MISS NEW ZEALAND 

A South Africa-born 22-year-old woman will represent New Zealand at the Miss Universe competition later this year after being crowned in Wellington on Sunday.

Miss Howick, Avianca Bohm, fended off nine other contestants, including last year's runner-up, to win the pageant.

The holder of a fashion diploma, she designed many of the outfits she wore during the week-long event.

"Avianca is best equipped to handle the international setting of Miss Universe, and that helped put her into the top place," lead judge Jack Yan said.

Miss North Harbour, Talia Bennett, was runner-up for a second successive year after losing out to Priyani Puketapu in 2011.

Dis al!


PS: This morning on breakfast TV they interviewed the new Miss New Zealand - she sounds like a kiwi some of the time!! but the dilemma at present is that they may have to 'uncrown' her since she is not yet a citizen here. Permanent Residency apparently doesn't cut it. (able to apply in March 2013, she has been here for long enough to have PR) One of the judges was quoted as saying "she should never have won the crown, since she was not eligible" - now, please, dear readers - surely all that should have been dispensed with at the earliest stages of the competition - ai toggie!!

Georgia !

GEORGIA CAROL VAN DER SPUY - 2nd June 2012 - gorgeous 3,16kg daughter born to Richard and Pippa van der Spuy in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.



CONGRATULATIONS!
(Parents, grandparents and great-grandparents ecstatic to welcome another Princess - cousin for Matilda)

Manawatu Gorge

The Manawatu Gorge road has been closed for just on nine months following this landslide. Generally speaking, the roads engineers talk about a 'slip' - meaning some earth has slid down, adjacent to the roadway, causing a temporary closure while the clearing crew gets the road safe again. Sometimes, there is a little work to be done in the way of securing the earth beside the road with boulders along the road's edge, or wire 'netting' securing all the debris likely to tumble onto the roadway. In the case of the Manawatu Gorge, the 'slip' pictured here is certainly spectacular and has taken almost a year to clear enough for a single lane track through the section. More than just a little slip, the section that 'fell' was 180 meters high and will cost in the region of $9 million to 'sort out'.

A couple of weeks ago, the gorge road was 'opened' enough for the public to go and have a look at the incredible amount of work that has been going on there and to see for themselves the enormity of the task which has been tackled in clearing the road. This picture was up on the notice board at the beginning of the earthworks, where loads of pictures and information had been put up for folks to read all about the civil engineering challenges that this slip has presented. One of the biggest issues was the fact that this route has always been the main one for goods into the area and some towns on the other side have been effectively cut off from civilisation. (there is another way around, but it's an old and tedious road and many industries have just decided to wait for the 'fix' before heading that way again) Needless to say, folks who had to, or really wanted to, used the tedious route.

The slip has been cleared from the top down - meaning they got right up to the top of the 'slip' and with heavy earthwork machinery, cleared the rubble down to the solid 'rock' attacking section by section - called benches, each one has to be completed before tackling the next. Of course, there are other fixes needed besides all the earthworks - bridges under all that have been smashed beyond repair and other structural issues which were needed to support the roadway are no longer in existence - you get the picture!

It was a clear and pretty cold day, but loads of folks turned out to go and see for themselves - we took the motorbike as far as Palmerston North and then hopped on one of the courtesy busses supplied for the day. We were dropped off about a kilometre from the 'slip face' and took a walk up there.

The view from the roadside which is still operational and leads up to the major works - the river has been almost swamped by the slip and there has been significant earth removed to ensure that the river continues to flow. There are hopes that someday in the not too distant future, the road will be open again. Apparently, at the time of writing, there is a single lane open through the gorge for those who can, or have to, face the delays which that involves. Dis al!