Mandy Lights “Winter Light Cathedral” installation at Aotea Square, Auckland
Last Photo before I finally freeze this site and turn it all to static (pages)
Photo: Winter Light Cathedral Aotea Square
Uncategorized
Another day, Another critical security bug
Just gotten word from WordFence security plug-in there’s another critical bug with another plug-in I had. The errant plug in has since been disabled and removed, but it does highlight a wider issue with regards to website maintainability given this is (or was) just a personal / family site… (Continued below)
Combined with reading about a recently reported Linux Kernel “Copy-Fail” CVE, Have taken the opportunity to move this site back to managed hosting from unmanaged VPS, “Freeze” this site (as much as possible) in the backend and stop posting to it indefinitely. Consequently this means the comment facility has also been disabled. The site will likely remain like this until I can find better uses of the domain name.
Some closing thoughts…
As an otherwise ordinary random member of the public, I don’t feel like there is any value in me trying maintain this site let alone bother to air my personal thoughts in a publicly accessible setting. I don’t consider myself a proficient writer and while I’m in I.T / Software Development. Web development isn’t my specialty.
Given there are very few (if any) inbound links from other sites, I’m surprised at how some of the content here is supposedly appearing high in the SERPs of various Search Engines as these posts of mine are mainly just public thoughts rather than well researched articles.
This type of site, the “personal homepage”, is a relic from the time I was a wee kid in the 90s when almost everyone and their pet had a Geocities account or space at their ISP e.g homepages.ihug.co.nz/~userID. Most people have long since moved on to social media platforms.
As mentioned on the originally pinned “About” post. I had set up this site as a friends and family domain, but frankly it has outlived this purpose.
Anchor Probiotic+ big tubs discontinued
Email I got back from Fonterra Brands Customer Service regarding not being able to find the larger Anchor Probiotic+ yoghurt tubs…
Dear XXXX,
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
It’s great that you enjoyed our so much and we’re sorry it’s no longer available.
Here at Fonterra, we want all our products to stand the test of time but sadly it’s not always possible. Occasionally there are circumstances that mean we need to discontinue a product.
Loyal customers mean everything to us and we understand how disappointing it can be. We don’t take these matters lightly and do our best to let fans know about any major changes.
Again, we’re sorry your favourite is no longer on the shelves.
Kind Regards,
XXXX X
FBNZ Customer & Consumer Services Team
SIXT Australia is owned by The NRMA
SIXT Australia is entirely owned by The NRMA (Motoring and Services).
They were previously branded as Thrifty Australia Car and Truck Rental.
Photo: Heading Home
Average Photo of clouds and dusk.
As a aside, thinking of moving all the thoughts and posts off of this domain and putting them elsewhere. As it currently stands, this site is intended to be a collection of informal public notes and commentary and are certainly not intended to be formal articles or researched reports, but simply my personal reflections as an otherwise little-known member of the public based on available information and lived interpretation at the time of writing them. Admittedly, the domain peak.nz may unwittingly give these thought posts more authority than they ought to receive.
Fieldays 2026 entry ticket price increase
Waikato Agricultural event, Fieldays, has increased their Adult entry ticket price from 30 NZD to 36 NZD for 2026. (20% increase on 2025)
If you are a decision maker / purchaser / or managing a sizeable agri-business, then yeah, it would certainly be still worth your while attending including the opportunity to network with others in the industry, attend talks, discuss solutions and cut deals.
If you are a member of the ordinary public, going there for “killer deals” and treating it as a shopping event (as some attendees have themselves declared), then many retailers will be running their Fieldays specials online anyway without the friction of getting there, parking up, battling the crowds and having to pay the entry fee on top of that.
For Families with young kids. A&P shows may offer better value in terms of a day out. At the larger A&P shows, there tends to be more live competitive displays, animals, and other spectacles taking place.
Zooming out, Fieldays is really more of a B2B agribusiness trade show I feel and differs in format to the A&P shows.
For the general public not in the rural sector, it is worth attending once to see what it is about, but beyond that ( unless you are in Agribusiness) subsequent attendances offer diminishing value.
Fieldays Society Inc. have (at least in the past) been at pains to state they are a not for profit.
Frustration over AT’s Hop Contactless payment overcharges.
Update 2026-May-16: Have been refunded yet again. But will admit have lost faith in the Contactless fare payment system. Will instead go back to using my AT HOP Tag
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Up until recently, have been using Contactless payments to tag on and off buses and trains in Auckland City in an attempt to take advantage of the $20 daily fare cap (Not available for AT Hop card, instead AT HOP has a $50 weekly fare cap which I’m not able to take advantage of), however the system occasionally (but frequently enough to be aggravating) screws up despite me carefully checking for a green light and a “tag success” message at the tag station each time
Seems their system in the back end often failing to pair up the tags correctly resulting in cascading erroneous “missing tag” events and multiple “Default fares” subsequently being charged.
The process to query these has been very mixed. Sometimes I get a refund in days, sometimes it takes weeks or even months of back and forth like this latest case.
The common trigger pattern for me at least has been when a trip has involved a quick transfer at any point. For example: You tag off at the train station gates and then quickly tag on to a nearby waiting bus.
Given the friction and in spite of increased fuel costs – Have decided to curtail my use of Auckland’s Public Transport until Auckland Transport pull their finger out and fix the system. The risk of AT’s system error’ing out weighing in my mind and the subsequent arduous process to obtain a refund has drastically reduced my willingness to take Auckland Public Transport in the meantime.
Photo: Hamilton Gardens Egyptian Enclosed garden
Another shot from Hamilton gardens…
Auckland Public Transport – Narratives not met with action
Despite the powers to be narrating about modal shift in terms of our obligations towards emission reductions / climate change, “Vision Zero” / “Road to Zero” (where no deaths / serious injuries occur on transport), and congestion reduction – The initiatives to encourage people out of cars and on to Public Transport and Active modes at least in Auckland have not been adequate. Frankly the policy narratives on the part of many government agencies don’t match their actions.
There are a few major things playing against modal shift in Auckland. These include…
- Auckland Council (possibly pressured by Central Government to do so?) approving greenfield subdivisions with no access to public transport. The only way to get in out of those neighbourhoods would be to drive a car. Of course, new residents moving into those developments will need to buy a fleet of cars, and it’s no guess where those cars are going to end up – Adding more cars to an already over saturated and congested region wide roading network. We see this occurring in the South East area of Auckland in Ormiston and Flatbush where Ti-Rakau Drive suffers from some of the most severe congestion in the region. A major issue is once travel patterns are set, it then becomes that much more difficult to get people to leave their cars at home and adopt alternatives.
- Constant Rail system incidents that cause train cancellations. Even with the Central Rail Link up and running, the system simply lacks the needed redundancy and resilience elsewhere to properly absorb these incidents, so the constant rail service disruptions are sadly likely to continue at their current cadence. For people to leave these cars at home, they need to be able to depend on the system when they need it. The lack of reliability represents a multi-agency failure to deliver this
I’m of the opinion that unless you go into the Auckland CBD regularly or you are lucky enough to be on a direct Public Transport route to where you need to go to or require only a single transfer across two high frequency services, then Public Transport as it’s structured today in Auckland isn’t going to meet the needs of many if not most commuters.
In terms of my own situation…
I work in East Tamaki in an I.T. / Software development role. To get from my home near Meadowbank Shopping centre to my work place in Kerwyn Avenue, East Tamaki Industrial, I would need to take a minimum of 3 buses with a travel time of 1.5 hours each way. Sure, you can fritter away on your phone for that time or simply look out the window and observe the world go by, but with the number of transfers. It’s no soon you have to remember to push the “bus stopping” buzzer, prepare to alight and look out for the next service to catch.
Car takes around 25 minutes in (Morning) and about an hour to get back (Afternoon). However, the travel time is increasing each year as more people move to Auckland resulting in increased traffic volumes in already saturated roads. Agencies and councilors are championing the Eastern Busway as some transformational thing… It is not. Unlike the Northern Busway, the Eastern Busway is full of “at grade” intersections at arguably very busy intersections.
I’ve tried to use public transport for most other journeys, particularly in the weekends. It works Okay if you’re not in a hurry to get any where, but have found it’s still quicker to drive. This applies even for busy events (festivals) where it’s quicker to drive, park up further out and walk to the event.
The final nail in the coffin for me has been the frequent enough cascading “missing tag” errors when paying for public transport.
In conclusion…
Given the current trajectory and the competing incentives even within Auckland Council itself. I’m not confident that Auckland will meaningfully ween itself off of Car dependency / Car-centricity for the foreseeable future, at least not in the next few decades. This I feel is caused in large part by a multi-agency failure to work together and deliver for the public.
East Auckland unmitigated urban planning / layout disaster
Car dependent, congested transport hellscape with key zones scattered all over the show. Worse of both worlds for Public Transport users and Drivers including business traffic.
No corridor protection for either Public Transit spines nor Motorway spines.
Any bus routes implemented in the area made to zig zag all over the place. Public transport typically taking 3-4 times longer than car in this area.
Large area served only by a handful of undersized traffic-light laden arterials (Ti Rakau / East Tamaki Road)
Lack of direct roading links into East Tamaki industrial area to the west and north means having to detour in the opposite direction before proceeding in the direction you want to go wasting time and causing congested clash points in traffic flow.
Ti Rakau Bridge is beyond capacity and is a real pinch point for traffic between the suburbs of Pakuranga and the Botany / East Tamaki area.
Eastern Busway (unlike the Northern busway) that is currently being built is full of at-grade intersections and I struggle to understand how, even with aggressive traffic signal prioritization is this going to successfully encourage modal shift.
Continued unrestrained sprawl out towards Ormiston / Flat bush ensures the pinch points East of the Tamaki river will remain under pressure for the foreseeable future. Residents having to cross existing already overloaded arterials to get out to the rest of Auckland.
All round a very poor show — Particularly for a city that is allegedly in a developed nation.
Aucklanders, expect your commute to get worse
Update 28/02/2026: Had a chat with NZTA / AT at the Drury Open day 28th February 2026 to relay my concerns. In aggregate…
- They understand the situation with Corridor protection and why it’s needed. They assure me that Mill Road and the extension to Pukekohe has now been protected.
- They concur with my concerns around circuitous bus station designs agreeing that any buses services need to stop as close to the train platforms as practicable to enable efficient and timely transfers.
- AT Travel Wise will relay my concerns regarding bus service provisioning to East Tamaki Industrial. In particular having direct Bus services to and from East Tamaki to terminate at Glen Innes (to better connect with TMK, 75, 65) instead of Panmure (where Bus Route 352 currently terminates at)
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We keep sprawling out while failing to protect needed future transport corridors. This is unusual for a city in a developed nation.
Look at the area East of the Tamaki River in Auckland. Endless sprawl without either a grade separated transit (busway or rail) spine or a motorway spine.
Instead we have endless traffic light infested arterials. Worse, traffic lights that do not seem to be optimised to keep platoons of vehicles flowing smoothly in either direction
Even Worse, many of those newer developments such as Flat Bush and Ormiston aren’t any where near a bus service, so what are residents / households who move into the area going to do? Buy a fleet of cars adding ever more cars into an already deeply constrained Auckland wide roading network. Once household travel patterns becomes establish it is then very hard to reverse. This basically guarantees we will be stuck in a cycle of car dependency and abject congestion as a city for the foreseeable future.
Any bus services we have are made to “zig zag” over the area.
It is clear (unlike cities in other developed countries) we have not learned from our past mistakes and this is personally the bit I find hardest to reconcile.
Of course once the concrete is laid down, it is often very difficult and costly to fix it later on especially if we haven’t reserved any corridors. Look at the Eastern Busway. We ended up having to acquire and demolish houses at huge cost. — I for one am going to say up front this project isn’t going to be the saviour of East Auckland as we believe it is going to be. Too many “at-grade” intersections, unlike the Northern Busway.
As an ordinary rate-paying resident, I’m at a total loss at what I can do. I’ve submitted my views where I can to the Council, AT and other government agencies involved both during consultations and outside of it but feel like I’m being stonewalled. I’m surprised transport advocates whether they are pro-PT or Pro-car haven’t also spotted this and kicked up a fuss.
Photo: Mt Maunganui
Photo from a past road trip.
Nothing really new on the personal front to report.
Photo: Auckland CBD from Kauri Point
Auckland CBD from Kauri point reserve (North shore)
Test ignore
Test post, ignore
A warning to businesses using Parking Services Ltd
If you employ Parking Services Ltd (PSL) to manage your customer car park, you WILL lose me as a customer.
There have been repeated reports of this Tauranga based company issuing inflated breach notices, engaging in fairly aggressive collection tactics and even issuing notices incorrectly to genuine paying customers of some businesses.
While fortunately I haven’t had to deal with Parking Services Ltd as a motorist nor been a recipient of such a notice myself. As a (prospective) customer and member of the public, my concerns are that…
- I certainly don’t want to risk the stress and wasted time of dealing with disputing an incorrectly issued notice (which if the news reports are anything to go by, they appear to regularly do) and…
- I certainly do not at all appreciate having some firm monitoring (via CCTV) my car park movements like a hawk for the slightest breach ready to pounce and issue with me a $85 – $95 breach notice.
If I see the Parking Services Ltd (PS Ltd) logo at your site, I will simply take my business elsewhere. A line I feel has to be drawn regarding these sorts of practices.
Note: This is an entirely separate organization to the Wilson parking’s owned Parking Enforcement Services / PESNZ.
Reviewed 26 May 2026: Since publishing this post, I have heard from a business owner running a cake shop who commented experiencing genuine difficulties with unauthorised parking and who view private parking enforcement through PSL as a necessary service to ensure parking remains available for their customers.
While I acknowledge those concerns and understand why some businesses might feel compelled to engage such services from the likes of PSL, my perspective remains that of a (prospective) customer / member of the public. While businesses must weigh the costs and benefits of different parking management approaches, I am equally entitled to consider those same approaches when deciding where to spend my time and money.
After taking the time to reflect on the business owner’s account regarding her situation, as a consumer I am choosing to continue to exercise my natural rights here and avoid engaging with any retailer who chooses to contract PSL given PSL’s track record of conduct. If any business who uses PSL thinks this is “bullyish” on my part as a consumer, then I firmly ask them in return to reflect on the behaviour of their supplier, Parking Services Ltd.
Zooming out and speaking more broadly, many of our larger centres continue to rely heavily on private vehicle access. To some extent, disputes over parking availability may reflect wider questions about transport choices, urban design, and our dependence on car travel.
Photo: Mercer Bay and Piha
Photo from Auckland West Coast…
Parking Services Ltd and Similar Ilk: Know Your Rights and Push Back
Disclaimer: This post is my personal opinion as a concerned member of the public and is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. If you are the recipient of such a breach notice from a private parking firm, suggest consider speaking to a legal advisor or the Citizens Advice Bureau.
In recent years, I’ve watched with alarm and indignation as remote private parking enforcement companies like Parking Services Ltd and Smart Compliance Management Ltd have gained a greater foothold in New Zealand. While I’ve personally never received a parking breach notice from either of them, what I’ve seen and what others have highlighted I feel raises serious questions about fairness, legality, and ethics.
If You Receive One – Don’t Panic
If you or someone you know happens to receive such a notice from a private parking enforcement firm, please don’t just pay it blindly. Here’s what you can do. Continue reading “Parking Services Ltd and Similar Ilk: Know Your Rights and Push Back”
Photo: Hamilton Gardens Piazza
Piazza at Hamilton Gardens. Little / short roadtrip to get out of Auckland for a while to collect my thoughts + a short hike at the North end of Hakarimata ranges. Trails appear to be rather quiet currently.
In other news. Yes, to confirm the stories on the grapevine, I did indeed purchased yet another rental property earlier this year. (Why people seem to be so fascinated at this, I wouldn’t know…)
Photo: Kaiate Falls
Kaiate Falls (Lower).
Western Bay of Plenty district council page for Kaiate Falls
Photo: Autumnal 2025
Autumnal colours.
There’s little I can do to fix the state of the state of humanity or the world as an individual. Can only ever hope to look after my little part of it and “bear witness” I suppose. I’ve said my piece, and shall hunker down.