Wayne Potgieter

Congrats! Thats a big (but expensive) milestone.

Yep, we are really lucky. I spent the last 10 days in Japan and as much as I loved our trip and had the time of my life, I am really glad to LIVE in NZ.

Oh man, cherish the moments. They go by so damn quick. JD is in year 9, has armpit hair and his voice sounds all funny. Erin is a senior in primary school and goes to intermediate next year. Weirdly, I am still the exact same age and have not grown older, slower and balder at all 😬 She look adorable Hayley.

Oh, absolutely nothing wrong with Melbourne. One of my favourite cities. Plenty wrong with being couped up in a corporate office for 12 hours a day for 3 days and not enjoying Melbourne.

Positives about Cyclones.... Was supposed to head to Melbourne for a conference today. Wont be going. YAY! was totally not looking forward to it. Had a six hour power outage, my kids went mental. Told them about load shedding and their faces had all the colour drained from it. Guessing they wont want to go back to SA.

Sheesh, talking of being woke. I eat plant based, have a beard, drive a tesla and gravel bike. I am quite literally a walking stereotype and loving every moment of it.

Yeah, it was epic. Thanks for remembering. 50km of single track through giant redwoods and alongside crystal clear rivers followed by the awe-inspiring sulfur flats. I had a target time of sub 8 hours and came in under 7h30 minutes. Ran with my wife so we set pretty achievable goals as it was our first ultra. Basically just took our time, enjoyed each moment, and stuffed our faces at the well-stocked aid stations. 1500 meters of elevation (although Strava smoothing reduced that to 1,100) and a course of 52km. The atmosphere is amazing. It's NZ's biggest trail race by qty of runners. Over 5,000 participants across the 4 distances. 21km, 50km 100km, and miler. Around 2,000 people for the 21 and another 2,000 for the 50. The balance spread over the 102 and miler. Got to see some trail legends run past me. Zach Miller, Lucy Bartholomew, Hayden Hawkes, Truly epic stuff. In fact, Zach stayed at my previous coach's house so we had a good time with him. He ended up winning the miler. All in, the bug has bitten hard and I am keen to either run it again next year and go harder or up to the 102! Here are a few photos of the course (prepare for photospam - all official photos I have paid for from sportograf)...

Our son is now entering Year 9 - the first year of college which I loosely have as Standard 6 in my old dinosaur brain. He has some optional subjects this year such as Financial Literacy and some technical subjects like food preparation etc. He is quite excited about school this year.

On a slightly separate note, but still closely associated with education, I have just been writing a Uni Paper on the Social Progress Index. Its quite a cool idea. Essentially, it holistically looks at multiple facets of life and assesses what the generation progress is like. Basically, is there forward movement across generations. It then takes this data and measures different countries. So you can see whether your children will live a better life than you did depending on where you live. South Africa is ranked in Tier 4 (the lowest tier is 6) at number 80 with a score of 69.17 whereas NZ is ranked in Tier 1 at number 12 in the world. This index takes into account: Nutrition and medical care Water and sanitation Shelter Safety education Access to information Health and wellness Personal rights Freedom Access to advanced education Inclusiveness https://www.socialprogress.org/index/global/results

Our experience has been incredibly different. I have two VERY different children academically. My son is smart and lazy, he needs to be "entertained" and constantly supervised or he will drift off of subject and day dream. My Daughter is in the 98th percentile and is managed through the SENCO office at the school. Each child has a very different learning path and both schools have done an amazing job of catering for them. They both LOVE school and are learning at a rate that is pleasing to me. Having teachers and an education system that is malleable allows for different approaches with different kids. If my daughter were to be put in a group that moved at the same pace, she would hate school as it would be boring. Inversely, my son would have plenty of opportunity to "hide" within a large group. I think the teachers are what makes the difference, we have been fortunate in that all of the teachers we have experienced (in particular in Orewa) have been phenomenal. My kids are fluent in timetables and do lots of songs and creative work. Whilst I am not disagreeing with your experience H, I do wonder if thigs are different the older they get. My daughter is now entering year 6 (although technically she is doing year 8 work with her teachers) so they are quite a bit older than yours. Perhaps this is the key difference. Sure, I don't think the NZ system is perfect, but I am positive about it and my children are thriving. My in laws were here a few weeks ago and we were comparing my nephew's education to my children's and I can hand on heart state that (at least for my kids) I am incredibly grateful that they are here.

Yeah, this was just one person.

Sure, no problem. I paid $233 for the Plan A essentials. This had a $150 excess and the insurance was valid for 15 days.

I used these guys for my recent travels. Cannot comment on how good they are as I (thankfully) never had to claim. insurance policy wording.pdf

Thats awesome!

I am loving the nice summer weather!

Trek Checkpoint SL5. Local bike shop in Auckland.

When you get this right, let me know the winning lotto numbers too. (FYI - My inlaws got the best deal on Emirates recently)

@Admin - Dont lock this. The amount of positive mental health coming off this thread is amazing. @all that are sharing - well done to each of you for talking things through. You guys are awesome.

Yes

There is a lovely little Italian restaurant right by that beach (I think its called the Esplanade). Highly recommend. Have a great time!

Holy heck man. I need the summer to start already. Need some consistent sunshine in my life. Right, who is going away for December/January holidays and where are you going? #inspireme

Thanks Dude!

Thanks Man! Those pedals were temporary as I waited for the right ones to arrive. I have since upgraded to the best pedals EVA!!! https://www.evocycles.co.nz/Product/286426/shimano-eh500-one-sided-spd-touring-pedal#

Well, after a few years of casual cycling and a stronger focus on running, I may have bought myself a new birthday present which will require more dedication to cycling. Thankfully my new running coach is a monster triathlete and is incorporating more cycling into my program.

You can order a supplementary plate for $30 plus a few bucks extra for a buckle clip holder that you clip on to your bike.