I dunno about cheaper cos I've been to Palmerston North. But Christchurch isn't too expensive (it's no Auckland) so they difference is unlikely to be much. But go check the uni websites. Most have a section on cost of living with a breakdown to individual items. The key, really, is rent.

Comparing the reputation of the degrees, most people will pick Canterbury over Massey. The fact that Ernest Rutherford was from Canterbury should give it brownie points.   On the actual degrees, I guess you need to look into the fields covered by both unis, one might do stuff (that interests you) the other doesn't. Also, it might pay to check with uni offers more opportunities for students to take part in actual research through summer studentships and the like.

The former has a earth socket, while the latter does not have. The great thing is unlike the UK plug system (which Malaysia uses) is that you don't need to plug in the earth socket to be able to plug in the plug. Some low powered appliances (table lamps for instance) do not come with a earth pin.

IMO, both are fine, but I'd go for the former with the earth pin. Interestingly through, some of these universal travel adaptors (which you pretty much can use anywhere on earth) don't come with a earth pin.

How much are one of these things at Universal Traveller?

Next time, at least spell check before hitting the summit button. It took me a minute to so to realise you're trying to say "My plan is to bring along the travel adapter and connect a Malaysian plug bank with it". Yes, that is fine. NZ uses the same voltage and frequency as Malaysia.

Prices of most software is fixed, through you might be able to get a slightly cheaper OEM (of mass license) version. XP goes for about $150-190 depending on where you buy and whether its a upgrade or full version.

Don't worry. Bring in your notebook with your pirated XP or Vista. Immigration has more important things to do than check the authenticity of your software.

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Added on January 5, 2008, 11:52 amEdit: fantagero, what are you studying at Canterbury?

got something in my head rite now..

my friend have said 2 me that weight limit 20kg jus been applied 2 bagasi that u bring together.. all item that u bring outside the bagasi will not be measured..

could i bring along my desktop in my backpack without measuring its weight???

Qantas from Singapore? Changi is usually quite lenient, if you are transiting from somewhere else (say, Kuching), and assuming you don't start your journey in Singapore, with your hand luggage. I brought in my cabin bag and my laptop bag, no problems.
Prices of computer parts in NZ are a bit higher than Malaysia, and range can be painfully limited (compared to KL's Low Yat) unless you order online. Personally, bring a notebook the 1st time, then when you come back at the end of the year, consider bringing a desktop over (when you don't have to much to carry with you) on the way back.

Yes, I do miss having a desktop.

where are you heading to by the way

vic in wellington....

i think my friend went over to that place too. the name sounded weird to me and i wasn't sure where it is. canterbury x-church ? i think that's the place. do tell me if you met a 17 yr old guy from msia there 

Christchurch. Please. At least know where youre going.

As wornbook said, I think the only bank which has both branches in Malaysia and NZ is HSBC. I'd second what wornbook said, that is, to go there, and open a normal NZ back account. I love ASB. And their 7.75% interest.   Then have your parents transfer the money to your NZ bank account, be it TT or BankDraft.

yoyoyo Kia Ora. i am now in Grafton Hall, eating Grafton's bandwidth. this is a freakin small room. who wanna hang out in Auckland?

Fried Rice...
the easiest food that i cooked before

Yes you can. BUT they must be properly commercially packed with the list of ingredients clearly printed on them. And no meats, fresh fruits/vege, or anything with seeds. And no dairy products (the exception being Milo MADE IN MALAYSIA). 

Contrary to popular belief, there's actually quite a lot of food that can be brought into NZ. Among things I've brought in - roti canai, tau sa pau, mooncakes and even frozen (ocean) fish. I kid you not. 

Just stick to things not on the banned list AND ALWAYS DECLARE THEM. What I do is to pack all food into a separate bag and show it to customs. So much simpler than digging into 2-3 bags for bits and pieces. The easier you make their life, the nicer they'll be.
There's a Taiping Supermarket for Asian food products in the CBD. You can also get lost of seasoning packets from places like New World and Countdown these days. There's really no need to go all the way out east, unless you live nearby.

It doesn't strictly have to be in one bag, but it sure makes life a heck of a lot easier than anyone. As long as you declare EVERYTHING food-related, you'll be safe. The worse they'll do is chuck it (which they won't if it's on the approved list). But if you don't declare, even if it's an allowed product, they might fine you $200 on the spot. For serious offences it's $10,000.

Throw away. Dispose. Get rid off.

You are seriously going to have some problems in NZ.

Both. And I expect someone who has 3 months break, and knowing the fact he's going to NZ, to brush up his English. If I can find a Taiwanese who will pay me to teach English, what can you say?

Seriously fantagero, 3 months of holiday using the internet, and you still don't know how to use the internet for research. Here's some free advise: stop frequenting forums. Learn something. Like typing "New Zealand broadband" into google. If you bothered to use Wikipedia, you will know that there are only 2 teleco's in NZ. And if you have so much free time, why can't you be bothered to read through this thread?

Forget Screamyx. Forget Maxis Broadband. Learn Number Portability. Vodafone is not just something you see when Man U plays.

No wonder we Asians don't have a good name.

Well, can you make it unsuck on the internet also?

Anyway, to answer your question, all Telecom broadband speeds are "unleashed", meaning it all depends on how far you live from the exchange. If your line sync is 5Mbits, theoretically the fastest you can download within your cap is 500kB/s (note units).

I've never got more than 140kB/s through.