I overheard someone in the town the other day saying that it feels like one is on an old movie set.
Our really dramatic 'claim to fame' in this regard is the fact that Nick Mason, the drummer from the band Pink Floyd evidently owns classic and vintage cars valued in the millions and he himself is here in our teeny town, buzzing around in one of them! Even more spectacular was the interview done with him on National Television the other evening in which it was evident that we have a most attractive little town - (it did also help that the weather played up for the cameras and showed us at our absolute best - all dappled sunlight and pretty hanging baskets in the main avenue!)
Our small group of ex-pats bade farewell to our minister from SA this past week - We wish you good health and happiness as you return. This cartoon sums it all up for me - Thanks Arline for being a believer and not-being-a-jerk-about-it!
Oh, and.............please stay in touch! We will miss you!
The chick hatched at
the Pukaha Mount Bruce wildlife centre, north of Masterton, last Sunday, where
Manukura, the world's first white kiwi hatched in captivity, arrived in May.
"We were
gob-smacked really," centre manager Kathy Houkamau said.
"While every
kiwi is precious, to have a second white chick is a delightful gift, especially
at this time of year."
Local Maori have
named the chick Mauriora, meaning "sustained life".
"This new kiwi
is seen as an assurance that we are blessed with more than one special creature
and there is potential for more," said Rangitane chief executive and
Pukaha board member Jason Kerehi.
The birds are not
albino - which is a lack of pigmentation - but a small number of North Island
brown kiwi carry a recessive white gene, which both the male and female must
have to produce a white chick.
It was remarkable
that two birds with the rare white gene had paired up in 940-hectare Pukaha
forest to produce two white chicks over two seasons, said Department of
Conservation captive breeding ranger Darren Page.
"Both white
birds have the same father, who we have identified through his transmitter. We
can't identify the mother but assume she is the same because of the rarity of
the white gene."
There is a
one-in-four chance of such a pair producing a white chick.
Visitors to the
centre should be able to see the new chick being hand-reared in the nursery
from Boxing Day for approximately 10 days.
