pikihia

Auckland’s dismal rail service continues.  As of 13 July Auckland Rail says they are introducing more trains, more often.  Well for me catching a train from Ellerslie station everyday there are no extra services at peak hour and the times are even less convenient at peak hour to and from work. 

Not sure where the statement “more trains more often” comes from - does this mean that service reliability will improve too?  Currently the southern line which I take everyday has just over a 80% statistic for being on time!  Yes, that means at least once a week both to and from work I can expect the trains I catch to be late (or even worse cancelled!). 

You can check out the delays and increase in costs for the ARTA projects and also the reliability of the Auckland Rail Service in the ARTA monthly business reports.  Will Auckland ever get a reliable and efficient rail service?

For me, a Tui billboard I made up sums it up nicely!!

written by Hardman \\ tags: ARTA, Auckland Transport, Rail, Trains

Andy and his 2 mates (that he only meet when he arrived to start the race) finished 3rd in the rickshaw run. Check out the Dosa boys website for details of the adventure. As Andy said on his blog after they finished;

“We came in third, with 3219km on the clock, 7 spark plugs burnt out, one full service, a total of 200 rupees paid in bribes and 70 rupees in tolls and the Germans were nowhere to be seen.

The race had everything from breakdowns to bustups, crashes diharheoa (how DO you spell that!?!), sleeping on floors, FUNNY roads, cows, goats and at one point even death.”

Will have to get the real lowdown when he gets back to TVNZ for work. Anyone keen to meet up for a convoy attempt next year??

Maybe I should start importing the 3 wheel beasts into NZ - check out the bajaj website for the 2 and 4 stroke models.

For all people in the UK I challenge you to enter Adventure No 7 from THE INSTITUTE OF ADVENTURE RESEARCH  

written by Hardman

Well back from our Xmas on Great Barrier Island.  Highly recommend anyone who has not been to go.  Didn’t last long enough to fit in all I wanted to do but was extremely beautiful.  Check out the DOC website for info on Great Barrier if you intend going, for one, it has a great map of the island.

The trip over took four & half hours as we decided to take the car and John’s (Amanda’s dad) little boat over so ended up on the car ferry .  Well worth the expense as we had transport on and off the water.  Many a morning was spent fishing and a bit of snorkelling also.  Managed to catch lots of snapper and a few other species (trevally, etc) and ended up eating fish everyday.  Managed to fit in one dive with Aaron and ended up with a bounty of scallops which were devoured by all.  We set the cray pots a couple of times but alas the bloody eels keep eating the bait so missed out there and ran out of time for another dive to go catch some. see the photos here… (more to come later)

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written by Hardman

2 weeks, 3 wheels, 2000 miles and more adventure than you could shake curry at!…The Rickshaw Run for the first time ever….

Feel like a bit of adventure… someone came up with the concept of racing a rickshaw across India for over 2000 miles to raise funds for the Mercy Corps.  Sounds like a bit of a blast. 

As their website states “What better way to enjoy the Christmas holidays than two weeks of mountains, mud tracks, tropical heat, gin & tonics, cricket and that most noble of vehicular genius, the three wheeled motorised rickshaw.”

I guy I know at work (TVNZ) is doing it with another 2 guys he has never meet.  You can check out their progress and planning on their “The Dosa Boys” blog and make a donation if you want.

The race starts in Cochin (Kerala) on the 27th of December!!

written by Hardman

AA are running a competition to find the No 1 must do for Kiwis at home.  Have a look and vote for your favourite.  It is good to see what there is to do in this country too….

101 Must Dos for Kiwis

e.g check out this one near Gizzie….

written by Hardman

Well the week is over and back at work - boo hoo!  Had a great week down in Wanaka/Queenstown getting 4 out of 6 days on the slops boarding.  The snow wasn’t great but was good enough for us and the scenery amazing. Check out the photos.

We spent the other 2 days sightseeing in Wanaka, Queenstown with trips to Glenorchy and Arrowtown and a few luge rides and a trip to Puzzle World.  Amanda had her Birthday in Wanaka so dined at Relishes before watching the rugby at the Speight’s Ale House.

Dick and Erica came down from Christchurch for the weekend and cool to catch up with them after such a long time.

All in all, a great week off with my snowboarding not improving.  I have come to the conclusion I need a season in Canada to improve, so working on Amanda to give the green light. The light is sitting in amber at the moment which is better than red!!

written by Hardman

See the latest photos from Bruce and Saskia’s wedding and our trip in South Africa.

 

My most favourite animal!! and the fastest…..  

written by Hardman

Hi All

So far great trip in South Africa, expensive place though.  Finally at my first internet cafe that has semi realistic prices (less than 10NZD/hour and faster than 55.6Kbps speed), will update when home on the 28th April sometime soon afterwards with news, stories and photos.  In Cape town today, it’s raining so hoping for a few fine days to climb table mountain as can’t even see it today!

Craig & Amanda

written by Hardman