Two Cambridge mates say they may turn their unusual method of trimming hedges into a business, after they suspended a ride-on mower from a crane to do the job.
And:
They wanted to film the stunt, put it on the internet and see how many hits it got, but in the end had no video camera.
Friggin’ muppets :-)
This is one of the things I love about New Zealand: an at times complete aversion to doing things by conventional means.
EXCLUSIVE: HAWTHORN has muscled in on New Zealand, running a nationwide school competition with a view to tapping into a fresh source of international recruits.
The cashed-up 2008 premier has been quietly monitoring Kiwi talent for several months, overseeing a “Hawks Cup” for Year 9 and 10 students.
Rivals looking at frontiers beyond Ireland have been left behind, with the Hawks striking up a partnership with AFL New Zealand.
Still, the article is a bit more optimistic than I think what the actual reality is here in NZ. On the other hand, there have been a few more examples of rugby (league and union) players making the transition in recent times, such as Mike Pyke with the Swans.
The Karmichael Hunt experiment is going to be interesting. It seems slightly incongruous to me that he’s been signed up on such a massive salary. I’m not a follower of the NRL, but I believe he’s a very good player. But you can’t tell me the new Gold Coast franchise hasn’t got at least one eye on his marketing potential in getting him to sign. I’m be happily surprised if he’s more than an average player in the AFL, but it’s not just the issue of transferring skills from rugby to AFL, it’s the whole area of tactics as well. You don’t want to run at the opposition and get tackled, right?
Where AFL clubs might be successful is if they find promising 17-18 year olds, get them over to Aus, put them on their rookie list, and give them a year or two to develop. Then I think we might see some Kiwi players go across and do well. At least they’d be used to the oval ball, unlike Gaelic football players.
And so the Aussie Rules quest for global domination continues…
September 24, 2009 at 5:35 pm · Filed under Aussie Rules
I’ve had one or two queries regarding how/where to catch Saturday’s AFL Grand Final here in NZ.
Basically, Sky televise the game live on Sky Sports 3, so you can catch it there. Failing that, there are live radio streams outlined in my previous post (this is surprisingly fun, easily the best time you can have drinking a coldie while yelling at your laptop).
But apart from that, it’s pretty slim pickings, and so my previous advice pretty much still stands (trawl the comment for some suggestions on live Internet streaming options. You mileage may vary.).
Also, the AFL site has a page set up with international venues that are hosting events for the game. However so far it only includes The Paddington in Auckland. The NZAFL also have a few more venues.
Anyway, good luck to any other Aussie expats watching the game on the weekend. May the Cats lose in the most humiliating way possible, hopefully by completely choking and blowing a comfortable lead in the last quarter, and making Gary Ablett Jnr cry (again). The Hawkers aren’t there this year, so the Saints will have to step up to the plate on this one.
Two New Zealand zoos want to import up to 20 tumour-free Tasmanian devils.
Wellington Zoo’s Simon Eyre says New Zealand wants to assist in protecting the vulnerable marsupial in any way it can.
He says the Wellington and Auckland zoos are likely to take animals born in the population free of the facial tumour disease.
As you may (not) have heard, the Tasmanian Devil species as a whole has been suffering from a deadly facial tumor disease, which has made quite a few of them even uglier than there were originally.
Given that they are kind of a Tasmanian icon, having starred in such critically acclaimed shows as Disney’s ‘Looney Toons’, this is obviously a very bad thing.
So it’s a nice gesture that some New Zealand zoos are offering to import some of the non-infected specimens, in order to preserve them in the good old shaky isles.
Sounds like a good plan. However, just as a warning: if one of these little bad boys manages to escape, I seriously fear for the future of the rest of New Zealand’s wildlife.
Honestly, they’re not called devils for no good reason. They’re aggressive, heartless, cold-blooded killers. They have very few redeeming characteristics, other than that they are unique to a certain geographic location. And of course the Looney Tunes thing.
So, goodbye to any remaining Kiwi birds.
And, goodbye to ….
(Well I’m stumped actually, NZ doesn’t have much tough wildlife, does it?)
Anyway, if you don’t believe me, then watch the following clip.
But in return, we get your rugby team. Maybe one or two of the Wallabies might get a guernsey for the AUS/NZ team (the All Golds?), but we’ll just merge the squads and pick from the best, okay?
And we also get Dan Vettori and Jesse Ryder. We’d also take Jacob Oram but we already have one injury-prone over-rated all-rounder.
Got an overgrown hedge? Maybe you could buy an electric trimmer? Perhaps hire someone to do the job?
I’ve had one or two queries regarding how/where to catch Saturday’s AFL Grand Final here in NZ.
