Taupotreeman

Meindle's are definately the dog's dangly's but I found the Klimba air tirrols seem to be more waterproof even though, as far as I know, they don't have gortex or similar. The Meindles are warmer by far though.

I can't see it as having work stolen. You quote for the work and you either get the job or you don't. Sometimes you lose out to a rival company but they don't steal the work from you it's just the way it goes. I have to deal with mowing contractors who think they can trim a tree and at knockdown prices. The customer usually comes back to a pro once mr mow has butchered her tree. On the other hand; I often take down trees for a knockdown price on the understanding I can have the wood. It just depends on how bare the wood shed is looking at the time so I suppose I could be accused of stealing work off the other contractors around. If the other guy is only taking the wood offer to go round and clean up the greenwaste for a good price or, talk to the fella himself and see if you can work in with his jobs. Offer to provide a price to do the clean up for him after he's knocked the tree over. You never know, you might get some easy work out of it. When I first started out there was a local axe man who had won a small fortune on the stihl timbersports circuit. His winnings had paid for all his gear so often he would do jobs for the wood (firewood being his retirement money) and I couldn't compete. Rather than griping about it I rang him and explained who I was and what I did and now I actually use him for the big jobs as I can undercut the competition due to his low prices and he's happy to use me to put strops and winch cables up the trees that he can't deal with on his own. He passes all climbing jobs my way and I pass the fell only jobs his way. The customer gets a good service so always comes back to us for repeat work and some jobs he doesn't charge me for as he might have a tree needing my skills so no money changes hands. It actually works really well.

Plus it would mean less noisy neighbours if it happened quickly enough

Crikey, I can think of heaps of wishes but off the top of my head; I wish that the global population would begin to reduce so that we could save many of the wee beasties we are currently putting into extinction by our expansion and so that we could secure our future resources such as food and water. Estimates of the global population by 2050 are about 9 Billion. At some stage we'll probably eat ourselves into decline. Is that a bit too serious?

Ha, just spotted Jake the muss. Sweet as.

Yeesh, that would have been a bit un-nerving.

Almost 9 at night and just had to go down the river again to cool off. The cloud has come in so now it's both hot and very muggy.

Arbtalk is addictive so I end up staying on here longer than I intend . Swim finished but might have to go again as it's so bloody hot. Taranaki and New Plymouth are pretty much the same region. New Plymouth is the main city in the area, right on the coast. Taranaki is the region or district. Bit like County and city in the UK. New Plymouth is about a two to three hour drive from me through some pretty rugged country. The naki is dominated by Mt Taranaki which is a dormant volcano. From what I've seen of it it's a nice place to be but there's not to many shabby places over here to be fair.

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.