New Home, New Country

Jenny and  I have now officially moved from Auckland, NZ to Melbourne, VIC, Australia.  It’s been 3 days since we left Auckland on the 22nd May, and everything has gone quite smoothly.

- With the help of Anna, we picked up our rental car (2010 Hyundai Elantra, aka “White Rice”) from the city centre. Driving isn’t too different to NZ, just a few small differences. Biggest change would be driving with trams on the same roads!! The car is drivable. By no means does it drive like Emmy, or have the level of comfort/safety, but I guess it’s better than having no car.
- Yesterday, Jenny officially started her first day of work at Fullife Pharmacy in Mill Park (the pharmacy is huge!!).
- Called up the Australian TFN (tax file number) offices to confirm my TFN, as I never got a confirmation letter since I applied back in February.

The only complaint is that I somehow have caught the flu from someone on the plane ride. Sick as a dog yesterday (killer sore throat, body aches, splitting headache), but feeling much better today… I hate getting sick lol…

100,000km Milestone!

Emmy just reached 100,001km on the odometer when I got home from uni today!! What’s best is that she drives as good as new!! Oh how I love German automobile engineering.

I predict at least another 100-200,000km more on top of that no problem. Let’s see a Jap car get to this number and not fall apart! Won’t be selling her anytime soon (if ever!)

Photos taken with my N95 8GB (I’m seriously still loving the phone more and more every day! Calling the camera BRILLIANT is an understatement):

100,000km (or 100,001km to be more precise) is nothing on a Mercedes-Benz

A closer look. She still drives like she's brand new!

Now, to get the catalytic converter(s) replaced… Still have to ask Coutts the exact part number for Emmy

Photo Update

I just realised I ranted on about my new N95 8GB a few months back but never posted any photos of the phone itself! Apologies!

First week of my mid-semester break just breezed by. Been at uni for 2 of the days for dissertation, and managed to wash Emmy again this past Friday afternoon (weather’s been BEAUTIFUL, but still somewhat chilly). I really hate bird crap.

The 40D’s been hibernating all winter as well, so I thought what better time to wake it up! Was initially thinking of snapping a few photos of Emmy after the wash, but ended up taking 129 photos of her LOL. I’ve included a small handful of them below

Looks like the Yankees are cruising through the remainder of the season. I smell #27! If not them, then I hope the Phillies take it all once again! Now if only Brad Lidge can wake the hell up and start closing out games! 10th blown save today! FAIL.

The King of Kings in all its boxed glory. Simple box, but very nice nonetheless!

Very nice presentation once you pop open the lid. Love it!

The NSeries flagship. 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss autofocus camera.

Dual slider. It slides this way to reveal the keypad...

... And it slides this way! Revealing the dedicated media keys!

Frontal view, on an angle. Very nice and sunny day. Perfect for photos.

Emmy's Avantgarde grille. Up close and personal!

Frontal view from the other side.

My beloved pseudo-AMG W202

Dinner plates! My current laptop wallpaper; I quite like this shot. Love the depth of field.

"Dinner plates" from another angle. AMG Monoblock II replicas. Made in Taiwan.

Emmy, Countdown Greenlane

Forgot to mention that I accidentally dinged Emmy’s front bumper earlier this week I was pulling out of my street to turn left onto Great South Road, but the car in front of me suddenly decided to stop to a halt (when there were no cars in sight!). I had diverted my attention to making sure no cars were in sight, so I didn’t see the person in front of me stop suddenly.

Luckily, the car in front had a tow bar (and she wasn’t driving a Japanese car!), so that ended up slamming into the bottom left corner of my license plate, scrape a small surface chunk off my bumper, AND crack one of the grille lines just below the license plate… No damage to her’s, thank goodness!

There was damage to the plate (which I’ll have to get a replacement one of these days), an unsightly cracked grille line, and a cracked plate holder. Fortunately, you can’t see much of the damage unless you bend down and look beneath the license plate. I figured I won’t the bumper fixed. Might as well save up for a C36 or C43 AMG front bumper at the end of this year!

I had to go to Countdown to get the delivery items for mum for her weekly school deliveries for Tzu Chi. I’ve had no problems with the Countdown near my place before, but today was very different. I entered the fruit storage warehouse as I always do each Sunday, and ask for a box of bananas. However today, a dickhead staff member decides to tell me I’m not supposed to be in there in an arrogant, angry tone. Why don’t you shut the hell up and get a real job, cunt.

If he had asked politely, I would’nt’ve been this offended. Just as well, because since last Sunday, they’ve decided they won’t sell bananas as whole boxes anymore, and want to weigh each individual bunch from the box… Jenny and I ended up going to Pak ‘n Save (Royal Oak) instead. I definitely won’t be going back to Countdown anymore.

Emmy’s New Shoes (Photos)

Weather cleared up a bit today. Managed to take a few photos of Emmy and her new shoes I even got enough sunshine to wash her!

Pity it got quite gloomy after the wash, so I didn’t get any post-wash photos. However, she wasn’t that dirty to begin with anyway

Quite an artistic shot, don't you agree?

17" x 7.5" AMG Monoblock II replicas + 225/45ZR17 Michelin Pilot Preceda PP2's = SEX ON WHEELS

Another artistic shot lol.

Nice and aggressive looking. With Dill in the background LOL.

A shot from the left side

Front-right side shot

Portrait shot!!

Emmy’s New Shoes!!

Just got home from work, so if you’re looking at the date, it may seem a day late, but I haven’t gone to bed yet, so to me, it’s still the same day LOL.

FINALLY. FI-NA-LLY!! The 3-4 year wait has finally arrived! The day I FINALLY get new rims/wheels on my car is FINALLY HERE!! I must say, the wait has been worth it!!

Dad was busy this morning so I went to Fred’s tyre place, Herb Morgan Tyres, in Onehunga by myself, along with my Monoblock II replicas. Fred’s been really awesome since the first time we went to him. Great service, very good wheel balancing and alignments, AND great prices. Definitely recommended for anyone who’s in the Auckland area and needs new tyres/wheels etc.

I got some new Michelin Pilot Preceda PP2′s (225/45ZR17) to complement my 17″ x 7.5″ rims, and traded in my still as-new 195/65R15 Michelin Energy’s. After the trade-in, the price came to a total of $700. Pretty damn good price for some Michelins! I also got the new wheels balanced and aligned.

I’ve driven around 50km today, taking mum to Silver Bell, picking dad up from Apadana’s on Dominion Road, and going to and from work. I have to say, the bigger wheels make a huge difference! The steering is MUCH more responsive and more sensitive, and the car feels like it’s stuck to the ground, so the handling seems to be HEAPS better. The only thing yet to be determined is how much more detrimental is the bigger wheels on my fuel economy :p I’m hoping not too much!

Anyway, weather’s been crap today here, so I didn’t get the chance to break out the 40D and take some snaps of Emmy and her new, long-awaited shoes. Will upload some photos once the weather clears up!

AMG Monoblock II Replicas!!

Finally. After years upon years of convincing, my dad finally agreed to let me get some bigger rims!! He FINALLY let me get some BRAND NEW AMG Monoblock II replica wheels off TradeMe. $450 for FOUR 17″ x 7.5″ wheels is a HUGE steal!!

Wheel Dimensions: 17″ x 7.5″
Stud Pattern: 5 x 112
Offset: +37

The wheels arrived yesterday afternoon, at around 2pm. I eagerly opened all four boxes and arranged them around the garden and took some snaps (below). They’re better than I thought! Hyper silver paint with machined lip. Extremely sexy.

Only downside to this is that I won’t be able to slap them on my C240, Emmy, yet. I only just replaced my 15″ stock Mercedes-Benz alloys with new Michelin Energy tyres a few months ago. Will have to wait for the tyres to wear out first Not to mention the fact my dad only seems to want to get Continental Sport Contact 3′s for the new 17′s. He’s convinced he can get another steal price somewhere along the line (we managed to get FOUR new Conti Sport 3′s for $900 a week or so ago LOL). I personally wouldn’t mind some Michelin Pilot Sport tyres.

Ah well, at least I’ve got the rims now The hardest part is over and done with, which was convincing my dad to LET me get them.

The rims in all their shiny glory!

Standing in line for a photo!

The wheels along with the Mercedes-Benz centrecaps.

A Quick Update

Just a quick update since my last post. Only just got home and had my shower. Had a late finish at work. A couple of customers came in at 11:25pm. One wanted the ECP, the other had a script for morphine elixir with no dosage, so Bernie had to call hospital ED to ask for the dose.

Dill and Steph also happened to come into the pharmacy too. Dill had some acid reflux so he got some Gaviscon.

On other news, my final year at uni’s starting in less than a month. Time sure flies when you’re having fun bumming around. Better pick up some books and do some reading.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to welcome the newest member of the Wu automotive family Dad recently bought a 2002 Mercedes-Benz E280 for $13,500. Pretty damn good price for the age, AND mileage. It’s only done around 43,000km! The car drives like a charm too. You can really tell the class difference between my 2000 C240 and the E280! Don’t worry Emmy (yes, I gave my car a name), I still love you the most So that’s three Mercs in the household, including Dill’s 1998 C240 (I like to call him the Cookie Monster, cuz he’s a bright aquamarine blue).

Anyway, better hit the sack. Covering for Heena tomorrow from 12pm-6pm. More money for meee!

PS: If anyone’s wondering why on earth I called my car Emmy, it’s because I checked my chassis number online a few months ago, and found out my car’s paint colour is “metallic emerald black“, so instead of being boring and calling her (yes, my car is a she) Emerald, I decided to affectionately shorten it to “Emmy“. Even though my car’s actually more black than anything else, with a very, very dark tint of green