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

[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

[davetapson]

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).

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.

Reminds me of when I moved from one town to another in the UK and phoned BT to have my phone number moved. Used to Telkom taking 6 weeks or whatever...

 

Me: "Hi, this is Dave, please can you move my line from A to B?"

Them: Sucking of teeth.  "Ah mate, I can't do it before midnight..."

Me: "Don't worry, I'll live with that..."

[Wayne Potgieter]

Reminds me of when I moved from one town to another in the UK and phoned BT to have my phone number moved. Used to Telkom taking 6 weeks or whatever...

 

Me: "Hi, this is Dave, please can you move my line from A to B?"

Them: Sucking of teeth.  "Ah mate, I can't do it before midnight..."

Me: "Don't worry, I'll live with that..."

 

Another example.

 

I go off to apply for my NZ drivers Licence, fully prepared for the armageddon and mad max style license centres in RSA.

 

Go to the AA, fill in form, get eyes checked. Card in mail 4 days later.

 

That took 4 days to process my application, print a card and post it 600km away.

 

First world living!

[davetapson]

Another example.

 

I go off to apply for my NZ drivers Licence, fully prepared for the armageddon and mad max style license centres in RSA.

 

Go to the AA, fill in form, get eyes checked. Card in mail 4 days later.

 

That took 4 days to process my application, print a card and post it 600km away.

 

First world living!

 

Haha, yeah. The amount of stress we pile on our shoulders for no reason.

 

My experience...

 

My SA license was for heavy vehicle (long story)...

 

AA: if you want to convert this to NZ heavy vehicle you need annual medical?

 

Me: Jet lagged, haven't arranged to find a doctor yet, don't know how, have family in tow etc, can't be arsed - just want a license... "Ok, just make it normal vehicle then."

 

AA: "Can I do that?"

 

Me: "Yes."

 

AA: "OK."

 

They are so trusting, unlike us.

 

Same thing, license in post couple days later.

 

Heard another story of a saffa who was livid that the bank had dared post his bank card to his post box.

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by davetapson

[patham]

 

 

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

 

Thanks for adding the post-script note for us. When I saw your original mail with the speed test ( a mere 20x better than what I can get) I was going to shoot off a response using emojis for swearing, tears of frustration, and whatever else could best depict the concept of third world connectivity.

 

I shall now enjoy my reasonably priced, locally grown, tropical fruit instead 

[patches]

Thanks for adding the post-script note for us. When I saw your original mail with the speed test ( a mere 20x better than what I can get) I was going to shoot off a response using emojis for swearing, tears of frustration, and whatever else could best depict the concept of third world connectivity.

 

I shall now enjoy my reasonably priced, locally grown, tropical fruit instead 

 

I have an Aussie friend that lived here for many years, but then moved back about a year ago. One of the fist things he sent was a picture of how cheap mangoes are

[GrahamS2]

I have an Aussie friend that lived here for many years, but then moved back about a year ago. One of the fist things he sent was a picture of how cheap mangoes are

And I, having spend a few years living in KZN, shudder at the price of mangoes here. Every time we walk past the fruit shop I tell my partner that the cost of 2 Kensington Pride's ($3 each) would get you a whole punnet of mangoes in KZN 

[patham]

And I, having spend a few years living in KZN, shudder at the price of mangoes here. Every time we walk past the fruit shop I tell my partner that the cost of 2 Kensington Pride's ($3 each) would get you a whole punnet of mangoes in KZN 

 

To dwell on the dark side, you should also be telling your partner that for the price of the punnet of mangoes in KZN you could practically pay a hitman to take out the farmer who grew the mangoes in the first place.

 

Some things are perhaps too cheap in S.A.; I try not to compare apples with oranges.

 

But in relation to the QLD mangoes in particular, I have heard they all get grown in north Queensland, the big supermarkets ship them to their centralised warehouses in NSW and Victoria, and then ship them back up to Queensland to match local demand. Hence you pay for them to travel needlessly. The independent grocers at least buy locally, but just price match the supermarkets. But if you buy from the local grocer at least you are not contributing to a massive carbon footprint.

[davetapson]

At least the weather is better for this lock down.

 

Start of lock down last year was 6 weeks of absolutely perfect weather.

[GrahamS2]

To dwell on the dark side, you should also be telling your partner that for the price of the punnet of mangoes in KZN you could practically pay a hitman to take out the farmer who grew the mangoes in the first place.

 

Some things are perhaps too cheap in S.A.; I try not to compare apples with oranges.

 

But in relation to the QLD mangoes in particular, I have heard they all get grown in north Queensland, the big supermarkets ship them to their centralised warehouses in NSW and Victoria, and then ship them back up to Queensland to match local demand. Hence you pay for them to travel needlessly. The independent grocers at least buy locally, but just price match the supermarkets. But if you buy from the local grocer at least you are not contributing to a massive carbon footprint.

I was in Mackay over Christmas, and I sadly have to report back that they are the same price up there. Even at the front gate of the mango farm...