New Life in New Zealand

Post Gaza

2009-01-23T18:28:00.001+13:00

Last Sunday, Addeana came out of the room, and with some relief in her voice said "Mama, the Israelis are leaving Gaza...". With some apprehension, and slight joyous disbelief Julie said "are you sure?" It surprised me that Addeana took notice of the war, but I guess I underestimated her, or maybe the obscene lack of morality in this particular invasion has permeated into our lives more than I have anticipated.

In the aftermath the numbers arise, more than 1300 lives were lost, more than 500 of them women and children. The cost of the damage is more than $400 million some estimates it. But how can you put a cost on loss of humanity.

Lets step back from our guarded relief and examined what has happened... Why did the Israelis invade Gaza.

a) The official reason is to eradicate Hamas, so as to protect Israel from the rocket fire into Israeli territory. If this was the reason, was the invasion a success? From the beginning, nobody believed that Hamas could be eradicated in this manner. Now as the invasion is over, as the troops pull out, they obviously did not acheive this goal. I doubt very much that this could be the reason.

b) The second reason is to "educate" Hamas. In the war with Lebanon recently, when they were trying to rid of Hisbollah, it was reported that the Israelis "lost" that war. This was the first defeat of the modern Israeli army. But did they really lose, or did they acheive their goal. Their goal was to undermine the support that Hizbollah has from the people and the silent tolerance that the Lebanese government has for the Hisbollah. Did they acheive this? So it could be that the invasion of Gaza was to undermine the support that the people have for the Hamas. To teach the government of Palestine and people of Palestine that if they dont stop the Hamas then the cost to them will be an Israeli invasion. That the 1300 plus people lost their lives because there is support for the Hamas, to teach them a lesson.

c) The third reason could be a distraction, to distract the people of Israel from some internal issues and galvanise them, or to distract the world from the economic crisis that looms over the whole world today.

d) The last could be simple revenge, an eye for an eye.

None of the reasons above give Israelis moral high ground yet they still pursued their course of action, there is still no logic to it and it is a matter of time before the rockets start again as one thing is for sure, the war has ignited more hatred for the Israelis than before, definitely in Palestine if not, then a larger amount of people in the world.

What have we done as we sit watching our televisions, or reading of the horrors of the invasion, looking for pictures on the net to convince ourselves or to get more proof that this is an atrocity? The protests and demonstrations occured around the world. We talk among ourselves. Osama Bin Laden used this as an opportunity to further his cause to call for the Muslims to fight, but who appointed him leader of the Muslim world anyway. We showed our anger from our posts in the net, from our letters to magazines and newspapers. Has it had any effect on the scheme of things. Maybe it did, some of us may feel contented that we have done something, and some carry on with our lives with the possible guilt of saying... "thank God it is not happening to me..."

This particular invasion may be over, but when will it happen again. The overall scheme of things have not changed from before and after the invasion so I doubt that this is the end of it. Do we then wait till it happens again and start our protests yet again, or is there anything we can do to continue our protests and prevent it from happening again. What could we do?

Could a boycott of products of Jewish owned companies work? There are many websites that list down Jewish owned or friendly companies. The difficulty is that it is racism to boycott these companies as they are Jewish owned but not necessarily supporting the Israeli cause. To say all Jews should pay the price for the invasion is almost equivalent to saying that all muslims are terrorist and should pay the price for "Islamic driven" terrorist attacks in this world.

Could we plan what to do next? We have always said we are not united and not strong enough in this world to make a difference. But is that true or is that an idea we have implanted in our minds. What if every single person who opposes the invasion, in the whole world, stop work completely and stand outside our houses and stop work until something is being done. What standstill it will bring to the world and unfortunately chaos too. But what is that compared to the chaos of the people of Palestine. It will mean a big sacrifice on our part, and great risk but if done in unity and only in complete unity, it will also mean a big impact.

My view on Gaza

2009-01-14T22:12:00.001+13:00

The world awaits the end of the year in anticipation, what disaster shall strike us this time. Another tsunami, another natural disaster to wake us from our slumber? As I worked, the screen shows another disaster unfolding, not something that will make us jump to our feet and organise ourselves to assist, but something that is ever so familiar. The Israelis are bombing Gaza, again. In retaliation to rocket attacks, the Israelis have a right to defend themselves so the American says. The rest of the world watch, not as much in horrow like they would at the disaster of the Tsunami, or September 11 but with such impotence and helplessness that the Israelis will do as they wish, in the name of "self defence".

The whole world will protest, hundreds and thousands may take to the streets, the UN will call for a ceasefire, the European Union will give blistering speeches and the US will remain in silent support like a huge serpent with shackles in one leg, that quietly bows and watches as her master slaughters his neighbours the way one will just spray insecticide onto an ants nest.

The muslim community around the world are up in arms chanting slogans and signing petitions as if anyone will listen and read. Everyone seems to have an opinion. Suddenly we had brothers in Palestine that were being slaughtered. Suddenly we realise that even without war they do not have the basic necessities to live a comfortable life. Suddenly we scramble to get donations to help our opressed brothers. Suddenly we doa and pray for their safety. Suddenly we decide that we will not support brands that is "Pro Jewish", or jew owned companies, after literally cherishing and endorsing the same products and brands for months and years before. What does that speak of our intelligence and unity. What does that speak of foresight and wisdom.

Everyone has an opinion as to what we should do and how peace has to be restored. Almost everyone wants Israel to stop the invasion.

I ask myself what can i do, then I remember the words of a Palestenian doctor who addressed us at the FIMA meeting in Jordan in 2005, he said "if you want to help us in Palestine, don't come and join us in our fight, we have enough fighters. Do what you can to make our ummah stronger where you are from..."

Manly, Sydney

2008-12-31T11:36:00.001+13:00

Photobucket Album

Walking in Manly

2008-12-29T21:03:00.000+13:00

Saturday 27 dec 2008 - Sydney

Took a trip to Manly, set out of apartment at 11 am and made way to Circular Quay. Being a Saturday morning the crowd was considerable, bought ferry tickets for AUD12.80 return trip on Manly Ferry.

Day was slightly overcast so not the best to get a wide angle shot of the harbour, hope the return trip is better.

At Manly I have 2 choices, either to walk the 9.8 km track to The Spit or walk to Manly beach and onto the Cabbage Tree Aquatic Reserve and then to Shelly Beach and onto the Sydney Harbour National Park. Will do the Sydney harbour national park route today.

Arrived at about noon, headed through The Corso. Found a Coles supermarket so could get some stuff on way back. Also some bargain shops, selling like 2 dollar shampoo etc, another stop for the way back.

After about 800m, found myself on Manly Beach. Crowded with bodies everywhere, sunbathing, playing ball and frisbee, swimming and surfing. Not the most pleasant of walks, as it was too crowded. Passed the Cabbage Tree Aquatic Reserve and then onto to Shelly beach. And there were people snorkelling! Must bring my snorkels the next visit here. Apparently there are groupers, squids and the occasional sharks.

Following shelly beach, the trail starts becoming uphill in the form of steps. There is much less people now. The vegetation changes now, more Australian Bush type of plants, Thick barks and branches as if twisted by the shifting winds, plants have thick spiny leaves indicating not much water, not surprising as the whole ground is standstone, with a layer of soil here and there, and there the plants thrive.

At the top of the first climb there is a lookout and it is already 1.30 pm, feeling hungry and a bit faint, guess it is poor fitness or time for lunch so on top of a cliff overlooking Manly, had my lunch.

Walked further on the trail, past a car park and into a track between bushes and suddenly I was completely alone. Followed a trail towards the coast and at after about 10m found myself at the edge of the cliff. All alone, wind on my face, the sound of waves against the rocks below, enjoyed the solitude, the overlooking the Tasman Sea. About to get comfortable when a German family came to the same location, climbing all over the rocks, there goes my solitude and so set out to walk further. Magnificent sandstone rocks formation, some layered after centuries, some on top of another. Came to another cliff and looked at where I was earlier, the rock I was on actually protruded over the Cliff!

The walk took about 1 hour henceforth even though it was only 800m , saw the old quarry that is now a swamp though high up in the cliffs with no obvious water source except for the stagnant water that is likely from the rain, and collecting where the quarry was.

The sandstone wall, must find out why it was built, actually just a wall right in the middle of the cliff, as if separating two sides of property. Climbed through the hole in the wall to go on and finally came to a road. Walked down the road to see there is no one there anymore, so just walked till found a closed gate, walked back and saw 3 people, one lady about 60, another about 30s and a girl of about 7. They seemed happy to see me and must be lost. They were looking to find the beach again and seeing that I had my fill of walking decided to guide them back, Introductions around and the middle one was Jo, a surfer chick, which explain shoulders broader than mine and more deltoid muscles than I can hope to have, the older lady Cheryl and the child Katrina. Further conversation found that they are from………NEW ZEALAND!

Clouds were coming in so best to head back to the beaches and then home. The walkback was faster and less stops for me. Talking and getting to know my new tramping companions.

Arrived back to Manly, said goodbyes and then it was the shopping I wanted to do earlier, spent about AUD20 at the cheap shot and another AUD20 at supermarket. Stopped at a bench to finish my food and also repack bags. Finally I thought my adventure was over, and going to settle quietly on the ferry to continue writing this. In the ferry found a quiet corner for myself and a group of 3 ladies sat on the same row. The clouds started looking really menacing and whipped out my camera again… when the ladies asked if I got good photos. We talked and when they found out I was looking for places to see they came down with a list. Journey was over soon enough got a picture of the three ladies and off I went back to the apartment, oh yes, in the rain.

Alone in Sydney

2008-12-26T17:58:00.003+13:00

Enjoying my time in Sydney, it was great that I am given an apartment instead of a hotel so I can cook and not have a housekeeper in the room everyday!

Sydney posting will be almost all the weekdays from now to January.

So far the work has been ok and as usual, as an outsider it will take time to make friends.

Days are spent at the gym in the morning then off to work and then home in evening, cook dinner and tomorrows lunch and then sleep. Any other free time is spent taking photos!

Doing chores and cooking is accompanied by either Micheal Bubble, or ColdPlay or Robbie Williams.

So far not too bored yet as there are things to do. The grouse that I have is that there is no internet in the room! But, this makes me go out to the gym and take pictures so that is good, except no facebook access.

will put in pictures soon, like this one,..... dinner on 25/12/2008, cooked in about 30 minutes inclusive of boiling the pasta.

http://s32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/rhino1966/?action=view&current=IMG_6637.jpg

Will update more soon

How the thermal pot works....

2008-08-07T07:48:00.001+12:00

I became interested in this pot as I think it is an energy saving device.

Standard cooking over stoves and fires, done for centuries actually means loss of heat and hence energy to the surrounding by way of convection, evaporation and conduction. Most of the heat I think is lost through evaporation. Not only is heat lost but also valuable moisture.

The thermal pot is basically something like the old thermos flask but this time it is a pot. What it does is that if there is enough heat put into the pot by cooking, and the pot along with all its contents are put into a thermal system then the heat is contained along with the moisture. The contained heat continues to cook the contents of the pot and at the same time keep the moisture in.

Understanding this principle, then one has to regulate cooking in terms of how much heat is in the system and how long the food remains in the pot.the other advantage is that the food remains warm hence has the benefit of

a) having warm or hot soups at any time without having to reheat hence using more energy
b) great for outings where a nice hot bowl of soup will be great as it travels down the oesophagus and hits the spot in the stomach... ahhh

The pple that made it, I understand it was originally Zojiroshi then now of course there are many brands that make it too. In my last trip to Japan I found some made by thermos and it is a fraction of the cost of the Zojiroshi brand.

HOT UDON!

2008-07-29T12:25:00.001+12:00

Simple Udon soup recipe in thermal pot

2008-07-29T12:18:00.002+12:00

This is not necessarily something that needs a thermal pot, but the thermal pot was helpful in getting the flavours out of the vegetables without boiling for long periods of time.

Ingredients (serves about 10 bowls of udon)
2 litres of water200ml of kikoman or other japanese light soya sauce
4 table spoons of "Doshi" or the other term for it is "Bonito Bullion??" basically japanese fish flakes
4 table spoons of sugar
(the above in my mind are the basic ingredients, the rest below is up to you to alter the flavour)

I used stuff that is available and cheaply too here
1 stalk of leek - 79c new zealand - chopped fine
3 stalks of celery - less than a dollar - chopped fine
1 large onion chopped

Honestly no good way to say how to cook this except to dump all in the pot, simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes and then keep in thermal pot for about 3-4 hours.

In order to get a nice hot bowl of udon, I used instant udon (about $1 per packet).Boil the above soup in a pot, preferable just enough for 1 serving ( about 300ml per serving) then when boiling add in udon for between 1-3 minutes.

Transfer all contents into a bowl

Add on additional ingredients to flavour the udon eg - fish balls (sliced), strips of seaweed, japanese tofu skin or break an egg in the soup during last stages of boiling.

I will upload the picture soon

Thermal Pot Lamb rib curry

2008-07-27T10:07:00.002+12:00

Was going on a day ski trip so a nice hot lamb curry after skiing will be awesome.
The last time we did it, because of the oil that comes out of the lamb, there was a thick layer of sickly oil.

This time, trying one with less oil. Here is what was done.

Ingredients

1.5kg of lamb ribs
4 tablespoons of curry powder
2 onions2 tea spoons of salt
2 cinnamon sticks
2 anistar
2 cloves
5 medium sized potatoes
1 tablespoon of oil
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 cup of yogurt

At about 7pm the night before:

Stir fry in the oil the onions with the anistar, cinnamon and cloves until the onion is golden. Add in the tomatoes and then curry powderCook in the curry powder until fragrantAdd in the lamb and then yogurtAdd water to almost fully cover the lambbring to simmer and simmer for about 15 minutestransfer to thermal pot and let simmer for another 5 minutes before transferring into the actual pot itself.Close the pot to let cook inside the pot.

At about midnight, the inner pot was removed and leave to stand. The idea is to let the oil float to the top and with the cold weather here in new zealand, the oil should harden.

7 am, the oil has hardened somewhat so easily removed from the top layer. After removing the oil, the potatoes are added in (after cut into cubes) and then bring to simmer again for about 15 minutes.Then pot is closed and the inner lining put inside the outer lining and all is set.

By about 12 noon we will have hot curry in the ski fields.

Finally ate at about 4 pm actually because we were delayed getting to ski fields, still nice and warm and the hot curry sure hit a spot after cold skiing.

Hope this recipe works for all

my teaching of Islam to my kids

2008-07-20T20:22:00.000+12:00

To Sophia, Addeana, Hannafi and Hammadi,

Islam as a Simple Guide to life

When each of you were born, Allah has given me not only the pleasure of having you as a child but also a responsibility, a big responsibility. It is my responsibility to make you a good person. When we were in Singapore, I was never able to have the time to fulfil this duty, and this duty is one of the reasons why we move here to New Zealand, where life can be simpler and we can have time to spend with each other before you all grow up and lead your own lives. But before that happens, let me do my duty in teaching you to be the best that you can be. Remember it is said in the Quran that the best among you is the pious one. So if you are to be the best that you can be then being pious, that is to be good in the eyes of Allah, is one of the things that I have to try and make you to be.

Another reason I want to make you pious is that in life, we all have to make decisions, and I want to give you the tools, to teach you, to be able to make these decisions well. The decisions will never be wrong if you chose them based on the guidance of our beautiful religion Islam.

I am sure in your young minds, Islam seems so difficult to follow. Actually, Islam is a simple religion, a simple way of life. You have been told of so many rules and restrictions. You were told that you cannot do this and that and never told the reason why. I don't like that, I want you to know the reason. If you understand the reasons then you will see that it is easy to not only be a good muslim but also easy to go to heaven where I hope we all will be together again after this life on earth. You will find life easy to live and also simpler to live. You will be liked by not only your friends and family and all who meet you. You will be seen as a good person by all. And if you are seen as a good person by all, then you can stand tall and proud and I will be proud of you, just like I am proud of each of you now.

What is "life" in Islam?

Life in Islam is a journey, a journey that has only 2 possible destinations, heaven or hell. If you remember this then any choice you need to make in life is easy. If you need to decide something then decide on something that will bring you closer to heaven. For example, if someone asks you to go to a party and you are not sure if you want to go or not, then ask yourself which one brings you closer to heaven. If you have to decide what job to take, then ask yourself, which one brings you closer to heaven. Then every single decision you make will be easy and will bring you closer to heaven by the will of Allah.

Is getting to heaven difficult? It is not, all of us can get to heaven as prophet muhammad has said

“All of my ummah will go to heaven, except those who refuse”. - al muslim

Those who refuse are those who refuse to follow his words and the path that has been shown by Prophet Muhammad to us. So what is this path that Prophet Muhammad wants us to follow. It is an easy path, a simple one but it is the devil that puts things in your path, to pull you away from this path so that you may join him in hell in the hereafter.

How do you stay on this path and what do you do? Now you all play computer games and you understand about stages in your games. Well look at yourself as a person in a very real game. This game is the game of Life. At the end of your life, you will be judged by at which stage you are in, so here are the stages. If you complete and reach all the stages in this life then Heaven is there waiting for you, but if you do not complete the stages then at the end of the game you will not have enough to bring you into heaven. Also for you to be able to be accepted in the next stage, you must fulfil the stage before that, but keep in mind you are preparing yourself for the next stage.

Let me explain to you what these stages are.

Basic stage

To complete this basic stage one has to do 2 things

a) belief in the six tenets of Islam
b) perform the five pillars of Islam

a) the six tenets of Islam are
- to believe that there is only one almighty god
- to believe in the existence of prophets
- to believe in the existence of angels (malaikat)
- to believe in the existence of the holy books
- to believe in the day of judgement
- to believe that all good and bad comes from the almighty Allah

Simple isn’t it, all you have to do is belief, just like any basic stage of any game, it is simple to do. Next it is the:

b) the five pillars of islam which are
- to perform belief and recite the 2 kalimah " there is no god other than Allah, and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah"
- to perform prayers 5 times a day
- to perform fast in the month of Ramadhan
- to give alms for the poor at least once a year
- to perform the Haj if one has the ability to do so.

Do you know that just by doing the above that your entry into paradise, or heaven is guaranteed, that paradise will be your final destination? Easy isn't it. It is easy, so all you have to do is the above. But if you want to get to Heaven easier then there are several other stages.

The Muslim Stage

This is the next stage that you must try and achieve.

Prophet Muhammad said that “a Muslim is a person whom another muslim is safe from his hands and words.”

A muslim will not kill or hurt another muslim in any way through their actions like hitting or hurting, murder, rape or doing things that will harm other muslims.

A muslim will be careful of the things he say and he will make sure that his words do not hurt another muslim directly or indirectly.

You may ask, why would I want to hurt another muslim with my hands or words. Sometimes we do not do so intentionally, but we must be mindful, always remember what you say and what you do. For example, if you bring a muslim friend to a party and then at the party the muslim friend ends up drinking and doing bad things, then that muslim friend was not safe from your hands and your hands, your actions have made him do bad things.

Or you may have a friend whom you know secrets about, and if you tell his or her secrets and it ends up hurting him or her, then your words have caused harm to him or her, your friend is not safe from your words.

So remember when you do things or say things, make sure that the things you do don’t end up hurting another muslim, always do good then you will have passed the Muslim stage and be a Muslim yourself.

The Mukmin Stage

The stage after the Muslim Stage is the Mukmin Stage.

Prophet Muhammad said that “a Mukmin is a person who other people trust with their lives and property”. This means regardless of if they are muslims or not.

If another person, regardless of faith is able to trust another with their lives and property then it makes the that is trusted a very good person in the eyes of humanity.

Again with this concept a Mukmin will not commit murder, theft, trickery or attain wealth in dishonest means. A Mukmin, is a person who is deemed trustworthy by all of mankind.

Looking at this then for a Muslim to be a Mukmin he must be trustworthy, he will not hurt another human being regardless of the persons faith, race or religion. He will not take anything that is not his. Islam does not teach you to be good only to fellow Muslims but to all mankind.

So if you are thinking of doing something, like when you are walking down the street and you see a nice ball at the fence of a house, if you are a Mukmin then you will not take it because it does not belong to you. If you take it then you are not trustworthy. Also if someone lends you something, then you must always return it because if you don’t then the person is not able to trust you with his property.

The Muhajir Stage

Prophet Muhammad said that “a Muhajir person who migrates himself away from doing evil”

The simplicity of this is that a Muhajir will not perform acts that is deemed sinful. A Muhajir will not put himself in a place where evil is prevalent like gambling dens or other places of ill repute. He will stay away from sins onto himself like lust, alcohol, gambling etc.

For example if you have a group of friends and they ask you to do bad things when you go out together like vandalise or smoke or drink alcohol. Then if you excuse yourself and bring yourself away from them so that you don’t do these things then you are a Muhajir.

The Mujahid Stage

Prophet Muhammad said that “a Mujahid is a person who struggles to keep himself steadfast in the eyes of Allah.”

The Mujahid then is highest in that he struggles to keep himself steadfast, to not only to not transgress on other humans and individuals, not only stay away from sins but also struggles to gain the approval of Allah.

The easiest of this is a man who fights in the name of Islam and purely with the intention of gaining the favour of Allah.

The highest level acheivable is of course to die in Jihad, to die a Mujahid for a person who dies in Jihad goes automatically to paradise. However it must be thought that the stages come in order, that one cannot go away thinking that to die in a battle without being a Muslim or a Mukmin then one goes to paradise. As I said before you must first achieve the lower stages.

How do you struggle to keep yourself steadfast, you actually do it everyday my children. Each time you take wudhu’ and feel that it is cold, then you are struggling to keep yourself steadfast in the eyes of Allah. Each time you struggle to get yourself out of bed to pray Subuh then you are a Mujahid.

Conclusion

I hope you understand what I have been trying to say in the above. It is OK if you don’t we can discuss it as we go along, if you have decisions to make then we will discuss the decisions based on what we spoke above. Just like the 3 question test before we buy anything, the above I hope will guide you in making your decisions.

I love all of you and I hope we will all be together again in the hereafter, as a happy family which we are now, Insyallah.

family tobogganing trip to castle hill

2008-07-08T19:27:00.001+12:00

cosy night next to fireplace

2008-06-30T20:17:00.001+12:00

22June Mount Somers

2008-06-22T20:38:00.002+12:00

Sunday 22 June,

Since there are so many options, woke up at about 3 am to finally decide and decided on either Mount Somers or Arthurs Pass for an hour or so of tramping.

The plan is to use the Thermal Pot so that the food remains warm and we will travel 2 hours, do about 2 hours of tramping and by then the food will be cooked in the thermal pot. For those of you unfamiliar, the Thermal Pot is a pot that allows the food to cook slowly in the pot, using the heat that was in the pot after about 15 to 20 minutes of cooking. Here was my recipe for my lamb curry in thermal pot.

Ingredients

2 sticks of cinnamon
3 anistar
3 cloves
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic crushed
3 table spoon of curry powder
1 kg of lamb
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
3 teaspoons of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
4 medium potato

Partially boil the potato to make it easier to peel the skin actually, that is what I do,

Cook the onion and garlic till transparent in 2 tablespoons of oil.
Add the curry powder.
Stir in the cinnamon, anistar and cloves until the fragrance comes out
Add the lamb and add about 2 cups of water and mix in the lamb to ensure it is well coated with spices
Stir in the tomato paste
Add sugar and salt and finally the potato.

Simmer for 20 minutes over low to medium flame.
Transfer the contents all into the thermal pot inner pot and cook over small fire for a bit (I don't use the inner pot to cook because it is too thin and lots of time end up burning the onion.
After 20 minutes, put the inner pot into the thermal pot and it is ready to slowly cook an ready to serve hot in 4 hours.

Packed the rest of the food including the bread to eat with the curry and water and other snacks.

At eleven we were set to go and left Papanui.

En route we checked out Rolleston as a possible place to settle down and then set out to Mt Somers. Of course before Rolleston, we had to stop at Cookie time factory shop.

By 1.30 we have reached Mt Somers after stopping Burnett Lime Quarry and Reserve.

At Burnett Lime quarry we just sat by the stream while the kids play in the water.

Mt Somers offered several tracks and we decided to take the Nature trail, took us about 40 minutes one way and we were supposed to do a slight river crossing to make it one round. Decided not to try and cross the river and walked back. By 4 pm we were sitting at the car parking area cum park and eating hot curry with bread. Amazing to have nice hot food with no flame around. The thermal pot is a wonderful device.

housedadz

Weekend Trips.

2008-06-11T09:47:00.002+12:00

Past few weeks has been filled with activities in weekends and as we gain confidence we are exploring what this beautiful country with its beautiful people have to offer.

We did the following trips so far, some just simple tramping trips and some a bit more

May 11th - Tramping near Castle Rock... caught in sudden turn of weather and the temperature changed from nice sunny 16C to cold 7C in like 15 minutes as the rain and winds come in! Amazing experience, cold and I guess important lesson for us.

May 18th - Tramping and Jetboating trip to Rakaia Gorge, beautiful scenery, pictures in my photobucket website.

Sat 31May to Mon 2nd June - Trip to base of Aoraki (Mt Cook) for tramping and then down to Dunedin to visit Lanache Castle and Cadbury Factory (wouldn't it be nice if the world was chocolate...... song still ringin in my ear...)

7th June - Kaikoara for fishing trip (did not catch anything) and sightseeing in Kaikoara. Did not learn my lesson i guess with regards to weather change, beautiful sunny day on way up to Kaikoara but on way back, IT SNOWED!, took 4 hours to get back as the road was full of snow and precariously we were sliding at some point! Thank goodness for my Land Rover offroading experience (and plenty of luck and Gods will) that managed to get back safely in the Toyota 2wd 8 seater Granvia! Thats it getting a 4WD soon, in fact got it already but that is another story.... no not an overpriced Land Rover but just something to allow me to get to low gear and 4wd option and larger wheels... that story to come.

Tramping to Kea Point in Mt Cook

2008-06-11T09:27:00.001+12:00

Jet boating down Rakaia Gorge

2008-06-09T20:59:00.001+12:00

My routine now

2008-06-09T15:53:00.001+12:00

For those interested here is my daily routine, I need routine unfortunately. Call me boring but routine is a necessity for me.

6am - wake up - wash up - do my prayers with my beautiful wife (to do prayers together is a luxury never before had in Singapore.

6.30am - wake kids up and they get ready for school and lay out breakfast for all and not to mention my own morning coffee

7.20am - Julie off to work.

8.00am - kids off to school, no more sending! they walk!!

8.00 am to 10 am - on the comp, emailing, internet banking, maybe from now on blogging, surfing

10am - chores, laundry, clean house and prepare food for day

1230pm - wash up for prayers and if all chores done then sleep.... ahhh sleeep..

230pm - prepare kids lunch or lunch snack and start or continue preparing dinner.

3.30pm - kids home, they eat, wash up, pray, and then do chores for the day that is stipulated on the white board - by me!

4.30pm - Julie comes home

5pm all pray together

5.30 pm to 6 pm dinner is served

7pm kids do homework or read or play, all in the living room (the warm room for the house) and if nothing to do then will screen some movie on the projector.

9pm Kids go to bed me and Julie spend some quiet time... with a cup of Milo or Bournevita or juice

10 pm or later - if i am lucky ;) - sleep

Such is my routine for the day, of course we live for weekends! so far past weeks weekends has been tramping, driving to beautiful sights for photography, fishing and whatever else comes. Will describe more about weekends and routine life soon. Maybe talk about food too.

New Life

2008-06-09T15:46:00.000+12:00

After 41 years of living in $ingapore, for many reasons too many to mention here, we the Husaini Family is beginning our life in New Zealand. How long we will be here we do not know, but life is too short to wait for the opportune time. The opportune time is now! This is not the conventional step one takes at this age but who says one has to be conventional. I will try and document life and living and playing in New Zealand, and at interim periods remind myself of this gift of life God has bestowed upon us and hence live life in a manner that is suitable in his eyes. No seat belts needed, this is not a roller coaster ride, just have a cup of coffee or your favourite drink and read on if you wish...