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

[DJR]

When are one of you NZ Saffas going to post pictures of the fabled South Island Brown trout the size of your arm that you caught of a dry fly? Come on, don't tell me none of you emigrated to NZ for the flyfishing! Otherwise I think I might just have to fly over there and do it for you.

[patches]

When are one of you NZ Saffas going to post pictures of the fabled South Island Brown trout the size of your arm that you caught of a dry fly? Come on, don't tell me none of you emigrated to NZ for the flyfishing! Otherwise I think I might just have to fly over there and do it for you.

 

hahaha, I have spent plenty of time wading through the majestic South Island braided rivers (mostly to get my bike though). I have also stood next to the giant salmon statue in the town of Rakaia.

 

But sadly I have never dropped a line in the water on the South Island. It is a crime though. A colleague spent nearly 3 months travelling and fly-fishing across the South Island and it sounded amazing.

[davetapson]

Who did you use Dave?

Ah, maybe I should be more clear.  Kid is doing her drivers test next week and it's become apparent that our current vehicles are not appropriate for a kid doing a driving test - which is next week.

 

So spent the morning on TradeMe, found a good one in driving distance, went out and drove it, made an offer, transferred the cash online on the spot, got home, did transfer and insurance online.

 

All completely painless, no queues, no photocopying of id book, no sullen govt employees to deal with.

[davetapson]

When are one of you NZ Saffas going to post pictures of the fabled South Island Brown trout the size of your arm that you caught of a dry fly? Come on, don't tell me none of you emigrated to NZ for the flyfishing! Otherwise I think I might just have to fly over there and do it for you.

They (we?) use spinning rods here mate...

[Wayne Potgieter]

Getting excited now.

 

In 2 weeks we leave for a 10 day South Island trip.

 

Fly in to CHC, drive to Lake Tekapo and then meander down to Queenstown. A short hop from QTN to Dunedin and we fly out.

 

Things on the list to do:

 

Lake Tekapo - St Johns Observatory

Mt Cook -  Lots of walks (hooker valley track)

Wanaka - Go look at that swimming tree

Queenstown - Jet Boat, Onsen Pools, Indoor Skydiving

 

Lots of walking, exploring and eating in between.

 

Here are some photos that OTHER people have posted online. I plan to spam the crappola out of this thread in a few weeks with my own images.

 

 

[patches]

Getting excited now.

 

In 2 weeks we leave for a 10 day South Island trip.

 

Fly in to CHC, drive to Lake Tekapo and then meander down to Queenstown. A short hop from QTN to Dunedin and we fly out.

 

Things on the list to do:

 

Lake Tekapo - St Johns Observatory

Mt Cook -  Lots of walks (hooker valley track)

Wanaka - Go look at that swimming tree

Queenstown - Jet Boat, Onsen Pools, Indoor Skydiving

 

Lots of walking, exploring and eating in between.

 

Here are some photos that OTHER people have posted online. I plan to spam the crappola out of this thread in a few weeks with my own images.

 

Can't like this one enough! I'm envious! You'll have a great time!

 

4 of us did a very similar trip back in Feb (Christchurch, Tekapo, Fairly, Cromwell, Wanaka, Dunedin). February seems like a lifetime ago. I'm overdue some South Island!

[rad006]

So this morning I received a link to a job which would suit me perfectly, from an ex supplier of mine, who is now based in NZ. As I arrive to work I get an SMS from a NZ immigration Agency asking if I still want to move... Is this the universes way, in telling me to try again, to get into your lovely country?

 

I sure as hell hope so....so I've applied for the job... How I would get to NZ is another story but hopefully they are willing to wait for me or allow me to work remotely for now... That is if they would even consider me in these strange times... But hey if you don't apply you will never know...

[davetapson]

So this morning I received a link to a job which would suit me perfectly, from an ex supplier of mine, who is now based in NZ. As I arrive to work I get an SMS from a NZ immigration Agency asking if I still want to move... Is this the universes way, in telling me to try again, to get into your lovely country?

 

I sure as hell hope so....so I've applied for the job... How I would get to NZ is another story but hopefully they are willing to wait for me or allow me to work remotely for now... That is if they would even consider me in these strange times... But hey if you don't apply you will never know...

It's a sign.

 

Be interesting to see how INZ is working at the moment

[rad006]

It's a sign.

 

Be interesting to see how INZ is working at the moment

 

That and if I have to swim to NZ lol... But hey I am not getting my hopes up again. But try I will!!! I miss my NZ Buddies!!!

[Spurs]

It's a sign.

 

Be interesting to see how INZ is working at the moment

 

Not much working at the moment.  There have been a select few immigration's allowed, for certain job classes, but as a whole, there is more of a focus on extending existing visa's which have been affected by the borders being closed as opposed to granting new ones.  However the government has not provided any real clear indication of their actionable intentions.

 

I had a job offer lined up which is now on ice waiting for the border situation to ease up.  Hopefully it's still there once we return to some sort of normality.

[rad006]

Not much working at the moment.  There have been a select few immigration's allowed, for certain job classes, but as a whole, there is more of a focus on extending existing visa's which have been affected by the borders being closed as opposed to granting new ones.  However the government has not provided any real clear indication of their actionable intentions.

 

I had a job offer lined up which is now on ice waiting for the border situation to ease up.  Hopefully it's still there once we return to some sort of normality.

 

Wishing you luck that its still there later this year.

[Spurs]

Wishing you luck that its still there later this year.

 

Thanks.  The migration agent I am using is quite proactive with their updates via very candid blog posts.

 

https://www.immagine-immigration.com/immigration-blog/post/reading-between-lines/

 

This is the latest one, seems there is quite a bit of pressure on government to start opening the borders for immigration to assist in the economic recovery.

[patches]

So this morning I received a link to a job which would suit me perfectly, from an ex supplier of mine, who is now based in NZ. As I arrive to work I get an SMS from a NZ immigration Agency asking if I still want to move... Is this the universes way, in telling me to try again, to get into your lovely country?

 

I sure as hell hope so....so I've applied for the job... How I would get to NZ is another story but hopefully they are willing to wait for me or allow me to work remotely for now... That is if they would even consider me in these strange times... But hey if you don't apply you will never know...

 

I reckon now more than ever employers will be open minded to onboarding new staff into a remote working situation.

 

Whilst it isn't ideal, just about every NZ employer has had good practice at getting their current workforce operational in a remote environment (maybe with the exception of INZ themselves. They fall over in a light breeze).

 

So yeah, best of luck with the application, and hopefully not too long for now you can embark on the journey to Middle-earth!

Edited September 13, 2020 by patches

[Wayne Potgieter]

So this morning I received a link to a job which would suit me perfectly, from an ex supplier of mine, who is now based in NZ. As I arrive to work I get an SMS from a NZ immigration Agency asking if I still want to move... Is this the universes way, in telling me to try again, to get into your lovely country?

 

I sure as hell hope so....so I've applied for the job... How I would get to NZ is another story but hopefully they are willing to wait for me or allow me to work remotely for now... That is if they would even consider me in these strange times... But hey if you don't apply you will never know...

There are not enough like buttons in the world!!!

[davetapson]

More on the AA (another 'Good'):

I moved the missus' car policy from DPL to the AA, then took out another policy for the kid's new car. Multi-policy discounts were got for those as I had an existing policy for my car.

Today I get from the AA:

 

We noticed your new policy has a Multi Policy Discount applied, however this was not applied to an existing eligible policy, so we’ve added this to your current policy term and have updated your premium.

 

As you’ve chosen to pay your premium by direct debit, your monthly instalments for the remainder of your policy term, will reduce to $69.10.

 

It's not often insurance choose for you to pay them less.

Edited September 14, 2020 by davetapson

[davetapson]

So we did the kid's driving test this morning.

Rock up to VTNZ: "Hello, where do we do the paper work?" "Did you book online?" "Yep" "Ok, text your name and rego to that number, then wait in your car"

At the appropriate time, dude rocks out, takes Meg for test, I go drink good fresh roasted Mediterranean coffee. They rock back, into office, quick photo, clickity click on the computer, "Sign here", "Ok, you'll get your licence in the post in a week or two".

No queues. Friendly faces behind the counter.   Done. 

Coffee $3.99 at Cafe Cezwe, Porana Road.