Goldies Bush

Last Sunday I went tramping in the Waitakere with the North Shore
Tramping Club. We did the Goldies Bush track and we were blessed
with such a fantastic weather. This was my second trip with the club.
The members were accommodating and friendly so I'm seriously
considering joining the club officially. Though majority of the club
members were senior citizens, they were surprisingly fit and strong.
And at times I am struggling to keep up with them. Or is it me that's
just not in shape?

I surprised myself on a number of occasions during this trek. One
thing is, I didn't suffer any pain in my knees this time. Which I've
been struggling with for a few years now every time I do long tramps.
I think the Omega-3 I've been taking really works. I read that it
treats and helps prevent early onset of arthritis. I also managed to
keep up with the lead group and not fall behind. To be honest, I really
thought I was that out of shape that I'm gonna have some difficulty
keeping up the oldies. Something I wasn't very proud of the last time
I tramped with them :)


The tramp was also an opportunity to get re-acquainted with why I love
doing it. So many lessons that I can apply in life :

1. You can't cross a stream with two small steps. Don't be afraid to
make one big leap.

2. If you do get wet, so what. You'll just end up with a wet boots
and socks and uncomfortable in the beginning. But overall, it wasn't
that bad after all.

3. Focus on the objective and not on how long or how hard it will
take. Before you know it, you're already there.

4. Whining won't get you anywhere (very important). It makes
the tramp more miserable and longer as the focus is on the
hardship.

5. Occasionally look behind but you should be looking ahead
most of the time. Keep up with the people in front, people
behind you should not slow you down.
(except when you need to maintain a safe distance)

6. The people in front rest longer and enjoy it better compared
to people just catching up. By the time they caught up its
time to go again.

7. Stop and check your progress. Look at the map to see if
you're in the right direction. Know where you are, know
where you are going. In life, a lot of people don't know
where they are. Worse, they don't know where they're
going.

8. Talk with the other trampers. When engaging in a
conversation your focus shifts away from the monotonous
and grueling tramp.

9. If you slipped and you hit your bum in the ground.
Laugh at yourself. Learn the lesson and pick up and dust
yourself up. Cursing and staying down won't move you an inch.

10. Have fun and enjoy the view. Appreciate your relative
insignificance in the wider scheme of things. Whatever you're
undergoing at the moment is not that a big of a deal. You should
celebrate your accomplishment.

Wealthy charity donor driven away

Can't afford not to blog this news. So typical
of NZ government's close mindedness...

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New Zealand's richest woman quit the country after the Government refused to relax tax rules to help her give away a big part of her fortune to charity.

Reclusive Kathmandu founder Jan Cameron has moved to Tasmania after spending more than 30 years in Christchurch, where she built a $275 million business fortune.

Starting with a small shop in Linwood, Cameron turned her outdoor-clothing and equipment venture into one of the country's best-known brands, with outlets in New Zealand, Australia and Britain.

The Press understands Cameron had looked at staying in New Zealand after selling Kathmandu last year and planned to donate a portion of her annual income from her investments to charities.

But under the New Zealand tax regime, all the money she gave away over an $1800 threshold would be taxed, so she opted to move to Australia, where there is no limit.

The main losers from her decision are New Zealand charities, which have missed out on potentially millions of dollars in donations.

Cameron had approached the Government to raise her concerns, but was knocked back.

Despite this, she gave $2.5m to the newly formed Hillary Institute to fund an international leadership award.

Cameron told The Press she thought more wealthy New Zealanders would give more away to charity if the tax rules were more helpful.

"Without getting too political, the tax law on donations could be improved upon," Cameron said.

A spokesman for Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said he could not comment on individuals' tax affairs.

PricewaterhouseCoopers tax specialist John Shewan said he was not surprised by Cameron's decision.

"It does underline how careful we need to be if we want to retain high-net-worth individuals," he said.

"We need to have a tax-friendly environment. Sadly, we don't have that at the moment."

Shewan said Cameron would pay no tax on her overseas investments under new Australian tax rules.

"Australia has stolen a march on us in terms of attracting high-net-worth individuals," he said.

Philanthropy New Zealand, which represents some of the country's biggest donors, has been pushing for tax reform.

Executive director Robyn Scott said Cameron's loss was a shame for New Zealand.

"The tax laws in New Zealand are not as favourable for giving large amounts of money as they are in some parts of the world," she said.

"There should be no limit on charitable donations."

Philanthropy New Zealand has contributed to a review of the tax rules and Scott said she understood reform was likely.

Cameron said she had been thinking about philanthropy in general for about five years.

"It's only recently I've been able to do it financially," she said.

"I've got a few projects going in Tasmania with animal welfare and I'm working with the RSPCA."

She said the need for help was "bottomless".

"You can only give so much money yourself. I'm in a privileged position to do so."

Cameron still has a house in Christchurch.

However, she said Christchurch was associated with a lot of work for her and moving to Tasmania had provided an enjoyable "sea change".

NZed at Palmerston North part 1

"If you wish to kill yourself but lack the courage to, I think a visit to Palmerston North will the trick." - John Cleese

John Cleese had a couple of shows last year around the country. He had shows in Wellington, Auckland, Invercargill, Napier, Christchurch and Palmerston North. And what he said about the latter raised the eyebrow of some people. He called Palmerston North the most boring place in the world. If not for that, John Cleese would have left New Zealand unnoticed. And when I learned that the Filipino Labour Weekend this year will be held in Palmerston North I was intrigued. Gee, if there are any Filipinos living in that part of New Zealand what the hell are they doing there. And then I received a text from a friend of mine in Hamilton that they're still in need of a few players. Apparently they're going and wanted to join the basketball tournament. I thought they're not serous so I said yes. I was wrong !

Palmerston North is about 7.5 hours drive from Auckland. Its a looooong drive, something I'm not really looking forward to. My esposa, at the last minute decided not to come. A bit disappointed as I've already booked a room for a couple of nights. But somehow relieved now I don't have to drive and I can just share a ride with Karl..hehehe. I love to travel, no question about that. But I don't really enjoy driving my car for long drives. Fortunately, Karl still had a space and he offered me a ride. The guy deserves a VB :)

As I said earlier, I was intrigued with Palmerston North. The focal point of the city is the Massey University. So a good number of the population should be made up of students basically. We arrived about half past seven in the evening and the streets were virtually empty. The roads are wide and there are heaps of shops. And that's all I noticed. Dinner at BK and then we called it a day. We had an early game the next day so it was a good idea.

FILIPINO Labour Weekend Festival

FILIPINO Labour Weekend Festival
20 Oct 06 - 23 Oct 06

For this year, the annual Filipino Labour Weekend Festival celebration is being held in Palmerston North.

Everyone is welcome to see and join the 3 day celebration. This nationally well-attended yearly reunion of Filipino immigrants and their families, and friends draws no less than 5,000 participants, visitors, and spectators from all over New Zealand.

The activities include Cultural show and Marquee Day at the Palmerston North Square. Filipino dances and songs will be presented (FREE to the PUBLIC/21 - 22 OCt); a night of concert by the world renown University of the Philippines Concert Chorus at the Regent on Broadway (21 Oct); Ms. Philippines-New Zealand Beauty Pageant at the Regent on Broadway (22 Oct); Sportsfest activities at the Arena Manawatu (21-22 Oct).

The Philippine Central Association, Inc. (PCA) Inc., a community organisation based in Palmerston North is the host and organiser of the 2006 festival.

It is the intention of the event to:
• Foster camaraderie and close relationships among Filipino expats and their families in New Zealand
• Rekindle and maintain Filipino culture and heritage among Filipino New Zealanders especially among the youth.
• Share Filipino culture and heritage to the wider New Zealand community to promote understanding of the Philippine culture.
• Be part of the wider ethnic community in celebrating cultural diversity that makes up modern New Zealand society.
• Promote healthy competitive sports activities to the New Zealand-Filipino youth.

If I had my life to live over

This is a very interesting response from a lady in Louisville, KY when asked on her 93rd birthday what she would do differently if she had her life to live over.“If I had my life to live over, I would dare to make more mistakes next time. I would relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I’ve been this time. I would take fewer things seriously, and I would take more chances. I’d take more trips; I’d climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream, and fewer beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones.“You see, I am one of those people who lived sensibly and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments, but if I had it to do over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else - just moments - one after another instead of living so many years ahead.

“I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot-water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I would stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry- go- rounds. I would pick more daisies.”

Nadine Stair

Lincoln Tan: Honestly sharing views the way to solve controversy

No crime, no wars, no discrimination, and Helen Clark holding hands with Don Brash. If only that were life. Unfortunately, we all know that real life is anything but that.

However, every time I touch on any issue that may be controversial or uncomfortable I receive emails and letters from readers asking me to stop and write only about happy things.

Responding to what I wrote last week, Eddie, from Wellington says: "Most of us immigrants came to New Zealand for a peaceful and happy life, so if immigrants themselves, i.e. you, cannot write happy stories, then maybe I suggest you stop writing altogether."

Adrian, an immigrant from Malaysia, writes: "It would be better if you wrote about the good things immigrants are doing here. I already stopped reading the Herald because it has too much bad news."

Bad news comes unbidden in mainstream newspapers and good news must usually be searched for. That, to me, is a reflection of real life.

By talking about the good and totally ignoring the bad, lopsided stories that give only one side are bound to be flawed - and it would throw out the window everything I have been taught as a journalist. Balance, my first editor used to tell me, is the most important factor in writing a story, and I guess I have taken that on board as a columnist.

Every story has many sides to it and we must be open to diversity of views and opinions in order to get the full picture.

Remember the story of the blind men and the elephant?

A group of blind men touched an elephant to learn about it, but each one touched a different part - the trunk, tail, flank and tusk.

When they compared notes, each gave a different account and they couldn't agree about what an elephant looked like.

Some of us are like those blind men and view reality only from our perspective, shaped only by events that take place in our own lives.

Amy and Kenneth Lim wrote to the Herald's letters page saying that they are fully employed and that my perception that employers are discriminatory in hiring Asian workers is at best biased and at worst uninformed.

It seems to matter little to them that research and surveys by organisations such as the Asia New Zealand Foundation, Massey University and Hudson confirms that acts of discrimination do exist in New Zealand. Employers themselves - 80 per cent out of 1700 in a Hudson survey held four months ago - say there are barriers to migrants participating successfully in the New Zealand workforce.

Holding views such as, "I am not hungry, therefore there is no famine in the world", will do little to solve anything.

Like the blind men and the elephant, we will have a fuller picture to any problem only when we talk about it, compare notes, and work towards a solution.

Through this column I have made people talk about this employment issue, and I think the intention to help to resolve problems faced by skilled immigrants and employers by some organisations is real and sincere.

The Asia New Zealand Foundation will be fronting an exercise to educate business leaders on the advantages of employing immigrant workers and finding out what sort of support employers needed for them to do so.

The foundation also aims to get behind the mystery of Kiwi experience and what employers actually mean when they ask migrants for one.

Responding to my search for positive stories of skilled migrants, Dave, a Malaysian banker, shared with me his inspiring story proving that dreams still do come true for immigrants to New Zealand.

In a similar way to many other migrants, Dave's story started with him sending out 50 CVs and getting no response from employers when he moved here in 2001.

Desperate to make ends meet, he grabbed any type of work that came along. At one stage he worked on three jobs - as a postman in the morning, selling lunch-boxes later in the day, and cleaning public toilets at night. He took home barely $350 each week.

He hopped from job to job, seizing openings within the companies for which he was working. With each move - from postman to accounts - he inched closer to his desired profession.

Now he is back in banking and has just started work as a products manager at a bank in Takapuna, earning a handsome six-figure annual income.

Dave says: "If I had just sent out my CVs and sat back hoping for the best and had done nothing else, I would still be at home today complaining about how New Zealand employers were not giving me a chance."

His advice to immigrants wanting to get employment is to get out and network - do anything that will connect you to people. Immigrants must be prepared to work hard to realise their objectives in getting the job they want because opportunities will not just fall in their laps. And because most businesses are small, connections are even more important than the CV, Dave says.

And for the readers who have requested happy news, here's a happy update. Chinese student Ben Sun, whom I mentioned in an earlier column and was featured in the Aucklander as the Unitec graduate who sent 60 CVs to employers without getting a single reply, rang me to say he has started a part-time job that is related to his Unitec communications qualifications.

"Things are looking brighter for me," he says. "Fortunately, I never gave up hope."

NZed on Prisoners

Prisoners to get mod-con televisions
25 September 2006
By MATTHEW DAVIS

State-of-the-art LCD televisions are set to be available for prisoners at Auckland's newest prison.

National Party law and order spokesman Simon Power has made public information showing that four flat-screen LCD televisions are to be provided for inmates at Auckland Region Women's Prison in Manukau at a cost of more than $1500 each.

Corrections chief financial officer John Ryan confirmed the four LCD televisions had been installed, saying it was the best overall option for high-security units in the prison.

"The flat and lightweight nature of these screens means they can be more easily wall-mounted out of reach of prisoners, reducing the risk of damage to the screens and the use of wall mounting as weapons or to self-harm," Mr Ryan said.

Standard colour televisions had been installed in lower-security units as there was less likelihood of damage, he said.

Mr Power said the LCD televisions contradicted claims by Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor that the new prison would not be "gold-plated" and showed he had lost control of his own department.

"Victims are trying to put their lives back together while these guys are sitting round watching Prison Break on flat-screen TVs and kept warm by under-floor heating, all at taxpayers' expense," Mr Power said.

Mr O'Connor said Corrections staff were doing a good job under difficult circumstances and all areas of spending were scrutinised.

LCD televisions are also expected to be installed in the Otago Region and Spring Hill Corrections facilities, which are still being built.

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haaay naku, sarap ng buhay ng mga bilanggo dito :)

Migrants quitting NZ in bigger numbers

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=000949DF-5958-149A-BB1483027AF1010F

Friday June 23, 2006
By Angela Gregory

The number of immigrants who leave after staying for more than a year has doubled in the past decade.

Migration researcher Professor Richard Bedford told an immigration conference in Auckland yesterday that many more people who came to this country intending to stay for the long term were now leaving for the long term.

In the year to March 1996, 11,930 migrants had left, intending to stay away for 12 months or more, compared with 22,090 in the year to March 2006.

The figures do not include New Zealand citizens.

Of those migrants who left in the 12 months to March this year, 41 per cent were originally from Asian countries and just over half were from traditional migrant source countries such as Britain.

Professor Bedford thought some migrants weren't settling because of the difficulty of getting other family members into the country.

He said the family quota was not being increased in proportion to the growing numbers of migrants coming in.

Professor Bedford, convener of Waikato University's migration research group, said much of the pressure to bring in family members came from the Asian migrants.

"We have sought people from that part of the world but not made it easy for them to have their families here."

He gave a warning that New Zealand could not assume countries such as China and India were bottomless sources of skilled migrants.

They were increasingly competed for by other countries and some were now wanting to return home as local opportunities increased.

Chinese migrants to Canada were increasingly returning to China, he said.

Professor Bedford said global migration was increasingly mobile.

New Zealand had the highest per capita rate of immigration and emigration in the OECD, as well as the largest numbers of its people living overseas relative to its population size.

Professor Bedford considered the biggest challenge facing New Zealand in the next five years was to stop its workforce being gutted by other countries trying to lure the country's skilled workers.