Dunedin

Last Saturday we went to Dunedin, (pronounced Duneeedun, by the locals) and I must say that this is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Due to time limitation (my husband had to work on Monday) we were only able to visit some places. Some kiwis call this region the 'Scotland of the South' because of the landscape and countryside...kalau orang yang belajar atau pernah visit UK countryside datang sini mesti nampak banyak resemblance..The Otago peninsular was magnificent and we saw one seal, sea kelps and a bunch of albataross and seagulss at the top of Taiaroa Head...but we didnt get to see the yellow eyed penguin though...

We also visited the Larnach Castle located nearby and as always with castles...the tragic suicide of the owner in 1898 lends a mystery to it..

Another very interesting landscape geological feature we were fortunate to visit is the Moeraki boulders in north Otago beac.These very round looking rocks are boulders formed on the sea floor about 60 million years ago..




I am continually amazed at Allah's beautiful creations...

These plants were photograpahed by my daughter Wan Nur Adilah bt Wan Roshdan at the gardens of Larnach Castle,Dunedin Otago NZ. on 21.12.08

Visitors from UKM

Last Monday our Department had a visit from a group of reseachers/lecturers from Lestari UKM. This research centre set up by UKM consists of many researchers in environmental management,sustainability and development. Researchers,Prof. Emeritus Dato' Dr. Abdul Samad Hadi, Dr. Ahmad Fariz Mohamed,En.Shaharuddin and their Registrar Pn Aniza dropped by to present their papers which they had previously presented in Auckland before arriving in Christchurch. The Pofessor had obtained his Masters from the Dept of Geography UC way back 38 years ago..kalau kira umur masa tu I baru 2 tahun,Prof dah dapat Masters dia...

I had invited them to my small abode for dinner. I also invited a few friends over..Natrah and her husband Asri, Mas and her family and the conversation revolved around many aspects, about his student life when he was a young lad in NZ..as well as their visits.But what struck me about the good and humble professor was his dedication towards the value of education and the importance for our student to always strive for excellence in academics..he also advised that the exposure we obtain from studying overseas is very important in building our confidence and knowledge and we must value this opportunity and any opportunity (the good ones of course) when it comes our way...

To Prof,Dr Fariz,En.Shahruddin,Pn.Aniza and their small entourage..thanks for visiting us...

Ikan Salmon NZ

Yesterday I followed my friend Mas who is also a post grad at UC to a salmon farm to buy some fish..fresh water salmon of course.The farm was very interesting because:

1.It is actuallly the Harewood quarry in Christchurch but due to increased aquifers (layers of rock containing water) and high water tables (level of ground water)in the Canterbury region, large lakes had formed and contains pure fresh water...and now are utilised to produce at least 170 tonnes of salmon per year..


2.It combines construction with conservation because although this is a construction company,the founder and the trust Sir Isaac Neill Trust maintains the 1000 hectare Peacock Springs wildlife park and area for salmon farming for kiwis and postgrads like me and Mashi to savour the Peacock Salmon...

3. They have a shop on the quarry/farm area to buy salmon and salmon roe (telur ikan salmon!)

Initially we were going to buy just the fish because it was on sale..biasalah kat christchurch ni time-time nak dekat Christmas semuanya ada Sale belake..tapi bila ternampak telur ikan salmon tu tengah murah..beleive it or not satu peket dekat 1kg tu hanya 1NZ dollar ( lebih kurang 2.50RM) apa lagi..terus beli je...

So...here are some pix for my friends...pictures of the salmon ( Peacock Salmon), telur ikan fresh and yang dah digoreng ala-ala tempura gitu..

Supervisors

After 10 days back in Christchurch I had my next (the 15th actually) meeting with both of my supervisors today. I had for the last two meetings brought some food for the meeting...as a way to promote my culturelah....I had brought some currypuffs (home made by my friend Niza) and brought some muffins I had baked. Actually, I emulated this from a friend of mine (K Puziah who brought some nasi lemak for her supervisors) So at today's meeting I guess they thought I would bring some more food because when I told them I have something for them my senior supervisor said `oh yummy'...However, they were equally surprised when I said `no its not food but some cloth from Malaysia' and my co supervisor quickly identified the two `kain pelekat' which he called `sarong'.. I said yes it is a `male' sarong because the patterns are more simple and masculine like...

As usual, I had brought 2 page report of my pilot study. I amstill transcribing the interviews into text form which then needs to be translated from BM to english....
Anyway, the discussion went well and as always I had my MP3 record the meeting. I find this a very useful tool ( you can also use your handphone or tape recorder) because :
1. You get to listen to the recordings and will notice how you yourself speak and converse in English. Some mispronounciations can be rectified in this manner
2. You get to detect everything that you might have missed if you were just taking notes.Unless your shorthand is excellent..I don't know how to shorthand write...
3. You can train your ears, eyes and fingers for further transcribing work...important aspect for qualitative researches like myself lah...

My supervisors were as expected posing me questions. For this meeting they asked me:
1. Did this pilot study confirm your assumptions or do you think you need to modify your focus?
2. Did the interviewees ( I had a total of 8 interviews) feel that the reserach would be of use to them?
3. Did you sense that they are keen to provide you with more data in the next field work?
4. Was this pilot study helpful in strengtherning your rational for the reserach to be conducted?
5. What did you learn from this excercise?....
6. What next of action are you planning and please include this in your report...

Also I had to submit (after 1 year as a phd candidate in the University of Cantebury) a progress report to the Postgraduate office. In this report, we have to outline all our activities for the past 12 months and rate ourself as either below expectations,satisfactory,good or very good. I just put good..I mean I think I did good...more than satisfactory....Also my supervisors have to rate me too...and at this point in time that I saw on the form...Alhamdulillah...

Any how, I think its important to have a good rapport with your supervisors in this phd journey..it really does make it more enjoyable albeit nerve wrecking .especially before supervisors meetings..for me lah at least...