Life in New Zealand - The move has been made...

[landieman]

Sorry for the hijack,but my visa has been declined for the second time nowwhere am I going wrong.NZ immigration stated that I lack the boba fide credentials and that they are concerned that I plan to stay in NZ illegally .PLEASE HELP!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Welsh]

Flat pack furniture😜 I did bookcases. tables, chairs, bedside cupboards, tv stands etc etc for my daughters university flat, OMF was I stuffed the next day 

[IceCreamMan]

I will have to take the ferry, just to say I have done it…

It will just be me for now until I have found something more permanent and have set up camp. Going to be long and hard without the family but then again, I dont have to tell you that.

Looking forward to it though

Been on the cook straight ferry tween picton and Wellington a number of times, beautiful town Picton,  quick journey too.

The havelock sound area is beautiful too as is the entire South Island, good luck.

Cool thing about Wellington is the train station is right next to the rugby stadium, catch train, drink at the station pub, go rugby , get dronk and train home,,,,

Sweet,kebab shops in Wellington too for babelaas food

[Christian Kuun]

Landieman, what visa are you applying for that they decline  Actually not much that can go wrong… supposedly.

[silvrav]

Sorry for the hijack,but my visa has been declined for the second time nowwhere am I going wrong.NZ immigration stated that I lack the boba fide credentials and that they are concerned that I plan to stay in NZ illegally .PLEASE HELP!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What visa you applying for landie? Makes a big difference in the approach you need to take.

Flat pack furniture😜 I did bookcases. tables, chairs, bedside cupboards, tv stands etc etc for my daughters university flat, OMF was I stuffed the next day 

I'm doing some more this weekend.. Already stuffed for the day and still got tallball and dresser table to do this weekend. 

[silvrav]

Belated merry xmas to all!

So my plans didn't work out exactly and decided to stay put and not travel to Auckland. This means I have time to do stuff 

So I decided for the last 2 days to finish the furniture. The bedroom tallboy and dresser table is now also done and just put it to the side. The wife will need to come re-arrange on how she see it fits :p

Then I won a bid on Trademe for a $100 for an almost unused boys bedroom set, and its even nice and blue for him I decided it will fit in my station wagon as I was not spending another $150 odd for a truck (bakkie) higher. It took 2 trips, some disassembling and the gent selling it to help moving it (Wellington people are always willing to help without asking) but it got moved and it is now assembled. 

[silvrav]

Over the last week or so I have been looking at local biltong shops but couldn't bring myself to buying biltong at $100/kg  ... reason number 1...

One guy brought some to our Christmas party, as my office colleagues seems to enjoy it... reason number 2...

We got talking about it and people discovered that I made biltong back in SA and they subsequently asked when am I making some...Reason number 3...

So with 3 reasons to make biltong, maybe as a past time work for the wife when she lands and make some $'s, I decided to head of the local hardware shop to get materials.

With the high humidity and coolish, even for summer, temperature, I decided to opt for 2 light bulb design and a fan. Talking about fans, check the big fans keeping the shop cool  Those blades were no less than 2meters.

Anyhoot, I got all the material and by shopping around I manage to keep everything below $20, bargain! I proceeded to the electrical department and found the 240v smaller fans. It is here that I thought this project will have to wait till next year as the 240V fans were $40 each, and I originally wanted 2 

I proceeded to walk around and look for alternatives but even the smallest 240V desk fan was $20 and then the motor was to big to make it work. I took a breather and paged through their pamphlet and spotted the solution, a USB powered 12V 10cm mini desk fan!!  They were still $10 but better than $40. On inquiry they were out of stock so I took out my phone and started to google.

The local warehouse, almost crazy storish, but better, had stock and at $5 a fan score! I proceeded to the closest store and on inspection of the test unit decided the RPM is high enough to install only one.
I also grabbed some "draad" hangers to make the hooks for 50c

On the way home I stopped at countdown and got salt, coriander, blackpepper, malt (brown) vinegar, Worcester sauce and 1kg of rump steak (special at $20 a kg). Also grab a coke as I need the bottle for the wet mixture and it works best.

I finished off the afternoon with phoning the wife awake at 0330 SA time as she and my son had to be at the airport at 6 for a flight to east london. They visiting her sister and children for the next 8 or so days for holidays and to stop my wife from going insane all alone with my hyper active son 

[silvrav]

The assembly of the box took me about 2 hours but I am happy with how it came out, and on testing, I had to trim some section for the fan to clear, but in the end, all worked well! I drilled some holes in the top and sides and got good positive pressure 

I proceed to make the biltong wet and dry mix, get the meat ready and got it marinated.
I have always wanted to test two methods and decided its the perfect time to do so. All 4 pieces were marinated 3hours a side and 2 pieces were then hung and 2 left overnight in the fridge.
The last 2 were then hung out the next morning. - Time will tell if there is any difference.

Tomorrow's plans are to go site seeing a bit and clear up the lights of my car, as they faded and yellow. I have all the gear but never had a garage to do the work in. 






Not coke anymore but a mixture of Worcester and malt vinegar

[Oubones]

Hehe,like your Biltong making!
You can take the African out of Africa, but not Africa out of him!
That is nice meat and I am sure it is going to be delicious. Enjoy!

[Fudmucker]

SR - I think you may just have found the secret to a great second income in NZ...!
I do not know what the NZ Health Department would require for you to SELL biltong.
You could always have interested people supply you raw meat and you just provide the spicing and drying SERVICE for a set price per kilo.
That way you are not selling a meat product...?


BTW, are you extracting or blowing into your box?
From what I have read, the best is to extract and to have air inlets that have screens to prevent flies getting in.
The flies can't enter against the air current caused by the extractors but they could be sucked in by fans blowing into the drier.

[Wild Hearted Son]

Awesome!

I did pretty much same for my Billie box but used a computer power supply fan & an old cellphone charger to power it.
I used silicone sealer around the dowel holes & the box's handle holes to keep goggas out.
I also put mozzie netting over the back of the fan & the air vent holes.

Enjoy your biltong !

[Mr Zog]

Nice biltong dryer Silvrav 


I made myself a biltong-kas more than a year ago, but have still not used it 

Good meat is just so expensive here, and each month there is something more important to spend my money on 

[silvrav]

So today i ate some biltong  It was gooooood. The pieces that were marinated overnight seems to have more flavor so going forward I will keep doing that. I will save some for the office next week and get a second opinion, although I believe any biltong would be good for them 

I also started on the car lights today. As you can see from the photos they quite yellow and hazed. So the process will be:

Wet sand with 400 grit
Wet sand with 800 grit
Wet sand with 1500 grit
Clean and leave to dry
Clear coat 4 layers
wet sand with 1500 grit (lightly) for smooth, no orange peel, light
Polish and 30 days later wax.

[silvrav]

SR - I think you may just have found the secret to a great second income in NZ...!
I do not know what the NZ Health Department would require for you to SELL biltong.
You could always have interested people supply you raw meat and you just provide the spicing and drying SERVICE for a set price per kilo.
That way you are not selling a meat product...?


BTW, are you extracting or blowing into your box?
From what I have read, the best is to extract and to have air inlets that have screens to prevent flies getting in.
The flies can't enter against the air current caused by the extractors but they could be sucked in by fans blowing into the drier.

Fud, good catch, I will need to research a bit  I most likely wont make it a full time second income but more just for the office people, families and friends. There are quite a few places selling biltong already, including a few local full blown shops that are owned by saffers.

I am blowing air in creating a positive pressure inside the box to also help keep dust etc out. What i forgot to show is the back of the fan has a netting on to keep dust and goggas out as well.

Awesome!

I did pretty much same for my Billie box but used a computer power supply fan & an old cellphone charger to power it.
I used silicone sealer around the dowel holes & the box's handle holes to keep goggas out.
I also put mozzie netting over the back of the fan & the air vent holes.

Enjoy your biltong !

I had the same setup in SA and work very well  This i like as its cleaner with no need to splice or cut wires, except for the lights that I daisy chained.

Nice biltong dryer Silvrav 


I made myself a biltong-kas more than a year ago, but have still not used it 

Good meat is just so expensive here, and each month there is something more important to spend my money on 

What are meat prices like there mr Zog?

Here on special these steaks were about $20/kg, but ideally I want to find a butcher that can cut as required and maybe get a better price.

[Christian Kuun]

Silvrav, Santa popped in 9 days after my writing of the application… shal we do that beer?




Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Mr Zog]

Silvrav, Santa popped in 9 days after my writing of the application… shal we do that beer?




Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Most excellent news Christian    Well done.


Now the hard work starts. Hard work, but it will be so worth it in the end. 


Hannes, good beef is around $10 - $15 per pound. So well over R300 per kilo 

I can get cheaper beef, but then it's really tough old stuff. but hey, your pics of the biltong got my mouth salivating. Maybe I'll get a couple of pounds this weekend... 

[silvrav]

Silvrav, Santa popped in 9 days after my writing of the application… shal we do that beer?


Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Aa lekker and congrats  when you flying?

@Mr Zog wow and that's us dollar so about 30 to 40 NZD per kilo  that's dam expensive indeed.

Maybe long term hunting? That's my plan atleast as well to get some venison meat.

[silvrav]

Happy new year all wild dogs! Hope 2019 brings everything you guys hope for!

So far 2019 looks good... Come don't live in the past now 

[roxenz]

Yep, you're a whole year ahead of us here in ZA! 
You seem to have done exceedingly well so far, Silvrav, just getting stuff done, no matter how difficult or strange. Admirable, boet!

Hope the time flies till your family can join you.
Happy New Year!

[Oshkosh]

Lekka Lekka Boet all the best for 2019!!!