What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?
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@MajorRage said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
Can we get this back on topic please?
I am genuinely interested in what it’s like and your thoughts.It's actually really good.
Without getting into driving too much, there are far far fewer campervans blocking up the roads. The holiday season has been much better than in the past even though we probably have more people here (returned Kiwis).
I have yet to have any product supply issues, business wise and personally (I suspect that might come, but so far so good).
I have managed to get bookings for some places that I always wanted to visit (or return to) that was impossible for the last few years. The special prices are great too. Our top resorts may be mostly American owned but they are far more accessible to Kiwis now and they are seriously good. I'm making the best of it.
So yeah it's fantastic. I'm supporting all of our local businesses as much as possible and thoroughly enjoying our country.
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@MajorRage said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
your thoughts on my wife’s driving
I'm sure she is very good, some gross generalisations above, but having some basis in fact. I am intrigued as to whether she drove the Caterham?
My wife will not drive the TVR in spite of the fact that I bought it for her.
It is interesting how supportive our community have been of our business and us in general. As @canefan says people seem to have bought into the money go round. I like it.
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I’ve just got back from travelling up and down the north island. Apparently it’s a long wait to get a boat or a campervan as kiwis have been buying them up.
Tourist hotspots like Rotorua, Taupo and earlier Queenstown were less busy than normal.
Great in the short term for locals, but that iceberg of businesses going under is going to hit us sooner rather than later.
Everywhere I went I saw shut down businesses, and to let signs.
Roads still crazily busy in places and saw some absolutely awful driving, so that hasn’t changed.
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I'm feeling happy enopugh that I've booked a long weekend up at Taupo at the end of February. Intend to do totally tourist things rather than treat it as a weekend getaway - so lake cruise, a couple of decent restaurants and a spa afternoon. Original idea was Siem Reap and Laos for two weeks but that went bye bye so made do with 3 days in Taupo for about the same cost
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@booboo Monthly Arrival numbers:
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@SynicBast said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
I'm feeling happy enopugh that I've booked a long weekend up at Taupo at the end of February. Intend to do totally tourist things rather than treat it as a weekend getaway - so lake cruise, a couple of decent restaurants and a spa afternoon. Original idea was Siem Reap and Laos for two weeks but that went bye bye so made do with 3 days in Taupo for about the same cost
Ouchee
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@taniwharugby What's the second column?
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@canefan That's why I don't have a lot of sympathy for Tourism operators crying poor. They lived very very well by ignoring the local market and in many cases actively discouraging the locals through their pricing and wonder why people think twice before even considering spending what discretionary funds they have now on domestic tourism.
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@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Old-Samurai-Jack said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@MN5 said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Old-Samurai-Jack said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@MN5 Asians? It definitely depends on the person but I would suggest Japanese are, on average, better drivers than Kiwis due to the seriously tough driving schools they are forced to go through to get their licenses.
Not on our roads in my experience. I managed a rental car company for about 4 years (30 years ago) and we couldn't get insurance for them. The actuaries didn't like the numbers.
Old school racism and stereotyping at its best
Which came from your post, but the numbers were what they were. The insurers decided not me.
Peripheral vision effects driving skills too. It was certainly an issue in aeroplanes. It's not racism. Some people are genetically better at some things. Live with it.
Shittings! I was bowing down to your superior knowledge (Japanese drivers in the NZ context) until you wrote this! WTF! Have I misunderstood?
Maybe. I remember reading an article years ago basically about genetic evolution. It's not racism as pretty much everybody has their strengths, from Kenyan and Ethiopian long distance runners to Caribbean sprinters. Slow twitch and fast twitch, etc. That is not to say that other people can't / won't develop over the years as well, it is just evolution of certain attributes because those attributes are used more than others.
If Japanese drivers spent years and years on our roads they would be fine too. Peripheral vision can be overcome by turning your head, being aware of blind spots and these days technology (much of which has been conveniently invented by the Japanese).
Sorry but that is confirmation bias at its best. Here are some statistics, there are 100,000 Japanese visitors to NZ a year (pre-covid obviously), 43% use rental cars, and they are not even mentioned in the top 20 nationalities for accidents. NZ almost doubles the Japanese in road fatalities per 100,000 and more importantly :face_savouring_delicious_food: , I have driven extensively in both countries. I feel much safer driving/riding a motorbike In Japan (less aggressive) and without doubt, Japanese park soooo much better than the average Kiwi (although I' concede this probably reflects certain cultural traits than driving abilities....). They also have exactly the same road rules.
Having said that NZ has unique driving conditions and that makes driving there difficult for someone not used to it and the stats say the top three nationalities for accidents are Chinese, UK, and Australia (2019 I think). -
@JC said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@taniwharugby What's the second column?
"Seasonally Adjusted" whatever that means.
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@Old-Samurai-Jack said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Old-Samurai-Jack said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@MN5 said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Old-Samurai-Jack said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@MN5 Asians? It definitely depends on the person but I would suggest Japanese are, on average, better drivers than Kiwis due to the seriously tough driving schools they are forced to go through to get their licenses.
Not on our roads in my experience. I managed a rental car company for about 4 years (30 years ago) and we couldn't get insurance for them. The actuaries didn't like the numbers.
Old school racism and stereotyping at its best
Which came from your post, but the numbers were what they were. The insurers decided not me.
Peripheral vision effects driving skills too. It was certainly an issue in aeroplanes. It's not racism. Some people are genetically better at some things. Live with it.
Shittings! I was bowing down to your superior knowledge (Japanese drivers in the NZ context) until you wrote this! WTF! Have I misunderstood?
Maybe. I remember reading an article years ago basically about genetic evolution. It's not racism as pretty much everybody has their strengths, from Kenyan and Ethiopian long distance runners to Caribbean sprinters. Slow twitch and fast twitch, etc. That is not to say that other people can't / won't develop over the years as well, it is just evolution of certain attributes because those attributes are used more than others.
If Japanese drivers spent years and years on our roads they would be fine too. Peripheral vision can be overcome by turning your head, being aware of blind spots and these days technology (much of which has been conveniently invented by the Japanese).
Sorry but that is confirmation bias at its best. Here are some statistics, there are 100,000 Japanese visitors to NZ a year (pre-covid obviously), 43% use rental cars, and they are not even mentioned in the top 20 nationalities for accidents. NZ almost doubles the Japanese in road fatalities per 100,000 and more importantly :face_savouring_delicious_food: , I have driven extensively in both countries. I feel much safer driving/riding a motorbike In Japan (less aggressive) and without doubt, Japanese park soooo much better than the average Kiwi (although I' concede this probably reflects certain cultural traits than driving abilities....). They also have exactly the same road rules.
Having said that NZ has unique driving conditions and that makes driving there difficult for someone not used to it and the stats say the top three nationalities for accidents are Chinese, UK, and Australia (2019 I think).I didn't do the numbers - insurance actuaries did. I also said it was many years ago. I would think that our tourist demographics have changed dramatically.
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@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
I have yet to have any product supply issues, business wise and personally (I suspect that might come, but so far so good).
I've noticed the usual sales they have this time of year arent as good (Rebel only had 20% Boxing Day Sales, Farmers was get 25% when you buy 2 or more or something) and then the stock they have to sell is very limited, half the shops look like they have been looted with empty shelves everywhere.
Mrs TR commented today in Countdown that they have only just now got Mr Kiplings mince pies on the shelves, have been a few other things she said she noticed have only come onto shelves (Countdown, Warehouse, New World) this week that would normally have been selling pre-christmas.
Some of the online places (Quiksilver, Billabong etc that are shipped from Aus) have limited stocks too.
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@taniwharugby Given the increased cost of shipping coupled with the shrinking of available freight volume, be prepared for only the items that are at the higher end of the profit margin scale for importers to focus on for quite some time.
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@Higgins Thta would be about the same number of incoming ships as usually arrives for harvest crops right? So generally they would arrive with normal inbound loads. It's the more the amount of non-seasonal, discretionary inwards freight that is getting impacted. A lot less importation of new releases or market expansion attempts that don't have the high profit margins.
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@Old-Samurai-Jack said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Old-Samurai-Jack said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@MN5 said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@Old-Samurai-Jack said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@MN5 Asians? It definitely depends on the person but I would suggest Japanese are, on average, better drivers than Kiwis due to the seriously tough driving schools they are forced to go through to get their licenses.
Not on our roads in my experience. I managed a rental car company for about 4 years (30 years ago) and we couldn't get insurance for them. The actuaries didn't like the numbers.
Old school racism and stereotyping at its best
Which came from your post, but the numbers were what they were. The insurers decided not me.
Peripheral vision effects driving skills too. It was certainly an issue in aeroplanes. It's not racism. Some people are genetically better at some things. Live with it.
Shittings! I was bowing down to your superior knowledge (Japanese drivers in the NZ context) until you wrote this! WTF! Have I misunderstood?
Maybe. I remember reading an article years ago basically about genetic evolution. It's not racism as pretty much everybody has their strengths, from Kenyan and Ethiopian long distance runners to Caribbean sprinters. Slow twitch and fast twitch, etc. That is not to say that other people can't / won't develop over the years as well, it is just evolution of certain attributes because those attributes are used more than others.
If Japanese drivers spent years and years on our roads they would be fine too. Peripheral vision can be overcome by turning your head, being aware of blind spots and these days technology (much of which has been conveniently invented by the Japanese).
Sorry but that is confirmation bias at its best. Here are some statistics, there are 100,000 Japanese visitors to NZ a year (pre-covid obviously), 43% use rental cars, and they are not even mentioned in the top 20 nationalities for accidents. NZ almost doubles the Japanese in road fatalities per 100,000 and more importantly :face_savouring_delicious_food: , I have driven extensively in both countries. I feel much safer driving/riding a motorbike In Japan (less aggressive) and without doubt, Japanese park soooo much better than the average Kiwi (although I' concede this probably reflects certain cultural traits than driving abilities....). They also have exactly the same road rules.
Having said that NZ has unique driving conditions and that makes driving there difficult for someone not used to it and the stats say the top three nationalities for accidents are Chinese, UK, and Australia (2019 I think).I was tremendously impressed by the driving standards in Japan. Also the blatant disregard for highway limits even old ladies display. The first time I was doing the speed limit and got overtaken like I was in reverse.
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@Snowy said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
@MajorRage said in What’s it like having Godzone all to yourself?:
Can we get this back on topic please?
I am genuinely interested in what it’s like and your thoughts.It's actually really good.
Without getting into driving too much, there are far far fewer campervans blocking up the roads. The holiday season has been much better than in the past even though we probably have more people here (returned Kiwis).
I have yet to have any product supply issues, business wise and personally (I suspect that might come, but so far so good).
I have managed to get bookings for some places that I always wanted to visit (or return to) that was impossible for the last few years. The special prices are great too. Our top resorts may be mostly American owned but they are far more accessible to Kiwis now and they are seriously good. I'm making the best of it.
So yeah it's fantastic. I'm supporting all of our local businesses as much as possible and thoroughly enjoying our country.
This gels quite a lot. I left in 86, and in last 25 years have been appalled by how overpriced many tourist activities have become. So much so that I declined to be scalped. And things booked insanely early (a year!).
I suppose it's too much to hope that prices won't be ramped back up as soon as border reopens!