The Real New Zealand – Real Estate
December 13, 2009 by admin
Filed under Tourists Attractions
Many people talk about the wonders of New Zealand. Perhaps, that is why you’re thinking of purchasing New Zealand real estate rather than one of the many other properties for sale on the international market. What is alluring to most is that New Zealand real estate that truly reflects the rural beauty and green hills of the New Zealand experience. Not every international real estate experience will offer you this beauty but these tips will help you on your quest in finding property in the “Real” New Zealand.
One good place to begin is Northland. It stretches from about 20 minutes north of Auckland to Cape Reinga. New Zealand real estate in this area will offer you the access of many beaches that have been virtually untouched by commercialism, important New Zealand history, and a full Maori culture. Northland is without a doubt the perfect lush image that you had been dreaming of when you were considering New Zealand real estate. It is truly the picture of the “Real” New Zealand.
Secondly, consider East Cape as a New Zealand real estate search area. This area is home to farming and fishing families, many of whom have worked on the land of this area since New Zealand’s settlement. East Cape is an area where the people are warm, the scenery is beautiful, and the lifestyle is easy going. You may need independent wealth to live in East Cape since there is not an abundance of work available. However, East Cape can offer you an international real estate purchase that will allow you truly get away off the beaten path of the “Real” New Zealand.
Southland, not to be confused with the South Island, is another area where purchasing New Zealand real estate will give you access to some of the friendliest and warmest people in the world. As an international real estate investment, this area is filled with rural, friendly, and beautiful locals. People readily have strangers over for dinner, sheep farming is the name of the game, and the high country is some of the most beautiful in the world. Like East Cape, you may find Southland to be off the beaten path, but a wonderful place to visit and perhaps it will help with your decision to make your New Zealand real estate purchase.
New Zealand is not just about the tourist attractions and the big city of Auckland. If you are considering a New Zealand real estate purchase, you will want to be familiar and comfortable with what the real New Zealand is and what it has to offer. It can be found not down a road or path and it certainly isn’t a secret location, it is in the people of the country and communities. If you are making an international real estate purchase, you want to make sure that you are comfortable with the people, the culture, and the ideals held by them. The real New Zealand is one that most enjoy and perhaps you will as well to such a degree that you will make your New Zealand real estate purchase one for a permanent home.
Home From Home In A Caravan
September 27, 2009 by admin
Filed under Tourists Attractions
We’re Planning The Trip Of A Lifetime. The Children Have Never Travelled Anywhere Outside Of Europe And We’re About To Take Them On A Trip To The Other Side Of The World For Two Months In New Zealand.
We know this is going to be a one off but we really want to get a feel for the place. We don’t want to be stuck to a rigid timetable running from one place to another to make sure we get in all the tourist attractions. We want to be able to go off the beaten track for some of the outdoor leisure activities.
To do this we decided to use a caravan. Still at the planning stages, we were unsure whether to go for a new or used caravan but after research on the internet we found a new caravan company local to the airport and car hire company.
So, we’ve arrived in Auckland after a 24 hour flight, exhausted. After picking up our car we soon see the sign for new caravans and head for the site. The staff in the caravan sales department are very helpful and have our caravan ready for us immediately. We’ve decided to opt for a new one as we are going to be spending a long time in it and want the extra facilities that come with such a large caravan.
After a few days rest on a local camp site, we make our way to Hot Water Beach on the Coramandel Penninsula. Parking virtually on the beach we head off with our spades to enjoy the first of our outdoor leisure activities. We have spent an afternoon digging holes on the beach and bathing in the hot water fed directly from the volcano springs. As lovely as this is, we realise the small luxury of having our own shower when we are able to clean up and sleep exactly where we are.
Waking up this close to the ocean the next morning is just sheer luxury. We have a leisurely breakfast and head across to Rotorua. With this whole town built on a flat topped volcano, I’m quite glad we have the means of driving off with our home should the unthinkable happen!
We spend a happy few weeks travelling South with our caravan, stopping at roadsides, campsites and beaches – wherever takes our fancy. We get to travel off the tourist route, to see waterfalls and the most amazing natural sights that we wouldn’t have seen had we been based in a hotel. A few days in Napier gives us the chance for scuba diving. One of the main outdoor leisure activities we are here for and once again, an on hand shower to warm us up is a godsend.
Three weeks in and we’re running short on supplies so we head to a new and used caravans site and stock up. Driving a couple of miles further down the road we reach Castle Point. This is a beautiful sport with a rocky coastline and great reputation for snorkelling and diving.
Parking up, I am able to hop in the caravan and make a much needed cup of tea. This is when I hear my son shouting for me and a feeling of panic washes over me. I rush out to see that he is safe but he had been jumping about in the rocks and was now stood atop one just staring down. I picked my way across to see what he was shouting about when an almighty roar bellows out.
It’s a mother sea lion with her cub asking us to move away! Backing away slowly we realise the rocks are full of sea lions. Most are quite happy for us to have a look at them as long as we don’t get too close. The next day we are able to move a little further down the coast away from them and go snorkelling. Now it’s their turn to be inquisitive and, much happier in their own environment, they swim with us for a look.
After a week in Wellington, we begin to make our way up the island. Stopping at little villages off the beaten track we get to mix with plenty of the most sociable locals. Laying on a beach of black volcanic sand one afternoon we are joined by a couple of natives who chat to us like we have known them for years! I think if we had stayed in a hotel we would only have met foreign tourists so I am very glad we decided to use the caravan.
After another 3 weeks of relaxed touring with stops for white water rafting, waterfall jumping and seeing all the sights, we have made it as far North as we can possible go to 90 mile beach. This is where we spend the last few days of our trip sand boarding down the biggest sand dunes you have ever seen. But at the back of our minds we realise it’s time to start winding down to go home.
Despite all the excitement, we have been a little homesick at times. However, I have also become attached to this ‘home’ too. Before our flight home, we make arrangements to have our beloved caravan shipped back home. It takes six weeks but there’s no great rush. We are able to then site our caravan on a UK caravan site and have regular breaks with fond memories.
Video Conferencing Public Rooms: Go Public, Go Practical
Your business is going global. You’ve got people working for you in Bangkok, Auckland, Florence, and Paris. Thankfully for you and the people who work for you, gone are the days of waiting for telegrams to arrive. Nor is there any need for you to yell in competition with inaudible static just to get your message across. In this day and age, modern technology has made it possible for you to connect with real people in real time. Thanks to a wondrous little innovation called video conferencing, you can connect to your liaisons officer in Zimbabwe and talk to him almost as if he were in the same room with you.
Video, What?
Video conferencing technology allows you to utilize the Internet to send or receive audio files and images to any or all of your business associates around the world and vice versa. The quality of the sound and images you send and receive is dependent on the speed of your Internet service provider, so if you don’t want your image frozen in mid-blink with half-closed eyelids, high-speed is the way to go.
Can You Afford It?
Video conferencing equipment is usually set up in conference or board rooms. Video conferencing equipment does not come cheap, however. High-tech video conferencing equipment includes LCD screens and projectors, routers, and speaker phones, and would eat up a hefty chunk of last year’s profits. If your company can afford it, though, then by all means, purchase all the equipment you need. If you’re still cutting corners or just breaking even, however, purchasing video conferencing equipment would not be a good idea.
Make It Public!
Who’s to say you can’t use video conferencing technology? Even if your resources are not as bottomless as your ambitions, you can still use video conferencing technology. How? By utilizing video conferencing public rooms! Video conferencing public rooms are conference rooms with the necessary state-of-the-art video conferencing equipment you need. They may be rented or leased.
The good thing about video conferencing public rooms is that you can use one for a very small fee. This makes it the cost-efficient alternative to having to set up your own video conferencing room. In video conferencing public rooms, you simply inform operators know what you need, how long you need it for, and when you need it. These operators will take care of everything for you, from the conference set-up to equipment maintenance. Undoubtedly, video conferencing public rooms will save your company not just money but also time and manpower.
Going Public
So, now the next concern is finding the best among the multitude of video conferencing public rooms available. One of the more popular video conferencing public rooms is FedEx’s Kinko’s. Kinko’s boasts of 120 locations worldwide and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It provides the latest video conferencing equipment. You even have the option of having your meeting videotaped, so you can review the proceedings at your leisure or monitor which of your executives slept while you talked.
Proximity also offers video conferencing public rooms in 3,500 locations worldwide. They can organize video conferencing involving as few as two to as many as 5,000 participants. All you have to do is show up. You don’t need to worry about a thing.
Video conferencing public rooms are sprouting like mushrooms everywhere, from shopping malls to hotels and even subway stations. Pluck the right mushroom and you’ll be guaranteed seamless and convenient video conferencing no matter where in the world you might be.
New Zealand Increase in Accident Claims
Canterbury, New Zealand leads the country in a multimillion-dollar increase in accident claims for sport-cycling and mountainbike accidents, new figures show. The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) paid out $1.81 million for Canterbury sport cyclists and mountainbikers who took a spill in 2006-2007.
This was up from the $370,855 paid to 82 sport cyclists in 2002-2003. Auckland topped Canterbury for overall claims, including ongoing claims, in 2006-2007 with $2.24m, but trailed Canterbury’s 254 new claims for the year. Nationally, the ACC paid out $8.31m more in claims for 2006-2007 than it did in 2002-2003.
One Christchurch cycling group is blaming mountainbikers for the increase, but former adventure sport champion Steve Gurney said the numbers were a “fantastic problem to have”. Papanui Cycling Club vice-president Bruce Dawe blamed mountainbikers for the rise in the number of accidents.
“It’s recognised as the most dangerous sport around because they do crazy things,” he said. “They don’t race on a road for a start. All their claim accidents the majority of them are just straight-out crashes through the terrain they race on.”
Gurney said the ACC data did not break down mountainbikers as opposed to road cyclists, so it was wrong to blame one group.
“Road cycling has doubled, at least more likely five times, I’d say,” he said.
There was increasing rage between road cyclists and motorists, he said.
“Every time we go out riding as a bunch we get cars trying to cut us off, we get cars tooting at us and there’s a kind of a war going on between motorists and cyclists.”
While the increase was a concern, it was a “fantastic problem” because it showed more people were out enjoying the countryside, Gurney said.
Canterbury road policing manager Inspector Derek Erasmus said the blame for cycle accidents was an exact split between cyclists and drivers.
Over the past five years, primary blame for 46 per cent of all cycle crashes in Canterbury lay with the car driver. In another 46 per cent, the cyclist was primarily responsible, and in the remaining 8 per cent responsibility was shared.
“One of the big things is infringement on cycling lanes by drivers,” Erasmus said.
“In other words, car drivers think they can use a cycle lane with impunity and it forms part of their road. Cars need to stay out of cycle lanes.”
Belfast road cyclist Johnathon Gee, 24, was the victim of a driver cutting into a cycle lane in an accident that left him in a coma six weeks ago.
Gee was yesterday continuing his recovery at Burwood Hospital’s brain injury rehabilitation service. He could not remember anything of his accident but said he was eager to get back on his bike when he was fully recovered.
“I don’t mind drivers and drivers don’t mind me,” he said.
“Maybe people that are commuting to get to work or school might have more trouble with drivers, but for someone like me who just trains, it might be slightly different.”
Gee’s April 18 accident happened when a vehicle swung around in front of him across the cycle lane in Ferry Road. Gee suffered a broken arm, spinal and facial injuries, broken ribs, a broken wrist and collapsed lungs. Gee’s father, David Gee, said his son’s accident was similar to the one suffered by 16-year-old Christchurch cyclist Harriet Smithies in Taranaki at the weekend.
David Gee said he had briefly met the driver of the vehicle who hit his son. He was “a very nice fellow” who had boys of his own, Gee said. Canterbury cycling group Spokes chairman Matthew Cutler-Welsh said although the ACC statistics might appear alarming
