Dinsdale, Hamilton

Win a brand new home!

Win a brand new home!

For just $15, you could win a fully furnished home in Clarks Beach, Auckland worth over $1 million. Buy your tickets today!

1466 days ago

Favourite summer holiday spots

Lorna Thornber Reporter from Stuff Travel

Hi everyone,
We'd be keen to hear about your favourite summer holiday spots in NZ. Is there somewhere you keep returning to year after year and, if so, what are the main attractions? What makes it such a stand-out spot? Any tips you may be able to offer on the best things to see and do there… View more
Hi everyone,
We'd be keen to hear about your favourite summer holiday spots in NZ. Is there somewhere you keep returning to year after year and, if so, what are the main attractions? What makes it such a stand-out spot? Any tips you may be able to offer on the best things to see and do there - as well as the best places to grab a drink or bite to eat - would be much appreciated. Please put 'NFP' (not for publication) in your comment if you don't want it to appear in a travel article. Thanks again.

1465 days ago

Anyone have a heat gun?

Summa from Frankton

Hey everyone I was wondering does anyone happen to have a heat gun I could rent for a couple hours max please just for one use as my partner is fixing a dent in my mums bumper as she’s selling her car
Long shot but thanks :)

1474 days ago

Love a good op shop?

Heather Moore from Volunteering Waikato

We recommend spending some time on the other side of the counter as an effective treatment!
Get yourself to an op shop and volunteer to lend a hand. There are treasures to be sorted and displayed and lots of customers to be assisted. All you have to do is find the shop that supports the cause … View more
We recommend spending some time on the other side of the counter as an effective treatment!
Get yourself to an op shop and volunteer to lend a hand. There are treasures to be sorted and displayed and lots of customers to be assisted. All you have to do is find the shop that supports the cause closest to your heart and apply!
We're look for op shop helpers in Tuakau, Hamilton, Huntly, Ngatea, Waihī, Te Awamutu, Whangamatā, Whitianga, Paeroa, Matamata, Coromandel, Te Aroha, Taupō, Thames, Cambridge AND Morrinsville - whew!!

Image
1465 days ago

2004 Nissan Serena

Summa from Frankton

4000 ONO or near offers will be considered

2004 Nissan Serena SILVER
RV/SUV
Petrol
Automatic
8 seater
162,496kms … View more
4000 ONO or near offers will be considered

2004 Nissan Serena SILVER
RV/SUV
Petrol
Automatic
8 seater
162,496kms
Current wof expires 9/21
Current rego expires 5/21
2 owners
Minor wear and tear as shown
Has been looked after very well selling on behalf of my mum who is downsizing
Please message me for any questions and details
Located in Te kuiti

Price: $4,000

1466 days ago

Learn everyday digital skills

Kanorau Digital

Have you got a mobile phone or tablet? Not sure how to work the thing? Let us help you with that.

Our short course will give you the skills to stay digitally connected to your friends and whānau.

• A variety of day and class times to choose from
• Learn with an experienced tutor
• … View more
Have you got a mobile phone or tablet? Not sure how to work the thing? Let us help you with that.

Our short course will give you the skills to stay digitally connected to your friends and whānau.

• A variety of day and class times to choose from
• Learn with an experienced tutor
• No fees

Call us on 0800 KANORAU (526 672) or visit our website.
Find out more

Image
1466 days ago

This week's latest Blueprint

Hamilton Harcourts

View Hamilton Harcourts' latest interactive Blueprint.

If you'd like to receive Blueprint in your inbox each week, subscribe here.
Read now

Image
1466 days ago

Hamilton Dog Expo Market Style this Sunday the 29th November

Lucy from Saint Andrews

This Sunday the 29th November, Dog Friendly indoors, Dog Expo lots of small dog based business coming together all in one place. Loads of great shopping and doggie Christmas presents :)
154 Collins Road at Woof'N'Wags doggy daycare

Image
1467 days ago

Anyone can be Nymbl

The Team from ACC New Zealand

Now you can get better balance, in the comfort and safety of your own home, with Nymbl - the easy-to-use smartphone app.

Nymbl gives you simple body movements, combined with brain challenges like trivia, to really improve your balance. It’s fun and only takes only 10 minutes a day.

Get … View more
Now you can get better balance, in the comfort and safety of your own home, with Nymbl - the easy-to-use smartphone app.

Nymbl gives you simple body movements, combined with brain challenges like trivia, to really improve your balance. It’s fun and only takes only 10 minutes a day.

Get Nymbl now, for free. Just go to fallsfree.co.nz and follow the easy instructions.
Learn more

Image
1467 days ago

Mitsubishi Fridge Freezer 260L

Shirley from Glenview

I have a fridge up for sale. Very good condition. Purchased in 2011, brand new. Currently have similar ones online for about $700. Would be great for a small first home/flat etc.

Has been very well looked after and cleaned thoroughly yesterday. Selling as have upgraded to a bigger fridge.

Price: $210

1468 days ago

We help provide a pathway to employment

Career Moves

Career Moves supported employment agency is a multi-faceted agency working with disability, job seekers and open recruitment. We work in all of the smaller towns across the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and offer a range of ways to meet and engage with our clients.

We focus on employment for skilled, … View more
Career Moves supported employment agency is a multi-faceted agency working with disability, job seekers and open recruitment. We work in all of the smaller towns across the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and offer a range of ways to meet and engage with our clients.

We focus on employment for skilled, experienced people looking for work. Focusing on Diversity and inclusion. We strive to promote fair and equal work opportunities for people, in a safe environment. Getting back into work, in today’s job market takes planning and preparation.  With our additional services, Career Moves Recruitment can help with your game plan and match you to the right job.  Whether it’s a first job, the next big career move, or a role to fit in with your lifestyle. 

Employment placement programme in conjunction with Work & Income.
We can help you with:
- Career advice
- A CV that will stand out from the crowd.
- A cover letter that focuses on the keywords that employers are targeting.
- Interview peroration that gets you ready to impress employers.
- Job search plan.

Our team of consultants offer support with career planning, tailored specifically to you! Let us help you through the employment process, like interview coaching and so much more.
Find out more

Image
1469 days ago

$70 MILLION PER KILOMETRE - By Team Integrity

Rudi from Hamilton Lake

$70 MILLION PER KILOMETRE and now the extra cost blow out. Sadly, if you read local news from around the country you won't be surprised. The Peacock roundabout in Hamilton started at $4.7 million, now at least $19.5 million (although we are waiting on the final figures). Whangarei’s new … View more$70 MILLION PER KILOMETRE and now the extra cost blow out. Sadly, if you read local news from around the country you won't be surprised. The Peacock roundabout in Hamilton started at $4.7 million, now at least $19.5 million (although we are waiting on the final figures). Whangarei’s new Hundertwasser Art Centre is going from $16 million to $33 million. The multi-storied carpark in Tauranga, which the mayor wisely abandoned once the cost projections blew out to $19 million. The Nelson Dam costs blowing out by $25 million, not to mention transmission gully…
The list sadly goes on and on. How is it that these massive mistakes are made again and again? How is it that you can’t test the soil adequately before you start a project? How is it that costs on a building can blow out due to seismic strengthening needs? Surely any competent project manager figures these things out before they start? How is it that we seem to write council contracts in a way that means the ratepayer and taxpayer gets hit time and time again with these cost blowouts?
What does all this mean for ‘public consultation’? It is your money, how do you feel about the fact that plans you were ‘consulted on’, are no longer even in the ballpark of the figures they presented to you for that consultation? (Photos for illustration only)

______________________________________________________________________

Highway costing $70 million per km set to get even more expensive due to pumice - Phil Pennington of RNZ

One of the country's most expensive stretches of new highway just got more costly - and further delayed - by buried pumice that wasn't spotted despite scores of ground tests.

The 2 kilometre stretch of the Bayfair to Baypark upgrade on SH2 south of Tauranga was already costing $70 million per kilometre - two to three times more than usual.

But three years after construction began in 2017, the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has realised the ground is not stable enough for what it is building, after a pumice layer was uncovered during work.

That forced an ongoing, major redesign and related changes to construction methodology and to the rest of the Bay Link programme.

NZTA said new equipment must be brought in, under a new contract, to begin building new flyover foundations, probably in November.

The highway is aimed to boost the local economy and safety for motorists.

Tauranga Mayor Tenby Powell was surprised and frustrated. He was not aware of the issue until RNZ told him on Wednesday. “That is very frustrating for New Zealand's fastest-growing city.”

100 tests – no pumice

More than 100 ground tests were done before construction began, NZTA said.

But they failed to spot the pumice layer 12 metre underground, so groundworks carried on.

Tauranga is on the edge of the Taupō volcanic zone and Bay of Plenty has a lot of pumice underground.

The fact that groundworks failed to properly stabilise the ground only came to light after huge stone columns began going in 10 months ago.

That sparked more tests, including earlier this year at Auckland and Canterbury universities, and the scrapping of the original design.

NZTA said a new design was being finalised.

It was still working out the impacts on the project's cost and timing.

NZTA did not respond to an RNZ question about whether extra costs would fall on the taxpayer.

Even before the pumice problem forced the redesign the project costs had escalated from an early $102 million estimate to $146 million recently - and its completion had been pushed out from end of this year to end of 2022.

Other complications are the fallout from Covid-19 and an underpass being added to the project.

The B2B project, as it is called, aims to cut congestion on the final run into Tauranga at Baypark where the tolled Eastern Link highway stops - and the traffic slows to a crawl.

The flyovers will take traffic on State Highways 2 and 29 up over roads and the railway line.

The highway is also aimed to boost the local economy and safety for motorists.

Powell said it was vital to complete the region's Eastern Corridor.

“We've got congestion on many of our routes into and out of the city, and we have a tonne of work ahead of us for years to come, so that is very frustrating to learn,” he said.

NZTA has not explained how the pumice was not detected at the start.

“This type of testing is not unusual,” it said.

“Projects typically do continual tests of ground conditions as they progress through construction and this process can sometimes identify previously unknown ground conditions.”

The new design – a combination of stone columns and piles in a lattice framework – was “required to limit settlement and ensure the ground remains stable, ensuring the bridge [at Baypark] is able to withstand seismic events”.

The B2B is the latest problem project for the NZTA.

It is grappling with blowouts at the billion-dollar Transmission Gully highway, costly surface cracking on the Kapiti and Waikato highways, and extra engineering reviews and deck-panel testing at the Puhoi to Wellsford highway.

The main contractor at B2B, Australian major CPB, declined to comment. CPB is also key in the Transmission Gully alliance and lead contractor at the strife-hit Acute hospital project in Christchurch.

Powell said NZTA had been good to work with, but had not treated the council as a partner by not telling him about the B2B problems.

“I'm gonna pick up the phone and call the regional director and just try and get an understanding of what exactly has happened, and particularly why we aren't on the same songsheet in terms of communications.”

1468 days ago

Our Strategy Better Later Life – He Oranga Kaumātua 2019 to 2034

Office for Seniors

Last November, we launched our new strategy, Better Later Life – He Oranga Kaumātua 2019 to 2034. This strategy will help ensure we create opportunities for all of us to participate, contribute and be valued as we age. Many of the key areas for action in the strategy have become even more … View moreLast November, we launched our new strategy, Better Later Life – He Oranga Kaumātua 2019 to 2034. This strategy will help ensure we create opportunities for all of us to participate, contribute and be valued as we age. Many of the key areas for action in the strategy have become even more relevant in the wake of COVID-19.

Click here to read our strategy and find out more about what we want to achieve and what needs to happen bit.ly...

Image
1468 days ago

Get the inside scoop on Stuff's great travel finds

The Team Reporter from Stuff

Hey neighbours,

Here at Stuff Travel, our team of journalists have been furiously ferreting out Aotearoa’s best hidden gems. We've come across so many activities and places we never knew existed.

Typically, as soon as we report a great place on Stuff, the floodgates open. But … View more
Hey neighbours,

Here at Stuff Travel, our team of journalists have been furiously ferreting out Aotearoa’s best hidden gems. We've come across so many activities and places we never knew existed.

Typically, as soon as we report a great place on Stuff, the floodgates open. But subscribe to our newsletter here for a free ticket to ride with our travel team each week as we explore the best of New Zealand.

We’ll tell you about our great finds, before we tell anyone else. And we’ll throw in some great deals, giveaways and advice each week too.

Bon voyage!

Image
1474 days ago

SHOULD THE NZ COVID TRACER APP BE MADE COMPULSORY

Rudi from Hamilton Lake

HERE IS SOMETHING THAT AFFECTS EVERYBODY - Do take part in this NewsHub question
- Either click on the link or copy and paste.

www.newshub.co.nz...

Image
1473 days ago

We Say, You Say: How much influence does Big Tobacco have?

Neighbourly.co.nz

New Zealand is one of the better countries at keeping the tobacco industry's influence on government policy, but the Cancer Society says New Zealand still needs to exercise vigilance.

New Zealand is currently ranked 5th on the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, behind the United … View more
New Zealand is one of the better countries at keeping the tobacco industry's influence on government policy, but the Cancer Society says New Zealand still needs to exercise vigilance.

New Zealand is currently ranked 5th on the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, behind the United Kingdom and Uganda. With New Zealand's goal to be smokefree less than five years away, the Cancer Society warns that the tobacco industry will be looking for new ways to weaken health policy.

In late September, the Hamilton City Council ruled unanimously in favour of a ban on vaping in smokefree areas after principals said that an increase in vaping led to school children taking up smoking.

Do you think that New Zealand's going to achieve its goal to be smokefree by 2025?

*Please type NFP if you don't want your comment featured in the conversations section of the Hamilton Press

Image
Top