Taupotreeman

Luck I would suggest. Unless you believe in a higher authority. My cousin embedded his FZR600 in the bulk head of an old codgers car that pulled out in front of him. He was doing about 50 at the time, flew over a 100m from the impact. His rucksack saved his spine but he broke, or rather shattered his left leg, both his wrists and still walks with a limp. I have the picture of the bike remenants somewhere. I'd say you got out of that one really well.

Approaching 30 degrees, stinking hot basically. In fact, I'm off down the lake for a swim.

Gman, if it's of any help as far as I know nobody has been seriously injured or killed in any of the earthquakes. Atree; they reckon you can't feel anything under a three in magnitude unless it's really shallow and after the number you guys have had you probably just tune a heap of em out though that recent one looked like nearly everyone felt it. The first one I felt was 5.1 down here in Turangi a few years ago and that was really shallow. It sounded like a plane was crashing through the side of the house and it scared the daylights out of me. Now I get a bit of kick out of feeling them though I might change my mind if I had em a regularly as you do. I'm just waiting for Ruapehu or Ngaruhoe to go up again. That's one of the bonuses of living next to several active volcanoes. The photo opportunities will be awesome, just hope it's not TOO big.

Hehe, yep that pretty much matches my dad's description of it. He used to come back white as a sheet sometimes so figured he left most of his colour in his undies after a ride.

The old man always reckoned that the GT550 was tank slap happy. Remember riding from Pompey back to the midlands on the back of it one day. My arse was numb from the vibration. I think the old man has two of em, one complete and one he is using for spares. He's had it for donkeys years but it sits in the garage slowly rusting away while he's out on his current flavour of the month. Me? I just want something more comfy than the SV but the roads aren't really suited for heavy tourers out here plus I love the sound of the trumpets.

I'm sure I hear on the news t'other night that Christchurch has had over 40,000 after shocks since the big one. I'm linked up to the GNS website and they've been coming through thick and fast since September. I'm convinced that big one they had a few days ago was a new quake not an after shcok though. Last year we had a spate of about 400+ in a couple of weeks. One of them was big enough to shift the waterfall on the waihi hill 2m to the side of its orginal course and it also opened up new thermal vents on the lake edge. Just waiting now for the Taupo caldera to start acting up. No chance for any of us then but sure will be a spectacular firework display.

$1.40 in Taupo, NZ so about 70p a litre. We have road user charges on top of that though. Prices are going up so fast that I have to be careful with the larger jobs that I take in to consideration any rises in the fuel costs. Three months ago we were under 50p a liter. Prices will just continue to rise. Has anybody thought of what they will do when fuel is so expensive it's almost unafordable?

Might cost a bit to import it into NZ. Dad had a T595 and a Trophy 1200 but not so keen on the recent Trophis; they look a bit bug eyed. Always fancied a speed triple or 955 but haven't really kep up with what the new models are like. NZ is pretty big Harley country though I'm not that keen on them myself. A bit big and unweildy for my liking.

Glad to see all that's been cleared up. I've been trying to figure out what was wrong with the vid but thought maybe I was just old and past it and was missing something big time.

Things have got quite cutthroat here. A new outfit in town is charging rediculously cheap prices just to get the work and try and price the other guys off the scene. Seriously considering looking for paid employment if things don't pick up in the next few months.

No pictures but I have a Suzi SV650. Nice pictures of the GT250, my Dad has a GT550 that he was looking to restore until he got residency in NZ. The whole family is biking mad, sister, Uncles, Cousins. Would love a Triumph when I can afford it.

Seeing as we are the first country in the world (officially) to see the new year in I'd like to just wish all arbtalkers and their whanau a happy, safe and prosperous new year. Hope it's a good one for you all

I, unfortunately, can only deal with companies that will freight to NZ and so far I have had no issues with Honeybros. In fact they have been very helpful. I've found all the stuff I have ordered(boots, harness, ropes etc) have been priced evenly with other outfits and so far it takes longer for the stuff to get from Auckland to my place than it does to come from the UK to Auckland so no complaints there. Have also had stuff from George carr and sons who were good but some other outfits have never bothered to get back to me when I've sent emails asking for advice on equipment. Strangely enough the most helpful of all online arb suppliers was Wesspur in the US. Quick to answer any email questions, thoroughly helpful and at one stage, when the pound was strong against the kiwi, were outragously cheap. Just waiting now for Jonesie to start freighting overseas.

Jeez littletree, I could do with a couple of people with your mind set and work ethic in this neck of the woods. Service providers down here are pretty arrogant and think because it's a small town they can charge what they want and get away with poor workmanship. If you go home happy with your day's work and the money you earn from it then it's all good.

Sorry, not the best photos I'm afraid. I was out walking the mutt and only had a crappy phone camera with me. It's a Gum emperor moth and seemed to be a long way from home as there aren't too many Gums around this neck of the woods.

I tried and tried and tried to educate my customers (including Council) on what was good and bad pruning and why. I tried and tried and tried to trun down jobs that I thought would make me look bad but when work is short and the other outifts are cutting each others throats in a price war you do what the customer wants. If I don't do what the customer wnats that customer will use someone else. Eventually I go out of business and end up working for what was my competition and then trimming trees for people who I had turned down in the first place and doing the type of work I had refused to do. Either that or I change proffession. I wish it were different but when times are tough you have to do what you can to earn a buck. I applaud those that can refuse jobs on the basis that they have enough clients to turn down those 50% reductions etc but it's not like that everywhere and to me, keeping a roof above my head and feeding the family is more important than how a tree looks. Also, at least in this area, price rules. This means that Joe Blow who mows the lawns often gets asked to price the tree trimming (because they advertise as being able to do this) and, because of lower over heads, often get the job. So now I have not just the local arborists to worry about but the mowing contractors too. This makes getting the job tougher so unfortunatley I don't want to spend to long preaching to the customer about proper arb practice as they don't like being told what they should or shouldn't have done to their own trees. As I said, I tried that and people get sick of being told what is and isn't good for their tree. If they want it topped, stumped or whatever and if I want to stay in business I have to do it and hope when the tree dies or looks awful I get the chance to explain why they have trimmed it properly or removed it.

I'm bracing for those winds to hit the CNI later today. Just hope it brings in a bit of work.

Local Council and land owners don't seem to impressed when they get a load of chip with fronds buried in the middle. Better off getting rid of it seperately rather than having to go back and shift a full load of chip from site.

Reckon after the last half arsed efforts with the Husky this one will have to be a fair bit cheaper than the 200T to get people to switch. I fancy having a go with one but not if it isn't significantly cheaper. Better the devil you know in my opion and I'm not splashing out on a saw only for it to fall apart. Tried that with one of those fancy new Stihls with all the supposedly easy chain adjusters etc. What a waste of money.

Owls and falcons are just SO cool.

Can you not just hire a splitter? Get your wife on the controls and you do the log shifting = big pile of split wood in no time.

Something I find helps locating the thorn and getting it out; try using a pumice stone and pumice off all the hard skin. It also takes off the top layer of skin around the thorn which makes it easier to dig out.

Oh, and they've clogged up 15" morbark chippers so I wouldn't risk trying to put em through a chipper unless you absolutely have to. Funnily enough they go through drum chippers much more easily but still come out the other side pretty much intact.

At most of the local council tips now they check the back of the truck to make sure you don't have Flax, Cordyline or Bamboo in the back. It takes ages to rot down and if you get caught hiding it in the bottom of the truck under other greenwaste (as some do) you're in the brown smelly stuff. The fronds do burn though but they need to be dry so it's probably a decent excuse to get a bonfire going.

Apparently, according to the local Maoris, if you leave them stored somewhere until they are properly dead and dry they make excellent kindling. Otherwise take em to the local tip in the back of the truck. They won't even take them for greenwaste composting here because the big tub grinders clog up with Cordyline and Flax fronds.