Taxing Travel Plans

Absence makes the heart grow fonder – yeah, another lengthy gap between blog updates! Since the last one there was the cricket, Easter and job stuff, the only main things to have happened.

The cricket – New Zealand vs England at the Basin – was fantastic! I’ve never been to a Test Match before so I wasn’t sure what to expect but the atmosphere was brilliant, probably about 85% of the crowd were English, it was a novelty seeing some Kiwis there. At the Basin, you can just walk around the entire ground and choose a seat/patch of grass to sit on and be there for a while, so I divided my time between the grandstand at one end on some days to sitting on the mound adjacent to the Barmy Army. The guys were so funny and there were loads of people in fancy dress, an honourable mention must go to the guys dressed up as Spider Pig, Batman and Robin and a gorilla. As the for game itself, Monty Panesar is very much the legend we all think he is and Ryan Sidebottom isn’t far behind! Around the ground I did see Steve Harmison at least so all was not lost on the Northumbrian front and Sir Ian Botham walked past me one morning after doing his usual pitch report, apparently he contributed very well to the New Zealand wine economy whilst he was here! I can’t remember many more details, was so long ago now but I got some fairly decent pictures so I’ll get them added when I can.

Around Easter time, there was a metal festival in Wellington – Rock2Wgtn – to quote the official title. The usual suspects were there, White Snake, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne et al so you didn’t need to tell me twice to make like a tree out of the capital! Whilst Welly was invaded by a plethora of black t-shirts, leather and mullets, I made my way to the pleasant retreat of Taupo for the weekend. It was probably one of the hottest weekends I’ve had (and most likely the last) so outdoor time was restricted. I really like Taupo, it’s a nice little town to chill out in and everyone there is really friendly and relaxed but tensions were a little strained as, given the holiday period, there was an influx of Jafas so I think the locals were a bit more on edge! One nice surprise in Taupo was bumping into Yves again, he’d been doing the North Island so our paths crossed once more and was ready to do the Tongariro crossing. Not enough money in the world could make me want to join him but I’d be there with the moral support as I relaxed further in the National Park! It’s such a gorgeous hostel at the National Park, there was a good sunset and I tried to take an artist photo of Mount Doom (I’ve forgotten its actual name) in the distance but results were mixed.

Anyhow, the weekend seemed to fly by (a recurring theme) and it was back down towards Wellington after brief stops for gumboot throwing in Taihape (somehow I actually manage to get worse) and a remark-a-bull visit to Bulls. The last remnants of metal fans were dispersing just as I got back and the city seemed to be in one piece still, so all was good. I also bumped into Simon for a couple of days which was another great surprise, we went to the cinema (saw Gone Baby Gone, which was fantastic) and talked more about travel and stuff, he’s off to Bali now before returning home to Hamburg. In other cinema news, I finally saw Michael Clayton and it’s so much more than I could ever have expected, I knew it would be good considering the cast but it’s easily one of the best films I’ve seen in ages, the way the story unfolds is very clever and the ending had me quite involved, I really grew to hate that woman!

On the job front, after numerous applications and a very close shave of almost having to move to Auckland, I got a job at the Inland Revenue (Te Tari Taake) as a web developer for a couple of months. I’m working within the Business Improvement section with a guy called Tony and we’re working on the Intranet (my one true calling in New Zealand) with duties split between Investigations and Legal & Technical Services. I know tax might not seem all that exciting but the department we’re in is actually quite interesting and we’re starting to get the impression that crime really does pay. The people we work with are involved in the legal side of things and we’ve been told that quite a significant number of high ranking criminals – drug dealers, gang members, etc – actually file tax returns, fully declaring their income and how they acquired it! They do this so they can receive ACC and other state benefits like pensions and all that but they do so in the knowledge that the IRD cannot disclose their information to anyone, including and especially the police! It’s just like anyone else, I suppose, personal information is private and whether you’re a gang member or a florist (or both) your details are legally protected.

The police aren’t too happy about this but the IRD and, in turn, the Crown receives a huge percentage of income from alleged illegal activities so if they started to disclose this to the police then criminals would simply stop filing tax returns in fear of getting caught and then the IRD/New Zealand would lose lots of money. So kids, crime does pay. They can sometimes be quite playful with their choice of tax code too, we were told that before prostitution become legal, they referred to themselves as ‘independent contractors’. Tony and I were even discussing whether or not, in light of this ‘legitimate’ side of crime, gangs should have their own internet domain extension such as gang.nz, so they could have crazykillers.gang.nz as a web address. If non profit organisations are allowed .org.nz and even geeks in New Zealand can have .geek.nz then why should gangs be any different? They’re all tax paying citizens.

In other news, I’ve started to sort out my travel plans for returning to the UK with the date of my return pencilled in for the 28th/29th of October, add that to your diaries. I haven’t got any fixed date for leaving Aotearoa or indeed for travelling around South East Asia but what I do have is a little bit more exciting, I’m going to Kazakhstan! That part of my journey begins in Beijing on the 24th of September where I spend a few days there before departing to Mongolia for a few more days and then hit Russia for a while with notable detours into Kazakhstan for a couple of days and neighbouring Uzbekistan before making it back towards Russia for time in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It’s a hectic 33 day schedule between Beijing and St. Petersburg but it should be a good adventure, with a brief extension into Estonia to bring me home. Essentially it’ll be one long train journey from Hanoi (Vietnam) to St. Petersburg (Russia), I’m not sure of the total distance but scientists reckon it’s pretty far. The planning part of the trip is probably more complicated than the travelling itself as China and Russia don’t make it particularly easy to get a visa, whilst Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan lack embassies in all but the most remote of locations (relative to Wellington). I think the next few blog entries will be taken up by my complaints and moans about the ongoing visa saga as well as my increasing sadness that one day I’ll have to leave New Zealand.

So, it’s a bit overdue but this is where I am at the moment. Until next time…