Stunning Coromandel Loop just outside Auckland

The worst of winter seems to have passed and the Auckland skies are clearer for longer patches now, which is great news for me, a fair weather biker. On Saturday I went for ride through the beautiful Waitakeres with my wife and on Monday I managed to get out on my bike for an amazing run to the Coromandel Peninsula Loop which I must confess is aboslutley overwhelming in its beauty. Having scoured the internet for great motorcycle rides, I have seen very little to rival what I experienced.

Here's my biker blog on the recent biking events in and around Auckland which, if you take the time to read, I hope will convey a sense of the beauty that is so close by to enjoy in and around Auckland and the North and South Islands . Of course there are equally bicycle rides, hiking (or as kiwi's say "tramping") trails and other great outdoor pursuit opportunities but my passion is motorcycles so this is just my angle.

On a map New Zealand is a small geographical place on the globe but there remains a sense of vastness and granduer that I imagine is becoming harder to find these days and even more difficult to access and enjoy in relative safety. 

New Zealand ranks for solo travellers

New Zealand ranks for Solo Travellers according to this news article...

Editors at Travel + Leisure magazine have given New Zealand the title of best country for solo, independent travellers.

The magazine says it's where adventure seekers can trek glaciers and rainforests, bungee jump and jet boat and meet some of the "friendliest and most open-minded people in the world."

While a country's safety and security may be easy to evaluate, editors say they wanted to consider other factors that are important to solo travellers.

For instance, "…is the country you've chosen a happy place?"

"Is it a country where you'll be made to feel welcome, a nation where you can easily interact with the locals, where conversation flows easily even if you're struggling with a new language? For truly rewarding solo travel, it's crucial that you can connect with the culture and not feel like an outsider."

For that, editors say they consulted the Happy Planet Index which looks at environmental impact and human well-being in 151 countries.

For safety, editors consulted the Global Peace Index.

Top 10 countries for solo travellers according to Travel + Leisure

1. New Zealand
2. Norway
3. Switzerland
4. Costa Rica
5. Austria
6. Vietnam
7. Chile
8. Tie: Japan and Sweden
9. Indonesia
10. Germany

Queenstown- worth the trip!

Many travel and expat forums will tell the entrepid traveller that if they visit only one place in New Zealand, make sure it's Queenstown.  

There is so much material on the internet - tourism,  activity marketing and personal travel stories - that it would be like throwing a match on a bonfire to make an inadequate attempt to add to the mass of excellent material available. There are also so many pictures of the unbelievably endless majestic beauty that surrounds the whole area and which will simply engulf any visitor. 

What I can say is that from personal experience,  it is an absolute "must do" on anyone's travel agenda -  for both tourists and kiwis alike.  It has a magical air and at once conjures up a sense of being in the company of the great travel destinations such as Zurich,  Vancouver or the Alps but likewise a surreal sense of being on an epic movie set. 


I am here at the end of winter and the snow still blankets the ski fields and,  while I love the experience of snow, soft drizzle and misty mountains, my senses are attuned to imagine this beauty in dryer weather that can be enjoyed and consumed on my motorbike with my wife and other close riding buddies. The roads snaking through mountains and valleys beside rivers and lakes seems a dream for any biker and I'm planning to make this the pinnacle point of a South Island trip which is fast becoming more exciting to me than most other holiday options. Apart from the surrounding scenic options,  Queenstown city itself is pretty with all the quaint picturesque options that make this a premier holiday spot. 

Many kiwis say  Queenstown is too expensive and has become a playground only the wealthy can afford and would sooner head off from Auckland International Airport to  the Gold Coast in Australia,  Thailand,  Fiji or one of the many other foreign destinations available through travel packages offered so cheaply. I'm guessing that with so many foreigners flooding Queenstown the locals don't mind that kiwis feel that way. 

We've had $10 all day breakfast special offers with $2.50 coffee in Arrowtown and a $15 all day steak special in central Queenstown.  Yes, every adventure activity is pretty costly but then I'm easy to please.  I'm quite happy driving around and admiring the scenes and sites. Call me old but I just don't need my thrills arranged for me as I would being a foreign visitor.  I get my adrenalin fix from opening the throttle on my Hayabusa - and it's why I can't wait to be here on my "baby" combining my passion for riding and soaking in the most amazing scenery on offer which arguably would rank as some of the finest rugged,  unspoilt available anywhere today. 

Immigration Issues in NZ Elections 2014

An interesting NZ Herald story of Chinese candidates telling Chinese migrants told to vote if they consider NZ home . It notes that many of the 200,000 Chinese migrants from Communist China do not necessarily understand the democratic process and therefore may not prioritise voting or recognise it's relevance and importance.

As a migrant myself I found it quirky that along with Citizens, Residents can also vote, as per this INZ website advising who can vote . Given that Immigration Policy is such an emotive and often explosive topic, it still seems strange to me that Residents can have a say in a governement whose policy may be directed to affect them before they become citizens as in NZ First Winston Peter's stance on Immigration. It seems somewhat counter-intuitive to me but perhaps it is common in other countries.

As with any Immigration political policy debate, New Zealand has some rather specific topical areas of national interest around very current and recent issues. There have been recent enquiries into the extent of politician involvement in the immigration process of certain influental migrants Kim Dotcom MegaUpload Immigration and there are issues of housing prices skyrocketing, particularly in Auckland as noted in this article Immigrant effect on land prices and then there is the ongoing debate on foreign ownership of strategic or farming landsand whether NZ is too lenient with foreign ownership?

All this to say that Immigration policy is designed with Citizens in mind and migrants, while made to feel as welcome as possible, really are a part of the process only to the extent that it serves the interests of the host country. Of course, most immigrants to New Zealand have every intention of a long term settlement vision so in a strange way the "national" interest they may feel somewhat removed from now really is the one that will hopefully protect their status as future citizens for them and their families.

Interesting NZ Migration updates from OECD report

I was at a seminar hosted by Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand recently about the NZ economic outlook and a speaker used some interesting migrant statistics from recent OECD reports to support some of his assumptions on the economy, so I did some reading here at OECD info on NZ Migration and see some positive facts, such as "Relative to its population, NZ has the largest temporary labour migration flows in the OECD, which provides the feeder for permanent migration.."  

In fact this is the opening comment on the web page says "The report finds that by and large, the New Zealand labour migration system is functioning well. Several features of the NZ immigration system, such as the Expression of Interest system, are gradually about to become an example for selection systems elsewhere in the OECD. This also holds true for the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme, which provides a good example of a managed seasonal labour scheme. A further innovative feature is NZ’s elaborate system of labour-market tests and exemptions, which aims at limiting negative impact on the domestic workforce while at the same time responding to employer needs.."    

So I suppose articles reporting the growth in net migrant inflows, such as this one highest gain in 10 years from earlier in the year, are not surprising, along with this website post from Immigration NZ Skilled Migrant Workers Still Needed. 

As a Licensed Immigration Adviser I'm hoping to help prospective migrants into New Zealand to benefit both them, and this wonderful place I have called home since 2003. This is not just a dream, but a reality for many who long to start a new life in a country that has great employment prospects relative to many countries of origin. 

According to an  IAA survey  conducted by the Immigration Adviser Authority, "Almost 90 per cent of migrants surveyed said they would recommend their licensed immigration adviser to family and friends, results of an independent survey show".

Auckland autumn

The orange leaves shout that it's autumn in Auckland but I am on one of Auckland and New Zealand's many golf courses and the late afternoon is still. I return home after the game and jump on my motorbike with my wife on hers and we meet friends and all ride through to Ponsonby "international" food court for one of the numerous inexpensive Asian dishes on offer. 

After dinner we ride from the vibrant night life of Ponsonby in a convoy of four motorbikes through the pretty suburbs of Auckland into the upmarket beach suburb of Mission Bay where we have Danish ice cream and coffee before heading home along the waterfront road to the Harbour bridge that leads us back to the North Shore of Auckland where our little Saturday night jaunt began.

Every weekend for weeks now we have gotten out on our bikes because "pretty soon now the weather will change".  And every week we are blessed with yet another weekend of stunning weather.

Well,  the rain will set in and newcomers and visitors will swear that Auckland is a wet city.  And they will be correct,  it is indeed.  But life goes on,  including outdoor activities.  And in the midst of winter I have no doubt we will wake up to moments of clear, crisp skies and text our fellow bikers to meet for a spontaneous rides and golf games.  And then one day the clouds will part and more glorious sunny days will be beckoning us bikers to rediscover the breathtaking scenic routes that are Auckland in all her splendour.

NZ ranks 5th on Index of Economic Freedom

http://www.heritage.org/index/country/newzealand

This is a great result on an impartial ranking scoreboard that bodes well for investors and working class immigrants alike who have chosen, or are considering, making New Zealand home. Having lived in NZ now for 10 years it is easy to become used to many of these facets of economic life as routine so this ranking is a good reminder that these criteria are not enjoyed equally across the globe. An important aspect of society in NZ is, of course, welcoming new migrants into this environment which may be vastly different from their country of origin. One would assume that it is these very differences that will have attracted them to choose NZ as their migration destination and that they will arrive respecting and valuing same. It is good to feel that there is a sense of rule of law and that society would be intolerant of certain economic and business behaviours. This allows people to get on with their goal of being productive and reaping the benefits of their labour without having to second guess the outcome.

"New Zealand’s economic freedom score is 81.2, making its economy the 5th freest in the 2014 Index. New Zealand was first graded in the 1996 Index, and its economic freedom score has advanced since then by over 3 points. Improvements in seven of the 10 economic freedoms, including business freedom, investment freedom, trade freedom, and fiscal freedom, have enabled New Zealand to move from “mostly free” almost 20 years ago to “free” today. Since 2007, New Zealand has been rated one of the world’s five freest economies.New Zealand’s modern and competitive economy benefits from a strong commitment to open-market policies that facilitate engagement in global commerce. Transparent and efficient regulations are applied evenly in most cases, encouraging dynamic private-sector entrepreneurial activity. Buttressed by a strong tradition of minimum tolerance for corruption, New Zealand’s vigorous defense of effective rule of law sustains the foundations of economic freedom and contributes to the high level of lasting prosperity."