Pictures from my Oct 08 New Zealand adventure

Last month, I took a personal holiday back to Australia (surprise!) and New Zealand. It was mainly to catch up with my friends in both Sydney and Melbourne and also try something new before I turned 29.

The highlight of my New Zealand stay was my trip to Queenstown. If you are into adventure holidays and winter sports, Queenstown is your place. This place is just action packed, naturally beautiful and simply worth the money and time to get there. There are so much things to do and to see there.

During this trip, I took the plunge (literally) and tried bungy jumping of the original Kawarau Bridge. I even had a dip when I free-fall into the river. It was such an exhilarating experience!

The second highlight was the trip to Milford Sound. It is a 12 hours day trip but the view along the way is quite special on its own. Miles and miles of flat green pastures, spring lambs with their mums, thick snowfall on the way to Milford Sound makes the trip rather enjoyable. Milford Sound takes the experience another level up. You feel in awe of nature.

You can find the remainder of my New Zealand (including Auckland) pictures from here.

My Personal Photo of the Day – Cemetery in Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown Cemetery from my Queenstown, New Zealand photo set.

This picture was taken in the local cemetery in Queenstown, New Zealand during a recent holiday. The cemetery was located on a hilly slope with breathtaking view of The Remarkables. The cemetery was a beautiful and peaceful final resting place.

The picture was taken a bright clear fine day but I decided to tone down the colour with the BW features of my camera.

Aussies, Need a Day Off? Let’s Invade New Zealand!

Last week, The Pitch Challenge (The Gruen Transfer, ABC) is to develop an advertisement to sell the unsellable – Convince Aussie to invade it’s close neighbour – New Zealand. Why would anyone want to invade such a beautiful and peaceful country like NZ?

The two agencies tasked with this brief came up with two smart ads, one that would really appeal to the (some) Aussies and the other, a cheeky play with NZ runaway success tourism campaign. Brilliant!

Apparently after the show was broadcasted, a small group of Kiwis took offence with the plot. In response, the producer of the show will give the Kiwis a fair go (Aussie slang) to “take their revenge” on the final episode of the show.

Related links:

• Kiwis get all defensive about TV invasion plot (SMH)
• The Gruen Transfer – Let’s Invade New Zealand (Youtube)

PS: This brief is not authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra (at least not publicly acknowledged)

Microsoft Research Asia Internship Opportunities for Australia, New Zealand and Singapore PhD Candidates

The following Microsoft Research Asia groups are recruiting interns for the period from Jul – Sep 08:

• User Interface
• Media Communication
• Data Intelligence and Tools
• Machine Learning
• Visual Computing
• Internet Media
• Search Technology Center

Internship program, background information and FAQ are avaliable from
http://research.microsoft.com/aboutmsr/jobs/internships/about_china.aspx

Interested PhD candidates from Australia, New Zealand and Singapore universities, please contact me () for more information. Please note that I can only respond to relevent AU, NZ and SG enquiries.

Interested applications from other countries may email msraih@microsoft.com.

“Raped” NZ Man Spoke Australian After Wombat Assault

The Sydney Morning Herald reported a New Zealand man who claimed to have been left speaking Australian after being raped by a wombat has been sentenced to 75 hours community service.

Arthur Ross Cradock told police he was being raped by a wombat, and sought their immediate help.He called police again soon after, and gave his full name, saying he wanted to withdraw the complaint.

“I’ll retract the rape complaint from the wombat, because he’s pulled out,” Cradock told the operator at the communications centre.

“Apart from speaking Australian now, I’m pretty all right you know, I didn’t hurt my bum at all,” Cradock then told the operator.

Berno: Maybe it’s time to update those sheep jokes?