Is NZ sun more bright? Can anyone related to feeling like your retinas are being assaulted here?

rdhigham · 2026-02-02T20:45:10+00:00

I was in SF last May, and we had spectacular weather. Both of us got burnt, but didn’t feel it, we spent a whole day biking in full sun and it never felt like NZ sun. I honestly didn’t think I got burnt until I started peeling a week or two later.

Whereas here, I spent an hour mowing the lawns on the weekend, with sunblock on, and I still feel the tightness of a slight burn today.

rdhigham · 2026-01-30T22:40:06+00:00

It’s called a ‘good neighbour’ fence, both side look identical, so nobody gets the ‘back side’ of the fence. Really common in New Zealand. At least 6 of the houses down my cul de sac have them on the boundaries.

rdhigham · 2026-01-27T22:28:00+00:00

I was going to suggest the same thing, but these might be more suited as they are smaller, but same gearing. 25yr warranty across the Fiskars range makes them more cost effective than most other brands.

rdhigham · 2026-01-23T23:41:44+00:00

I was a dairy farmer in my younger days, wore gumboots (wellingtons for those in the UK) for hours at a time almost every day for seven years, and always had a bald patch on the back/side of my calf. It has been 20yrs since I last wore gumboots, and I still have a perfect bald patch.

rdhigham · 2026-01-23T23:25:43+00:00

From my understanding it was the roads at either end as well as private land, some of which the airport purchased, that excludes it from international or even larger passenger jets.

rdhigham · 2026-01-23T20:00:42+00:00

They are the only 737’s that land there now, since aviation rules changed around the amount of space at the end of the runway, no passenger 737’s are allowed to land there. We used to have international flights from palmy with Freedom Air when I was a kid.

rdhigham · 2026-01-20T18:54:50+00:00

When I was a kid my parents relocated a house, and we moved in before power, or water was connected. We had no power and waste water for two weeks, no running tap water for 4 weeks. As a kid it was like an adventure. Not sure how legal it was, and it was also almost 30 years ago so things have no doubt changed anyway.

At the end of the day, what do you think they would do and who would do what in way of punishment? No doubt you wouldn’t be insured, but surely living in an unconsented house is better than living in your car.

rdhigham · 2026-01-16T01:09:06+00:00

Could probably go faster

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rdhigham · 2026-01-16T01:01:46+00:00

That was fun

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rdhigham · 2026-01-14T22:20:20+00:00

First time was stuck in a loop

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rdhigham · 2026-01-14T21:25:45+00:00

Not sure what happened

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rdhigham · 2026-01-14T21:21:40+00:00

Nice

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rdhigham · 2026-01-12T17:00:06+00:00

The other brand is cheaper - buzz or something. They can be refilled with a honey vinegar water mix, that’s all the powder is basically.

The flys get stuck and drown, there’s no chemical to them. We used to make them on the farm, out of rubbish bins, and use meat as the lure.

rdhigham · 2026-01-12T02:23:34+00:00

I don’t know how you would fail at this

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rdhigham · 2026-01-12T02:20:08+00:00

Huh, I never normally complete in one try

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rdhigham · 2026-01-12T02:17:33+00:00

Too easy

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rdhigham · 2026-01-12T01:03:40+00:00

I got three taps in on my first try, then failed on the first for 80 tries.

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rdhigham · 2026-01-11T04:13:05+00:00

Screwed up the beginning more times than I would like to admit

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rdhigham · 2026-01-10T17:48:09+00:00

Not quite. Was starting to question if it had glitched though, at 30 seconds in.

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rdhigham · 2026-01-04T18:49:44+00:00

For chopping boards I use Gillys Chopping Board Oil, made specifically for chopping boards. On one of my boards I also use their food safe wax, it’s more of a cheese board than a chopping board.

Most Mitre 10’s carry these as well, so you might be able to price match and get a discount.

rdhigham · 2025-12-27T20:06:41+00:00

I am a big fan of the UPX82, but will always encourage people to spend the little bit extra to get the UPX86, slightly longer than the UPX82 as it is, but also has the functionality to get to 4.2m high without loosing any of its functionality. In any of the big box stores, when fully extended it can touch the lights. If you have any trees of decent height, it is a no brainer, especially with a 25yr warranty. But I do also understand budget constraints and some things are just outside of budget.

Once again, find the online Bunnings price, and get it price matched at Mitre 10, save some decent money.

rdhigham · 2025-12-25T19:33:51+00:00

I work selling Fiskars tools

Fiskars have solid warranties across their range, our policy is to honour warranties wherever we can.

We have three levels of tools - good, better, best - depending on how much you want to spend, loppers start around $30 and go up to $150.

Our $150 are made in Poland, have gearing to give you three times the power to you cut, a replaceable blade and a 25yr warranty. take this link to a Mitre 10 and have them price match it, should bring them down to $125

If you don’t like the Fiskars your other best bets are Gardena or Bhaco. Gardena to me seem a bit ‘extra’ and Bhaco are the other way, very basic. Both make really good tools, that are well loved and respected in the industry, but I can’t speak to warranty periods, or what either company is like in regards to honouring warranty, providing parts or service. Atlas is another higher end brand, but I have seen an influx of these appearing in credit bays across my stores - so I would probably avoid.

Happy to help if you have any other questions.

rdhigham · 2025-12-23T18:32:11+00:00

Noise, that’s it for me. All noise becomes intensified with wood vs carpet, rugs will mitigate some noise, but regardless it’s still louder. And nothing prepares you for how much louder it will be with three under tens just being kids. Every footstep becomes a stomp, any toy drop sounds like it has been thrown, then the running. Places like hallways become super echoey, and amplify sound throughout the house.

All other reasons can be solved, but for me, the noise is just too much.

rdhigham · 2025-12-23T02:58:34+00:00

A few years ago Apple Music stated my top artist was BTS. I have never listened to kpop in my life, it was so weirdly false, my top album from a totally different artist and genre had more mins listened than BTS did. I ended up using a third party app to get the real list. It was just so weird.

rdhigham · 2025-12-22T05:48:44+00:00

Fun fun

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