Kevin Yung

Auckland, home sweet home

I woke up early in the morning at six to make the bed and have my breakfast, and catch the bus at 7:15am to Auckland. It’s sunny and rainy and a beautiful rainbow just appears on the skyline of New Zealand.

After arriving Flat Bush, the new developed area in East Auckland, I went to a Chinese restaurant with relatives whom my mum used to know 19 years ago in New Zealand. There are many Chinese there, most of them speak Cantonese and Mandarin. I feel like I’m not in New Zealand, but I am.

There are quite a few Chinese grocery stores there, but things are not cheap.

There are also quite a number of mainland Chinese migrants in Auckland, too. Therefore, you can see signs are written in Simplified Chinese.

Supermarkets in New Zealand are really HUGE, the ceiling is so HIGH

And some New Zealand products are cheap, I mean, can be cheaper than products in Hong Kong.

Boxes are just put on top of racks:

I’ve been to Botany Town Centre, which comprises different retail stores and shops.

“Farmers” is the one equivalent to “Wing On” in Hong Kong.

Walking around Whitianga

I have spent a week in Whitianga now. I spent my time to walk around, including the NEW WORLD supermarket, the bank, the post office, the clinic, the pharmacy, etc.

This is one of the units I am living in:

And you can just look at Buffalo Beach and Mercury Bay from inside the unit, which is marvellous:

This kind of tree is quite common in New Zealand:

I also went to Mercury Bay Area School with Talia, Barbara’s grand-daughter to watch a soccer match.

This is the motel Albert Number Six at 6 Albert Street, Whitianga

Auckland Airport and Whitianga

I arrived at Auckland Airport on Monday. I’m coming to New Zealand as a resident. I can actually go to a separate queue for re-entrance. I put my passport on the machine which scans it. There’s another machine which scans your eyes as well. It’s fast and easy.

The aircraft arrived early that day and I managed to get out to the arrival hall at around 12:10pm. Bought a new prepay phone card at Vodafone and got on to the internet to update my Facebook status, I managed to identify the go-kiwi bus driver Roy. He’s a nice guy and we had some chat. My way from Auckland to Whitianga, Coromandel-Thames is of course fantastic. The scenery is just marvellous. You can just see the animals, the cows, the sheep and the horses eating the grass on the two sides of the plains.

The new journey starts in New Zealand

I’m on the Cathay Pacific aircraft now typing this diary. My mum, dad, sister, grandpa, grandma and aunt went to the airport with me. On my way to the airport at dawn, the skyline of Hong Kong is marvellous, with the sun sinking to the ocean, covered by scattered long white clouds. I will never forget that.

It’s a mixed feeling because it’s my wish to travel to New Zealand to have a look at where I was born and stay. Meanwhile I missed my family very much, especially the moment I went inside the departure area for customs inspection. It’s all on my own. Although technology nowadays is very advanced that video conferencing can be set up handily, it’s not the same feeling when you can physically see the closed ones. Treasure the ones beside you.

I feel a little bit headache when the aircraft takes off and climb rapidly. There’s slight to moderate turbulence in the first part of the flight, but it’s much better now. Lights are switched off and everyone is sleeping. It’s 12:00am HKT.

I have just had a very late dinner. Not tasting good but edible. Had orange juice for drink. Crews are friendly and kind, I don’t have many requests though. I’ll try Air New Zealand next time if I have the same flight.

週日夜晚離港

很久沒有更新此BLOG，或許這裡有一些讀者，或是誤打誤撞上到來，沒所謂，這裡也只是我個人一些生活上的分享。我一直不知道該用甚麼語言來寫BLOG，有時候為了香港朋友的方便而用中文，有時候又想認識外國朋友而用英語，難以取捨之下唯有雙語合璧，有些文用中文，有些文用英語。

這次出行，或者是「回國」，一定有一種特殊的感覺。一方面，當然會懷念香港的一切，家人(見不到媽咪爹地)、認識已久的朋友等；另一方面，這次到紐西蘭讀書也是必要，是為未來鋪路，因為接近大學選科及高考期間，都一直在想究竟自己想要甚麼，我不能一直待在香港、人才埋沒；也不想hea過三年的大學生活，然後隨隨便便地出來社會，一事無成。或許真的想得太遙遠，但我大概會想在不久的將來能在紐西蘭落地生根，因為那裡才適合我，我也喜歡這個細小的奇異島國。獨自一人，可能需要一段適應期，任何人都需要啦，慢慢便會熟悉這裡的風土人情及環境，之後一切都應該很容易。

離開香港後，我會盡量更新此BLOG，可能會有很多相片、風景照上載到這裡。有興趣了解一下紐西蘭的人也可到這裡，甚至跟我通訊聯絡，哈哈。