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Tomorrow marks the last working day of the year for me. And what a truly up and down year it has been.

I was sad to leave my previous company. But things weren’t the same anymore. I missed my ex-colleagues, and I missed the steadying presence of my boss (and her boss!). These people gave me direction and constant motivation during my time there, and when they left, they also left a void that was never really filled. It’s true…you never really know a good thing till you miss it! And it’s funny how people you work with for 3+ years somehow become some sort of an extended family! But c’est la vie…people come, people go, right?

Sigh…I still miss it (my previous company) though. But I think what I miss is the memory of the good times we had there (J, AudiTT…I’m sure you know what I mean!).

I’m still getting used to this new place. Well, not so new anymore…I’ve been there for 5 months (how time flies!). It’s different…not a bad different, just different. I have a great team, though, and it looks like we’re all bonding well…I hope! And in trying to adapt into my current role of managing a team, I’ve always tried to remember what my ex-boss told us before she left…to treat your team as how you would like to be treated by your boss. Only time will tell if I’ve successfully followed that advice!

And so. One more day.

What will the new year bring, I wonder?

…I’m sleepy.

…I’m grumpy.

…I take ages to get ready for work.

…I surf the net while waiting for water in the kettle to boil.

…I do my ironing.

And on misty mornings such as these, I take photos of KLCC in my bathrobe with my hair still damp from a hot shower.

It’s no wonder I’m frequently late for work…

The 14 days we spent in New Zealand was unforgettable. The country is truly breathtakingly beautiful…

For me, this holiday was even more special as it was the first time since graduating that both hubby and myself could fully enjoy a holiday without thinking of work or the office. We just went there and had an absolute blast. We settled down in a routine of waking up, packing, loading the bags, me navigating and feeding hubby with food and drinks as he drove, listening to the CDs that hubby had recorded before we left KL…I really really treasure the time we spent together over there. The sights that we saw, the jokes that we made and laughed ourselves silly over, the taste of the food, the cold, crisp air…only both of us knows how it feels, and those are memories that I am thankful I had the chance to create.

If you ever do go there for a holiday, I strongly encourage you to self-drive. The routes are easy to plan, there are maps and directions aplenty at the major airports and iSite centres, and the road signs are a breeze to follow.

Here are some of the websites I used when researching for this trip…:

1. The Official Tourism New Zealand Website: This is a great site…I used this website the most…to plan the routes, search for basic information about the areas we were going to visit, etc.
2. Great Sights: for excursions and city tours.
3. Backpacking New Zealand
4. Four Corners, New Zealand Holiday and Travel Guide
5. New Zealand Tourism Online
6. Great hotel booking website
7. Fuelsaver: Calculate how much you’ll need to spend on petrol!
8. Wises: Street Guides and Maps…extremely useful
9. Maporama: More maps
10. Dayout: Maps and walking guides
11. Dine Out, New Zealand’s Leading Restaurant Review & Listing Website
12. Restaurant.com
13.Menus.co.nz, Auckland and Wellington Restaurants
14. Cuisine.co.nz: Another foodie website
15. Eatout.co.nz: Yet another food website
16. Information on Wellington
17. Information on Christchurch

If we were to go back again, I think we’ll love to spend a couple more days in Queenstown to try out all the activities over there. One day, someday, hopefully!

Despite all the packing and praying…we still got charged for extra baggage weight at the airport…hehe…

And the funniest thing happened when we were going through the luggage check…we’d checked in all the big bags, and I was pulling my small trolley bag while hubby had his backpack. One of the staff weighed my bag as I was going through and, of course, it weighed more than 7kg! She asked me to remove a few things (which I passed to hubby to hold) and re-weighed my bag. Satisfied that it was now less than 7kgs, she then weighed hubby’s bag. He passed my stuff back to me, so his bag also weighed less than 7kgs. So there we were, two bags weighing less than 7kg each, but carrying items that, put together, would probably weigh another 7kgs. And we were allowed through. I’m not complaining though…

We spent sometime buying food stuff for family and friends…biscuits, sweets and beef jerky…(which means we added another 2 or 3 kg to our hand luggage weight…nyeknyek…) before boarding the plane for the long flight back to KL. The flight itself was uneventful…unfortunately, it wasn’t a full flight though we did manage to get a row of 3 seats to ourselves.

As we stepped out into KLIA, and then out to the arrival hall where my parents were waiting to pick us up, I felt the humid, sticky air hit me…and I found myself missing NZ already…

And there you have it…the end of the NZ series!

Boo hoo…our final day in New Zealand!

We joined a half day Auckland tour in the morning…

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