davetapson

Sorry Wayne, didn't see you had posted this.

Tweet from home affairs SA says NZ had been added to 'visa free' list of countries. Maybe won't need a visa to travel to SA on NZ passport. Got to wonder what's behind it.

Some guys trying to get Royal Albany Trails reopened... www.savetherat.co.nz If you have a moment?

Takapuna cycle trail... It's a remarkably beautiful country we live in.

I stuck to the roads which were all completely rideable. I did do a detour down a logging road which was sketchy indeed due to mud. My thoughts as I went down it were 'at least I don't have to come up this' but then it dead ended... You can see paths coming onto the road and going off the road so there must be a single track network through the forest - I did't have time to check it out, but it seems worth a look. There were tracks coming in and out of them, so folks were riding them. Edit: just had a look at that clip - now I'm definitely going back...

Riverhead Forest also a reasonable ride... And something a tad unexpected.

I'm working through my own company so I get to pay my KiwiSaver contribution myself [emoji2955] Currently paying enough to get the tax back, undecided about paying more until we've scraped enough to put down a deposit on a house at a level we can afford the repayments. I actually started paying a while ago, no one said I couldn't. Waiting to see what IRD have to say about that...

Residency approved yesterday!! 2 yrs to PR...

He likes being dramatic! Did well tho. He had a mate who is a couple of years older so was under pressure...!

Dunno if it's been mentioned before, but there is a really nice track at Long Bay Regional Park. It's not long, but there are plenty ups and downs and it's real pretty. Good spot to take kids.

Can't flpn wait. Have applied for PR, they came back and wanted a bunch of medical stuff/tests for me. For some reason they seem to think I'm going to pop my clogs on their dime. A bit heart-in-mouth at the moment.

Sani Adventure registration today. First time in 10 years I'm not doing it. Neither Good or Bad given the opportunities of living here, but bittersweet, if that's the right word.

I'm working in Rosedale - would be a bit of a walk. If things change I'd be there.

Did Woodhill Bike Park this morning with a buddy and our kids. Completely well worth a visit.

A mate has just done this. It looks epic. (Small e.) http://www.lakehaweaepic.co.nz/ Next year...

C'mon Patches, just walk over 'n sling 'em in the harbour. No one will mind... [emoji6][emoji39] $7 per black bag, max of 2 at our local transit station (dump).

Yeh, trying to get Vodafone and ANZ apps on my phone was a trauma. Took about three months to get Google/my phone to understand that I'd changed countries. And apparently you can only change once per year. Seems pretty frkn clunky.

So apparently East Coast is $50 odd, but if you drive inland slightly, like Albany, drops to $18...

Yeh - that's what the GP charges - $52 or something, and $5 for the pharmacy. I need to check this out...

A bad: being a law-abiding country, pharmacists don't have secret ingredient 'gout bombs' under the counter. Go to the doctor they say. Yep, but a doctor probably wouldn't prescribe to you whatever they put in those bombs. Pharmacological strangenesses: you can't buy Advil CS without a prescription. Apparently there was a local industry of turning it into methanphetamine or something. And you can't get colchacine(?) without a script... And at $50+ a visit, makes buying a pack of Advil CS/Colchacine an expensive business.

Ah. Ok, that makes sense. No, me either, but then again figuring out if the TV was regionally locked wasn't high on the list of priorities when I bought it...

Has anyone moved their RA's SA -> Kiwi Saver themselves i.e. not as part of Financial Emigration? Apparently it can be done prior to FE, as long as you are resident in NZ.

Got completely fed up with not being able to use the Netflix app in NZ - seems to be blocked, certainly on LG tv's anyway. So cracked and bought vpn via vpnplus (I think) - cost somewhere about $60/yr, followed the instructions and viola, our tv thinks it's back in SA and downloaded the app. It's not that hard - can give you a hand if you'd like to give it a go.

Residence application in. Agent says that it's taking up to three months for a case officer to be assigned at the moment...

Problem is, you always going to have nutters, who will express themselves the way nutters do, or as they say, 'nutters going to nut no matter what'. Or something. I think the one problem the Americans have is that there are just so many of them - when you have a population of 350 000 000, the number of nutters is not going to be insignificant, and being first world, have access to more than a bag of snakes or whatever 'shitholers', sorry, third-worlders have to come up with.