NZ wins first test

New Zealand has won the first of today’s tests – the Silver Ferns beat the Australian Diamonds 49 -48.

Please, All Blacks follow their example – though for the sake of the national blood pressure, it would better if it could be by a greater margin.

Word of the day

Stalworth – stalwart, strong, dependable, firm.

There is another game

There is another international game today.

It might not be in our town, but it is our team: the Silver Ferns are playing the Australian Diamonds in Perth.

Go SILVER FERNS!

5/10

5/10 – two of which were guesses – in the Herald’s entertainment quiz.

Rural round-up

Success stories: how Glowing Sky grew from printing T-Shirts in Stewart Island to makigna nd selling merino clothing through its own chain of stores – Bernard Hickey:

Cath Belworthy still seems surprised at her business success as she tells her story to a business conference in Dunedin.

“We’ve taken it to a level that we would never ever have dreamed of all those years ago,” said Belworthy, who co-founded Stewart Island-based clothing company Glowing Sky Merino with her husband Dil in 1997.

But she is rightly enthusiastic and proud of all the hard work, sacrifice and inspiration that led to that success . . .

The trade environment: Future of WTO, beyond Doha TPP-regional FTAs – Bruce Wills (speech toInstitute of International Affairs:

. . .After talking to Federated Farmers staff about the long running saga that is the Doha trade round, one staff member relayed to me a political joke, if such a thing is possible, which may just hit the Doha nail on the head.

In Moscow, not long after the communist takeover, a factory worker trudging past the city gates noticed a revolutionary guard intensely scanning the horizon.

In mud, snow, sleet and rain, this worker trudged past the same guard above the same gate, year in, year out.

One snowy day, our worker stopped, looked up and summoned up the courage to yell out, ‘comrade, what exactly are you doing up there?’

The guard stood to attention and with snow falling from his tattered greatcoat proclaimed proudly, ‘I am the lookout for the global communist revolution’.

‘Oh’, our factory worker innocently shoots back, ‘it’s a job for life then!’

That possibly sums up where the Doha trade round is right now. Despite much heroic effort by NZ trade officials, ten years on from when it all started; it seems to be where it started. . .

Who should hold the power of prosecution? – James Houghton:

The Auditor-General might be worried about regional councillors’ personal bias when the authority is deciding to undertake prosecutions, but I wonder if the staff can be totally fair either.

Following a recent recommendation by the Auditor-General, Waikato Regional Council is asking its staff to review the role our elected councillors take in deciding what prosecutions it should be pursuing.

At the moment the decision whether to initiate a prosecution or not is made by a regulatory committee of councillors. I guess the worry is they could be tempted to consider their re-election chances when weighing up the options whether or not to prosecute when a person has breached the law . . .

Processing changes may not mean better capacity alignment –  Allan Barber:

The meat industry will see a number of processing initiatives taking effect over the next 12 months, all of them designed to create greater efficiency for their owners. They may not necessarily lead to better alignment of capacity with predicted livestock numbers for which B&LNZ Economic Service forecasts an increase from 2011 of 5.7% to 20.1 million lambs, second lowest in more than 50 years, and 1.8% more cattle, mainly cull cows . . .

Tasty and healthy, venison is set ot tkae over your dinner table –

NEW YORK (WABC) — To indulge your love for red meat without detriment to your health, venison is the meat choice for you.

Grilled, pan seared or smoked, venison is the new “it” food, according to Chef Brad Farmerie and he should know. At his Soho restaurant Public, he prepares and serves about 10 thousand portions of it each year.

“I know for a fact, this is going to be a rockstar meat going forward, next year, the year after and everywhere from then on,” he says.

He cooks with cervena venison. It’s farm raised in New Zealand, grass fed and one of the most popular dishes from his kitchen. . .

How much water do we use? Daniel Collins:

One of the arguments being used at the moment to promote water storage and irrigation schemes is that much of the water that falls on New Zealand flows to the sea, not to the farm. Conor English, CEO of Federated Farmers, wrote in an opinion piece earlier this year:

“It’s not that New Zealand is running out of water, it’s that water is running out of New Zealand.”

As it turns out, about 80% of the water that falls on New Zealand flows out to sea, the rest evaporates back into the atmosphere. . .

Chica the bright red car:

Children expecting a visit from Rainbow Place’s nurses and therapists can now look forward to shorter waiting times, thanks to the gift of a bright red Nissan car to be named ‘Chica’, donated by Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) at the weekend.

The therapists and nurses at Rainbow Place – an arm of Hospice Waikato – travel thousands of kilometers each month throughout Waipa, Waikato and Coromandel, supporting children and young people who are coping with serious illness or bereavement . . .

My New Hero Kenyan Farmer Kimani Maruge! It’s never to late to learn – Pasture to Profit:

It’s been an amazing week! What with the Rugby World Cup. I am very proud to be a New Zealander & to see the fantastic rugby the
All Blacks play. A very interesting week on UK pasture based dairy farms too.

This week I watched an amazing DVD called “First Grader” an award winning 2011 film about the Kenyan hero “Kimani
Maruge”. Kimani Maruge (a farmer) was a 1950’s Mau Mau veteran who arrived at a tiny rural primary school as an 84 year old man determined to get an education after the Kenyan government offered “free education for all”. Kimani holds the record as the oldest person ever to start primary school. His determination to get an education was truly
inspirational.

Latest results from Shearing Sports NZ:

New Zealand representative Dion King had to put in one of his better performances of quality shearing to beat a top quality lineup and deny the legendary David Fagan a memorable double in the new season’s first North Island shearing competition in Gisborne on Saturday.

Shearing at the Poverty Bay Show, which attracted almost 100 shearers and woolhandlers, Te Kuiti gun Fagan was trying to add victory in his first show as a 50-year-old to his last at the age of 49 at Waimate a week earlier, and also complete a double he had scored last season. . .

Mortgagee sale of prime Wakatipu land:

A prime piece of land on the shores of Lake Wakatipu is to go to mortgagee sale following the developer going bankrupt.

The 38-hectare Walter Peak Estate is across the lake from Queenstown. It has consent to build a luxury lodge or several homes . . .

Hasn’t it been lover-er-ly?

If Eliza Doolittle was looking back at the last six weeks and the Rugby World Cup, I reckon she’d say it’s been lover-er-ly.

As we wait for tonight’s final it’s timely to look back at some of the people which have made it such a success.

Full credit to:

* The Tongan community who were the first to show their true colours and did it so exuberantly.

* The fans who came from their homelands to follow their teams; the recent immigrants and those who discovered or rediscovered their links to other countries.

* All the supporters who backed a team, their own or not, which added so much to the fun of matches.

* The individuals, businesses and communities who got behind the event to paint the country in the many colours of the 20 teams.

* The volunteers, unfailingly helpful, polite and cheerful, at every venue for every match.

* The people who perservered to build the stadium in Dunedin and had the good sense to put a roof on it.

* Proper choirs singing proper anthems, properly  thanks to the New Zealand Choral Federation choirs, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and Anthony Ritchie who did the arrangements.

* The Real New Zealand Festival which showed the World Cup was about so much more than rugby.

* Good sports, on and off the field, who thankfully were the very large majority.

* The minnows and middling fish who played well and won hearts, if not games.

* The special moments – the opening; Jock Hobbs presenting Richie McCaw and Mils Muliaina with their 100th test caps; the singing by the crowds . . .

* The teams, their coaches and entourages.

* Martin Snedden who wrote in an open letter:

We set out to make people happy and proud. I think we’ve achieved that.

It’s been a really tough last 12 months for New Zealand. The magnitude of the
Christchurch disaster and the complexity of the road to recovery have knocked us
all. Pike River added to our sadness. On top of that, the economic recession has
lasted long and bitten deeper than any of us expected. We’ve grieved for those
directly affected by these events and worried about our country’s future.

Rugby World Cup 2011 hasn’t solved the problems but it has given us some
fantastic relief at a time when we needed some form of escape. Our collective
efforts have given us just cause to be proud of who we are and, most
importantly, to start smiling again. The nation’s morale has lifted.

Our thousands of guests have sensed our mood and responded brilliantly,
adding rich colour and flavour to this celebration of our national game and our
country. We owe them heaps. . .

* The All Blacks.

Whatever happens tonight, I hope we can remember the fun and the excitement, agree the tournament has been a success and accept the result with grace or magnanimity as appropriate.

Oh, and GO THE ALL BLACKS, let’s all have a love-er-ly time tonight!

Winning words

As New Zealand sits on the edge of its collective seat, holding its breath (or not) in nervous anticipation of tonight’s Rugby World Cup final between the All Blacks and Les Blues, Homepaddock brings you exclusive coverage of the considered opinion and advice of  international experts.

Jane Austen: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a team in possession of a good record, must be in want of a World Cup.

William Wordsworth: Earth has not anything to show more fair, dull would he be of soul who could pass by a team so stirring in its majesty.

Margaret Mahy: When you are playing, someone has done a lot of work on your
behalf, someone has had ideas and has then coached and corrected and improved
them so that they can be shared.

William Shakespeare: What’s in a game? That which we call the Cup won by any other team would not smell as sweet.

Charlotte Bronte: Let your performance do the thinking.

A.A. Milne: When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.  

Jenny Shipley: Too often the desire for the World Cup has been expressed by women while the stewardship of the mechanisms which are used to attempt to secure the Cup in the short and medium term are dominated by male decision-making structures and informal arrangements. This must change.

Winston Churchill: I would say to the team . . . I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us 80 long minutes of toil and struggle.

Margaret Thatcher: If you lead a team like the All Blacks, a strong team, a team which has taken a lead in sporting affairs in good times and in bad, a team that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.

William Blake:  We shall not cease from mental fight, nor will the ball rest in our hands until we have won the World Cup in New Zealand’s green and pleasant land.