You have to laugh!

It was less than a great escape.
Two prisoners who fled a courthouse handcuffed together foiled their own getaway when they ran around opposite sides of a light pole, slammed into each other and fell to the ground.

Jailers nabbed them as they struggled to their feet.

Their escapade on Wednesday was captured by a CCTV camera at Hastings District Court.
The footage shows the two men trying to make a break for it - but apparently forgetting they were joined at the wrist.

"As they were being led from the Hastings police cells ... they made a bolt for freedom," Mr Greig said.
"They fell over and were sprayed with pepper spray. But they got up and ran out of the court on to the street, across the road to a carpark. That's where they met the pole - it was all over, Rover".

Extract from NZ Herald. 30.01.09

Polly the Possum

Isn't she cute. Polly was hand reared and resides at Longridge Park near Rotorua.

However I have been known to say that the only good possum is a dead one. They are responsible for chewing their way through our native plants at an alarming rate.



Possums were introduced from Australia last century for the fur trade and with no natural predators in New Zealand they quickly multiplied and became a pest. They are protected in Australia but here they are hunted and destroyed.

So sorry Polly - you may be cute but your relatives have wreaked havoc on our native wildlife and we wish we could send you all back to Australia.

A Tag

Tismee has tagged me - she is good at that!
Here are the rules

1.Go to your documents
2. Go to your 6th file.
3.Go to your 6th picture.
4. Blog about it.
5. Tag 6 friends to do the same.

Hmm I am sometimes a reluctant participant in tags but this one seems easy enough.

Now to offer an explanation. I try to make my blog as informative as possible about New Zealand BUT my 6th photo on the 6th file happens to be a photo of the Sydney (Australia) skyline - and a crooked photo at that! Oh well. Such is life. I should have deleted it months ago.

Those of you familiar with Sydney will see their harbour bridge way in the distance. It is a beautiful harbour I have to admit. But it does look much better when it is level!

We were there last May to attend our oldest sons graduation.
















Now I am required to tag 6 others. Not so sure that I have six people who would appreciate being tagged. So I will leave it up to any of my readers to participate if they wish. Lurkers are especially invited to come out of the woodwork and show their face!

Sea Sun Sand

Yep, I'm back home again, only for a day or two then off to stay with family.

Our holiday at the beach - well the title says most of it! Add to that - walks on the beach, bush walks, reading and generally lazing around.

It has been a very hot summer so far with temperatures in the late 20's and sometimes over 30 (degrees celsius). We were careful to stay inside out of the sun on the hottest days - that hole in the ozone layer hovering above us makes our sun fierce.

It is good to be home again, our three cats were very pleased to see us.

This weekend the first of our sun deprived sons from the UK arrives for his annual visit. The second son arrives later in the month. Their vision of camping and lazing on the beach has seen them through the first part of the London winter!