Memorable Beautiful New Zealand

If you ever travel to beautiful New Zealand... drive around and you'll experience and see sights and sounds that a tourist in a group tour won't ... Here are a few of many other pics that I took as I cruised around in my Nissan Sunny car.

Pic on left taken at Mount Maunganaui beach... fella beside me is from up North, used to have an intimate Malaysian Chinese gal from Kuala Lumpur... Right, he says she's a pretty good spicy cook and he loves all Malaysians 'cos of this sweet gal...! Now he's heart-broken -she's gone home!



These four cute chinhuhuas belong to a lady at Maketu Beach...









I drove all the way from Rotorua to Auckland in South Island and spent over a week with my relatives. It was a fantastic time... here an environmental expert is conducting a talk about what Kiwis can do to help the environmental cause. The talk was informative but conducted in Mandarin!Later, there were about ten lucky draws... and amazingly, I won a potted plant together with three others in our Sarawakian group (including my aunt and a couple)!












Here's a mysterious shot below taken at Maketu Beach... The Chinese alighted from a vehicle in front of me suddenly and then sat on a bench, sobbing her heart out. I was about to come out to chit-chat with her to comfort her when a shaggy long hair Caucasian Kiwi came from another vehicle to comfort her by wrapping his an arm around her neck!

By the way, for you history buffs out there, Maketu is rich in history and one book I found in Te Puke's fine library written by an Eurasian (Interestingly, I would meet one of her close relatives, a Justice of the Peace, one day!) Europeans first landed in that part in New Zealand's South Island but before they came, the various Maori tribes in this area were warring against one another... and yes, they ate their enemies up after defeating them!!!

More to come... So while Sarawakians here may have practised head-hunting centuries ago, the Maoris practised cannibalism!

A Beloved Witness for Christ to the End

I was researching in my archives when I came across this carbon copy of a letter written by the late Garnet Dearnley, from New Zealand. In it, he aptly described his experience in Miri here in those days. In delving deeper, I learnt more about him and actually came to the realisation that this European truly loved my old school, Saint Columba's School and its founding mission, the Anglican Church.

Sadly, the late Dearnley, a jolly lecturer at Tanjong Lobang College died at quite an early age in a fatal motor-cycle accident near where he is presently buried, in the oldest Christian graveyard in northern Borneo, between St. Columba's School and St. Columba's Kindergarten. His grave is closest to Abang Indeh Road with abundant yellow daffodils growing beside it and has the friendly handsome gent's pic, placed there by his son whom I met over a year ago.
Every day, as I bring my wife who works as the headmistress of St. Columba's kindergarten there, his face would be seen with a friendly grin.