Posts with tag: quality

Letters from the Southern Man

Migrating is more than just filling in forms and submitting paperwork, its a complex process that will test even the most resilient of people. 

Understanding New Zealand is paramount to your immigration survival and to give you a realistic view of the country, its people and how we see the world, read our weekly Southern Man blogs. Often humorous, sometimes challenging, but always food for thought.

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody…

As you will no doubt be aware from last weeks blog, the Southern Man has taken a leave of absence this week, pursuing his own personal equivalent of the Tour de France, through Central Otago on the world famous (in New Zealand) Otago Rail Trail. 

He has been updating the office regularly with tales of climbing great peaks, pedalling for hours, freezing cold mornings, and stunning scenery; all part of the fun I am sure. Thus far it appears he will be back in one piece next week and no doubt reporting on his adventures, but in the meantime he has entrusted the weekly blog to me. 

It wasn’t difficult for me to pick a topic for this week’s blog, simply because when you do what we do there are always interesting stories to tell. There is one, however, that has been a simultaneous source of laughter and frustration for me and one of my colleagues over the last couple of months. A story which I believe has to be shared. For those of you in South Africa, this will be familiar territory; for those of you in other parts of the world, it may surprise or shock you (or might also be familiar), but will definitely prompt at least a few chuckles.

Before I tell my story let me share with you a great and very relevant quote, which I have stuck on the wall in my study at home:

“There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that everybody blamed Somebody when actually Nobody asked Anybody.”

I often refer to this during heated conversations with my wife, over why various domestic chores never get done (don’t try this yourself - it doesn’t work) and also to remind me to remain calm when doing my day job. We deal with Government departments all day every day, not only in New Zealand but all over the world in an attempt to gather together all of the bits of paper one needs to file an application for Residence. If there was ever a position created to administer every Government department in the world, and I was elected the Chief Executive, my first point of order would be to add the above quote to the mission statement.

For anyone that has had to deal with a Government department in South Africa, I am pretty sure they would want that quote emblazoned across the department’s front door in neon flashing lights.

The following is just one example of the hundreds of stories we could tell, but it is a particularly humorous one (something light for the Easter break).

We routinely send off requests to the South African Police for ‘Clearance Certificates’ on behalf of our clients. It is supposed to be a fairly straightforward process where we send the applicant’s fingerprints, a copy of their passport and the fee to the SA police in order for them to search their database (rifle through stacks of paper) and issue the clearance.

For this particular client we followed the ‘normal’ process and the application was sent away by courier. Eager to follow up on its progress and knowing that they usually take around 6-8 weeks to do anything about it, my very diligent (and patient) colleague Jo, followed up a few weeks later to check on progress. What followed on from there makes me laugh every time I think about it.

Firstly the person in charge of this request (let’s call her Janice – not her actual name) asked whether or not our client was a South African citizen, this would have been plainly obvious from the copy of the passport that had been provided; nonetheless we confirmed that he was.

The next email from Janice was a request for his South African ID number, which again would have been pretty obvious from his passport; however we confirmed his ID number and asked for an update.

We were then advised by Janice that the cheque payment included with the application was ‘unacceptable’. We still to this day don’t know why it was unacceptable or where the cheque is, but that doesn’t surprise me greatly. There was also no suggestion as to what to do next, so of course we asked and shortly after we were given bank account details to complete a telegraphic funds transfer for the R59.00 fee. Despite the fact that the fee in New Zealand dollars was equivalent to $6.00 and the cost to send the transfer was more than the fee itself, the client immediately did this and we advised Janice accordingly.

Having received no update we followed up again and received the following response: “Hi, Are you an (sic) SA citizen”. At this point I was about to give up and I was conjuring up all sorts of expletives to put down in an email as a response. My very patient colleague however responded politely (not sure how she managed that) and reiterated the fact that the request was for my client and they had all the information they needed.

Shortly thereafter, Janice informed us that the clearance was ready for collection. We contacted our courier company to collect it and have it returned to us. The courier called the next day to advise that it was in fact not yet ready and hence no Police Clearance for my client. It turns out that the bank details that Janice had given us were incorrect and the payment hadn’t been made. I am not sure how that translated into her email that the Clearance was ready, but frankly at this point I wouldn’t have been surprised if the Police Department had relocated its offices to the moon and they actually wanted us to complete an intergalactic funds transfer.

We emailed Janice again and, understandably, Jo’s patience by now was about as thin as the paper you would print a Police Clearance on. Janice in her wisdom sent back the same account details – leaving us all scratching our heads. Searching for a solution, as we do, we suggested that the client pay the fee again, this time asking someone in South Africa to physically deposit the money; which he did. 

Today we have sent off what we hope is our final response to Janice to try and track down one piece of paper which has taken three payment attempts, 20 or so emails and a good deal of patience to obtain. I only hope they spell his name right.

You might be wondering what the client thought about all of this, which is best summed up in his email to us (and is going to be the next quote on my study wall – perhaps in neon lights):

“Hi Jo, ‘If you are not confused, you are misinformed’ - South African Police credo.”

With any luck we will almost be at the end of the process and within a few days he should have that lovely yellow certificate that we have been chasing for the last two months, that is of course unless Janice, (who is all at once the Nobody, Somebody, Everybody and Anybody from my original quote) still isn’t sure whether he is a South African citizen, or we are or whether or not she is … I’ll keep you posted.

Until next week when the Southern Man returns – Paul Janssen (acting Southern Man)

Bikes, Bums & Early Auckland

 

I spend so much time overseas exploring other people’s countries that I spend precious little time exploring and enjoying my own.  And I’d be lying if I didn’t say that saddens me a bit.

Having a beach house doesn’t help. Don’t get me wrong and I don’t want to sound like some pretentious prat but when you have access to a beach house you tend to want to spend your time there to the exclusion of spending that precious leisure time elsewhere. 

So it is both a real blessing disappearing regularly to your favourite part of paradise but equally it can be a little restrictive.

So, I have decided that this year I am going to see more of New Zealand and have two trips planned to Central Otago this year – one to Queenstown to play golf in November and on the immediate horizon I am really excited at the prospect of spending the next week completing the Otago Rail Trail with my wife and a few close friends.

This involves mountain bikes, plenty of pub stops, mind blowing scenery and I suspect a rather sore bum.

If you haven’t been to Central Otago add it to your must see list. It is barren, rocky and always brown because in most parts it receives less than 100mm of rain a year.  It is like the Great Karoo in South Africa meets Afghanistan (without the roadside bombs) or Iran without the Mullahs.  It is New Zealand’s ‘high country’ where the plains meet the sky and the air is so clear mountains tens of kilometres away look like you can reach out and touch them, where the sky is so big and so wide it makes you feel insignificant and the size of an ant. It is a place where the weather is sunny and hot in summer and sunny and cold in winter.

Luckily we will be there when it is neither extreme and we are set to enjoy early autumn which will offer lovely warm days with daytime temperatures in the low to mid 20s Celsius but very cold nights with temperatures as low as 2-5 degrees. 

With the changing seasons there is some chance of snow up in the mountains but that is highly unlikely (I sincerely hope so because we can only take 10kgs of luggage and I am an Aucklander and don’t possess ‘snow clothes’).

Perfect for golf. We’ll see about mountain bikes.

I will report back on this next week if I can.

One of the attractions of Central Otago for me is that it is so full of history and represents a region of the country that has been settled by Europeans and a few keen Chinese longer than most other parts. Sparsely occupied (if at all) by Maori when gold was discovered in the early 19th century the population exploded when the gold rush cranked into life. Given the scarcity of trees in that region the architecture represents a period of Victorian England meets often poor but eternally hopeful gold prospectors and settlers and many of the old cob and stone buildings that are still standing have been turned into boutique hotels, B and Bs and the like.

As I thought about what we are likely to see next week and enjoy in parts a landscape and New Zealand heritage little changed in 150 years it occurred to me that migrants tend to look forward at the new life that awaits, the city they have landed in and the new country ripe for exploration and seldom do they look back – except in those times of inevitable homesickness especially among the newly arrived. Those that have always lived some place often look back in time and at our history to better understand who we are and what made us and our world view what it is.

As a self-confessed history junkie I have been reading a wonderful book these past few days by local Journalist Gordon McGlaughlan.  Its title is ‘Auckland – A Life and Times’ and as a sort of ‘Brief History of…’ is fascinating and well worth reading for those who have an interest in my home town, why it is here, who settled it and the forces, both natural and human that have shaped it to become what it is.

It is full of wonderful facts and insights. 

As a keen geographer and Aucklander I have always been aware of the massive ‘reclamation’ that went on during the 1800s of Auckland’s foreshore. The soft sandstone cliffs in many parts were levelled by pick and shovel, sometimes explosives and carted down the faces barrow load by barrow load to create, through the destruction of some beautiful bays, flat land for the rapidly growing port and commercial activity. This book has allowed me to roll back the years in my mind to a place and time when the rail lines and yards, the wharves, many of the coastal roads and blocks of high rise buildings were not there and picture a place where in the 1830s only a tented ‘city’ existed. Where streams flowed down the valleys of bracken covered hills, slowed and accumulated in swamps of reed and raupo, where eels swam and freshwater crayfish hid among the rocks before the waters that sustained them flowed into the sea through mangroves and coastal estuaries.

Fascinatingly for a city that enjoys more than its fair share of rain one of the biggest constraints on the early city was the availability of fresh water. How ironic after the wet, seeming ‘summerless’, summer we Aucklanders have just had. Although in the 1830s there were only 1500-2000 people living in Auckland fresh water sources quickly became polluted and undrinkable.

There were during those early years only a few sources – the stream known as Horotiu to local Maori that ran down from the ridge along the valley now covered by Queen Street was the most important. Queen Street for those of you who have not walked it is our main Central City road that starts at the ridge now dominated by Karangahape Road at its southern end and which ends at Customs Street which crosses it a block away from the harbour.

About two thirds of the way to the harbour this stream pooled in a large swamp about where Aotea Square and a massive underground carpark is now. It then meandered down through the valley before once again entering  a wetland and mixing with the gentle tides that lap this harbour.

Now that same stream is imprisoned in large concrete pipes that feed storm water and the remnants of the steam itself into the Waitemata Harbour.

As I type this I am looking out over Queen Street from my office and imagining a landscape not covered in high rise buildings but a valley cut by Horotiu and guarded by two gently chiselled hills which once would have looked like any valley in this part of the North Island – towering Podocarp forests of Totara and probably Kauri - that most majestic of trees. With Tui, Kereru (native wood pigeon), kaka (native parrot) and all manner of birds wheeling and diving over and through the canopy. At some point Kiwi would have been poking and prodding the ground looking for fat native earthworms.

Now we have glass, concrete and tarmac and the nearest thing to fauna are flocks of pigeons that strut and preen on the window eaves of the oldest buildings that overlook Horotiu’s final resting place.

I have also learned that in the middle of Auckland University (about ten minutes walk from our offices) there exists to this day a fresh water spring which continues to flow with the clearest water that has been filtered over hundreds if not thousands of years by the volcanic rocks of the region. 

It is now piped directly into the city’s storm water system which seems a real waste. A clean source of the freshest Aotearoa H2O not being consumed by the good folk of Auckland and thirsty University students is a real shame.

Another major source of fresh water came from a spring that bubbled its way up through the scoria on the northern slopes of that iconic volcanic cone I have written of before, Maungawhau or Mount Eden, and then wound its way down toward what would become Newmarket to collect in a large swamp in what is now Khyber Pass (another imprisoned stream). It was here the first of the big breweries set up shop and until recently, produced some of the world’s finest beers. They needed that fresh water.

It’s funny when you so take for granted the landscape you view daily to stop and consider occasionally what it once looked like. To consider that the water that comes from the tap that you do not think twice about would only 150 years ago have been thought of as an absolute luxury.

Each Aucklander today consumes around 300 litres of water. From about 1830-1850 in Auckland everyone relied on buckets and springs or rainwater. A wash would have been hands and face and a jug and wash basin. It is recorded most of the local population washed every six weeks. I can imagine how nice they’d have been to stand beside on a baking hot summer day in Auckland. No thanks…..

We lost Horotiu but gained personal hygiene.

And next week I am going to see a part of New Zealand that has changed little since the last Ice Age.

Can’t wait.

Until next week

Southern Man - Iain MacLeod

Year end wrap up!

 

This is my last Southern Man Letter from New Zealand for 2011.

My bags are packed, I’m going to do the family thing and then it is off to the peace and quiet of Lang’s Beach in northland for three weeks of not very much.

What a year it has been.

It began as 2010 finished – uncomfortable trading conditions thanks to our Government’s ongoing (but unofficial) cut in migrant numbers, flat property markets in the countries so many of our migrants are sourced from, fewer people being able to realise the equity in their homes that funds the move to New Zealand, a tight labour market here making the prospect of finding work (often to secure residence) daunting and the uncertainty in the global economy causing many a would be migrant to ask themselves if they were jumping out of a local fire into a New Zealand frying pan.

I can tell you though that it has ended on a very positive note – for us anyway. The last few months have been pretty good. Although we all have to work far harder for our clients given their heightened fears about what they are doing and the risks they are taking I am not aware of any client who did not find work and we haven’t had a residence case declined yet that has meant our ‘money back guarantee’ required a refund.

I suspect 2012 will continue to be challenging given the uncertainty in international markets.

It is funny though how we view the world. This week there was a business headline in the local rag that trumpeted a fall in business confidence in the last quarter of 2011. Reading through the survey what it actually said was ‘I am worried about everyone else’s business but actually we are doing pretty well in our own and think the next year will be better than this year for us’.

This was a typical survey finding over the past two years here. We worry about the economy but feel relaxed about our own prospects. Weird how it works but everyone I know from manufacturing through construction to real estate is feeling positive about the year ahead.

New Zealand remains well placed to ride it out with low Government debt (albeit climbing) and everyone I know doing their utmost to pay down their own private debt.

The next few years will see further reform of the welfare system which is simply too generous to too many people and the public servants will be twitching as Government signals they will have to keep delivering quality ‘service’ with fewer people. Should be interesting!

Our Australian operation, Immagine Australia has made great strides and it has been a lot of fun learning Australian policy (just to prove our own Government policy makers aren’t the only people on Earth who understand little about migration and the realities of labour markets). Really good fun to use Australia as the welcome doormat to New Zealand.

We are looking forward to growing that business through 2012.

And so it ends for another year.

Christmas here is not so much religious any more, it is a day pass from the day job. With summer heating up it marks the first day of a well deserved summer break. Beaches, books, good food and family time. If you are lucky a few days at the beach – its free, its clean and the water warming with every passing day.

For me it is as I say off to the beach house up north. The fishing rods are ready, the new fire pit has the wood stacked in it, the wine is stacked, the freezer full of food.

All that remains is for me to thank my dedicated team of consummate professionals for their efforts this year. Jo, Kay, Chris, Paul and Karina all take this break knowing that not only is it well deserved but they can pat themselves on the back for another year in which they made a real difference to people’s lives. We all know how hard migration is – leaving friends and family, homes. Security, jobs and settling in a new country is never easy and is always stressful. This small but dedicated team takes away so much of the fear and I can but thank them all and salute them on behalf of all our clients.

And to finish on a lighter note a Christmas ditty put together by Paul. I promise it won’t fry your computer but will bring a smile to your face.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/KYzYHLJm15Q8DbQCZOWG

Take care, look after yourselves, have as Merry Christmas and all the best for 2012.

Until, well, next year

 

Iain MacLeod - Southern Man

 

Immigration changes and review...

As the end of the year bears down on us like a runaway freight train and I ponder the holiday season ahead it is worthwhile reviewing some of the changes to immigration policy and processes that have taken place this year.

Those of you that have followed our strong and sustained efforts to effect change in Immigration New Zealand (INZ) Beijing and Shanghai offices will be interested to know that Skilled Migrant decline rates this year:

• have fallen in Beijing from roughly 85% of all applications filed a little over a year ago to 35% today which brings that office pretty much in line with global INZ averages; and

• have decreased in Shanghai from roughly 85 % a little over a year ago to 50% today. That number is still too high and it is hard to understand with new management in place in both offices why this office has persistently high decline rates totally out of step with the rest of the world; and

• for all our clients through those two offices remains zero. In fact it is better than that – as far as I am aware every client, bar one,  in 2011 has been granted a Residence Visa following their settlement interview, one were granted Work to Residence Visas and none were declined. This reinforces the view that if you know what you are doing in this environment and don’t mind investing in  services like ours there is no reason for your application to be declined.

On 5 December new Long Term Skills Shortage List criteria have opened the floodgates to Engineers of many disciplines. Up until last week most Engineers needed job offers to qualify for residence of New Zealand. 

To avoid the need to get jobs, most Engineers had to gain bonus points for qualifications or work experience but the policy made this difficult for most as it was incredibly prescriptive and restrictive. The policy limited bonus points only to those Engineers who had a degree comparable to a New Zealand degree and whose degree was issued by a Washington Accord Signatory country (and only from the date the Accord was established). This meant those bonus points were very hard to get.

The new rules will allow far more Engineers to potentially qualify for Residence Visas without having job offers first which, as we all know, is like being helicoptered half way up Mount Everest rather than being made to climb it one step at a time from the bottom.

If you are an Engineer who holds a Bachelor’s Degree we urge you to get (back) in touch with us – your Christmas might have just come early.

However the party might be short lived given these lists are reviewed every six months and in a meeting with senior Government Officials earlier this week we did warn them that in our view they have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous and this change really opens the floodgates. 

Their response was just as we expected ‘Well, we can always take the occupation off the List of course…..’. 

Therefore there is a window of opportunity here that might not remain open for long. So this is a call to action for all those Engineers who might fancy moving here……

 

In other changes the criteria for ICT Specialists has changed but in discussing this with the INZ Officials we pointed out their changes were practically meaningless because of the way the new policy is worded. I won’t bore you with the detail but we are talking about the use of the word ‘and’ when they say “they think” they meant ‘or’.

How important it is to get this right because the policy as it is currently written will have zero impact when it was designed to open the game up a bit in particular for Telecommunications and Communications Engineers.

Change the word ‘and’ to ‘or’ and the outcomes will be very very different.

In the meantime however immigration officers and advisers can only base decisions and advice on the policy as it is written not as it was meant to be written. So right now it is no easier to claim and be awarded those bonus points but it may be soon. Watch this space.

We also raised the issue with INZ about English language. As many of you will know my colleagues and I have been undergoing in-depth training on Australian General Skills Policy by my business partner and great friend Myer Lipschitz who runs our Melbourne office. It seems logical to have a working knowledge of the policy and experts at our fingertips when the New Zealand Government has made it so hard to get in here and given it is often far easier to get PR of Australia.

One clear advantage of the Australian policy over ours is that applicants can score points for their level of English language. Certain applicants from particular countries are exempt from mandatory English testing so long as they are citizens of and ordinarily live in that country. If they need more points to qualify they can sit the IELTS and are rewarded for it – the better the English the higher their score and the ‘easier’ it is to meet the current pass marks.

We don’t operate like that but we should and we have suggested Immigration New Zealand look to  adopt something similar.

The reason for this is clear – there is no greater factor influencing a migrant’s ability to secure meaningful employment at the level they want and our policy settings seek than English language. The better, more fluent, less accented your English the more attractive you are to a New Zealand employer.

This would allow for better settlement outcomes through employment and we have urged the officials to take this message back to Wellington. 

It has also been fascinating to learn through Myer how for some clients who might need a job offer to qualify for New Zealand can in fact get PR here using Australia as the back door – and without a job.

This is because Australia is less concerned about jobs before dishing out PR Visas. In fact there are many clients that we can get into Australia without their leaving home. 

Which is brilliant because if they really wish to settle here in New Zealand all they have to do is travel through Australia on their way to NZ; activate the Australian Residence Visa automatically at the Australian airport on arrival, get on the next plane and be granted a Residence Visa of New Zealand automatically on arrival here. And we are done – hey presto! New Zealand PR.

Australia has become the welcome doormat to paradise!

Delicious!

If then we have assessed you as not qualifying for New Zealand without a job offer but you wish to explore using Australia as the welcome doormat and back door to New Zealand let us know and we can assess the possibilities. This pathway won’t suit everyone but if it works, is less risky and gets you here without having to actually live in Australia it might be worth some serious consideration.

With this the second to last Southern Man letter before I head to the beach house and spend a few weeks fishing, planting some more native trees and drinking (in some unhealthy quantity) great NZ, South African – just arrived by boat - along with Australian wine, sleeping in, swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean, barbequing in my new fire pit and lying on the beach under that quintessentially New Zealand of trees, the Pohutukawa, I look back on what has been another crazy year. And crazy it seems to have been.

Crazy economy

Crazy Earthquakes down south

Crazy bureaucrats

Crazy Europe

Crazy America

Crazy Julius Malema

Here at Immagine we are finishing on a very busy note which augurs well for next year. As we all take a bit of a break and reflect on our lives and the futures of our children where ever we may live, the uncertain economic times in which we exist, the seeming never ending pressures to deliver economic comfort to our family, being slaves to the capitalist machine, doing our best to keep our heads above the stormy economic seas economically, I hope gives us an opportunity to pause and think hard about what sort of future we really want for ourselves and our family.

Notwithstanding the difficult journey that migration presents, New Zealand really does present something of an oasis of sanity in a world seemingly mad and getting madder by the month.

As we always say, ‘NZ ain’t perfect’ but there are few places better in the world to raise a family than right here.

Until next week

Iain MacLeod -Southern Man

Life in the (big) City

I was a little reluctant to go live with this piece and few have created in me more angst. I’m either going to sound like an Environmental Crusader or a middle aged control freak busy body!

But this blog is about my take on this part of the world so here goes. You all get the chance to post your comments and your feedback would be gratefully received. 

I have often written about how my city is changing.

Sometimes the changes are subtle and sometimes they are not.

So much of the change is positive and for the better but at other times I feel some of the city’s inhabitants might just be in danger of losing their humanity a little. Becoming a little more selfish. Speaking as an Aucklander (in the sense that to be an Aucklander is not necessarily the same as to be a New Zealander and our values might increasingly differ from the other inhabitants of this fair land) our sense of community and awareness of one another is arguably diminishing which is at odds with the way we have historically perceived ourselves - open, friendly, egalitarian, sensitive to others and tolerant. Or, and this is meant as a blunt warning (good advice?) to my own client base, perhaps it’s not the locals who are changing but migrants who are arriving and bringing with them attitudes and behaviours that can at times be viewed as, well, foreign.

So in the interests of helping migrants settle here allow me a wee rant – call it Cultural Assimilation 101.

Auckland is home to 1.4 million people and covers a huge area making it the 5th biggest city in area in the world (bet you didn’t know that). Auckland now has a population density greater than a city like Melbourne.

As a consequence and especially in downtown Auckland where I work we are having to physically interact more and more with other people – or ignore them. 

I like walking down my suburban street, smiling and offering a ‘Good Morning’, ‘Hi’ or similar greeting to those who I pass. I am not looking to stop and chat but a simple acknowledgement of your fellow man can go a long way. It’s just what we do here…..

I appreciate in downtown Auckland it is not possible to greet everyone – for starters people will think you are loony (and in my case I concede they might be right) or in terms of simple expediency you’d never get to where you are going given there are so many people.

However, there are plenty of examples of how new arrivals understandably bring with them behaviours that are quite ‘normal’ in their country of origin but interpreted quite differently by locals. 

It appears, for example, to be absolutely acceptable to gather in a small group of three or four people on the footpath outside my office and force every other pedestrian to walk around you – even if this means stepping in the gutter to do so.

Or the drivers that don’t let other cars merge into their lane. Aucklanders, to be fair are not as bad as drivers in many other countries and thank goodness there are still plenty of drivers who will let you in. This I should also add is not a behaviour migrants have a monopoly on but it is true to say that certain immigrant groups do at best appear oblivious to other road users and be over represented in the ‘I’m the only person I’m aware of on the road’ group.

Or my local dairy (convenience store) owner here in our own historic and beautiful High Street who every morning enjoys a couple of cancer sticks and when he has finished chucks them in the gutter. I bite my tongue every time I walk past his store as he is either standing there poised to flick a butt into the street or there is a small pile of two already lying at my feet. Maybe I should just man up and explain to him that as a new New Zealander I want to know if he ever gives any thought as to where his cigarette butts go once they have been washed into the city’s storm water system.

I know the answer – into my harbour where I like to fish and my children swim – but he either doesn’t know or doesn’t care.

I have never said anything – I don’t want to be accused of being racist, or insensitive or rude to a migrant but it is clear that where he comes from the road is a rubbish bin and once out of sight his personal rubbish is out of mind.

Should, dear reader, I be saying something?

Well I now do. I am tired of it (but equally am a little concerned that having written this I am starting to sound ever so slightly like the Gestapo….).

A few weeks ago I was walking downtown to a favourite Dim Sum restaurant to have lunch with a good mate of mine and this fellow walker was about a meter away from a rubbish bin when he dropped his cigarette butt and extinguished  it with his boot. I couldn’t help myself – I asked him why he would do that when 3 feet in front of him was a metal rubbish bin designed for such things?

My friend put his hands over his face and kept walking. But I thought “Bugger it, this is my city as well – this guy is just lazy. If it was a KFC packet he wouldn’t do it so why do smokers think our footpaths are their personal ashtrays?”

The old fella simply stared at me. He wasn’t angry – I think he was a bit surprised that someone had pulled him up on this. 

I did notice that he did not pick up the cigarette butt. And being the consummate Diplomat I am, I didn’t push it.

My only hope is when he sucked his next one to death he might dispose of the butt in an appropriate receptacle.

A few years ago the then Mayor of Auckland absurdly copped it as being a racist for stopping a young man in the street, who happened to be of Asian ethnicity and telling him that while spitting in the street where he comes from might be acceptable he would prefer it if he kept his gobs to himself rather than shared them with the good folk of Auckland’s premier shopping and business district.

I couldn’t believe it!

Some of you might wonder if the Southern Man hasn’t turned into a middle aged grump but really am I wrong to point this out and be frustrated by it? 

You want to smoke, then smoke. All I ask is that as a fellow Aucklander you use rubbish bins.

If you want to congregate in small groups, wonderful, just pull over to the left and get out of the flow of pedestrians.

If you are driving – remember you aren’t the only car on the road and being aware of those around you is not a bad thing. And learning the local road rules isn’t always the worst idea.

We are all products of our environment – of that I am sure.

I am not cross about these things, there is no anger and I don’t believe I need counselling – I just observe things. And some of the things I observe I wouldn’t have 20 years ago.

My city is changing and those that are new to it need to adapt to us and we to them. 

That’s what migration is all about.

Seminars – don’t forget the last round for this year is currently underway in South Africa (Johannesburg is done, Durban and Cape Town next week) followed by Singapore and Malaysia at month’s end. If you are interested in attending or you know anyone who might like to – they can register here.

Until next week...

It's a Wrap...

It’s over. It’s finally over.

The ghosts of 1991 to 2007 have finally been laid to rest. The mighty All Blacks who so dominate world rugby year in and year out have finally secured their second Rugby World Cup. The RWC monkey (gorilla?) is now firmly off their backs.

Deserved winners they were if I may say so myself. Being the objective observer I am of course.

What a struggle it has been. Late nights, excessive drinking, lots of partying, endless fun, frayed nerves, tension, loss of sleep – and that’s just the players. What about us poor suckers who had to live it with them?

Late nights, excessive drinking, partying, sleep loss, tension, chewed fingernails, teasing friends around the world (mainly South Africa for obvious reasons….) – we may as well have played the games. It has been really, really tough.

I couldn’t have gone another week. If this tournament had been eight weeks long rather than six I’d be booking a consultation with a transplant specialist about now – my liver is shot and it just couldn’t take any more.

What a great ride it has been.

Watching the final from the new stand at Eden Park on Sunday was truly special. It was not the game so many people had been expecting and having written off the French in the week leading up to the final as being unworthy a great many of us had to swallow (actually choke might have been the word of the day) humble pie as they not only proved worthy finalists they could, with an extra Powerade or two, possibly even have won.

Last week I was offered three tickets and turned them down – my ‘final’ had been the All Blacks versus the Wallabies and taking my family to what was a truly great game. Now there was an All Black team at their dominant best – they’d have crushed anyone that night.

Later in the week I was again offered a ticket and this time I thought I just had to be there. How could I not go to a World Cup final that was being played just a ten minute walk from my home? In my city and in my country? Was I crazy? Perhaps just hung over...

I totalled up what I had spent on tickets to three pool games and a semi and thought – I’ve spent enough. I could buy a car with what I have paid to watch the Samoans, Fijians, English, Scots, Wallabies, French and All Blacks! And I had been to the pool match where the ABs despatched the French with consummate ease. Why waste more money?

Simply, and after another 23 seconds consideration, I said to myself I just had to be there – even if it was going to be a one sided affair. I was being called. The atmosphere at Eden Park had been tremendous all tournament. Games watched in high spirits – colourful fans, great organisation, a world class stadium organised to run like a Swiss watch.

I was right on all fronts bar one.

I should have known that a final is different. Players grow another leg. The French grew several and what had been billed as a bit of an anti-climax turned out to be a gripping final. Some have said it wasn’t pretty – well to me it was. A true test match. Beautiful from kick off to the 80th minute. Pitting two teams of ‘die for the cause’ players against one another at one of the great rugby grounds in the world cheered on by 61,000 fans at the park, another 4 million at home and many millions more around the world was something I will never forget.

From the time the French players formed their ‘V’ for victory sign when confronted with the haka we all knew we were in for something special. And of course the French have long been the All Blacks bogey team.

Eighty minutes of grinding rugby later the stadium erupted in delight (or possibly blessed disbelief). Personally my joy lasted about two minutes – then I started to simply feel relief. Relief that the team and the country had pulled off something pretty remarkable.

The IRB had said that giving the Cup to NZ was a bit of a risk. We are too small, not enough people, stadia too small, TV time zone issues and all that but they were the first to state on Sunday evening that it was probably the best World Cup in the 24 year history of the event.

So much was done so well by so many so unobtrusively.

When international media and team management wanted things done – in tournaments past they had been told no, not possible. Here it was – hang on a minute, give me a bit of time and I will see what I can do. And do we did. With beaming smiles.

I note even our Australian cousins at the Sydney Morning Herald gave New Zealand ‘11 out of 10’ for the way the event was pulled together and run.

Clearly the reason for its success was New Zealanders embraced this tournament like none before have done.

The concept of the stadium of 4 million was deemed a bit cheesy but it was well on the mark (not sure what the other 416,000 New Zealanders were doing for six weeks).

Whole cities, towns and schools adopted different countries. Teams were based in many regions around the country and made to feel more welcome than they had expected and ended up enjoying so much more than simply the rugby. When the Georgians played the Romanians in Rotorua for example half the crowd turned up wearing yellow and half red.

When the Irish team played in Dunedin they seriously thought that 20,000 Irish supporters had flown into the country. The truth was there were only 3000 of them! The rest were locals. The same at Eden Park for their pool match against the Aussies where out of a crowd of 60,000 I would suggest 55,000 were supporting Ireland (arguably not just reflecting the fact many of us have Irish ancestry but more the friendly rivalry that exists between NZ and our neighbours across the Tasman). The rest were New Zealanders dressed in green. Every team was made to feel like they were playing at home. It was something the organisers wanted and New Zealanders, being the friendly welcoming, sport crazy nuts we are, took them all into our hearts and homes.

By all accounts the players had a great time.

As did the 100,000 or so tourists that have jumped out of planes, bungeed off bridges, visited Milford Sound, enjoyed our beautiful countryside, swum with dolphins, been fishing, enjoyed great coffee in little cafes in picturesque small towns, ate at some of the best restaurants in the world, skydived, drunk some great wines at some of the world’s best wineries, experienced street theatre, local beer and local pubs, played golf on world class golf courses and generally had the time of their lives.

So many said that they had been on many holidays before and had high expectations that were not met – this time they had equally high expectations and they were exceeded. Indeed according to many, smashed.

Little things like New Zealanders taking perfect strangers into their homes for four week so they got a real NZ experience during the World Cup and being loaned motorcars, binoculars, cameras and all sorts of things to people who were basically total strangers.

But such is the way of the people of this country. It is what makes it special.

The country used the opportunity to showcase fashion (probably a bigger exporter than you might imagine), high end manufacturing, food and our IT industries as well as our more traditional primary industries such as farming, fishing and horticulture.

Contacts were made, relationships forged, dollars flowed.

Having enjoyed this opportunity to showcase our country to the world, I think we are all now somewhat exhausted. It’s been really hard work having this much fun.

Having thought that this might be the last time that we would get to host the event the fact we pulled it off so well has already lead to talk that the tournament will return.

Roll on 2030 – I hope by then my liver has recovered.

Until next week,

Seminars – Our final round for the year are coming up in South Africa, Malaysia and Singapore. Tell your friends about 'the little country that could' and come and hear what we have to share with you about it and the new lives that await migrants to this wonderful country.

Veni, Vidi, Vici...

Sport is a funny thing, it can bring out the best and worst in us. It can be a force for good and it can also be used for negativity and destruction. So too migration.

I can see with the All Blacks now poised to take the World Cup for the first time in 24 years how dedication to a single goal; a goal that is researched, visualised, planned and then executed can be such a force for good, not only for those involved but for those around who get to bask in the reflected glory.

If you win you can look back and pin point the pivotal moments where the decisions that made the difference were locked in.

If you lose you can look around and find blame with everyone and everything else except yourself and your plan. Blame those around you because in the end you were just not up to the challenge.

I am still ashamed of the vilification of referee Wayne Barnes in this country and the way New Zealanders blamed that referee for their departure from the 2007 quarter final in Cardiff. No referee ever cost a rugby side a game in the World Cup. Not the ref in the game between Samoa and South Africa three weeks ago, not South Africa when they played Australia in the quarter final and lost and not Wales when they lost to France in the semi.

Scapegoats are for those that seek factors other than themselves. It might be natural to lash out when you fail to reach the summit of your own Everest but, not only is it unseemly, the reasons given are often so wide of the mark.

I was thinking this past week about some of the toys being thrown from cots in certain parts of the rugby world when I got to reflecting over a client of ours from South Africa who has just found himself an offer of skilled employment here that will secure his and his family’s future. As a senior Police Officer in South Africa he has seen all pathways to promotion blocked owing to that country’s employment policies which nowadays specifically excludes most ‘whites’ from advancement.

His salary is pitiful given he puts his life on the line every day he gets dressed in that uniform and his savings as a consequence not high. In fact so bad is the salary of a Police Captain, shot twice in the line of duty that he has had to set up and run his own small business on the side to supplement his income. Pest control (the irony is wonderful) has kept himself and his family from the gutter.

When I met with this potential client back in July in South Africa, I outlined a strategy to achieve Residence for his family in New Zealand. I counselled him that it would not be easy but was doable. I told him he would be tested like he has never been tested before.

He needed a job offer to make it happen. Skilled and relevant employment and it would not be an easy nut to crack.

I explained that the two weeks he had planned to set aside to come to NZ and try to secure the job was simply unrealistic, greater investment in both time and money would be needed. Two things he was very short on.

We discussed the obvious employer – New Zealand Police. New Zealand is recruiting more front line police but unfortunately I told him that he would not be able to apply to join them as they have a policy of only employing New Zealand citizens or permanent residents, but that there were other sectors which would and had recruited former policemen we had helped to get Residence Visas of New Zealand.

He was understandably very nervous about it all. I might even suggest he was petrified. He was one of the few clients that just before he flew out here I emailed and asked ‘Are you really sure you want to do this? Are you really sure you are up to it?”

He was quite determined and was willing to follow our advice and the plan we laid out for him.

He has now been in New Zealand for about ten weeks, having left his wife and daughters behind and has been busy applying for various management level positions in retail, security and other sectors.

He has applied for jobs up and down the length of this country, travelled thousands of kilometres for interviews, been rejected by almost all but stayed stoic and focussed when he did not get them.

Then it happened. Last week he secured the position he needed for us to unlock Residence Visas of New Zealand for him and his family and we have just filed his Work Visa application (from within NZ) which will enable him to start his new job in a couple of weeks.

This job will also now enable him to proceed with confidence on our plan to secure his family Residence Visas of New Zealand.

The word “hero” is to my mind over used. It is very easy to suggest everyone is a winner and there can be no losers but life isn’t like that, we all know it. There are winners and there are losers.

Lady Luck plays a bit part at times but overwhelmingly we make our own luck.

The All Blacks aren’t about to play the greatest game of their lives owing to any luck or fortune. They had to beat some very good teams to make this final. They planned for it. They trained for it. They spent four years on it. And I have no doubt they will achieve it. They have been the best team at this tournament and I am truly honoured to have sat in the stands at Eden Park last Sunday and watched them beat the Australians, clearly the second best side at this Rugby World Cup.

All migrants that take the risks involved in scaling the mountain that is migration are to my mind heroes. All are taking risks that have real and meaningful consequences on a financial, emotional and logistical level if they fail. And make no mistake - all can fail and many do. There is something Darwinian about this process – New Zealand gets highly focussed and driven people who have been prepared to sacrifice and fight for the chance to live here.

There are many for whom the climb is too steep, the battle too hard, the rejections too frequent and who when faced with the adversity, the cost, the emotional investment, the time, the rejection and the fear find they just cannot scale the heights required to secure that key to a new life for them and their family.

And to this client, this dedicated, single bloody minded client, who has been tested in this process and his life like few others and who can add a few more scars to the bullet exit wounds on his body, I salute you. You are a real hero – you had a plan, you had a vision of where you needed to go and how to get there and you did it. Your children will one day, I hope, thank you for what you have risked and what you are about to give them.

I am genuinely proud, as a coach is of his rugby team, that although we have a long way to go to finish the residence process, the single greatest impediment to securing that residence is a barrier smashed and he will make it.

To all those who seek residence for themselves and their families who want to do this on the cheap, by cutting corners, by thinking it can all be achieved without real struggle – stay where you are – you will likely fail.

To those who are willing to get good advice, and yes pay for it (for these things are not mutually exclusive), this mountain is able to be conquered.

And to our beloved mighty All Blacks who stand for all that is great and good about this little country that could – who have put their bodies on the line in the quest for greatness and glory, a noble goal will be realised on Sunday. Not through cutting corners, not through trying to win this World Cup with anything other than a good plan, sweat and tears but through a vision held steadfastly to, a plan and single minded execution, taking the knocks and setbacks and conquering all those that stood before them.

To the All Blacks - you are all real heroes.

As is every one of our clients, including our Police Captain from South Africa who take all that the Immigration Department, New Zealand employers and the visa process can find to hurl at them and who win – whose ‘World Cup’ is a somewhat innocuous looking label in a well worn passport but which ultimately says it all - I came, I saw and I conquered.

Until next week...

My Favourite Place on Earth

This week, rugby or my favourite place on Earth?

Rugby or my favourite place on Earth? What to do, what to do…..

Springboks back in their own beds. Hmmm. Wallabies to follow??? Hmmm, better not speak too soon. The glorious performance of New Zealand referees? Hmmm.

Nah, there’s plenty of water to pass under the Rugby World Cup bridge so let me tell you about my favourite place on Earth and we might return to the rugby if the All Blacks win against Australia this Sunday. If they don’t win we’ll discuss the varying standards of Rugby World Cup referees and blame everyone but ourselves (would put us in good company).

An easy 90 minutes drive from Mount Eden in Auckland is Lang’s Beach. I am lucky enough to own half a beach house (or ‘bach’ – as we North Islanders call it – don’t ask me why) along with my brother-in-law.

Nestled on the east coast of Northland Lang’s is a safe beach, about one and a half kilometres long and protected at each end by promontories of land. Perfect for launching my boat off the beach as it is sheltered from incoming swells.

The sand along this part of the coast is fine and a pale yellow. In summer the sea temperature is 23 degrees and during winter it gets down to a rather chilly 16 degrees. The beaches immediately to the north and south get serious regular surf and are used by the local surfing population all year round. Wetsuits in winter. Boardies in summer.

The water is clear and clean but through the months it changes from an almost grey green in winter to a deep blue green in spring to almost turquoise in summer. Near the shore the water is crystal clear. So clear you have to remind yourself there is no need to constantly watch the bottom while out catching a wave because that shadow isn’t likely to be anything more than loose seaweed and not some deadly form of sea life preparing to end your days.

Plankton abounds. And building on that a robust and healthy food chain exists. Scallop beds lie 50m offshore, lobster hide among the rocks, shellfish lie in their multitudes under the sand. Bait fish abound. Predator fish are everywhere. At certain times of the year their density is so great the water literally turns black with them and boils as the predator fish dart and charge into the masses – an absolute food frenzy. Gannets, Petrels and shearwaters attack from the top. Little Blue Penguins patrol the edges. The fishing is bountiful (for us as well as the birds) either off the beach, off the rocks or out in small boats. Sharks patrol. Harmless ones although we get the not so nice ones from time to time forcing swimmers out of the water……

I’ve seen 3m Orca (Killer Whales) that uniquely for New Zealand come in very close to shore into water as shallow as 2 meters hunting for stingray (you have to see how far a stingray can jump out of the water when it has an Orca on its tail!!).

I have even seen a pod of a half dozen Bryde’s whales fishing and ‘spy hopping’ about 2km out to sea. The largest was about 13m long. Spectacular.

About 15 kilometres out to sea lies Taranaga (The Hen) and a series of six smaller islands (the Chickens). These are protected islands and no landing by humans is allowed. These offshore jewels teem with native birds in forest as pristine as it was 1000 years ago. The ancient Tuatara are found in abundance here. This ancient reptile (it isn’t a lizard) was around when the dinosaurs walked other parts of the Earth.

We first had a holiday up there when my eldest son was about four. We stayed successive Christmases in three different beach houses before finding the one we currently own.

Perched high above Bream Bay the view is spectacular. We sit about 150 meters above sea level and have a 270 degree view north toward Whangarei, out toward New Zealand’s largest marine reserve at The Poor Knight Islands, around to the Hen and Chicks and south toward Bream Tail.

When we first stayed there everything below us was rolling hillside and grazing cows. There were few trees and fewer people. The walk down to the beach with little ones was down a steep gravelled track until we hit the coast road. On a hot summer’s day the walk down was far easier than the walk back with tired little feet soon joined by a younger brother whose preferred method of transport was stroller or dad’s back.

We are no fuss Charlies and the boys would take their afternoon nap in small shelters under a beach towel before waking up and charging off into the ‘bagoon’ as they called it (a tidal pool where a stream that meanders down the hillside met the incoming tide).

Those little boys are now 18 and 15 and prefer the company of their peers to the company of their parents so my wife and I are lucky enough to escape the rat race and two teenagers these days and steal away to our favourite spot on our own or with friends.

A couple of years ago we added a new outdoor ‘room’ – around 20 square meters of open north facing deck and it was while relaxing in a deck chair this past Saturday that made me decide to write and share my impressions ofthis place with you.

High wispy clouds dawdling eastward overhead, a warm breeze coming up from the ocean below, pleasant enough to take the heat out of the sun but not cold. The winter skin was enjoying the warmth of summer’s early rays. Sun block on nose. Looking up I watched as a Skylark, balancing on thermals of air, sung its territorial song before dipping its wings and falling in controlled flight out of the sky back to its grassy nest.

Seagulls wheeled about overhead as did the local harrier, fancying no doubt to make a meal of one of the local feral rabbits that live on the property. In the grass and underbrush pheasants called warnings to one another. Scuttling with quick steps was a covey of Californian Quail; I would like to think owing their existence to my rat eradication programme about our property.

The local boisterous bunch of Tui, a native bird I have written of before, flew from tree to tree chasing one another and warbling their melodic calls each time they were stationary long enough to do so (which wasn’t long – these birds live their lives expending energy to find more sources of energy in the next nectar bearing flowering trees and shrubs). They fly with heavy wings these guys, like so many of our native birds.

It is now early summer up north and it is spreading its warm tentacles slowly southwards. The ground, which is predominantly clay and like concrete in summer, is still soft enough to plant at this time of year. Over the years I have been investing in coastal natives in an attempt to return the grassed hillsides into something resembling what it must once have been. I love the native birds of New Zealand and most are berry or nectar feeders but many parts of the country have become like Dharfur to these native pigeons, Tui, Kakariki, Bellbird and others – a virtual food desert owing to deforestation and ‘conversion’ to grasslands.

I aim to change that - at least on our 6000 square meters of paradise by planting native trees and shrubs.

I considered, as I sat there dozing in the sun, how human coastal development can actually enhance the return of native forest and it’s inhabitants. The farms are subdivided and many of the new buyers want trees and birds and so thousands of native trees and flowering shrubs are planted every year along this coast. It will take many years for the birds to come back in the numbers that James Cook in 1769 once described as a ‘deafening dawn chorus” (the birds were so loud he had to park the Endeavour 400m offshore so his crew could get some sleep), but I have confidence one day they will return, if not in ‘deafening dawn chorus’ numbers at least in reasonable, seduce me with your song, numbers.

And so it was I sat in my deck chair enjoying a pre Ireland-Wales quarter final glass of red and day dreamed - post planting of 71 native plants I should add and I considered how lucky I really am.

Lucky to live in a country where all this is possible. Lucky that I stumbled across a piece of New Zealand I can escape to with family and friends. Lucky to find and buy before the coastal boom of the mid 2000s (and which I could not likely afford now).

A place where, when I stroll along the beach, I consciously look for a piece of rubbish, a coke can, something – anything! – that might tell me I am not imagining how beautiful and clean this place is.

Lucky to take walks along soft sand under mighty Pohutukawa which in summer are adorned in bright red flowers (a bit like those bottle brush flowers you might know if you are not from New Zealand) and listen to the waves hissing as they crawl up the beach.

A beach which is open to one and all. Where sections are roped off every year so the highly endangered New Zealand dotterel can nest in relative peace along with the raucous Pied Oyster catcher.

Where people walk their dogs (on leads of course) and the teenagers light fires and surreptitiously (and sometimes not so surreptitiously) sip their beers and imagine what might be.

She’s a special place is Langs.

I hope you get to enjoy it one day.

Until next week,

 

*** Passmark updates

In the latest pool draw 628 EOIs were selected including the following points profiles:

*All those with 140 points

*All those with 125 points or more including six years work in an area of absolute skills shortage

*All those with 100 points or more including an offer of skilled employment

It's Spring in Auckland...

It’s spring in Auckland and I love this time of year.

There’s something about it for those of us who are lucky enough to enjoy more than two seasons. Here in Auckland we tend to get four of them of equal length although there are those who will tell you we can get all four before lunch.

September tantalises with the summer to come. It dangles the possibilities of warm nights and hot days.

It speaks of winter nights fading quietly into the warmth of an approaching summer.

As the nights get shorter and days lengthen there is a palpable sense of renewal.

In the first week of each September my street explodes into a riot of cerise colour as the blossom trees that line it wake up slowly from their winter slumber. The hum of bees as they seek out the sweet nectar contained in those flowers fills the trees.

The Tui, a native bird of the honey eater family sit in the tops of these trees calling their melodic song to rivals. A beautiful bird, about the size of a very large Starling, it has plumage of stunning dark metallic green, with a white tuft of plumage under its throat. They are without any doubt one of my favourite native birds. These nectar feeders have surged in numbers in recent years as more and more Aucklanders plant native, nectar producing plants in their gardens. They can be quite aggressive with one another and it isn’t unusual to see a dozen or more chasing one another through and between the lines of trees. 

In Cornwall Park, that wonderful park that sits under Maungakiekie or One Tree Hill (now sadly treeless but that’s another story) the year’s newly born lambs bounce and ping among the daffodils, now in full bloom.

Across the city and through Auckland’s Domain the Oak trees with swollen buds are bursting into new growth. The colour of spring leaves is something that screams spring to me – emerald green, juicy green. Want to turn it into salad green.

In the Hauraki Gulf the Snapper and other inshore fish will be gathering and looking for food as they prepare for spawning in early January.

My sons are putting away the football boots and looking for their cricket bats in the garden shed.

Although Auckland doesn’t really get cold (as in England or North American cold) winter can be wet but we seem to have been blessed once again this year with a very mild and dry winter. We had, as you may have read previously, a couple of cold snaps which lasted a few days and even resulted a month or so with snow flurries for a few minutes.

Although the temperatures now are only 2-3 degrees warmer than those of the winter months it is amazing just how different the temperature feels. A 17 degree day, remembering that temperatures are measured in the shade, makes the temperature in the sun around 23-24 degrees. Add to that Auckland’s humidity and the comfort readings are generally a few degrees warmer than the temperature might suggest.

While we aren’t out of the winter woods just yet the warm days increasingly outnumber the cool.

Winter coats are being increasingly left in their wardrobes and the shorts are making an appearance.

Things can still be a bit temperamental in terms of the weather and spring brings with it four or five calm clear and sunny days followed by a day or two of unsettled weather with rain and occasional thunderstorms.

The cafes and restaurants that open up to the streets are peeling back the plastic walls that protect diners during winter and the large sun umbrellas bloom in increasing numbers.

One of the great changes to downtown Auckland is allowing those that live and work in its environs enjoy the warmer weather even more. Running parallel to or perpendicular to Auckland’s main road, Queen Street, many of the narrow streets are being turned into shared space. This means cars can use them but not park. They have been cobbled and are far more pedestrian friendly. Aucklanders love their coffee and I expect these places to increasingly be more peaceful spaces where people gather, to ponder, read, catch up and have a coffee without breathing in exhaust fumes with their short black or latte.

The day of the car in downtown Auckland isn’t over, but it is clearly not welcome. Our fantastic public bus service is increasingly becoming the transport of choice.

Thousands of visitors are of course currently enjoying the warmth of spring and the people of this city with the Rugby World Cup.

The opening ceremony was something special and a bit of good old Kiwi magic.

Watching this from my hotel in Johannesburg was hard. My heart was thousands of kilometres away in Auckland with my friends and family who were all out in the middle of all the madness.

Up to 100,000 people turned up in downtown Auckland to enjoy the party atmosphere. What impressed me most was the wonderfully choreographed display around the harbour and downtown incorporating the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra based on Queens Wharf and a cast of Pacific Island Drummers, Pipe Bands, Gospel Choir and Maori groups scattered among and on top of Auckland’s skyscrapers culminating in a wonderful song, ‘All Lit Up’ as three and half tonnes of fireworks went up in a profusion of sound and colour.

It was a moment I imagine all New Zealanders will long remember and cherish. For me it wasn’t just the celebration of sharing who we are and where we live it was the technological achievement of bringing it all together in an 11 minute and 22 second feat of planning and execution.

Amazing. And it sums up New Zealanders perfectly. Many cultures and many histories but singing with one voice and having fun. On top of that was a performance that could have gone horribly wrong but which came off with the precision of a Swiss watch.

If you haven’t seen it I expect it will be on You Tube somewhere and it is definitely worth a look.

The big little country that could is all I can think.

Those of you watching the Rugby World Cup will have noticed I hope that the games so far have been played in dry, sunny and warm conditions except perhaps the Boks v Wales but even in Wellington – which the rest of us think is always wet and windy the weather Gods smiled and delivered conditions that would not have been alien to either the Welsh or the South Africans. And to slightly digress what a wonderful game it was, well done South Africa – my dream of an All Black v Springbok semi final at Eden Park remains intact! Just...

Nice to not only bathe in the warmth of the rugby world sharing this great occasion with us in New Zealand but the spring sun.

Roll on summer!

Until next week

Iain MacLeod - Southern Man

Post Script: A clarification if clarification is required. This blog is my take on my world. It is based on my experiences as an Immigration Adviser and New Zealander living in my country and those I regularly visit. The experiences I have in my travels mould my opinions and world view. At times I intentionally set out to provoke but do so in order to promote discussion. My purpose is to pass on to you as one of 30,000 readers an opinion piece. I do not set out to offend or to insult and I do not have a monopoly on insight. If your experiences differ from mine that is cool – if you think that you live in the best country in the world and that country is not New Zealand, I can but wonder why you read this blog. However if you do, you need to understand the readership is those that have chosen to join us in New Zealand, or are seriously considering doing so and not to stay where they are. Therefore their opinions and mine might be quite different to your own.

 

What the Rugby World Cup means to me...

Rugby.

It of the oddly shaped ball.

World Cup.

Starts this week if you hadn’t heard.

I wasn’t going to do the rugby thing in the blog but the anticipation, excitement and the biggest event (party!) New Zealand has ever put on, or might ever see, has overcome me. Bear with me those of you that don’t follow this mad sport. Because to understand rugby and what is about to happen, is to get an insight into New Zealanders but equally, how New Zealand is changing.

I put myself in the highly interested but not obsessed camp. If we win it, great. If we don’t, then someone else played a better game in a knockout situation than we did. We move on. But in the meantime we have fun, party and show off this magical country of ours to the 85,000 visitors and the millions more who will watch on television from around the world.

Understand rugby in New Zealand and you will understand how it is a metaphor for a changing nation. In some ways, it represents what the ‘old’ New Zealand used to be about. Values that we all once shared and now many have left behind; what some pine for and what many are glad we have left in that other, antique New Zealand. Of some clinging to this sport as a measure of our national manhood and others who do not measure their worth, or the worth of this nation, against what happens on a footy field.

I live in a suburb called Mount Eden. It is a ten minute walk to the hallowed ground of Eden Park which, for the next seven weeks, will have the eyes of the rugby world focussed on it. Yet equally, there are literally thousands of people sharing Mount Eden with me who not only don’t watch rugby, they don’t give a toss about the world cup. Many are migrants from Asia and India. Give them football. Give them cricket. Give them Badminton. Give them Ping Pong. Rugby on the whole is for Pakeha (NZ European), Polynesian and Maori and the 100,000 South Africans that have made New Zealand their home.

Don’t get me wrong, I have bought tickets for the New Zealand versus France game later on this month at Eden Park. ‘Le Revenge’ for Cardiff 2007 many are calling it. I wouldn’t miss it.

So which teams have New Zealanders worried?

The young Australian team with possibly the best back line in the world. The South Africans who will bore us to death with their ‘style’ and to whom winning is more important than it is to New Zealanders.

That’s right South Africans. Every time I am in South Africa I hear that apparently rugby is a religion in NZ. It really makes me laugh. How little the Super Sport talking TV heads understand us. If rugby is a religion then I am afraid many of us are lapsed. The truth is, as I have said before, after many experiences watching the game in South Africa I have not come across more rabid rugby supporters.

I mean there’s been no playing dress up on a Friday like your favourite All Black in New Zealand. No endless TV commercials exhorting the so called team of millions. We know we are already part of Team New Zealand putting our best foot forward – the Silver Fern and more importantly the haka, are the unifying forces. Nothing staged about it. No trying to pretend we are all one people. We are all one people.

On my last trip to SA a month or so ago I almost thought that the tournament must be being held there and not NZ if the TV propaganda, er, marketing, was to be believed exhorting the nation to be one (as South Africa constantly does).

Hell, we have all been moaning about the price of the damn shirts! Personally wearing the shirt of the national team is the ultimate confirmation we are no longer seen as fans by the IRB but consumers. I confess I did buy one but not for me and not to wear. I have bought one for a good friend in South Africa, to add to his collection in his wonderful bar (pub) in his home in Durban. I wouldn’t waste my money on an All Black jersey.

So what does this World Cup mean to me?

Sharing good times with good friends. Welcoming people to our country to share a laugh and a unique ‘Made in New Zealand’ experience. A chance to showcase the best of our industries, our foods, our wine and our lifestyle. And of course a business opportunity. I have many potential clients coming over for a few weeks. I have no doubt they will be blown away by what they see and experience. And the best part for them will be the people. And many will decide to come back and live.

I have my tickets for the semi final which if results go the way of seedings should see the All Blacks playing the Springboks at Eden Park. I spent $1500 (ouch!) on three tickets for me and my sons. I figured this might be the only time we will get a chance to see a major game like this on our home patch and in the end, while I think the prices are hideously expensive it is a once in a lifetime opportunity – so what the hell!

And I confess, with the All Blacks losing their last two games to the Springboks and Australia, I just had to be part of it. To see if this time they could do it. To see if this time they could adapt and play a winning game all the way through to the end. Win ugly if they have to. As the Springboks and English have learned.

I think most New Zealanders, who always like a good time, would see winning as the icing on a seven week party cake. If we lose, we lose, the sun will still rise and shine upon us. I don’t think we define ourselves by what happens on a rugby paddock. I certainly don’t.

We are being told by the organisers to make sure we offer the 85,000 visitors the time of their lives and not to worry about whether the All Blacks win or lose. Ah, yeah, okay…roger that, sure.

I have no doubt we will. Show them a great time that is.

Already the supporters are pouring in. No rooms at the inn and all that. I am amazed that most have booked six week stays and it is clear this isn’t going to be just an Auckland and Wellington rugby event but our visitors are going to suck in all that it means to be a New Zealander. Everything this wonderful country has to offer them – local food and wine, farmers markets, vineyards, farm stays, urban stays, big game fishing, little game fishing(!), Auckland’s new Art Gallery, stage shows, the new ‘Q’ theatre in Auckland, local music, museums, Lord of the Rings Country, Weta Workshop, America’s Cup yachts (get out on our harbour if you are coming), skiing (bumper snow levels on Ruapehu in the Central North Island) , surfing (yep, ski in the morning and surf in the afternoon), walking on beaches, whale watching, swimming with dolphins, sailing, hiking, mountain biking – makes me tired just thinking about it.

Spring is here and the weather should be perfect for rugby – temperatures in the high teens most days in most places, not too hot and not cold. This winter has been very mild apart from two cold snaps. The garden is looking pretty dry and the potted plants need constant watering. The rugby fields will be in excellent condition.

Any thoughts that this will be a wet and challenging environment for rugby favouring the European teams is rubbish. I wouldn’t expect a lot of rain.

And it all kicks off if you’ll excuse the pun this Friday.

Organisers are expecting 50,000 people at Eden Park for the official opening ceremony and another 60,000 along Downtown Auckland.

If you can, watch, watch – the opening ceremony begins at 6pm local time (6am GMT, 8am South Africa and 2pm Singapore and Malaysia). The largest firework display New Zealand has ever seen follows the Eden Park Events.

If you are coming over or are already in New Zealand here is a few must dos while you are here in Auckland:

Have brunch/lunch/dinner (hell just stay for the whole day) at the new Wynyard Quarter

Stroll the farmers market at Britomart then retire to one of the many new bars for local beer or wine. And try out local beers – you could drink a new local beer every time for seven weeks and you’d never drink the same variety twice!

Head up the Sky Tower – you will probably see home from the top.

Visit Federal Street (under the Sky Tower) for some of the best Tapa’s Bars you’ll find (and the latest hang out for Auckland’s beautiful people)

La Cigale Farmers market in Parnell – great food, coffee and the best locally grown produce you will find (ask for directions, it isn’t easy to find but well worth it)

Settle in and watch the rugby at ‘The Cloud’, a 130 metre long structure that looks like a rolling, well, cloud (or albino caterpillar). This is ‘Party Central’ for the RWC. Two football fields long with two giant 18m TV screens, it is to be the hub for World Cup revellers. Bars, stages and food – it is going to be the place to be. Set up to cater for 15,000 people at a time.

Merediths (in Mount Eden – again voted NZ’s best and just a stones throw from Eden Park) for the best fine dining experience you will find while you are here (if you can get a table – they are often booked months in advance). Equally The French Café, The Engine Room, Dine, Clooneys (the list really is endless).

Enjoy some of the cheap Chinese eateries along Dominion Road (15 minutes walk from Eden Park). You won’t understand the waiters, you aren’t there for the service but the food is cheap, regional Chinese and to die for.

Ponsonby Road for more food and bars

Fishing charters out on the Hauraki Gulf – you read me talk about it, now do it for yourselves

Newmarket for shopping

A day (or two) on Waiheke Island – our gem of the Hauraki Gulf – vineyards, great restaurants or you might even take your boardies and have a swim.

If you are staying centrally in Auckland the bus service is superb. The trains are safe and clean and if you are not staying too far away from a station offer a comfortable alternative to the car.

And if you can, squeeze in a bit of rugby!

And therein lies the rub. Once the rugby club was the centre of our social lives. These days, especially for those of us that live in cities like Auckland, it is a small part of it with our diverse backgrounds, histories and interests, the RWC is just a good excuse to have more fun.

Let the party begin!

Iain MacLeod - Southern Man