Ahoy!

We got this blow up pirate ship for N. It came with a treasure chest and cannon balls. It took us nearly 2 hours to pump it up with ur small pump. N loves it..the ship now sits in the backyard. N goes there probably once a week when the weather is very warm.

Overdue photos

These pics are taken on CNY eve and first day. On the first day of CNY, we let N wore the traditional costume and went to the mall. We let N check out the outside of the cinema. He loved it.

Puzzle

random

N is 15 months and 3 days. On Tuesday he had his immunisation jabs. One on his leg and one on the arm. He is 78.4 cm and 10.04kg.

On Sunday, he ran about barefoot indoors and stepped on a grain of rice. He goes...hooh hooh (Exhaling/blowing) at his foot and took the rice and show me.

Our conversation of the day:

Me: How does papa sleep?

N: korrr korrrr korrrr

He can say kai (means open) push(, catch (kek) , pup (for puppy) or gou(for dog). He can say baaa (for sheep) and kaa kaaa kaaa for duck. Sometimes he would say kaa kaa kaaa in a very forceful way as if to emphasis something (I don't think that means duck in that context). Otherwise, he would speak in his banguage.

He received a puzzle from auntie pinkcocoa during christmas. On Monday he succesfully 'nailed' cow into its designated space.

He could stack a few beaker to make a small tower. He gets impatient and push them all on the floor.

He loves noodle. Especially long ones so he could feed himself.

He can stack his stacker rings now (not in the right order though). When he first put in each ring, he would make this sound as if to show his accomplishment.

Lantern Festival 09

It is now almost ritual for us to go to the lantern festival held in Albert Park in the city. This year Jake's excuse is that N has never been so we have to show him Albert park and the lantern.

Saturday turns out to be a great day..sunshine and hot! we went out early for lunch and then proceeded to Albert park. the event officially started at 5 30pm but we wanted to avoid the crowd and let N ran around the park so we went 3 hours earlier. Each year they would add up new lanterns into their collection but we still see many of the older ones floating around.
I think N liked the sheeps and sheep dog the best. He kept wanting to go back to the sheeps and sheep dog and touch them.

Auckland from the eyes of pinkcocoa

Okay this photo doesn't have anything to do with the title but this is our brunch prior to showing pinkcocoa auckland city.
The usual fare we had was the chicken feet (or Phoenix feet), beef tripes (Ngau tou and Ngau pak yip), pork ribs, wu kok, egg tart and some dessert type dish, such as that yau chap kou (the violet and cream jelly), and some lo mai chi (Mango and durian flavours). There's also the mochi with ice cream (the middle pic).

We basically just walked up Queen Street towards Downtown. Checked out the DFS and then went up Vulcan lane turning into High Street. I think, Pinkcocoa having come from Sydney won't find the shopping here that nice anyways:P HEHEHEH

we also showed her beachhaven. many yachts are being moored there and it overlooks the cityscape of Auckland. then it was to Mt den the dormant volcano in Auckland City. there's also fa lu gung advocates there, practising their 'qi gong'. Did i tell you I also saw fa lung gung advocates in Munich? it seems to be their standard procedure to meditate with a radio playing in the background.

Where is your...

Me: Where is your nose?

N: Grabs my nose.

Me: Where is your ear?

N: Touches my ear.

Me: Where is your eye?

N: Poke my eye with his fingers. *OUCH!

N and his big toys

N has been to the orchid meeting with me twice. The last one he went was for the Christmas do. he was shy for about 1 minute, then he sets out to play with the trolley. As you can see, the trolley is meant to carry the chairs which are stacked real high.

He pushed it around and entertained himself for a long time. He also used the mooncake tin as his cymbal. the afternoon past quickly.
maybe he can learn how to plant orchid soon. hehe.

oh oh...

N was playing hide and seek with me outdoor.
Next thing, he ran and gave me one of his sandals and said OH OH ..(his sandal has somehow came off) and he wants me to put it on for him.

Bean Bag

Some overdue pics..Jake bought this bean bag for N from one of his work trip across the tasman.
After we filled it up, we let N sat on it. He was very apprehensive to the point he cried :P
hehe. Now he would slam himself onto the beanbag.

Teppanyaki Dinner

my SIL treated us to a japanese steakhouse the other day. She also invited her friend who has a toddler daughter.
We had the crayfish and steak set. hehe. The accompaniment dish were salad, miso soup, green tea and rice.
Our teppanyaki chef came and cooked us the side fish first, which is the prawns, zuchinnis, onion and mushrooms. then he cooked the beef and finally the crayfish.
N was a little tired so he stayed in his stroller all the time (we had to take him out for a few strolls) before he fell asleep.
That's Helen in the pic. She is very cute and switches between Mandarin and English when she speaks. She also tries to 'sayang' N. Kids are so cute.

Finally..at Gisborne

After Tolaga Bay jetty, we drove and arrived in the Gisborne township. We drove to the James Cook statue and chill out a bit. N wants to touch everything again, and me and Pinkcocoa accompany him in his sensory adventure while jake is just resting after the long drive.
We then hunt around for dinner and decided to go to the Works.

Pinkcocoa had seafood chowder, while I had the abalone and foccasia bread(came in the form of soup) while Jake had the mixed seafood entre. We also ordered a salad. I was a little disappointed with the salad (it was greek whereas I was expecting more rockets and mesclun).

We left Gisborne at about 8pm and start driving back to Mary and Barrys after that.

Tolaga Bay Jetty

The tolaga bay jetty is 660m long. it boasts to be the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere. However, i think the record has been beaten by another jetty in Western Australia according to my google result.

it was very windy at the jetty. I saw people diving into the waters and I imagine it must be freezing cold. There was sea cave too ..We went during high tide so we couldn't explore much apart from just walking on the jetty itself. It took us a while to walk the whole jetty as N was determined he wanted to walk by himself. As usual, he doesn't always walk in a straight line. he prefers to stop and touch the jetty and what not.

More of Eastcape

Part of itineraries to Eastcoast is to go to the East capeLighthouse. Well, this would be the 2nd lighthouse I have visited in NZ. The first being the Cape reinga lighthouse. Anyhow, we had quite a drive. It was some 22km of mostly unsealed no exit road. We past by more coastal views, and then we saw the lighthouse from afar on the hill. As we drove nearer, we found out that we actually had to climb up. Unlike the Cape reinga, which is just literally a few steps from the carpark, this one is 700 odd steps away! We nearly didn't want to climb but jake insisted we do. So after slapping ourselves with sunblock, we started our climb. Some of the steps are quite steep. We took turns carrying N. He was busy absorbing his surrounding. We had to stop for a few break as we were running out of breath. At some point, I told pinkcocoa, i think my heart is going to leap out ..

The scenery was worth the climb. We see green pasture and sea on our way up...and then it was the lighthouse. I also learn that this lighthouse is the most easterly point of the mainland New Zealand so it is the first place to see the sunrise in the world.

Below were the last 20-30steps to the peak. Jake was pretty exhausted and we agreed to let N did a bit of climbing himself. he was stoked ;)

N climbed for about a minute or 2.



There is pretty beaches beneath; N busy going round the lighthouse (he even attempted to lick it *Yuck i know) ..The lighthouse looks to the 'east island'. On the way down, we saw two butterflies (moth??) flying and N was busy trying to pick flowers from the ground.

laughter is the best medicine

I received my orchid club newsletter today. The editor also our president, G loves to insert jokes here and there in the newsletter. Hope the ones below brings a smile to your face :)


TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.

PRISON: The guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you
WORK: You must often carry a security card and open all the doors for yourself

MORE ON THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
Uncertainty has now hit Japan. In the last seven days, Origami bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank has announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was also announced that Karaoke Bank will go up for sale and will likely go for a song, while shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended today after they nose-dived. Samurai Bank is soldiering on after sharp cutbacks, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal.

Around NZ - Eastcape manuka

It was a brief stop so we could stretch our legs. Most importantly, it was to let N run about so he would tire himself and then go for another nap. Eastcape manuka sells mostly honey related products besides selling lunch/light meals. We got to taste several types of honey, ie. the pohutukawa, rewarewa, manuka just to name a few.

A bee pollinating the Hebe plant (NZ native).

N having sensory fun. Touching the small stones.

Touching the flower.

Around NZ - driving to eastcape

It was a very scenic drive but it was also very windy. So poor me and N got a little car sick sitting at the back.

We even came across a herd of pig family crossing the road. Pinkcocoa being a pig fan, can't help but photograph them.

More sceneries of the east coast.

Our first stop for us to 'relief' ourselves and N took the opportunity to read the map for us :)

Around NZ - Port Ohope

Whakatane is a beautiful city. There were lots of beaches. (see above) Our task was to find an accomodation for ourselves since we made no pre-bookings. We drove past the motel strip which all showed No vancancy. Someone recommended us to try the Ohope beach area. We went and again, the motels were all taken. We were thinking of driving to the next town to search for our accomodation until we came across this B&B sign. It still has 'VACANCY' sign on.Me and pinkcocoa and N went to search for the house and jake tried ringing the hosts as the house has a hidden entrance from the main road. We were so fortunate for Mary and Barry who took us in. they are the nicest couple. We have our own ensuite and room access and we look outside to the gorgeous gardens (See pic below)

We asked where we can find fish and 'chups' ..hehe. (Still sticking to introducing kiwi things to pinkcocoa).M&B suggested we could try the port ohope F&C. So off we went. the queue was pretty long( above pic)...we had to wait about 20mins for our dinner to arrive.

Our dinner - the fish, the potato and kumara chips.

Port Ohope at dusk. Many people fishing at the jetty. An old uncle was very eager to show N what he has caught. pic was taken before our dinner arrived.

After dinner. The sky has changed colour.

Mary and Barry's garden. It's simply gorgeous. She had mostly NZ natives and also some veges patch(tomato and zuchinni)
and herbs planted in terracota pots.

During breakfast, we had cereals and toasts and tea. Jake had eggs (poached). Jake can't stop praising Mary's poached eggs. they were really perfect. ( not sure if he's hinting for me to poach eggs for him but honey, my poached eggs won't look like Mary's .hehehe.)
We tried some nice jams and it turned out to be home made PLUM jam. Mary had to give us a bottle to take home.

Around Nz - Berry picking

About 30mins away from Whakatane, we stopped by Julian's berry farm. it's a fun time for us. We got a box of mix berries and we get to pick them ourselves. there must be 40 rows of them. We are free to roam and pick them. N had a blast picking them and tasting them. The blackcurrant were tarty though. In fact in my opinion, they taste the worst amongst all the berries on that day.

In the cafe, there's also jam kit , jam and fresh berries etc for sale. Definitely a good little stop if you are on your way to Whakatane.

Around NZ Part 1

After boxing day, we went on a short trip. We were planning to bring Pinkcocoa to New Plymouth but we changed our plan to go to the East Coast instead.

First we stopped by the flea market. Pinkcocoa was quite surprised how much the market reminds her of the pasar back home. We have lots of fresh produce here and there's all sorts of veggies for sale. Round eggplant, taro leaves, you can find almost anything at the market.

There were also stalls selling Pasifika stuffs. And stalls selling GOLD jewellery. It said on the card there's lifetime warranty and it's real gold but would you sell real gold at a market and not worried about getting robbed.



Introduced the fried donut to Pinkcocoa.Besides the hamburger stalls, there's also the Chinese BBQ stall, pork buns and the 'hangi' stall. Hangi is the Maori way of cooking meat and veggies in the ground.





L&P - NZ's national drink. When pinkcocoa asked me to introduce 'kiwi' things to her, I asked her to try the drink. Also brought her to Paeroa where the drink was first manufactured and got her to pose with the giant bottle. Paeroa is also called the Antique town of NZ for their row of antique stores on the main street.

We then went to karagahake gorge by the waihi river. Did a small tramping and N enjoyed the scenery and the plants available. We went on the suspension bridge and also showed pinkcocoa the tunnel which used to transport gold from the mines. The tunnel is not lighted at all so we didn't walk in it this time.

Next was lunch at Millsreef Winery about 10mins away from the city of Tauranga. I tasted
three types of wine before buying a Sauv Blanc. We settled for the mixed platter and chips. Lunch was beautiful..but we couldn't finish the blue cheese. it's just a little overpowering.
Above N having a ball on the grass. There's a group of toddler and kids too around, so the place was quite busy. At some point, N walked to a girl toddler and they were like 2 inches apart. Me and the girl's dad watched and see what they were going to do. It's amusing. The girl's dad got his camera and took some pic. I left my camera at the table so I could only watch. the girl soon turned away:P hehehe.

After lunch, we showed pinkcocoa the city of tauranga, which is famous for dolphin watching and also went to Mt Maunganui which is the 'gold coast' of NZ. (A mini version). The beach was filled with people.

We then drove to Te Puke whe re the giant kiwi is located. If you wonder, the kiwi fruits are planted in rows like the grapes in the vineyard. We wanted to get kiwi fruit ice cream but the cafe was closed for private function. Bummer!So we just spent a bit of time resting before continuing with our journey.

Another 1.5 hours - 2hours drive, we stopped by a Blueberry cafe/farm. This time we get to have the ice cream we were due to have at te Puke. Pinkcocoa had the blueberry ice-cream while jake went for the mixed berries yoghurt. N just wanted to get on the ground to play. Fortunately there's many things to keep him amuse at this little stop.

N probably learned how to "BAAAA" after seeing the little lamb. He also wanted to touch the chooks behind the wires. imagine the free range eggs the owners get to harvest. N then spent a long time playing with the trolley. Took me and pinkcocoa a few tries to coax him back into the car.

To be continued ....