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

[patches]

It’s never as easy as it bloody looks!! Hate all these homemakers clips on social media, watch and go damn!!! I’m gonna try that, then try, fail and throw the **** in the bin. Feel like a failure and sulk the rest of the day.

 

hahaha! yup!

 

When I lived in JHB I had 3 wooden pallets behind the garage, rotting away. They were purchased on a whim after watching one too many youtube DIY furniture vids.

 

These memes are closer to the truth for most pallet furniture ventures.

 

 

[patches]

Speaking of DIY, did you see that the government is relaxing the consent laws around things like sleep-outs, carports, etc.

 

About time!

 

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121606376/diy-dream-come-true-building-consents-for-low-risk-projects-scrapped?fbclid=IwAR0wdGdP4hsvWLjzO-TGtSF6rsU6Q59jvc1B9B8Ei5UnyZsnqhTrag2tmM0

[Wayne Potgieter]

any suggestions for a nice weekend away this weekend?

 

Driveable from AKL.

[patches]

any suggestions for a nice weekend away this weekend?

 

Driveable from AKL.

 

Depends in what "nationality" you are when asking

 

For an American a 20hr round trip for a long weekend is viable (ie SanFran to Vegas)

For an Aussie a 17hr round trip (ie Sydney to Byron Bay)

For a Saffer, a 12hr round trip (ie Joburg to Durbs))

For a Kiwi... 6hrs max

[Wayne Potgieter]

Depends in what "nationality" you are when asking

 

For an American a 20hr round trip for a long weekend is viable (ie SanFran to Vegas)

For an Aussie a 17hr round trip (ie Sydney to Byron Bay)

For a Saffer, a 12hr round trip (ie Joburg to Durbs))

For a Kiwi... 6hrs max

4hours?

[patches]

4hours?

 

Round trip or 1 way?

 

Round trip... then Hamilton

 

But yeah, friends of mine went to Karekare this past weekend and said it was great. Under 4hrs each way will get you to Paihia, or somewhere nice in Northland.

 

Raglan could also be a decent little getaway.

[patches]

Some awesome camper van deals on at the moment.

 

From about $30/day

$1 to book, cancel up to 7 days before.

 

Thinking of doing a little South Island jaunt in September/October. 

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Some awesome camper van deals on at the moment.

 

From about $30/day

$1 to book, cancel up to 7 days before.

 

Thinking of doing a little South Island jaunt in September/October. 

 

Saw the ads on FB yes. Looks like a very nice deal now.

[DawieO]

any suggestions for a nice weekend away this weekend?

 

Driveable from AKL.

Russell. About 4 hours. Love the Bay of Islands.

[davetapson]

Does anyone here have/know someone who has a large-ish CNC mill for wood. 3-axis is fine, like one of those big flat bed mills.

 

The other day I had an idea. Whether it's a good idea or not, I don't know.

 

The idea is to take topography from selected regions of NZ and translate those into 3D contours to be milled into the front of cabinet doors creating a cool pattern that has meaning behind it. The doors would be made to the dimensions of a standard Ikea Besta cabinet. I chose the Ikea Besta because it's somewhat universal, it's pretty cheap, but not terribly made, and with Ikea coming to NZ in the future, it may be cool to have a "Pimp my Ikea" option.

 

Here's a rough idea of what it would look like:

 

CNC cabinet doors.PNG

 

Contours in CAD.PNG

Contours of the Southern Alps (Wanaka to Franz Joseph) sliced into 16 layers and modelled in AutoCAD.

 

And for material, I would use plywood, so that the dark layers would add a nice grain to the contours. Something like this:

 

 

I have had a quote from a local CNC workshop, and it came out way more than I expected (around $1200). So yeah, if anyone knows of someone who may be keen to give this a shot, let me know!

I was looking for quotes to cut plywood panels for a boat I'm making.

 

The price to cut per sheet cost more then the plywood itself, which wasn't cheap, so I cut by hand. In retrospect, it was probably cheap at the price.

 

There is a guy who has set up a site to buy slack time on cnc machines and claims to be the cheapest - I'll try and remember to Google him up at a more sensible time of day.

[davetapson]

Depends in what "nationality" you are when asking

 

For an American a 20hr round trip for a long weekend is viable (ie SanFran to Vegas)

For an Aussie a 17hr round trip (ie Sydney to Byron Bay)

For a Saffer, a 12hr round trip (ie Joburg to Durbs))

For a Kiwi... 6hrs max [emoji38]

About 125km then? [emoji23]

 

Problem with going north on long weekends is Warkworth and the 7 way stop...

[davetapson]

I was looking for quotes to cut plywood panels for a boat I'm making.

 

The price to cut per sheet cost more then the plywood itself, which wasn't cheap, so I cut by hand. In retrospect, it was probably cheap at the price.

 

There is a guy who has set up a site to buy slack time on cnc machines and claims to be the cheapest - I'll try and remember to Google him up at a more sensible time of day.

021 131 0099 Andy from Cut Together

[patches]

About 125km then? [emoji23]

 

Problem with going north on long weekends is Warkworth and the 7 way stop...

 

So that means about 80km in the Southern Alps.

 

That intersection in Warkworth is a nightmare. I usually stop at the Maccas just before it to destress after sitting in that traffic, haha

 

 

021 131 0099 Andy from Cut Together

 

Awesome thanks! I'll give him a shout and see what the damage is.

[davetapson]

[emoji38]

 

So that means about 80km in the Southern Alps.

 

That intersection in Warkworth is a nightmare. I usually stop at the Maccas just before it to destress after sitting in that traffic, haha

 

 

 

Awesome thanks! I'll give him a shout and see what the damage is.

Yeah. We just wait till evening - traffic dies right back.

[Ed-Zulu]

Seeing this is the only living in a foreign land thread, I have serious question for those of you that have lived without "help" for some time.

 

Since lockdown we have started to get into a rhythm with keeping the house clean, dishes washed and generally not allowing ourselves to go to bed with unattended chores.

 

However, the laundry remains an issue for me, I'm the best person for ironing (fanks national service), so can work thorugh a weeks worth in 3 hours, however, that is indeed a pain and not efficient. I believe the sweet spot lies in a tumble drier, where you fold it directly out the machine and iron that which needs ironing?

 

I would seriously lile to hear the most efficient way you deal with laundry?

 

Thanks in advance

[Wayne Potgieter]

Seeing this is the only living in a foreign land thread, I have serious question for those of you that have lived without "help" for some time.

 

Since lockdown we have started to get into a rhythm with keeping the house clean, dishes washed and generally not allowing ourselves to go to bed with unattended chores.

 

However, the laundry remains an issue for me, I'm the best person for ironing (fanks national service), so can work thorugh a weeks worth in 3 hours, however, that is indeed a pain and not efficient. I believe the sweet spot lies in a tumble drier, where you fold it directly out the machine and iron that which needs ironing?

 

I would seriously lile to hear the most efficient way you deal with laundry?

 

Thanks in advance

Hi Ed.

 

The simplest answer is to not iron at all.

 

Im not kidding.

 

We do our normal laundry in the front loader, then tumble dry it, we make sure we fold the laundry as soon as it comes out the drier.

 

With professional work clothes (especially dress shirts) I wash them separately in their own load at the end of the week and then hang them wet on a hanger. They dry straight. If there are a few small creases, they tend to sort themselves out after wearing the shirt for an hour against a warm body anyway.

 

Most of the KIWI mates we have do the same thing.

 

It also pays to change they type of clothes you buy over time. I now also consider the fabric type when I buy clothes. 

 

For other cleaning, clean as you go. We have a 5 bedroom 3 level house that we can give a proper clean in 1 hour. We do this once a week. 

 

I cannot believe how reliant on a domestic worker we were in South Africa. Now we do all of our housework, gardening and laundry ourselves and have no issues with it. 

 

As far as I can tell, the only drawback is that with tumble drying, my T-shirts dont last very long. Maybe 2 years.