It's official. We Katikati folk have the highest fuel prices in the Bay of Plenty. After doing a road trip after New Year, we travelled from Katikati to Gisborne, then up the east coast around the cape to Opotiki, Whakatane and Tauranga.

Noting fuel prices along the way, it was pretty even, with diesel at around $1.35 to $1.40, but Katikati hadn't changed since we left, at $1.49.

I'm not going to rant on about how they are ripping us locals off, but I am going to applaud them for the higher prices. I believe fuel prices should be around $5 a litre, and before you start going off at me, let me explain.

I believe oil is a resource, just like water, that we should be doing all we can to look after it and not take it for granted. Without it, we are pretty much screwed. If you think electric or solar power is going to save us, i think you've got another thing coming. They will never be as cheap as fuel, or as easy.

Oil, like its brother coal, is a high producer of pollution, heating our atmosphere and turning our oceans acidic. So while I'm filling up my car, I look at the price board and think to myself 'is fuel really expensive, or too cheap and a great deal?” What you think?

F de Graaf, Katikati (abridged).