Wayne Potgieter

Getting excited now. In 2 weeks we leave for a 10 day South Island trip. Fly in to CHC, drive to Lake Tekapo and then meander down to Queenstown. A short hop from QTN to Dunedin and we fly out. Things on the list to do: Lake Tekapo - St Johns Observatory Mt Cook - Lots of walks (hooker valley track) Wanaka - Go look at that swimming tree Queenstown - Jet Boat, Onsen Pools, Indoor Skydiving Lots of walking, exploring and eating in between. Here are some photos that OTHER people have posted online. I plan to spam the crappola out of this thread in a few weeks with my own images.

I am busy buying USA shares at the moment. I just did a look at Tesla's one year share price change and am floored.

Hey Intern. What bike did you get for your kiddos? My son is hassling me for a bike.

riding pant suggestions? I am after a premium riding jean that is comfortable, safe and looks "normal"

Just saw this now. I use Sharesies all the time. I also have set up kids accounts as well for the little ones. I like creating DIY investment playbooks and have set up a monthly debit to go into the account and then get spent in line with my strategy. ITs really easy, not badly priced and I enjoy the US markets. In fact, bought some apple shares this morning.

Look, anyone who cant spell "fault" properly but can spell all those other words is deliberately trolling. I actually like this thread, so if you are going to contribute in a meaningful way and have good netiquette, then chat away. If you are here to troll and be a knob - go away.

Need some advice on riding pants. I am leaning towards a reinforced set of jeans. Anyone have any thoughts/recommendations?

I spent quite a bit of time on this very question. Here is where I landed. The MT-03 keeps its value very well. I reckon its because people that are buying starter bikes are "scared" of the MT-07 LAMS bike. The MT-07 High Output also keeps its value reasonably well but the LAMS MT-07 depreciates rather rapidly. Its in a weird little "no-mans land" space.

Yes it is. Although - I have my eyes on a nice Ruroc berserker lid. Looks pretty similar and I love the interchangeable lenses. https://www.ruroc.com/en_nz/berserker

its swings and roundabouts. You pay more on your road user charges(my last bike was about R4,500 a year) but I pay no medical aid at all so that’s nice.

there is a saffa lady in Auckland selling a vitpilen on Facebook with the most amazing helmet.

Update - Took the little MT-03 for a spin. Great little learner bike. Super light and easy to manouveurerueu turn. Ordered one in the Ice Flouro colour scheme. Should get it Wednesday. Once I have the full license, ill flip it and upgrade to its bigger brother the MT-07 or MT-09. Here is a picture (no couch - sorry)

Cool idea. After a couple of weeks getting comfortable, I will do a Ride Forever refresher and start getting ready for the full. Would be cool to do it with a mate.

ummm. So in RSA I used a R50 note as a license. Just kept renewing my learners. About 18 months ago I did my NZ Learners and Restricted. Bought a BMW GS but I am too hobbit sized for it so sold it. Now I want to get my full license( my year on Restricted is over) and I need to buy a little easy to manage bike to do that on. The MT looks cool and seems to keep its value.

Going to take a Yamaha Mt-03 for a test ride this weekend. Need to get my full license on a learner approved motorcycle and that one looks pretty good.

You should always "Like" a post with a point well made.

Do this ...

basically, manage your debt before it manages you...

This is something near to my heart. We all use specialist pieces of software to manage a companies finances (I know, its exactly what I sell for a living www.verde.co.nz) but we neglect to manage our personal finances the same way. At the end of it all, our personal finances need to be seen to be the "business" of the family. I am a huge fan of POCKETSMITH. Essentially a personal financial management tool. It costs $9 a month, but it gives me the ability to create budgets, and more importantly links to my bank accounts (all of them) to import statements. I sit down for ten minutes once a week and allocate our spend to budget categories. Right down to the cent. This gives me the ability to track our spend that is out of mind but adds up quickly (Yes, I am looking at you cheeky flat white coffee's) This also allows me to break down periodic spend into monthly amounts and accrue it (What you are suggesting Dave ) and measure the spend against the accrual. As a family, we dump our accruals into an interest bearing account monthly and spend out of that as and when the periodics occur all while measuring against budget. This sounds like a lot of work, but with Pocketsmith, its really only a few clicks of a mouse. We have gotten to the point of introducing our children to it. So when out in the shops and they ask for a toy or videogame, we stop and first check on the pocketsmith app how we are tracking on that budget so that we make an informed choice. I realise this teaches them to think about the expenditure in the bigger scheme of things before just blindly spending money. Seeing as we are on the subject, another small tip for those with kiddos - when your child wants to buy something a little expensive with their own pocket money and they are a little short, never "lend" them the money. The trap is too easy to say "I'll give you the extra $20 you need and take it out of your next pocket money". This teaches them that its ok to borrow to buy luxuries. As hard as it is, they should be taught that borrowing is only for houses and maybe cars - everything else Cash is King.

Man, time to vent. 2020 is like the year of all work and no fun. I normally take a long weekend break at least every 2 months and 2 longer trips throughout the year to try and balance a heavy workload. This year has all been about working hard to keep my job safe. Lots of university work to try and make use of more free time. Basically, all the mahi, none of the treats. I am really tired of it all and feel a little punch drunk. I get that life is not always pleasant, but I used to be pretty good at balancing the good with the bad, lately it just seems to be bad on bad. Rant over.

My son is stuck at year 6 camp near hamilton. He was supposed to go to camp in March but it was cancelled because of Covid. Then they rebooked it and now its cut short from Covid. Going to have one pissed off kid to deal with....

A plb is essential. Not too badly priced and literally a lifesaver. Can even rent them if need be.

Lekker uit ge ***.