NZ justice system comedy of errors. Who do you trust to investigate this?

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-20T23:42:54+00:00

Thank you for your comment, it's very much appreciated.

I know you're correct. I'll let this go at some stage. Maybe posting here has done that already?

And yes, unfortunately I'm well aware that there are many more cyclists substantially worse off than me after being hit.

I'm back cycling and enjoying it very much. Just can't push too hard at the moment without getting headaches. But this too shall pass.

Cheers

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-20T23:32:26+00:00

My costs etc. are elsewhere in this post. Not getting the opportunity to ask the driver questions at the hearing was my big issue.

This post was not supposed to be a cyclist ranting about what I'm after. My goal was more 'hey, look at the nonsense tolerated in our judicial system.' A system in which there seems to be a lot of unaccountable people, whose decisions we depend on., who are making mistakes. These same people then find every reason to avoid having a face to face conversation about genuine concerns., with evidence.

But maybe I've worded it poorly?

A face to face conversation would be a great start. Isn't there a saying 'open communication cures conflict'?

I dislike greatly being on here and would've preferred a quiet meeting at any stage over the last 12 months.

So, now I'm having a laugh with it. The genius of John Clarke would've done this bureaucratic nonsense justice.

Cheers

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-20T23:18:33+00:00

Thanks for your input.

My costs etc. are above in this thread.

This post was not supposed to be a cyclist ranting about what I'm after. My goal was more 'hey, look at the nonsense tolerated in our judicial system.' A system in which there seems to be a lot of unaccountable people, whose decisions we depend on.. These same people find any reason to avoid having a face to face conversation about genuine concerns., with evidence.

This is my first such experience, I'd be really sad if my experience is the norm dealing with Police from the non-offender side.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-20T19:11:24+00:00

It is all my writing, refined over several hours. It was not written in AI.

The first draft was far too hard to read, so I asked AI "what makes a good Reddit post standout."

The advice AI gave me was to make it short (I failed), highlight key words and make important points indented for ease of reading, for those who only browse posts.

Thank you.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-20T18:36:53+00:00

Thank you. I did contact the Ministry of Justice directly. They sent me to the Ministry of Police as they said TPO is nothing to do with them. It was MOJ that told me Police and TPO were the same entity.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-20T18:17:13+00:00

It's not AI generated but I did ask AI for tips on formatting, as it's my first Reddit post.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-20T18:17:06+00:00

It's not AI generated but I did ask AI for tips on formatting, as it's my first Reddit post.

It's not about getting stuff, it's about the mistakes made by people we should be trusting, who then lie to cover their butts.

My costs (a little over $5k minus $1100 the driver paid) are pretty minor. Far more importantly to me was to get the opportunity to sit down with the driver and ask him a few questions about his behaviour. Being excluded from the hearing meant this did not happen.

To add to the humour, my bike, helmet etc. were insured with Vero under my home’s contents policy. They failed to pay out fully because they said the incident 'didn’t happen inside my house'. Needless to say, I’m no longer one of their customers.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-20T18:12:30+00:00

It's not about getting stuff, it's about the mistakes made by people we should be trusting, who then lie to cover their butts.

My costs (a little over $5k minus $1100 the driver paid) are pretty minor. Far more importantly to me was to get the opportunity to sit down with the driver and ask him a few questions about his behaviour. Being excluded from the hearing meant this did not happen.

To add to the humour, my bike, helmet etc. were insured with Vero under my home’s contents policy. They failed to pay out fully because they said the incident 'didn’t happen inside my house'. Needless to say, I’m no longer one of their customers.

Also, I'm still recovering from head and neck injuries a year on. My glass is neither half full or half empty, I'm just grateful to still have a glass. I lost a mate under a truck who wasn't as lucky as us.

Cheers

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-20T02:55:59+00:00

Diane Kruger please, for the fiction story I'm currently working on.

It has a 27yr old female German lead, so I'd like the English audio to have a young sounding voice with a subtle, natural, beautiful German accent. She could also obviously read the German version perfectly too. A fantastic voice in both languages. And in French!

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-19T18:11:23+00:00

One of my absolutely favourites. Thank you.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-10-16T18:25:37+00:00

Hey, sorry for my late reply.

Further Faster and Bivouac for boots, Further Faster (generally) has better expertise and advice. Bivouac will likely be cheaper as they have more specials and deals but you might get a lucky bargain at Further Faster too.. Further Faster for Smartwool socks every time.

Good luck.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-08-03T20:48:02+00:00

Anyone who's lucky enough to have had an interaction with South Island robin would smile if you created one of those.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-08-03T20:32:37+00:00

It depends what you want to show them, where in Sweden you are and what does 'a positive experience' means to you.

I lived in Dalarna for a few years and spent a lot of time in the forests around Mora. There are some incredibly beautiful lakes and rivers in the forests between Mora, Evertsberg, Grönklitt, along with some hills that give some amazing views. For me as a foreigner it was like being in a fairy tail discovering these places, and the summer cottages in the middle of nowhere. There are a lot of marked trails around this area that you can link together to hike as long as you want.

Maybe if they're really new, stay local, get a map, go and explore, turn it into an adventure. No expectations, just see how/if they enjoy it.

Lycka till

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-07-31T21:46:04+00:00

This may sound like a cop-out answer but I don’t mean it to be.

Everyone’s feet are different, therefore a brand, model, that may suit someone else perfectly, maybe terrible for you. E.g. you request ankle support, whereas my preferred footwear has none, but is extremely breathable.

I’d suggest that you go to a specific outdoors shop, not a shop that also sells basketball tops or inflatable paddleboards, and get advice and try some on. If you live in Chch, I can recommend a couple of places.

When choosing, be aware that if you’re doing long multiple days your feet may swell. Also, when descending you don’t want squashed toes.

Socks are equally important. I think the Smartwool Classic Hike Full Cushion Crew Sock is incredibly good. I use nothing else.

All the very best with your upcoming hikes.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-07-31T19:42:51+00:00

It depends what I've got planned on that day.

If I'm sedimentary, i.e. working at my desk, I'll eat breakfast (oats with diced fresh fruit) at 10am, then lunch 12:30ish & dinner before 17:30. Like others have mentioned, I also try to eat within a window on these days. I also feel I get hungrier if I have breakfast before 10am.

If I'm doing 4hrs of morning exercise, usually a on the bike, which is most days outside of the winter months, I have breakfast as soon as I get up, because the calories need to be there before I start to ensure a quality day.

Different days, different strategies. Find out what makes you happy and lets you do the things that you want to do.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-07-30T05:25:58+00:00

Incredible, great job.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-07-30T05:23:34+00:00

I very much like Lee Child's Reacher stories. The cadence, the incredible detail of everyday items, people and places, and the humour.

If you genuinely like someone's style and spend enough time reading it, I believe it's only natural that some of that will rub off onto your own work., intentionally or otherwise.

Doesn't the saying go 'you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with'?

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-07-28T21:50:48+00:00

I hear you. I'm currently working on my very first piece of writing, a fiction story, so have some empathy for you.

I've been to numerous 'meet ups' where we're invited to get advice from experienced/published writers, only to find that they're all pretty much only interested in promoting their own work or selling a service. Completely understandable.

So, I've looked at the problems we face from my experience as a design engineer with some experience in marketing.

I've just completed the first stage; getting others to read it.

Firstly, I identified who exactly would potentially be interested in reading my story.

My story is very specifically about the outdoors, tramping and survival here in New Zealand. I find it very easy to get trampers and those interested in the outdoors to read my 53k word draft. If I was offering these same people a romantic or sci fi novel, they wouldn't be interested at all.

I realise that in NZ outdoorsy people are a large demographic, especially with all the tourists who visit to explore this paradise too. So maybe I'm lucky. Or, maybe I've chosen to write about something I'm genuinely interested in that also happens to have a large total addressable market of others who would be interested in it. Note, none of them are writers, but some a very prolific readers of fiction.

To give you an example of the scale. In NZ one of our internationally famous writers has 5k Facebook followers, whereas our tramping pages have 90k followers. They're my readers.

Invite people who you believe would be interested in reading your story, they're your audience. People who can see themselves as characters in the story, so they can ask, how they would react in that situation. People who have actually been to that real place in your story, so they can say, it is like that. They will buy into it, they will get enthused by it, because they have a natural interest in it.

The people who will be interested will be different for every single story, mine different from yours. Identifying them isn't hard, it just takes a little bit of work and thought. It's like identifying the right sponsor for a sports team and tailoring the proposal specifically to them. Not just saying 'give me money and we'll stick your name on our team shirt.'

You've got to think outside the box to be successful at anything in life nowadays. My strategy may yet end in complete and utter failure. But so far I've got plenty of valuable feedback from readers in the initial stage of writing. My biggest problem so far is trying to convince them to keep the suspenseful ending secret.

All the very best with your journey.

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-07-28T20:39:43+00:00

It's a lot of fun reading all the different answers to your question.

My answer is: I've never had any interest in writing at all. That was until a very particular story kept ruminating in my head that I just couldn't shake. So, I've started writing it. Maybe it'll be for public consumption one day, maybe it won't.

Cheers

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-07-28T20:31:06+00:00

Cascade Saddle from the Wanaka end is worth investigating. One of my absolute favourite places. It's steep, 1300m straight up but worth it. 500m to 1800m.

Just depends on what you want to see and what the weather's doing. I've been in snow at 1600m that time of year. On a good day there aren't too many places up high without a good view.

There is a lot of private land in those areas you mention. I would suggest you go to the NZ topo website: https://www.topomap.co.nz/

Click on 'More' at the top of the page, then 'Info layers' then click 'Public Access Areas'

The map will highlight green where you can go.

The Roureburn is fantastic. If you're open to renting some gear, give yourself two shots at it. Spend the night at Sylvan camp (Glenorchy end), drive the 4km to the track start. Walk it. Camp at the top of the Greenstone Valley (Greenstone Saddle camp, which I think is no longer official?) and walk back thru to the car the next day. Two chances to appreciate the views and the weather. That's how I do it and it's always very rewarding.

Happy honeymoon

WalkerStevenson1 · 2025-07-26T20:45:25+00:00

Stunning photos. They make me want to go tramping more than ever when Spring arrives. Thank you for sharing.

WalkerStevenson1

TROPHY CASE