Haanism

Working holiday means, you are given a visa to travel and work in a country. It could be like, when you have no money, you work for awhile to gain some moolah. After that, you continue your journey again.

Sounds good, isn't it? In the past, Malaysians can work holiday in UK and NZ. Nowadays, the available ones are from Australia and NZ. The UK working holiday visa is no longer open for Malaysians. You guess why?


Working holiday is pretty common nowadays, where people take the chance to experience different life style, explore new places and culture, as well as to do something that is out of the boring yet typical working life - car loan, house loan, insurance, kids etc.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.

The first step of it is to apply for the visa. However, before you lodge your application, you had better have a thorough read through of these pages:

1. NZ Immigration Website
2. A working holiday in NZ
3. Malaysia Working Holiday Scheme


In short, to be eligible, you must:

• have a Malaysian passport that‘s valid for at least 3 months after your planned departure from NZ
  
• be at least 18 and not more than 30 years old
  
• not bring children with you
  
• hold a return ticket or sufficient funds to purchase such a ticket
  
• have a minimum of NZ$2,250 available funds to meet your living costs while you’re in the NZ
  
• meet certain health and character requirements
  
• be going to NZ to holiday, with work being a secondary intention for your visit
  
• not have been approved a visa or permit under a Working Holiday Scheme before.

The scheme runs from 1 January each year. There are 1150 places available annually under this scheme to young citizens of Malaysia for a stay of 6 months.
The application process is truly handy, where you need to only have a credit card for the payment of application fees. For my case, I got my application approved in <3 days!! After making sure you are interested and eligible, visit the Online Service login page, and register yourself. Later, login using the registered username and password. Fill in all the required details and pay the application fess online, which is NZ $120, or approximately RM 285. If you are in New Zealand on a working holiday permit and you are able to show you have undertaken three months or more of seasonal work in the horticulture and viticulture (grape-growing) industries during your working holiday, you may apply for the working holidaymaker extension permit. This permit is for an additional 3 months at the end of your working holiday. Before your trip, make sure that you print out a hardcopy of your working holiday visa, to show it to the immigration officer when you arrive in NZ. Perhaps you can read Feng's experience dealing with the immigration offers when she reached NZ :)

* Update on 1 Sept 2009: Today, only I found out that in fact I did not have to apply for the NZ Working Holiday Visa, coz I'm currently holding the Australian Permanent Residency Visa. With AU resident visa, I could enter NZ easily and be granted a working rights in NZ. Huh, wasted the money. But anyway, money can be easily earned back :)

Going to Picton | Around Picton | Loo in Picton

Note: The third NZ photo album is up.. check out the end of this post.

That day, we were trying to find a toilet, before we started our 2 hours plus car-drive from Picton to Kaikoura.

Somewhere at the High Street (the main street in Picton), we saw and visited this public & free EXELOO. We were quite impressed with it... :)

First, you have to press on a button for the door to open.

In the toilet, you are reminded to lock your door. Press button again to lock it.

It will give you toilet paper of certain length. However you can press to stop the provision of toilet paper if you feel it's already enough.

Do not forget to wash your hands (with soap) and dry them... all of these are using censors.

This toilet is pretty hi-tech, don't you agree?

She couldn't find me?? Hey I'm at this side..

This toilet could be something we feel hard to forget about Picton :)

FYI, this is proudly manufacture by EXELOO. "EXELOO facilities are designed for your comfort and safety" they say.

When you are inside the toilet, it plays you music to "enjoy the session".

However, please limit your "stay" to <10 minutes, coz after 10 minutes, the door will automatically open and the alarm will sound. P/S: Another person writes about it too.

Previously, I was 4 hours ahead of my family and friends in Malaysia.

But now it becomes 5 hours ahead, due to daylight saving.


Do you notice the 2nd column of the image above?

It will be harder for us to meet and chat with each other online.

P/S: This is written on 24 Sept 2009.

I've been in NZ for a week plus.

During the day, I'd go around. Just that sometimes I wake up a little late (10am+) due to the cold weather. I covered myself from toe to head, and if there is nothing very special, I'd not set alarm. I'm holidaying... alarm should be minimized.


At night, I'd transfer the photos taken on the day to laptop, and then select and resize the good ones, to be uploaded.

However, from time to time, I'm always looking for the chances to get online :) Perhaps I can briefly talk about the stories between the Internet and I in the past 1 week.

From the airport, I took Airport Flyer ($8) to go to the city. The journey was about 18 mins, and there is Wifi on board. That was my first time getting online from a bus! Felt so good :)

I stayed at Rosemere Backpackers upon my arrival in NZ. It allows a free 30 minutes of Internet usage everyday, using the only public PC. We need to pre-register ourselves by writing our names.


The PC is not high-end, but at least it allows us to plug in our external drive (USB, CD etc). The mouse is not in a good condition. I always fully utilize the 30 minutes session, by having all things pre-done. For example, photos had been processed (just upload), articles had been written (just cut and paste).

After I moved out, I still went back to visit Yi, or to have dinner together with her. Sometimes, when I see the room is blank, I also sat in and used the Internet there. No one knew that I had actually moved out :)

For your information, the public library in Wellington DOES NOT provide free Internet access or Wifi. CAFENET is available at $10 for 24 hours. Are you aware that Wellington is the capital city of NZ?


Next, I went to Masterton. The library there does provide free Wifi. There is no charge as long as you are using your own laptop and battery (not consuming their power supply). If you are using their Internet PC, you can use 30 minutes for free.

Yi and I brought our laptops there, well-prepared to get online for few hours. Who knows, there is quota limitation on the Internet usage. MSN forced us to install MSN Messenger updates... so we had to download the latest EXE file. After awhile, we could not use the Internet anymore due to quota limit had been exceeded.


When we were in Greytown, the small town took us not much time to finish our visit. Then we stopped by the library again. The staff was very good, even asking us to go to 2nd floor for a more comfortable sofa. I turned on my laptop, there was something wrong though their Wifi could be detected. Therefore, I went down to use a public Internet PC.

The Internet there was superb!! Fast and reliable.. I was happily uploading my processed photos. Since there were not many people waiting to use the PC, no time limitation was imposed on me. I said good bye to the staff there when we were about to catch the next bus.



At the Masterton Library, something funny happened. I tried to detect the Wifi. No respond, so I decided to use an Internet PC there. The staff happily gave me a code to login to the PC. After awhile, I went over to tell her "FYI the Internet is not working".

She replied "I know, we are trying to get it fixed by 5:30pm."

I was curious.. why didn't she tell me when I requested a code from her (I clearly stated that I wished to use the Internet)? Instead, she waited till I told her something was wrong, then she answered "I know".

During my time in Masterton, the Couch Surfing member, Steve, also allowed me to use his broadband Internet. I just plugged the network cable into my laptop, after taking dinner together. I did not use it till too late, as the people here tend to sleep early.

Today, I came back to Wellington, and checked-in to Wellywood Backpackers. There is Wifi available without limit. Therefore, apart from the time I was supposed to "do something appropriate", I spent most of my time being a "spider lady" today, by crawling on the web.


It's very funny here in New Zealand. At the libraries located in small towns, they provide and allow you to use their Wifi for free. At bigger places, you have to pay for it. Also, the charges in big city is also more expensive ($3 per hour), whereas at smaller places, you pay less ($2 per hour).

Honestly, I'm not very used to having NO Internet in my life. The time spent on it is getting little, and I'm trying my best to adapt to such a lifestyle.

It's not coz I have so many photos to upload, but sometimes I really need to get online to check mails, and to accomplish some necessary tasks, inclusive of info searching.

Please feel grateful if you are having 24/7 access to broadband Internet now!

Since I'm not able to write travel posts now, would like to share the photos with you first. Once I've new photo album, will update this post from time to time.

This post can be reached by just clicking on the "NZ Photos" on the green menu above.


Album One: 16-21 Sep 2009
- Arriving Wellington (views from the plane)
- Rosemere Backpackers, Wellington
- Around Wellington
- Couch-surfed with Sarah in Te Aro
- Lots of tulips from Botanical Gardens
- Couch-surfed with Steve in Masterton
- Masterton town

Album Two: 21-26 Sep 2009
- Castlepoint
- Around Masterton
- Greytown
- Martinborough
- Wellywood Backpackers, Wellington
- Interislander (Wellington to Picton)
- The Villa Backpackers, Picton

Album Three: 26-30 Sep 2009
- Picton - Queen Charlotte Drive, Waikawa Bay
- Driving from Picton to Kaikoura
- The Lazy Shag Backpackers, Kaikoura
- Whale-Watch
- Seal Colony
- Grapevine Backpackers, Blenheim
- Havelock
- Couch-surfed with Cecile, Rai Valley
- The central of NZ, Nelson
- The White Elephant Backpackers, Motueka
- Takaka, Golden Bay (Waikoropupu Springs, Wainui Falls, Tata Beach, Pohara)
- The Nook Backpackers, Clifton

Album Four: 1-6 Oct 2009
- Golden Bay
- Port Motueka
- NZD 2 per bag Kiwi Fruits
- The Lazy Cow Backpackers, Murchinson
- Westport
- Te Nikau Retreat, Punakaiki
- Punakaiki's Pancake Rocks and Blowholes
- Greymouth
- The Neptunes International Backpackers, Greymouth
- Lake Brunner, Moana
- On the way to Arthur's Pass
- YHA Backpackers, Arthur's Pass
- Arthur's Pass National Park (trekked on the ice!)

Album Five: 6-13 Oct 2009
- Arthur's Pass National Park (some photos of plants)
- Leaving Arthur's Pass for Christchurch
- Changed a bigger car, Mazda Familia
- Few shots around Christchurch
- Mountain Jade Backpackers, Hokitika
- Franz Josef Glacier Walk
- Montrose Backpackers, Franz Josef
- Lake Matheson
- Fox Glacier
- On the way to Wanaka (Bruce Bay, Knights Point, Lake Hawea)
- The Purple Cow Backpackers, Wanaka
- Lake Wanaka
- Puzzling World
- on the way to Queenstown
- Deco Backpackers, Queenstown
- Skyline Gondola

Album Six: 13-18 Oct 2009
- Skyline Gondola
- Queenstown Garden
- Arrowtown
- Gibbston Valley Cheesery
- Fernhill
- The Coronet Peak
- Old Lower Shotover Bridge (Historic Bridge)
- Lake Hayes, Lake Wakatipu
- Around Queenstown

Album Seven: 18-23 Oct 2009
- Queenstown Hill
- Milford Sound Lodge
- Milford Sound
- Lake Te Anau
- Possum Lodge, Lake Manapouri
- Southern Comfort Backpackers, Invercargill
- Invercargill
- Dolphin Lodge, Curio Bay
- Catlins

Album Eight: 23-27 Oct 2009
- Fernlea Backpackers, Kaka Point
- Dunedin
- Couch-surfed with James
- Otago Peninsula
- Port Chalmers
- Couch-surfed with Yu Hsien
- Shag Point (fur seals)
- Yellow-eyed penguins in Oamaru

Album Nine: 27-30 Oct 2009
- Blue penguins in Oamaru
- Empire Hotel Backpackers, Oamaru
- Oamaru
- Mt Cook (helicopter flight, Hooker Valley, YHA)
- Lake Tekapo

Album Ten: 30 Oct 2009 and onwards
- Lake Tekapo
- Geraldine
- Rawhiti Backpackers, Geraldine
- Leeston
- Christchurch
- Akaroa
- Leaving Christchurch. Goodbye NZ!!

Was thinking not to write this post.. but some people are expecting it.. so, I do it :)

Also, if I do not write them now, I might forget all these INTERESTING STORIES later...

Actually, should the title be "more interesting stories about HR", or "more stories about interesting HR"???

Okay, that's not important..

---

Story 1:

Annual appraisal was done between each employee and his/her boss. This is common. Apart from your boss, who will know best about what have been assigned to you, what have you done, and how was your performance?

At somewhere (the same company mentioned in the previous posts "unethical HR" and "useless HR"), the HR department told someone, you do not worth the marks your boss has given to you.

Someone asked HR for the reasons, but the HR could not provide any.

Is this fair?

What's the reason behind for being so "professional"? Reluctance to give bonus or salary increment?

However, if your boss is the CEO, even though you never do the appraisal together with your boss and you get damn high marks which you also do not believe, HR will just say you are great.

Just coz your boss is the CEO.

---

Story 2:

There is a not-yet-married couple in the office.

One day, the guy got a job offer with the company's competitor, so he resigned. Due to certain reasons, the HR required the girl to leave the company.

Some people just feel curious, what if one day the couple break up?

If a company does not trust its employees, does it have the rights to ask people to work whole-heartedly for them? Even if it has the rights, do you think the employees will do that?

People treat you in the way you treat them.

Also, if you are in love with someone working in the same organization, please think twice before letting the others know, esp if your HR cares about the company's benefits very very much.

---

Story 3:

All people know, the HR is DOING EVERYTHING, EXCEPT THE RIGHT THINGS!

"Everything" include kissing someone's ass.

Therefore, when you reach office early in the morning and get ready to start the day, someone from the HR department will bring a Star newspaper to you.

When you look carefully, you'll find that it's actually not a Star newspaper, but it's a huge birthday card of the similar size. At the same time, the person asked you sign on it, without telling you the exact purpose, for example, who is the recipient of the card.

You don't have to ask much. Just follow the instructions, write a truly-sincere (although you feel ridiculous) greeting and sign.

You know the quality of the HR department. Smart people does not need to kiss ass. A good and normal person also won't simply expose his butt for others to kiss or lick.

Helping HR do something to please their boss will get you good returns... hopefully.. though you might look down at yourself for a short moment.


P/S: Pictures are sourced from Mark Lee's post.

Hi guys... sorry for having no photo at all in the few previous posts. Now, I'd like to share with you some photos I took in Botanical Garden, Wellington, on 19-20 September 2009.


I love tulips.. though I don't know how to explain :)

Uploaded all these photos to my NZ album in Facebook.. the few below are those I love the most.

How about you.. which is the nicest from your point of view?


Leave me a comment with your favorite photo, okay? :)