This New Zealand Life

New Zealand dollar remains volatile but flat whites are cheaper

THE New Zealand Dollar continued its wild fluctation against the pound in May according to HiFX a UK based premier provider of foreign exchange and cash deposit services.

Swine flu fever "inundates" public health phones

THE first masked patients turned up in Wellington doctor's surgeries this week as the swine flue pandemic took hold in the community.

Despite instruction to call Public Health phone lines, patients suspecting they have the disease have had difficulty getting through on the telephone and have been forced to visit their family doctors, sources told ThisNZLife.

Regional Public Health medical officer Dr Stephen Palmer told the Dominion Post Health services had been overwhelmed with calls from people reporting suspected cases of swine flu.

Blog roundup: Lottery scrum, good decisions and cost of living

Jackpots are an insidious way of sucking people into gambling who can barely afford it. He says it creates a culture of envy and greed at a time when many people are vulnerable due to the economic recession.

ON first in this week's blog roundup is Domestic Executive (DE).

She speaks for many in her post about settling in to New Zealand life, reminiscing about the old country, and whirring about whether it was the right move or not.

Disturbing side to New Zealand motorists

EUROPEAN drivers in New Zealand often complain about the standard of driving evident on the roads, but nothing can prepare you for a reported incident in Rotorua this week.

Many excuses are made: the rural drunk, the narrowness of the roads, the single-lane gravel routes through winding valleys.

Longest ever Jackpot run spells bad luck for This New Zealand Life

After twenty one weeks, Big Wednesday's First Division still has not been struck, making it the longest jackpot run in NZ Lotteries’ history

DESPITE a small fortune being spent on lottery tickets by This New Zealand Life, readers were unlucky to come away with exactly zero winnings.

But all is not lost. Because there was no winner for the staggering $25 million prize, next week the full prize money will be awarded even if nobody has a ticket will all the winning numbers.

Odd behaviour no issue for New Zealand commuters

I HAVE the misfortune to own a pair of ankle-strangling socks that make my legs resemble ancient vanilla drainpipes, and magnify the size of my feet to proportions not disimilar to a clown at Billy Smart's.

Add this to the bottom-hugging short black shorts, sent lovingly over from England, and the flourescent yellow running jacket, and I must cut the fine figure of an oversized wasp auditioning for the Wellington buskers' festival.

Win an "outrageous fortune" with This New Zealand Life

ACCORDING to the Dominion Post, today's Big Wednesday lottery draw is "unprecedented" in the size of the jackpot.

"An outrageous fortune of more than $25 million is set to be won in Lotto's Big Wednesday draw tonight as ticket sales near record levels," says the paper.

So in an attempt to get all excited, to suffer the slings and arrows as it were, and join in with this Kiwi phenomena, I'm buying a $10 lucky dip for readers of This New Zealand Life. (I'd like it to be more, but I have to scrape a few pennies for firewood and that special crust at Christmas... etc)

How do you take part?

Kiwis at medium risk of death from natural disaster: UN

THE harzardous geology of New Zealand does not make it a highly dangerous country in which to live according to a new report from the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).

The Mortality Risk Index (MRI) report is the product of a massive database which underpins the Global Assessment Report: Risk and Poverty in a Changing Climate, a landmark document launched in Bahrain last month by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Five New Zealand news items you shouldn't read

AN almost endearing feature of life in New Zealand is that the small quirky news item, once preserved for the very end of local-news magazine programmes in the UK but now replaced with a yoof-crime feature, is alive and well. And, as far as I can tell, taking up at least 75% of the time that should be spent reporting international affairs.

Introducing the 178 Cuba, Flat White cost of living index

WELCOME to the first edition of the brand new This New Zealand Life cost of living index.

Over the coming months this index will chart the cost of the essential daily large flat white as supplied by Midnight Espresso, 178 Cuba Street, Wellington, New Zealand.

Today's cost in UK pounds sterling is: £1.57p

Exchange rate data kindly supplied by XE.com currency services.