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Life in NZ got much worse during Jacinda's time in power, partly due to the poor decision to extend the lock-down to 2 years; our economy never recovered from that. Gross overspending and wastage, and money disappearing offshore also occurred during her time in power. But some factors, such as Australia deporting NZ criminals back home and NZ's rising meth use would have happened either way, and automation and AI taking jobs is happening regardless of who is in power.

I recommend trying out a motorhome rental (which you can drive on your car license) and staying in holiday parks. Hotels and motels in New Zealand are not that safe either because the government was housing welfare beneficiaries in motels and sometimes they use drugs and trash the place. A motel employee told me these types steal everything from the kettle, microwave and toaster to the sofas, towels and bedding. I'd rather be in an RV in a holiday park than staying in a motel room next to those types of people.

Auckland has gotten much worse and now Aucklanders keep moving to the South Island where crime and immigration were always lower. South Islanders hate Aucklanders moving here. The mainlanders (South Islanders) get riled up about Aucklanders driving up house prices.

😂 But seriously though, with meth usage doubling and Australia deporting NZ criminals and gang members back here, the freedom camps and parks are not the safe places that I played in as a small child in the 1980s.

😊 Americans say "pick-up truck", but in NZ and Australia we think of a "truck" as a heavy vehicle, so we say "ute". Ute is short for "utility vehicle." Aussie and Kiwi men are obsessed with utes because you can use them for everything.

I think that's more in the US that people get a lot of giveaways, and there's a requirement that they have to disclose it at the start of the video, but whether they are honest and disclose it is another matter 😂 I'm finding no quality difference between the cheap no-name brands I've bought and the well known ones, like EcoFlow. The EcoFlow foldable solar panel is deteriorating and only gives me low watts now, because the wiring starts to deteriorate due to folding. I won't be buying an EcoFlow foldable panel again.

Merry Christmas ❤️

Sorry, your comment got blocked so I didn't see it. I think it is the word r_pe that causes TH-cam to automatically block comments. I agree that our healthcare system is awful, and it's a shame because we pay so much tax and get so little back in terms of healthcare and funding for schools for the next generation of taxpayers. I felt so bad for the sick German guy who went to hospital in Christchurch and then got robbed and beaten up after they turned him away, because he wouldn't have known that our hospitals won't see a person who is just feeling sick (you have to be dying). I haven't seen a doctor in 10 years because I do the usual NZ thing where if I get sick I go to sleep and just hope I recover. The cost of living has gotten so high in NZ that people are stressed, and when a population is stressed, they all turn on one another. Everyone blames everyone else. The young blame the Boomers for their poverty, Maori blame whites, South Islanders blame Aucklanders, Kiwis blame migrants, trans people blame straight people. I believe the solution to all our problems is to return to an Amish-style lifestyle where communities work together and barter for goods without exchanging money so we stop funding the frivolous lifestyles of politicians and overpaid govt managers.

Which region? Gangs generate their revenue mostly by selling drugs to people (often hooking them when they're still teens), and then the drug addicts break into cars and houses to steal to fund their habit, so it's more the druggies that commit crime against people in my experience. The gang members themselves don't typically attack members of the public much from what I've seen because that would bring unwanted police attention, so the gangs mostly attack each other, and they'll attack a druggie who hasn't paid their debt. When I lived in the Hutt Valley, a guy was murdered for not paying up. As long as you never buy or use drugs, I find there is no reason to cross paths with gangs, but indirectly, they're responsible for a lot of NZ's crime because they sell to addicts who commit crime.

@@caravanlifenz Nelson

Nelson isn't bad 🥰 When I lived in the Hutt Valley, the gangs caused all sorts of trouble for the locals and for the police. Auckland has been bad for years. Christchurch used to be considered safe when I was a child, but the recent meth-fuelled murder of the dog walker has woken Christchurch up to the fact that it's no long the safe city it was a few decades ago. The government's $9 million boost on crime prevention and ram raid prevention last year was a good move; it helped to install bollards in front of many shops.

NZ has amazing scenery the best sunsets I've ever seen. Everyone should visit NZ at least once in their lives. If you go back to Queenstown, there is a new holiday park called Driftaway Queenstown that has great views of the sunsets. The tourist holiday parks are normally safe - the problems only arise when there are long-term welfare beneficiaries living in the holiday parks.

@@caravanlifenz Thanks, will do.

Thanks so much, Alan 🥰 With so many people applying these days, people really have to get their CVs sent to employers at least a month in advance. It's crazy how difficult it is to find summer work these days. And the working holiday visa isn't cheap for the young backpackers.

Cute, isn't it?

It's good to have the option of cheap pods to stay in for your first night, but I wouldn't want to stay more than one night 😴

He only tried to divert in the last few seconds, so it was pretty much a head on impact. The passengers probably weren't even aware there was a problem. Fortunately, no kids were on that flight.

It's so beautiful there and people enjoy swimming around the floating platforms ❤️

Because there was only one other camper staying the night, you can actually stretch out and take up some space. I parked my 6.9m caravan across about three of those parking spaces. The area is exposed to the wind and cold sea air, so not many people want to sleep there.

@@caravanlifenzok. You would need to pick the right day depending on the weather, very exposed in an easterly wind.

That's right. And with it being only about 28 km from the NZMCA Kaikoura, I'd probably just stay there rather than at the freedom camp next time. But it's great to stopover and visit those lazy seals.

😂 You're a man of good taste. The European tourists on either side of me were so well behaved, but we were so squashed in it felt socially awkward 😂 Most of the NZMCA gang were at the racecourse.

Obviously, most New Zealanders already do that by buying cabbage, eggs, mushrooms and so forth that have either no packaging or just cardboard or paper. But it's not realistic to expect no rubbish. The Sunfed vegetarian meats I used to buy (before the company went bankrupt) are packed in plastic, so even when people choose vegetarian, they get stuck with plastic. People need medications that are packed in plastic. It's not fair on people to get judgemental about their lives and consumption when they often can't avoid plastic usage due to medical conditions. Feeling superior might be important to you, but I encourage you to also show empathy for those with different needs to us.

That's exactly what I was thinking; it seems as if they supplied that area as a token freedom camp to make the region look RV friendly, but only just. The park itself is beautiful, but it's plain dangerous for vans to be that close. When I stayed, there were three large motorhomes and my caravan, and all the little tourist vans squeezed in between us. You're lucky to live in such a stunning region. I love the beauty and humidity of Blenheim. I'd love to move to that area.

It's a great location for the NZMCA grounds because it's surrounded by parks. The local businesses seem pleased that the caravans are there, as it's more money for the supermarket and the cafes, which creates extra jobs. I did see a few rough welfare types, but they are only mildly rough compared to Auckland's rough people. I did wonder how the local holiday parks feel about the new NZMCA park though, as they will lose a lot of business, especially since the NZMCA park was packed every day, which means people are choosing it over holiday parks.

@@caravanlifenz I agree with your comments, but know a few locals don't appreciate the influx and the perceived drain on "their" resources - though that isn't entirely uncommon in small communities, is it? I can't see how local holiday parks would be supportive at all and many must be resentful of NZMCA parks, (or other competition) in general?

That's the trouble with tourism; there are winners and losers. The cafes, restaurants and supermarkets are the winners, but holiday parks and locals are the losers. I see the same on a national scale with tourism in general. Bars, restaurants and tourism adventure companies make money, but New Zealanders in general lose because our rent increases (in areas popular with tourists) and we get stuck paying for services such as the police/highway patrol, and road maintenance, plus the ACC claims when tourists hurt themselves.

@@caravanlifenz Insightful comments - striking a balance is incredibly difficult, even harder when the economy is in poor shape. Thanks for the videos, they're well presented and very informative.

I'd like to try folding in some passion fruit pulp to make the layers look prettier in the glass.

Isn't it a sweet town? Did you check out the little museum I mentioned in the library? The library employees and swimming pool employees are all friendly. There are a few bogans about, but they're what I call harmless bogans, not the nuisance ones that bother people on holiday.

@ yes it is and no I haven’t checked out the museum yet but I will. Can anyone use the showers at the pool?

The Kaiapoi pools offer a "shower only" price of $3.70 to use toilets and showers without the pool, but I paid the $7.40 per adult entry fee I mentioned, and did some laps and then showered and washed my hair. They've got a discount for seniors, which is $5.60 instead of the full adult price. You can buy a 10-trip pass too if you visit Kaiapoi regularly.

@ thanks so much. Your videos are very informative 🙏

Excellent points. Speaking of rip off prices, KiwiCamp Kaikoura charges $25 for a non-powered site and you have to pay $10 extra for power ($35 altogether), just for one person. They don't even have a dump station or drain to pour your shower water, so you have to pay another $3 for their shower. And that's in the off-season in spring. It was completely empty when I looked around as no one was mad enough to pay that. Arrowtown's prices suddenly don't seem so bad in comparison. Businesses in NZ complain that they don't get enough job applicants for minimum wage jobs when the cost of parking a camping van in a campsite is $38 per night. More than half the wages go on accommodation.

@@caravanlifenz I am very familiar with the South Island having been a Tour Driver for many years, and have seen things and heard things about how visitors are manipulated for maximum profits in ways you just would not believe. Most of the seasonal workers in Queenstown use to have accommodation supplied in every case, and in 1978 when I was a chef working for the old Tourist Hotel Corporation in their Queenstown Resort Hotel complex it was hard to get a job there because nobody left, the wages and conditions were very good. Now they cannot get staff simply because the wages are crap and the accommodation is just totally unaffordable. The same reasons that everyone is leaving and going to Australia, where the wages and conditions are unbelievable compared to here. And that is in all industries, not just Tourism. New Zealand is sitting on the edge of a massive implosion of ability to operate as a free market economy due to the greedy business owners and their pay or go away somewhere else policies. The growth of "franchises" and complaints being handled by the same industries operators organisations, are a joke. The MTA is one of the worst of them all, with any complaints of services being "investigated" by them and in fact all they try to do is talk you into agreeing with their "findings", but you never hear about that in the news simply because of all the money they give to the advertising industry for spending on promotion of their sales. What is needed is a totally independent Consumer Complaint Authority with the experience and power to act legally. At the present all you can do is make a complaint and there are no guarantees of any actions about it. However, even the grocery supply retailers are all owned by the same overseas based companies who stamp out any competition by controlling the setup of competition against them. The cost of living in New Zealand has become unaffordable to many people, and when people like Jabcinda promise to end poverty, you know full well that they have not go a clue about what they are saying, and doing. I find it obscene that there are more and more families living in cars and tents and the taxpayers tax is being wasted on massive costs for "Holiday Park" power site accommodation ( $280 per week for 1 person parked on a very small power site in Auckland plus shower/washing machine costs of $60 ) while the big business owners get away with ripoff charges and paying no tax. The only exception to this is the West Coast of the South Island, where big signs welcome freedom campers, and the smaller local supermarkets have amazingly low food purchase costs. And the "Holiday Parks" are still real Holiday Parks. No wonder the West Coast is the most popular destination in New Zealand, and has become very popular for those who cannot move to Australia, so are moving there instead.

New Zealand was left in very poor shape after Jacinda Ardern was in charge. I originally voted for her, but I should have taken note of her lack of leadership experience and the fact she has no background or qualifications in economics or finance. I don't have any faith NZ will be able to recover, and it's debatable whether there will be any government funds left by the time I retire. Some analysts speculate that with all the young leaving now, there will be no one left to pay taxes and have kids, so the odds that my generation will get a retirement pension are increasingly declining. I feel bad for immigrants who get tricked into moving here, but of course, they just move to Australia once they get their citizenship anyway, so they're just playing the game. I've heard the West Coast is very off-grid friendly and they're hoping to attract more young people and families, so they're sympathetic to the fact young people often live in RVs now. They're more realistic. My concern is the lack of sunshine over there as my solar panels wouldn't get a lot of sun!

@@caravanlifenz My RV had solar, wind, and a generator and I lived off grid travelling around the West Coast for 3 years. There is more sun beside the coastline due to the clouds hitting the alps and stalling to drop the moisture before they rise up and over them. The big bonus with the Coast is that there are plenty of places to park beside rivers that you can pan/sluice for gold, and like in Australia, many people are getting out of the cities and going gold prospecting. I am presently in the process of buying an ex-furniture truck to convert into a RV complete with a drive in garage in the side for a small 4wd Suzuki, especially for gold prospecting. The Otago/West Coast/Tasman areas are full of spots to park up free of charge, and relax without the namby pamby crap from idiots who think they are royalty. None of the real Holiday Park managers and owners I have meet in the Coast think that they are "special" and it is good to see that they actually do smile and welcome you.

Gold panning is a great idea. We used to do school camps over there and they'd let us keep the little bits of gold we found in our pans. We all thought we were so rich with our little specks of gold. Have you thought of offering gold panning as a tourist activity? If you've got your bus license, you could drive tourists to places and show them how to pan for gold. I normally do maths tutoring for a job, but there's nothing over summer, so I've hit the road and I'll look out for whatever minimum wage jobs are available for summer. I'm in Marlborough.

It's a great river for a walk or bike ride.

It's one of the nicest I've visited in terms of views.

The Warehouse basically buys hundreds of goods from one supplier to fill a shipping container and then once they sell out, that's it. I checked their website, and it looks like they're currently out of stock for that power bank, but they have several other power banks available. If you want this Powertech power bank, it's currently available in NZ at Smart Marine for $299: www.smartmarine.co.nz/product/31485/portable-155w-power-centre-with-100w-inverter-and-digital-display/35006?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-9-pv-j6iAMVd6VmAh0lWDR0EAQYByABEgKSEPD_BwE

Yes, you should see lupins at that time of year. Note that the South Island weather is quite variable and it's currently feeling quite cold for October, so that will delay when they start flowering, but I'm hoping it will warm up shortly :)

Thanks so much, Barney 🥰 I hope the video inspires people to get out into nature now that there are so many power stations available at an affordable price.

I paid an auto-electrician to put my caravan solar panel on the roof and wire it to my battery and inverter. There have been a few fatal road accidents in Australia where solar panels detached when the driver was on a highway going 100 kmh, and it killed the people behind them. So I opted to have everything done by a qualified auto-spark for safety reasons and because caravans need to pass the eWOF too. If I was going camping in a tent, I'd choose either battery boxes or power stations and set them up myself, but attaching solar panels to vehicle roofs can be deadly. I'd rather pay a professional than be personally liable for the death of others.

@caravanlifenz oh, I'll be attaching the solar panel to roof racks. The solar power part is less stressful for me compared to getting power from the car. I love to hear your your recommendations for what we should use to power the appliances I listed above. As in, how much Watts or Ah (or whatever it is) we'd need and which set up would be able to provide this.

I couldn't give an opinion without seeing the campervan as there are many factors involved with these set-ups, as well as personal factors (for example, I work 7 days per week, so I have to be able to charge my laptop every day to work). I spent a fair bit of time planning my set-up and researching the retailers to compare prices before committing to buying anything. It's an exciting process though and I enjoyed planning my set-up.

I get much more power from the caravan roof panel. I think part of the problem is that the EcoFlow flexible panels have that plastic coating on the surface that seems to inhibit light. My caravan panel doesn't have that problem, but you do have to ensure you wash your caravan roof panels every 2 months or they'll eventually get a layer of dirt on them and block some light. Those truck wash places can wash caravans to prevent that problem.

@@caravanlifenz thanks you have been super helpful. I was just saying to my hubby where the heck do you wash your caravan when you are full time on the road?

That's right; there are truck wash stations for that. They're like a car wash, except they cater to trucks, caravans, motorhomes etc that are tall. Going through that will remove the dirt off the solar panels 🤗

Thank you :) It was so cold over winter that I haven't exercised as much over the past 2-3 months, but I've been eating sensibly to maintain the same weight. Looking forward to warmer weather 🥰

Tourists always tell me they can't believe a food producing nation like NZ has the most expensive food they've ever seen. I also believe our high cost of food contributes to our high rates of depression and loneliness. In all cultures around the world, family and friends relax and bond together over meals. When it's too expensive to eat out at restaurants and cafes, a nation ends up with high rates of depression and loneliness, which is a major issue in NZ. My long-term dream is to start an eco-community so people can grow food and eat it together.

The amount of solar you get is going to vary because some days there is more cloud or you've put the solar panel out at a different angle. The other problem I've found, that I mentioned in my video, is that the digital counter is not accurate when it's powered by solar. Your best bet is to test out another solar panel with it and see if that gives better results, so you can see if it's an issue with the panel or the power station.

@@caravanlifenz yes, i tried different angles and those values were with plenty sunlight but the performance decreased greatly.

So, I'd try out a different solar panel so you can ensure the power station is working fine. If your Ecoflow solar panel has a problem, it's still under warranty so you have plenty of time to return it if necessary, but they'll want to know you've tried out different scenarios first to isolate whether the issue is the power station or the panel.

@@caravanlifenz yes, i talked to them, they offer me to return my new panel and get a refurbished panel in exchange. I dont know if It wiill work fine or how long the process will take, It is quite frustrating.

Good question. After finishing my statistics degree and postgraduate finance, I worked as a data analyst for the government. I always saved my money carefully and I don't drink alcohol or buy coffee, so I keep my expenses very low. These days I tutor maths, which is done online via video calls, so I can do the job remotely, but I must have a good internet signal. I've spent the past year parked up in one spot because I can't risk having bad internet or noisy environments while I'm teaching maths.

@caravanlifenz sounds nice I'm 34 but unfortunately didn't study only did some lousy jobs. Now I want to start with something I also can do remote and work from the laptop. Do you have any recommendations? Because I want to leave my country (german) asap because it's really bad there. Do you think there's work from the laptop where you don't need to study? Any suggestions?

Tut mir leid wegen Deutschland. Ich war vor 3 Jahren dort. Es ist jetzt eine Katastrophe. In NZ and Australia, we have so many Germans and French fleeing Europe to escape the migrant crisis, but unfortunately we don't have enough jobs for all the young people rushing to move here. You need a specific skill set to compete with all the other migrants here. In Deutschland, you're entitled to free tertiary education, and there are many great Ausbildung choices for you. You should complete something like an electrician's apprenticeship and then move to NZ or AU.

@caravanlifenz ok yes I really want to get out, it's hell here. What about IT or Artifical intelligence or editing is there also a market for that in nz or Australia? How can so many germans and French flee? Did they save the money and all of them have a very good education? I mean it's also not cheap to just leave right? Also do you think if I learned all by myself on the pc I could have a chance altough im 34? I mean there's so much possible today even without studying

NZ and AU give out 12-month working visas to Europeans under 30, so most of the French and Germans I've met here are on those visas. If they find a job and prove themselves, the employer might sponsor them so they can stay longer, and they eventually get residency. You've got the right positive attitude. But remember you're competing with a large number of people who have the same idea about IT self-study. NZ is getting hundreds of applications for every one IT job, so you need strong experience and qualifications. I saw a documentary about a German guy who was a self-taught cyber-security specialist in Germany, but you'd have a hard time finding that sort of opportunity in NZ. Australia used to have many opportunities like that, but they strongly prioritise Australian citizens for jobs like that. Both NZ and AU are short of skilled and qualified tradespeople, mainly electricians, gas-fitters, plumbers and so forth.

I'm going to plant out some courgettes and tomatoes this way soon 🥰 I'll make a video about the progress.

@@caravanlifenz that would be great to see. Glad to have found you as we are caravan people and plan to be full time soon! Lots to learn as it’s different to just being on holiday in a caravan. Thanks for all the helpful ideas 😊

That will be exciting. You certainly get to see amazing sights and live an exciting life. I spent 5 months travelling around, but at the moment I'm living in my caravan parked on my landlord's land because I need stable internet for work. Travelling around means I can't guarantee a strong internet connection.

Yes, good question. The modem comes with the standard AC plug, so you just plug it into the AC outlet. It hardly uses much power at all. You can pay extra and buy an adapter for the modem that plugs into a 12V cigarette lighter socket, but I've always just used the AC outlet. I recently switched from Wireless Nation to Spark because Wireless Nation's customer service has badly gone down hill over the past 2 years.

Thanks so much, Donna 🥰

Thank you 🥰 It's a beautiful pub with the wonderful old Oamaru stone on the outside. We studied Oamaru stone back when I was a school student, so I've always had an appreciation for the hard work involved quarrying it and chiselling it.

What a lovely, friendly area to live in. I went to Cashmere High School, and many of the students used to live around there. The neighbourhood used to be a nice, safe place for school kids.

It's pretty, isn't it? It's one of the nicer holiday parks I've stayed at.

It really is so much cheaper to mix it yourself, especially when you factor in that they bulk up the bought ones with coconut flakes (which are very cheap). Adding peanuts and coconut flakes is a cheap way to bulk up keto cereal. I add plenty of cinnamon to mine because it smells amazing 🥰

Thanks, Alan 😊 You're the best. It takes such a long time to put together a video and there's no earnings from it, so I tend to only make one a month. But it's good to have these memories. The NZMCA Tekapo park was building toilets, so it would be interesting to see the changes now.