Our Kiwi Konnectionz functions in May and June held at Someplace Else in the Sheraton Hotel, TST proved very successful with over 25 people attending each event and a number of new members signing up. We held a small raffle at the June event, and Mike and Olive Christie won the main prize of a complimentary overnight stay at the Sheraton Hotel, whilst an Australian guest of one of the members won the big bag of NZ confectionary. I hope you can join us on 25 August. Start time is 6:30PM.

I’m delighted to welcome the following new members to the Society:

• Kay and Brian Stevenson
• Nicholas and Bussaba Helms
• Carol and Roger Wilkinson
• Wilem and Guoying Maas
• Delphine Franklin
• Geraldine Chan
• Gary O’Boyle
• Fiona Perry
• Jiang Lihsia and James Doyle

At the same time, we also farewell Dawn and Trevor Irwin who have decided to return to New Zealand after many years in Hong Kong. Haere Ra.

New joiners can now enjoy half-price membership from 1st July. That’s only HK$200 for a single or HK$250 for a joint/family membership. Spread the word!

I’m also delighted to advise that NZSHK members can enjoy 10% discounts on purchases at the NZ Focus Centre (including Fisher & Paykel) and also at Skitz Sports Bar. Don’t forget to show your membership card!

Since our last issue of E-Newz, the committee has been busy finalising events for the second half of 2006. Here is a summary of some of the main events coming up:

New Zealand Navy Ships Visit - HMNZS Te Kaha and HMNZS Endeavour will return to Hong Kong for a brief tour in August. NZSHK will be hosting a reception for the officers and crew and there will be an opportunity for NZSHK members to visit the Te Kaha whilst it is moored in the harbour.

20th August - NZSHK Reception for Officers and Crew of HMNZS Te Kaha and Endeavour. Skitz Sports Bar, 1/F 18 Fenwick Street, Wanchai. Come along and give our service men and women a hearty welcome - from 7PM.

21st August - Ship visits. Limited access has been granted to NZSHK members to make visits to the New Zealand naval frigate HMNZS Te Kaha. 10 PAX can visit from 0920-1000hrs (participants will need to meet at Fenwick Pier at 0905hrs to catch the water taxi) and 20 PAX can visit from 0940-1020hrs (meet at 0925hrs to catch the water taxi). To book your place, please email Travis at kiwi@nzshk.org advising the number of participants and the preferred visit time.

27th August – Jaspas’ Party Junk: A minimum of 14 people are required to join this day trip out to Millionaires Beach off the coast of Sai Kung. Price is $550 for adults; $200 for children under 13 and $100 for infants under 5. If you wish to join, please contact me at kiwi@nzshk.org or visit the NZSHK website for more details.

Early September – Comedy Club: Join this night of hilarity at the Viceroy Bar and Restaurant in Causeway Bay.

17th September – Cheung Chau: Take the ferry out to this delightful little island and enjoy a guided tour of the island followed by a sumptuous feast. 

29th September – NZ Wine & Cheese Evening @ NZ Focus Centre: September’s KK evening will replace by this event. Price will be $180 per head (all inclusive) for members and $200 for non-members.

22nd October – Mai Po Wetlands: Join a guided tour to the world famous Mai Po Wetlands where you can see some of the world’s rarest bird life.

9th November – Cocktail Reception with the New Zealand Cricket team: New Zealand makes a welcome return to the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes to be played at Kowloon Cricket Club on 11-12 November 2006. NZSHK will be hosting a reception for the team at KCC on the evening of 9th November. This will be an opportunity to mix and mingle with the players, including Danny Morrison, Chris Harris, Jeff Wilson and Mathew Sinclair.

3rd December – Christmas Party at Aberdeen Marina Club: NZSHK will be making a return to the fabulous Aberdeen Marina Club for a sumptuous Christmas lunch. Santa has already been booked to make a special appearance.

Check the NZSHK website for more details about all of these and other events.

On the technology front, I had a couple of unsettling experiences last month that I felt I needed to share with you. In early June I was the victim of a theft through my on-line banking account at the National Bank of New Zealand. Somehow, NZ$5,000 was withdrawn from my account using my account number and password. I’m not one to write down or share my password (even my wife doesn’t know the password) so this was a shock to me. I can only assume that some malicious ‘spy-ware’ had infiltrated my computer and had recorded the keystrokes of my account and password and then sent this back to someone who has then propagated the transactions.

Fortunately, this story has a happy ending, as I was able to recover all the money from the bank within a couple of days. However it does highlight the risks that one takes when operating on-line banking accounts. In future I will be changing my password more regularly and when I logon to the account, I will use a copy and paste function to enter the account number and password (doing this means that any spy-ware program cannot trace the key strokes used to access the account). I would suggest all members operating on-line banking accounts to follow similar precautions.

>>> Email scams hit bank customers
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm
?c_id=1&ObjectID=10386167

>>> VoIP new target for financial fraudsters
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3738214a28,00.html

The second incident occurred just a couple of days after my banking incident, when the NZSHK website Forums section was hacked (I don’t think the two events were related). When accessing the forums section, a bogus image appeared on the screen saying that the website had been hacked by a group claiming to be from Turkey. The problem could only be rectified by deleting the old forum and recreating it all from scratch. All the content on the old forum was lost but other than that, there was no serious damage done.

A new version of software was loaded so the hopefully the site is safe from this type of attack in future. Still, these incidents highlight that the on-line world is no safer than the real world and we must all must be vigilant to ensure we maintain our personal security and welfare in both spheres.

On to happier things, I made a quick trip back to New Zealand in the latter half of June. I copped the best and the worst of the weather – it was freezing cold but brilliant fine for the five days I was there - just the opposite in Hong Kong! Apparently June was the coldest recorded in New Zealand since 1972 though Auckland enjoyed its sunniest June since records began.

Just before my arrival, a freak storm had knocked out Auckland’s power supply for a few hours and then heavy snowfalls in the South Island had isolated a number of Canterbury communities, knocking out all power supplies in the region for more than a week. I thought the following cartoon summed things up nicely!

Cartoon Source http://www.stuff.co.nz

Enjoy the summer!

Cheers,
Travis Pittman
President, NZSHK