Welcome

WAIKATO RIVER

There are two rules for success:
1.) Don't tell all you know.

Welcome to WWW - Wilderness Wally's World - A place where one can read a story about Americana or discover information on the many people and places of interest in beautiful New Zealand.

Click here to read more at Wally's Front Porch - testosterone-laced underarm roll-on coming to a store near you?

Click Here for Pot Luck - Mafia suspect caught on Facebook ... with 200 friends!

Lord, please keep Your arm around my shoulders and Your hand over my mouth.

Corrugated shack is priceless - So is freedom
A St Lucia man who lives in a corrugated lean-to, without electricity or water, has turned down an offer of £40m for his land.
Claudius Lousien, 70, sleeps on a rackety old lounger which has long since lost its linen cover and the foam padding has all but disintegrated.

His lifestyle is organic in the extreme - dinner consists of the fish he catches cooked on the left-over coals from his charcoal fire, reports the Daily Telegraph.

But he says his 55 sun-drenched acres of undulating hillside and mangroves overlooking white-tipped waves and turquoise waters are priceless.

"This is a nice place, cool and quiet, with all these beautiful trees," he replies when asked why he wouldn't sell to the man who offered him $60m for his land, "I want to be buried here."

His home is atop a hill at Anst La Voute with a commanding view in all directions. The only sounds are waves, bird song and the crackle of a charcoal fire. Mr Lousien and his father before him were born on the Caribbean island - and he has never had to visit a doctor or a dentist.
(Try this in the US and some group of politicians will declare eminent domain and take it away! - I'm at the age when I just shake my head and wonder when we lost it? I wish him well.)

Yankiwi - Writes to the General Store:... before I lost it that is!
We found New York style pizza in Auckland -the closest yet to the real thing! try Sals at 44 Commerce St in Auckland's CBD.

Vote for the dog breed you like best - Link here to USA Today Paw Prints.

Dog adrift on ice saved from Baltic Sea - Link to story of Dog's Best Friend coming to the rescue

In the US, 'everyone' is up in arms over the price of Chicken wings! That's right, you might say chicken wings are flying sky-high! I wouldn't but you might.
Never-the-less, The primary factor driving up wing prices is the growing number of restaurants, including many national chains, that are adding wings to their offerings, says Richard Lobb, spokesman for the Washington-based chicken industry trade group the National Chicken Council. (I'm not kidding!)

According to the Agriculture Department, the average wholesale price of wings in 2009 was $1.47 a pound, up 39% from 2008 and the highest it has been, adjusted for inflation, since the mid-1970s.
By the way, here in New Zealand we're paying around NZ$3.50 a pound at the retail level.

Jeff Foxworthy on Illinois - Internal Link Here

Why do we drive on different sides of the road - Internal Link Here

Seats on a Plane, How to Score The Best Ones-Link Here

A while back we made one of our regular pilgrimages to Martha's Backyard in Mt Wellington to stock up on things American. I suppose those who live outside the Auckland area would just laugh at our description of 'challenging long treks' in the quest for root beer, Libby's pumpkin pie mix, wheat thins, Triscuits and Cheez-Its.

You must remember, we are out here in the wop-wops of Whangaparaoa and we must navigate our way across the 'big smoke' of Auckland.

Never the less, it is a matter of priorities, our stash of Kool-Aid, Wish Bone chunky blue cheese dressing, Jell-O, Bisquick and Jack Daniels hickory brown sugar barbecue sauce was getting dangerously low. Mrs Wilderness found something new on the shelf, a single serve mini bag of Orville Redenbacher's pop corn!

If, somehow, you have not heard of Martha's Backyard oasis, it is located at
114 Lunn Ave, Mt Wellington, Auckland – Tel:09 570 7976
Shop hours:
Mon-Fri 10am-5pm
Sat & Sun 10am-4pm

PS - No, we don't make anything out of this. I just know there are times when a root beer float is soooo important.

Very Interesting
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Hewlett Packard Co. said Thursday that it has reached a settlement with three companies that have been accused of infringing on the printer company's patents for ink cartridges.

HP filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in September, seeking to ban imports of ink cartridges by 11 companies.

Two of those companies -- InkPlusToner.com of Canoga Park, Calif., and Comptree Inc. of City of Industry, Calif., have agreed to stop the imports and paid HP an undisclosed sum. HP expects to reach a similar agreement with Smartone Services LLC of Hayward, Calif.

Zhuhai Gree Magneto-Electric Co. of China has asked an administrative law judge to end the commission's investigation after agreeing to cease importing these ink cartridges.

A default judgment was entered against the remaining seven companies: Mipo International Ltd. of Hong Kong, Mextec Group Inc. of Miami, Fla., and five Chinese companies, Shanghai Angel Printer Supplies Co. Ltd., Shenzhen Print Media Co. Ltd., Zhuhai National Resources & Jingjie Imaging Products Co. Ltd., Tatrix International and Ourway Image Co. Ltd.

HP said it expects the commission to rule in favor of banning the importation of these goods from the companies.

HP's ink business has long been a cash cow, only recently being supplanted as HP's most profitable business by its services division. HP's printer and ink division had 2 1/2 times the operating profit as the personal computer division in the last fiscal year, even though the PC group's revenue was higher.

Shares of HP, based in Palo Alto, Calif., rose 41 cents to $52.64 in midday trading.
Make up your own mind on this one.

Click on 'Miscellaneous' in the Table of Contents to expand and find US Contacts In New Zealand and other items.

Click to view some of our photos of New Zealand As usual, a work in progress.

Come back often, have fun, keep in touch...
Mr and Mrs W-W