intern

You're not supposed to let the catfish out the bag with that fishing technique!! edited in light of new information.

What's a squeeker guys? Have tried Google (with 'zambesi') but nothing promising...

Dude, make some time. Even better, come down to Whaka-side so I can show you some of the awesome trails we got on the doorstep. You won't regret it! In other news, I am weighing up a WR450F (2017) vs a FE450 (2016). Right now I am leaning to the Yammie as I know and love the WR250F, which is to become my wife's bike and we'll flick off the Honda CRF250 Rally (which has been a superb starter bike and which, with the addition of some dirt tyres, is a surprisingly fun and capable offroader). Have you opinions on the comparison? The KYB suspension is A+ on the 250 and I have heard the WP suspension isn't universally appreciated...

Note the rear mudguard/fender/number plate on my bike is all smashed off. Wheelie practice and also looping out at the top of obstacles like this one:

Patches this one is for you (and specifically, why you should not put your moto away for the winter). I've been riding around 4-6 times a week the last while. It's not all bad, that's for sure!

Comprehensive reply, thanks. Yes I think if you need two vehicles, one EV runaround is the way to go; maintenance likely far less given the lack of moving parts/simplicity of an electric motor vs ICE. Of course there is eventual battery replacement to factor in, too.

Just as a matter of interest, how have you found that vehicle? What do you like, not like about it?

Yep, National a major shtshow at the moment. JC is the right person for the job, but the caucus seems hell bent on self-destruction. The Falloon thing...SMH randy politicians, when will they ever learn.

Thanks man! Probably around 6500 dollars I spose...

No it's not. Buy it for him and he will love you, especially when he's 13

Medium.

Haha, Wayne, that is such an odd position, but it beautifully represents an open mind. ACT and Labour are diametrically opposed, policy-wise. Seymour/ACT is in favour of cannabis reform, but it isn't a major focus for the party which I somehow find endearing. Because it is neither here nor there, in the greater scheme of things - in other words, schmoke it up if you're into that sort of thing, because you probably are anyway, whether legal or not. There are bigger fish to fry and they relate to the economy, health and education. BTW JC is a hugely accomplished individual. Like anyone who has ever achieved anything, she has made missteps along the way - none of them fatal. The biggest card played against her is the 'Oravida scandal' (look that up), when she visited a factory or offices of Oravida, of which her husband David Wong-Tung is a director/owner, in an 'official-looking' capacity as a National party government minister. A subsequent inquiry found there was no wrong-doing. It was, by all accounts, a very bad look though.

Also applicable to the discussion on kindness vs results, Churchill also famously never said "However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."

Oh, hey, being as it is that I have pretty much chucked in the bicycles for moto bikes, is anyone here interested in a lightly used Specialized S-Works Epic, 2018 model, done around 2000km? It's carbon black with yellow decals. PM me if interested.

And even more so, most voters will vote for the nicest looking candidate, too, rather than the most competent! Fortunately, though, it is us old boring quiet people who are most often encountered at the ballot box, with the noisy social media types too deep in Twitter and the couch to translate their loud mouths into votes!

This is exactly the problem. As Winston Churchill actually never really said, the best argument against Democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. Most voters do not look past the slogans and the headlines, which means they are easily won over by a slick PR campaign (WP please don't imagine me saying this about you because I am not...you clearly take a lot more interest than the average voter does, or you would not have raised the topic).

Or, as David Seymour summed up in his speech at the ACT conference, 'the Labour Party has excelled as a PR operation'!

SRAM gripshit don't break. That's all I have to say about that! When my Mrs pranged years ago while training for the Epic she got an XTR lever in her thumb. That sealed the switch for her...

I differ on that somewhat WP. Kindness is all well and good, but when kindness is powered by other people's money, it is a political tool rather than a genuine sentiment. Look at the paycut debacle for sincerity. How much would it take to simply pay back 20% of your salary to IRD, or to a charity? No effort at all. It's like the millionaires and their headlines of 'tax us more'. Mate, you want to pay more tax, lead by example. No revenue department in the world will turn down voluntarily contributed funds. But somehow, law is required to compel these do-gooders to do good. Long after the headline has faded from memory. Kindness, yes, but where's kindness when your policies have unexpected and deleterious outcomes? Child poverty (itself a debatable issue in NZ - children need love, not money, and there is a poverty of good parenting in some societal circles) is up, homelessness is up, people on benefits, up, waitlists for surgery etc, up. All the kindness in the world solves not these issues. And, in fact, as Thomas Sowell makes abundantly clear in 'Wealth, Poverty and Politics', kindness can and does, in a very real sense, kill. Too much kindness results in excruciatingly poor outcomes for, well, poor folk. Sometimes the best way to help people is to give them less help, not more. And 'feel good' policies sold on intentions are often dangerous, because their long run consequences are not considered nor evaluated. You'll see a lot of talk of expectations and intentions, but if and when you see measurements and evaluation of outcomes being dropped, or when you see policy effects measured in dollars spent rather than outcomes achieved, it's time to question the value of kindness (itself an abstract concept without any firm measure).

Judith Collins coming into National, with Big Gerry as her deputy, is the best thing to happen to National for some time, although the circumstances were pretty dire this time yesterday morning. Muller never was political leadership material; prior to deposing Simon Bridges, Muller was entirely - entirely - invisible. I live in the Bay of Plenty and had never heard of him before, even as a political tragic. And when he folded over the MAGA hat souvenir, the writing was on the wall, shortly followed by the 'why aren't you brown enough' debacle, and then the photo in front of an upside down Rangatiritanga flag. Sloppy, bewildered and just never going to connect with the electorate. BTW, I liked the pairing of Bridges with Bennett; they were both Maori, but not Maori enough (whatever TF that means, but ja). Both Brownlee and Collins have extensive experience as senior Ministers, with Collins previously holding the Police and Justice portfolios, among others, and Big G having led the Christchurch recovery, so he knows how to manage a crisis (and oh boy do we have one of those right now). Collins has a great combination of mongrel, political instinct, and the ability to handle an often hostile media. Same for Gerry; he knows the House rules better than anyone, including current Speaker Trevor Mallard (or maybe Nick Smith...Nick knows the rules very well, but is in constant strife with Mallard simply because Mallard doesn't like Smith). This is as winning a leadership as National will have in the foreseeable future. On Labour; while Jacinda has handled the various crises very well, her team has not. In fact, if you look closely at Labour and the Greens, they are shot through with incompetence and scandal, with only Jacinda and her kindness shining through. Now, kindness is all well and good, but once the hugs are gone, it's the hard decisions that remain. She's proven spectacularly unwilling or unable to make hard decisions, starting with Meka Whaitiri, extending to Clare Curran and Iain Lees-Galloway and right through to David Clark. You could throw Phil Twyford in there too, a man who has spectacularly failed in every portfolio he has been given, yet remains #4 on the Labour list. And what of Labour deputy Kelvin Davis, also Minister of Tourism - completely clueless and largely invisible, because every time he does a press standup, he comes away mauled and clearly lacks understanding of his portfolio. Grant Robertson, Finance Minister, has arguably done a pretty good job, though. The Greens...oh where to begin. Hard core socialists who have missed the boat completely on what should be their core area of change or action, the environment. It's all been Ilhumatao and benefits, no Kermadecs sanctuary (proposed by National, vetoed by NZ First), no cameras on fishing boats (proposed by National, vetoed by NZ First). And NZ First? They say never write Winston off, but he's mired in controversy (as always - right the way back to 1978, the Scampi affair,the Wine Box Enquiry, and now the shenanigans in the Racing portfolio, the PGF, the NZ First Foundation and dodgy donors including from the fishing industry, and, and and). This election should see NZF and hopefully the Greens out of Parliament and good riddance too. ACT...why do I vote ACT? Because ACT is principled, has offered firm and sensible resistance to erosions of fundamental rights including freedom of speech, and more than any other party, stresses the principles of self-reliance, small government and minimal state intrusion on personal lives. Note that ACT, the smallest party in Parliament, has achieved well beyond its physical stature: Charter Schools, 3 strikes and the End of Life Choice (euthanasia) legislation is all ACT's work. Seymour also tried to introduce legislation to compel MPs to take a pay cut after Jacinda grabbed headlines saying she would take a 20% salary reduction. She made that claim around 6 months ago, hasn't yet taken a pay cut, and her Labour party voted down Seymour's bill. Now, politics is the art of compromise. No party will fully align with your views or your principles. Our choice is to understand what each party wants and then see which aligns best with your views and principles, then cast your vote accordingly. There is also no right or wrong vote. If you believe in Labour principles or what the Green Party is doing, I will not hold that against you and nor can I criticise it. Sure, though, I will discuss why I see things differently...and I commit to trying to understand those different views, rather than dismissing or being hostile to them. We can all learn something from anyone else, and the fact that we all see things differently is valuable rather than divisive or problematic.

Holy moly Patham that is a serious prang. Chipped teeth says it all, never mind the vertebrae etc. All the best for the recovery...bit of a long and not lekker road ahead.

Depends on their age, I guess. My kids are born Kiwis, my 7 year old tells me he is a New Zealander and I am a South African. Bloody xenophobe!!

Speaking of dirt bikes...these kids will grow up to be the next Jarvis, Haaker or Birch ;-)

Told ya you should come on down to Whakatown. Lekker in the wop wops.

On the money. My Mrs worries about the kids from dodgy backgrounds, and it is a matter for concern as we have a number who you can see are and will be bad influences (arrive late, are antisocial/unpleasant/aggressive). But that's life, too, you get all kinds of people and have to get used to dealing with the good and bad.