NZ Life

Well the Australian Open tennis tournament wrapped up this weekend, bringing to an end a very enjoyable two weeks of sports TV. We don’t watch much TV in the first place, and the last time I watched this much consecutive sport was probably the 1988 Summer Olympics. I don’t recall the Australian Open being a big deal in the US, for obvious seasonal reasons, but it competes against the cricket pretty well here in NZ. I have to say the coverage was very good, save for the inane post-match interviews by Jim Courier. Few commercials, sparse commentary, and the very cool Hawkeye replays were all appreciated. Our SKY TV is serving us well.

In the tennis spirit, we recently (last Dec) joined the Cashmere Tennis Club. Sounds pretty ritzy but the price was right at only $280 NZD total for the year–much less than anything we’d find in Peoria, if anything could be found. So we’re slowly getting into tennis shape by just hitting around and playing in the recreational doubles games.

In other sporting news, I was suckered into signing up for a marathon relay. Sure, the Buller Gorge Marathon offers one of the most scenic courses anywhere, but I’m far from comfortable with even the 10K I’ve signed up for. Add to it that I fly back from Japan the day before… hmmm. Oh well. As my Japanese colleague suggested in his Japanese-English: “Maybe you will die”. If you never see another post from me, you can assume something went wrong 🙂

This is the fifth attempt to catch the sight of Comet McNaught. The past 4 times have been dissappointing since the clouds just came sailing in from all directions. Finally tonight, with persistence we sight the comet. It looks very distinct in the sky, huge and brush stroke like. You’ll see from the blog a fantastic picture, which is not taken by me. Mine was a mere dot in the black sky. I thought the picture courtesy of David Headland of Oamaru, NZ will do the comet justice. I’ve also attached the picture of the Port Hills at sunset (9:30pm). I wasn’t too sure at that point if we would see the comet since there were thick clouds in the sky. Our second attempt at about 10:35pm succeeded. Finally !.
Port Hills at 9:30pm

Comet McNaught (Courtesy of David Headland, Oamaru, NZ)