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

[Rocket-Boy]

2 hours ago, mazambaan said:

My little secondhand contribution; In a Zoom meeting recently a colleague from SA but now in NZ for a few years; small business (built environment consulting) remarked that one thing was strange in NZ; people just paid on invoice.  In SA a letter of final demand was treated as a start to negotiating the price.

People in SA can be pretty disgusting like that. Agree on a price until it comes time to pay it and the job is done, now they suddenly want to negotiate for a lower price after its already at 30/60 days.

[davetapson]

Speaking of EVs, just saw this comment on a local FB page where a guy had seen a Rivian (EV truck) being inspected at the airport:

 

Everyone is bagging the **** out of these but they actually blitz any ute on the market... 5 tonne towing capacity (would be more if they were heavier), 0-100 in under 5 seconds, heaps of cargo space, the biggest batteries can get over 700km per charge... and at $75,000 USD ($105,000) NZD pretty similar to a land cruiser which plenty of farmers run...and one of the coolest specs is the Tank-turn
Before anyone has a whinge too, I’m an agricultural contractor and ex-farmer, I think we just needed someone to be the first to get one in NZ so hats off to whoever has bought this one

 

 

So, I'm already jealous....

[arabsandals]

14 hours ago, davetapson said:

Speaking of EVs, just saw this comment on a local FB page where a guy had seen a Rivian (EV truck) being inspected at the airport:

 

Everyone is bagging the **** out of these but they actually blitz any ute on the market... 5 tonne towing capacity (would be more if they were heavier), 0-100 in under 5 seconds, heaps of cargo space, the biggest batteries can get over 700km per charge... and at $75,000 USD ($105,000) NZD pretty similar to a land cruiser which plenty of farmers run...and one of the coolest specs is the Tank-turn
Before anyone has a whinge too, I’m an agricultural contractor and ex-farmer, I think we just needed someone to be the first to get one in NZ so hats off to whoever has bought this one

 

 

So, I'm already jealous....

They're supposedly there for winter testing on the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds. Big step. Don't think the F150 has the same real world accreditation that the Rivian does.

[davetapson]

On 6/17/2021 at 11:12 AM, arabsandals said:

Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds

Pretty amazing... https://www.shpg.co.nz/

[Beer4Recovery]

Question. How’s the mtb scene in/around Auckland? Any good trails to recommend? Compared to Tygerberg trails in Cape Town and other like Banhoek / Jonkershoek, Helderberg, Stellenbosch Trails?  any similar type spots? I have heard Rotorua is also a hub for good trails. 

[Wayne Potgieter]

On 6/16/2021 at 8:42 PM, davetapson said:

Speaking of EVs, just saw this comment on a local FB page where a guy had seen a Rivian (EV truck) being inspected at the airport:

 

Everyone is bagging the **** out of these but they actually blitz any ute on the market... 5 tonne towing capacity (would be more if they were heavier), 0-100 in under 5 seconds, heaps of cargo space, the biggest batteries can get over 700km per charge... and at $75,000 USD ($105,000) NZD pretty similar to a land cruiser which plenty of farmers run...and one of the coolest specs is the Tank-turn
Before anyone has a whinge too, I’m an agricultural contractor and ex-farmer, I think we just needed someone to be the first to get one in NZ so hats off to whoever has bought this one

 

 

So, I'm already jealous....

 

On 6/17/2021 at 11:12 AM, arabsandals said:

They're supposedly there for winter testing on the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds. Big step. Don't think the F150 has the same real world accreditation that the Rivian does.

I was blown away at these vehicles when watching the "Long Way Up" tv show with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman. They rode electric Herley's supported with Rivians from southern tip of argentina to LA.

 

 

[patches]

10 hours ago, Beer4Recovery said:

Question. How’s the mtb scene in/around Auckland? Any good trails to recommend? Compared to Tygerberg trails in Cape Town and other like Banhoek / Jonkershoek, Helderberg, Stellenbosch Trails?  any similar type spots? I have heard Rotorua is also a hub for good trails. 

Prtty big MTB scene in/around Auckland. Mostly trail & enduro orientated. Woodhill (bike park) and Riverheard Forest (free) are the 2 most popular places to ride.

Riverhead gets too muddy during winter so many riders divert to Woodhill.

Have a look on the Trailforks app. It should give a good indication of what is available in the area.

Hope that helps!

[hayleyearth]

On 6/20/2021 at 11:59 PM, Beer4Recovery said:

Question. How’s the mtb scene in/around Auckland? Any good trails to recommend? Compared to Tygerberg trails in Cape Town and other like Banhoek / Jonkershoek, Helderberg, Stellenbosch Trails?  any similar type spots? I have heard Rotorua is also a hub for good trails. 

There isn't really trails on a "mountain" here in Auckland, it is more on hills, but still fun!

As Patches mentioned, Woodhill and Riverhead is probably the most popular up north, then down south you get Maraetai trails, Four40 and Totara Park (more family riding I'd say). 

 

[patches]

One of my work mates is BIG into mountain biking. He typicaly does Riverhead Four40 and Rotarua all summer, then in winter (when it's muddy), he'll switch to Woodhill and Muriwai, which I believe is not bad, and free.

[Beer4Recovery]

Thanks for replies, guess we’re pretty spoiled here in Cape Town with over a 170km worth of trails (Tygerberg mtb trail network) on our doorstep, some (Jonkershoek/ Banhoek) within big mountains. 
 

Reason for asking is we might move to Auckland soon, just getting a feel for some of the “sacrifices” we would have to make in terms of our mountain biking and access to mountain trail riding. 

[Beer4Recovery]

Whilst on the NZ subject, I was quite shocked to see this…

 

[davetapson]

We went and found the rivers affected by agricultural runoff and - they had agricultural pollutants!!   (While showing pics of pristine rivers as we set this up to make you think those are the ones that are affected.)

Yeah, needs to be looked at, looks like they are looking at them. 

Also personally I find the 'us Maori are one with the land' thing a bit hard to swallow when you go and see just how denuded of ANYTHING traditional Maori coastlines are.  Once the rocks are completely bare they institute a rahui.  When I see the rahui's instituted before that stage, and in Marine Reserves, I'll possibly be a little less cynical.  At least in the Transkei there is at least some seaweed and the odd critter (although that's not exactly good either.)

[davetapson]

Also, damn, but rivers with algal blooms due to nitrogen run-off is pretty low down the scale when you compare to elsewhere.  The Vaal is pretty toxic, and not with N run-off, and the the big rivers running in to the sea on the E Coast of SA are just thick with topsoil - which is sending your future out to sea not to mention more horrible kinds of e. coli etc than one would care to know about..

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/sep/05/author-loses-leg-in-lagoon

This I know about because we had a holiday home just up from there.  I used to hate my kids playing in the lagoon at Southbroom etc because of things like this, and as a kid my brother and I got some form of 'food poisoning' from a lagoon in the Transkei that nearly put us in hospital, so been there, done that.

There's not much going on in NZ, so they can afford to get uptight about things that most other nations wouldn't much notice.

Which is not to say the N issue is nothing, but a sense of perspective is required.

Edited June 30, 2021 by davetapson

[davetapson]

Out of interest, this is the type of thing that is going on - latest DOC newsletter...

https://newsletters.doc.govt.nz/t/ViewEmail/i/467C7590BE7FE2EC2540EF23F30FEDED/2D493111994076709E794568BD214575

 

[patches]

Just a heads up to any NZ residents planning on visiting Aussie (for tourist reasons) in the next little while.

• Apply for your Class 600 Visitors Visa asap. Current processing time frame is listed as 5-8 months ????
• If you had a visitors visa that expired during the covid restrictions, you can apply for a new one and not repay the $160-odd. One just needs to pay for new biometrics $25.

[patches]

On 7/2/2021 at 1:09 PM, patches said:

Just a heads up to any NZ residents planning on visiting Aussie (for tourist reasons) in the next little while.

• Apply for your Class 600 Visitors Visa asap. Current processing time frame is listed as 5-8 months ????
• If you had a visitors visa that expired during the covid restrictions, you can apply for a new one and not repay the $160-odd. One just needs to pay for new biometrics $25.

Australian visa granted yesterday! So around 1 month processing time (not the 5-8 they stated ) ????

Also, they gave me 2 years again. Now just to wait for NSW to get their act together

Funny enough, I (a Saffer with the little green book) can now legally go to Australia but my wife (an Australian) cannot (her passport expired a couple of weeks ago, haha).

Edited July 13, 2021 by patches