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

[Wayne Potgieter]

haha especially rare then if one takes into account that dogs here don't have rabies. Most Kiwis I have spoken to don't even know what it is.

In the last 20 years, 13 people have been killed in NZ by cows.

 

In the last 70 years, 11 people have been killed in NZ by sharks.

 

On average 1,300 people die from Suicide in NZ per year. In fact, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in non Maori men in NZ beaten only by heart disease.

 

The last statistic is totally frightening. 

[Skott5]

In the last 20 years, 13 people have been killed in NZ by cows.

 

In the last 70 years, 11 people have been killed in NZ by sharks.

 

On average 1,300 people die from Suicide in NZ per year. In fact, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in non Maori men in NZ beaten only by heart disease.

 

The last statistic is totally frightening. 

 

It's the lack of Vitamin D - all that rain makes people depressed. 

[hayleyearth]

It's the lack of Vitamin D - all that rain makes people depressed.

Where's the rain?

It's scary how dry it has been, definitely not the same place than a few years ago.

 

I went up north this past weekend, the cows and sheep had no green grass to eat, done areas were actually barely any grass.

[davetapson]

I saw an article for the 2nd shark attack in Tauranga in the last month or so.

Also great white's spotted off the Auckland coast.

 

Wondering if this is a common occurrence or if this is something that has recently escalated?

Was speaking to a life-saver type dude and he reckons that the NZ attacks might be the same shark.  His comment is sometimes when individuals taste human, they get a liking for it.

[patches]

Was speaking to a life-saver type dude and he reckons that the NZ attacks might be the same shark.  His comment is sometimes when individuals taste human, they get a liking for it.

 

Was this the guy you were speaking to?

 

 

*queue eerie "duh-dun.... duh-dun... duh-dun, duh-dun, duh-dun" *

Edited February 3, 2021 by patches

[davetapson]

It's the lack of Vitamin D - all that rain makes people depressed. 

Ironically the one thing NZ isn't short of is UV - due to the (lack of) Ozone Layer.

 

When the sun is out and bright, it's got a real bite - Africa got nothing on it.  UV damage to everything is pretty apparent, including humans.

[Wayne Potgieter]

Ironically the one thing NZ isn't short of is UV - due to the (lack of) Ozone Layer.

 

When the sun is out and bright, it's got a real bite - Africa got nothing on it.  UV damage to everything is pretty apparent, including humans.

This really surprised me when we moved here. The sun chows you if you are not careful.

[Wayne Potgieter]

Heading out this weekend to hike the Tongariro Crossing.

 

Anyone done it before?

 

(I think Hayley has done it)

[hayleyearth]

Heading out this weekend to hike the Tongariro Crossing.

 

Anyone done it before?

 

(I think Hayley has done it)

Yip, when I was 4 months pregnant.

We did it 'in reverse', so started closest to Taupos side.

Enjoy, it's great.

[Wayne Potgieter]

Tongariro crossing is pretty cool. It's a hard day on the feet but quite an experience. The area is quite surreal.

 

The kids did really well, but they were pretty knackered at the end.

 

Interesting alpine terrain with a nice bush walk to finish it off. The hardest parts are the climb to the summit along a narrow ridgeline with loose gravel and then the subsequant descent on scree. The descent is the area with the most injuries and while we were there a Westpac chopper needed to rescue some dude that twisted his ankle rather badly on the way down.

 

I highly recommend.

 

Costs were not bad at all, we stayed at The Parks hotel (okayish 3 star) and we paid $199 per person for 2 nights accomodation, breakfasts each day, shuttle to and from the hike and a packed lunch on the day of the hike.

 

Prepare for photo spam...

 

 

 

[patches]

Tongariro crossing is pretty cool. It's a hard day on the feet but quite an experience. The area is quite surreal.

 

The kids did really well, but they were pretty knackered at the end.

 

Interesting alpine terrain with a nice bush walk to finish it off. The hardest parts are the climb to the summit along a narrow ridgeline with loose gravel and then the subsequant descent on scree. The descent is the area with the most injuries and while we were there a Westpac chopper needed to rescue some dude that twisted his ankle rather badly on the way down.

 

I highly recommend.

 

Costs were not bad at all, we stayed at The Parks hotel (okayish 3 star) and we paid $199 per person for 2 nights accomodation, breakfasts each day, shuttle to and from the hike and a packed lunch on the day of the hike.

 

Prepare for photo spam...

 

Well done Potgieter gang!

 

It's still one of the to-do's on my list!

 

Some of your pics make it look like another planet (Mars). Reminds me of the top of Mt Haleakala (Maui, Hawaii), with the red soil and sparse vegetation. (I was lazy on that one though and catering largely for American tourists, one can drive to the top, some 3,000m up)

 

I have ridden an awesome trail (dirtbike) called the 42nd Traverse, which connects Owhango to the Tongariro national park, but I need to get my butt into gear and do the Crossing itself one of these days!

Keep the photo-spam rolling in!

Edited February 8, 2021 by patches

[davetapson]

Just reading through a 2Degrees mailer for BB and I see that they say that if your BB fails for whatever reason, they'll hook you up with mobile data to compensate.

That's conscious thinking.

[patches]

Just reading through a 2Degrees mailer for BB and I see that they say that if your BB fails for whatever reason, they'll hook you up with mobile data to compensate.

 

That's conscious thinking.

 

For a second I read "BB" as "BlackBerry" and wondered who still used BlackBerries and why 2degrees cares if they fail

 

I'm in the process of a broadband switchover and the Saffer in me prepared for the worst, tried to organise it all before hand. I went about setting commencement date for new ISP and notifying current ISP of cancellation and scheduling them to stop their services a few days after commencement (to ensure overlap just in case).

 

Turns out that trying to be helpful was actually a hindrance and the ISP's just talk to each other and schedule it all themselves. And by me setting a cancellation date I actually put a block on the new ISP from doing that, so I had to reverse it.

 

Years of dealing with Telkom, Vodacom, Cell C and the likes, and having to notify them 20x to cancel a service had me fearing the worst with the ISP's ere. Hopefully it all goes smoothly.

Edited February 9, 2021 by patches

[patches]

ISP switched. Pretty seamless. Just needed to update my router settings when I got home.

 

That'll do pig, that'll do!

Edited February 10, 2021 by patches

[Wayne Potgieter]

ISP switched. Pretty seamless. Just needed to update my router settings when I got home.

 

Screenshot 2021-02-11 070223.png

That'll do pig, that'll do!

That must be plugged in right? Or is that your wifi signal?

[patches]

That must be plugged in right? Or is that your wifi signal?

 

I wish, haha!

 

Yeah that's plugged in. My wifi (indoors) ranges from about 250Mbps down to 150Mbps depending on location. I have 2 mesh wifi access points, but they're not super high speed like the latest devices out there.

 

I did spend many hours running Cat6 cable under the house and within the walls to hard wire the 2 TV's. Ran a speed test and it capped out at just under 100Mbps. I then found out that most TV's only have 10/100Mbps network cards (not Gigabit), so they actually run better off wifi than hardwired   

 

Lesson learnt!

 

Also, apologies to our Aussie friends on this thread. We're spoilt brats complaining about 150Mbps connections while you guys are subjected to NBN. Just feel comforted that although we get way better internet here, we're totally shafted on the cost of groceries

Edited February 10, 2021 by patches