NZ Adventure tourism - a false economy?

Share |

The title of this blog is 'living in NZ', but maybe it should be dying in NZ. No, its not a reference to the local retirement industry, or the lack of domestic activity, I mean actual dying. The local adventure sports industry ought to be doing a lot of navel-gazing at the moment because there are just too many people dying whilst doing adventure sports. Consider the recent accidents:

1. Several light planes crashing

2. Balloon accident

3. Bunge jumping death

4. Canoeing accident

5. Jet boat accident

6. Kite sailing - the latest accident

Some of these accidents were not this year, but last, but regardless, there is too many accidents. People engaging in these sports do not expect to die. Are the rates too high? I think so? Is it an acceptable risk? Well, I would suggest that is something the participant should decide. Perhaps there is a need for immediate disclosure of:

1. NZ-wide statistics on the percentage of people being injured in adventure sports

2. NZ-wide statistics on the percentage of people being injured in the specific adventure sport being attempted

3. Company-specific statistics on the percentage of people being injured in the specific adventure sport

4. Company-specific statistics on the percentage of people being injured in the specific adventure sport - this month, this year, the last 5 years

5. Identification of all the possible dangers that you could be exposing yourself to by participating in the sport. Probably the biggest is someone performing tasks they are not ready for, whether its an instructor who was out drinking last night; or an inadequately trained instructor because most want to take off and travel the world...for bigger thrills.

You might wonder whether anyone gets any business disclosing this information. They might just wonder if its worth it. If you think life is about getting such thrills, maybe you ought to be just taking heroin. They call them 'cheap thrills', I would argue that:

1. They are over-priced

2. They could cost you your life

I am fond of adventure, but I think its silly to take risks; most particularly risks you don't control. I occasionally go whitewater kayaking/canoeing, but its adventure/exploration, not cheap 'adrenalin thrills'. When I go kayaking, it is after I have slowly graduated to more difficult rapids, and also after researching and understanding rivers. I also never go beyond grade 3 rivers, even if they sometimes surprise me with grade 3.5 rapids.

I discount the value of these activities for the same reason I discount taking drugs. Its not what life is about...twitching a few neurons to fill alive for 15 - 60 seconds. NZ seems to have a penchant for dreaming up some new adventure sport. Some form of new board sport, etc. There are plenty of pipe dreamers out there. Some are little variants on old schemes. It might better be regarded as escapism by the inventor as much as the sports participant. I do not however want to discount all such sports. Sport does entail risk. Each ought to be in a position to know just how much risk they are taking.

Perhaps what this industry (kite boarding) needs is an 'air bag' device, so it they get in trouble they can release a valve and an air bubble blows up around them; so they get caught in a tree rather than killed by it. Alternatively, the sport should be conducted a certain safe distance away from trees and other obstructions.

Save yourself some money and engage in some sustainable pleasures!

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

High rate of animal cruelty in NZ

Share |

According to the NZ Herald, there has been a 2nd attack upon some fur seals at Kaikoura, on the Northern tip of the Southern Island of NZ. I visited those seals about a year ago. Some idiots have come along and killed about 20 of them. What was interesting was the fact that there is apparently a waterfall in the area where the seals swim. This would have been a great attraction to visit if I had known about it.

I have seen a great many cases of animal cruelty in NZ in the last 2 years I have been here. There are far more cases that in Australia. I attribute this to two issues:

1. The more collectivist (socialistic) ethic of NZ

2. The higher incidence of child abuse, such that animal abuse is a practical extension

3. The high incidence of peer pressure-yobbo-loutish behaviour by youths drinking alcohol

4. Low population of NZ, which makes the place a little boring for youths. There is not much of a business culture, and this might be explained by the lack of opportunities for a small, isolated island population offering little in the way of investment or job opportunities. Small businesses have little opportunity to expand with minimal population growth. Everyone is taking off to Australia.

6. The high legal allowances for drinking - 9 beers in the first 2 hours compared to 4 in Australia.

Ethics is the big issue as far as I am concerned. The other issues merely provide the specific context in which crimes occur. There are a number of things that foreigners come to NZ for, and I would think chief among their list are the following - but maybe NZ is simply burning its bridges:

1. Natural settings - the mountain vistas, the wildlife, the trails - Sadly there are too few trails to walk along, or roads to access remote regions. There is a lack of public toilets.

2. Cultural settings - English gardens, cafes - lovely and reasonably priced, often free gardens. I wish more cafes had free wifi. Shopping malls food courts are pretty dirty since no one cleans the tables, or the spilt drinks, etc.

3. Small towns, low population - They are still pleasant - just avoid the drunken youths around and in the bars. I never see gang members in NZ, except whizzing past on their Harley's.

4. Friendly people - they are friendly and related, just avoid the drunken louts at night and on the road, or when your illegally camping in some campervan by the beach.

5. Low cost - Less so with the increase in the GST, but aided by new low-cost flights from Asia with Air Asia X.

The cruelty is a low note to end on, so let me take it a little lower. NZ has a pretty bad crime rate. Most news seems to be punctuated by animal stories - whether its a seal being clubbed or sighted, or the murder of someone working home...usually from a pub. Other than that the news is about Australia and politicians. Little surprise 40,000 New Zealanders are escaping to Australia each year. It makes you wonder - is NZ's problem perceptions or the people. I hope you stay long enough to find out because it is a beautiful country.

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

Cheap living and avoiding tax in NZ

Share |

The NZ tax system greatly relies on indirect taxes. There are a number of things you can do in order to reduce costs:

1. Buy your clothes overseas - particularly if you are an expat who spends casual time in NZ

2. Grow your own fruit and vegetables and trade the balance with neighbours. NZ has good rainfall and soils, so its very easy to grow food and flowers. You can also save money by composting the household vegetable matter for your garden fertiliser.

3. Catch your own fish, shoot your own deer, pig or rabbit. You need a licence and the approval of landowners, but it makes more sense than paying $25-40/kg for fish in the store.

4. Ride a bike rather than drive a car. NZ petrol taxes are very high at 58c a litre. Fortunately you don't really need to use a car very often, there is nothing to do in most towns. A car makes sense in NZ though because of unreliable weather. It rains a lot.

5. Retain your offshore passive income - as an immigrant for 4 years before you have to pay tax on it. This is a particularly lucrative strategy if the NZ dollar is weak against your home currency.

6. Insulate your body, not the home: Where warm clothes rather than pay high gas and electricity prices space heating homes with poor insulation. Better to just wear a very warm jacket. NZ has the highest energy prices in the world. It is a particular sham considering it has the lowest generating cost for electricity in the world. Failing that consider using an open fire as the wood is cheaper than paying $1/day for gas connection, on top of the $1/day you already pay for electricity, whether you are living there or on holidays, 1 person or 10. This is clearly an incentive to share your home.

7. Buy most products online from TradeMe, online specialist stores in NZ or abroad; whether second hand or new. Local stores have limited range and there is a lack of competition.

8. Buy an existing house rather than building: Old houses in NZ are far cheaper to buy than building a new one. Labour is overpriced and the industry is over-regulated, and unfair pricing terms for house builders and renovators means you will pay too much for materials. Its a scam that results in builders pocketing a profit on building materials through the major warehouse chains, and you subsidising their 3-day working week lifestyle.

9. Online entertainment makes more sense than buying your music and movies from a store. The same can be said for reading materials.

10. Outside activities can be expensive, but this need not be the case. Anything which you can do in a social setting is preferred. My philosophy group costs me just $2/week, Toastmasters $70/year, tennis $70 per 6 months. Fishing is $100 for a year licence I think, and walking in the local gardens and at the beach is free.

It is apparent that the same path to tax reduction is the same path to reducing your carbon footprint. Should you be concerned about either? Only if you are grasping for money or air. But some people take pride in their ability to survive independently. The reality however is that labour specialisation is not a 'sin', but rather a very productive and meaningful way for people to relate to each other. Trade is based on the mutual respect of each others contribution. i.e. Value for value. Compare that with the grudging annual tradition of exchanging unwanted Xmas presents, or the passing off of presents you don't want, or the resentment felt by some having to race through crowded shops to please indifferent souls. Is it all worth it? No. Just do what is natural and you will be far happier. An economy structured on the basis of some arbitrary government policy is destined to make you unhappy.

Check out how much tax New Zealanders pay on petrol - 58c in the litre - that's about one-third of the final retail cost.

None of these suggestions is going to greatly contribute to the NZ economy. I would however argue that any (and every) country that considers you a slave to the interests of those who need you, ought to treat you with more respect. The unconditional extortion of wealth from those who possess it is surely the reason why social values are in their current state. Such is the nature of altruism. Unconditional value judgements = non-accountability.

NZ Property Guide Philippine Real Estate Guide Japan Foreclosed Guide

Author Andrew Sheldon| Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com

Liberals would make Hitler proud

Share |

Wanganui NZ is the host to the United Nations 'Peace with Justice' conference. Basically the conference is stacked with politicians, liberals, bureaucrats and the like....all people detached from reality by virtue of other people' money, whether its a rich grandfather, government salary, a non-representative political system, or simply another form of default, whether a history of family abuse or self-loathing. Why do I say that? Well this is the basis upon which these people exist. Their scheme on this occasion is 'Peace with Justice'. Their stated purpose is:

"A world without weapons of mass destruction and with climate change solutions that put people at it’s centre".

The problem with this cause is that they will not achieve their goal. Why? It is not a reasonable objective; its based on false premises; and these are precisely the type of people who will achieve nothing. They are not the solution, they are the problem.

Let's explore some of their issues. Nuclear weapons have contributed more than anything in the current world to the protection of people. Why? Nuclear weapons protects potential victims. People are potential victims of collectivism; that is any philosophy which subjugates facts to perceptions, or any 'majority' who professes to represent the majority. It is no coincidence that organisations like this are alligned with socialists, animal liberationists, welfare advocates, climate change doomsdayers. They have a common scheme - humanity is evil, he has to be restrained from his selfish ways, and the common good involves ....the pursuit of peace, climatic steady-state and justice. Sounds good...but the devil is in the detail.

The problem is that peace is not the standard of value, life is; as well as any measure which protects it. In such issues the basic unit of consideration is the individual, thus such groups ought to be seeking to enshrine individual rights. On this issue the UN is ambivalent because whilst the various UN Declarations and other conventions attempt to protect individual rights, they do so with dubious vigour. These were the noble objectives of the UN in the post-WWII period. Today the values of the organisation are clouded by collectivist philosophy which has seen Keynesian style policies. i.e. Governments running a sequences of credit-financed boom & busts, whilst underfunding regulation of CEOs, etc who bring the market into disrepute. This was of course the intention - to discredit markets, the selfishness of market participants, when it was all orchestrated by governments to keep them in power. The focus of the UN on justice, peace and global warming is a side-show to deliver collectivist - the basic form of socialism. By no means is socialism dead. In every generation it is reinvented. This generation is disparaging global warming and animal rights.

Interestingly, I have never heard an animal rights advocate show any concern for farmers who raise animals. Their interests are 'collateral damage', as they seek to use their political influence over the uninformed, uncritical thinking electorate to extort political concessions from government. Hardly a cause likely to deliver peace, but was that ever their objective. How can you have peace without a discussion of values. Why the focus on peace. If they are seriously interested in peace, they ought to be focused on solving problems, i.e. conflict resolution. In that respect, they do not have the capacity because they are the problem. They lack the values, the cognitive (critical thinking) capabilities and objective to deliver. Instead they, along with liberals in the media and government-sponsored academics are inducing a sense of guilt, social obligation and peer group pressure which is actually pushing us towards collectivism. They are so concrete-bound they know not what they do.

On my global warming blog you can read about the misinformation about global warming. The reason that no politicians are pushing emissions trading anymore because they are awakening to the fact that its a huge scam perpetrated by academics with no respect for objectivity. On my politics blog you can likewise learn why governments are not the solution but the problem, and why such non-government organisations (NGOs) like UNANZ are simply an extension of the same con job. Finally you can more about how society is being conned into recognition of rights for animals, with a greater zeal than Adolf Hitler. Why do you think Hitler wanted to elevate the rights of animals. Do you think it was love of animals or loathing of humanity? Such is the sense of life of these pithy liberals who are not going to deliver freedom, they are going to give greater powers to government to take it away, whether to protect animals (i.e. more regulation), protect the environment (i.e. more regulation) or peace (more rights). The problem is not that they want to protect these things, the problem is they want to protect people with arbitrary rights which will only destroy your prospects of achieving rights.

Most people will fail to grasp the intelligence of this article.... a testimony to your lack of conceptual integration. Read on....these is plenty more explanation. Rome was not built in a day. The thing to remember is that any arbitrary defined right is not a protection, its an obligation or a noose around your head. Grasp that and you will grasp your political legacy and future. When your right to education or whatever constitutes a claim on other people, it is apparent the whole concept of rights has been soiled. Government is a middleman who needs to justify its existence. It does not want to solve problems, it exists by burying you in them. Just like a stockbroker wants to buy & sell stock for you, the government corners both sides of the market, by creating the problem, and creating the perception of being a solution....have you ever seen that happen by the hand of government. Complex problem? Certainly, they have the majority fooled.

Activities in NZ

Share |

There are a lot of things to do in New Zealand. The question is really what suits your taste. Whether you are living here or staying for a short term holiday, NZ is a leader when it comes to activities. Some activities cost more than others, though you might like to consider the following:

1. Whitewater canoeing or kayaking - NZ has some beautiful natural waterways. The problem for most people will be the lack of variety in terms of experience. Most rivers are suitable for only advanced canoeists or rafting. I favour using an inflatable canoe because you can put it in the back of your van, so there is no security issues. You might need two vehicles unless you have a shuttle driver arranged.
2. Trout or ocean fishing - Fishing is popular in NZ. I've seen a lot of trout in the rivers, so there are plenty of opportunities. You are required to obtain a fishing license to fish in NZ.
3. Bush walking - I can't say that NZ has many walking trails, but where they do exist, they often offer spectacular views.
4. Garden viewing - Some people like gardens, and NZ has a lot of them. Of course English settlers had to bring a piece of England with them, so they can be found all over the country. See the following website.
5. Horse riding or trekking - Horse riding is a great way to see a country. If you are so inclined there is a website dedicated to this activity. The horse riding on the South Island is more expensive. Prices tend to reflect the value of scenery rather than the facilities, service or cost of service.
6. Rafting: There are various rafting companies around NZ. I have rafted several times in Australia, and I must say that canoeing is more fun because you have more control of the boat. Rafting is like using bumper cars, bouncing from one rock to the next. It does not require personal skill, and the social experiencing is more limiting as you soon tire of people cheering every rapid. It suits those who don't have the equipment or the experience, though rafting can involve more difficult rivers in order to give the exhilaration people desire. Rafting costs $100-200.
7. Mountain biking: The large tracts of forested land in NZ are great for mountain biking if you can get access.
8. Campervanning might not be considered a recreational activity, afterall its driving and sleeping. It does however offer the benefit of being able to stay anywhere (within the law & safety constraints), as well as the opportunity to save on hotel costs if you are travelling.

If you are prepared to spend more money consider the following:
1. Hot air ballooning: This will cost $300-600 per person, though its a once in a lifetime activity. Some people even get married this way. You can do it on the North Island, though I suggest if you are going to do this in NZ, best to do it on the South Island around the glaciers/Queenstown area, or the Canterbury Plains. Make sure you see a route map so you can see the area you will be crossing.
2. Heli-skiing: There is helicopter rides, but there is also the opportunity to combine a helicopter trip and ski trekking. Clearly the idea of two experiences for the price of one is appealing for those with adequate skiing experience.
3. Helicopter rides: For those out of season or not skilled in skiing, you can simply ride a helicopter for around $300-500. The flight time is around 30-60 minutes.

Other options for the adventurous are caving, canyoning, bungy jumping, sskiing, nowboarding, boating and sailing. I don't consider boating much of an adventure unless you spend your days cruising around Fiordland in a motor boat or a sea kayak. I have no interest in 5 seconds of exhilaration from bungy jumping.