Martinborough Fair 2012
Having escaped the big city rugby booze-fest this weekend, we got up early and headed to Martinborough for the first fair of the year (it’s held on the first Saturday in both February and March so you get 2 chances).
Now having been a number of times, we are pretty quick at getting around the event, and tackle it as a kind of assault course. We get there early (around 8.30) to beat the crowds, and today managed to finish by 10.40, including a stop for coffee half way round. However, unless you have been a number of times – I would bank on spending at least twice that amount of time wandering around and browsing.
We really tend not to spend much money, mostly because I seem to have expensive tastes and the stuff I like and want to buy is in the hundreds of $$$. So I take a card and add it to the list of things I will buy one day when I have a stash of cash burning a hole in my pocket.
However, we did buy some delicious Satay Sauce from Sone’s Satay. Unfortunately they don’t have a website, and stockists are short, but if you see this stuff anywhere – grab some. Its the best Satay Sauce I have ever tasted in New Zealand. At $10 a jar it is quite expensive – but it is worth it.
Hubby spent some money on some real Turkish delight from Loukoumi. I cant stand the stuff, and it’s full of sugar, but he confirms what the seller said, in that it really does melt in the mouth and is delicious. At $12 a box, I would say its quite expensive, but it gives you 16 pieces and hubby it’s worth it!
What I didnt but was a stunning hand beaten copper still from Alembics.
This one was distilling a Eucalyptus oil which you could catch on your finger as it came out. Now I have a lot of essential oils – I am actually trained as an aromatherapist – but I have never actually seen a still in action and I have never smelt an oil straight from the still. It was beyond devine. For the serious DIYer, lifestyler this is a true treat. Even better, they sell a range of stills for different products – the large ones for distilling essential oils and making hydrosols, and smaller ones for distilling alcohol.
And they are gorgeous to look at.
At $295 for the smallest stills and $795 for the large 10l column still its not pocket money. But to be honest with the cost of essential oils in New Zealand, you could probably save that relatively quickly, not to mention savings on Alcohol, and having the pleasure of owning a beautiful item.
And may favorite whimsy of the day was the Car-B-Que. Only in New Zealand!
The Sevens – it’s all about the rugby…
not.
Wellington is in the swing of a full-on party this weekend for the Rugby Sevens. We have escaped for the weekend to get away from the noise, as it’s really just not our thing, but this is clearly a weekend for stunning costumes and a lot of drinking.
Some of the costumes are a bit -umm- pathetic, but many of them are stunning, and the result of clearly a lot of work and thought (and alcohol?). Good on the Lego Guys – my personal favorite!
It’s worth going to see at some point while you are in New Zealand, but whatever you do when visiting or moving here, don’t be in Wellington City on Sevens weekend unless you are prepared for the non-stop party and drinking. It will just make you miserable and you will get on people’s nerves. We were in the city for this last year, and while I wasn’t a part of the event myself, I certainly didn’t see any of the problems that many people complained about. Yes, its noisy, yes people get very drunk. But mostly people are just having a damn good time. It’s a really good atmosphere, but it’s also a good weekend to escape if you really aren’t going to like it.
Did we say $75 Million???
Silly us, we meant $90.5 million.
There is no explanation as to why there is a difference.
Although I have to be honest – no matter whether this is scope creep or just a more honest number, it is probably money well worth spending. They cannot continue as they are with an antiquated system. But I doubt the increase in budget will actually end at 90.5 million.
Datacom wins the contract for the new INZ IT system
So, INZ is going to get a sparkling new IT system, which it desperately needs to replace the steam powered and carrier pigeon system it currently uses. It’s going to cost $75 million.
Datacom have won the contract to put the system in.
Which is really good – Datacom is a New Zealand owned company – whereas these contracts often go to the multinationals.
Government information technology projects the size of IGMS have usually been awarded to United States multinationals. IBM won a similar-sized deal to renovate Customs’ Cusmod computer system in June.
However, a decade of consistent, strong growth has put Datacom in contention for larger projects. The privately owned firm upped its revenues to a record $725 million last year. About half its 3800-plus staff are based in New Zealand. It also has sizeable operations in Australia and Asia.
January Financial Challenge – the results.
Hmmm.
Well, I count this as a pretty epic fail.
11 out of 31 days not spending unnecessarily. Leaving 20 days when we spent money that we really didn’t have to.
I am thinking we could do better, so we are going to try again this month, but making a real effort, and see if it makes a difference.
The Wairarapa is getting popular with big names
Filed under: Life in New Zealand, NZIS & Immigration issues
It turns out that James Cameron has bought two large plots of land near lake Wairarapa, after getting consent through the Overseas Investment Office.
I have to admit to finding that a little bit exciting.
Apparently according to the article, he and his family are going to be living permanently in New Zealand after setting it up as a farm.
”James F Cameron and his family intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the property to reside on and operate as a working farm,”
I do kinda hope that doesn’t mean he’s going to give up making movies, though personally I don’t really want to see Avatar 2&3 in yet more 3D. Peter Jackson also has his main pile in the Wairarapa – near Masterton.
There are a couple of issues here – that I am sure we won’t get any answers to but here goes anyway:
1/ There’s a loud (very loud) hoo hah going on in New Zealand at the moment because a Chinese company is buying up the Crafar Farms (had to be sold as they went into receivership). It seems James Cameron alone is buying about 15% of the amount of farm land involved in that deal, and so far not a whimper about “selling New Zealand to foreigners”.
Personally I don’t think its a big deal either way – but I do dislike the hypocrisy when people scream at selling land to the Chinese, but couldn’t care less when selling it to non-Asians.
2/ Of personal interest – what are the Immigration issues – you cant just buy a farm and have the right to live in New Zealand indefinitely. It doesn’t work like that. People buying farms generally do so under a business visa, and you have to have experience in that business. Is this another investor category?
Its important because the Overseas Investment Office is nothing to do with immigration – so its a whole other ball game.
Either way, I wish them the best of luck and a warm welcome to the Wairarapa. It is a wonderful place, and I for one don’t blame anyone for wanting to live there.
“Occupy Wellington” Finally leaves the Civic Square
To be fair – Occupy Wellington actually left the square ages ago, after the “protest” was pretty much hijacked by people who were homeless, and had their own agendas. There have been accusations of violence and threats which tore the original protest apart and they left and went “somewhere”. Leaving one “full time protester” Benjamin Easton, who doesn’t have a job because he believes that protesting on behalf of the people of Wellington is a full time job for which we should happily pay him via taxes and benefits. The rest of the people left there were reported to be homeless people. But eventually, the council found it’s balls and has removed them. Why it took them so long is a question that has so far not been aswered.
The comments in the Dom Post over the past months have shown time and again that the 99% refuse to be represented by these people, which generally ended up with some of them accusing those of us who do not support them of being blinded by the massive “conspiracy”, and just being too stupid to know we are being lied to.
The “protesters” also believe that the Bill of Rights gave them the right to camp and protest. It doesn’t. It worries me how many people in New Zealand think the bill of rights has any power. Humph. It doesn’t give me the right to pass on information and advice – even though it says it does. Its as useless and a paper condom.
For me, I have never had any time for the Occupy protests in New Zealand, which seem to have absolutely no idea what they were going on about, and every week there was a new “protest of the moment”. The sad thing is that the Occupy Movement is something I had respect for. Some of the things that the American Occupiers have been doing are worth looking at and respecting.
But New Zealand isn’t America, and we have not had the same issues. Here the protests has been more about green / socialist politics. Not about the banks throwing people out of houses after conning them into taking out mortgages they couldn’t possibly afford, and then leaving the homes empty. We don’t have banks taking walloping bonuses while bankrupting businesses and homeowners. We do have an issue with Council bosses taking huge pay rises while forcing people to pay higher rates bills at a time when there is no extra money. But the “protestors” did nothing about that. The people did.
And for me – the worst thing is that despite the overwhelming “green” political stance, they have destroyed a wonderful green area in the city. Their “right” to protest outweighed the rights of everyone in Wellington to sit out on the City to the Sea Bridge and enjoy the view and turned a beautiful area into a square of mud. Not very environmentally conscious.
At least now I can go back to walking over the City to the Sea Bridge. The last time I did it was pretty intimidating, so I have avoided it ever since and walk around.
Maybe she should have read some blogs ;)
Lisa Welbourne from Britian is a recent immigrant to New Zealand who is (like many of us) shocked at the price of food.
The problem is that while most sources of information like forums don’t actually hammer on about this (and crap over the people that try and talk about it), there are indeed places that do warn people of the cost of living. This blog is not the only place.
Gobsmacked at the price of basic foods, she has visited a lot of Auckland supermarkets and greengrocers in pursuit of lower prices, in pursuit of food she can afford. She finds it cheaper to buy at smaller fruit and vegetable shops – but that means more fuel costs.
Her friends back home can’t believe it when she tells them the price of food in New Zealand.
“Nice bread is four times the price,” she says. “I told them a loaf of bread was £1 [$1.90] and they said, ‘You’re joking’ … They can’t understand. When I see the average wage in New Zealand I wonder how some people are surviving.”
Lisa and her husband Max moved here with their 2-year-old son just six months ago and they were immediately scandalised by the prices.
“I always compare prices online and you can get things for half the price or a third of the price overseas that you get here.”
Yep, more and money of the money we spend (especially as the exchange rate is in our favour), is being spent abroad via the Internet. Interestingly – last month, Anchor butter was on offer at the supermarket and was the cheapest available. It is the first time in 7 years I have bought the stuff, compared to in the UK where I would never buy anything but Anchor.
But it does depress me that many people are still moving here expecting the costs of the basics to be cheap.
An ode to Bacon.
I love Bacon.
Truly – it is the food of the gods, and should really be classed as a food group all on its own, along with coffee and chocolate. It’s a low-carbers dream, even if we don’t actually eat a ton of it at every meal as some suggest. And bacon has had a huge resurgence in popularity over the past few years, possibly because so many low-carbers are seen guiltlessly tucking into a breakfast of it rather than trying to eat a bowlful of straw and dust covered in milk without gagging. And because less and less people are buying into the nonsense that saturated fat will kill you.
It has become so popular you can get bacon flavour toothpaste, soap, and chocolate. (really want to try that if it comes in Sugar Free!)
I have just gone 2 weeks without eating any bacon. Actually coffee too but that probably deserves a blog all of it’s own for the sheer improbability of it all.
Anyway – in celebration of the food that can turn Vegetarians into carnivores – here is the Bacon Song.
Genius !
Was John Banks licenced to give immigration advice to Kim “Dotcom” Shmitz?
A little gem amongst all the stuff written about Kim Shmitz (I just cant bring myself to use his ludicrous fake name), is an article about the Ex Mayor of Auckland, John Banks. Now, John Banks is currently an MP for the ACT party, famous for having a cup of tea with the PM, and being the Ex Mayor of Auckland.
While still the mayor, it seems that Mr MegaUpload paid for $500,000 worth of fireworks for the City of Auckland, and John Banks met him regarding this.
The interesting thing is a quote from Mr Banks:
“To the best of my knowledge I gave him some advice about applying for residency.
Which is illegal under the Immigration Advisers Licencing Act, unless you are exempt, or a licenced adviser.
As an MP, Mr Banks is currently exempt from needing to be licenced.
As the Mayor of Auckland, he was not.
Of course, the IAA cannot and will not do anything about it unless someone makes a formal complaint to them. Which really hacks me off.
On a similar point, New Zealand First and Labour are hassling the government on “who knew what” about how this guy got through immigration with a criminal past. Labour is conveniently forgetting that they were in charge when Michael Barrymore was let into New Zealand, and neither is asking questions about the medical issue and whether Immigration sent his medical tests to the Medical Assessors.
Which shows a marked lack of knowledge about the Immigration Process.
Avalon’s Guide On Facebook
-
