My Rotorua weather readings are warmer than Karen Olsen's (pictured) or Jim Hickey's on TV. Photo / File
The And Another Thing team go walking quite a bit and nothing quite matches a hearty stroll through one of our many forests or bush reserves.
With an hour to spare, one can circumnavigate Tikitapu (Blue Lake) on foot, enjoy the beautiful views on the way and arrive back at the car feeling all the better for it. That's of course if the car is in a serviceable state on your return.
Every time we return to the car park we feel a little anxious until we see that the windscreen is in one piece or that the door locks haven't been wrenched. Our concerns are justified, with the Rotorua Daily Post running a story last week about this very problem - car break-ins.
Such occurrences at popular forest car parking areas have prompted police and Rotorua District Council to warn visitors to stick to designated car parks.
Saturday morning before last, two cars were broken into at Eight Mile Gate Rd, while their owners went for an hour's run in the Whaka Forest. Various valuables were stolen.
The Rotorua District Council warns that despite being a common parking area, it is not a designated car park and does not recommend people leave their cars there.
Despite such forestry areas being routinely patrolled by random security personnel for Timberlands, they are regarded as high risk for vehicle owners.
So - what does one do? Leaving your car at home is usually not an attractive option and cycling there and hiding your bike in the bushes does not suit everyone either.
Being such frequent visitors to the bush, this is what the And Another Thing team do. We take the older of our two vehicles and apart from basic items such as reserve water bottles and end of the day snacks; we leave all our valuables at home. Items such as pocket camera and cellphone, go into our backpacks which we wear during our walk. Everything else goes into the boot, including pullovers and rugs, which if left on the seats or floor could be seen by potential thieves - the scum of our society, as hiding something valuable underneath. Sad as it sounds, leave in your car only what you would be prepared to lose.
Finally, whatever precautions you choose to take, never deny yourself or your friends of enjoying our local areas of beauty, for fear of having your stuff stolen.
Taking all reasonable and practicable steps is the best you can do.
• It's been going on for years. The discrepancy between Rotorua's daily maximum temperatures shown on evening television and what they actually are, which is usually on average 2C warmer.
It's not because the TV temperatures are "wrong", but that they are read out at the airport where the air is influenced by the cool air coming off the lake.
As a result, viewers are constantly being fed with these misrepresented figures and led to believe that our city - where most people reside - is colder than what it actually is.
Years ago, a team of us lobbied to have the temperatures officially read at various sites in town but after a trial period, found no-one prepared to do the task on a daily basis.
So at the airport, the figures will continue to be read - for the time being at least.
As a general rule, add a couple of degrees to what Jim or Karen say, and on most days you'll be about right.
To prove my point, I did a comparison last week between the maximum daily temperatures recorded at my Springfield weather station, and what was shown on the telly that same night.
With my "correct" figures shown here in degrees centigrade with the TV figures in brackets, this is how they looked: Sun 16C (14C), Mon 17C (15C), Tues 16C (15C), Wed 17C (14C), Thurs 13C (14C), Fri 16C (15C), Sat 14C (12C), Sun 15C (12C).
The average discrepancy between my readings and the ones taken at the airport has shown to be a sizeable 1.6C.
So who should you believe? My conclusion is that my figures are the ones to go by, not those read at the airport.
• Brian Holden has lived in Rotorua for most of his life and has recently celebrated 10 years' writing And Another Thing.