It may seem quiet here at the moment....

....but its far from it.

Don't worry I haven't given up on the blog, its just a bit lower in the pecking order right now

Sometimes life completely changes overnight, what a wild ride!

Ex Pat All Blacks

With the immenent departure of Dan Carter, Nick Evans and Jerry Collins from the NZ and All Blacks rugby scene to chase the big bucks ($2 million in Dan Carters case apparently) it has occured to me that we could cobble together a pretty good New Zealand team from all the players who have left Aotearoa's fine shores and are no longer available for the All Blacks.

In fact, at years end this side might well be better than whats left in the NZRFU's cupboard...

1.Carl Hayman
2.Anton Oliver
3.Kees Meeuws
4.Chris Jack
5.Reuben Thorne (c)
6.Scott Robertson
7.Marty Holah
8.Jerry Collins
9.Justin Marshall
10.Dan Carter
11.Doug Howlett
12.Luke Mcalister
13.Rico Gear
14.Bruce Reihana
15.Nick Evans

Bench
Tony Brown, Byron Kelleher, Xavier Rush, Carl Hoeft, Ben Blair, Paul Tito, Rua Tipoki

Actually, I think that team would beat most countries in the world.
How tragic.

Routeburn Round 3

Only 3 weeks to go. Uh oh. Been sick most of the last 2 weeks but on the mend now so training gets serious again now.

However, I always have my olympic record (Click) to fall back on, apparently.

Must have been in a previous life!

Retirement Planning

Well despite appearances and feeling like death warmed up today, apparently I have a long life coming…

http://www.deathclock.com/

Saturday, April 10, 2066 is my Judgement Day

I’ll be 94 years old, cool!

Climate Change

Perhaps the single most devastating prediction yet for climate change is that it will affect the supply of beer as reported in the link from the NZ Herald.

WE MUST ACT FAST TO REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING!

Autumn Gloom for Residential Property

Well, I predicted on here a year ago that there were icebergs ahead. If you have property I hope you are well and truly hunkered down because the bubble has well and truly burst.

My prediction (which is a moderate one compared to some of the pessimists who are predicting a 10 year down turn and 30% drop in Current Market Values) is:

• A two to five year downturn in the residential property market
• A decline of between 10-15 % on the median market value
• An increase of around 10% in residential rentals due to declining capital gains and incresed interest rate costs for investors
• A lot of pain for folk who own more than one property

The causes:

• The domino effect from the finance company crashes
• An oversupply of new housing
• Baby boomer generation approaching retirement and cashing in their investment properties
• General greed and lack of risk management from many private investors into the property market

My advice:

• If you own residential property hunker down and ride it out. If you are lucky enough to sell second homes straight away count your chickens.
• Don't buy a second home as a nest egg, look at low risk high yield options with foreign exchance, the stock market, or better still term investments
• If you are renting, be aware there is a supply glut, but also be aware that there will be many people out there who are currently priced out of the market who may soon be joined by others who can't service their mortgage. The banks will get tougher. Rents will rise.
• If you want to buy a first home hold out for at least 2 years until this 'correction' begins to flow through the marketplace

There is no doubt, market forces are speaking now and theres nothing any government can do about this so the election won't provide any silver bullets.

Smart Cookies

The King is Dethroned

Elvis has lost his record of number one hit singles.

The new King (or Queen?) is Mariah Carey.

I must rush out and buy her albums...

....or maybe not so much

One of these stories was an April Fools day joke

Guns N Roses release Chinese Democracy after 14 year wait for fans

The other is very sad news for rock fans

Not hard to guess which is which if you are a fan of either

In other news its been a busy couple of weeks. Split Enz, Smashing Pumkins and a weekend away in Wellington seeing the family are the highlights.

Life is good. Busy- but good.

Happy Easter Part 2

What an easter. Its nearly 30 degrees outside, the Crusaders are playing tonight and I'm going to see The Phoenix Foundation, Split Enz, Queens of the Stone Age and The Smashing Pumpkins all play live in ChCh over the next three days.

Bevan and I are also hoping to bag a peak at Arthurs Pass for good measure tomorrow which will be a good ramping up of the Routeburn Race training.
Will come back to work next week for a holiday I think!

BREAKING NEWS !!!

The Easter Bunny will be delayed this year....

Happy Easter Everyone!

Turning A Blind Eye

"Tibet? Wheres that? Never heard of it."

My blog will now be banned in China, apologies to my former readership there

Another Wedding in Paradise

I have finally recovered from a magic 4 days away down at Lake Hawea for a wedding. First wedding of 2008- after 7 of the things last year its almost been a drought.


Couple of pics attached from the trip (Lake Hawea and Mt Iron above Wanaka, where I ramped up the Routeburn Classic training a little bit)- I seriously recommend a holiday there for anyone, although you'd need to win lotto twice over to afford a decent house there now.


Big thanks to everyone who made it happen- scarily that was my first proper holiday since Rarotonga, unless you count a few days off at Xmas.

Foxing around

The Cricket

Isn't it marvellous? The Poms now have a real reason to whinge.

And Scotland beat them in the rugby, even better!

For cricket fans I'm adding a couple of Links down the side of the page, Paul Holden and also the Beige Brigade one.

For the sportsfans, or those who like to laugh at England sport!

When Work Becomes Play

A selection of pics from last weeks visits to Central Otago and the McKenzie Basin.

Hard Yakka I tell ya ;-)

My Guitar Gently Weeps

Jeff Healey has died. Best known as the blind guy who played the blues rock guitar on his lap, and perhaps popularly best known for his cover of The Beatles song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

This is a tragedy...I saw this guy play live in the early 1990's. One of the most innovative guitarists of our time, all the remarkable by the fact that he never saw a guitar in his life. Unorthodox style, he was a remarkable musician and taken too young with cancer at 41 years.

New York Times obit here

Huge Week

I have the perfect job. 4 High Country Stations and a day in Dunedin in the past 5 days. Photo's to follow in due course, I hope everyone is well!

New Stadium at Lancaster Park

Well folks, we can now show the viewing public our fantastic new World Cup stadium here in Christchurch. Its very special.


Its going to be called the Sir Reuben Thorne Stadium, although apparently you can only see it if you are Cantabrian





By the way...hows Eden Parks upgrade going Jaffas?

The Drought is Over!

Wow, 130mm of rain here in a week, outstanding! We had forgotten what rain looked like. Thats about a quarter of ChCh's annual quota

And the sun is back today, the Crusaders are the top of the table, and all is right with the world