Well today has been a very long day.

I left Wanganui at 10am with the plan to be in Wellington a little after 1.30pm.

Normally it takes a little over two hours to get to Wellington from Wanganui but because I had the day spare I decided to head through the Manuwatu Gorge and Rimutakas for the fun of it.

My new GPS unit had a fun time trying to workout how to drive through the Gorge. It was determined to get me to drive to Palmerston North first, even though I had been told to go through Fielding, Bunnythorpe, and Ashurst. Normally when you go off the course it has plotted for you it just finds a new route. But not this time. It was determined that I turn around and go back to its planned route. When I didn’t it did everything possible to get me to drive through Palmerston North including just before the Gorge telling me to turn right and drive to Palmy.

The Gorge was abosolutely amazing to drive through. I would have loved for someone else to be with me to take photos. I will definately have to come back in summer with someone. Once through the Gorge I headed to Woodville and down State Highway Two to Mangatainoka where the Tui Brewary is located.

At around 12.30pm I stopped for lunch at Mc Donalds in Masterton. I got quite annoyed at the wait for a cheeseburger - it took twenty five minutes to be served.

Jumping back onto the road I headed south and through the Rimutakas. Again that was great fun - but I wished that I had someone else to take some photos. Although, it was slightly frustrating being stuck behind a slow moving car and then a truck.

Coming into Wellington I headed through Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt. If I was to ever move to Wellington I would live there. It looked like quite a nice place to live - particularly Lower Hutt.

I eventually arrived in Wellington a little before 3.30pm. Yes it had taken more then 5 hours for a trip that should have taken a little over 3. That was primarily due to Mc Donalds being useless, stopping briefly at the beer factory, and slow cars on the road with little room for passing.

Stayed tuned for the journey back on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday…

Okay this photo is old but I have only just downloaded photos from my mobile phone to my computer.

This a photo of very thick fog in Auckland on May 16.

Okay. So I did manage to get up at 4am and get on the road by 4.20am.

Admittedly it was a struggle to stay awake until some light appeared at 6am, and the torrential rain heading south was not much fun. But it lifted around 2 hours into the trip.

I got to National Park village at 8.45am. This was a little later then I hoped for but I had to travel slow through the rain and play it safe. The really freaky thing was the snow on the road at National Park. The following photo is taken heading to Ruapheu just a little after National Park. Note: This photo is of a state highway. NOT the mountain road.

Once I got to Wakapapa Village I had chains fitted to my car.

As you can see from the following photo they were certainly needed:

On the chains I had to travel up the mountain at 30kmh max. This meant that the trip to the Top of the Bruce took close to an hour. I managed to get my tickets and gear at 9.40am, and got onto the snow at 10am, a whole hour after I had planned.

Because the weather was bad the upper mountain facilities were closed. Therefore I decided to get an intermediate lesson. I was fortunate enough to be the only one interested in this lesson so ended up with an hour of private tuition!

The lesson lasted until 11am, when they closed all but the Happy Valley beginners area of the mountain.

The amount of snow on the area (Rockgarden) where the lesson was had was amazing. The snow was so thick that it was a stuggle to see where the slopes and paths were and where the rest of the mountain was. However, this didn’t matter too much as there is a 3m snow base! The depth of snow was so impressive that on some slopes you sunk about ankle deep in fresh snow despite being on skis.

The weather was terrible on the day. But that didn’t matter too much. I have been in worse tramping. It was around -2, 50kmh wind or so (so very very cold wind chill at least -10), and visibility at 50 - 100m.

My car at the end of the day. Frozen.

My car was very nice and warm. Not.

Brad after a day on the mountain. My new goggles and overpants rocked.

Yes there is a building under all that snow.

Coming down the mountain there it was almost torrential snow. Quite fun. But a little scary at the same time. Especially as my chains had been taken off when this shot was taken. Look at the snow on top of the jeep in front.

After the day I stayed at Miro Lodge in Ohakune. Which was alright. I was a little disappointed not to wake to snow in Ohakune in the morning. And next time I would love to take someone else. You get bored by yourself after a while.

Okay the weather is packing in for the weekend so if I want to go skiing I must do it tomorrow.

That means a 4am start to my day.

It is currently 9.15pm and I still have to complete packing, take a shower, load the car, and go to bed. So long Auckland, the Internet, and work for at least the next week and a half. I don’t even have a date that I will be back. It is so great!

I am meant to be going skiing this Friday. But the weather is not playing its part. To gamble and head down anyway or wait a few more weeks. That is thy question?

The Average New Zealand student:

Owes $28,000+ in Debt.
Lives away from home.
Receives little financial support from family.
Works part time. (around 15 hours a week) often for minimum wage.
Doesn’t qualify for a student allowance.

The rich student:

Owes nothing in debt. Either their parents have paid their entire way through or they have a scholarship (often because their parents have paid for extra school lessons).
Either lives at home or away from home. Pays nothing in rent because parents cover it all.
Receives full financial support from family.
Doesn’t work part time. They can therefore spend more time on studies and do better.
Qualifiers for a student allowance because their families have creative accountants who tie all the money up in trusts, investments, and company expenses.

My situation:

32,000 in debt.
Lives away from home.
Receives no financial support from family.
Worked 20 hours a week while studying.
Did not qualify for a student allowance.

Psalm 82:3-4a

“… You’re here to defend the defenseless, to make sure that underdogs get a fair break;
Your job is to stand up for the powerless, …”

(The Message)

I am fired up. As blogged below do not critise those who are below you. We have just as much a voice as you do.

If you want to know more about student support and how little students get check this page out: http://www.students.org.nz/index.php?page=livingallowances

Here are some highlights:

Students are the only group in our society who are not entitled to public income assistance when out of paid work. While the cost of living increases more and more, full-time students are being forced to scramble together income from a range of sources to meet ever increasing weekly living expenses - whether through working long hours on top of full-time study or borrowing to live from the loan scheme.

New Zealand’s low level of living allowance eligibility and relatively high cost of living forces a large number of students to borrow to live from the Student Loan Scheme and/or scramble together income from a range of sources.

In a 2005 report by the North American-based Education Policy Institute, research compared countries on six different measures of tertiary education and student living cost affordability. Out of a total of 16 countries, New Zealand only scored 15th, while understandably Sweden and Norway, two countries that have a fully funded tertiary system, scored first and second.

NZUSA believes that students must be relieved from the burden of being forced to borrow to live and plunged into high debt. Students must be provided with a living allowance as of right while enrolled in full-time tertiary study, and out of full-time paid work. Full-time study is just that – full-time! We strongly deplore the current and previous government’s view that debt constitutes a form of income for students.

30% of all borrowing under the Student Loan Scheme includes borrowing for student living costs, and 50% of all loan scheme borrowers in 2004 borrowed for living costs.

The maximum a student can borrow per week is $150.00. Despite being the longest un-inflation adjusted figure on the government’s books, this is not a sufficient amount to live on, in light of increasing costs, and particularly if students have no where else to turn for income.

The logic from parties who support age related means testing tends also supports the view that if a student is ineligible for an allowance then their parents will support them.

However, only 28 percent of all respondents to the TNS Income and Expenditure Survey (2004) reported receiving some parental support while studying, and this was not necessarily on a weekly basis. The median amount gained from this source for the year was $1,999. The 1998 Income and Expenditure Survey revealed that 31 percent had received some form of monetary gift from their parents.

And there is plenty more in the linked article read up before you blindly critise.