Updates on Life in New Zealand

Its been awhile since I wrote anything here and I thought I better remind myself what’s been happening.  We have been basically cut off from WINZ because Cathy is working.  It really makes me scratch my head in wonder at the logic of a system that says you will receive no more support from the government if one of you is working full time at a minimum wage job.  This seems absurd to me as minimum wage, is just that, minimum.  Apparently the government feels that it is more than enough money for TWO people to live on, bizarre.  Anyhow, we are surviving and will continue to survive, unlike many others who are in desperate straits here.  There are an increasing number of mortgage sales as families can not afford to keep their homes are forced to sell.  I had a long conversation with a person at WINZ the other day and she had never seen so many people in one day requiring emergency assistance, i.e. food vouchers.  As we drive around, I am noticing more people apparently living in the vehicles, either cars or vans.  Maybe I am seeing more because I am looking for it.  I continue to send out CV’s to all and sundry and have started work defining a new, affordable project management service for small business.  I am drafting a white paper and hope to have it available on my website within a week or so (www.mcapples.co.nz) .  The “My Safe Ride Home” program has been slow but there seems to be an investor that is interested so we will see how that pans out.  Not much can be done until we get some infrastructure in place in NZ which requires capital of course.  In other fun news, I decided to go to the new Pac-N-Save on opening day last Sunday to see if I could find any amazing bargains.  I was amazed alright.  I was circling the car park looking for a spot (with everyone else) when after about 30 minutes, I heard a pretty good bang from under the hood of the car and a saw a lot of steam escaping.  I quickly shut the car off, and popped the hood, careful to step around the river of antifreeze running out of the engine.  NOT GOOD I thought.  I was off to one side and not really blocking cars too badly.  It was then I became REALY glad we had spent the extra 25 dollars on our insurance and purchased the Roadside Assistance package from State Insurance.  I called the number, gave our license number and they dispatched a tow truck.  They did say average time response time was 30-45 minutes.  After an hour, when the engine had cooled down, I could see fluid in the bottom of the radiator and on a lark, poured in some antifreeze I had in the boot (trunk).  Nothing poured out so I started the car up and drove out of the busy parking lot and around the corner to a nice quiet place which fortunately had an outside water tap that worked.  I called roadside assistance and told them I have moved the car and as I was adding water  the tow truck turned up.  I topped off the radiator and looked under the car to see that it was still leaking so decided to get it towed.  The tow truck driver gave me my options, tow it their yard for the night and then get it towed to the garage the next morning thereby using both of the free tows for the year, tow it the marina and get it towed to the garage the next morning, again using our free tows for the year, or call and see if the dealer was open in Takapuna and drop the car off directly.  She seemed to think it was (yes the tow truck driver was a woman, and very good at her job).  I called, the sales people were there and said no problem, drop the car off.  We did.  I had an enjoyable walk home (around 5.5 km) on a beautiful sunny day and that was that.  I called the dealer Monday, they said no worries we’ll look at it, they did, told be good news that it was a relatively simple issue, they fixed it.  I had the service done as well which found worn ball joints and other assorted front end issues, BAD, and had them fixed as the warrant of fitness is due next week and it would not have passed.  Got the car back, it runs great and we are hopefully over the big bills on it.  It annoys the hell out of me that the warrant of fitness check done 6 months ago when we bought the car was a not properly done as there is no way the ball joints etc could have deteriorated in so short a time.  Lesson learned, get a warrant on ANY used car through VTNZ (Vehicle Testing New Zealand).  They are thorough and have no vested interest with used car dealers or repair shops, all they do is warrant of fitness checks. 

The weather continues to be challenging, sun, rain, hail, wind, rain, wind, sun, rain, wind, rain, rain.  You get the picture.  As I look outside just now it looks like dusk, it’s a shame it’s 9:00AM.  I have been looking at weather for our friends David and Linda on Toketie as they are heading to Fiji.  Unfortunately they will likely be waiting until later next week unless something changes significantly in the next day or so.