Wellington, Wind and nutters on the roads.
There is no doubt – it’s bloody windy in Wellington. You just get used to it, and get used to the fact that your house can shake and rattle even without a earthquake. It’s also a fact of life that the Rimutaka Hill road can be “interesting” to drive over. And it’s also the case that many Kiwi drivers are really bad at driving!
Put all those together and you can have a potentially bad situation.
A bit like the one we were in this morning.
We know it was going to be a tough drive over the hill when we got to Featherston and the signs were on warning of gusts. The weather was actually fine in the Wairarapa, but then its not unheard of for the weather to be completely different on each side of the hill. It doesn’t take long on the way up, to start getting buffeted by the wind, and the car started moving to one side. Given that there ain’t always a huge amount of room between the driving line and the cliff face (and on the other way over, between the driving line and a sheer drop down into the bush through the hopefully named “crash barrier”) you need to pay attention and keep a firm hand on the wheel.
So it was a bit scary when at one point we got a sharp shove towards the cliff, while going round a blind right hand bend, and some bloody idiot overtook us! At this point , we were already driving at about 55kph, and this guy shot past us. In itself – that is unusual, as often “overtaking” consists of someone drawing up along side you, and staying there till the end of an overtaking lane when they suddenly realise that two cars don’t actually fit into the same space and someone is supposed to slam the breaks on. We estimate he was doing over 70kph, in strong gusting winds, on a blind bend, in an overtaking manoeuvre. Twit.
I mean – you have to be bad driver to overtake like that anyway: this is not a road where you want to overtake anywhere without a passing lane – let alone in bad weather. Life is just going to end one day in a splat if you do it – and there are enough people who crash on the road as it is. It was more luck than skill that stopped him shoving us into the hillside. I would personally prefer these people did not try and take us with them.
You know – a lot of people won’t move into the Wairarapa because of the need to travel over this road. But on a good day, the drive can be a whole lot of fun. You always need to be really careful, its not an easy drive – but assuming you can actually drive a car properly – it can be great! The views are stunning (though don’t stare if you are the driver – take turns to drive!)
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BNZ bank really should have said sorry and given us our money back!
In Avalon’s Guide, I relate the story of a bit of a cock up that BNZ bank made with our credit card. It has now made it into the New Zealand Herald, as the other party in the tale was finally in a position to move banks, and could therefore publicise the events in the hope that others will learn from this.
BNZ Credit Cards: Why you need to check your statements!
We had a new credit card with Bank Of New Zealand (BNZ), which we only ever made one payment with. We recently had a statement saying we owed $22.50 for some digital photos paid for at an online store.
We queried it with BNZ – who eventually said that we wouldn’t have to pay the bill till they investigated it. The “investigation” resulted in them sending us a letter stating that “Should we wish to further dispute the charge, please advise us in detailed writing with your signature (!?) by [Date]. If we do not hear from you by this date, I will presume that you now accept the charge and no further action will be taken.”
Well! Along with this utter garbage – we got details of the person who had made the purchase. We were sure it was just a mistake – rather than an attempt at fraud – after all – I assume anyone fraudulently using our card would buy something more interesting than photos. However – we got her name, address, email, and mobile phone number. None of which was in anyway us, nor could it be linked to us.
We sent a snottogram (of epic proportions) to the bank telling them to do their job and figure it out, and in a call to us we found out the following:
· Because it’s under $50 they don’t bother with any online security checks such as the 3-digit number on the back of the card.
· So anyone who has stolen your card will get away with it if they don’t spend up big.
· The bank assumes that the person using your card details is a relative of yours, and so they don’t worry about it, even if the name and delivery address is completely different.
· And yes – they do expect you to prove that you didn’t spend what you didn’t spend.
· Basically what this means is the banks won’t bother checking for small purchases that are not made by you.
· You have to check the statements.By the way – we closed the card down, as BNZ were beyond obnoxious about the whole thing. The lady whose information we were given (in a serious breach of privacy laws), is “having a few words” with the bank and the Privacy Commissioner.
I am so grateful to Mrs Hansford for doing this. This occurred about 18 months ago, and because they had a fixed rate mortgage, they were not able to close their accounts with BNZ the way we were. She also turned down $2000 compensation (we were not offered any by the way), which I assume would have meant they could not publicise the issue.
It really is vitally important to keep a track of your spending and balance it with what the bank claims that you spent. It is too easy to trust the bank records – and they are often incorrect. I personally feel most people would be horrified at how much money gets paid for things that they never bought, or were charged for twice. We have saved hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the years because we check our banks statements, and keep spotting mistakes.
BNZ claims these incidents are “extremely isolated”. I beg to differ. Certainly bank statements are often incorrect. And the attitude at BNZ when we contacted them about the privacy breach suggests that they really didn’t seem to think there was an issue. It seemed to be the way they usually handle such transactions.
So thank you to Mrs Hansford, and Ms Beck for publicising this issue.
More details on how to handle your money, including who to run your accounts and how to check your statements can be found in Avalon’s Guide.
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Amusing lift buttons
Filed under: Hubby's Views, Life in New Zealand, Only in New Zealand
There’s a lift in the Satchi & Satchi building which has some rather good lift buttons, here’s two of the menu panels;
Hobbiton comes back to life.
One of the best things as far as I’m concerned about the Hobbit being made back in New Zealand is that Hobbiton will once again be turned into a movie set, and look absolutely stunning.
When we first came to New Zealand on our honeymoon, we had no intention of it tuning into a “Lord of the Rings Movie Tour”, but it just so happened that Hobbiton opened to the public for the first time the day we got married. So by the time we had toured our way up and down the Coromandal – there were leaflets advertising tours there. Up till that point – all the information said that the set was on private land and visitors were not allowed in.
We changed our plans, headed over to the sleepy town of Mata Mata and paid $50 each for the tour.
And it blew us away!
There was almost nothing left of the film set, just some of the carcasses of the hobbit holes (including Bag End – above) – but it was still a magnificent place to visit. Apparently while the farmers owned the land, New Line Cinema owned the set, and they had to give permission for the owners to let people in. The landowners were also not allowed at the time to do anything to maintain or improve the hobbit holes – though from the looks of current advertising they have since been allowed to do this.
Tours are still ongoing – but it looks like it wont be long before it is shut down for filming – so if you want to go – go now. Hopefully when The Hobbit has finished filming it will again be open to the public, and with a real bucket of luck – they will keep it as it is in the film.
Hobbiton Tours: it’s now $58 for the basic tour from Mata Mata to the film set – but they now offer farm stays and farm tours in addition. They have also tidied the hobbit holes up so they look rather a bit sweeter than in our photos.
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Inland Revenue Humour
This is one of those jokes that makes its way round the world several times via email, and just happened to be sent to me today by a friend who knew I needed some laughs. Its a letter supposedly from about the Inland Revenue in the UK, but could quite easily refer to teh New Zealand IRD as well according to some of the Kiwis I know.
It should give you a giggle or two!
Dear Mr Addison,
I am writing to you to express our thanks for your more than prompt reply to our latest communication, and also to answer some of the points you raise.
I will address them, as ever, in order.
Firstly, I must take issue with your description of our last as a “begging letter”. It might perhaps more properly be referred to as a “tax demand”. This is how we at the Inland Revenue have always, for reasons of accuracy, traditionally referred to such documents.
Secondly, your frustration at our adding to the “endless stream of crapulent whining and panhandling vomited daily through the letterbox on to the doormat” has been noted. However, whilst I have naturally not seen the other letters to which you refer I would cautiously suggest that their being from “pauper councils, Lombardy pirate banking houses and pissant gas-mongerers” might indicate that your decision to “file them next to the toilet in case of emergencies” is at best a little ill-advised. In common with my own organisation, it is unlikely that the senders of these letters do see you as a “lackwit bumpkin” or, come to that, a “sodding charity”. More likely they see you as a citizen of Great Britain , with a responsibility to contribute to the upkeep of the nation as a whole.
Which brings me to my next point. Whilst there may be some spirit of truth in your assertion that the taxes you pay “go to shore up the canker-blighted, toppling folly that is the Public Services”, a moment’s rudimentary calculation ought to disabuse you of the notion that the government in any way expects you to “stump up for the whole damned party” yourself. The estimates you provide for the Chancellor’s disbursement of the funds levied by taxation, whilst colourful, are, in fairness, a little off the mark. Less than you seem to imagine is spent on “junkets for Bunterish lickspittles” and “dancing whores” whilst far more than you have accounted for is allocated to, for example, “that box-ticking façade of a university system.”
A couple of technical points arising from direct queries:
1. The reason we don’t simply write “Muggins”on the envelope has to do with the vagaries of the postal system;
2. You can rest assured that “sucking the very marrow of those with nothing else to give” has never been considered as a practice because even if the Personal Allowance didn’t render it irrelevant, the sheer medical logistics involved would make it financially unviable.
I trust this has helped. In the meantime, whilst I would not in any way wish to influence your decision one way or the other, I ought to point out that even if you did choose to “give the whole foul jamboree up and go and live in India” you would still owe us the money.
Please send it to us by Friday.
Yours sincerely,
H J Lee
Customer Relations
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Saga of an NZIS nightmare part 5 – All hell breaks loose
Filed under: NZIS & Immigration issues, The Family Sponsorship Saga
Jack Bauer may have taken a whole 24 hours to save the world, but even that didn’t drive him as potty as NZIS drove us here – Part five where all hell broke loose
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The Immigration Advisers Licensing Act
Since I didn’t know there was an All Blacks vs Australia rugby match on Saturday evening (we won I’m told), I didn’t think it odd that I sat down to read The Immigration Advisors Licensing Act (2007)
With all the hullabloo about SMIRC & Move2NZ being ‘warned’ and told to shut down. Plus the unhelpful answers we’ve been getting to our queries to the IAA, I thought I’d find out what this innocuous piece of legislation actually tells us.
At 60 pages long, it’s not as fascinating as it sounds. So please trust me that I’m pulling out the most interesting and pertinent things;
s3 The purpose of the act is to
“.. promote and protect the interests of consumers receiving immigration advice…enhance the reputation of NZ as a migrant destination..”
Hmm – off to a flying start there then by stopping someone conning thousands of Pacific Islanders out of money.
s7 What constitutes Immigration Advice.
“Immigration Advice means using, or purporting to use, knowledge of or experience in immigration to advise, direct, assist or represent another person in regard to an immigration matter relating to New Zealand, whether directly or indirectly and whether or not for gain or reward”
Bit woolly this – that I have emigrated to NZ, I know it exists, know where it is, how to travel here, how to apply for a visa (of any type) etc. could then constitute ‘advice’!
So – don’t tell anyone NZ exists, or how to get here – not that it exists 
Advice does not include;
“Providing information that is publically available, or that is prepared or made available by the Department.” [of Labour]
Cool – so
1. I can tell you that NZ exists
2. I can point you towards an airline that flys to NZ
3. I can point you to the DoL/NZIS website for information about visas
- So we’re all good then?
If DoL/NZIS write it down, anyone repeating it isn’t providing advice. Or indeed if anyone else makes the information publically available, you can repeat what they’ve said without actually giving advice yourself. (though if the person who wrote it down in the first place was not the DoL then they are in the poo!). I envisage a plan involving a patsy who will write down everything I say, publish it, and then I can quote them. I ain’t giving advice!
Advice does not include;
“Carrying out clerical work… or settlement services”.
Now this is where it gets important – what’s the difference between ‘Immigration Advice’ and ‘Settlement Services’?
s5 defines Settlement Services as;
“Settlement Services means all or any of a range of targeted support services provided for migrants…including services for the purposes of enabling migrants… to settle into the community… and find out how to access essential community services”
Hmm – so am I still advising? Or am I providing Settlement Services? Or am I just repeating what someone else, obviously a DoL/NZIS employee, has already said? This seems open to interpretation, which good legislation shouldn’t leave room for.
Well – 30 pages of legislation later we come across the offences under the act. Which irrespective of what else the act says, this is where ‘breaking the law’ is defined.
s63 – Offence to provide immigration advice unless licensed or exempt.
“A Person commits an offence if the person,
a) Provides immigration advice without being licensed.., knowing that they are required to be licensed or exempt”
“for the purposes of [the above] a person is deemed to know that they are required to be licensed or exempt if, at any time in the last 12 months preceeding the date of the alleged offence, that person had been information of that fact in writing [by the IAA]”
Wehey – your first strike is free!! Unless the IAA actually tell me that within the last twelve months I have provided Advice, and that I shouldn’t, then I’ve not committed an offence.
However it all gets a bit silly.
1 – You should note that elsewhere (s74 Presumption as to non-exemption) the legislation does identify that unless you have been told you are exempt from having to be licensed, it is presumed that you are not exempt from being licensed. That’s fine in itself, otherwise the legislation would be pointless!
2 – s5 Interpretation, helpfully identifies that an “Immigration Adviser means a person who provides immigration advice”
While we have to refer to s7 (What Constitutes immigration advice), to find out what it all means still. Do we appear to be going round in circles yet?
3 – Buried at the back of the legislation (Part 2 s92, subsection 11 – Disclosure of personal information overseas) is a different definition of an ‘immigration adviser’
“immigration adviser means a person who provides, or purports to provide (whether lawfully or unlawfully), immigration advice, whether or not that advice concerns an immigration matter under NZ law, and whether or not relating to NZ”
Got that? Take out the whethers, and we’ve left with;
“A person who provides advice”
So an immigration adviser, is anyone who provides advice. Therefore I can’t advise about immigration, to NZ or anywhere else, or indeed advise about anything whether or not it’s got anything to do with immigration.
Who the hell wrote this – who did they get ‘advice’ from?
Certainly not from me – since that would be illegal under this Act.
How difficult is it to get proper orange juice in NZ?
Quite difficult it seems if you start by calling it Simply Squeezed, when it isn’t squeezed juice. This is something that has always bugged us since we got here: just how difficult can it be to get proper squeezed orange juice in a country that can grow oranges. Simply Squeezed is a brand of juices you can buy in the supermarkets here, and they are in court for misleading advertising (and about time too!).
Apparently what has got them in trouble is that they advertised on TV last year that 100% of their orange came from Hawkes Bay, whereas they actually use fruit from Pakistan as well. They are also in trouble for advertising to hotels that their juice is “100% squeezed juice”.
We haven’t bought Simply Squeezed, because we tend to read labels, and the nutrition label actually shows that they also use concentrate. Instead – we buy Charlies – whose labels show that it is really, honestly proper orange juice without any of this concentrate rubbish.
Simply Squeezed is quoted in the paper as saying “we pride ourselves on delivering to our customers the best-tasting chilled juices”. They do not however seem to pride themselves on honest labelling.
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Saga of an NZIS nightmare part 4: NZIS lose the plot.
Filed under: NZIS & Immigration issues, The Family Sponsorship Saga
Now things get really fun, and a bit “heated”. This is the bit where you realise that Immigration New Zealand staff have way too much power and influence, and also that they can’t keep a story straight.
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Weekend Blog roundup 19th July
One of the joys of living in New Zealand is the wine. This New Zealand Life comments on how much cheaper it is to buy the stuff here. Along with their Flat White Index – I think they now have the necessities covered.
They have also posted a rather funny tale of trying to use the train service to get to the Wairarapa and back. While it does raise some serious issues about how the public transport system here can be just as lousy as anything British Rail can throw at you – I couldn’t help but laugh. And it reminds me that I should blog about the disaster that is the Overland journey from Wellington to Auckland. Not New Zealand’s finest showcase.
The Dawes Family are talking about the arrival of Grandma with the requisite suitcase of goodies from the UK. It is just a fact of life for many of us that we do like our little treats from back home now and then (often at a much cheaper price). They then went to Stonestead for a cream tea. I’ve passed the sign on the way home (Its just on the Wellington side of the hill), but I’ve never gone there. The photo of the scone has persuaded me to take a detour one day.
Domestic executive is planting an orchard – which looks like a lot of hard work to me – unless you are the Basset hounds sitting in the sun. I think they have the right idea! As my dad has already started planning our veggie garden and orchard there could at some point be a little of bit of outdoor work for me to do.
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