Welcoming in 2006!

Before the night ends, i'd just like to wish all of you:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

It was a very disappointing end to the previous year with regards to the "countdown" at Aotea Square, Auckland, as they had ghosts that were similar looking to those used in the "Hungry Ghosts Festival" hanging around the square to the beat of amateur drummers to which I could find no significance or relevance. It left me rather confused. A further let down was when the fireworks from the Sky Tower exploded into the sky when the Maori procession counting down into the new year was only just beginning. Absolutely poor organisation.

To sum it up, the countdown in Christchurch was of a higher standard last year where bands played until 10 seconds before midnight and there was actually a proper countdown, followed by a beautiful display of fireworks which was synchronised to the stroke of midnight. Call me bias, but the event was an absolute disgrace, being that Auckland has the largest population in New Zealand. Nevertheless, I still maintain that everything is what you make of it and we did manage to enjoy ourselves in welcoming the new year.

Before I end, just a quick update about our trip to the Coromandel/Bay of Plenty. We did try to make the most out of the trip, packing our days with fun-filled activities. It was tiring but worthwhile. Unfortunately, the southern most destination that we travelled to was Kaimai (south of Tauranga) where we were expected to stay for 2 nights but decided to cut short our trip instead of heading down all the way to Whakatane. We arrived back in Auckland on Friday instead of the Saturday as initially planned.

Overall, it is an absolutely beautiful place to visit. We were blessed with warm and sunny weather. The highlight of the trip were the beaches and the beautiful scenery along the coast along with actually getting away for a holiday. The worse part of the trip was when we got sunburnt and tanned! Can't wait for winter to whiten us again! Hehe.

Photos will be uploaded within this week so keep an eye out on the photo section of this blog.

The lesson learnt for the past week is that communication and planning is of utmost importance and without it, we're doomed for failure. If you don't believe it, you soon will.

No mass cellphone messages from me today but for those of you reading, I hope that this year will prove to be a better one for us all, practising good will to those around us. May our knowledge and experiences strengthen us through the coming year and may we be blessed in every way possible with the view of success in all that we choose to endeavour in. Once again, I wish you all a very happy new year.