Boost WiFi coverage with TP-Link TL-WA860RE 300Mbps WiFi range extender with AC passthrough

My TP-Link TL-WDR3600 N600 wireless dual band gigabit router is located upstairs near the center of the house, and my HiMedia Q5II Android 3D smart TV + media player box is located downstairs.

There is no problem for the HiMedia Q5II box to connect wirelessly to the TP-Link wireless router, until one day, when I streamed a 1080P full HD movie stored in my Transcend StoreJet 25A3 USB 3.0 1TB external harddisk which connected to the TP-Link wireless router with USB cable, over the air through WiFi to my HiMedia Q5II box which connected to my TV with HDMI cable. The movie didn't play smoothly on the TV.

As a result, I decided to boost my home WiFi coverage with a TP-Link TL-WA860RE 300Mbps WiFi range extender. The price of this WiFi range extender is just slightly below RM100.

I place this TP-Link TL-WA860RE downstairs near the center of the house, so that it can connect wirelessly with the TL-WDR3600 upstairs, and act as WiFi repeater to boost up the WiFi signal downstairs.

Now my HiMedia Q5II TV box is able to play 1080P full HD movie streamed from my Transcend external harddisk without problem.

Beside able to act as WiFi repeater to expand the WiFi coverage and boost up the WiFi signal, this TP-Link TL-WA860RE has one 10/100Mbps Ethernet LAN Port at its bottom, enabling it to become a WiFi bridge to wiredly connect to its network client using a LAN cable.

It also comes with an AC power passthrough socket in front, so that the power socket it plugged into is not wasted, and can still connect to electrical device up to 13 Amperes.

This TP-Link TL-WA860RE WiFi range extender is able to connect with the WiFi AP/router in either Universal or WDS mode.

The Universal mode can work with almost any kind of WiFi AP/router running at 2.4GHz frequency range. However, it might not be compatible with certain applications running in the WiFi clients.

The WDS mode is compatible with same TP-Link brand of wireless AP/router that also support WDS. It does not work with WiFi AP/router that doesn't support WDS, and it might not work well with other brand of WiFi AP/router even WDS is supported. It will not have applications compatibility issue with the WiFi clients.

Theoretically, passing of network packets in the range extender is more efficient with the WDS mode.

In order to enable WDS mode of connection, wee need to enable WDS bridging in the host AP/router and inform it about the range extender's SSID, MAC address and encryption method.

You can access to the web-based admin page of the TP-Link TL-WA860RE WiFi range extender by pointing your web browser's URL to http://tplinkrepeater.net/ or http://192.168.0.254 .

You must also provide the SSID and MAC address of the host AP/router information to the range extender.

When the SSID of the range extender is set to be the same with the WiFi AP/router, your mobile devices will automatically switch over to the WiFi provider with the stronger signal at its location. However, you might face problem of the mobile device keeps on connecting and disconnecting, switching from one WiFi provider to another, at the area where their signal are about equal strength.

You can also set the SSID of the range extender to be different from the WiFi AP/router. This will give you easier control over your mobile device to manually decide which WiFi provider it should connect to. Your mobile device is still able to automatically switch over to SSID with stronger signal when its WiFi connection with current connected provider is too weak to maintain the link and transmit data.

The wireless security setting must pair with the same setting in the host AP/router.

The TP-Link TL-WA860RE WiFi range extender also has a WPS button to pair with the host WiFi AP/router easily. However, this will connect it to its upstream AP/router using the universal mode instead of WDS mode.

One drawback of using WiFi range extender is that, its wireless connection is designed to work in half-duplex mode. This mean it cannot "talk" with the host AP/router and the wireless client at the same time. To relay the data over the air, it first talk with the transmitting wireless device, and then talk with the target device to pass the data on. Therefore, although the TP-Link TL-WA860RE supports wireless throughput of up to 300Mbps, when working in wireless repeater mode, the bandwidth is shared between the data sending and target devices, so each of them will get a throughput of around 150Mbps only.

On the other hand, when the TL-WA860RE is working in wireless bridge mode whereby one of the device is connected wirelessly and another device is connected through LAN port, the device connected wirelessly will get the maximum throughput of 300Mbps, while the one connected with LAN cable will get a maximum throughput of 100Mbps. The effective maximum connection bandwidth will be limited to 100Mbps, which is the highest at its Ethernet LAN port.

Bear in mind that the actual connection speed depends on the lowest supported connection speed of the 2 connected devices. Over the air, the wireless connection speed is further reduced over distance, physical blockage and signal interference with other wireless devices (such as neighbours' WiFi, cordless phone, Bluetooth devices, etc.) around the area.

Foto-Cheatcard: simple chart explained the photographing effect of F-number, Shutter Speed and ISO settings

This is an amazing diagram that can let everybody instantly understand the photographing effect of the various F-number (aperture ratio), Shutter Speed and ISO settings.

These 3 settings are the basic of photography. With this Cheatcard and some practices with the camera, new learners can soon master the trick of using their DSLR.

This Foto-Cheatcard is from a German photography blog called Hamburger Fotospots. You can click here to download its latest version in both PDF and JPG format.

Make your Windows PC into WiFi hotspot with open source Virtual Router

Have you been to a place (such as hotel room, meeting room, training room, etc.) where no WiFi service is available, and instead LAN connection is available for Internet access, and you need to connect a number of your gadgets (such as handphone, tablet, etc.) to the Internet?

With the Virtual WiFi and Wireless Hosted Network features introduced in MS Windows 7 (also available in its successor Windows 8 as well), you are able to make your laptop or PC with wireless network card into a WiFi hotspot to share its Internet access with other WiFi connected devices (computer, handphone, tablet, printer, camera, etc.)

Virtual Router by Chris Pietschmann is a small Windows application that make use of this Virtual WiFi and Wireless Hosted Network features in Windows 7 and above, to provide a very simple and fool proof way for you to make your laptop (or PC with wireless network card) to be the WiFi hotspot. It is open source and free for download and use under Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL).

With Virtual Router, you can wirelessly share any Internet connection (WiFi, LAN, Cable Modem, Dial-up, Cellular, etc.) of your computer with any WiFi device (Laptop, Smart Phone, iPod Touch, iPhone, Android Phone, Zune, Netbook, wireless printer, etc.) These devices connect to Virtual Router just like any other WiFi access point, and the connection is secured using WPA2 encryption.

This small application is so easy to use that, you just need to define your desired SSID and password, and select the network interface to share the Internet access, then click the Start Virtual Router button.

Connected devices will be shown in the Peers Connected panel.

The device will be connected with WPA2 data encryption, and get a DHCP assigned IP address.

Click here to go to the download webpage of Virtual Router.

10 things you should never say during presentations

Mr. Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten shared in his blog about the 10 things you should never say during presentations, which I found is very inspiring.

Here are the 10 no-no, and I believe most of us had said some or all of such sentences in our presentations before. Watch out!

• I’m very jet-lagged / tired / hungover
• I’ll get back to that later
• Can you hear me? Yes you can!
• I can’t see you because the lights are too bright
• Can you read this?
• Let me read this out loud for you
• Shut off your phone / laptop / tablet
• No need to write anything down or take photos, the presentation will be online later
• Let me answer that question right away
• I’ll keep it short

Why Boris thinks that those sentence shouldn't be said during presentation? Click here to read the source article in his blog to find out more.

Win a Samsung Galaxy S6 or HTC One M9 or LG G Flex 2 in Choose Your Own Next Gen Android Giveaway

Pocketnow is currently holding The Choose Your Own Next Gen Android Giveaway for you to win a next generation Android smartphone.

 The winner gets to choose whichever of the following phones they want:

• Samsung Galaxy S6
• HTC One M9
• LG G Flex 2

It only takes one step to win: submit your email address in the giveaway website. Click here to enter The Choose Your Own Next Gen Android Giveaway website.

Official Giveaway End Date: 20 March 2015 11:59pm (PST)

EPF declared 6.75% dividend for 2014

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF, a.k.a. Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja, KWSP) Board, with the approval of the Minister of Finance, has just announced a dividend rate of 6.75% and RM39.08 billion gross investment income for financial year ended 31 December 2014, which is an increase of 11.66% compared with RM35.00 billion in 2013.

The 6.75% dividend amounted to a total payout of RM36.66 billion where RM5.41 billion was required to pay every one per cent of dividend rate for 2014. This was 10.53% higher compared with RM4.91 billion paid for every one per cent dividend rate for 2013, in tandem with the rise in contributors’ savings.

 

EPF global investments, forming 23% of total assets, had contributed 33% towards their total income for 2014.

 

The 2014 gross investment income was mainly driven by Equities in the domestic and global markets covering both emerging and developed countries. The asset class recorded an investment income of RM22.91 billion in 2014, up 17.37% compared with RM19.52 billion in 2013, and contributed 58.63% to the total gross investment income in 2014. Almost half of the income of the equity investment is derived from EPF’s global portfolios.

Majority of the EPF’s investment assets were placed in low risk fixed income instruments as this asset class provided a stable stream of income in the long run.

 

Loans and Bonds contributed RM7.57 billion in income, compared with RM7.51 billion in 2013. This rise was attributed to the performance of the global portfolios by both internal and external fund managers. Malaysian Government Securities and Equivalents recorded RM6.59 billion in income, registering a rise of 6.14%, compared with 2013. Meanwhile, Money Market Instruments posted an income of RM619.65 million.

 

Real Estate and Infrastructure contributed RM1.39 billion in investment income in 2014. This inflation-linked asset class, which the EPF has started invested in since 2010, has over the years been showing encouraging performance and is a 22.31% increase from 2013.
 

As at 31 December 2014, the EPF’s total investment assets stood at RM636.53 billion, up 7.91% from RM589.87 billion in 2013.

 

 

Updated the BIOS of my Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro laptop to Version 41

Lenovo has just released a new BIOS update for Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro laptop (version 76CN41WW) on 20 January 2015.

I have just updated the BIOS of my Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro laptop from Version 38 to this latest Version 41.

You can download the latest BIOS update utility of Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro from their support website here.

The Lenovo BIOS Update Utility requires the laptop to be plugged on to the AC power supply before it proceed with the BIOS updating action.

The new BIOS will be flashed with the InsydeFlash utility from Windows 8.1. After that, the system will reboot itself, and the BIOS update will be performed.

After the BIOS update completed, the laptop will reboot itself again and back to the Windows login screen. This is much better than the previous Version 38 update which ended in a blank screen with keyboard backlit on.

There is no data lost for this BIOS update. Even the BIOS settings and passwords remain after the update.

The most effective way to contact with Maybank customer service is Facebook

If you want to contact with Maybank customer service to get help regarding your banking enquiry or problem with them, what would you do?

Go to the Customer Service page of Maybank2u website and fill in the form? You are very likely to end up with an error message after you clicked the Submit button, and your message is not sent.

Make a phone call to their customer service hotline number? You are very likely to be kept waiting for a long period of time, and need to be extremely patient to wait for somebody to pick up your call.

Email to them? I couldn't find any official customer service email published in their current Maybank2u website.

I finally found the most effective way, which is to write message to their official Facebook account. You can do so by sending private message to Maybank with this link: https://www.facebook.com/messages/Maybank

I got their Facebook PM reply within 15 minutes after I sent my message to them, and they also responded to each subsequent interaction within 15 minutes too. I got my problem solved after a few message sending and reply. The problem solved within 1 hour from my 1st message to them.

Well, if you are not still attended after PM to them, you can try leaving a comment in their Facebook page. The URL is: https://www.facebook.com/Maybank

Fixed Samsung Galaxy Note 8 battery fast draining problem

My Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is using Digi data plan to access the Internet.

Since last week, its battery was draining very fast. Battery Monitor Widget Pro showed that even when it is idle and not in use, it lost battery charge at the rate of around 3.5% per hour. Within half a day, 50% of its battery drained off from fully charged, even when not in use!

The Statistics screen in Battery Monitor Widget Pro told me that it was the Android System that drained a lot of battery, but I need more detail to nail down the root cause.

I finally found the culprit with Better Battery Stats. In its Kernel Wakelock screen, I discovered the ril-fd wakelock was keeping my tablet awake most of the time, and it hardly gone into Deep Sleep mode.

A search in the Internet told me this ril-fd wakelock is related to a feature called Fast Dormancy, and it seems that some sort of flaw in Digi base station network has caused this Fast Dormancy feature to drain off battery in my tablet.

Finally, I managed to turn Fast Dormancy off by using FastDormancy Toggle for i9300. Yes, my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is N5100, but this app seems to work well with other Samsung mobile devices running on Android 4.x as well.

In order to use FastDormancy Toggle for i9300, your Samsung mobile device need to be rooted. After toggling the Fast Dormancy on/off, you need to restart the device and charge the battery up to 100%.

Now, My Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is back to normal, draining battery at the rate of around 0.27% per hour when not in use.

I am running on stock ROM with build number KOT49H.N5100XXDNJ2 (Android version 4.4.2). It is rooted, as I need to gain back full access to its SD card. Now, the root access also enables me to toggle the Fast Dormancy feature to get rid of battery draining problem.

Malaysian International Passport renewal fee reduced

There is news that effective 15 January 2015, the renewal fee for Malaysian International Passport has been reduced to as follow:

• Citizen of age between 13-59: RM200 (old rate: RM300)
• Children below the age of 12: RM100 (old rate: RM150)
• Senior citizen above the age of 60: RM100 (old rate: RM150)
• Student below 21 years old with proof to study abroad: RM100 (old rate: RM150)
• Handicapped or disabled citizen: Exempted (was also exempted)

The Malaysian International Passport is valid for 5 years from the date of issue. There will be no new issuance of Malaysian International Passport with 2 years validity.

Auspicious dates for housewarming, open house, party, gathering, etc. in 2015

Here is the list of auspicious dates in 2015 for organizing and hosting meet-up with friends and/or relatives (会友), which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

The dates are applicable for housewarming, open house, home party, gathering, potluck, and any other similar functions to meet up with friends and/or relatives. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates for baby first haircut (Mundan) in 2015

In many culture, religion and/or tradition, the first haircut of a baby is considered an important milestone for his/her life. The day is known as Mundan, Chadakarana, Halaqah, Upsherin, etc.

Here is the list of auspicious dates for baby first haircut in year 2015, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates in 2015 for getting a baby

Here is the list of auspicious dates in 2015 for getting a baby (求嗣), which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

The dates have good element(s) to embro/faetus. Traditionally, the dates are referred for conception planning (making love and expecting a baby to the family). Nowadays, people also make reference to them for Caesarian delivery of new born.

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates for opening business in 2015

Here is the list of auspicious dates for opening business in year 2015, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. It can be applied to new business opening, or reopening of business after a break/holiday. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates for signing contract, register for marriage, etc. in 2015

Here is the list of auspicious dates in year 2015 for signing contract, signing offer letter, register for marriage, receiving religious baptism, and other similar agreement-related activities. It is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Auspicious dates for starting new job / post / assignment in 2015

For employees, especially those in leading/managing position, here is a list of auspicious dates  in 2015 for starting new job/post/assignment, including joining new company, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu.

It can be applied to first day reporting to new company/department/office/position, go for the post to lead/manage a new business unit/team/project/programme. It can also be applied to assuming new job position after promotion/restructuring/relocation exercise.

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Using Winmail Opener to open attachment in winmail.dat file

If somebody sent you email with attachment using the old MS Outlook 97 or 2000, the attachment might probably appear in your email client as a winmail.dat file.

You can use the free Winmail Opener utility to extract the email attachment from this winmail.dat file.

The process is pretty simple. Just drag-and-drop the winmail.dat file into Winmail Opener's window, its content will be shown. Alternatively, you can also click the "Open file..." link in Winmail Opener and select the winmail.dat file.

Then, just drag-and-drop the attachment from Winmail Opener to your Desktop.

Click here to download and install the free Winmail Opener utility. It is freeware for both commercial and personal use.

Auspicious dates for marriage proposal or engagement in 2015

Before becoming the life partner, marriage is proposed by lover and engagement is made.

Here is the list of auspicious dates for marriage proposal or engagement in year 2015 (year of Goat), which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

Good luck in getting your right life partner.

Auspicious dates for moving to new house/office in 2015

Here is the list of auspicious dates for moving to new house/office in year 2015, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

If you are going to move to a new home, don't forget to visit the "home idea" section of my blog to find out my sharing on mortgage, renovation, furnitures, electrical appliances, pest control, etc.

Auspicious dates for renovation in 2015

Here is the list of auspicious dates for renovation in year 2015, which is produced based on the Chinese almanac Tong Shu. (Click the image to enlarge)

Bear in mind that although the Tong Shu is a compilation of Chinese astrology and calendaring studies gathering wisdom of thousands of years, we should use it wisely and rationally, but not be too superstitious on it.

If you are going to renovate your house, don't forget to visit the "home idea" section of my blog to find out some of my sharing there.

Anika Therapheutics (NASDAQ: ANIK) the HA biopharmaceutical expert

If you are thinking of investing in a biopharmaceutical stock, Anika Therapheutics (NASDAQ: ANIK) might probably attract your attention.

With a market capital of above $570 million, Anika Therapeutics is considered as a small cap in USA stock markets. However, it is a fast growing one, who ranked No. 10 in Forbes' America's Best Small Companies (Under A Billion) 2014.

It also has strong balance sheet with growing cash and working capital while holding a debt free position.

Anika Therapeutics, headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, was founded in 1992 from a spin-off of MedChem's HA research division. It has over 20 years of experience in developing and manufacturing therapies for tissue protection, healing and repair.

Anika core expertise is synthetic manufacturing of hyaluronic acid (HA), which is a natural, organic chemical occurring, biocompatible polymer found throughout the body, produces to help protect joints like the knee. To date, Anika research team has come out with more than 400 scientific publications, and also more than 50 patents on native and chemically modified HA.

Anika’s broad strategy involves synthesizing HA and applying it in 3 key Orthobiologic areas: palliative, restorative and regenerative. Beside that, their products also has coverage in dermal, ophthalmic, surgical and veterinary.

Their Orthobiologics products consist of joint health and orthopedic products which are used in a wide range of treatments from providing relief from the pain of osteoarthritis, to regenerating damaged tissue such as cartilage defects.

Their Dermal products consist of advanced wound care products and aesthetic dermal fillers which are used for the treatment of skin wounds ranging from burns to diabetic ulcers.

Their Ophthalmic business includes HA viscoelastic products used in ophthalmic surgery.

Their Surgical business consists of products used to prevent surgical adhesions and to treat ear, nose and throat disorders.
Their Veterinary product is used for treatment of joint dysfunction in horses.

They have 2 manufacturing arms, one in the HQ in USA, and another Anika S.R.L. in Italy.

A large portion of its current revenue is generated from the Orthobiologics sector.

More than 5% of the world's population is afflicted by osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee, making it the most common joint disease. Approximately 10 million Americans currently suffer from OA of the knee, and the number is increasing year by year. Therefore, the market demand for viscosupplement products is hugh, and Anika's goal is to capture 15% of the overall market.

Osteoarthritis is a common chronic, degenerative joint disease, in which the cushioning tissue, or cartilage, in the knee joint wears away and the thick fluid that helps lubricate the knee joint becomes thinner and less effective. OA is characterized by pain, joint inflammation and joint stiffness, and results in a substantial degree of physical disability and poor quality of life.

Currently, there are a total of 5 companies offering less than 10 brands of products, competing in the viscosupplement space, and Anika is holding the 2nd place after Sanofi.

As you can see from the table above, the single injection products are quite competitive in terms of cost per treatment than the multiple injection. Patients will prefer the single injection treatment, and there are currently only 3 products in the market.

Note that HA viscosupplement  is a high entry barrier industry, which requires multiple years of research and development, and a long waiting period of obtaining necessary certifications before any new product being able to hit the market.

What make Anika's viscosupplement products stand out from competitors is that it is made through a patented process that uses a species of bacteria to make a hypo-allergenic viscosupplement, while others commonly make it using bird proteins, to which some people are allergic.

In the pipeline, Anika has completed the clinical trial for new product Cingal. Cingal basically is an enhanced version of Monovisc with a therapeutic agent, or steroid. It is designed to provide the advantages of Monovisc with the added early symptom relief benefits of a commonly used steroid. This new product will hit the market soon once it obtained the approval from CE, FDA, and other required authorities, and is anticipated to further boost the revenue growth of Anika.

If you are interested to read more about Anika, the Henry Fund report has a comprehensive coverage on this company. 

Disclaimer: This article is intended for sharing of point of view only. It is not an advice or recommendation to buy or sell any of the mentioned stock counters. You should do your own homework before trading in the stock market.

A family trip to South Island of New Zealand

Isolated from the rest of the world, New Zealand is a beautiful country with amazing sceneries, flora and fauna. The outdoor scenes of the movies Lord of the Rings and The Hobbits were taken in the beautiful scenic places in New Zealand. The people living there are generally friendly, sincere and helpful to visitors too.

Being an agricultural country, you can also see a number of sheep, cows, and sometimes horses eating grasses on vast farmlands. It is said that the population of these livestock is more than the population of people in New Zealand.

After landed at Christchurch International Airport, we were picked up by the free shuttle van from Airport Gateway Motel which we stayed that day. After check-in, the motel was kind enough to shuttle us to Juicy Rentals nearby the airport, where we rented an MPV as our transport throughout our tour in New Zealand.

We ate a very relaxing breakfast at Terra Viva Café & Deli nearby Juicy Rentals. The Café is attached with a beautiful garden with lots of flowers.

We visited the Canterbury Museum, which exhibits the Maori culture, Asian arts, dinosaurs, birds and Antarctic lives, a young lady mummy, meteorite stone, etc. There is also a historical Victorian Christchurch street near its exit.

We had picnic in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens located next to the Canterbury Museum. There is a river in the botanic gardens, and you could see flock of ducks and birds living in the habitat.

Eating in restaurant or café in New Zealand is pretty expensive, so most of the time we prefer to do our own cooking in the place we stayed. Groceries can be purchased at hypermarkets such as New World, Countdown, etc.

We visited Re:Start, a shopping mall where shops are made out of cargo containers. We also visited the Cardboard Cathedral Church. The roof of this church is made out of cardboards. It is a transitional church building, as the original Cathedral Church was badly damaged in an earthquake happened in 2011. Near to the church are hundreds of white chairs, installed there in memorial to the death killed by that earthquake in 2011.

We visited the Ohoka Farmer's Market on our way from Christchurch to Rangiora. There are lovely people, nice food and fresh vegetables.

We had a farm stay in a cottage house in Pete's Farm Stay. Pete brought us to walk around his farm, watched his dog Jessy shepherded his livestock, fed the lovely sheep, calves, alpacas and cows. He even demonstrated to us how he shears a sheep.

The next morning, we had breakfast with Pete's family in his lovely house, together with another family from Canada who also stayed at Pete's Farm.

Then, we travelled all the way south from Rangiora to Ohoka, Ashburton, Timaru and reached our destination Oamaru. We stayed at the Ambassador Motor Lodge.

We visited the Steampunk HQ museum located near to the Oamaru Harbour. It features the steam-powered technology of 19th century Victorian England.

We went to a viewing platform at Bushy Beach to watch the yellow-eyed penguins returning from sea. The platform is high up at a cliff, quite some distance away from the penguin landing beach. It is very windy and cold there. We only managed to see a few penguins.

Then we went to watch the blue penguins at Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. While watching penguins at Bushy Beach is free, watching penguins at the Colony requires purchase of entry ticket. But it worth the money, as we could see hundreds of small blue penguins returned from the sea, gathered together, queuing up and walking crossing the beach in front of us to return to their nests.

Departed from Oamaru, we went to see the big round rocks at the beach in Moeraki Boulders. We had our lunch in a nice seafood restaurant there.

We continued south to Dunedin, but we missed the opening hour of visiting Cadbury World. We also missed the departure hour of Dunedin scenic train tour. Anyhow, the Dunedin railway station is beautiful, and we took quite a lot of photos there.

We went to Baldwin Street, which is considered as the world's steepest residential street.

We continued our journey to Otago Peninsula, driving through kilometres of unpaved road at a swampy area, before we reached Bettys Bach. It is a waterfront cottage down a steep slope, with very nice scenic view. The slope is so deep that our luggage needed to be carried by an electrical lift connecting the small parking area on top with the cottage at the bottom.

There is a Larnach Castle in Otago Peninsula, but due to time constraint, we didn't enter into the castle. We went to Te Rauone Beach to watch the sea lions. The beach is very windy. We dodn't manage to see any sea lion that day.

We visited the Royal Albatross Centre and saw hundreds of albatross resting and flying around the place.

After that, we headed west to a small town beside a huge lake called Te Anau. We stayed in a nice lakeside holiday house there.

There is a Miles Better Pies bakery shop nearby that sells really delicious pies. There are also several souvenir shops that sell merchandises at reasonable price.

We drove north along the Fiordland National Park from Te Anau to Milford Sound for our cruise tour. It is a scenic highway with lots of sight seeing stop points, including the Mirror Lakes, Knobs Flat, The Divide, Hollyford Valley, Monkey Creek, The Chasm, etc. Our car passed through a long Homer Tunnel which only allows one way traffic at a time, controlled by traffic light at both side of the tunnel.

At Milford Sound, we went sight seeing on Mitre Peak Cruise.

On our way back, we visited the Underwater Observatory of Milford Discovery Centre.

We didn't have much choice for our lunch in Milford Sound. We found only one Blue Duck Café & Bar there. The food is quite nice, although a bit expensive.

Departed from Te Anau, our next destination was Queenstown. We stayed at Panorama Terrace apartment there.

Queenstown is a more dynamic and happening place in New Zealand, with bars and casino in the town centre. We had a fun time in Below Zero Ice Bar.

We went up Bob's Peak by riding on Skyline Gondola. Really very nice view up there.

Departed from Queenstown, we visited the historical Arrowtown nearby. There is nice ice-cream selling in Arrowtown, and a narrow Arrow River.

We also visited the Gibbston Valley Winery and had a nice wine tour in its large wine cave. We watched bungy jumps at the Kawarau Bridge Bungy Centre.

We settled down in Manuka Crescent Motel in Wanaka. Wanaka is a small town at the shore of the beautiful Lake Wanaka. We walked from the motel to the town, following the track in Eely Point Recreational Reserve. There are beautiful pine trees and lupin flowers along the way, and also ducks and birds in the lake. Recreational fishing boats were sailing in the lake. At the other side of the lake, far far away, are ice mountains forming a beautiful scene.

We had our dinner at Bombay Palace Indian Restaurant. The food was really nice, but also pretty expensive.

I had an amazing 1 hour trial flight above the Mt Aspiring National Park and its surrounding with my flight instructor from Learn To Fly NZ. This is my first experience flying a plane on the sky!

We also visited the Stuart Landsborough's Puzzling World before leaving Wanaka to Aoraki Mt Cook.

Before arriving Mt Cook, there is a very long Lake Pupaki. There are nice and fresh salmons selling in Mt Cook Alpine Salmon Shop beside the Lake Pupaki Information Centre, located at the south of Lake Pupaki.

We stayed in Hermitage Family Motel in Aoraki Mt Cook National Park. There is free shuttle service to bring us to the Hermitage Hotel located about 800 meters away. Inside the hotel, there is a small museum with a 3D theatre and planetarium.

We just purchased the ticket once, and it entitled us for unlimited entry to the museum and theatre throughout our stay in the Hermitage. We watched the Primeval New Zealand documentary, Tycho to the Moon 3D cartoon, and Infinity Express.

We visited the Tasman Glacier terminal lake in our Glacier Explorers cruising tour.

We also walked into the Hooker Valley, a track that passed 3 suspension bridges and took us more than 4 hours from Hermitage Hotel to and fro. I noticed that even deep inside Hooker Valley, there was still one or two bars of handphone signal available.

Leaving Mt Cook, we headed east to Lake Tekapo and stayed in Lake Tekapo Motel.

We visited the heritage Church of Good Shepherd and the Mackenzie Sheep Dog Statue.

We had lunch at Kohan Japanese Restaurant and dinner at Thai Tekapo.

We planed to have stargazing at night at Mt John University Observatory, but the weather was too cloudy. Anyhow, we had nice coffee and ice-cream at the Astro Café there.

Before leaving Tekapo, we went to Tekapo Springs and soaked ourselves in the three tiered hot pools there.

Then, we drove to Geraldine and took the inland scenic route back to Christchurch. There are farms and farms and farms along the way.


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