No Home Internet

Have been unable to access the internet at home therefore the reason for little to no updates to this blog. details will be updated shortly

Warren Maxwell-Pear

Warren has left the friendly shores on New Zealand to return to South Africa as of early yesturday morning. We had a dinner at the Moults on his behalf Sunday evening where Lorraine put on a rather lovely spread and the dessert was sweet and moist and most delicous.

First met Warren prior to our little adventure to Terrace Down's in December of 05' where we played four rounds of harrowing golf in very windy conditions. Since that time there have been many other golfing outtings and parties.

Wish him all the best and hope he returns to Aotearoa in the near future.

Maks Updaty July 23rd 2007

After leaving early just after 3pm enroute to pick makayla up from kindy, I stopped off to get fuel across from Simon's work to look for some cars for my cousin to see what would interest her on the yard. After quick coffee jumped back in the car and enjoyed my time back in the Friday afternoon traffic and got there about half four. I found her sitting in the playground with a friend and chatting on two toy cell phone's in each hand. I stood on the deck watching her play for a while until she noticed me screaming "Daddy!! my daddy !!" and ran across the playground into my arms wrapping her small arms around me demanding I pick her up. We popped inside so she could put the toy phones away and as I went to find some tissues to wipe her nose she'd found her bag and was dragging it across the floor towards me, a clear indication she wanted to go home.
Jumping in the car we stopped by Donne's house to see if Nanna was there so I could pick up her medicine but alas no one was home so we jumped back in the car and took the usual bak roads home to avoid the traffic. This route also took us past Foodtown on Quay Street where I could stock up on food items to cook her over the weekend. We got home about half 5 in the afternoon/evening as the sun was setting. Donne was picking her car up at that time so was able to see maks breifly before she left.
So we bundled up the groceries and headed upstairs and it was straight into cooking her dinner before I lost the energy and momentum. Can't recall what I cooked her but she did enjoy it heatedly. Then it was a bath and ready for bed early but we stayed up watching sport and kids programs untill she fell asleep when I transferred her into her little bed holding the penguin she so adores.

As usual she woke at around 4am screaming for me so I calmed her down and put her head back down before crawling back to my own bed and a blink of the eye later it was 6am and she was at my bedside trying to climb up, made difficult since one has was firmly grasping her penguin. Then we slept till about 9am when we got up to have breakfast. The weather was awful so didn't want to venture out anywhere seeing as though she'd not fully recovered from the flu/virus she's had the past couple of weeks and still had a full on runny nose.
Later that night Simon Yoni Karyn and Danika popped around so I cooked dinner for all and we watched the rugby where the All Blacks one over the Aussies (NICE). Karyn had trouble putting danika to sleep so missed all but the last 5-10 minutes of the match, Makayla slept right through all of Danika's tantrums, she truly is a light sleeper. Maks rose for about 10 min's and ran into my arms with tears in her eyes and snuggled her head into my shoulder then had a few smiles as Kaz, Danikam Simon & Yoni were leaving and then fell asleep in her bed with her penguin.

I kept her at home all weekend taking her out side for fresh air when the rain and wind stopped but mostly we read books over and over and over.... and over, sang song's like baa baa black sheep, twinkle twinkle little star, the wheels on the bus, she doesn't however like Humpty Dumpty for some reason.

Was trying to teach her who Tiger Woods was this weekend pointing to the TV when ever he came on saying "Look, Tiger" but she got confused and ran to her book to show me a picture of a proper Tiger, "That's a tiger daddy".
Can't fool her, too smart for her old man.

I thought she'd like to watch some kids programs to we watched Mickey Mouse and then the Wiggles came on and she didn't want to watch it "No watch Wiggles daddy, no like" I asked "What would you like to watch then?"
"Golf !!" was her reply, makes her daddy so proud :-)

Weekend Rugby Report

The All Black's won decisively over the Sringbok' after Saturday nights game with 31-6 being the closing score however the game came with many nightmarish results.
The ABs had far too many handling errors which if not sorted will see them bow out of the world cup early. there were close to 20 handling errors all told during the match which meant they could've had a much better game. The bokke were playing very strong defense with the first try to the ABs coming in the 69th minute of the game and the second in overtime.
Henry has got to sort out the mistakes and they have been increasing as of late and must be issued if they want any chance of the world cup. Mcgaw as always had a great game and Mcallister sowing some better form this time round yet overall it was a aggrevating to see so many handling errors which had me jump out of my seat and walk away several times during the game.

Maks Update July 16th 2007

After work I jumped straight in my car and off to pick up the little princess. On arriving I found her slumped over her grandfather and not looking very well at all. I held her in my arms and some small life came to her when she came to me. I knew something was up as she always runs into my arms and this time she barely had energy to run or walk instead just put her head straight down on my shoulder and lay there.
I had planned to do some groceries on the way back home but she wasn't well enough to got through all the changes temperatures of the supermarket so we went straight home.
Once we walked in the door she ran to get her penguin (as she normally does) so that showed she was happy to be home and had small amounts of energy but still fell slump in my arms shorty after. Simon and Yoni came over to join me in watching the All Blacks vs the Springboks and Maks joined us in watching the first half before I put her to bed during the half time and she went straight to sleep. At that time I felt that she was feeling quite warm so I took some of her clothes off to help cool her down. I took her temerature and it was 38.7c so I took all her clothes off and lay her out on her bed as she cuddled penguin and dozed back off to sleep. I sat there for a while sitting on the floor next to her bed for comfort until I returned to the living room to watch some golf. I popped my head in every few mins to check how she was doing if at least just to pop my head in the door. I gave it an hour and it had risen to 39.5c which is alarmingly high which she woke with a cough so I gave her a cool cup of water and some pamol and nursed her back to sleep. She wasn't looking too well at this stage so I texted Donne to let her know what was up, felt guilty as she was out at a company ball she was invited too for Flight Centre but knew she'd prefer to know. They had baby chicken on the menu?!?! that's about one mouthful.
Maks temperature dropped to 38.4c by the time I had decided to turn into bed just after 1am as kept an eye on her temperature until it started to stabalise. By morning she had slept it till about 10am which I allowed as her body needed to recooperate and I was very much still very tired but I checked her tempt first thing and it was back to normal and her energy levels increased moderately throughout the day.
We went to do the groceries and then came home to read books and play hide and seek. She's not very good at it, her idea to hide is to walk behind me, not a silly thing to do but rather cute.
Kaz and Danika came over at around 4pm and it was good to see the two catch up after a long time of absense, they each took a while to warm up but once they did OMG they could'nt stop laughing.
Donne picked maks up at half 4 - emailed Donne this morning at work for an update as to how she went lastnight &/or if she went to kindy.

33rd America's Cup

While the time and place for the next America's Cup is yet still be be released it is rumoured to be in 2009 which does favour the Swiss team and doesn't allow much time for new syndicateseg. The British to prepare well enough in time.

Team New Zealand are somewhat ok with the decision with the main significant change is looking at longer boats and increasing their overall length another 10feet to 90 ft (27.5 meters) from the current 80 ft (24 meters).
The change is a breathe of fresh air as the current boats have been brought to the brink of their evolutionary development. The longer boats would mean faster sailing races where boats are able toincrease their waterline length and sail at higher speeds through the course based on the average 8-10 knotts of wind experienced at this years cup series.

Will we enact the Big boat sailing of KZ7? currently on display for several years in the viaduct basin? Could be used as a tune up boat perhaps, still much is to be decided by Alinghi.
For now we just sit back and wait.....

Maks Update Friday July 3rd August

Lastnight as I sat at work I received a text from Donne who'd sent me a funny picture of Maks pictured as an Astronaught (will attach below). I called her up and we had a chit chat inbetween Maks wanting the phone. I'm really pleased with how her converstaional skills are progressing where I can almost hold a converstaion with her. She does get grumpy when she can't talk to me over the phone though tugging at her mom.

I'd ask her where mommy is and her reply is simply "Over there?!?!?!?!" as if I could see her.
She's able to say 'how are you', 'whatcha doin','see you later/tomorrow'.'love you/love you too',' and much much more.

she's reponding nicely to question's and asking many questions herself. Its getting her to stop is the tricky part.

Preceeding Report

Please note that this site will be publishing some 'NEWS' on Friday August 3rd 2007

STAY TUNED - I've not received authorisation for any further details at this point.

Cos it's Funny

New Target

I've set myself a sales target with the reward being the New Oddessy Putter, The Black Series Model No.# 1.


It has a milled face and Tungsten weighted flange. The difference between Model 1 & 2 are the weight's in the flange with the no.#1 model beingslightly heavier. This range of putter is to compete on the equivalent platform as the Scotty Cameron Newport Series whcih are amongst the top in the sport

I've been playing with the White Steel two ball 2004 edition Odyssey putter at present which has helped me out but at the stage where I feel better reverting back to a blade putter.

ABs V's Bok's

This weekend the All Blacks take on the Springbok's

Should be a fierce game and a great watch if the All Blacks get themselves back on target. They've had a few game issues recently which need to be tidied up now as we are very quickly closing in on the Rugby World Cup

NZ Herald Report on Property

In contradiction to the report the herald posted only a few days ago they are noting that the property market or average home sales are dropping off, and without any study done at this point I'd say we are in the 7 year decline period (up five down 2).

The hiked up interest rates and regional council rates are dampening the sales turnovers as people especially first home buyers are taking longer to assess their financial status. We have to calculate the potential for future rate hikes and create a margin of safety.
Last year, home owners living in the the outter CBD limits and inner auckland area were selling due to the 10year rates increase planned and many families worried they won't be able to cover the costs. This would've affected several sales statistics where those families decided to move to the outer suburbs and take up new modern accommodations.

For investors, it could be seen as a potential prime time to buy up in the next 2 years in leiu to capture capital gains and sell to new immigrants and the first baby boomer wave. Aligning oneself to their needs will be crucial to capitalising on the net income on those sales.

More research would be required but I'm shooting from the hip on these but will come back with more detailed information as time draws on

Junes Housing Report 2007

The average NZ Housing sale percentage has gained margianl growth in major areas so some slightly significant gain in other area's. The NZ Herald are saying that the recent interest rate hike put in place suddenlly by Alan Bollard a month ago hasn't detered housing sales. My belief is to match that to July's ratio as a comparison as many sales would've been in play during June. But don't see too much of a difference as it's just putting higher repayments on to the home owners. Auckland central saw a marginal gain of 5% which albeit is a fair expectation seeing tho there are many studio, 1 to 2 bedroom apartments keeping the average down as there are a larger number of them. There are several projections for a future housing boom coming in between the years 2010 and 2015 where the first wave of baby boomers will be set and ready to retire. The projection is that we will need an influx of immigrants and returning ex-pats to make up the gap in the NZ economy and are largely expected to settle for inner city living to get the feel of the land before moving to the outer suburbs. Most expats will be returning take up inner city living as it's mostly what they are used too coming back from the likes of the UK as an example.

Maks update july 8th 2007

After golf I popped round to pick maks up and after a quick change of clothes into something a little more comfortable we came back to my place where we chilled out for a while before we popped over to see Yoni and Simon quickly. Didn't stay long as had to get her home to cook dinner which was a chicken, mushroom and creamy pasta dish. After i was ordered to cool it down by blowing on it she sat back to enjoy her dinner which she called out numourous times "Mmmmmm Yummy".

She fell asleep in my arms just very quickly while we watched some TV before I got her up and we walked to bed. She jumped in pulling her dolly out and jumped into bed pulling her covers up and wriggling around to snuggle into her bed. A kiss and a quick bedtime song sung to her and her eye's closed... then opened, then closed, then opened.. but she was settled enough that I could leave the room and relax to watch some sport as she knew I was only in the other room.
Took her all of 5 minutes to fall to the will of the sandman and then it was quiet until 8am when she woke me up. This is much better than the usual 6am she's gotten me up at in the past, so it was breakfast and a nice warm bath and into some warm clothes ready for the day ahead.
We popped over to the Mad Butcher where she threw a tantrum on the floor as I wouldn't buy her any lollies, but as she was being naughty there was no-way she'd get one, so as a compromise I got her a bottle of fresh apple and mango juice, Yummy.

We popped over to Simon and Yoni's again for a while before dropping her home just before 5pm as I try to get her back before the sun goes down and the temperature drop's. Don't want her to get sick like last year as that was just terrible for Donne and I so we keeping her welbeing in full check.

Formosa Saturday July 7th 2007

Was an early start with a tee time booked for 8am at Formosa Golf Club in Beachlands located about 30-35 mins from Auckland City (provided traffic is at its lightest).

Wasn't the happiest of rounds however there were certain facaets I came away happy about. The weather cooperated with no rain but the rain had made its makr on the course with very wet fairways making play increasingly difficult and distance being hampered by the inability to play any bump and runs instead forced to focus largely on distance control.

Ended with a disappointing 96 which is almost double my handicap so displeased about that, but the main part I felt accomplished by was my putting where I've always struggled in the past. Over the past month I've done alot of work on it and for the first time I didn't feel the pressure under the pressurised putts. Usually my head gets into it and hands start to shake knowing you've got the 8ft putt for par and nerv's set in and you more than likely stuff up the put.
For the first time I was able to stand over the ball, set my target and make my putt in relative comfort sticking to my preshot routine and doing it the same as if I was putting at home, in the office or a practise green. Keep the routine the same everytime and you will feel more at ease over the ball under pressure putts every time.

Purchased a good investment in some wet weather pants on Friday which were perfect and meant I came off the course dry, unlike the others soaked from the Knee down. Recommend Stay-dri pants from the Boy's at Golf Down Under located on Albert Street, Auckland NZ.
They are something I'd wished I had've purchased a long time ago.

Maks update 5th July 2007

Last monday I had a good chat with Makayla over the phone, was actually trying to speak to Donne so we could arrange this weekend's pick up but Maks would hand over the phone.

I would hear, "Can mommy talk?" and hear a stern reply "NOOOOOOO!!!" then "Hello Daddy, whatcha doin?!!", "No mommy, hello daddy".

"Baby, can I please speak with mommy?"
"No?!, whatcha do-ing!!"
"I'm trying to speak to mommy, is she there?"
"No :-)"
"Yes she is I can hear her asking for the phone, so can I speak to her please?"
"ok..., No, Love you"
"I love you too sweetie, where's mommy?"

Was truly and interting phone call.
Just gotta love kids :-)

The Day after

It was a solem day yesterday as I came into work for all of 5 minutes before turning around and walking back out the door. The late nights up for the America's Cup viewing has left my tired and worn down allowing energy levels to drop and give an opening window for the flu going around to get a grip on me.

As noted below I was at the Halsey street shed to watch what turned out to be the final race of the America's cup. Constant texting with Carl in Valencia and Steve Jennings giving our comments and feedbacks and remorse once the penalty was given against ETNZ.

Afterwards as I texted Carl who went over to ValNZia to support our boys I was approached by a TV3 reporter and interviewed about my feelings of the race. It was apparently aired last night on TV3 which I unfortunately missed as was crashed out in bed most of the day and crawled into bed once the sun went down and the living room got colder.

It was all about 'what if's' during that race, Terry mentioned the decision to take the left gate will haunt for a very long time. But we can't dwell on the 'what if's' and only look to the future and getting it back in 3 years time.

The main loss I see we will have is that our tune up helmsman Ben Ainslie has signed on with the British (yes, they are once again back in the running), which means that one of our stronger skippers leaves. Ainslie is a remarkable sailor and was also apart of the 2003 TNZ campaign, however he must move on as Barker will still man the helm.

The next cup will be scheduled for 2010 I'm expecting.

Campaign Ends

Team New Zealand's campaign to bring the Auld Mug, The America's Cup and end Alinghi's strong hold has now come to an end with the Swiss taking the final race to retain the cup.

It was an amazing race with ETNZ coming down starboard opting to take the left side of the course and a great start by Barker taking the line first. Alinghi were on us the entire time and we were able to capitalise on the first cross where the Swiss covered too well and rounded the top mark ahead only just. The downwind leg was great sailing where we overtook the swiss and rounded the bottom mark in advance taking the left mark and taking the left side of the course once again which would later prove their undoing, Alinghi took the right to obtain starborad advantage. Nearing the top mark, Disaster struck, Butterworth and Baird pointed their bow towards ETNZs stern meaning that the next tack would force a penalty and that is where we fell and the faces of those surrounding me at the Halsey Street shed said it all.

Alinghi having won the advantage to round the top mark then decided to push us out further prior to rounding the mark. Downwind, we needed a miracle and surprisingly we got it towards the finish line. ETNZ still with a penalty turn ran into luck when the winds shifted and Alinghi messed up their change over and ETNZ having forseen the change. Alinghi's spinnekar then dropped into the water giving us a few meters advantage, then the penalty turn came and the Swiss started to pick up pace. The whole shed full of TNZ supporters rose to their feets jumping and screaming but alas, with a one second delta we came so far only to fall so short.

Some of the most thrilling and exciting match racing since the time in the early 80's off Kookaburra's triumphant win against the American's in San Diago.

The Governement has already put $10m towards the next challenge, we need deep pockets this time so we need the support of all Kiwi's to get behind our boy's, stand true, remain loyal, keep your blood black and your spirits high as it's far from over yet.

For now, let's welcome our boy's home

Maks Update 2nd July 2007

Finishing work on Saturday I went to pick maks up grabbing a coffee on the way after still being extreamly tired from watching the America's Cup which we have to win as I won't be able to do this again in 3 years time.

Maks was as bouncy as ever on my arrival jumping into my arms as I walked in the door. We left fairly promptly as the sun had dropped and was starting to get chilly so got her in the car and we sang Twinkle twinkle little star and numerous other songs before getting home.
Oh we also did Eye spy too, so she could find buses and planes.

Got home and chilled out with books to which she seems to have special names for each. Gave her a lite supper before getting her into her PJs and it was just fun n games after that. Simon popped around so we could watch the ruggers which we lost.

Maks fell asleep sitting next to me so I put her to bed to catch some flies (sleeping with mouth open)

She woke at 8am I think, was too tired to roll over and check the alarm clock after watch us loose the Rugby and then the sailing. After breakfast I gave her a bath and got her into her tracksuite before playing more games and having her read me some books as though she's teaching me, rather than the other way round.

I had a round of golf sceduled for the early arvo so jumped into the car and dropped Maks off just before noon with her mom still in her PJs. Gave Maks a kiss goodbye tooting the car horn and waving back as her and Nanna waved goodbye from the window.

Precious little maks, can't wait till my long weekend to spend some good quality time with her. But what to do? Shall we go back to Kelly Talton's or try someplace new? Hmmm

Emirates in for the Fight of their Lives

Alinghi I'm sad to say have won the last 3 race's putting them on Match point.

ETNZ are now in for a fight which is not impossible but in all likelyhook improbable but if your faith is a strong as mine you will stand by your kiwi compatriots and wish them success. Luck unfortunately has favoured the Swiss team as the tear in ETNZ's spinnekar was absolutely heartbreaking to be so secure in the lead only too loose it due to what initially was a small hole but seconds later would prove detrimental to our defense. It needed to hold for just 30 seconds while it was changed over but it blew apart and took over 2 minutes to set about a covering our lead but the swiss came in and took a 180m advantage.

My heart dropped that night...

With Alinghi needing only 1 more win to secure their grip on the Auld mug, ETNZ have to pull out all stops and go for gold now with 3 straight wins for one loss mean's a failed campaign.

GO TEAM NEW ZEALAND