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

[RossW]

Been trying for weeks to close an old unused FNB credit card. It has a positive balance but I no longer need it.

 

What a mission.

 

Have been on hold and passed around for an hour, only to be disconnected.

 

Screw them...I have sent enough correspondence. Let it just run for years and years. I no longer care.

 

 

And I can only assume they will happily keep hitting you with monthly banking charges whilst not letting you close your account from another freaking country?

 

I'm in the same boat and will be closing the CC account when back in JHB in November. Tired of paying R150 odd per month for nothing. The card won't work in Aus as they can only activate roaming on it for six months. That ended a long time ago.

 

Planning on dropping to the lowest account as well to further minimise monthly costs. Another thing I may try is online booking for a driver license. Picking up will be an issue but worth trying it. I wonder what JMPD etc. will think of an Aus driver license as my ZA license has expired.

[Disylizzy]

I'm in the same boat and will be closing the CC account when back in JHB in November. Tired of paying R150 odd per month for nothing. The card won't work in Aus as they can only activate roaming on it for six months. That ended a long time ago.

 

Planning on dropping to the lowest account as well to further minimise monthly costs. Another thing I may try is online booking for a driver license. Picking up will be an issue but worth trying it. I wonder what JMPD etc. will think of an Aus driver license as my ZA license has expired.

 

Even if your license is expired, as long as you have one they weren't interested in our other licenses.  And then to pick up we just gave a letter giving permission to a family member to collect.  If you're planning on driving while in SA then you can get the temporary license (when you're renewing your old one) - just need to bring in a photo, and that's valid for 6 months.

[davetapson]

Been trying for weeks to close an old unused FNB credit card. It has a positive balance but I no longer need it.

 

What a mission.

 

Have been on hold and passed around for an hour, only to be disconnected.

 

Screw them...I have sent enough correspondence. Let it just run for years and years. I no longer care.

Had a business account with FNB that I had never really used. They called me up and ask me to close it, I said fine, close it. They said you need to go to branch you opened it at and close it there. No thanks said I.

 

Repeated this conversation periodically for about 4 years until they finally closed it by themselves but you could tell that it caused about 3kg paper work and 2 months of sleepless nights on their part to do it.

 

Completely flpn (by which I mean fkn) stupid.

[davetapson]

Visas finally through - mine got hooked up on medical review, took about two weeks longer than expected.

 

Flights booked for Monday...

[Wayne Potgieter]

Visas finally through - mine got hooked up on medical review, took about two weeks longer than expected.

 

Flights booked for Monday...

so exciting.

[patches]

Daylight savings is here!

Summer is coming!

Certain dirt tracks will be opening soon!

 

It's adventure time!!

 

I planned this one up last night.

 

• Auckland to Christchurch... and back
• 3.5 days
• Traveling by sea, land, and air
• Over 60% of the land travel (1320km) is off-road.
• Self supported (all camping gear traveling with me)
• Solo... unless I find any takers, hahaha!

 

The land route mapped out, broken into various stages

 

The schedule (with contingency).

 

The steed with 1 panniers mounted. The 1 side you can see contains tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag, towel, and first aid kit. The other side will be for all clothing, toiletries etc. Then there's a half sized one that will go on top of the rear fender for spares and tools.

 

...so who wants to get a dirt bike and join in the adventure?

 

It should be amazing!!!

 

Edited October 2, 2018 by patches

[intern]

Daylight savings is here!

Summer is coming!

Certain dirt tracks will be opening soon!

 

It's adventure time!!

 

I planned this one up last night.

 

• Auckland to Christchurch... and back
• 3.5 days
• Traveling by sea, land, and air
• Over 60% of the land travel (1320km) is off-road.
• Self supported (all camping gear traveling with me)
• Solo... unless I find any takers, hahaha!

 

Heading South 001.PNG

The land route mapped out, broken into various stages

 

Heading South 002.PNG

The schedule (with contingency).

 

IMG-20180919-WA0004.jpg

The steed with 1 panniers mounted. The 1 side you can see contains tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag, towel, and first aid kit. The other side will be for all clothing, toiletries etc. Then there's a half sized one that will go on top of the rear fender for spares and tools.

 

...so who wants to get a dirt bike and join in the adventure?

 

It should be amazing!!!

Man I wish I were you. That looks A for awesome. I've been checking out a Suzuki DRZ (I think) 250 or 400 at the local dealer, around $10k...kinda tempting, but I am not in a position to do adventures like that just yet...

[patches]

Man I wish I were you. That looks A for awesome. I've been checking out a Suzuki DRZ (I think) 250 or 400 at the local dealer, around $10k...kinda tempting, but I am not in a position to do adventures like that just yet...

 

Oh yeah! Suzuki DRZ 400 and DR 650's are the exploring bike of choice in NZ. They're like the Hilux bakkie of the 2 wheel world. And both are LAMS approved, so only a learners license needed.

 

Coleman's Suzuki on K-road (Auckland) often has new DR and DRZ's for around $9k with a long range tank, rego, and fuel thrown into the deal.

 

If you're wanting to get into a bit of 2 wheeled exploring, then have a look at:

 

https://www.adventureridingnz.co.nz/

• Loads of easy trails mapped out.
• Good info on trails (difficulty, access, tips and tricks)
• A decent forum for asking questions.
• Mostly North Island focused

 

For more hardcore exploration look at:

https://www.remotemoto.com/

• More trails than you can shake a stick at.
• Multiday exploration routes
• Some nice challenging tracks (not just dirt roads)
• Good technical info on bike setup etc.
• Unfortunately costs $99/yr for access to trail info
• Moslty South Island based

[coppi]

Good stuff patches................I presume you are not married 

[SL7]

Good stuff patches................I presume you are not married

Married to the bike.

[intern]

 

Oh yeah! Suzuki DRZ 400 and DR 650's are the exploring bike of choice in NZ. They're like the Hilux bakkie of the 2 wheel world. And both are LAMS approved, so only a learners license needed.

 

Coleman's Suzuki on K-road (Auckland) often has new DR and DRZ's for around $9k with a long range tank, rego, and fuel thrown into the deal.

 

If you're wanting to get into a bit of 2 wheeled exploring, then have a look at:

 

https://www.adventureridingnz.co.nz/

• Loads of easy trails mapped out.
• Good info on trails (difficulty, access, tips and tricks)
• A decent forum for asking questions.
• Mostly North Island focused

 

For more hardcore exploration look at:

https://www.remotemoto.com/

• More trails than you can shake a stick at.
• Multiday exploration routes
• Some nice challenging tracks (not just dirt roads)
• Good technical info on bike setup etc.
• Unfortunately costs $99/yr for access to trail info
• Moslty South Island based

 

Cheers Brosef - I have my full motorcycle license, so I am sweet from that perspective...checking out the links. There goes work for the day...

[patches]

Good stuff patches................I presume you are not married 

 

Married to the bike.

 

Hahaha, the lady will be away in Dubai visiting a friend for 10 days. She suggested the initial idea of the adventure... so all permission slips signed, stamped, and filed

[Wayne Potgieter]

I have spent the week in Sydney.

 

Auckland is way nicer. [emoji57]

[patches]

I have spent the week in Sydney.

 

Auckland is way nicer. [emoji57]

 

Sydney is crazy huge and too hot in summer for my liking.

 

That said, the retail in Sydney is far far better than NZ. Just the fact that they have Ikea makes it a win.

 

Then there's Myer, David Jones, Bing Lee, Uniqlo, etc etc.

 

Not to mention food prices. I go wild in supermarkets whenever I go to Aus. Food is so much cheaper.

 

But yeah... as a whole and a place to live... Auckland suits better. It just needs better retail, hahaha

[SlowManiac]

Meh Sydney is not too bad. Sweet trails a 15min ride away, beach a 10 min ride. Traffic sucks and it does get stupid hot and the people can be a bit cranky....

Food in NZ must be ridiculous, I've NEVER thought 'wow Sydney is so cheap'!

[patches]

Meh Sydney is not too bad. Sweet trails a 15min ride away, beach a 10 min ride. Traffic sucks and it does get stupid hot and the people can be a bit cranky....

Food in NZ must be ridiculous, I've NEVER thought 'wow Sydney is so cheap'!

 

Eating out and a lot of common supermarket prepackaged non-perishables are similar.

 

But when it comes to fresh fruit and veg, we get hammered here in NZ. Especially in winter.

 

Avocados can go over $7 each.

Punnets of baby tomotoes can also reach $7-8

Over $5 for a cucumber

 

and the worst... $9 for a cauliflower. Hell, they don't even taste good! hahaha!

 

But yeah, on average when I do my annual winter Sydney visit, food prices seem about 30% cheaper.