12 May 2019

Lachco Front Door Lock for Home Automation

I researched, bought and installed an electronic front door lock to go with the home automation & security system for under NZ$200 in 2017. I looked for one with these features specifically as it was a free egress handle, would lock on door close (not a deadlock) and had a wireless RF remote… which is an easy way to connect...

Categories Home Automation/Home Renovations/Security Comments: 0

12 April 2019

Podcasts I Listen To

Ok, I do like to listen to the occasional podcast, and there are a bunch that I like to listen to regularly. Being in traffic for an hour or more most day gives me plenty of opportunity to catch up on various technology news, history and some light hearted humour. This list is occasionally updated when I fine more content,...

Categories Education/Entertainment/Lists/Opinion/Social Media/Technology Comments: 0

8 April 2019

Whole House Audio on the Cheap

You can pay thousands for Bose multiroom audio systems, or buy a huge stereo and crank it up so you can hear it throughout the place. You can also get multiple digital distribution amplifiers that run over Wifi (eg Sonos), but again they come at a huge cost. What you really want though is cheap DIY multiroom background music system....

Categories DIY Projects/Entertainment Comments: 0

1 April 2019

Caravans at Beach Hop, 2019

Beach Hop in Whangamata had around 100 classic, vintage and retro styled caravans this year. Here are a bunch of photos I took. Not my best work.. but I didn’t spend a lot of time taking them, and of course it was pretty overcast. Congratulations to the winner at the Top 10 shootout, Retro Custom Caravan’s 50’s styled Norma Jean....

Categories Photo Gallery/Retro Caravans Comments: 2

7 March 2019

Dog Motel

We just got a new and decided it needed a place to hang out outside… and somewhere to poop as we had no grass area. The area was an existing pebble garden that we cleared and put down a scoria base. We built a picket fence around the edge and laid some astroturf. The gate will mainly remain open as...

Categories Home Renovations/Photo Gallery Comments: 0

4 February 2019

5 Steps to DIY Home Automation

You can spend thousands on home automation equipment. You could get yourself an ecosystem like Apple Homekit, Samsung Smart-Things, Control4 or many others, however with just some moderate techo skills you can set up or convert your home to pretty awesome home control with DIY. My take on home automation is that it should be pretty much invisible. Things should...

Categories DIY Projects/Home Automation/Technology Comments: 0

9 January 2019

My car was broken in to… without my remote!

Someone recently sent an email to our local neighbourhood and it went something like this: We live at no 123, and I thought it was worth sending an email as my car was broken into last night on our driveway.  My husband’s car was also broken into on our driveway the other night. Both times, the burglars managed to open...

Categories Security/Technology/Vehicles Comments: 0

7 November 2018

Electric Vehicle EVtiquette

Subtitle: How not to be a d@%k, when owning and driving an Electric Vehicle. Warning, these are my opinions, and in some cases may be mine alone.  Feel free to weigh in to discussions below, or on the various Facebook EV owners and Nissan Leaf groups.  This is a New Zealand site, so some links/comments may be NZ related only. After...

Categories Electric Vehicles/Opinion Comments: 0

24 June 2018

How to Stop Your Caravan From Disappearing

Caravan thefts in New Zealand have become a lot more common in the past few years, and every day or so you hear about another one going missing. Caravans are pretty easy to steal by themselves, as they are light weight, usually easily accessible on a driveway… and they sit home alone when people go to work. An often touted...

Categories Retro Caravans/Security Comments: 0

31 May 2018

Home Emergency Kit

A Home Emergency Kit Setup List

Categories Lists/Opinion

19 May 2018

Tips: Get Your Cabling in Tricky Places

Do you have an existing house or structure and trying to get a cable into a tricky place?  Here are a few tips from methods I have used over the years. Conduit Sucker There is nothing more annoying than finding a broken cable in a conduit or pipe and having nothing to pull the replacement wire though.  it is especially...

Categories Home Renovations/Projects/Technology Comments: 0

17 January 2018

Rebel Roundup, Pukekohe 2018

The first year for Retro Caravans, Rebel Roundup is at Pukekohe raceway south of Auckland.

Categories Photo Gallery/Retro Caravans Comments: 0

8 November 2017

Set up a Cheap Home Surveillance System

You can spend a lot on home security and surveillance.  Obviously, better quality, higher resolution digital systems are great and can be set up for more money, but as digital systems have become more common, analogue systems have become dirt cheap. In my opinion, more lower resolution cameras is as good or better than just a few of high resolution,...

Categories CCTV/Home Renovations/Technology Comments: 0

6 November 2017

Complete Backup and Restore of an Android Device

If you are upgrading an Android device and want to cover everything (and pedantically save the entire history/setup of your phone), for example installing a new ROM in your phone, upgrading the phone or going from an old phone to a new one, here are some notes I have put together about the process I use. What do you want...

Categories Mobile Phones & Android Comments: 0

28 October 2017

Why Your Opinion May Not Matter

In recent society, there seems to be a fast growing trend toward a belief that “everybody’s opinion is equally valid”. Democracy promotes this ideal, and in turn it is supposed to mean that fairer system should be in place due to the wants of the majority.

Categories Opinion/Social Media/Technology Comments: 0

15 January 2017

1965 Zephyr Deluxe Caravan Restoration

These are the before and after photos of our 1965 15″ Zephyr Deluxe Caravan. It was apparently stored in a shed for 20 years so apart from some general decay, some borer and a bunch of broken and missing stuff, the layout and fittings were mostly original. We had it mostly as we got it for a couple of years...

Categories DIY Projects/Projects/Retro Caravans Comments: 0

28 July 2016

Board Games

A list of Board Games Collected

Categories Collections/Entertainment/Lists

4 July 2016

Howto: Use Gmail for Personalised Email

You can use Google’s Gmail system to manage your personalized email.  This gives you all the benefits of being able to easily see your email on phone/tablet/computer etc.  Generally, you want the fact that you are using gmail to be invisible to people if you have your own domain however, and this method allows you to do that without setting...

Categories Technology/Web Hosting Comments: 0

6 May 2016

Solid Trestle Craft Table

We had seen ideas for making trestle tables, and we wanted something that would perfectly fit a nook area for sewing, craft etc. I wanted to make it for as little money as possible, so we found an old heavy commercial work surface someone had on trademe for about $20 and cut it to suit for the top (where was...

Categories Home Renovations/Projectprivate Comments: 0

27 April 2016

9 Simple Tips for Smart Phone Photography

I have some good camera gear, and many of my favourite photos are ones that I have taken on SLR, with carefully chosen aperture, speed and composition. But there are some that still really like that I have taken on my old pocket Casio 2 Megapixel camera, and still quite a number I’ve take on my phones over the years....

Categories Mobile Phones & Android/Photography/Social Media Comments: 0

19 April 2016

Upgrading a 5 Year Old Samsung Galaxy S2 to Android M

I needed a phone for my son as he had been given an older ZTE V795 phone running Android Gingerbread. The ridiculous thing about this is that besides the fact there is really no way to easily upgrade or change out the ROM on this phone… you can’t even update the current setup as any ‘play store’ updates fail even...

Categories Mobile Phones & Android/Projects Comments: 9

18 March 2016

My Trademe Tips for Low Stress Selling

Trademe poweruser I am not, but I definitely have seen a few auctions around that could do with a bit of a rewrite. For those who are not in the Land of the Long White Cloud, Trademe is the go-to place for auctions and classified sales as Ebay is for the US and many other countries. In fact Trademe is...

Categories Education/Opinion Comments: 0

14 March 2016

The default problem with Facebook

Facebook has become the default social media platform for the majority of people worldwide.  I’ll start by saying, for me it was a case a couple of years ago that if I wanted to keep in touch (and get back in touch) with many friends and extended family on a regular basis, this was the only real option. However, I...

Categories Opinion/Social Media/Technology Comments: 0

17 February 2016

My Photobooth Project…

I needed a photobooth for my wedding (this was one of my few assigned wedding tasks!). You know, one of those ‘take a few photos of guests, and print them’ sort of thing, like the early film ones . Early on, I built up a list of things I really wanted to achieve with it, as there are many options...

Categories Entertainment/Photography/Projects/Technology Comments: 0