Letter From New Zealand 9*

*With continued apologies to Alistair Cooke

Kia Ora, folks.

So what’s been happening…

Meteorites crashing into Canterbury, a 5 on the Richter scale earthquake on Friday night (epicentre only 40 km’s away!) and exotic dancers/models parading topless down Queen Street in Auckland on motorcycles in an event entitled "Boobs on Bikes")... it's just another month in New Zealand.

This is an extract from an article on the meteorite subject:

SONIC BOOM OVER CHRISTCHURCH LEADS TO METEORITE DISCOVERY

On Tuesday afternoon, a massive sonic boom was heard throughout the Canterbury region. Christchurch and the surrounding area is a quiet, peaceful place where this sort of thing generally doesn't happen. Calls started pouring into the Christchurch emergency response centre soon thereafter as folks tried to figure out what could have caused all the ruckus (the local sheep and cattle weren't too happy about it either).

Scientists at several national observatories were asked to comment. The consensus was that a meteorite had entered the atmosphere over the region, broken the sound barrier, and either exploded or landed intact somewhere in the area. The next day, a 10cm (4")x 5cm (2") rock-like object was turned into police by someone who found it lying in his paddock 40km (23mi) south of Christchurch. Initial concerns that the object may have been nuclear fuel from a satellite's power source were put to rest when scientists at the National Radiation Laboratory in Christchurch found no trace of radiation.

A commercial airline pilot -- who wanted neither his name nor airline to be disclosed -- came forward with information that both he and his first officer had seen a smoking fiery object hurtling toward Canterbury while they were descending through 20,000 feet. The pilot stated that the object flashed directly in front of the cockpit on a heading very close to his own and was gone in an instant. He described it as similar to a meteor, "but different," primarily because it appeared to be spinning.

If we can assume that the two sightings are of the same object, then it remains to determine the object's make-up and possible origin.’

I’ll let you know if it's anything out of the ordinary. Hopefully, neither tin hats nor flak jackets will be necessary.

B-O-B PARADE

The Boobs-on-Bikes parade caused a bit of a stir in Auckland, and some local ‘Adult entertainment’ mogul (porn king) ended up with more free publicity for his event than he would ordinarily have had due to the media frenzy.

News Item on BOB Parade

On to ‘us’ things…

ANOTHER GROUND SHAKER..

Well the earth certainly ‘moved’ on Friday night (a rare occurrence, thinks Liz!)

Quietly in bed, reading, when a 5-pointer on the earthquake scale came rumbling across the land. It started with a faint vibration and rose to a bit of a house rattler, calmed down, then gave the place a good shake before heading off again. No damage or breakages reported.

Earthquake Recording Site

We are now drifting into Spring,, (and it’s mid September!) We are looking forward to the good weather, although the ‘bad’ weather hasn’t been too extreme compared to back home (apart from being colder indoors than we’ve ever been in our lives – Liz). Actually had to scrape a thin film of ice off the car the other morning!

Adam’s doing fine, working away. I got a very nice Father’s Day present (via his work)…

Liz has discovered the wonders of TradeMe, the ‘down-under’ alternative to Ebay. I have to say, it’s quite amazing what people will sell, and what people are willing to pay for ‘stuff’

Here are some of Liz’s purchases so far…*

*Remember, clicking the pictures will make them bigger!

We’ve had the underside of the house, and Adam’s wall, insulated with polystyrene. This was carried out by a very intrepid guy who has a business using recycled polystyrene, mostly from the film industry (we have some of the King Kong set stuck under our floors!)

Polly Palace Site

And finally, the Kitties From Hell.

Remember, if you want to see how the cats are doing:

Cats Blog Site

And here’s proof that they are not exactly overdoing it on the blogsite work front:







Well Folks, that's all for now.. Take care and think of us just moving nicely into Spring..