I had such a nice time in Cambridge. I waited at the Auckland airport at 1am because my uncle's friend in Malaysia who happens to be Maori was supposed to touch down at 1.20am. His twin brother hadn't arrived yet so I waited in the lounge above the arrival area with my 3 FULL bags. They were bloody heavy and I wondered so much what the hell I was carrying that was so heavy. I have deduced they are my extra pair of shoes ie a pair of boots I bought for my catering job with Austins, curry powder belacan and spices, rice (yes rice, 2kg), and toiletries ie shampoo conditioner etc.
The family were so nice to me. The twin brothers wife is a majorly good cook. She was just constantly in the kitchen and yes I did take pics of her creations. One dish I was extremely happy to have tried was pavlova - yes pavlova for real! That one was for you my sister ;) .... NZ and Oz have a longstanding feud over who's pavlova really is and when I was at my friends in Botany it came out in the news that pavlova is NZ's so the country was pretty overjoyed. Because you see if i go by what I'm reading in my Lonely Planet for NZ it sounds like the country has a complex.
On page 18 it explains how the All Blacks, "the most successful rugby team in history", had a "dazzling failure" at the 2007 Rugby World Cup losing to France. "The dumbfounded nation wept in the streets and looked around for someone to blame - calls for wholesale sackings were followed by ugly character assassinations in the media. The fragile national psyche took a beating, distraught Kiwis turning to each other and saying, 'We suck at the only thing we're good at!'" On page 40 under ' The National Psyche' it reads: "New Zealand is that little guy at school when they're picking rugby teams - quietly waiting to be noticed, desperately wanting to be liked. Then, when he does get the nod, his sheer determination to prove himself propels him to score a completely unexpected try. When his team-mates come to congratulate him he stares at the ground and mumbles, 'It was nothing, ay'". Ya they do say 'ay' a lot. It's like our 'lah'.
I had a great time with the family. The twin brothers daughter is the same age as my sister back home and my goodness I really think they look the same! Also they are very sporty and active girls. I got quite attached to her, she was really lovely. We played on the trampoline all the time. i even got Christmas presents under the tree! So baik kan diorang? I didn't have time to know them all before getting presents so I just got a box of chocolates to share. I got 3 Maori-themed necklaces and a small fondue maker.
