Classic cars, kiwi chicks and airmail gifts

Our little town of Wanganui is hosting a really big vintage car rally all of this week and into the weekend. The town is literally humming with old, beautiful and for the most part, graceful ladies of the road - many of their drivers dressed for the part too.
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!)

We chuckled at the famous musicians dig at folks who he says ask him if he's the 'ex-drummer' from Pink Floyd - to which he apparently replies that he is still the drummer of Pink Floyd! 




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!

 

 A second, rare white kiwi has hatched just months after the first, pleasantly surprising kiwi experts.

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.

 Matilda, grandma's little angel, has just turned a year old - this is part of the present which was flown over from New Zealand to Canada for her first birthday - a soft, pastel blocks theme for a cuddly, little girl blanket and name board - finished off with pink roses. For a special little girl with so much love.

 (this insert specially for those of you who wonder how we fill our time!)

Dis al!