Kettlehole Track on glacial Lake Pukaki terminal moraine is about 47 kms from Lake Tekapo. Kettlehole Track turnoff from SH8 is just before Lake Pukaki spillway. Beyond Lake Pukaki dam is the busy Mt Cook lookout, public toilets & kiosk for expensive salmon treats.
A DOC sign states walking time is 1/2 an hour, but I'd found DOC walking times in the past notoriously quick, so I guesstimated mine & Leah's walking times for our short legs as double the DOC time, which proved correct. Then there was the additional 1/2 hour walking time round the glacial kettlehole, which a DOC board said was formed by a big chunk of glacial ice on the terminal moraine, which slowly melted, leaving the kettlehole.
The track undulates over sheep paddocks, past scattered moraine stones, with glorious views of Mackenzie Country, Southern Alps ranges & Lake Pukaki. We crossed 2 rabbit fences - the first over a stile, the next through an open gate, which I thought useless for detaining noxious rabbits.
Dominating the view is nearby Lake Pukaki, its terminal moraine, with SH8 on it & lateral moraines going towards Mt Cook. Scattered pine forests on lateral moraines & wilding pines green-pollute high country golden views. A plaque at the top of Burkes Pass quotes someone recommending that settlers should plant trees, but their boring pines & larches spoil the view, like on Mt Cook station. I thought southern beeches would've been better plantings. Yet station owners nowadays still plant pine forests in Mackenzie Country.
Mackenzie Country snow capped panorama seen from Kettlehole Track:
S - Twizel embedded in trees, Mt Benmore & Lake Benmore.
E - Two Thumbs Range, Rollesby Range, Dalgety Range & Grampian Range...
W - Mt Stafford, Black Hills & Ben Ohau Range with peaks going northwards: Ben Ohau, Backbone, Mackenzie, Razorback, Dun Fiunary, Glentanner... Mt Sealy, Sefton, Footstool, La Perouse, Mt Cook.
Mt Sefton is seen from Kettlehole Track, but is not seen from the tourist lookout, as Rhoboro Hills obscure Mt Sefton views.
N & NE from Mt Cook we saw various peaks & ranges: Mt Wakefield, Mt Blackburn, Burnett Range, Nuns Veil, Gammack Range, Braemar Dome, Mt Stevenson, Mt Mistake. Mt John & Lake Tekapo are obscured by Mary Range. Two Thumbs Range, Mt Richmond, Mt Ardmore & Mt Edward go SE to Burkes Pass.
The kettlehole, with a waterhole at the bottom, has 2 ecosystems: tussock grassland on the wet W slope & spiky matagouri on the dry E slope. On the still, high pressure system day we walked Kettlehole Track, Raolia australis, vegetable sheep growing beside the track, signed harsh alpine winds.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Mt John Village & The Cairns, Lake Tekapo
Lake Tekapo village: Above SH8, close to Aorangi Cres, were 2 housing developments behind Lake Tekapo School - Mt John Village, named after Mt John Station & The Cairns, complete with golf course, lake & Alpine views. Both developments had new infrastructure & housing. During the years Leah worked at Lake Tekapo, new houses were continually being built.
As both developments were close to farmlands, there were several farm tracks to be walked or jogged over golden hilltop grasslands.
Off Aorangi Cres, Andrew Don Dr left Mt John Village housing & became a gravel road going down to Tekapo River. Shortly along the gravel road, after going though a farm gate, I followed a farm track up to the top of the hill. The farm track, sidled past a pine forest which stopped erosion above Tekapo River, went past a radio mast & continued on the other side of the hill to Canal Rd going to Tekapo A power station.
My favourite circular walk was to turn right at the top of the hill by another farm gate, after admiring Alpine views of course & follow The Cairns golf course fencing towards Mt John & SH8.
In the E, I saw Mt Edward, Mt Maude, Tekapo Saddle, Mt Dobson, Two Thumbs Range, Mt Ardmore, Mt Richmond. In the NE, Roundhill ski resort beckoned above Lake Tekapo. In the N, Two Thumbs Range curved W to The Thumbs peaks & beyond to Mt Chevalier. Closer Mt John obscured N views of Mt Erebus, Mt Sibbald & Mt Mistake.
In the W, Ben Ohau Range dominated with peaks from S to N - Mt Stafford, Ben Ohau, Backbone Peak, Mackenzie Peak, The Razorback, Dun Fiunary, Glentanner Peak, Mt Sealy, Mt Sefton. Thereafter, Braemar Dome & Mt Stevenson obscured Mt Cook & associated peaks. We had to drive along SH8 towards Lake Pukaki & Twizel for those views.
Below the peaks smaller westwards ranges could be seen: Old Mans Range, with Tekapo Military Camp below & Mary Range above Lake Pukaki.
Going downhill beyond The Cairns golf course, a reservoir on the left, the farm track turned left towards the airport, SH8 & Godley Peaks Rd turnoff to Mt John. A right turn & the airport track took me above SH8 back to Lake Tekapo village. Along the way I enjoyed views from 3 Lions benches above SH8. The circular walk around The Cairns golf course took about 1 hour.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
As both developments were close to farmlands, there were several farm tracks to be walked or jogged over golden hilltop grasslands.
Off Aorangi Cres, Andrew Don Dr left Mt John Village housing & became a gravel road going down to Tekapo River. Shortly along the gravel road, after going though a farm gate, I followed a farm track up to the top of the hill. The farm track, sidled past a pine forest which stopped erosion above Tekapo River, went past a radio mast & continued on the other side of the hill to Canal Rd going to Tekapo A power station.
My favourite circular walk was to turn right at the top of the hill by another farm gate, after admiring Alpine views of course & follow The Cairns golf course fencing towards Mt John & SH8.
In the E, I saw Mt Edward, Mt Maude, Tekapo Saddle, Mt Dobson, Two Thumbs Range, Mt Ardmore, Mt Richmond. In the NE, Roundhill ski resort beckoned above Lake Tekapo. In the N, Two Thumbs Range curved W to The Thumbs peaks & beyond to Mt Chevalier. Closer Mt John obscured N views of Mt Erebus, Mt Sibbald & Mt Mistake.
In the W, Ben Ohau Range dominated with peaks from S to N - Mt Stafford, Ben Ohau, Backbone Peak, Mackenzie Peak, The Razorback, Dun Fiunary, Glentanner Peak, Mt Sealy, Mt Sefton. Thereafter, Braemar Dome & Mt Stevenson obscured Mt Cook & associated peaks. We had to drive along SH8 towards Lake Pukaki & Twizel for those views.
Below the peaks smaller westwards ranges could be seen: Old Mans Range, with Tekapo Military Camp below & Mary Range above Lake Pukaki.
Going downhill beyond The Cairns golf course, a reservoir on the left, the farm track turned left towards the airport, SH8 & Godley Peaks Rd turnoff to Mt John. A right turn & the airport track took me above SH8 back to Lake Tekapo village. Along the way I enjoyed views from 3 Lions benches above SH8. The circular walk around The Cairns golf course took about 1 hour.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Lake Tekapo Tourist Trap & Rental Trap.
Twenty years ago, while doing my Look See Decide, LSD trip around NZ, I parked my 850 cc Suzuki rental car in a Lake Tekapo car park & freedom camped there. I never thought I'd live in Lake Tekapo village. Nowadays there were all sorts of prohibition signs around Lake Tekapo banning freedom campers & telling tourists where they must dispose off their rubbish. Locals wanted tourist dollars but not their crap. TV news recently featured German freedom campers squatting & crapping in a Christchurch red zone house. Even CERA bureaucrats tut-tutted.
As Lake Tekapo has approx 1.8 million tourists passing through every year, it's a tourist trap, gateway to arid Mackenzie Country plateau & Alpine lake magnificence in the Mackenzie basin.
Leah got a teaching job at Lake Tekapo School. The headmistress told her that after the lethal, Christchurch 22.02.11 quake, school roll doubled overnight from 20 to 40. So we were tourists (or latter-day, quake displaced persons escaping post quake Christchurch, crap living conditions) in the tourist trap, as well as locals living & working in the rental trap.
Lake Tekapo was an expensive tourist trap & rental trap with a low standard of living for wage slaves. Population 320, so small we even got a free Post Office box, as there was no residential postal service in Lake Tekapo village. Besides tourist cafes, bars & shops there wasn't much else in Lake Tekapo village, no ANZ bank, no public library. There was a Four Square supermarket selling expensive wares at tourist prices. The nearest doctor was at Fairlie, the nearest dentist at Geraldine.
During the years we lived in Mackenzie Country, we used Fairlie Community Library & drove to Geraldine or Timaru to do banking & shopping. Our new GP was at Fairlie, our new dentist at Geraldine. We spent more time in our car than we ever did in Christchurch. That included trips to Ashburton & Christchurch for business & to visit our sons.
When I wandered Lake Tekapo I saw many closed, ghost houses / holiday homes, post boxless, which stopped junk mail. Most houses in Lake Tekapo were private holiday homes, closed for most of the year. Some houses were commercial holidays homes, like the one we rented at Aorangi Cres, $200 / night. (Or $400 / week). Work out how much dosh that brings in annually for one commercial holiday home. And it was one of the cheaper ones, an old, 3 bed room Public Works house, built about 60 years ago for workers constructing hydro-electric dams & canals in the Mackenzie - Waitaki basins. Fortunately Leah's boss paid our weekly rent for a while, until we found suitable accommodation. But where?
Some furnished holiday homes were rented for $400 - $500 / night. That's ridiculously unaffordable for people wanting to live & work at Take Tekapo. In contrast I recently saw a Fairlie Accessible advert where a 3 bed room, unfurnished house, rented for $175 / week, on Fairlie outskirts. That was affordable. But Fairlie was 43 kms from Lake Tekapo, with a commute to work up Burkes Pass.
$400 / week rent for a small, 3 bed room house with garage was exorbitant, similar in price to Christchurch post quake rentals, where greedy landlords were coining it, due to low supply & high demand for rentals after quake damages. Luke's girlfriend's South New Brighton 3 bed room rental was damaged in the quakes & finished off in a recent storm when the roof blew off. She was sharing the rental with 2 girlfriends. Now she was back to living with her parents while battling to find another rental.
Some landlord greed: When we asked our Christchurch landlady if our empty Burnside rental could be used to accommodate Luke & friends after their rental roof blew off, she only permitted Luke & girlfriend to stay, not other friends in dire need of accommodation. We didn't bother, as our landlady's reasoning was she preferred middle aged tenants like us, rather than youngsters who'd wreck her rental with parties. She tarred all youngsters with the same brush.
Luke's girlfriend confirmed Christchurch landlord greed in her quest for another rental. Some landlords were so greedy they either didn't want pets, or wanted her to pay weekly rent for her collie dog, or a $1000 bond for her dog.
Luke & Jake were recently booted out of their Ashgrove Tce rental house, as the landlord wanted to fix the house after EQC pay out & thereafter he would live in the house. Jake moved to stay with a friend at Sumner, far from his Garland St work. Luke found a $400 / week rental in Berwick St to share rent with his girlfriend & 2 other friends. It was expensive, but par for the course in overpriced NZ.
PM Key's recent opining on rentals, when expounding on unemployed youngsters each being given $3000 by WINZ to go off the dole & move to Christchurch to help with the rebuild for 3 months (despite rental pressures on youngsters already renting in Christchurch, like my sons) was that youngsters just off the dole, or workers like my sons, could stay with family or friends. What a load of a crap!
Other Lake Tekapo tourist trap establishments are local cafes & restaurants, some flats on top of restaurants. Of course there was tourist accommodation at Peppers Bluewater Resort (800 plus rooms) The Godley Hotel & several B & Bs, backpackers, homestays, motels & resorts dotted around town. There was also the local YHA & Lake Tekapo camp site, so like Mackenzie rabbits, Lake Tekapo was riddled with tourists.
Recently a concrete path was completed beside Lake Tekapo for campers to stroll to Lake Tekapo village. A camper van effluent & fresh water site was also revamped for camper vans to debouch crap beside SH8, overlooking Lake Tekapo, with NO FREEDOM CAMPING signs on pines. Lake Tekapo was bordered by camper van effluent, as there was another effluent site along SH8, at the E end of town.
As our small Lake Tekapo rental (house 97.5 square metres, single garage 18 square metres) was furnished, we were still renting our 3 b.r. house at Burnside, Christchurch, for our furniture storage. (House 103 square metres, double garage 48 square metres). Over the last months I'd driven several return trips to Christchurch, fetching & carrying possessions, which were now muddled with our Lake Tekapo rental mod cons.
When we asked our Lake Tekapo landlord if he could move his furniture out, so we could relocate our furniture from Christchurch, he refused, as he'd have to store. Thus we'd have to store our furniture in Christchurch, unless we found unfurnished accommodation in Lake Tekapo. Our Lake Tekapo rental was part renovated, but the kitchen was awful, with rickety table & cupboard shelves covered in plastic, hiding decades of grime. There were 9 beds in the small, 3 bed room house, including 2 double beds & 2 double bunks, enough for 11 bodies a pop. The house was in fact an overpriced hostel, rather than a rental house for a family. So we had no space for our furniture. Our rental was across the road from backpacker establishments, so our landlord wanted it several ways - big spending backpackers, or workers crammed into 11 beds, hostel style, or long term tenants like us, without possessions. We were seen by locals as glorified backpackers to be fleeced.
Meanwhile there were several private, closed, holiday homes, close to our rental. Across Tekapo River, on a recent walk along Murray Pl, I counted over 20 private, closed holiday homes - more closed homes than inhabited homes. And that was just one short street in Lake Tekapo. Ditto parallel Scott St.
The sooner Lake Tekapo sorted out decent, affordable accommodation for people like us who wanted to live, work & settle in Lake Tekapo the better. Otherwise Lake Tekapo would always be a tourist & rental trap, riddled with 1000s of daily tourists, just passing through. Leaving their crap of course.
The ironic convergence of Lake Tekapo tourist trap & rental trap was seen in the following Peppers Resort advert found on a community notice board, March 2014:
ACCOMMODATION NEEDED - DESPERATELY
We have a number of hard working staff desperately requiring medium to long term accommodation options in Lake Tekapo, or surrounding townships.
If you are looking for long term, secure and trustworthy tenants - look no further. Single occupant, shared options - whatever you may have will greatly assist.
Please contact General manager ... @ Peppers Bluewater Resort ...
The biggest tourist accommodation resort at Lake Tekapo didn't even have decent accommodation for its own staff. What a farce, employers expecting excellent staff, but not providing accommodation, nor employer excellence.
We looked at a 3 bed room, rental, pig sty, about 1 km from Leah's school - overgrown "garden," rickety carport, cracked concrete decking, dirty, smelly kitchen, old carpets, dirty bedding, rickety furniture, asbestos backed fireplace. Upstairs bedrooms were a dirty firetrap, the house an old, A frame prefab. The greedy landlord wanted $350 - $400 / week, a tourist trap / rental trap, touting good money for a rickety slum house. He wanted long term tenants while he built another house in the front garden. Tenants in that crap rental paid for the rebuild.
Another furnished, 3 b.r. house, further from Leah's school: an immaculate rats' nest with tidy garden, rent $400 / week. A flat was on top. Snags: Gas cooker, a fire hazard; no fireplace; shared double garage, electricity, washing machine, clothes line & water heating. I foresaw endless disputes with other tenants, as we would pay 60% of the electrical bill while they only paid 40% no matter how little electricity we used & how much they used.
A filthy, 3 b.r. house we saw in Aorangi Cres was another pig sty. The landlady stored stuff in the garage, stopping tenants' use of the garage. The small house was converted to a 2 b.r. house, the original lounge became a bedroom. Walls of 2 of the original bedrooms were demolished to make an open-plan lounge, cum dining room & kitchen. A fireplace with corrugated iron backing dominated the lounge & the kitchen had a gas stove. Stove & fireplace together caused miasma. I inspected the house barefoot & felt gunk underfoot. The house had inadequate cupboard space. $285 / week rental was a rip off, our health would decline in that sty.
Near the school, Leah's boss rented a wooden, 2 bed room house, sans garage, $350 / week. One teacher lived on a nearby farm. Another commuted daily from Twizel.
Before Easter weekend I wandered 18 Lake Tekapo streets & "posted" RENTAL HOUSE WANTED notices at 72 closed houses. Not one of those houses had a letter box, so the reader could imagine how I "posted". There were many more closed houses, but I thought that was enough to test the ghost rental market. We got only 2 vague responses. Our search so far revealed only high priced, low quality rentals. Our house search continued...
As there was no decent accommodation for us at Lake Tekapo, by the end of June we settled for a 2 bedroom rental in Fairlie, a village in a lower Alpine valley, 43 kms from Lake Tekapo. Rent was $200 per week for an old flax mill cottage in Talbot Rd in the middle of Fairlie golf course. Fairlie people were friendlier than Lake Tekapo inmates. Snag: Leah had a long daily commute to & from Lake Tekapo.
Within a couple of weeks Leah organized a lift with a Richies bus driver who did the Lake Tekapo - Fairlie school bus run. The bus fare was cheaper than my driving Leah from Fairlie to Lake Tekapo daily. It also saved me winter driving on Burkes Pass. (Nevertheless, I got used to driving Burkes Pass during snow storms). Richies had a bus depot on Allandale Rd & several school / tourist bus drivers working for Richies lived at Fairlie & nearby Kimbell & Albury.
Had to laugh at a Tekapo Community Development report in the 5 November Fairlie Accessible:
"The lack of rental accommodation in Lake Tekapo affects the ability of businesses to function, for families to have a reasonable standard of living & for the community to grow. This is not a new issue..."
So greedy Lake Tekapo businesses milked the tourist dollar, but didn't provide affordable rentals, or free accommodation in remote Lake Tekapo, for their employees. If Lake Tekapo businesses didn't pull finger, to continue business, they'd either have to provide decent accommodation for workers, or accept that migrant workers would live in Fairlie & elsewhere & bus to work daily like Leah. If the latter became Lake Tekapo norm then Lake Tekapo employers should supply accommodation & travel allowances for employees.
In SA during the 1980s, when Leah & I worked at De Beers remote Kleinzee & Koffiefontein mines, De Beers provided free housing for all employees - family homes, single quarter flats & hostels, plus food for singles & free relocation, electricity & telephone for all employees. At Koffiefontein & other De Beers mines we had the option of buying our De Beers house instead of free accommodation. That gave De Beers a stable work force. De Beers also provided free bus & aeroplane services for employees & families. Senior management had free company cars & had the option of buying them cheaply after several years' service.
Coda 10.09.15. After living in Mackenzie Country for nearly 2 years at Lake Tekapo then Fairlie, I concluded that the district gave us a high cost of living with a low standard of living, as rentals were crap & there were high commuting costs for Leah to & from Lake Tekapo & high shopping / business commuting costs to Geraldine, Timaru, Ashburton, or Christchurch. We often killed two birds with one stone, e.g. including medical / dental consultations, or visiting our sons, with shopping, banking & Leah's lecturing trips to other centres. Despite the high costs of isolated, Mackenzie Country living, Leah received no isolation allowance, nor commuting allowance, in fact no job perks at all, just a salary.
A Fairlie rental ad seen on Lake Tekapo community notice board:
1 single bedroom, $140 / wk
Free Wi Fi, TV, electricity.
A rip off. There were many slumlords & greedy businesses in Mackenzie Country, eager to cash in on passing tourists, but offering crap accommodation for workers, if accommodation was offered at all. Workers usually had to find scarce, expensive, rentals themselves. No wonder workers on average lasted only 3 months at Lake Tekapo.
Oct 2016: A Lake Tekapo rental ad seen on lake Tekapo community notice board: Single room, WIFI & electricity, couple preferred, $300 - 320 / week. Slumlord rip off!
Content Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Million dollar homes on the rise at Lake Tekapo (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Tekapos Big Bang moment: why a sleepy village is taking off (The Press / Stuff Co).
As Lake Tekapo has approx 1.8 million tourists passing through every year, it's a tourist trap, gateway to arid Mackenzie Country plateau & Alpine lake magnificence in the Mackenzie basin.
Leah got a teaching job at Lake Tekapo School. The headmistress told her that after the lethal, Christchurch 22.02.11 quake, school roll doubled overnight from 20 to 40. So we were tourists (or latter-day, quake displaced persons escaping post quake Christchurch, crap living conditions) in the tourist trap, as well as locals living & working in the rental trap.
Lake Tekapo was an expensive tourist trap & rental trap with a low standard of living for wage slaves. Population 320, so small we even got a free Post Office box, as there was no residential postal service in Lake Tekapo village. Besides tourist cafes, bars & shops there wasn't much else in Lake Tekapo village, no ANZ bank, no public library. There was a Four Square supermarket selling expensive wares at tourist prices. The nearest doctor was at Fairlie, the nearest dentist at Geraldine.
During the years we lived in Mackenzie Country, we used Fairlie Community Library & drove to Geraldine or Timaru to do banking & shopping. Our new GP was at Fairlie, our new dentist at Geraldine. We spent more time in our car than we ever did in Christchurch. That included trips to Ashburton & Christchurch for business & to visit our sons.
When I wandered Lake Tekapo I saw many closed, ghost houses / holiday homes, post boxless, which stopped junk mail. Most houses in Lake Tekapo were private holiday homes, closed for most of the year. Some houses were commercial holidays homes, like the one we rented at Aorangi Cres, $200 / night. (Or $400 / week). Work out how much dosh that brings in annually for one commercial holiday home. And it was one of the cheaper ones, an old, 3 bed room Public Works house, built about 60 years ago for workers constructing hydro-electric dams & canals in the Mackenzie - Waitaki basins. Fortunately Leah's boss paid our weekly rent for a while, until we found suitable accommodation. But where?
Some furnished holiday homes were rented for $400 - $500 / night. That's ridiculously unaffordable for people wanting to live & work at Take Tekapo. In contrast I recently saw a Fairlie Accessible advert where a 3 bed room, unfurnished house, rented for $175 / week, on Fairlie outskirts. That was affordable. But Fairlie was 43 kms from Lake Tekapo, with a commute to work up Burkes Pass.
$400 / week rent for a small, 3 bed room house with garage was exorbitant, similar in price to Christchurch post quake rentals, where greedy landlords were coining it, due to low supply & high demand for rentals after quake damages. Luke's girlfriend's South New Brighton 3 bed room rental was damaged in the quakes & finished off in a recent storm when the roof blew off. She was sharing the rental with 2 girlfriends. Now she was back to living with her parents while battling to find another rental.
Some landlord greed: When we asked our Christchurch landlady if our empty Burnside rental could be used to accommodate Luke & friends after their rental roof blew off, she only permitted Luke & girlfriend to stay, not other friends in dire need of accommodation. We didn't bother, as our landlady's reasoning was she preferred middle aged tenants like us, rather than youngsters who'd wreck her rental with parties. She tarred all youngsters with the same brush.
Luke's girlfriend confirmed Christchurch landlord greed in her quest for another rental. Some landlords were so greedy they either didn't want pets, or wanted her to pay weekly rent for her collie dog, or a $1000 bond for her dog.
Luke & Jake were recently booted out of their Ashgrove Tce rental house, as the landlord wanted to fix the house after EQC pay out & thereafter he would live in the house. Jake moved to stay with a friend at Sumner, far from his Garland St work. Luke found a $400 / week rental in Berwick St to share rent with his girlfriend & 2 other friends. It was expensive, but par for the course in overpriced NZ.
PM Key's recent opining on rentals, when expounding on unemployed youngsters each being given $3000 by WINZ to go off the dole & move to Christchurch to help with the rebuild for 3 months (despite rental pressures on youngsters already renting in Christchurch, like my sons) was that youngsters just off the dole, or workers like my sons, could stay with family or friends. What a load of a crap!
Other Lake Tekapo tourist trap establishments are local cafes & restaurants, some flats on top of restaurants. Of course there was tourist accommodation at Peppers Bluewater Resort (800 plus rooms) The Godley Hotel & several B & Bs, backpackers, homestays, motels & resorts dotted around town. There was also the local YHA & Lake Tekapo camp site, so like Mackenzie rabbits, Lake Tekapo was riddled with tourists.
Recently a concrete path was completed beside Lake Tekapo for campers to stroll to Lake Tekapo village. A camper van effluent & fresh water site was also revamped for camper vans to debouch crap beside SH8, overlooking Lake Tekapo, with NO FREEDOM CAMPING signs on pines. Lake Tekapo was bordered by camper van effluent, as there was another effluent site along SH8, at the E end of town.
As our small Lake Tekapo rental (house 97.5 square metres, single garage 18 square metres) was furnished, we were still renting our 3 b.r. house at Burnside, Christchurch, for our furniture storage. (House 103 square metres, double garage 48 square metres). Over the last months I'd driven several return trips to Christchurch, fetching & carrying possessions, which were now muddled with our Lake Tekapo rental mod cons.
When we asked our Lake Tekapo landlord if he could move his furniture out, so we could relocate our furniture from Christchurch, he refused, as he'd have to store. Thus we'd have to store our furniture in Christchurch, unless we found unfurnished accommodation in Lake Tekapo. Our Lake Tekapo rental was part renovated, but the kitchen was awful, with rickety table & cupboard shelves covered in plastic, hiding decades of grime. There were 9 beds in the small, 3 bed room house, including 2 double beds & 2 double bunks, enough for 11 bodies a pop. The house was in fact an overpriced hostel, rather than a rental house for a family. So we had no space for our furniture. Our rental was across the road from backpacker establishments, so our landlord wanted it several ways - big spending backpackers, or workers crammed into 11 beds, hostel style, or long term tenants like us, without possessions. We were seen by locals as glorified backpackers to be fleeced.
Meanwhile there were several private, closed, holiday homes, close to our rental. Across Tekapo River, on a recent walk along Murray Pl, I counted over 20 private, closed holiday homes - more closed homes than inhabited homes. And that was just one short street in Lake Tekapo. Ditto parallel Scott St.
The sooner Lake Tekapo sorted out decent, affordable accommodation for people like us who wanted to live, work & settle in Lake Tekapo the better. Otherwise Lake Tekapo would always be a tourist & rental trap, riddled with 1000s of daily tourists, just passing through. Leaving their crap of course.
The ironic convergence of Lake Tekapo tourist trap & rental trap was seen in the following Peppers Resort advert found on a community notice board, March 2014:
ACCOMMODATION NEEDED - DESPERATELY
We have a number of hard working staff desperately requiring medium to long term accommodation options in Lake Tekapo, or surrounding townships.
If you are looking for long term, secure and trustworthy tenants - look no further. Single occupant, shared options - whatever you may have will greatly assist.
Please contact General manager ... @ Peppers Bluewater Resort ...
The biggest tourist accommodation resort at Lake Tekapo didn't even have decent accommodation for its own staff. What a farce, employers expecting excellent staff, but not providing accommodation, nor employer excellence.
We looked at a 3 bed room, rental, pig sty, about 1 km from Leah's school - overgrown "garden," rickety carport, cracked concrete decking, dirty, smelly kitchen, old carpets, dirty bedding, rickety furniture, asbestos backed fireplace. Upstairs bedrooms were a dirty firetrap, the house an old, A frame prefab. The greedy landlord wanted $350 - $400 / week, a tourist trap / rental trap, touting good money for a rickety slum house. He wanted long term tenants while he built another house in the front garden. Tenants in that crap rental paid for the rebuild.
Another furnished, 3 b.r. house, further from Leah's school: an immaculate rats' nest with tidy garden, rent $400 / week. A flat was on top. Snags: Gas cooker, a fire hazard; no fireplace; shared double garage, electricity, washing machine, clothes line & water heating. I foresaw endless disputes with other tenants, as we would pay 60% of the electrical bill while they only paid 40% no matter how little electricity we used & how much they used.
A filthy, 3 b.r. house we saw in Aorangi Cres was another pig sty. The landlady stored stuff in the garage, stopping tenants' use of the garage. The small house was converted to a 2 b.r. house, the original lounge became a bedroom. Walls of 2 of the original bedrooms were demolished to make an open-plan lounge, cum dining room & kitchen. A fireplace with corrugated iron backing dominated the lounge & the kitchen had a gas stove. Stove & fireplace together caused miasma. I inspected the house barefoot & felt gunk underfoot. The house had inadequate cupboard space. $285 / week rental was a rip off, our health would decline in that sty.
Near the school, Leah's boss rented a wooden, 2 bed room house, sans garage, $350 / week. One teacher lived on a nearby farm. Another commuted daily from Twizel.
Before Easter weekend I wandered 18 Lake Tekapo streets & "posted" RENTAL HOUSE WANTED notices at 72 closed houses. Not one of those houses had a letter box, so the reader could imagine how I "posted". There were many more closed houses, but I thought that was enough to test the ghost rental market. We got only 2 vague responses. Our search so far revealed only high priced, low quality rentals. Our house search continued...
As there was no decent accommodation for us at Lake Tekapo, by the end of June we settled for a 2 bedroom rental in Fairlie, a village in a lower Alpine valley, 43 kms from Lake Tekapo. Rent was $200 per week for an old flax mill cottage in Talbot Rd in the middle of Fairlie golf course. Fairlie people were friendlier than Lake Tekapo inmates. Snag: Leah had a long daily commute to & from Lake Tekapo.
Within a couple of weeks Leah organized a lift with a Richies bus driver who did the Lake Tekapo - Fairlie school bus run. The bus fare was cheaper than my driving Leah from Fairlie to Lake Tekapo daily. It also saved me winter driving on Burkes Pass. (Nevertheless, I got used to driving Burkes Pass during snow storms). Richies had a bus depot on Allandale Rd & several school / tourist bus drivers working for Richies lived at Fairlie & nearby Kimbell & Albury.
Had to laugh at a Tekapo Community Development report in the 5 November Fairlie Accessible:
"The lack of rental accommodation in Lake Tekapo affects the ability of businesses to function, for families to have a reasonable standard of living & for the community to grow. This is not a new issue..."
So greedy Lake Tekapo businesses milked the tourist dollar, but didn't provide affordable rentals, or free accommodation in remote Lake Tekapo, for their employees. If Lake Tekapo businesses didn't pull finger, to continue business, they'd either have to provide decent accommodation for workers, or accept that migrant workers would live in Fairlie & elsewhere & bus to work daily like Leah. If the latter became Lake Tekapo norm then Lake Tekapo employers should supply accommodation & travel allowances for employees.
In SA during the 1980s, when Leah & I worked at De Beers remote Kleinzee & Koffiefontein mines, De Beers provided free housing for all employees - family homes, single quarter flats & hostels, plus food for singles & free relocation, electricity & telephone for all employees. At Koffiefontein & other De Beers mines we had the option of buying our De Beers house instead of free accommodation. That gave De Beers a stable work force. De Beers also provided free bus & aeroplane services for employees & families. Senior management had free company cars & had the option of buying them cheaply after several years' service.
Coda 10.09.15. After living in Mackenzie Country for nearly 2 years at Lake Tekapo then Fairlie, I concluded that the district gave us a high cost of living with a low standard of living, as rentals were crap & there were high commuting costs for Leah to & from Lake Tekapo & high shopping / business commuting costs to Geraldine, Timaru, Ashburton, or Christchurch. We often killed two birds with one stone, e.g. including medical / dental consultations, or visiting our sons, with shopping, banking & Leah's lecturing trips to other centres. Despite the high costs of isolated, Mackenzie Country living, Leah received no isolation allowance, nor commuting allowance, in fact no job perks at all, just a salary.
A Fairlie rental ad seen on Lake Tekapo community notice board:
1 single bedroom, $140 / wk
Free Wi Fi, TV, electricity.
A rip off. There were many slumlords & greedy businesses in Mackenzie Country, eager to cash in on passing tourists, but offering crap accommodation for workers, if accommodation was offered at all. Workers usually had to find scarce, expensive, rentals themselves. No wonder workers on average lasted only 3 months at Lake Tekapo.
Oct 2016: A Lake Tekapo rental ad seen on lake Tekapo community notice board: Single room, WIFI & electricity, couple preferred, $300 - 320 / week. Slumlord rip off!
Content Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Million dollar homes on the rise at Lake Tekapo (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Tekapos Big Bang moment: why a sleepy village is taking off (The Press / Stuff Co).
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Cowans Hill Walkway, Lake Tekapo
Map ref: BY17 983234. Two summit, Cowans Hill Walkway is a circular walk 6-8 km return, depending on one's start & end points & detours. At the time of writing, confusing DOC signs were at the bottom & some way up Cowans Hill alongside SH8. In places DOC marker poles were obscured by pines.
Much of Lake Tekapo village is built on the lower slopes of Cowans Hill overlooking Lake Tekapo & Southern Alps. Cowans Hill is terminal moraine of the ancient Godley Glacier. The terminal moraine continues across Tekapo River to an unnamed hill on which The Cairns golf course is built.
One can start / end Cowans Hill walk at Lake Tekapo dam control gates by SH8, opposite Pioneer Rd turnoff to Church of the Good Shepherd. A DOC sign by a concrete path shows the way past housing above Tekapo River. That route will give a quick return walk through pine forest to Cowans Hill 793 m summit, about 1 hour's duration.
Alternatively for a longer circular walk through Lake Tekapo village, Cowans Hill tussock grassland & pine forest, one can wander along SH8 past housing & stockyards to the lakeside track beyond another Pioneer Rd turnoff to Pines Beach tracks in Lake Tekapo Regional Park.
Given the confusing signage for Cowans Hill Walkway it seemed that Mackenzie District Council, DOC & NZ Transport Authority were at loggerheads as to which organization was responsible for Cowans Hill tracks.
The most logical way around the base of Cowans Hill was along SH8, but NZ Transport Authority didn't provide pavements or footpaths beside SH8 for walkers / MTBs to use. The dam road / SH8 across Lake Tekapo outlet & Tekapo River was a dangerous bottleneck for vehicles, pedestrians & MTBs, as it was narrow & only had one footpath.
SH8 on the road to Fairlie, beyond Pioneer Rd turnoff, one joins a lakeside walking track marked by green & yellow DOC poles going to Lake Tekapo Regional Park. Across SH8 are stockyards by a Lake Tekapo lookout & tourist car park, with Lochinver Run development behind, going up Cowans Hill to the cemetery road & beyond to pine forest tracks going up to Cowans Hill 793 m summit.
Opting not to wander up SH8, if one follows the lakeside track, walkers are forced by means of locked gates & fences to enter the Regional Park forest where one crosses stiles by Lilybank Rd & detours through pine forest around a forester's house beside SH8. Above the forester's house one crosses SH8 by another stile to reach a closed-to-vehicles track going up Cowans Hill beside SH8. The track leads to a closed car park lookout & beyond to a heap of sand blocking traffic beside SH8, by Oregon pines & birches.
Near the top of Cowans Hill, beside SH8 one passes through a farm gate by a DOC sign marked LAKE TEKAPO WALKWAY. Cowans Hill is mentioned as an afterthought. After crossing a metal stile one enters tussock grassland overlooking a private observatory, Lake Tekapo & Alps.
In tussock grassland, above Lochinver Run, the 360 degree lake & Alpine views are worth the hassles of confusing DOC & Regional Park signs. Following the DOC marked, shared use track for walkers & MTBs, Cowans Hill hilltops, 783 m & 793 m are a lesson in how forestry & logging can destroy pristine Alpine grasslands & wetlands. From the 783 m grassland summit a Lions bench gives 360 degree views over Mackenzie Country. The grasslands are windy, so all-weather, hoody gear is necessary.
Pinus radiata pines are planted in the grassland & wetlands on top of Cowans Hill. The 783 m summit has new pine plantings, the 793 m summit has mature, logged pine forest. The pines may stop soil erosion, but will dry out the tarns on top. Some of the tarns are already dried out. A black swan pair & ducks swam a half filled tarn.
Having survived 3 years of Christchurch quakes, 2010-2013, it would be interesting to see the effects of big quakes on Lake Tekapo village, between topside tarns & wetland drainage on Cowans Hill & Lake Tekapo below. Given the close proximity to Alpine ranges & faults, like Coal River Fault below Richmond Range, I expected disastrous shaking & liquefaction. Hopefully expensive developments like Lochinver Run, Mt John Village & The Cairns have quake resilient housing?
Following the shared MTB / walker track going up to the pine forest on the 793 m summit, one crosses a metal stile into the pine forest. A PINDONE sign on a pine warns about rabbit poisoning - useless as Lake Tekapo village & forests are riddled with rabbits & rabbit warrens. So much for farmers boasting about secretly introducing calcivirus into Mackenzie Country during 1997. All that did was kill some rabbits with rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) & toughen up surviving rabbits' immune systems, giving offspring rabbits immunity to rabbit poisons.
Beside a pine forest fence, a farm track in the grassland goes down to a locked gate above Lochinver Run development.
From radio & TV transmitters at the 793 m summit, one has views of Lake Tekapo village sewage farm & refuse dump. Following Tekapo River down stream view, after an S bend, one sees Tekapo A power station.
E of Lake Tekapo one sees Alpine peaks rising from S to N: Mt Edward, Mt Maude, Tekapo Saddle, Mt Dobson, Mt Hay, Mt Ardmore, Richmond Range, Round Hill & ski field, Two Thumbs Range, Braun-Ewart Peak, Mt Hope, Stag Saddle, Beuzenberg, Mt Toby, Captains Peak, Mt Gerald.
N of Lake Tekapo, E of Godley River, one sees The Thumbs, Mt Electra, Mt Chevalier, Mt Ross, Mt Ajax, Razor Back, Mt Erebus, Mt Sibbald.
W of Lake Tekapo one sees Mt John, Braemar Dome, Mt Stevenson, Hall Range including Haszard Peak & Mistake Peak & Gammack Range obscuring the view of Mt Cook & associated peaks.
Further W, Cowans Hill gives grand views of Mt Stafford, Barrier Range, W of Twizel & Ben Ohau Range - Backbone Peak, Mackenzies Peak, The Razorback, Kaimakamaka Peaks, Dun Fiunary, Glentanner Peak & other peaks going to Mt Sealy & Mt Sefton.
Doing a S detour from the top of Cowans Hill pine forest, one follows a forest track to the end of the pine forest & passes through a farm gate, where a stock track follows a cliff top path above Tekapo River. Vegetable sheep, Raoulia australis, on rocks indicate harsh Alpine winds sweeping up the cliff top. Many rabbit warrens showed rabbit pollution & solid mats of hawkweed, Hieracium, showed plant pollution. Rabbits didn't chomp hawkweed. I saw some rabbit carcasses, successful poisonings, but also saw rabbits hopping about, immune to Pindone. Beyond the clifftop, a farm track went down to Tekapo River by Tekapo A power station.
The way down from the pine forest summit offers various forestry tracks, a couple with DOC marker poles. The shared use MTB / walker track goes through a logged out section of forest, about 200 m x 1000 m, full of pine branch windrows, thistles, wooly mulleins, briar roses, sparse grass, new pine plantings, testament to wetland & tussock grassland destruction by foresters. The pines also obscured Lake Tekapo & Alpine views. All that pines offered was firewood, wind shelter & erosion salvage. Erosion was caused by pioneers' stock overgrazing.
The shared use track passes behind housing above Tekapo River back to the concrete path at SH8 by the Lake Tekapo dam control gates, a DOC sign there too.
Cowans Hill Walkway takes about 2 hours walking time return, or more, depending on detours.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Much of Lake Tekapo village is built on the lower slopes of Cowans Hill overlooking Lake Tekapo & Southern Alps. Cowans Hill is terminal moraine of the ancient Godley Glacier. The terminal moraine continues across Tekapo River to an unnamed hill on which The Cairns golf course is built.
One can start / end Cowans Hill walk at Lake Tekapo dam control gates by SH8, opposite Pioneer Rd turnoff to Church of the Good Shepherd. A DOC sign by a concrete path shows the way past housing above Tekapo River. That route will give a quick return walk through pine forest to Cowans Hill 793 m summit, about 1 hour's duration.
Alternatively for a longer circular walk through Lake Tekapo village, Cowans Hill tussock grassland & pine forest, one can wander along SH8 past housing & stockyards to the lakeside track beyond another Pioneer Rd turnoff to Pines Beach tracks in Lake Tekapo Regional Park.
Given the confusing signage for Cowans Hill Walkway it seemed that Mackenzie District Council, DOC & NZ Transport Authority were at loggerheads as to which organization was responsible for Cowans Hill tracks.
The most logical way around the base of Cowans Hill was along SH8, but NZ Transport Authority didn't provide pavements or footpaths beside SH8 for walkers / MTBs to use. The dam road / SH8 across Lake Tekapo outlet & Tekapo River was a dangerous bottleneck for vehicles, pedestrians & MTBs, as it was narrow & only had one footpath.
SH8 on the road to Fairlie, beyond Pioneer Rd turnoff, one joins a lakeside walking track marked by green & yellow DOC poles going to Lake Tekapo Regional Park. Across SH8 are stockyards by a Lake Tekapo lookout & tourist car park, with Lochinver Run development behind, going up Cowans Hill to the cemetery road & beyond to pine forest tracks going up to Cowans Hill 793 m summit.
Opting not to wander up SH8, if one follows the lakeside track, walkers are forced by means of locked gates & fences to enter the Regional Park forest where one crosses stiles by Lilybank Rd & detours through pine forest around a forester's house beside SH8. Above the forester's house one crosses SH8 by another stile to reach a closed-to-vehicles track going up Cowans Hill beside SH8. The track leads to a closed car park lookout & beyond to a heap of sand blocking traffic beside SH8, by Oregon pines & birches.
Near the top of Cowans Hill, beside SH8 one passes through a farm gate by a DOC sign marked LAKE TEKAPO WALKWAY. Cowans Hill is mentioned as an afterthought. After crossing a metal stile one enters tussock grassland overlooking a private observatory, Lake Tekapo & Alps.
In tussock grassland, above Lochinver Run, the 360 degree lake & Alpine views are worth the hassles of confusing DOC & Regional Park signs. Following the DOC marked, shared use track for walkers & MTBs, Cowans Hill hilltops, 783 m & 793 m are a lesson in how forestry & logging can destroy pristine Alpine grasslands & wetlands. From the 783 m grassland summit a Lions bench gives 360 degree views over Mackenzie Country. The grasslands are windy, so all-weather, hoody gear is necessary.
Pinus radiata pines are planted in the grassland & wetlands on top of Cowans Hill. The 783 m summit has new pine plantings, the 793 m summit has mature, logged pine forest. The pines may stop soil erosion, but will dry out the tarns on top. Some of the tarns are already dried out. A black swan pair & ducks swam a half filled tarn.
Having survived 3 years of Christchurch quakes, 2010-2013, it would be interesting to see the effects of big quakes on Lake Tekapo village, between topside tarns & wetland drainage on Cowans Hill & Lake Tekapo below. Given the close proximity to Alpine ranges & faults, like Coal River Fault below Richmond Range, I expected disastrous shaking & liquefaction. Hopefully expensive developments like Lochinver Run, Mt John Village & The Cairns have quake resilient housing?
Following the shared MTB / walker track going up to the pine forest on the 793 m summit, one crosses a metal stile into the pine forest. A PINDONE sign on a pine warns about rabbit poisoning - useless as Lake Tekapo village & forests are riddled with rabbits & rabbit warrens. So much for farmers boasting about secretly introducing calcivirus into Mackenzie Country during 1997. All that did was kill some rabbits with rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) & toughen up surviving rabbits' immune systems, giving offspring rabbits immunity to rabbit poisons.
Beside a pine forest fence, a farm track in the grassland goes down to a locked gate above Lochinver Run development.
From radio & TV transmitters at the 793 m summit, one has views of Lake Tekapo village sewage farm & refuse dump. Following Tekapo River down stream view, after an S bend, one sees Tekapo A power station.
E of Lake Tekapo one sees Alpine peaks rising from S to N: Mt Edward, Mt Maude, Tekapo Saddle, Mt Dobson, Mt Hay, Mt Ardmore, Richmond Range, Round Hill & ski field, Two Thumbs Range, Braun-Ewart Peak, Mt Hope, Stag Saddle, Beuzenberg, Mt Toby, Captains Peak, Mt Gerald.
N of Lake Tekapo, E of Godley River, one sees The Thumbs, Mt Electra, Mt Chevalier, Mt Ross, Mt Ajax, Razor Back, Mt Erebus, Mt Sibbald.
W of Lake Tekapo one sees Mt John, Braemar Dome, Mt Stevenson, Hall Range including Haszard Peak & Mistake Peak & Gammack Range obscuring the view of Mt Cook & associated peaks.
Further W, Cowans Hill gives grand views of Mt Stafford, Barrier Range, W of Twizel & Ben Ohau Range - Backbone Peak, Mackenzies Peak, The Razorback, Kaimakamaka Peaks, Dun Fiunary, Glentanner Peak & other peaks going to Mt Sealy & Mt Sefton.
Doing a S detour from the top of Cowans Hill pine forest, one follows a forest track to the end of the pine forest & passes through a farm gate, where a stock track follows a cliff top path above Tekapo River. Vegetable sheep, Raoulia australis, on rocks indicate harsh Alpine winds sweeping up the cliff top. Many rabbit warrens showed rabbit pollution & solid mats of hawkweed, Hieracium, showed plant pollution. Rabbits didn't chomp hawkweed. I saw some rabbit carcasses, successful poisonings, but also saw rabbits hopping about, immune to Pindone. Beyond the clifftop, a farm track went down to Tekapo River by Tekapo A power station.
The way down from the pine forest summit offers various forestry tracks, a couple with DOC marker poles. The shared use MTB / walker track goes through a logged out section of forest, about 200 m x 1000 m, full of pine branch windrows, thistles, wooly mulleins, briar roses, sparse grass, new pine plantings, testament to wetland & tussock grassland destruction by foresters. The pines also obscured Lake Tekapo & Alpine views. All that pines offered was firewood, wind shelter & erosion salvage. Erosion was caused by pioneers' stock overgrazing.
The shared use track passes behind housing above Tekapo River back to the concrete path at SH8 by the Lake Tekapo dam control gates, a DOC sign there too.
Cowans Hill Walkway takes about 2 hours walking time return, or more, depending on detours.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Mt John Walkway, Lake Tekapo
Thurs 13.02.14. Map ref: BY17 966267. Balmoral Station: On the S side of Mt John, 1 031 m, overlooking Lake Tekapo, from Tekapo Spa car park, I wandered up Mt John's zigzag path through larch forest, sprinkled with pines. The climb was 311 vertical metres on the DOC maintained path. The climb began beside spa pools, renowned for the world's biggest inflatable hydro slide. Mt John Walkway was popular with tourists & locals.
On my way up, through larch gaps, I had glimpses of Mackenzie Country, in the N Mackenzie Basin & S Waitaki Basin, gouged out by glaciers & surrounded by Southern Alpine ranges. Beyond the treeline, the path emerged W of the S Summit, a rocky bluff.
Beyond the treeline views: E - Mt Edward ridges, Mt Burgess 1 430 m beyond. SE - Rollesby Range, Dalgety Range, Hakataramea Pass, Grampian Range, Kirkliston Range, Otago Ranges. Far S - Benmore Range & a glimpse of Lake Benmore, NZ's biggest man made lake. Close S below Mt John, Tekapo River & Tekapo Canal going S beyond Lake Tekapo village, SH8 going past Tekapo Airport & Tekapo Military Camp below Old Man Range. Further S, Mary Range with a SW glimpse of Lake Pukaki.
The basins were dry, desert like, with windblown grass & treeless, except for farm shelter belts. W - Alpine views toward Mt Sefton 3 151 m. SW - Ben Ohau Range above Twizel. From S to N, some Ben Ohau peaks: Mackenzies Peak 2 200 m, The Razorback 2 392 m, Kaimakamaka Peaks 2 431 m, Dun Fiunary 2 500 m, Glentanner Peak 2 551 m...
On top of Mt John, 60 wooden steps led to a circular summit path, carpark, 5 observatory domes & Astro Cafe with spectacular views. Summit boards gave information. The observatories were run by Canterbury University. Our Christchurch neighbour studied astronomy at Canterbury University & hoped to star gaze on Mt John summit. Until 1983 the observatory nearest the S summit was a USA spy observatory, checking passing satellites during the Cold War.
Due to Lake Tekapo's clear skies, although Mt John was touted as a star gazers' paradise, it wasn't a conservation hot spot, due to exotic larches, thistles, briar roses & rabbit pollution. Rabbit dung & rabbit holes riddled Mt John. I spotted a small, green, vegetable sheep, Raoulia australis, covering a stone near one of the observatories. Other Alpine flora seen: coral broom, mat broom, geraniums, Wahlenbergias, red tussock, spear grass, porcupine bushes, matagouri bushes. Like the rest of Mackenzie Country, Mt John was riddled with hawkweed, Hieracium, Pilosella. As 1 000s of tourists invaded Mt John summit annually, I doubted local flora had any chance of flourishing. For the sick, lame & lazy, a tarred road went up Mt John on the NW slope, about 8 km distance from Lake Tekapo / Lake Pukaki SH8. (Since 2016, tourists had to pay a fee to drive up Mt John to the carpark on top).
Farmers had completely altered Mackenzie Country vegetation. There was still beige tussocklands, but the only greenery was exotic shelterbelts, cultivated crops & grass seeded paddocks for stock, like sheep, cattle & red deer. Wilding pines were a big problem in Mackenzie Country. Never mind log trucks tailgating on narrow, dangerous roads.
E, from Mt John's Astro Cafe, I saw Lake Tekapo town on Lake Tekapo S shore. Beyond: Mt Edward 1 916 m, Mt Maud 1 797 m, Tekapo Saddle 1 387 m, Mt Dobson 2 095 m, Mt Ardmore 1 989 m, Mt Hay 1 174 m. Wee McGregor 1 146 m was hidden by Mt Hay. All those mts were on Mt Hay Station overlooking Motuariki Island in the middle of Lake Tekapo.
High country stations were huge. Further NE along Lake Tekapo shore: Richmond Station (Round Hill ski field below Mt Richmond) & Mt Gerald Station, signified by shelter belts. At the end of Lilybank Rd, Macaulay River had to be forded to access Lilybank Station below Mt Erebus 2 311 m.
NE - Lilybank Rd went to Round Hill ski field 1 588 m, below Mt Richmond 2 163 m. NE of Lake Tekapo, Mt Gerald 1 551 m was dwarfed by higher peaks of the Two Thumbs Range.
NW of Mt John, Lake Alexandrina & Lake McGregor shimmered, with Lake Tekapo in the E. W of Lake Alexandrina loured Braemar Dome, Mt Stevenson 2 330 m, Mt Joseph 1 682 m, Gammack Range & Hall Range, incl Mt Haszard 2 213 m & Mistake Peak 1 921 m at the NW end of Lake Tekapo. Glenmore Station & Godley Peaks Station were below those peaks. W beyond one of Mt John's observatory domes, a glimpse of Aoraki Mt Cook summit 3 754 m.
N of Lake Tekapo: Mt Erebus 2 311 m, Mt Sibbald 2 811 m, Razor Back 1 570 m, Mt Chevalier 2 404 m, Mt Ross 2 366 m, Mt Ajax 2 319 m, Mt Electra 2 447 m, The Thumbs 2 546 m, Captains Peak 2 371 m, Mt Toby 2 222 m, Beuzenberg Peak 2 070 m, Stag saddle 1 925 m, Mt Hope 2 086 m, Braun Ewart Peak 2 086 m & Two Thumb Range with many unnamed peaks in the N & NE.
Walk time from Tekapo Spa carpark through the larch forest to Mt John summit: about 1 hour. An optional return through exposed tussock land to Tekapo Spa carpark via N slopes & Lake Tekapo shore: about 2 hours. Beware gnats, smelly horse dung & the elements. All weather gear needed, as Alpine weather changes quickly from benign to harsh.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Hawkweed, Hieracium, Pilosella (Agpest).
On my way up, through larch gaps, I had glimpses of Mackenzie Country, in the N Mackenzie Basin & S Waitaki Basin, gouged out by glaciers & surrounded by Southern Alpine ranges. Beyond the treeline, the path emerged W of the S Summit, a rocky bluff.
Beyond the treeline views: E - Mt Edward ridges, Mt Burgess 1 430 m beyond. SE - Rollesby Range, Dalgety Range, Hakataramea Pass, Grampian Range, Kirkliston Range, Otago Ranges. Far S - Benmore Range & a glimpse of Lake Benmore, NZ's biggest man made lake. Close S below Mt John, Tekapo River & Tekapo Canal going S beyond Lake Tekapo village, SH8 going past Tekapo Airport & Tekapo Military Camp below Old Man Range. Further S, Mary Range with a SW glimpse of Lake Pukaki.
The basins were dry, desert like, with windblown grass & treeless, except for farm shelter belts. W - Alpine views toward Mt Sefton 3 151 m. SW - Ben Ohau Range above Twizel. From S to N, some Ben Ohau peaks: Mackenzies Peak 2 200 m, The Razorback 2 392 m, Kaimakamaka Peaks 2 431 m, Dun Fiunary 2 500 m, Glentanner Peak 2 551 m...
On top of Mt John, 60 wooden steps led to a circular summit path, carpark, 5 observatory domes & Astro Cafe with spectacular views. Summit boards gave information. The observatories were run by Canterbury University. Our Christchurch neighbour studied astronomy at Canterbury University & hoped to star gaze on Mt John summit. Until 1983 the observatory nearest the S summit was a USA spy observatory, checking passing satellites during the Cold War.
Due to Lake Tekapo's clear skies, although Mt John was touted as a star gazers' paradise, it wasn't a conservation hot spot, due to exotic larches, thistles, briar roses & rabbit pollution. Rabbit dung & rabbit holes riddled Mt John. I spotted a small, green, vegetable sheep, Raoulia australis, covering a stone near one of the observatories. Other Alpine flora seen: coral broom, mat broom, geraniums, Wahlenbergias, red tussock, spear grass, porcupine bushes, matagouri bushes. Like the rest of Mackenzie Country, Mt John was riddled with hawkweed, Hieracium, Pilosella. As 1 000s of tourists invaded Mt John summit annually, I doubted local flora had any chance of flourishing. For the sick, lame & lazy, a tarred road went up Mt John on the NW slope, about 8 km distance from Lake Tekapo / Lake Pukaki SH8. (Since 2016, tourists had to pay a fee to drive up Mt John to the carpark on top).
Farmers had completely altered Mackenzie Country vegetation. There was still beige tussocklands, but the only greenery was exotic shelterbelts, cultivated crops & grass seeded paddocks for stock, like sheep, cattle & red deer. Wilding pines were a big problem in Mackenzie Country. Never mind log trucks tailgating on narrow, dangerous roads.
E, from Mt John's Astro Cafe, I saw Lake Tekapo town on Lake Tekapo S shore. Beyond: Mt Edward 1 916 m, Mt Maud 1 797 m, Tekapo Saddle 1 387 m, Mt Dobson 2 095 m, Mt Ardmore 1 989 m, Mt Hay 1 174 m. Wee McGregor 1 146 m was hidden by Mt Hay. All those mts were on Mt Hay Station overlooking Motuariki Island in the middle of Lake Tekapo.
High country stations were huge. Further NE along Lake Tekapo shore: Richmond Station (Round Hill ski field below Mt Richmond) & Mt Gerald Station, signified by shelter belts. At the end of Lilybank Rd, Macaulay River had to be forded to access Lilybank Station below Mt Erebus 2 311 m.
NE - Lilybank Rd went to Round Hill ski field 1 588 m, below Mt Richmond 2 163 m. NE of Lake Tekapo, Mt Gerald 1 551 m was dwarfed by higher peaks of the Two Thumbs Range.
NW of Mt John, Lake Alexandrina & Lake McGregor shimmered, with Lake Tekapo in the E. W of Lake Alexandrina loured Braemar Dome, Mt Stevenson 2 330 m, Mt Joseph 1 682 m, Gammack Range & Hall Range, incl Mt Haszard 2 213 m & Mistake Peak 1 921 m at the NW end of Lake Tekapo. Glenmore Station & Godley Peaks Station were below those peaks. W beyond one of Mt John's observatory domes, a glimpse of Aoraki Mt Cook summit 3 754 m.
N of Lake Tekapo: Mt Erebus 2 311 m, Mt Sibbald 2 811 m, Razor Back 1 570 m, Mt Chevalier 2 404 m, Mt Ross 2 366 m, Mt Ajax 2 319 m, Mt Electra 2 447 m, The Thumbs 2 546 m, Captains Peak 2 371 m, Mt Toby 2 222 m, Beuzenberg Peak 2 070 m, Stag saddle 1 925 m, Mt Hope 2 086 m, Braun Ewart Peak 2 086 m & Two Thumb Range with many unnamed peaks in the N & NE.
Walk time from Tekapo Spa carpark through the larch forest to Mt John summit: about 1 hour. An optional return through exposed tussock land to Tekapo Spa carpark via N slopes & Lake Tekapo shore: about 2 hours. Beware gnats, smelly horse dung & the elements. All weather gear needed, as Alpine weather changes quickly from benign to harsh.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Hawkweed, Hieracium, Pilosella (Agpest).
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
NZ Nanny State Spying, Integrity Intervention Centre
Tues 28.01.14. George Orwell would've liked NZ with its Integrity Intervention Centre. Kiwis regarded integrity as honesty in relation to not stealing, not its real meaning, the quality of having strong moral principles (Concise Oxford English Dictionary.)
There were many Kiwi thieves for the Ministry of Social Development to actually have a department called the Integrity Intervention Centre. A couple of days after arriving back in Christchurch after visiting her mom at her 80th birthday celebrations in Durban, a trip paid for by Leah's older brother, Leah received the following form letter from NZ's Ministry of Social Development:
Travelling Overseas and Your Payments from the Ministry of Social Development
We are writing to you about your recent travel out of New Zealand and your payments from the Ministry of Social Development
Leah's teacher salary was so low we received a weekly accommodation supplement from WINZ, dole dept part of the Ministry, to help pay our house rent. Although a highly qualified teacher, with teaching experience in SA, UK & NZ, Leah's NZ private school salary was insufficient to pay the bills. Thus she had to do part time work, like extra lessons & lecturing teachers, over & above her full time teaching job.
We [nannies] regularly compare our records with information received from other government agencies to make sure the information we [nannies] have is up-to-date and correct. [i.e. Nanny State spying on its own citizens]. A recent check of your file [WINZ dole file. We had to sign a declaration to the effect that we allowed WINZ to check with other govt depts, or we wouldn't get dole rental supplements.] has shown the details held by the New Zealand Customs Service (Customs) and by us are not the same. [Leah didn't tell WINZ she was going to SA for her mom's 80th birthday party]. We [nannies] want to make sure you are getting the right amount of money, [Yeah right!] so we [nannies] need to confirm these details. [Never mind that I'd stayed in NZ in our Christchurch rental house all the time that Leah was in SA. Our rent still had to be paid despite Leah going on an overseas holiday. She thoroughly deserved that holiday after receiving crap wages & salaries in NZ's low wage economy for 19 years].
Customs records indicate that you left New Zealand on 18/12/2013 by Flight Number NZ883. [Welcome to Orwellian NZ].
Fascist nannies were such brilliant, programmed spies, they never supplied Leah's return flight date nor number, which their Fact Sheet below informed they must.
We [nannies] have updated your file with the above information.
What happens next:
If this information is wrong:
You can: [Bold print, colons & underlining].
Either
Call the Integrity Intervention Centre on this free phone number ... option 3 between 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday with the exception of Wednesday when the hours are 9:30am to 5:00pm. [Why were nannies in the Integrity Intervention Centre so incompetent that they couldn't call us instead of posting a snotty form letter? WINZ regularly posted 1000s of gormless form letters to clients without any thought involved by WINZ ineptocrats.] We [nannies] need to hear from you within 10 working days from the date of this letter. When you call please tell us your client number ... This will help us give you a better service [Yeah right. WINZ service was a load of crap!]
Or
Fill in the form at the end of this letter and send it back to us by:
Mail: ... Fax: ... Email: ...
Leah filled in the form, posted it to WINZ & phoned WINZ. Nanny Cheryl informed Leah that as Leah had been out of NZ for more than a month at least a weeks' accommodation supplement would not be paid by WINZ to Leah. My accommodation supplement would be paid as usual. So Leah was punished by WINZ for not telling WINZ about her going to her mom's birthday party in SA.
If this information is right:
There is no need to contact us unless you have a query about this letter. If we haven't heard from you within 10 working days of this letter we will review your payments based on the information [spying] we [nannies] have.
A Fact Sheet, which has details about information matching, [spying] your rights and obligations, the actions we [nannies] may take regarding your payments, and what happens when we ask you for more information is attached to this letter. Please read it carefully.
If you need help, please call us. If your situation changes in any way let us know. [Er? What situation?] It might make a difference to the money you get. You can call us free, on the numbers listed at the end of the attached Fact Sheet.
Thank you for your co-operation.
During SA's fascist apartheid, there was a Ministry of Co-operation and Development which forced non white, non citizens to do what they were told!
Yours sincerely [Ha!]
Tania Linton
Service Manager
Integrity Intervention Centre
This sort of insulting letter was concocted by Wellington Baby Boomer nannies, who'd had free tertiary education paid for by NZ Welfare State. There was no such benevolence in present Nanny State NZ. The letter was designed to snare tertiary students & graduates, after signing up for incredibly expensive tertiary educations paid for by student loans & student allowances, then fleeing NZ to work overseas, as they couldn't possibly pay off their student loans in NZ's present Nanny State, low wage economy.
After I arrived in NZ, in 1996 I did one semester's post grad study at Lincoln Uni, before I dropped out. I already had over 10 year's tertiary education, 2 degrees, 2 diplomas, paid for by myself in SA, which NZIS & NZQA happily accepted when I applied for our NZ residence visas 20 years ago, as NZ got all my education, work experience, chattels, family & SA money, free. It took 10 years to pay back my NZ student loan, with interest.
Jake & Luke, although now working, both have expensive NZ student loans to pay back. Jake has worked in the hospitality industry full time for 8 years. His wages are so low, no way can he pay back his student loan yet. Ditto Luke, 2 years in the joinery industry. Snag: Provided they stayed working in NZ they needn't pay interest on their student loans. The moment they went overseas to escape NZ's low wage economy, their student loan time bombs started ticking at exorbitant interest rates. They would be harassed by WINZ, StudyLink, Customs, Integrity Intervention Centre nannies & anonymous spies should they leave and / or return to NZ without coughing up. Those Baby Boomer spies & harassers would've had free tertiary education.
There were 1000s of NZ tertiary students & graduates working in NZ & overseas in the same Student Loan bind as Jake & Luke.
NZ Nanny State, Integrity Intervention Centre provided the following Fact Sheet, a hotchpotch of nanny drivel from various Acts to justify NZ fascist state spying on its citizens:
The letter attached to this Fact Sheet has been sent to you by the Ministry of Social Development. This Fact Sheet sets out important details about information matching [spying] your rights and obligations. It also tells you about any action we [nannies] may take regarding your payments and what happens when we [nannies] ask you for more information. Please read it carefully.
Information Matching [spying] and the Privacy Act 1993
The Ministry of Social Development manages pay outs from Work and Income, StudyLink and Senior Services. We regularly compare information [spy] about our clients with information we receive from other government agencies under relevant legislation. These are formally called authorised information matching programmes, [spying] and the Privacy Commissioner oversees these programmes under the Privacy Act. [Condones spying].
The aim of these [spying] programmes is to make sure our clients are getting the right amounts of money [and to do what you're told by a fascist state]. We [nannies] compare information we hold about you with information about you that we [nannies] receive from the New Zealand Customs Service. [Spying]. This information matching [spying] programme is being done under the Customs and Excise Act 1996. [Spying].
If we detected a problem with your file [an 80th birthday party for a SA granny] as part of an information matching [spying] programme, we must, under section 103 of the Privacy Act tell you. [Jawohl!] We [nannies] must also tell you of the actions that may be taken as a result of the problem [80th birthday party] being detected from the [spy] programme. The Privacy Act calls these actions "adverse actions." [Raus! Detention without trial].
Review of Payments and Adverse Actions
When a person's circumstances change [overseas birthday party] the Ministry of Social Development is able to review his or her rate of benefit, Student Allowance, Student Loan or other financial support [dole]. For payments and services you receive from Work and Income the review is carried out under section 81 of the Social Security Act 1964. We can also look [spy] into the payments and services you receive from StudyLink under section 307(4) of the Education Act 1989.
The Ministry of Social Development can take any or the following [indecent] actions:
* Ask for more information. If you do not provide that information within a specified period of time, under section 11 of the Social Security Act 1964 we can require any other person or organisation to provide information [snitching] we might need for the review of your Work and Income payments and services, [?] and under 307(5) of the Education Act 1989, we can ask any other person or organisation, to provide any information [snitching] we [nannies] might need when we [nannies] look into the payments and services you receive from StudyLink. [Snitching for inflame nannies].
* In some cases your benefit, Student Allowance, Student Loan or other financial support may be suspended, declined or stopped [thenceforth to live as a streetie in fascist utopia]. We can also decline future applications for Student Allowance and Student Loan if, without reasonable cause, you do not provide any information that we [nannies] request from you [for intellectual suicide].
* If you have been overpaid and owe a debt to us, it must be paid back. We are able to recover this debt because we consider no error was made in establishing this debt. [My WINZ experience over several years: WINZ was farcical, as WINZ regularly made overpayment errors, then blamed beneficiaries for those errors, as this Fact Sheet did.] You will be given all the details of the debt and will have to arrange repayments. This money can be taken out of a benefit or other financial support you are currently getting.
* If [IF] you owe money to us and you have acted illegally there may be legal action taken against you, or there may be a penalty amount added to your debt.
Moral 1: Don't take out a Student Allowance, a Student Loan, a rental accommodation supplement then go to granny parties overseas.
Moral 2: Nannies who posted form letters boasting about their spying, alleging a crime & threatening immoral Acts, legal actions & penalties, without checking & obtaining full information from so-called clients, were retards.
Nannies went nuts:
If you disagree with this decision, you can ask for a review. [Farcical, like CERA's zoning reviews]. We [nannies] must receive your request for review within three months of this letter. You can download a form from the Ministry's website (...) or write to us by letter, email or fax. If you can't do this within three months, please talk to us. [?] If you have a good reason for the delay, your review may still be considered.
Under section 22 of the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Act 2011, clients receiving New Zealand Superannuation are entitled to receive payments for the first 26 weeks of any absence from New Zealand providing that they return within 30 weeks. If they do not return within this timeframe, subject to certain exceptions, they would not be entitled to New Zealand Superannuation and a debt would be established from the day after leaving New Zealand. If they returned after the 26th week and before the 30th week a debt would be set up for the intervening period.
Nannies forced codgers, wanting to retire to the warm Australian E coast, to endure ghetto NZ. Alternatively codgers had to dodge in & out of NZ every 6 months to renew state pensions. Farcical. Meanwhile PM Key regularly moaned about Kiwis who lived & worked in Oz, who didn't get Oz state benefits, like Oz dole & Oz medical benefits, which NZ provided for Oz citizen in NZ.
Collection of Personal Information
When we [nannies] write to you because of an information matching [spying] programme, we ask you to call us and tell us why we should not take further action on your payments. [Why don't spying nannies call their alleged criminals?] In some cases we [nannies] ask you to send us more information.
Clients Receiving Payments and Services from Work and Income and StudyLink
If you receive payments and services from Work and Income and we [nannies] ask you for more information, we [nannies] are making a preliminary request in terms of the Code of Conduct (the Code) for obtaining information under section 11 of the Social Security Act 1964. The request meets the terms of the Code for Obtaining Information under Section 11 of the Social Security Act. [Spying].
Delete Social & one had all the fascist iniquities of apartheid SA, with nannies using various Acts to harass, sometimes torture, sometimes murder. With all the nanny spying, justified by various Acts, NZ was on the slippery slope to becoming the skunk of the world as Mandela put it.
If you receive payments and services from StudyLink and we ask you for more information we are simply requesting that you provide that information. [Torturers simply do that too].
The personal information we are collecting from you is for the purpose of reviewing and determining your past and present benefit, Student Allowance, Student Loan or other financial support, and to stop any overpayment before a debt is created. [WINZ cockups!] The intended recipients of the information you provide are authorised individuals working for the Ministry of Social Development. [Spies]. Collection of the information is not required by law. It is voluntary. [Bullshit! Why didn't nannies underline & bold print this information]
If you are able to provide us with the information requested, we [nannies] will give you a reasonable time to do so. [After threatening legal action & penalties]. If you do not give us the information requested, we [nannies] will either review your payments and services received from Work and Income and StudyLink, based on the [dubious] information we [nannies] already have or require relevant third parties to supply the information to us.
For example, we can require any other person or organisation, under section 11 of the Social Security Act 1964, to provide any information [snitching] we [nannies] might need for the review of your Work and Income payments and services or we [nannies] can ask any other person or organisation, under section 307(5) of the Education Act 1989 to provide any information we [nannies] might need when we look into the payments and services you receive from StudyLink.
The information will be held by the Ministry of Social Development, and you can ask to see it. You can also ask us to correct it [after WINZ cockups].
If you consider that our preliminary request for information breaches the Code, you may have the right to complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. A copy of the Code can be obtained by telephoning the Ministry on ... or by accessing the Ministry's website at ...
If you have any questions, please call:
Integrity Intervention Centre ...
Work and Income ...
StudyLink ...
If NZ employers paid higher salaries & wages, all the above crap would be void.
Wed 29.01.14. I walked from London St to Burnside about 10 kms, mainly residential suburbs. There were many demolition sites & busy commercial zones like Bealey Ave & Merivale, but also many inhabited houses in need of repairs or rebuilds. Three years post quakes, that was an indictment of slack EQC, slack Fletchers & slack insurers, like slack Southern Response. The named entities were NZ govt entities. SCIRT so-called repaired roads were still crap, full of potholes, bumps, excavations, detours & contractors' graffiti on pavements. SCIRT was a NZ National govt / Council entity.
Thurs 30.01.14. The Press reported finance minister English recommending that employers pay employees more as the economy was improving. So long as NZ National govt didn't have to cough up of course. It was election year, so politicians were boasting how they'd spend taxpayers' money. Parliament was discussing paid parental leave increasing from 14 weeks to 26 weeks. Labour leader Cunliffe wanted parents of infants to be paid nappy & feed dosh. That would encourage bigger families & more bludgers on the Domestic Purposes Benefit. And more "work" for WINZ nannies the biggest dole bludgers of all. Without all those bludgers WINZ nannies would be unemployed.
PM Key last week touted more pay for excellent school principals sent to poorly performing schools & more pay for excellent teachers. My experience with teacher, merit performance pay in SA was that there was never enough dosh to pay excellence & it wasn't easy to judge teacher excellence, as every class was different. Most principals were arts grads & hadn't a clue about the teaching needs, expectations & work conditions of science & biology teachers like myself.
Fri 31.01.14. On a trip up to Lake Tekapo I picked up a local rag The Fairlie Accessible from Fairlie. If readers think I'm bonkers in my satire of NZ Nannie State & snitching / dobbing in, here's an article by Fairlie's nannie cop from the Heartland of the South Island:
Police Notebook
Hello again and I hope the New Year is treating you all well. The weather has not really co-operated during this summer season so far, but will probably come right when the kids go back to school.
A couple of weeks ago a much loved cat was shot and wounded with a slug gun around Regent St area. I would like to hear from anyone that has information on this matter or knowledge of who owns a slug gun in this local area. [Snitchers welcome.]
Last week there was a nasty nose to tail crash between a car and a farm ute on Clayton Rd that could have turned out a lot worse if seat belts were not worn. No lasting injuries were received, but the vehicles were extensively damaged. Two sheep dogs got thrown out and later recovered in Fairlie a bit shaken up.
I had reports [snitching] of young kids driving tractors or motorbikes on public roads without any adults around. This type of practice is clearly inappropriate due to the obvious legal issues, [er illegal] but the possible dangers are even scarier. Youngsters unsupervised around machinery and vehicles are a recipe for disaster and we as adults have a responsibility to keep them safe.
Thanks to all good honest people out there who are still handing in found property. If you have lost anything then the police station would be a good place to start. [Years ago when I reported Jake's lost SA passport at Papanui cop shop, a fat lady cop called a grey haired, paunchy cop, who objected to my loud deaf voice & basically told me to bugger off & report at Central Police station!] If you have found any property, then that should be handed into the police also. The old myth of "Finders keepers losers weepers" does not apply. It is the same as stealing if you do not return found property to the owner or police. [Who "steals" the property if cops never find the original owner?]
The druggies will be out and about tending their crops over the summer period so be on the alert and report [snitch] suspicious behaviour or activity. You can remain anonymous if you like.
It may be a good time to remind people again to check the expiry date on their firearms licences. Ten years can slip by [Ho hum, Heartland NZ] and before you know it you are paying an extra $113 to re-apply and unwillingly committing a criminal offence of being in possession of firearms without a licence. [Since when were renewal fees not extortion?] If you have moved address you will also need to contact police in writing of your new address within a month or you are inadvertently committing another criminal offence.
Have you got a licence? Nanny State, Police State NZ.
Until next time be careful out there!
... Fairlie Police
Leah & I received almost identical form letters, dated 03.02.14, where nanny Rachel Lock, National Manager, Integrity Intervention Centre, posted us each a repeat Fact Sheet from The Ministry of Social Development telling us that the ministry was cutting Leah's accommodation supplement of $27.50 for one week, with the crunch sentence: In most cases a client travelling out of New Zealand cannot receive payments from us.
Thurs 06.02.14. The Press reported that the WINZ bldg on Winston Ave, Papanui, had been sold. Like so many other govt & Council bldgs, the bldg was briefly closed post 22.02.11 quake for safety inspections. I wondered where all the Ministry of Social Development & WINZ nannies would go when their $680 000+ p.a. rents expired? Weekly, I parked next to that gruesome WINZ bldg when I banked at nearby ANZ bank. The white pancake style bldg had toxic WINZ memories for me. The WINZ open-plan office had one-way glass windows, a beefy, security goon at the glass door & myriads of overhead CCTV cams to protect nannies from fearsome dole bludgers, er clients.
I recalled a white nanny some years ago at Winston Ave WINZ seriously lecturing me about Labour's "Jobs Jolt," then months later an Indian nanny sanctimoniously telling Leah & I that as we were older beneficiaries we would be "treated differently" from others. We were both 50 somethings then. In other words, WINZ would stop bitching me to getta job! Any job, like envelope stuffing (true, I had that force fed me by a Sydenham WINZ nanny & her Oz eunuch boss Manning) so long as I didn't disgrace their "job seeker" books anymore. The white WINZ bldg at Winston Ave was as gruesome as the blue, tilt slab, Sydenham WINZ bldg on Colombo St. The latter would be demolished post quakes.
Another nanny narrative: Riccarton WINZ's Heather McKellow sent us WINZ form letters for years & other WINZ busy-work bumf purporting to help me getta job. I was sent on several ineffectual interviews by WINZ at various organizations purporting to help job seekers find jobs, a waste of my time, as interviewers just went thru the motions so they could claim funding from WINZ. One grey haired eunuch even nodded off in his Hereford St office while "interviewing" me.
On one occasion Council & WINZ cooperated to get job seekers like myself off the dole. I was interviewed by councillor Helen Broughton, purporting to be a personnel boffin, in McKellow's Riccarton WINZ office. When nanny Broughton asked why my medical information (deafness) wasn't on my CV, I knew nanny Broughton hadn't a clue. I was sent to St Thomas of Canterbury College, Hornby, for an interview, for a photocopier / typist job, support for lazy teachers & secretaries, in a nannie's filthy photocopier room.
As the school, Council & WINZ would all contribute to my paltry $11/hour pay, when I asked the principal who my actual employer was, he didn't know. McKellow & Broughton also expected me as a parent to break the law by making Luke, 12 years old then, a latch-key kid while I did the job. When I refused that stupid set up, we got hysterical phone calls from nanny McKellow trying to organize another meeting between nannies & me, even at our rental home. Like the above Integrity Intervention Centre nannies, they docked our dole for a week, without any explanation why they wanted me to break the law.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See English backs boost in wages (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Fund sells Papanui landmark for 6.7m (The Press / Stuff Co).
There were many Kiwi thieves for the Ministry of Social Development to actually have a department called the Integrity Intervention Centre. A couple of days after arriving back in Christchurch after visiting her mom at her 80th birthday celebrations in Durban, a trip paid for by Leah's older brother, Leah received the following form letter from NZ's Ministry of Social Development:
Travelling Overseas and Your Payments from the Ministry of Social Development
We are writing to you about your recent travel out of New Zealand and your payments from the Ministry of Social Development
Leah's teacher salary was so low we received a weekly accommodation supplement from WINZ, dole dept part of the Ministry, to help pay our house rent. Although a highly qualified teacher, with teaching experience in SA, UK & NZ, Leah's NZ private school salary was insufficient to pay the bills. Thus she had to do part time work, like extra lessons & lecturing teachers, over & above her full time teaching job.
We [nannies] regularly compare our records with information received from other government agencies to make sure the information we [nannies] have is up-to-date and correct. [i.e. Nanny State spying on its own citizens]. A recent check of your file [WINZ dole file. We had to sign a declaration to the effect that we allowed WINZ to check with other govt depts, or we wouldn't get dole rental supplements.] has shown the details held by the New Zealand Customs Service (Customs) and by us are not the same. [Leah didn't tell WINZ she was going to SA for her mom's 80th birthday party]. We [nannies] want to make sure you are getting the right amount of money, [Yeah right!] so we [nannies] need to confirm these details. [Never mind that I'd stayed in NZ in our Christchurch rental house all the time that Leah was in SA. Our rent still had to be paid despite Leah going on an overseas holiday. She thoroughly deserved that holiday after receiving crap wages & salaries in NZ's low wage economy for 19 years].
Customs records indicate that you left New Zealand on 18/12/2013 by Flight Number NZ883. [Welcome to Orwellian NZ].
Fascist nannies were such brilliant, programmed spies, they never supplied Leah's return flight date nor number, which their Fact Sheet below informed they must.
We [nannies] have updated your file with the above information.
What happens next:
If this information is wrong:
You can: [Bold print, colons & underlining].
Either
Call the Integrity Intervention Centre on this free phone number ... option 3 between 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday with the exception of Wednesday when the hours are 9:30am to 5:00pm. [Why were nannies in the Integrity Intervention Centre so incompetent that they couldn't call us instead of posting a snotty form letter? WINZ regularly posted 1000s of gormless form letters to clients without any thought involved by WINZ ineptocrats.] We [nannies] need to hear from you within 10 working days from the date of this letter. When you call please tell us your client number ... This will help us give you a better service [Yeah right. WINZ service was a load of crap!]
Or
Fill in the form at the end of this letter and send it back to us by:
Mail: ... Fax: ... Email: ...
Leah filled in the form, posted it to WINZ & phoned WINZ. Nanny Cheryl informed Leah that as Leah had been out of NZ for more than a month at least a weeks' accommodation supplement would not be paid by WINZ to Leah. My accommodation supplement would be paid as usual. So Leah was punished by WINZ for not telling WINZ about her going to her mom's birthday party in SA.
If this information is right:
There is no need to contact us unless you have a query about this letter. If we haven't heard from you within 10 working days of this letter we will review your payments based on the information [spying] we [nannies] have.
A Fact Sheet, which has details about information matching, [spying] your rights and obligations, the actions we [nannies] may take regarding your payments, and what happens when we ask you for more information is attached to this letter. Please read it carefully.
If you need help, please call us. If your situation changes in any way let us know. [Er? What situation?] It might make a difference to the money you get. You can call us free, on the numbers listed at the end of the attached Fact Sheet.
Thank you for your co-operation.
During SA's fascist apartheid, there was a Ministry of Co-operation and Development which forced non white, non citizens to do what they were told!
Yours sincerely [Ha!]
Tania Linton
Service Manager
Integrity Intervention Centre
This sort of insulting letter was concocted by Wellington Baby Boomer nannies, who'd had free tertiary education paid for by NZ Welfare State. There was no such benevolence in present Nanny State NZ. The letter was designed to snare tertiary students & graduates, after signing up for incredibly expensive tertiary educations paid for by student loans & student allowances, then fleeing NZ to work overseas, as they couldn't possibly pay off their student loans in NZ's present Nanny State, low wage economy.
After I arrived in NZ, in 1996 I did one semester's post grad study at Lincoln Uni, before I dropped out. I already had over 10 year's tertiary education, 2 degrees, 2 diplomas, paid for by myself in SA, which NZIS & NZQA happily accepted when I applied for our NZ residence visas 20 years ago, as NZ got all my education, work experience, chattels, family & SA money, free. It took 10 years to pay back my NZ student loan, with interest.
Jake & Luke, although now working, both have expensive NZ student loans to pay back. Jake has worked in the hospitality industry full time for 8 years. His wages are so low, no way can he pay back his student loan yet. Ditto Luke, 2 years in the joinery industry. Snag: Provided they stayed working in NZ they needn't pay interest on their student loans. The moment they went overseas to escape NZ's low wage economy, their student loan time bombs started ticking at exorbitant interest rates. They would be harassed by WINZ, StudyLink, Customs, Integrity Intervention Centre nannies & anonymous spies should they leave and / or return to NZ without coughing up. Those Baby Boomer spies & harassers would've had free tertiary education.
There were 1000s of NZ tertiary students & graduates working in NZ & overseas in the same Student Loan bind as Jake & Luke.
NZ Nanny State, Integrity Intervention Centre provided the following Fact Sheet, a hotchpotch of nanny drivel from various Acts to justify NZ fascist state spying on its citizens:
The letter attached to this Fact Sheet has been sent to you by the Ministry of Social Development. This Fact Sheet sets out important details about information matching [spying] your rights and obligations. It also tells you about any action we [nannies] may take regarding your payments and what happens when we [nannies] ask you for more information. Please read it carefully.
Information Matching [spying] and the Privacy Act 1993
The Ministry of Social Development manages pay outs from Work and Income, StudyLink and Senior Services. We regularly compare information [spy] about our clients with information we receive from other government agencies under relevant legislation. These are formally called authorised information matching programmes, [spying] and the Privacy Commissioner oversees these programmes under the Privacy Act. [Condones spying].
The aim of these [spying] programmes is to make sure our clients are getting the right amounts of money [and to do what you're told by a fascist state]. We [nannies] compare information we hold about you with information about you that we [nannies] receive from the New Zealand Customs Service. [Spying]. This information matching [spying] programme is being done under the Customs and Excise Act 1996. [Spying].
If we detected a problem with your file [an 80th birthday party for a SA granny] as part of an information matching [spying] programme, we must, under section 103 of the Privacy Act tell you. [Jawohl!] We [nannies] must also tell you of the actions that may be taken as a result of the problem [80th birthday party] being detected from the [spy] programme. The Privacy Act calls these actions "adverse actions." [Raus! Detention without trial].
Review of Payments and Adverse Actions
When a person's circumstances change [overseas birthday party] the Ministry of Social Development is able to review his or her rate of benefit, Student Allowance, Student Loan or other financial support [dole]. For payments and services you receive from Work and Income the review is carried out under section 81 of the Social Security Act 1964. We can also look [spy] into the payments and services you receive from StudyLink under section 307(4) of the Education Act 1989.
The Ministry of Social Development can take any or the following [indecent] actions:
* Ask for more information. If you do not provide that information within a specified period of time, under section 11 of the Social Security Act 1964 we can require any other person or organisation to provide information [snitching] we might need for the review of your Work and Income payments and services, [?] and under 307(5) of the Education Act 1989, we can ask any other person or organisation, to provide any information [snitching] we [nannies] might need when we [nannies] look into the payments and services you receive from StudyLink. [Snitching for inflame nannies].
* In some cases your benefit, Student Allowance, Student Loan or other financial support may be suspended, declined or stopped [thenceforth to live as a streetie in fascist utopia]. We can also decline future applications for Student Allowance and Student Loan if, without reasonable cause, you do not provide any information that we [nannies] request from you [for intellectual suicide].
* If you have been overpaid and owe a debt to us, it must be paid back. We are able to recover this debt because we consider no error was made in establishing this debt. [My WINZ experience over several years: WINZ was farcical, as WINZ regularly made overpayment errors, then blamed beneficiaries for those errors, as this Fact Sheet did.] You will be given all the details of the debt and will have to arrange repayments. This money can be taken out of a benefit or other financial support you are currently getting.
* If [IF] you owe money to us and you have acted illegally there may be legal action taken against you, or there may be a penalty amount added to your debt.
Moral 1: Don't take out a Student Allowance, a Student Loan, a rental accommodation supplement then go to granny parties overseas.
Moral 2: Nannies who posted form letters boasting about their spying, alleging a crime & threatening immoral Acts, legal actions & penalties, without checking & obtaining full information from so-called clients, were retards.
Nannies went nuts:
If you disagree with this decision, you can ask for a review. [Farcical, like CERA's zoning reviews]. We [nannies] must receive your request for review within three months of this letter. You can download a form from the Ministry's website (...) or write to us by letter, email or fax. If you can't do this within three months, please talk to us. [?] If you have a good reason for the delay, your review may still be considered.
Under section 22 of the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Act 2011, clients receiving New Zealand Superannuation are entitled to receive payments for the first 26 weeks of any absence from New Zealand providing that they return within 30 weeks. If they do not return within this timeframe, subject to certain exceptions, they would not be entitled to New Zealand Superannuation and a debt would be established from the day after leaving New Zealand. If they returned after the 26th week and before the 30th week a debt would be set up for the intervening period.
Nannies forced codgers, wanting to retire to the warm Australian E coast, to endure ghetto NZ. Alternatively codgers had to dodge in & out of NZ every 6 months to renew state pensions. Farcical. Meanwhile PM Key regularly moaned about Kiwis who lived & worked in Oz, who didn't get Oz state benefits, like Oz dole & Oz medical benefits, which NZ provided for Oz citizen in NZ.
Collection of Personal Information
When we [nannies] write to you because of an information matching [spying] programme, we ask you to call us and tell us why we should not take further action on your payments. [Why don't spying nannies call their alleged criminals?] In some cases we [nannies] ask you to send us more information.
Clients Receiving Payments and Services from Work and Income and StudyLink
If you receive payments and services from Work and Income and we [nannies] ask you for more information, we [nannies] are making a preliminary request in terms of the Code of Conduct (the Code) for obtaining information under section 11 of the Social Security Act 1964. The request meets the terms of the Code for Obtaining Information under Section 11 of the Social Security Act. [Spying].
Delete Social & one had all the fascist iniquities of apartheid SA, with nannies using various Acts to harass, sometimes torture, sometimes murder. With all the nanny spying, justified by various Acts, NZ was on the slippery slope to becoming the skunk of the world as Mandela put it.
If you receive payments and services from StudyLink and we ask you for more information we are simply requesting that you provide that information. [Torturers simply do that too].
The personal information we are collecting from you is for the purpose of reviewing and determining your past and present benefit, Student Allowance, Student Loan or other financial support, and to stop any overpayment before a debt is created. [WINZ cockups!] The intended recipients of the information you provide are authorised individuals working for the Ministry of Social Development. [Spies]. Collection of the information is not required by law. It is voluntary. [Bullshit! Why didn't nannies underline & bold print this information]
If you are able to provide us with the information requested, we [nannies] will give you a reasonable time to do so. [After threatening legal action & penalties]. If you do not give us the information requested, we [nannies] will either review your payments and services received from Work and Income and StudyLink, based on the [dubious] information we [nannies] already have or require relevant third parties to supply the information to us.
For example, we can require any other person or organisation, under section 11 of the Social Security Act 1964, to provide any information [snitching] we [nannies] might need for the review of your Work and Income payments and services or we [nannies] can ask any other person or organisation, under section 307(5) of the Education Act 1989 to provide any information we [nannies] might need when we look into the payments and services you receive from StudyLink.
The information will be held by the Ministry of Social Development, and you can ask to see it. You can also ask us to correct it [after WINZ cockups].
If you consider that our preliminary request for information breaches the Code, you may have the right to complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. A copy of the Code can be obtained by telephoning the Ministry on ... or by accessing the Ministry's website at ...
If you have any questions, please call:
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If NZ employers paid higher salaries & wages, all the above crap would be void.
Wed 29.01.14. I walked from London St to Burnside about 10 kms, mainly residential suburbs. There were many demolition sites & busy commercial zones like Bealey Ave & Merivale, but also many inhabited houses in need of repairs or rebuilds. Three years post quakes, that was an indictment of slack EQC, slack Fletchers & slack insurers, like slack Southern Response. The named entities were NZ govt entities. SCIRT so-called repaired roads were still crap, full of potholes, bumps, excavations, detours & contractors' graffiti on pavements. SCIRT was a NZ National govt / Council entity.
Thurs 30.01.14. The Press reported finance minister English recommending that employers pay employees more as the economy was improving. So long as NZ National govt didn't have to cough up of course. It was election year, so politicians were boasting how they'd spend taxpayers' money. Parliament was discussing paid parental leave increasing from 14 weeks to 26 weeks. Labour leader Cunliffe wanted parents of infants to be paid nappy & feed dosh. That would encourage bigger families & more bludgers on the Domestic Purposes Benefit. And more "work" for WINZ nannies the biggest dole bludgers of all. Without all those bludgers WINZ nannies would be unemployed.
PM Key last week touted more pay for excellent school principals sent to poorly performing schools & more pay for excellent teachers. My experience with teacher, merit performance pay in SA was that there was never enough dosh to pay excellence & it wasn't easy to judge teacher excellence, as every class was different. Most principals were arts grads & hadn't a clue about the teaching needs, expectations & work conditions of science & biology teachers like myself.
Fri 31.01.14. On a trip up to Lake Tekapo I picked up a local rag The Fairlie Accessible from Fairlie. If readers think I'm bonkers in my satire of NZ Nannie State & snitching / dobbing in, here's an article by Fairlie's nannie cop from the Heartland of the South Island:
Police Notebook
Hello again and I hope the New Year is treating you all well. The weather has not really co-operated during this summer season so far, but will probably come right when the kids go back to school.
A couple of weeks ago a much loved cat was shot and wounded with a slug gun around Regent St area. I would like to hear from anyone that has information on this matter or knowledge of who owns a slug gun in this local area. [Snitchers welcome.]
Last week there was a nasty nose to tail crash between a car and a farm ute on Clayton Rd that could have turned out a lot worse if seat belts were not worn. No lasting injuries were received, but the vehicles were extensively damaged. Two sheep dogs got thrown out and later recovered in Fairlie a bit shaken up.
I had reports [snitching] of young kids driving tractors or motorbikes on public roads without any adults around. This type of practice is clearly inappropriate due to the obvious legal issues, [er illegal] but the possible dangers are even scarier. Youngsters unsupervised around machinery and vehicles are a recipe for disaster and we as adults have a responsibility to keep them safe.
Thanks to all good honest people out there who are still handing in found property. If you have lost anything then the police station would be a good place to start. [Years ago when I reported Jake's lost SA passport at Papanui cop shop, a fat lady cop called a grey haired, paunchy cop, who objected to my loud deaf voice & basically told me to bugger off & report at Central Police station!] If you have found any property, then that should be handed into the police also. The old myth of "Finders keepers losers weepers" does not apply. It is the same as stealing if you do not return found property to the owner or police. [Who "steals" the property if cops never find the original owner?]
The druggies will be out and about tending their crops over the summer period so be on the alert and report [snitch] suspicious behaviour or activity. You can remain anonymous if you like.
It may be a good time to remind people again to check the expiry date on their firearms licences. Ten years can slip by [Ho hum, Heartland NZ] and before you know it you are paying an extra $113 to re-apply and unwillingly committing a criminal offence of being in possession of firearms without a licence. [Since when were renewal fees not extortion?] If you have moved address you will also need to contact police in writing of your new address within a month or you are inadvertently committing another criminal offence.
Have you got a licence? Nanny State, Police State NZ.
Until next time be careful out there!
... Fairlie Police
Leah & I received almost identical form letters, dated 03.02.14, where nanny Rachel Lock, National Manager, Integrity Intervention Centre, posted us each a repeat Fact Sheet from The Ministry of Social Development telling us that the ministry was cutting Leah's accommodation supplement of $27.50 for one week, with the crunch sentence: In most cases a client travelling out of New Zealand cannot receive payments from us.
Thurs 06.02.14. The Press reported that the WINZ bldg on Winston Ave, Papanui, had been sold. Like so many other govt & Council bldgs, the bldg was briefly closed post 22.02.11 quake for safety inspections. I wondered where all the Ministry of Social Development & WINZ nannies would go when their $680 000+ p.a. rents expired? Weekly, I parked next to that gruesome WINZ bldg when I banked at nearby ANZ bank. The white pancake style bldg had toxic WINZ memories for me. The WINZ open-plan office had one-way glass windows, a beefy, security goon at the glass door & myriads of overhead CCTV cams to protect nannies from fearsome dole bludgers, er clients.
I recalled a white nanny some years ago at Winston Ave WINZ seriously lecturing me about Labour's "Jobs Jolt," then months later an Indian nanny sanctimoniously telling Leah & I that as we were older beneficiaries we would be "treated differently" from others. We were both 50 somethings then. In other words, WINZ would stop bitching me to getta job! Any job, like envelope stuffing (true, I had that force fed me by a Sydenham WINZ nanny & her Oz eunuch boss Manning) so long as I didn't disgrace their "job seeker" books anymore. The white WINZ bldg at Winston Ave was as gruesome as the blue, tilt slab, Sydenham WINZ bldg on Colombo St. The latter would be demolished post quakes.
Another nanny narrative: Riccarton WINZ's Heather McKellow sent us WINZ form letters for years & other WINZ busy-work bumf purporting to help me getta job. I was sent on several ineffectual interviews by WINZ at various organizations purporting to help job seekers find jobs, a waste of my time, as interviewers just went thru the motions so they could claim funding from WINZ. One grey haired eunuch even nodded off in his Hereford St office while "interviewing" me.
On one occasion Council & WINZ cooperated to get job seekers like myself off the dole. I was interviewed by councillor Helen Broughton, purporting to be a personnel boffin, in McKellow's Riccarton WINZ office. When nanny Broughton asked why my medical information (deafness) wasn't on my CV, I knew nanny Broughton hadn't a clue. I was sent to St Thomas of Canterbury College, Hornby, for an interview, for a photocopier / typist job, support for lazy teachers & secretaries, in a nannie's filthy photocopier room.
As the school, Council & WINZ would all contribute to my paltry $11/hour pay, when I asked the principal who my actual employer was, he didn't know. McKellow & Broughton also expected me as a parent to break the law by making Luke, 12 years old then, a latch-key kid while I did the job. When I refused that stupid set up, we got hysterical phone calls from nanny McKellow trying to organize another meeting between nannies & me, even at our rental home. Like the above Integrity Intervention Centre nannies, they docked our dole for a week, without any explanation why they wanted me to break the law.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See English backs boost in wages (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Fund sells Papanui landmark for 6.7m (The Press / Stuff Co).
Monday, January 20, 2014
Beyond Quake Walls. Christchurch Ineptocracy
Quake Ineptocracy focus. Tuesday 21.01.14. SA brother-in-law emailed me a pic found on eBay: T shirt with Ineptocracy & definition printed on the T shirt:
Ineptocracy
- (in-ep-toc-ra-cy) -
A system of government where the
least capable to lead are elected by
the least capable of producing, and
where the members of society least
likely to sustain themselves or suc-
ceed, are rewarded with goods and
services paid for by the confiscated
wealth of a diminishing number of
producers
My email response:
We're experiencing Ineptocracy in Christchurch since quakes. Ineptocracy rules Canterbury: NZ National govt appointed commissioners in Environment Canterbury enable stock farmers polluting pristine Canterbury waters. Deep sea oil concessions around NZ too.
Inept CERA, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority: post-quake National govt dept, CERA ineptocrats vs Council ineptocrats. There are squabbles about post-quake land-zonings, demolitions, NZ National govt takings, rebuilds, new-builds. Mayor Parker resigned with some of his ineptocrat councillors booted out, or not seeking re-election. New mayor Dalziel & councillors elected. Town Clerk Marryatt resigned, his bldg consents dept, a fiasco. New Town Clerk pending...
Presently a NZ National govt appointed manager in Council is sorting out consents dept mess & other inept Council depts.
Brownlee, ex woodwork teacher, is CERA minister; Sutton, ex Orion electricity boss, is CERA's appointed CEO; Isaacs, ex Timaru Town Clerk, accountant, was CERA's appointed Demolition boss, now appointed CBD Rebuild boss of the Christchurch Central Development Unit. (CCDU). Demolition boss to Rebuild boss!
Eighteen months ago, CERA ineptocrats produced a CBD Blueprint for grand bldgs like a Convention Centre, Rugby Stadium, various Precincts like Health, Sports, Innovation, Performing Arts, Kids' Playground, Bus Interchange, Justice & Emergency Services, Frame Parkland, but forgot to Blueprint affordable housing, shops, schools. So far, 3 years post-quakes, no foundations are laid for any CERA Blueprint bldgs.
Why did CERA deal with Council to share costs of most Blueprint anchor projects, when CERA knew that town clerk Marryatt had under-insured Council assets & wanted to use unknown quake insurance settlements for Council assets to fund shared Blueprint anchor project costs? Should Council have insufficient funds for CERA's Blueprint anchor projects, it was rich that CERA then wanted Council to sell Council's revenue producing assets, like Christchurch Airport & Lyttelton Port, to fund CERA's Blueprint anchor projects! Borrowing on Council assets was more sensible than selling the family silver. Once ratepayers' assets were gone they were gone forever.
Brownlee minister of EQC. EQC ineptocrats caused suffering for 1 000s of claimants over the last 3 years with slow settlements. Insurers followed suit.
Inept Ministry of Education closed & merged several Christchurch schools. Thus communities lost staff & school facilities from closed & merged schools, while parents & kids of closed & merged schools had to travel further to other schools, with increased costs: travel & new uniforms.
Mon 27.01.14. Brownlee demanded Council showed transparency in its finances regarding insurance payouts on trashed assets & Council asset shares (The Press 25.01.14) but Brownlee's EQC & CERA showed no transparency in their finances. Brownlee asked for commercially sensitive information to cajole Council & ratepayers to pay for CERA's Blueprint projects.
Fri 31.01.14. CERA's media release boasted about 7 349 red-zone properties, 98% of which CERA eligible property owners had accepted NZ National govt's / CERA's offers. CERA waffled about 2013 census showing many property owners of damaged properties had relocated within 4km distance from their damaged properties. Misleading, as tenants like son Jake, post 22 February quake also moved across town, Jake from a Waltham damaged house-rental, to a St Albans damaged garage-rental, then post-winter to a Geraldine St flat-rental closer to the CBD.
CERA hadn't stated the number of new houses being built in Christchurch to replace CERA's 7 349 red zone houses. Too few, hence the housing- crisis, where our sons would soon pay exorbitant rents with 3 other tenants for an old, 2 storey house at Ashgrove Tce , overcrowding to enrich a landlord. Given NZ's low-wage-economy, not one of those young adults could afford to pay the full house-rent on their own. Due to low-wages, it was impossible for them to save for ownership of their own housing, as they were busy paying a Baby Boomer's rental- house mortgage. Given NZ housing & land unaffordability, our sons were locked out of home ownership, no matter how hard they worked for low- pay. Baby Boomers had lots to answer for, they'd bought cheaper houses, before inflation struck our sons.
Since quakes, we'd seen Christchurch degrade into a more dangerous place to live. Demolition-dust & road excavation-dust were daily hazards. Tagging increased, sign of degradation. Months ago, I'd encountered hoodlums stealing beer from an abandoned CBD property in broad daylight. Not a cop in sight. Recently, Black Caps cricketer Ryder was mugged near Jake's Brewers Arms work, Papanui Rd. The pub was robbed before Xmas.
Garlands Rd: Sunday night, The Brewery by The Tannery at Jake's new work, an attempted robbery by 2 hoodlums using sawn-off shotguns. A patron was assaulted with a gun butt. No money stolen, pub boss schmoozed the thieves. Monday morning when I dropped Jake off at work a police tape cordon stopped workplace entry. Jake said he & his workmates waited a long time before they could start work. Nineteen years ago, we left SA due to that sort of violence.
Deans Ave: Five years later, 15.03.19, a terrorist shooter would kill 51 Muslims at Friday prayers at Al Noor Mosque & Linwood Ave Mosque. (We'd experienced that sort of terrorism for decades in SA). Only after that massacre would NZ gun laws change, making it hard to own automatic firearms.
Leah returned from SA last week after visiting family & friends in KwaZulu-Natal & E Cape. She said many Christchurch roads were like Third World SA roads. e.g. Christchurch potholed Barbadoes St was like the potholed road to Richmond, KZN, where ANC / Inkatha had bloody faction-fights during transition from apartheid to the Rainbow Nation. So much for minister Brownlee's recovery: Garden City to Demolition City, so far. Barbadoes St: just one of hundreds of trashed streets, poorly repaired by SCIRT.
Wednesday 05.02.14. The Press pic: Housing minister Smith, flanked by CERA minister Brownlee. Headline: "Plan unveiled for 'affordable' 500k housing." Smith planned to build 275 so-called affordable houses for 350k-500k each, between Halswell & Wigram, near the new motorway. We knew the area well, we'd lived in Halswell for years. If Smith though those new houses were affordable he was delusional. If Brownlee though those 275 new houses would solve the housing-crisis he was delusional, as there weren't enough houses built to cover loss of red-zoned houses & loss of trashed houses awaiting rebuild after slow insurer settlements. Smith & Brownlee condoned housing-shortage by maintaining low- supply & high prices during an election year.
How could my sons' low-wages in hospitality & joinery, enable them to save house deposits on so-called affordable housing after they'd paid their bills, including expensive rents?
Baby Boomers, Smith & Brownlee were beneficiaries of properties bought cheaply by their parents. History by Michael Bassett & Luke Malpass from their report, "Priced Out. How NZ lost its housing affordability:"
From 1951 WW2 returned servicemen tenants could buy state housing cheaply.
From 1954 new houses could be build with a cheap 3% loan from State Advances / Housing Corporation.
From 1958 new houses could be built by capitalizing Family Benefits & adding that to the 3% cheap loans from State Advances / Housing Corporation.
Thus WW2 vets, Korean War vets, Vietnam War vets, Baby Boomers got cheap housing subsidised by NZ govt. Nowadays all those post WW2 houses, cheaply bought, could be sold at inflated prices. Presently their children are forced to suffer their greed when buying old or new housing in an inflated housing market. Never mind inflated bldg costs due to construction supplier monopolies & real-estate agents' commissions adding to housing inflation.
Why didn't Brownlee & Smith make schemes to help our children's futures? So far our children were a Jilted Generation, as authors Ed Howker & Shiv Malik described in their book: "Jilted generations how Britain has bankrupted its youth." Brownlee & Smith jilted our children's futures with expensive housing & student loans.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Christchurch homes severely unaffordable (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Work kicks off on justice precinct (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Plan for Triangle Centre Shelved (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Arrests over armed bar robberies (The Press / Stuff Co).
See No tenants left for the CBD (The Press / Stuff Co).
See CERA's recovery milestone reached today with final flat land red zone settlements, 31 January 2014.
See Plans unveiled for "affordable" 500k homes (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Quake claimants take the cash (The Press / Stuff Co).
Forget smooth perfect roads city told (The Press / Stuff Co).
Ineptocracy
- (in-ep-toc-ra-cy) -
A system of government where the
least capable to lead are elected by
the least capable of producing, and
where the members of society least
likely to sustain themselves or suc-
ceed, are rewarded with goods and
services paid for by the confiscated
wealth of a diminishing number of
producers
My email response:
We're experiencing Ineptocracy in Christchurch since quakes. Ineptocracy rules Canterbury: NZ National govt appointed commissioners in Environment Canterbury enable stock farmers polluting pristine Canterbury waters. Deep sea oil concessions around NZ too.
Inept CERA, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority: post-quake National govt dept, CERA ineptocrats vs Council ineptocrats. There are squabbles about post-quake land-zonings, demolitions, NZ National govt takings, rebuilds, new-builds. Mayor Parker resigned with some of his ineptocrat councillors booted out, or not seeking re-election. New mayor Dalziel & councillors elected. Town Clerk Marryatt resigned, his bldg consents dept, a fiasco. New Town Clerk pending...
Presently a NZ National govt appointed manager in Council is sorting out consents dept mess & other inept Council depts.
Brownlee, ex woodwork teacher, is CERA minister; Sutton, ex Orion electricity boss, is CERA's appointed CEO; Isaacs, ex Timaru Town Clerk, accountant, was CERA's appointed Demolition boss, now appointed CBD Rebuild boss of the Christchurch Central Development Unit. (CCDU). Demolition boss to Rebuild boss!
Eighteen months ago, CERA ineptocrats produced a CBD Blueprint for grand bldgs like a Convention Centre, Rugby Stadium, various Precincts like Health, Sports, Innovation, Performing Arts, Kids' Playground, Bus Interchange, Justice & Emergency Services, Frame Parkland, but forgot to Blueprint affordable housing, shops, schools. So far, 3 years post-quakes, no foundations are laid for any CERA Blueprint bldgs.
Why did CERA deal with Council to share costs of most Blueprint anchor projects, when CERA knew that town clerk Marryatt had under-insured Council assets & wanted to use unknown quake insurance settlements for Council assets to fund shared Blueprint anchor project costs? Should Council have insufficient funds for CERA's Blueprint anchor projects, it was rich that CERA then wanted Council to sell Council's revenue producing assets, like Christchurch Airport & Lyttelton Port, to fund CERA's Blueprint anchor projects! Borrowing on Council assets was more sensible than selling the family silver. Once ratepayers' assets were gone they were gone forever.
Brownlee minister of EQC. EQC ineptocrats caused suffering for 1 000s of claimants over the last 3 years with slow settlements. Insurers followed suit.
Inept Ministry of Education closed & merged several Christchurch schools. Thus communities lost staff & school facilities from closed & merged schools, while parents & kids of closed & merged schools had to travel further to other schools, with increased costs: travel & new uniforms.
Mon 27.01.14. Brownlee demanded Council showed transparency in its finances regarding insurance payouts on trashed assets & Council asset shares (The Press 25.01.14) but Brownlee's EQC & CERA showed no transparency in their finances. Brownlee asked for commercially sensitive information to cajole Council & ratepayers to pay for CERA's Blueprint projects.
Fri 31.01.14. CERA's media release boasted about 7 349 red-zone properties, 98% of which CERA eligible property owners had accepted NZ National govt's / CERA's offers. CERA waffled about 2013 census showing many property owners of damaged properties had relocated within 4km distance from their damaged properties. Misleading, as tenants like son Jake, post 22 February quake also moved across town, Jake from a Waltham damaged house-rental, to a St Albans damaged garage-rental, then post-winter to a Geraldine St flat-rental closer to the CBD.
CERA hadn't stated the number of new houses being built in Christchurch to replace CERA's 7 349 red zone houses. Too few, hence the housing- crisis, where our sons would soon pay exorbitant rents with 3 other tenants for an old, 2 storey house at Ashgrove Tce , overcrowding to enrich a landlord. Given NZ's low-wage-economy, not one of those young adults could afford to pay the full house-rent on their own. Due to low-wages, it was impossible for them to save for ownership of their own housing, as they were busy paying a Baby Boomer's rental- house mortgage. Given NZ housing & land unaffordability, our sons were locked out of home ownership, no matter how hard they worked for low- pay. Baby Boomers had lots to answer for, they'd bought cheaper houses, before inflation struck our sons.
Since quakes, we'd seen Christchurch degrade into a more dangerous place to live. Demolition-dust & road excavation-dust were daily hazards. Tagging increased, sign of degradation. Months ago, I'd encountered hoodlums stealing beer from an abandoned CBD property in broad daylight. Not a cop in sight. Recently, Black Caps cricketer Ryder was mugged near Jake's Brewers Arms work, Papanui Rd. The pub was robbed before Xmas.
Garlands Rd: Sunday night, The Brewery by The Tannery at Jake's new work, an attempted robbery by 2 hoodlums using sawn-off shotguns. A patron was assaulted with a gun butt. No money stolen, pub boss schmoozed the thieves. Monday morning when I dropped Jake off at work a police tape cordon stopped workplace entry. Jake said he & his workmates waited a long time before they could start work. Nineteen years ago, we left SA due to that sort of violence.
Deans Ave: Five years later, 15.03.19, a terrorist shooter would kill 51 Muslims at Friday prayers at Al Noor Mosque & Linwood Ave Mosque. (We'd experienced that sort of terrorism for decades in SA). Only after that massacre would NZ gun laws change, making it hard to own automatic firearms.
Leah returned from SA last week after visiting family & friends in KwaZulu-Natal & E Cape. She said many Christchurch roads were like Third World SA roads. e.g. Christchurch potholed Barbadoes St was like the potholed road to Richmond, KZN, where ANC / Inkatha had bloody faction-fights during transition from apartheid to the Rainbow Nation. So much for minister Brownlee's recovery: Garden City to Demolition City, so far. Barbadoes St: just one of hundreds of trashed streets, poorly repaired by SCIRT.
Wednesday 05.02.14. The Press pic: Housing minister Smith, flanked by CERA minister Brownlee. Headline: "Plan unveiled for 'affordable' 500k housing." Smith planned to build 275 so-called affordable houses for 350k-500k each, between Halswell & Wigram, near the new motorway. We knew the area well, we'd lived in Halswell for years. If Smith though those new houses were affordable he was delusional. If Brownlee though those 275 new houses would solve the housing-crisis he was delusional, as there weren't enough houses built to cover loss of red-zoned houses & loss of trashed houses awaiting rebuild after slow insurer settlements. Smith & Brownlee condoned housing-shortage by maintaining low- supply & high prices during an election year.
How could my sons' low-wages in hospitality & joinery, enable them to save house deposits on so-called affordable housing after they'd paid their bills, including expensive rents?
Baby Boomers, Smith & Brownlee were beneficiaries of properties bought cheaply by their parents. History by Michael Bassett & Luke Malpass from their report, "Priced Out. How NZ lost its housing affordability:"
From 1951 WW2 returned servicemen tenants could buy state housing cheaply.
From 1954 new houses could be build with a cheap 3% loan from State Advances / Housing Corporation.
From 1958 new houses could be built by capitalizing Family Benefits & adding that to the 3% cheap loans from State Advances / Housing Corporation.
Thus WW2 vets, Korean War vets, Vietnam War vets, Baby Boomers got cheap housing subsidised by NZ govt. Nowadays all those post WW2 houses, cheaply bought, could be sold at inflated prices. Presently their children are forced to suffer their greed when buying old or new housing in an inflated housing market. Never mind inflated bldg costs due to construction supplier monopolies & real-estate agents' commissions adding to housing inflation.
Why didn't Brownlee & Smith make schemes to help our children's futures? So far our children were a Jilted Generation, as authors Ed Howker & Shiv Malik described in their book: "Jilted generations how Britain has bankrupted its youth." Brownlee & Smith jilted our children's futures with expensive housing & student loans.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Christchurch homes severely unaffordable (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Work kicks off on justice precinct (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Plan for Triangle Centre Shelved (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Arrests over armed bar robberies (The Press / Stuff Co).
See No tenants left for the CBD (The Press / Stuff Co).
See CERA's recovery milestone reached today with final flat land red zone settlements, 31 January 2014.
See Plans unveiled for "affordable" 500k homes (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Quake claimants take the cash (The Press / Stuff Co).
Forget smooth perfect roads city told (The Press / Stuff Co).
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