Re: OT: Home sweet home



"Richard" <riplin@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:c93f5873-f94f-45b6-a27e-441d6bec588b@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Nov 26, 9:10 pm, "Pete Dashwood"
<dashw...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I was at a meeting with some Tourism people here and one of them referred
to
the Bay of Plenty (I live in Tauranga, in the Western end of the Bay) as
"New Zealand's Florida".

I honestly don't know whether I should be pleased or saddened by that.

I've never been to Florida.

Both are where old people go. Tauranga, and especially Papamoa, are
where wrinkly Jafa's* go to bathe in the glory of their spiritual
leader, Winston.
:-)

Don't take Winston's name in vain... prefix it with "Blessed" :-)

I believe you may be confusing Papamoa with Whangamata... :-)

You obviously haven't been here for a while. 15 years ago there was much
truth in that POV; not so today. The Ports of Mount Maunganui and Tauranga
are thriving, taking business off the Port of Auckland, (and creating jobs
in the process), VERY large developments are opening up (a recent one will
accommodate 20,000 people), and infrastructure in the form of schools,
hospitals, libraries and shopping complexes are being installed. All of this
provides jobs, and means that young people don't need to move to Auckland
for work, as we had to when I was a youngster.

Certainly, there are retirees from Auckland moving here, but they are not
the majority or even a significant minority. Currently there are 6 families
a day moving into the Bay of Plenty. They are families, many with young
children. Young professionals and tradespeople are coming here because the
place is booming.

I take it you've been to Florida and can vouch for the accuracy of your
stereotypical view with regard to that State, also :-)?



Whether you are pleased or not may depend on whether you welcome the
average age of the inhabitants around you to be continuously greater
than your own age, and increasing, or not.

I don't believe (from observation) that that will be borne out by the
statistics. (I'm endeavouring to get up-to-date ones from contacts I have
here)

Of course the mount is still a haven for the young and irresponsible.

Only on holiday weekends and Xmas /New Year. (And it is a shadow of what it
was. Last year there were less than 20 arrests during the Xmas New Year
period. (Previously there would typically be several hundred)) Again, since
property values in the area passed the million dollar mark, much has been
done to clean up the place. Making the Beaches and downtown areas Alcohol
free zones over these periods has helped immensely. Nobody wants to pay
(several) million dollars for a property and have drunken yahoos throwing up
on their front lawn over the holidays. The results have been impressive. The
kids who just want to get wasted and create mayhem now go to Waihi Beach and
Whangamata. (It's only a matter of time before the cops there implement the
same measures that have been succesful at the Mount...)

They manage to keep it that way driving the aged away with 200 watt
amplifiers in each car parked by the beach. Sometimes this is
augmented by the radio station placing truck sized speakers across the
road.


Well, holidays are a time for fun and some people enjoy loud music... :-)

All of us breathe a sigh of relief when the holidays are over and we get our
town back :-)

* Jafa is the term applied to the golden people from the City of Sails
by the unwashed who are banished to live outside, until such time as
that fair metropolis spreads out and absorbs their towns one by one.

:-) Yes, Richard...

I believe that's "Jaffa". Based on the little chocolate and orange sweet
that is indigenous to New Zealand. The acronym is "Just another fucker from
Auckland".

Pete.
--
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."

..


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