Another Reason Why Moving to NZ was a Great Idea!!

New Zealand has been named the World's Most Peaceful Nation for 2009, according to reports in today's international newspapers.

The South Pacific nation of four million people and 40 million sheep has knocked Iceland off its perch after violent demonstrations followed the collapse of Reykjavik's banking system.

The Global Peace Index, a report prepared for the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranks 144 countries in a league table of peacefulness.

The index defines peace as "the absence of violence".

Twenty-three criteria on which the league table is compiled include political stability, risk of terrorism, murder rate, likelihood of violent demonstrations, respect for human rights, internal conflicts, arms imports and involvement in foreign wars.

Read the whole story HERE. And yeah - we made a GREAT choice moving to Aotearoa!! By comparison, the UK is 35th, the USA is 83rd and South Africa comes in at 123, just ahead of Myanmar (126). Down at the bottom are Zimbabwe (134), Afghanistan (143) and Iraq (144).

Snow!!!

The last few days have been beautiful, weather-wise. It's been cool, but not cold; the winds fresh and chilly even, but invigorating. Today I came out of work and walked home (my new commitment to keeping the weight off ...) and it was definitely colder than it's been in a while.

An hour later, I glanced out of the lounge window and spotted this:




... the first snows of winter dusting the tops of the Rimataku Mountains on the far side of the bay!!! A quick check on Accuweather told us that the temp was around 6C with a real feel (ie including the wind chill factor) of minus 4!! We also learned later that the roads over there got closed due to heavy snowfalls .. from Kilbirnie, we can just seeing the outer edges of the snow falls. The road between Upper Hutt and the Wairarapa (Highway 2) was closed for several hours in the middle of the day - this is what it looked like when it opened again:

Maybe this weekend we'll take a short trip ... :-)

Sunday in Welly

It's a ho hum kinda day ....

Then ... and now

When we moved in here in early March, it was still glorious summer ... blue skies, calm waters ...



Now it's late May and the winter weather is setting in ... and I LOVE it!!



Autumn leaves just below my bedroom window ... although today I can't even see the bay, as the rain and mist are as dense as can be.




And looking out of Livi's window, this is what we see ...




This anchor was blown up against the breakwater after a night of gale force winds .. no idea where the boat ended up!




If you look carefully at the next picture, you'll see a gull just above the surf line, struggling to fly forward and utterly failing .. the poor thing just hung there in the air for minutes on end, going nowhere as fast as it could ...




The last picture was taken while clinging to a pole, looking towards the sun and into the teeth of a gale! When I got home after this mid-morning walk, my face felt as if it had been flattened out by the wind ...

Winter in Welly - wonderful!!

How To Get Rich Quick in New Zealand.

It's dead easy. Simply open a bank account, apply for an overdraft with WESTPAC for $10,000.00, then sit back and wait for the money to come rolling in! Before you know it, you'll have millions at your disposal!!

Read the story of the ACCIDENTAL MILLIONAIRE

Of course, once this happens you'll have the minor problem of actually getting away with the money, but hey ... you only live once. .... so why not take the money and run? It'll only cost you seven years in jail if they ever catch you!

All About Sebastian

Long ago, I promised myself that I'd never turn into one of those people who bore others to death with endless pics of their pets ...

Sebastian at home.

I mean, cats are all basically alike, aren't they? Paws, claws, a tail and fur, lots of it ... and let's not even talk about the dogs who get treated like children and dressed up in little coats and taken places to play with other doggies ...

*Shudder*

Which is why I am not going to rave on about how darn cute Sebastian is, or how sharp his little teeth are, or how funny he is when he ambushes my feet from under the bed.....





... no, I won't tell you about any of those things ... instead, I'll show you a pic or two or three and let him speak for himself .... about his little bathwater fetish ....

Bet you thought he was going to fall in, didn't you? No way! This is a smart cat, dudes!!


This guy in the US made a brilliant rap video about his cat, who is the SPITTIN' IMAGE of our lil' Bastie ... in looks and behaviour. Joking aside, it's very clever, very funny, very cute and very musical too ... hope you enjoy!!

TradeMe ... Ta Da!!!

I've mentioned TradeMe before - it's the brilliant Kiwi equivalent of eBay - only local and very easy to use, for buyers and sellers. So far, I've bought four things and every trade has been smooth, simple and has given me great value for money!

I found a Robert Heinlein book that I've wanted to own for years and years .. The Number of The Beast - bought it for $3.50 from someone up in Auckland, who posted it to me.

Bought a cool white bookshelf for $30.00 (pictured in previous post and now filled with all my treasured books from SA). It was delivered to me by the seller for $10.00 more ... her boyfriend carried it all the way up our 44 steps to the front door, then up another dozen or so to put it in my room! Service with a smile!

Then we needed a second laptop - and I won the auction for a two-year old Toshiba Satelitte Pro M40, outbidding a few other contenders and still scoring a bargain - about a third of the price of a brand new one in the Toshiba range.

Finally, my grandest bargain yet: I've been wanting a desk. Didn't want a heavy, clunky wooden desk - I wanted a smart, funky, functional desk that would look good and be practical. I saw some great ones in various stores - glass tops for over $350.00, steel and laminate for over $200.00 and lots of interesting ones on Trademe. Then I found one that looked almost perfect: I bid on it and won it for ... $5.50!! Some new SA friends helped me collect it and here it is, with laptop in place:



Now all I need is a chair!! :-)