in 4 days... in Auckland!





 
And happy 11th birthday to you, my 'precious baby' Alycia!  I hope MAS will give you a surprise birthday pressie on the plane!  I am sure this birthday will forever be etched in your memory as it is extra extra special and expensive!  How many 11-year olds get to celebrate their birthday tens of thousands of feet in the air eh?

♥♥

High Drama Day

Today has been a high drama day for me!

After brekkie at the coffee shop, I dragged the drama queen into the hair salon to have her hair trimmed.  Her hair, which is thick and frizzy has been pretty hard to manage now.  It was already at her chest level.  And the speed at which she showers and washes her thick long locks everyday gives the MIL and I the shudder.  We have been checking her hair after each wash and we found out that she did not know how to wash and rinse it properly. So her long locks has to go - part of it.    But the drama queen, as stubborn as a bull refused to get inside the hair salon.  First episode of the drama was getting her into the hair salon.  Second episode of the drama was to get the hair stylist to cut more of her tress.  In the midst of getting her to return to the chair for the hair stylist to trim more of her hair, the drama queen scratched my hand while trying to push it away! Till the bloody skin came off! Yeah, it was bloody and painful! After a big hoo ha, I stormed out of the hair salon. Her father was fuming mad and dragged her back into the hair salon. She bawled and bawled till she almost puked!   We gave her  a plastic bag for fear that she would puke and there was a pile of soaked tissue papers... with her tears, goo and all!  Yeah, really sob story and an intensified drama - just like those Indian love dramas where the girl would cry and cry and attempt suicide when her parents forced her to marry another man - that kind of tearful drama.  Really malufying at the hair salon. Once back home, she stormed into the bathroom, locked herself in there and wailed the second round.

But there is something that I like about the drama queen. She recovers from her outbursts pretty quickly.  She can be bawling away  till she pukes but after an hour or so, she is all cheery and chatty again.  Like today, after she picked up her composure and accepted the fact that her hair is not as long as it used to be, she kept  mocking the hair stylist and kept saying "I hate my short hair" but she's A-OK. There is now no more tearful and emotional outburst. 

Next drama - in the afternoon.    I was driving to the mini mart as the MIL wanted to buy some locks for our luggage bags.  5 minutes into driving, someone with itchy hands wound down the window at the back-seat.  And what do I know?  The drama queen suddenly screamed out dramatically... as if I had just run over someone (which I thought I did, fark!)  "mummmmmmy!!!!  the the the.... that thing....it dropped!!!!  The reindeer's antler just flew away... there!!!!!"   She wanted to open the door while I was driving to pick up the reindeer's antler.  I hollered at her to "STOP and DON'T MOVE!  STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND DON'T OPEN THE DOORRRRR!!"  like a mad lady!  I made a U-turn, parked my car at the road shoulder, ran across the road and the drama queen brought me to the spot where the antler had flown to.  That was really another heart-stopping moment.  I really thought that the drama queen would jump out of my moving car to retrieve the antler.  And I gave Cass a big big shelling session after that.

With a big drama queen at home, I really do not need to watch any more drama.  Life is entertaining enough, naturally!

Landlady Stories From The Early 90s - Part 3

I remember that our landlady had a washing machine.  One day, I asked her if I could use her washing machine to wash my clothes.  She said yes BUT no clothes and underwear were allowed.  Only blanket and bedsheets were allowed.   And each time I used it, she charged me a fee for it. Fair enough.  One time, I placed some clothes hangers on her dining table for a short while and all hell broke lose!  She chided me and said that hangers (in general all hangers!) are very dirty because hangers are also used to hang bras and panties,  thus cannot be placed on the dining table! What??!  Where is the logic?  The clothes are clean what, no?!  *roll eyes*!!

Madam Yap was very protective of her son.  Her son, John was  not allowed to do any sports.  John was her golden goose and if she lost him, she would have no more golden eggs. Once when John was only 7 years old, he was run over by the school bus and have had surgery done on his legs.  This explains why John was so sheltered.  Every morning, my landlady would boil fresh cow's milk ordered from an Indian cow's milk supplier for John before he left for school with our Indian neighbor.  She would then take a taxi to bring John back from school in the afternoon.

Renting a room next to ours was this lady by the name of Jeannie.  Her husband had gone to work in the US for a 4-year contract.  She had to rent a room with her toddler son whom we all fondly call Bebe who was about 2 years old when I moved in.  Each morning, we would be awaken by Bebe's cries for his mother when Jeannie was in the bathroom.  He was our alarm clock.  I would sometimes help to soothe Bebe until Jeannie came out of the bathroom.   When my mum came to visit me in 1992, Jeannie was so kind to lend us her car so that we could bring my mum around KL. The last time I met Jeannie was over 10 years ago at her new house.  Bebe was about 8 years ago then.  Bebe would be about 31 years old now.  Jeannie would be in her late fifties by now.  I hope that I will bump into them one day.

After Jeannie moved out from her room, a young and newly married couple rented the room.  The woman was a teacher. My landlady had so much respect for her just because she was a 'lao xi' (teacher).  I remember that this woman kept having miscarriages one after another. I remember how forlorn and depressed she looked after each miscarriage. She had a very good husband who treated her with so much love, gentleness and care.  She finally moved out from the room into her new place. Just before I moved out from Madam Yap's house, I heard from Madam Yap that this teacher finally had a baby girl.

to be continued....

Landlady Stories From The Early 90s - Part 2

My roomie and I found out one day, that at 8 years old, our landlady's son still had to wear a diaper to sleep. That's because our landlady could not wake him up when he was already deep in his sleep and thus, had to wear a diaper to sleep to prevent accidents on the bed!

John had a weird taste-bud.  Throughout my 5 years living in that house, I had only seen my landlady cooked two or maybe three types of dishes for her son. He only liked to eat eggs and spam meat.  On most days, she would steam two slices of China-made pork spam meat for her son.  On spam meat off days, she would fry an egg for John.  Other days, she would make a quick-boil  mint leaves soup with egg drops.  Occasionally, there was a stir-fried spinach.  I hardly ever remember seeing her cook chicken or fish. Never beef or pork.  I had also never seen John eating any fruits throughout my 5-year stay in the house.  While John ate his dinner, he would be glued to the idiot box.   John never used any cutlery to eat. He only ate with his bare hands.  On festive occasions like Mooncake festival, my landlady would braise a big pot of mushrooms.  She would offer some mushrooms to me.  That was considered a real big treat from my stingy landlady ok!

When I told my landlady that I wanted to cook and boil water using her gas stove, she imposed a fee.  She asked me to share half the cost of the gas every month!  Fine, I paid for it, though I only cooked instant noodles, fried eggs, boiled water and occasionally stir-fried some vegetables.  I never cooked any meat.  One day when I told her that I was buying a mini TV to be placed in my room, she increased my rental by RM10 (or was it RM20?) a month.  That was 23 years ago.  For every electrical item purchased, an additional rental fee would be imposed.  I even had to pay a small fee to rent her fridge to store my fruits. 

There was another housemate (my college mate) who rented the smallest room  on the ground floor of the house.  That was meant to be a storeroom but my money-minded landlady transformed it into a room to rent out.  This housemate by the name of Soo Chin (from Johor) loved to cook and eat.  Before she left for college in the morning, she would discreetly throw in some red beans or mung beans into a mini slowcooker and left it cooking in her room.   By 10pm when our evil landlady went up to sleep in her room, it was PARTY time for us muahahaha!  Oh how sweet and tasty was the red bean tong sui, which we quietly savored in the stuffy small room!!   On some days, Soo Chin would cook Maggie Mee using her slow cooker and invited us to eat in her room after the evil landlady had gone to her room. Instant noodles had never tasted so yummy when cooked in a slow-cooker and shared among 3 daring young college-going girls living on a shoe-string budget, who knew that if caught, we would have to face the music. Pay or pack our bags and leave, knowing how evil she can get.  But my sixth sense told me that she somehow knew about our clandestine rendezvous every night but she kept mum.  So she wasn't that evil after all! 


to be continued....

Questions To Ask Before A Surgery

Before you have any kind of surgery done, you need to give your doctor a detailed medical history. This is especially true for those who are considering gastric bypass. The doctor will probably schedule a consultation so that he can determine whether you are qualified for the surgery as some people think that they are morbidly obese when they don't meet the requirements.

When you meet with the doctor, you need to tell him of all of the surgeries that you have had done and any complications that you have had. This will give the doctor an idea on how to proceed with the procedure. There are also some questions that you need to ask the doctor. Find out how much weight you can expect to lose and how fast it will take to lose the weight. Do the benefits outweigh the risks? This is one of the most important things that you should think about if you have had complications before. If you have any medical conditions, then you might need to get them under control before the surgery is performed. If something goes wrong with the surgery, are there any other plans to consider? These are all questions that you can ask your doctor before making a decision about having the surgery done after you give your doctor your personal information. Learn more today about what the surgery entails before going to the doctor.

Landlady Stories From The Early 90s - Part 1

This morning while driving back home from the mini mart, I saw a young lad. He was stout, short and had small eyes. I wondered if this would how John look like now.  Each time I see a young man of that built and looks, my mind would go back in time to the early 90s, back to the time when I rented a room at Taman Rainbow, Jalan Ipoh from a woman whom I called Madam Yap.  She had a son who was only 8 years old when I first rented her room.  Her son's name is John.

I will never forget the day when I moved into Madam Yap's house.  John raced upstairs just as I was carrying my belongings up.  He stood at the highest step of the stairs and stretched out his hands across the space of the stairs landing, blocking me from going up.  My landlady chided him and he moved aside.  Several days later, he tried to be funny with me.  He touched his birdie and smiled cheekily at me. Then he moved his hands forward and made gestures like he wanted to fondle me.  I was aghast and told his mother but his tidak-apa attitude mother ignored me!

My landlady was a mistress.  Her man was a  "Latuk" (Datuk - but my landlady pronounced it as Latuk) and wealthy timber tycoon trading in East Malaysia.  My room-mate Cheng Cheng and I always wondered how she could be someone's mistress with those looks and dressing! She looked no where near a mistress.  To anyone, she was just an ordinary looking 'ah soh'  in the market who was in her mid forties.  She did not bother  much about her appearance and frumpy dressing.  But a man is not so much hooked to a woman by her looks but by how "willing and good" she is in the room!  That's what one of my male colleagues told me once.

John used to sleep in the same room with his mother.  One time Cheng Cheng and I overheard John saying this to his mother in Mandarin -  "mummy, can you let me touch your breasts please"!!  He was pleading his mother but his tidak-apa mother just remained silent.

Each time my landlady's man came for a visit (once a month), John would be sent out of the house to cycle on his bicycle. My landlady and her man would be in the bedroom for an hour or two.  After her man saw me once, my landlady instructed me not to come out of my room if 'John's father' (that is what she called her man) was here. She also instructed me not to wear shorts as John's father was ogling at me!   She was just insecured, fearing that her man would leave her for me.  Oh puh-lease!  They knew then that I had a boyfriend.

Madam Yap installed a lock to the house phone but some how, my then boyfriend (hubs now) managed to dial out  muahahaha!

Each time Madam Yap went out, my roomies and I would open our landlady's photo album cabinet to look at her photos. That was our cheap thrill - to discreetly go through our evil landlady's albums and have a good laugh.   Her photos told many stories.  We saw many cut-out photos of Madam Yap where the other half were missing. We surmised that the other part was her ex-husband. She has an elder son from her estranged husband.  We also deduced that Madam Yap was once a 'bar girl'  (the term used for GRO in the sixties and seventies) from all the photos.  And we figured that she managed to catch this 'big water fish' timber tycoon from the bar.

Oh yes, she also had double eyelid  surgery done on her eyelids, which she proudly told us.

I have not seen Madam Yap or John for 18 years.  I always wonder how John would look like now.  Is he married with kids? Did he go to university?  Or is he still a lazy slob who only liked to watch TV?   I guess that he would still look stout, fair and clumsy as he never did any sports throughout the 5 years I stayed there.  And he would be in his mid thirties now. Most of all, I am curious to know how Madam Yap is doing now. I used to send her festive cards for many years until I got married and got too busy with my own family.  She would have been in her late sixties now.  I wonder if she is still with this timber tycoon.   And I wonder if she still lives in Jalan Ipoh. I would love to meet up with her one day.  I even dream of her all the time. Yes, I kind of miss her despite her flaws and her muddled background.  After all, I lived with her for 5 years.  And I miss my room mate, Cheng Cheng and my other housemate, Jeannie too. I wonder if Cheng Cheng is still in London or back in Malaysia.



... to be continued.

Magnetic Bracelets

Last week, the hubby spent over five hundred bucks on some ankle guards and titanium knee brace from a well-known shop that sells sports and wellness products. With his hefty purchase of only 2 items, he was given free membership and also a free session of oxygen therapy in a special tent. My jaw almost dropped when the sales manager told me that the tent costs RM80,000!!   Yup you read it right - eighty thousand bucks!! The tent looked like an ordinary plastic tent from the outside but in the inside, it looks likes some kind of chamber. Only one person can fit into the RM80k tent when the oxygen is being administered. I think I am going to claim the free oxygen therapy session from the hubs coz I think I deserve it the most! :D
While at the shop, I was tempted to get myself a health bracelet as I am still having pins and needles on my hands every morning. But upon checking out the price tag, I had another jaw-dropping moment! I rather try those magnetic bracelets  that many have raved about for healing carpal tunnel, arthritis and tendinitis. And these magnetic bracelets are way more affordable.  You can click on the link here to get more information for magnetic bracelets.