Official Cash Rate Cut Again to 3.5%

The OCR, Official Cash Rate, has been cut for the second time in two months by another 150 base points, taking it from 5% to 3.5%.

Reserve Bank Governor Allan Bollard announced the cut this morning, which is the lowest ever since the OCR was introduced in 1999 at 4.5%.

Financial experts predict that it could drop again in coming months a further 100 points, bringing it down to 2.5%.

With interest rates now lower than ever, real estate is becoming more and more affordable, with banks already lowering their mortgage rates in anticipation of the cut. Conversely, the OCR cut is bad news for those with money in the bank who will now earn less interest on their savings.

Nelson Anniversary 2009

Nelson and the surrounding golden beach areas have seen an amazing summer season over the last month, and the local camping ground

and motel occupancy has surely shown it. Now that the sunshine city is quieting down, Nelson locals get to enjoy the hottest temperatures of the year for the next few weeks, and it’s already looking great for the coming weekend.

What’s more, it’s a long one! Monday February 4^th is Nelson Anniversary Day, so if you live and work up in the Tasman region you can enjoy a sunny three-day weekend without the crowds. Hop down to Kaiteriteri beach for a dip or take a trip to one of Nelson’s wineries for the day – and enjoy the week following as it’s made even shorter by Waitangi Day on Friday the 6th!

Image from Flickr.

Auckland Regatta

Got plans for the long weekend in the city of sails? The Auckland weather is looking positive this weekend with 25 degree highs all around – so make sure you get out and enjoy it!

Auckland anniversary weekend is always a huge event, this year with some amazing things happening around the city. Check out the Fire and Light Show tonight, The Seafood Festival running all weekend, the Viaduct Showcase on Sunday and finally, the famous Auckland Regatta on Monday.

The Auckland Regatta is the largest single-day regatta in the world, and is even older than the America’s Cup. It’s been going since Auckland was founded, so get out to the harbour on the 26th and watch with city-wide pride!

A1GP Taupo New Zealand

Taking place over the weekend 23-25 January 2009 is the New Zealand round of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport, and this will be held at the Taupo Circuit.

A1GP pits nation against nation in the World Cup of Motorsport. Drivers from more than 20 nations compete in identical single-seater race cars as equals without financial or technological advantage.

This year’s event could prove to be New Zealand’s fastest ever motor race owing to the new breed of A1GP cars powered by Ferrari. These new cars have been breaking lap records at many circuits and the Taupo record, held by an older generation A1GP car, is seriously under threat.

Having shared driving duties with Earl Bamber for the current season of A1GP racing, Chris van der Drift gets back behind the wheel of A1 Team New Zealand’s car Black Beauty for Round Four of Season Four of the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.

There is still high interest in the event, with ticket sales on a par with those last year and large crowds expected over the weekend, especially for the Sprint and Feature races that take place on the Sunday.

Supporting the A1GP event will be the ENZED V8 Ute series, the Battery Town Porsche GT3 Cup, iconic Muscle Cars and the Toyota Racing Series.

World Buskers Festival 2009

Looking for summer entertainment that isn’t just for kids? The annual World Busker’s Festival kicks off again in Christchurch on January 22, and while the daytime shows are suitable for the whole family, the highlights every year always come from the after-dark R18 events.

Expect side-splitting saucy comedy and un-politically correct MC banter, available in several locations throughout the Christchurch central city until February 1^st. If you’re in the Garden City this month make sure you check out one of the nightly adults only performances at The Civic (8.30pm, entry via $5 or $10 donation), or the North Quad in the Arts Centre (7pm, $2 donation). Make sure you get in quick, because these events can fill up before more than an hour prior to the show’s start time.

For a little busking to suit all ages, there are daily and evening shows at several locations throughout the CBD and the beach suburbs of Sumner and New Brighton. From jugglers to contortionists, aerialists to acrobats, expect to see talent from as far away as Israel, Argentina, Canada and an array of other nations.

Wellington Anniversary 2009

We’ve got a stream of public holidays over the next month, with Auckland Anniversary coming up on January 26, Nelson Anniversary on February 2 and of course Waitangi Day

on February 6. The coming Monday is a privileged day for two regions in New Zealand: it’s both Southland Anniversary and Wellington Anniversary.

There are two great events for families going on for the big day in our capital city. There’s the Wellington Anniversary Family Day Races, which features all of the typical horse racing entertainment for the adults, while providing heaps of fun stuff for kids to do – from a petting zoo to face paints, watermelon eating competitions to a Vertical Bungy.

It’s also Whanau day at Te Papa

museum, which invites adults and kids to dress up together, Victorian-style, and take a trip back in time to Wellington in 1840.

Enjoy the Wellington weather this weekend, take the kids out, and have some fun!

Best Job In The World

Looking for the best job in the world? Your competition is stiff – over 200 people have applied for the job as the caretaker of Hamilton Island, off the coast of Queensland, a position which requires the successful applicant to explore the Great Barrier Reef, laze by the beach and make friends with locals.

The 6-month position will pay $180,000 NZD, and has created so much interest that the job application site has crashed today after over 800,000 visits since Monday. Technicians were forced to boost the site’s server capacity several times this morning, as applicants uploaded their one-minute video applications by the dozen.

The position is not a competition and is a genuine job listing, requiring legitimate caretaking tasks as well as the more leisurely activities which must be regularly completed. The caretaker will also get to live rent-free in a $6 million villa, and will need to report back on their experiences via blogs, video diaries and media interviews.

Launched as a viral marketing ploy to draw intention to Hamilton Island as a tropical holiday destination, it is estimated that the campaign will generate $85 million NZD worth of publicity worldwide.

Image from Flickr.

Southland Anniversary 2009

Lucky Southerners have a long weekend to look forward to this weekend with Southland Anniversary Day on its way! There’s been a bit of historical controversy around the Southland Anniversary – but Jan 19 officially marks the date and paid public day off for everyone in the Southland region in 2009.

On passing the New Zealand Constitutional Act, the marked out district of Southland did not hold sufficient population or income to be selected as one of the six regions for Provincial Government, and was thus considered a part of Otago. It celebrated the first Otago anniversary on March 23^rd in 1852, and it wasn’t until 9 years later (after a large campaign and petition) that Southland’s first regional anniversary was recognised.

However as Southland fortunes slipped below Government criteria, the region was forced to revert back to the Otago Anniversary in 1870. In 1875, the Provincial Government model was abolished in New Zealand in favour of one Central Government, and the official Southland Anniversary date was set. It has not changed since, and is now celebrated on the Monday closest to January 17 – the anniversary of the day that the intention to build the town of Invercargill was announced.

Were you a Mac or PC in 2008?

Over 2008 there was a lot of talk about the now infamous Mac adverts

poking fun at PC’s.

In direct retaliation, Microsoft hit back with their “I’m a PC” advertising campaign supported by the imapc.lifewithoutwalls.com website.

So, were you a Mac or a PC over 2008?

NZS.com viewers were predominantly PC’s with the operating systems used to browser NZS.com showing 92.2% Windows, 6.6% Mac users and 1% Linux. The remainder is taken up by operating systems outside of the desktop variety like the iPod, PS3, PSP & iPhone.

Ferrit Closes Down

Online shopping website Ferrit.co.nz, who you’ll probably know from their extensive advertising campaigns that have been just about everywhere in recent years, have decided to close.

Owned by Telecom, the shopping website has never returned a profit since its launch in 2005. It started with around 150 online stores and toted itself as a true online mall. The number of stores has since decreased to 90.

Ferrit employs 24 permanent staff and 13 contractors, and while Telecom will try to place them in other parts throughout the company, they can’t guarantee that there won’t be any job losses.