Asia – Yes I am coming your way

July 1, 2017

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Business trip – Singapore, Malaysia, Southern China, Hong Kong

 

Its getting close to the time that I will be able to lock down a short business trip abroad to endeavour to sign up travel agents to represent us. Southern China and Singapore we know we have appointments just subject to me getting there. Still a work in progress for Malaysia and Hong Kong.

 

The hatred I have for long haul flying I will conquer. Just need ensure I get an aisle seat so I can easily get up and walk around the plane. Good for the blood circulation, good for the mental stamina. I like to see land and prefer to be on it. Despite the numerous times I have flown internally in New Zealand plus around the bottom half of the world, I still have this issue with flying. Yet I love getting to the other end of the journey and experiencing different cultures.

 

I will not contemplate a cruise away from the site of land either. Its just me, I love seeing land. Have no issue hopping on my boat, but keep that land in sight.

 

Today as I travel around with our guest from Beijing I came across some souvenirs perfect for me to leave as gifts to prospective business partners. Kiwi’s carved out of swamp Kauri. Just need add our own identification to complete and a perfect gift likely to sit around for a very long time where-ever I give them.

 

Swamp Kauri all comes from our region of New Zealand aged somewhere from 45,000 o 100,000 plus years old. And carved as a Kiwi as per photograph.  Now await for the carver to contact me Monday so we can discuss.

 

So mentally I have committed to travelling for business. Now to find travel consultants who may be interested in taking Peter and Xiaoli Tours on as a tour brand. We know our product is good, we believe our pricing is right, just need the sales agents to make it all happen. In the meantime bookings that come direct are filling our diaries so the 2017/18 tour season is on track. The question is, is this coming summer going to be the summer we take Peter and Xiaoli Tours to the next stage?

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

How many windscreens have you broken?

June 30, 2017

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How many windcreens a year, maybe in your life have you broken?

 

Last year I replaced 4 windscreens. Some say it comes with the high mileage I do and open roads as a tour guide. Now maybe I could agree, but maybe not. All 4 happened in Northland and all 50km either side of Whangarei. Isnt that interesting given most of the kilometres I drive are in fact in the South Island.

 

How are we looking for 2017. I know you want to know that. Well as a fortnight ago I had replaced one but broken another but not yet replaced as the break was not interfering with the driver vision or as at happened passenger vision. It was dead centre. Just as well I hadn’t replaced it because on the drive north from Auckland late last night with our guests aboard, I broke it again but this time in the passenger vision. So come Monday the vehicle is back to Smith and Smith Glass in Kaitaia for another new windscreen.

 

What is wrong with the roads either side of Whangarei. I really don’t know. There is road works various places but that happens anywhere. Do the cars speed more going the opposite direction as all but one break over the last 18 months has occurred from vehicles throwing up stones as they pass from the opposite direction. The other one was a ute over taking us in a passing lane with insecure load. Wood flying off. Needles to say I had to stop fast but he just kept on driving.

 

Please the second half of 2017, no more windscreen breaks. My insurance company has lost their smile in the voice. Damn

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

One exhausted tour guide

June 29, 2017

Profile

Exhaustion – Why do people think a tour guide is a job to be envious of?

 

Yesterday a same day trip to Auckland to collect a guest arriving from Beijing. 5 hours drive each way plus stop over/waiting time Auckland. And people think my job is to be envied. Our guest is with us for 12 days why we tour around. Now day 2 and I am already exhausted.

 

Tour guides work hard. This tour fortunately a certain amount of time I am based from home. That means I get to sleep in my own bed. No Xiaoli last night beside me as she stayed across at our beach accommodation I gather talking to our guest until 4am. Where-as midnight I went home to the farm. And it was cold last night which the dogs must have felt to as 2 were under the blankets either side of me when I woke.

 

Today a morning of rest. Shortly go get a new part in the tour vehicle which had been on back order. Get that fitted and back to the beach accommodation ta talk through Xiaoli as translator, the next 12 days. I know a bit of driving for me to do.

 

The driving I find easy. It’s the planning, the talking, the constant smiling even when you just want to escape and have a little shut eye. Last night 5 hours of Chinese being spoken loudly behind me. And yes Xiaoli is Chinese but after all these years together I struggle when they get excitable talking. Years ago I remember asking Xiaoli what is the argument/discussion over only to find out they are really happy and its just sheer excitement in the voice. English to them must seem monotone. Haha.

 

On with the day. Fed the animals. Off to Ford to get the rear air conditioning part fitted then back into being a tour guide

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

New Zealand dot com and its importance to Peter and Xiaoli Tours

June 28, 2017

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New Zealand.com
Earlier this year as all that bother to read my blogs know I changed websites. An 18 month transition which saw 2 previous websites disappear to be replaced by peterandxiaoli.com . A decision I am so happy I made.
 
Hits on the website are substantially less than our old Fish Far North main website but thanks to the analytical data that I can now access, the quality of the hits is far superior. Data says that as does effect to our business.
 
Now I am able to pinpoint the location the hit came from, the link if a link was involved, and which pages they viewed. From my advertising days I loves stats. I feed on them. They give me a buzz.
 
I write an article as I do for various places I can monitor the response. I do a marketing drive to a particular country I can see the number of website hits and how many pages.
 
Its interesting to see tour routes people view and I now know I need add more. I am working on that.
 
I started in my heading with New Zealand.com . The New Zealand tourism website. I am surprised how many hits we get from our links there. A website I always under rated but now I can track the hits, where they are from and which pages they looked at.
 
Websites like ours will never get the order. All they can ever do is get the person clicking on us to contact us.
 
I know this winter my working on our branding from website, to vehicles, to business cards to give away USB sticks is so important. Now it flows from one to another.
 
The objective this off season was to rebrand ourselves across everything and market ourselves in the countries we see as prime targets. We have done that. An overseas trip probably needs to happen to follow up now. My hatred of long haul flying I am just going to need to get over, I know that.
 
If you want to talk New Zealand tours then talk to me. If you want a Guangxi China tour then you also need talk to me as Xiaoli heads there mid August with a lovely South African friend and they are off to tour the heritage sites I gather. Poor me, I miss out. No not really, been there and done that with my in laws already
 

All Blacks and Americas Cup

June 26, 2017

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All Blacks and Americas Cup. How they effect my blogs

 

Those that know me know I am an ardent rugby fan and follow every game. Saturday I posted one of my most successful blogs yet. Likes were booming then the All Blacks versus Lions game came on. Likes and comments stopped. After the game there was the odd one but it wasn’t really until the Americas Cup races were over the next morning and likes and comments took off again.

 

Xiaoli and I don’t have television as such. We have a TV but its not hooked up to freeview or Sky. Back in our accommodation units at the beach there is I believe without counting, 5 sets fully functional.

 

When we moved to the farm 2 years ago now we decided all we needed was hi speed internet. We have the direct from the transmitter. No slow speed cables. But we decided television was not a requirement. But there are a number of times I relent that decision, and that’s when the All Blacks play. But no matter, there is a radio supposedly with live coverage. But I watch the Herald blogs. If I put the radio on at the same time I find by the time the radio gets to a try being scored a typist at the Herald has already blogged that it happened with detail as to what happened. So much for live radio.

 

Its fortunate for tours its our off season or my poor tourists would be wondering why I am in a panic at nights to get in front of the motel television or why I delayed the next mornings start because the Americas Cup was being broadcast.

 

Hopefully tomorrow we secure the Americas Cup then that’s something I wont need jump up in the morning to watch on my computer. As for rugby, that’s easy, All Black games are always at night so don’t affect out tours

 

But yes these events do affect comments and likes on my blogs but more so, they affect my writing of them. I need clear space to write fluently but that’s hard when each time I look at the news on the internet there is updates on who did what and who said what. Bugger

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

My wife by phone was told I had a 50/50 chance of making it!

June 24, 2017

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Just 50% chance of surviving was the poor news my wife 200km away from my hospital was told.

 

That was 3 years ago when I stupidly defied extreme pain to do a 4wd tour up Ninety Mile Beach that had been booked in advance. At that stage we had to no back up drivers. So I thought with my male ego, I will be okay. I wasn’t.

That day the drivers of the beach buses who all knew me saw me early on in the day and said I looked absolutely dreadful. I hadn’t thought about how I looked, just determined to not let my tourists down. But the pain was extreme and next day when the hospital said out of 10, I said it is 10. Haha

Those driver friends/fellow tour operators got me through the day by dosing me up on pain killers and instructing me to drive and stop when they do and they each stop took care of my passengers including laying out the luxury lunch I had in the back why their own customers got the normal bun, salami stick as some processed cheese.

That afternoon I got home, tour completed. Very happy customers as they were treated like royalty by everyone around them. The stubborn male I am said to myself I am fine, it will pass. It did not pass and 4am I was ambulanced off 2.5 hours to Whangarei and operated on within hours. And yes Xiaoli got the call to say there was a 50% chance I would not wake up. I did and I am here. A few bad side effects that make life interesting but I will live to 100 all going well.

From that day I learnt value your life but most importantly live your life fully. Have fun, be happy. One minute sad or stressed is one minute lost forever.

It took 2 years to recover from that 4.5 hour operation. 2 years to get my energy back. But all the time I just seemed to wake up more alive than I had been for years. I was 120kg and after the operation crashed to 72kg and they were ready to readmit me but fortunately it stabalised and I am now a trim 85kg. An unexpected rare side effect of what they needed do.

But as I have said I learnt, live this life and every single day. Don’t waste it. The clock ticks for us all and I know as I lost a son at just over 4 years and a partner at 39. So live everybody. Laugh, be happy.

Peter and Xiaoli Tours is my pet project. I want to grow the tour business so my step son De Hou can in a few years join me and eventually take over. At Peter and Xiaoli Tours we are family. We are not people that drive tours for big companies. You hire us and we are the ones that drive you. Not just an employee, but the boss and his fellow family bosses.

We have a passion about showing people New Zealand. I have toured a good number of overseas countries. I have favorite destinations but top of my list is New Zealand. I absolutely love showing people my country. I have no idea if I am a good tour driver/guide but I don’t care. With me you get a warmth, a love that you will struggle to get from others.

De Hou was born China. Only been here about 3 years but he has fallen in love with this country and so he should as he is a New Zealand citizen. He is a lousy fisherman yet he loves the sport but I will teach him over time. Cant have him out fishing Xiaoli or I yet. Ha ha

I dodged death and now am passionate about living this life until I am 100. After that I will sit and think whether I aim higher. I am passionate about my country. I have a pile of airpoints yet refuse to use them personally as I love being in New Zealand. If not touring showing people my country then enjoying our farm, enjoying my quiet time fishing, but always smiling

 

Come meet me, let me show you my country

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

Should I retire once again!

June 21, 2017

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I think I am going to retire yet again.

 

I retired first when I was 54. Headed to the very far north of New Zealand to go fishing. And I did lots of that. But I always knew the funds would run out plus I hadn’t factored in meeting my wife to be, Xiaoli. And it’s a fact 2 cannot live as cheap as one so I needed work again. But only enough to keep us okay financially. My ambitions of being wealthy well gone when I realised money does not buy happiness. At that time I got rid of my beautiful Jaguar Car and other luxuries and never wished to own them again.

 

Now 12 years on as I try to further build Peter and Xiaoli Tours I start questioning myself why am I working big hours again. Mentally I have decided in another 4 years I will retire once and for all. We don’t need the money so why do I need do it. But I know why. Its so Xiaoli’s son has a business he can become involved in which he says he is keen to do. Cant see my son interested.

 

I have established good contacts in various countries now. The debate in my head is do I go see them or just hope we will win there business anyway. Xiaoli admits even the Chinese ones are out of her league so either I do or we sit and wait and hope.

 

Some people thrive on the international travel. I hate it. The part I hate is the long haul flights. Sitting in airports then cramped in plane seats not designed for people my height. Being in other countries I love experiencing different cultures. But getting there I hate.

 

Which gets back to where I started, just maybe its time to retire again. A consultants wants my CV. I have been successfully self employed over 25 years. So its well over that since I did a CV. Do I need tour business that bad I need spend time doing CV’s. I don’t think so.

Peter and Xiaoli Tours does very well without consultants also giving us tours. So I guess the question I must ask myself, do I need build the business? I know the answer. The answer is simple, I have a heart, I worry how my step son will get ahead in New Zealand if I do not help. So build Peter and Xiaoli Tours I must do because my old heart says I should. So long haul travel, maybe I need embrace. Bugger

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

Free South Island tour if you sell my beach front property

June 17, 2017

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The house that friends and visitors are staggered that no one has bought!

 

Reality is not one potential buyer has stepped into the property let alone visited it.

 

We invited many but only 2 agents took up the challenge of selling it. Once was and still is a very close friend and he owns up to the fact for him its in the too hard basket. He specialises in East Auckland properties and ours almost 5 hours away is just not his cup of tea.

 

The second agent had stayed at the property and was blown away by it and asked us if he could have a 3 month exclusive. We told him after some slick words and his brimming confidence we would give him 3 months. Not an exclusive but we agreed for the 3 months it would not be marketed anywhere else.

 

This agent tried but again I suspect it just became the too hard basket plus change in immigration rules did not help. I think it was right to give him the 3 months.

 

Why do we want to sell beach front luxury that has a business with 6 figures attached. Ideally we don’t want to sell but we don’t have the time to run that business. And we have big plans to further grow our tour business. Plans that are starting to take shape and bring rewards.

 

So one of our many real estate agents friends on facebook and other places come visit us beach front Ninety Mile Beach New Zealand. See what our property offers. While here take the day trip on the Ninety Mile Beach bus or one of our 4wd tours. Be blown away by the far north of New Zealand. Then go find us a buyer.

 

You find a buyer at a price we agree and I will give you or your buyer a free 7 day South Island tour with Peter and Xiaoli Tours at a time and date we mutually agree. I will drive you. I will guide you and I will pay your accommodation (4 star). All you need do is sell my property Ninety Mile Beach.

 

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

Peterand Xiaoli Tours – helping the orphaned

June 16, 2017

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We take in the orphaned

 

Spring it seems has come exceptionally early this year given June is only the first month of winter in New Zealand.

 

Each year we help out Bird Rescue in Auckland by taking in orphaned wild ducklings, pigeons, and whatever they think we can cope with. Last year I believe we raised about 300 ducklings which were slowly released into the wild.

 

Well as I said spring has come early and Thursday Bird Rescue phoned and said can we help. Every 1 we take from them means 1 more they can take in. Without us they used to rescue about 700 per year. With our help they can now rescue over 1,000 a year. And I suspect this year pressure will be put on us to take more.

 

Yes it costs and one could say but they are just a common wild duck. The cost doesn’t matter and I don’t care common or not, they deserve a chance in this world since their mothers went to the effort of sitting on eggs for about 28 days to bring them into this life.

 

One would hope by us bringing them 350km north to the very far north of New Zealand they also have a better chance of a long healthy life away from city traffic etc.

 

So yesterday we bring home 23 beautiful ducklings. The start of what is obviously going to be a long winter/spring and summer of many orphaned ducklings wandering our farm until they are ready to fly off.

 

Pigeons I hope are further away and waiting to warmer weather to have their off spring.

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

Planning our tours

June 14, 2017

Auckland to Rotorua

Planning tour routes

 

People think being a tour guide is a job that they would love. I guess they believe it easy. How wrong they are.

 

I have just spent a whole day planning a 9 day tour to meet a prospective client brief. I finished that then the brief changed. Partly my doing as I told them time was far too tight to do what they wanted given they wanted to travel at a slow pace. So amended and then emailed off to our overseas contact. A full days work and chances are we may not win the business.

 

Another enquiry this week for a 15 day tour but given the looseness of the brief I queried some points and in the end declined to quote. I think that surprised them but given how the brief kept changing then they added a component it all just became to hard. My guess is the brief went to multiple people and they were playing one off against another.

 

People just don’t see this side of a tour guides life. Some guides work for consultants and are doing routes they are presented with. For us we do work for some consultants but we prepare the tour agendas and sell them at a wholesale rate. They then put their margin on and sell to the prospective customer.

 

This off season we have done a huge marketing push into 4 different countries and have met with some success. We targeted countries we know the cultures of and know we get good reports following our tours. We have had help from Northland Tourism and Tourism New Zealand supplying the contacts. Very happy with the level of support they have given us and continue to do.

 

Chances are now we need visit some of the contacts that have given positive replies. We know they like our product so now we need convert talking/emails into business. And sitting here in the far north of New Zealand will not achieve that.

 

We have a 5 year plan and of attack to grow our business to the next stage. We know what we need achieve and now set out to do that. Sitting here on waiting on business to come to us will just keep us in cruise mode.

 

We are a tour company. We love our product we need sell. New Zealand. We know our product well.

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com