Christmas break

I am finally on my Christmas break. Uni has been officially closed since the 20th but I have been in almost daily since - I am still behind in my work and managed to convince my supervisor that I'll get it all done before the end of the year ..hahaha gaya cam jauh but hey, a few days extension pun jadi lah ....so, semalam pun masih masuk office ..balik kol 6.30pm ..but sempat gi garden and petik a few sprigs of pine leaves  ...and buat my Christmas centre piece ...melampau tak melampau gitu ...

It is an assortment of my kiwi experience ...pine cone from my hiking trip di Mount Victoria ...seashell from my beach trip ...paua shell from my Makara beach hike ...the two kiwis that were given to me as my christmas momento ...postcard of Abel Tasman from my last trip to South Island ...all things kiwi ...

I was skyping with my UK families tadi ..and couldnt help reminising about the difference between UK (or European) christmas and NZ christmas ..kalau sebut christmas - usually the thing that come to mind is white christmas ...winter christmas ..cold and dark days ..turkey feast (my fav is turkey with cranberries sauces with all the trimming) ...kat NZ plak, it is summertime ...so christmas usually means family bbq ..and heading to the beach or the mountains afterwards ...bbq instead of sit down meal ..selalu nya lah ....i had a few invitations for BBQs today - one at Evans Bay - bbq then a beach get-together - tapi akak malas ....prefer my own company hahaha ....

another unique kiwi christmas is this tree - the pohutukawa tree! It is also known as NZ Christmas tree - sebab of its vibrant red flowers ...pokok nie native to NZ ...and kat Welly berlambak ...and now, semua berbunga and it is so lovely to look at! ada a few places where I should visit to take pictures of pohutukawas nie - the one with the ocean background ...the one berbackground kan Opera House etc ...will try that soon - kena gi town heheh ..yang nie are the trees kat sepanjang Kelburn Parade ..which is on my way to uni ....

close up of the pohutukawa

the last few days have been hot and sunny ..we are finally experiencing summer here! sebelum nie mendung ajer ..but last few days were warm ...tapi today cuaca kelam balik ...and akak just stayed in jer ..kat sini semua kedai tutup on 25th ..even public transport pun tak jalan ...like i mentioned to adik beradik semalam, my christmas plan for this year is ...makan makan makan, lepak depan tv, watch endless movies (I siap ada a stack of dvds here ready in case the movies on telly suck!), read my novels (also have a stack of new novels yang belum baca lagi plus a long list of audio books!), and nanges hahaha ...so far, tak nanges sangat ...more like distracted with movies and food ..

started the day with banana pancake breakfast ..then nasi ayam for lunch ...lama sebenarnya nak buat nasi ayam tapi malas haha until today ....ingatkan ada tomato kat rumah ..rupanya dah abis hehehe so salad pun tak lengkap :-) tapi sedap gak sebab makan bertambah tambah ...

I also have time to catch up with my family at home ....and my friends kat Kapit ...miss my family but macam biasa le ...alah bisa tegal biasa ...sedih sedih sekejap ...then ok jer ....and now that christmas is over, it will be just another day di perantauan for me ...