Do tourism a solid and get out and about Enough spent on Pike River recovery
The return of quarantinefree travel also means the return of a cherished tradition: Airport reunions. Is there anything quite like sitting in the arrivals lounge grasping a suitcase trolley, eyes flicking between the arrivals board and the gate, searching every passenger’s face for that one you are waiting for, heart in throat?
Then suddenly, the wait is over and they are in your arms. They’re apologising for smelling like they just got off a plane, you’re asking how the flight was. Maybe there are some tears, an exchange of gifts.
It’s a pure, emotional scene that simply can’t be replicated under Covid conditions, when visitors are bundled into a bus and hustled off for a two-week stay in a managed isolation facility with as little human contact as possible.
From April 19, airports around New Zealand and Australia will once again set the stage for this act in the human experience.
I have to imagine that many in the first wave of visitors will be propelling themselves over the ditch on a plane that could be fuelled by pure longing alone. The people queuing to book the earliest tickets seem less likely to be tourists wanting a holiday and more likely to be people desperately missing what would normally be a regular visit.
I’m talking about separated lovers. Parents reuniting with kids who live with the ex. Grandparents beelining for grandchildren — some of whom may be new to the world.
Perhaps a Kiwi gal who married an Aussie guy and made a home in Australia knowing she could come back to Aotearoa and visit her family whenever she needed to — until she couldn’t.
I know there are a few of those sorts of long-awaited trips being arranged in my family. Perhaps in yours, too.
Normally, these sorts of trips would involve the visitor either road-tripping around the country and couch-surfing at various relatives’ abodes, or the visitor setting up camp in one home and having everyone come to them. There might be a dinner out, maybe a brunch or two.
This time, how about doing our hurting tourism industry a solid and making an effort to do more? Visit a local attraction and grab lunch afterwards, take a day-trip to the next town over, get away somewhere else for the weekend. If your guests are returning Kiwis perhaps less keen to do “touristy” stuff, ask them to consider that things have changed and many attractions have tailored their offering to New Zealanders.
So if you have some disposable income and you’re hosting an Aussie visitor, don’t spend all day holed up in your house hugging them. Get out and make some memories in the new New Zealand.
Jim Adams (Letters, April 5) considers the Government should be pouring unlimited funds into the Pike River recovery.
I believe people who support this view think it is a crime scene and evidence of management culpability will be found in the mine.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry Report into Pike River shows ongoing safety failures there included potential ignition sources such as cigarettes, lighters, and soft drink cans being taken into the mine.
Other violations included compressed air being directed on methane sensors so gas readings would not be high, and evidence of miners disabling safety features on mining machines resulting in sparks coming out of the machine. Their actions could well have been the cause of the ignition rather than failures by management.
More than $50 million has been spent. Enough is enough. Waste no more money. Close the mine, erect a suitable monument and if there is any money left over establish a scholarship in mining safety at say Canterbury University’s School of Engineering.
Richard Prince Welcome Bay
Lawnmower on the bus
Tauranga City Council is going to fix Cameron Rd, a road already fourlaned and doesn’t need fixing.
The council appears not to understand what a business needs to survive.
First, a business needs a good location and good staff, nice premises and good parking for customers with easy access.
In my view, the council doesn’t care about losing a few car parks. It doesn’t seem to like cars. If it doesn’t want cars downtown, then put a surcharge on all cars going to the CBD.
The Greerton shambles will not be fixed as the council appears to want to make it unpleasant to drive into town.
Tauranga is built on two peninsulas making it difficult to drive around.
It will always have cars to get to work, go to the beach, take the children out or go to the doctor. Cameron Rd does not need fixing. When my lawnmower needs repair, I’ll bring it in on a bus.
V. Brazier Tauriko