The Dominion Post - BBC Pacific

to the Editor 31st March 2013

Sir
When TVNZ or as it was, the NZBC was born it was to be our version of the BBC and some of us would strongly like to see is go back to that noble concept
instead of a receptacle for low cost lightweight trash that it’s current board seems to be taken with.

The axing of the late night BBC World to save a few cents is the last straw. Our State Broadcaster just makes us look pathetic when it thinks it’s roll is to flood our homes with infomercials!

The real cleaver people left in broadcasting are in Radio NZ because they saw a plan to get us back on track and start up a BBC Pacific TV Service based in New Zealand
Which uses BBC international material and Local News from our state broadcaster ..  Or perhaps a Kiwi al jazeera or even a NZ version of PBS to fill this Intellectual wasteland.

A pity it had not made it to negotiation, it would be bloody nice to have a GROWN UPS  free to air channel again.  But I think it’s time will come if we demand it...
Lets get back to the Future!

Peter Jackson on Hobbit Locations-NZ

It appears Sir Peter Jackson broke silence over his Film Locations used in the Unexpected Journey.
On Television New Zealand. but no exact coordinates as yet, though many can be found on Google Earth by Name The Nokomai Bog and David's Knoll are not official names in Government Data Bases, however if you look up Lake Dale on the topomaps.co.nz web site you will find the Knoll beside it. But Gilkison Falls on Mt Earnslaw are best found on Google Earth, however Google is not good for finding the Nokomai Bog as it was under snow and ice when they photographed it.
There is also a sneak preview of loopins off the Milford Road in this clip...

Check it out http://tvnz.co.nz/travel-news/hobbit-stars-gush-over-nz-in-tourism-feature-5373936

As they say It is due out on DVD in the USA.

the Speight Family Of Redcliffs Station

Historic Places of the Te Anau Basin Southland NZ.

Beneath the Takatimu Mountains sits a an old Homestead from a bygone era known as Redcliffs Station. Once the Proud home of the Speight  Family it now lies derelict. less than a century on since The Grandson of James Speight the Famous Dunedin Brewer Allan Speight purchased the property
to turn his hand to sheep farming in 1919 after the great war.  Eventually the property was passed on to
Sons Bill Jim and David with Bill being given the Redcliffs Homestead and the Property being divided into three parts, Tower Peak to the West and Cheviot Downs to the East with Redcliffs in the Centre
The Department of Lands an Survey also took over a large portion of the Speight's land in the 1970s
to re-develop as smaller Farm Units as well as Neighboring Manapouri Station.

Tower Peak and Cheviot Downs are still farmed today but Sadly Redcliffs was turned into a Forestry Block in the late 1990s  and the new owners live in Auckland and the lights no longer shine from the old House and only wild animals forage the home paddocks these days.

Mountain Scene - Nick Smith will Decide

Letters to the Editor, sent 4th March 2013

The News that the Government wants to have direct control over the creation of new Tourism Projects in this region is nothing new in-fact if you look back
90 percent of all of our tourism comes from Government projects that have passed on to private enterprise. The reason these efforts worked so good is because they fit into a bigger picture, however those days are long past and private enterprise just can’t seem to get on to breaking in new ground with Tourism as they promised.

But If the Government wants to get back in the swing of creativity they will have to look at things from a Grand Perspective again and that is not just changing the flow of tourists with new Transit Systems but making them want to stay longer, spend more and Return again for more!

They also have to consider the Large shift to Cruise ships and the logistics in servicing that industry... Let’s Hope Nick Smith is up to it, somebody has to be!

Map Snubs Manapouri Community

6th March 2013 to the Fiordland Advocate.

The new Go! Map that has been doing the rounds is just shocking.

They put settlements  in the wrong place and where none exist and they Snub the Town of Manapouri by not including ANY tourist information..
We are the Central Gateway into Fiordland National Park with Doubful Sound and the Power-station as major Visitor Attractions and they just don’t Indicate they exist at all. 

Or any Services or Walkways for that Matter! Yet they make the Milford Track look like it starts with the Door Pass..

No Mention of the Southern Scenic Route or the new Airport here.. Even the Kingston Flyer is invisible. As is the Motorau Hut and the Te Anau Golf Course.