The Weekender 05/10/2008
Let's have a look at what's been happening in the first week of October.
Sport
Last weekend the Wellington Phoenix showed a little of what they are capable of with a come from behind 2-1 win over A-League front-runners Sydney FC. Before the season actually started, it looked like this was going to be a good year for the Phoenix, but so far that hasn't been the case. I guess this win gives us a little hope.
Michael Campbell narrowly missed out on the play-off for the British Masters at the Belfry this week, finishing up third, but he is doing well in the next competition - definitely showing signs of a solid come back. In the latest world rankings he has jumped 65 spots to 191st.
Hayden Roulston is seeing some benefits from all his hard work and his good Olympic results. This week he has signed a one year contract with the newly formed Cervelo team and will be riding with the reigning Tour de France champ Carlos Sastre and the great sprinter Thor Hushovd.
The NZ Warriors could finally begin their holidays this week, but first they had to shave their beards. In honour of retiring legend Ruben Wiki all the boys had decided to stop shaving from Ruben's 300th game. This week they were all shaved in public and raised money for the Kidz First Children's Hospital.
Team New Zealand has been struggling financially with all the delays and legal problems surrounding the America's Cup, but this week they announced a lead sponsor of airline Emirates.
On to the Air NZ cup - the final round. Waikato needed a win to make the quarter-finals and with the help of their All Blacks, won 45-41 over Taranaki - but not without some heart stopping moments. Taranaki were ahead 0-21 at the start and still ahead 17-38 with 30 minutes to go! On Friday night Canterbury got a good workout but overcame Southland 25-6, and Hawke's Bay won the battle of "the Bays" beating Bay of Plenty 46-12. On Saturday Tasman beat Manawatu 7-36 and North Harbour saved the best for last with a 28-57 win over Counties Manukau. If Wellington were hoping for the perfect season they shouldn't have underestimated Otago (is it even possible to underestimate Otago?) Anyway, Otago beat Wellington 36-21 probably just to upset all the Virtual Rugby picks. Auckland didn't quite repeat their perfect run of last year and haven't been doing well, but no one expected the reigning champs to be beaten by Northland 13-21 which ends their faint hope of retaining the Air NZ cup by missing out on the quarter finals. So the table is: Wellington 44, Canterbury 42, Hawkes Bay 34, Bay of Plenty 28, Southland/Waikato 25, Tasman/Taranaki 23 (that's the top eight through to the Quarters), Northland/Otago/Auckland 22, North Harbour 19, Counties-Manuakau 13, Manawatu 9.
In other news Daniel Braid is leaving Auckland to take up a 2 year contract with the Queensland Reds for the Super 14.
We may finally have a team in an Australian competition that has a genuine chance of winning. The NZ Breakers win last weekend left them as the only team in the second week of the competition that hadn't lost (wow), and this weekend they showed why with at 118-80 thrashing of the Adelaide 36ers. (Ok so the Warriors could have won as well, but they certainly didn't start the season like this!)
Southland have been waiting 49 years, but have finally won the national netball champs beating Auckland Waitakere 56-46.
Former Kiwis (NZ Rugby League) coach Brian McClennan has helped Leads retain their Super League crown with a 24-16 win over St Helens.
NZ News
This week has had some of the aftermath of Austin Hemmings actions in saving a woman he didn't know last week. His funeral was on Wednesday and well attended by many people I know. The stories around the hero have been well publicised on the news & in papers, which is great to see.
Labour made the most of announcing the new service for pensioners last weekend. Senior citizens now have free off-peak public transport in Auckland (only Auckland...?). The government is also being questioned on their timing by suddenly giving the go-ahead to two large roading project in Auckland, the $195m Newmarket Viaduct replacement, and the $220m Hobsonville bypass. Both have had years of false starts & delays and now just weeks before the election they start...
Labour's spin department have been working overtime and came up with this gem. Annual crime statistics were released this week showing a small drop in the crime rate, but with a surge in family violence offences. Labour have been indicating that it is very positive that these offences are now getting reported, with Helen saying "So it may not be that there is any more violence in the homes, but that we are getting to know about it and can then do something about it."
One of the nicest pieces of road in NZ is SH2 from Pokeno to the Coromandel Peninsular - it's also one of the most dangerous for reasons unknown to man. Hopefully the numbers of fatalities will drop with the opening next month of a 7km bypass of Mangatawhiri - just in time for the busy holiday season when up to 25,000 vehicles a day pass by.
Cadbury-Schweppes has been getting a hard time this week after they announced that they will be axing the iconice Kiwi sweets of Snifters, Sparkles and Tangy Fruits. Obviously Dunedin Uni students have too much time on their hands as there have been a number of protests by a group calling themselves the Sugar Liberation Army. SLA spokesman Leigh Paterson said passing the axing off as a public health measure to combat child obesity and cavity rates was "blatant pandering to the current mode of nanny state regulation and interference that is plaguing the country".
The weather has been mostly good around the country for the past couple of weeks and the current winds & rain aside, the town of Little Rakaia was in danger of a large scrub fire this week.
1: more year in Iraq for the New Zealand Defence Force on peacekeeping duties
10: % increase in power prices by Contact Energy - after posting a $237m profit last month
11: gold medals for NZ wines in the annual International Wine and Spirit Competition in London
42: % of car thefts are from or near owners' homes
59: % of Kiwis make a point of buying NZ made goods, another 13% said it depended on the goods
86: % of people polled are still against the governments anti-smacking law
93: car accidents were caused by people being emotionally upset, 147 by showing off
12,000: km solo skateboarding trip through Europe, North America & China by kiwi Robert Thomson has more than doubled the world record for distance stakeboarding
121m: $ extra to be spent on the rail system in this financial year
Finance NZ Dollar
GBP 0.3731 (+0.0016)
EUR 0.4798 (+0.0109)
USD 0.6612 (-0.0242)
AUD 0.8537 (+0.0292)
The Weekender NZer of the week
Keith Park
SAVIOUR OF BRITAIN
"If any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I do not believe it is realised how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgement and his skill, did to save, not only this country, but the world." Lord Tedder – Chief of the Royal Air Force, February 1947.
http://www.nzedge.co.nz/heroes/park.html
Shovel Need
One morning a local highway department crew reaches their job-site and realizes they have forgotten all their shovels. The crew's foreman radios the office and tells his supervisor the situation.
The supervisor radios back and says, "Don't worry, we'll send some shovels... just lean on each other until they arrive."
Check out my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dunwich42
Darren Harrison: darren@harrison.gen.nz
The Weekender: mailed weekly (Sunday nightish)
Website: www.dunwich.co.nz/weekender/
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