It is taking us a while to get a proper Internet connection here at the flat (though hopefully we will get TelstraClear cable installed on Monday), but in the meantime I have been using a USB WiFi adaptor in the middle of a dish I constructed a while ago from Chinese parabolic cookware based on these instructions. This lets me connect to the VUW wireless network (well, sometimes at least), and from there I can use the SWANS VPN to get to the Internet. The dish sits in my window frame, carefully aimed up at the university, as you can see in these pictures:
The dish in contextA close-up of the dish