New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[l4y3rcake]

*snip*

We were sitting waiting to drop my son off for cricket practice and she was bored and asked if she could walk home, 

*snip*

On that note...I heard that there aren't organised sport in primary schools. Is this true?

[Ramrod]

On that note...I heard that there aren't organised sport in primary schools. Is this true?

Depends on the school. When we arrived my son was used to doing sport almost every day. The school he was in had a team and once that team was filled those were the kids. Everyone else was referred to "club sport". Now that we are looking at returning I am looking at specifically that and found that some schools do have extra murals and some don't.

[mazambaan]

My 9 yo daughter got lost walking home last week.  We were sitting waiting to drop my son off for cricket practice and she was bored and asked if she could walk home, and please would I pick her up if I passed her.  I said yes - it's not far and we've done it often enough.

 

Got home.  No kid.

 

It's quite hard to get out of the 'really, really **** things can and do happen to you as a matter of course' mentality...

 

Thank goodness it all ended well. I know that terrible bleaching fear (you can feel yourself go white and stiff) as I "lost" my son for about 20 minutes once on a pier as a lighty and he went "missing" as an adult after being assaulted and suffering from concussion. Very, very stressful.

[Wayne Potgieter]

Now that we are looking at returning .

wait...what?

[Wet Ears]

Just my luck, was heading to NZ off the back of a work trip to Singapore at the end of the month, now work is looking at cancelling all trips to that part of the world due to our friend corona! Issue was that work was footing the bill for business class and I just had to pay the difference to get to NZ which was roughly same price as what I am now going to have to pay for an economy ticket in my personal capacity!!

 

Was really looking forward to that long haul in comfort - fark! 

[davetapson]

On that note...I heard that there aren't organised sport in primary schools. Is this true?

It's kind of half half. Cricket practice is at school, but matches are played as part of the East Coast Bays cricket club.

 

There is a soccer League at school, but it is run by a club.

 

The senior schools seem to have pretty good sports facilities.

[l4y3rcake]

Got 2 potential buyers viewing our house today. Can't wait to get that weight lifted. That will hopefully make the stressful process a bit more bearable.

[Ramrod]

wait...what?

Yup, Work is too unstable here although I do love it here. I had 3 option Canada (Vancouver) Uk as I can get an ancestral visa or NZ.

 

While I would love to get into Canada I need the ever elusive job offer.

 

UK is easy from a visa point of view but I just can't get the numbers for cost of living vs salary to work in my head. I actually don't know how they do it.

 

NZ is the easy option. Been there before and know people who know people. Applied for a great position and hoping I get it. Then I will pack up here tomorrow and move over there. But I would need to do things very differently. Also have an open offer form the company I worked for previously but I think their culture has changed too much since I was there and an offer in Hamilton but the wife doesn't want to go to Hamilton. For her it Auckland or nothing!

[Slowbee]

6-7 years will fly by, especially in the beginning while your mind and body is working hard learning a new trade.

 

Best wishes.

 

In SA you can also make a killing if you are a good electrician who is always on site when needed and can work neatly and accurately.

 

The one thing that I see local electrical contractors often falling flat on is not being on top of their game when it comes to administration. Especially when it comes to variations while a project is on site and timelines are tight. Document the changes and if you know it will have an effect on your programe, note this, even if just in an email. At the end of the project you need not claim the delays, but if you need them later you at least have this documentation to back you up.

 

As frustrating as this is, make sure you get it right. It will save you time and money, and when / if there are any discussions later in the game you have a track record of deviations, etc.

or even worse, you the electrician, drop off your "highly qualified team" and then promptly go play games on your cell phone in the bakkie only to go home when the work is done having never seen the inside of the house

[Hairy]

or even worse, you the electrician, drop off your "highly qualified team" and then promptly go play games on your cell phone in the bakkie only to go home when the work is done having never seen the inside of the house

Ja nee .... we do not have sparkies like that on our projects

[intern]

On that note...I heard that there aren't organised sport in primary schools. Is this true?

 We take our boys to athletics and cricket which is after school but not part of school. There's a bike track at the school though, which the kids use often. So a bit different, to be sure! Back in our day, cycling wasn't a thing (though tons of kids biked to school). Now it is a thing...and very few kids bike to school. Weird huh.

[l4y3rcake]

 We take our boys to athletics and cricket which is after school but not part of school. There's a bike track at the school though, which the kids use often. So a bit different, to be sure! Back in our day, cycling wasn't a thing (though tons of kids biked to school). Now it is a thing...and very few kids bike to school. Weird huh.

 

 

I'm more interested in Rugby and BMX racing. I understand that BMX is a club sport. That's the way it is all over the world. 

[eibmoZ]

Just on the “bad”... xc riding... think long 50 to 100km routes like a extended cradle and lanseria route or a quick 60km spuit does not seem to exist in Auckland.

 

I am on the shore and there seems to be no option to do a quick 50 or so from my house.

 

In Joburg i would have a 2 to 8 km tar and then be free on a variety of trails leading various directions. Granted some where i would pass a super dodgey area.

 

Seems north island is enduro.

 

Some suggest i do one or two of the short 6or 10 km rides in loops, but i hate loops. Whole reason i ride is to be free to gou out for a hour or two and just ride.

 

Not sure what next step is in terms of riding..

[Saag]

Just on the “bad”... xc riding... think long 50 to 100km routes like a extended cradle and lanseria route or a quick 60km spuit does not seem to exist in Auckland.

 

I am on the shore and there seems to be no option to do a quick 50 or so from my house.

 

In Joburg i would have a 2 to 8 km tar and then be free on a variety of trails leading various directions. Granted some where i would pass a super dodgey area.

 

Seems north island is enduro.

 

Some suggest i do one or two of the short 6or 10 km rides in loops, but i hate loops. Whole reason i ride is to be free to gou out for a hour or two and just ride.

 

Not sure what next step is in terms of riding..

You learn to make a plan. I regularly ride out from Whangaparaoa to Puhoi, Riverhead etc. You can avoid a lot of tar, and once I hit Orewa, mostly gravel.

 

But I agree, no mtb specific trails available with any distance.

[WrightJnr]

Just on the “bad”... xc riding... think long 50 to 100km routes like a extended cradle and lanseria route or a quick 60km spuit does not seem to exist in Auckland.

 

I am on the shore and there seems to be no option to do a quick 50 or so from my house.

 

In Joburg i would have a 2 to 8 km tar and then be free on a variety of trails leading various directions. Granted some where i would pass a super dodgey area.

 

Seems north island is enduro.

 

Some suggest i do one or two of the short 6or 10 km rides in loops, but i hate loops. Whole reason i ride is to be free to gou out for a hour or two and just ride.

 

Not sure what next step is in terms of riding..

Same but different issue here in Dubai for me. I’ve got to drive an hour to get to Hatta if I want to have a good MTB. There’s about 160km of dedicated road cycling track close to me but I’m not a roadie fan to be honest. Totally miss my riding in the Cradle and all the MTB tracks back in SA. Miss my cycling mates too.

[patches]

I hope all had a great Waitangi weekend!

We were lucky enough to do a bit of a South Island road trip.

 

 

 

Flew down to Christchurch. Spent half a day in the city, then down to Fairlie through Raikaia Gorge. 1 night there. Then onwards to Lake Tekapo for a short hike, Lake Pukaki for a picture of Mt Cook, and down into Central Otago to stay just outside of Cromwell on Lake Dunstan. After that a morning in Wanaka and some exploring the countryside around Alexandra. Finally we drove meandered our way through small Central Otago towns (like Roxburgh and Lawrence) to end up in Dunedin for a bit before we flew back to Auckland.

We were quite proud of ourselves for exploring regional NZ and not just gravitating towards Queenstown (as awesome as it can be, it's been overdone).

 

 

So here's the rough route the road trip took us on:

 

 

Here are selected snaps (I wasn't the official photographer, so apologies for the slim pickings).

 

Lake Tekapo (from the western side)

 

Lake Pukaki looking out at Mt Cook

 

Wanaka

 

Dunedin Train Station

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by patches