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The Search For A Replacement Car after the PARF changes

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What a difference a month or so makes... Just a little sharing and my opinion, TLDR No one expected the massive change, and friends messaged me about the PARF changes, which have changed the buying landscape for most.. If you have deep pockets, and can commit big piles of cash without any concerns, then this isn't really huge. However if you are bound by more financial constraints, and take time to choose, don't fret, nor be pressured into committing. Take as long as you need. The car landscape has changed significantly in the past few years, in terms of models available, type of car, type of engine, and is often complicated by the rebates, tax incentives and disincentives dished out by the government so take as much time as the sums are huge. So buying for fun or a few years, then flipping the car may not be possible or will require more financial clout now. Therefore, the focus may shift away from features to dependability and other more long term factors.  Right now, one of ...
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Sydney in a week with a little one... some old places, some new

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It's been a nice time away, to meet friends, and experience old places, but with a lil un in tow and experience a bit of farm courtesy of my friends. I'll share a few pics, and then links to the places in case anyone is headed to Sydney. Farm - day trips and stay vacations.  Not the glamp camp type, but good fun with waterfalls, animals, feeding, and only an hour from Sydney. The M1 expressway up has some steep uphill climbs, great for testing if your car has the chops.. https://www.hipcamp.com/en-AU/land/new-south-wales-fern-valley-ranch-pw1h1mnw Best OJ! Oz is very big on safety and child seats (sharks are a different thing) Uber won't take you w/o a child seat. Taxis can. You can also book taxis for the airport, get a big one if you need luggage space. Food selection: Double Chin - like DTF, many branches   Harry's Pies, best bet at Wollomolloo    Diamond Territory $$ but very nice Canto food Silk - World Square, all kinds of food Ramen Zundo, also World Square, n...
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Things to note when you are looking for a EV

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The world is now enamored with going green and buying an EV is part of this song and dance. However it can be a minefield with so many models and the extremely high price we have.  Now before you even hit the showrooms or motor show, do some homework, and some maths. Questions you need to answer: - What’s your mileage? A super high mileage person may find a hybrid better as the time on the road may be so high that charging is logistically hard - What’s the tax incentive? Note that these rebates are also clawed back at the end partially so when you calculate the depreciation, use the net PARF and check what you get back, some cars have zero net value after ten years - What’s the charging system available to you and where can you park or how much time do you have to charge?   Now when you examine the cars, some important things to look at, apart from the price tag. 1. Price Yeah, that’s the sticker tag which pretty much attracts you or makes you walk away, however, what ...
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Amanohishidate and more - cheap yen and no Chinese tourists ?

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So you like Japan and the yen is at an all time low? Plus the fact that the winds of politics have blown away all the Chinese tourists ? Timing could not be better for my trip and I didn’t even plan it for the above scenario.   But Kyoto is known to be packed with tourists at this time of the year with the autumn leaves beckoning.   Apart from squeezing with the tourists are there any other places to go and see those gorgeous leaves ? So I went with my lil un about two years ago and we did the usual places : bamboo forest, clear water temple, geisha district, tori gates and also the aquarium.   You can choose to brace the crowds or try out next places. So this time we planned   Bamboo forest but take the sagano romantic train   Kyoto train museum   Nara deer park And the prize - Amanohishidate   We will try some nice food places and do a bit of shopping too I first heard this from a friend and decided to look into it in detail and found out it’s one of...
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