Long driver tes� ng wait � mes ‘unfair’, P2 ISSN 2703-5700 PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY Issue 034 August 18, 2021 Antarctica calls Waikino chef He’ll then be put in isolation By KELLEY TANTAU for three days and be tested for C 100an Wheway’sC 0 summer is Covid-19. M 25 M 0 DY 0 goingY to 0 look a lot diff erent Once given the all-clear, he thisK 0 year.K 100 and the crew will fl y to Scott Instead of gazing out at the Base on September 15. rolling hills of Waikino, he’ll Scott Base is located 3800km be staring across the polar de- south of Christchurch and sert of Antarctica,Times (modified) and instead 1350km from the South Pole. ofFont basking :: in high-20 degree From October to February, it heat, he’ll be adjusting to the is a bustling hub of scientists, temperature on what is the staff and visitors, and up to 86 planet’s coldest continent. people can be accommodated Dan, 49, has been selected at any one time. for a minimum fi ve-month During summer, Antarctica stint as a summer chef down at is also in constant sunlight. Scott Base, New Zealand’s Ant- But Dan will go prepared. arctic research station. He’s bought himself a black- He calls it his “Midlife Crisis: out eye mask, he said. Part Two’, after his fi rst one “Being a very organised chef, eight years ago saw him donate I always have lists. A month a kidney to his mother-in-law. ago, when I thought of some- But it’ll also be a one-of-a- thing I should take with me, kind experience, which will see I wrote it down in a book. It him return to his career as a could’ve been something as sil- chef. ly as Command hooks to hang Dan has been in the culinary things on a wall, or Blu Tack,” industry since he was 16, start- he said. ing as an apprentice back home “I even did a test back in in the United Kingdom. March or April, how long a de- After moving to New Zealand odorant and toothpaste would in 2005, he worked on-and-off last. Then I could take down for 10 years as a lecturer of pro- what I needed.” fessional cookery and profes- Dan Wheway, from Waikino, will return to his career as a chef, but this � me, he’ll do it in Antarc� ca. Dan said he would miss the sional bakery at the Manukau Photo: KELLEY TANTAU Waikino view and the sound of Institute of Technology (MIT) in which Scott Base was putting How oft en do you happy.” birds, as well as his three chil- in Auckland. the word out for workers. “ But Dan still had to go dren and wife Jo, who he mar- After his wife, Jo Wheway, All it took was a knowing look get the chance to use through medical and dental ried back in 1995. got a job as the principal of between the pair. checks. Email will be their next form Waikino School, he moved Dan applied for the summer the skill set you have “Being useless as a child with of contact for the next fi ve down to be with her, telling chef role and was shortlisted. to go to a part of the my teeth, and then being a chef months. The Profi le he would rather be He then went through a Zoom world you could only working silly hours and con- “Jo has always been my back- with the person he enjoyed be- interview and psychometric stantly tasting foods, I had a bone; we’ve always shared eve- ing with, than work at a job he testing. dream of?” crap dental history. I ended up rything, and she’s always sup- enjoyed doing. “I became, for the fi rst time - Dan Wheway having four fi llings and one ex- ported me,” Dan said. In the Hauraki, he started in my life, quite pessimistic. I traction,” he said. “And I say it’s a midlife crisis, working at Mitre 10 Waihi’s found the psychometric testing said. “So when I got the phone Now, he’s all set to head down but how often do you get the trade yard, but at the end of quite diffi cult and I just wanted call saying: ‘Daniel, you’re suc- to Christchurch on August chance to use the skill set you February this year, he and Jo to know whether I got the job or cessful’, I was so happy. Genu- 15 for the start of a two-week have to go to a part of the world were watching a news segment not. It all became very real,” he inely, ‘raise the roof’ sort of training and bonding period. you could only dream of?” Winter Need a rubbish bin? Cooking With a range of size options – we’ve got you @ covered! Images not Now stocking Le Creuset to scale. The Depot, Pollen St Thames PHONE 0800 4 MY BIN (0800 469 246) EMAIL [email protected] or phone 027 207 7033 ONLINE www.smartbins.co.nz www.savourandspice.com WE ARE LOCAL – proudly 100% Kiwi owned & operated 02 THE VALLEY PROFILE, August 18, 2021 www.valleyprofi le.co.nz CONTACT US The Valley Profi le is a community newspaper that delivers 100% Driver testing wait times ‘unfair’ local news in the Thames Valley region. We deliver 12,500 copies By KELLEY TANTAU need to go for your restricted each Wednesday to every licence that there’s a three- le� erbox, reaching approximately llegations that out-of- month wait. 30,000 readers in Hauraki Plains, Atowners are taking up valu- “We’d certainly like to have Paeroa, Thames, Thames Coast able driver licence test slots is that time-frame cut down,” she and surrounding rural areas, plus bulk distribu� on around the simply “street talk”, training said. Coromandel Peninsula. providers have said, with the VTNZ’s operations support root of the problem instead manager James Law said the NEWS/EDITORIAL stemming from staffi ng short- time spent in alert levels 3 Editor Teresa Ramsey ages. and 4 across the country dur- Ph 0204 0944 853 The Profi le understands wait ing the Covid-19 lockdown had Email: editor@valleyprofi le.co.nz times to sit a restricted or full resulted in a backlog of more Reporter Kelley Tantau driver licence test in Thames than 42,000 driver tests na- Ph 022 619 4889 can stretch up to three months. tionwide. Email: kelley@valleyprofi le.co.nz While Gavin Buchanan, who They were still working ADVERTISING has owned Thames Driver through its fl ow-on eff ects, he Ad manager Nikki Sanders Training for three years, has said. Ph 022 1303 885 seen the odd person from “Our target wait time is 30 Email: nikki@valleyprofi le.co.nz Auckland, Hamilton, and even Learner drivers are wai� ng for months to get an appointment to sit their days, and this is currently (FILE PHOTO) MISSED PAPERS/ADMIN Great Barrier Island utilise restricted test. higher due to increased de- Ph 027 396 2459 Thames’ streets to sit lessons preparation for restricted and wards, and that’s not fair on mand and the signifi cant back- Email: admin@valleyprofi le.co.nz and tests, he said the majority full licence tests. them.” log. The Waikato is our main coming through were locals. Mr Buchanan was a driver Valley Education and Train- pinch point nationwide, with 100% LOCALLY OWNED “I think there’s a bit of street testing offi cer in Thames for ing Enterprises (VETEL) has wait times sitting at 47 days,” AND OPERATED talk with people saying we’ve fi ve years before he started the also taken it upon themselves he said. been inundated with people business. to start driver training and edu- “We are actively working PO Box 550, Thames 3540 from out of town, but I don’t He said people travelling to cation. to manage this backlog, and www.valleyprofi le.co.nz think that’s the case,” he said. Thames to sit their test wasn’t They provide driving lessons VTNZ is currently doing an ad- Hi, my name is Pete “We all live in small com- the cause of the long wait times. and regular courses for defen- ditional recruitment drive to the Pukeko and I’m munities around the area, Instead, he believed it was sive driving around the eastern boost the workforce by 10 per here to help you. and I think where people get due to a shortage in staff . Waikato, with their instructor cent. In addition to the recruit- Find me in one it misconstrued is when they When he was a tester, there picking people up from their ment drive, Driver Testing Of- of the display advertisements see people from Whitianga, used to be a wait time of around home and taking them for their fi cers (DTOs) are being moved in The Valley Profi le, then email Whangamata, or even Ngatea three-six weeks. Now, that time lessons. around in their geographic admin@valleyprofi le.co.nz or Ph/ coming to sit their test. Some- has doubled, he said. Administration manager region as required, in order to txt 027 396 2459 with your full times they think: Why are they “Certainly there has been and Ruth Bliss said a six-week to minimise branch wait times as name, the business name and page doing it here? still is, a very long wait time, two-month wait time for their much as possible.” number of the ad by the following “It’s because it’s the only and that is a big concern for my students to sit their tests was Mr Law said VTNZ had been Monday to go in the draw to WIN place they can do it.” recruiting for a permanent a car valet from Thames Autos clients and other people want- “relatively acceptable” - but a worth $150! The prize is drawn at Thames Driver Training of- ing to do their tests.