Intrepid Tubes

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Waitangi Day in London bro

Participated in the Waitangi Day pub crawl in London last weekend.The idea is to get a pint at a nominated pub at each stop (renamed NZ towns) on the circle line on the Tube with everyone congregating outside Parliament at 4pm for a mass haka as Big Bens chimes 4pm... Heres TVNz coverage: http://tvnz.co.nz/cda/tvnz/video_popup_windows_skin/657069?bandwidth=128k

Friday, February 03, 2006

Thornbury makes the headlines

Came across this scene this morning as I arrived for work in Thornbury .... From BBC: One dead in high street car blast One person has died in an explosion after a car was driven into a high street shop window. Police said the MG Rover car was on fire as it was travelling on Thornbury High Street, South Gloucestershire, shortly before 0700 GMT. The vehicle involved had been linked to the murder of a Polish woman in nearby Patchway, police said. Officers have not yet been able to confirm whether the body is that of a man or a woman. An eyewitness told the BBC: "Around about 7am, one of the customers said there had been explosion. A couple of the shop fronts have been damaged." Thornbury High Street, Castle Street and Rock Street are also closed to traffic. The plot thickens.... Dead driver may be murder suspect The car was driven on fire into a florist's windowA driver who died when a car was driven into a shop window and exploded may be a man wanted for murder, police said. The MG Rover was alight as it travelled on Thornbury High Street, South Gloucestershire, at about 0700 GMT. Police said the car belonged to Clive Hayes, a 54-year-old man who was earlier named as a suspect in the murder of a Polish woman in Patchway. Police said although they could not confirm it was Mr Hayes, they believe he was in the car at the time. The centre of Thornbury remains sealed off following the blast. The murder victim, who is understood to be a careworker in her 20s, was found to have died as a result of head injuries. On Monday, police launched a hunt for Mr Hayes, who was believed to be the owner of the silver-coloured MG Rover ZT sports car which crashed into the T & J Owen florist shop on Friday morning. Police said the driver died and although they could not confirm it was Mr Hayes, they believe he was in the car at the time. The small market town, which is about 11 miles north of Bristol and has about 12,000 residents, was brought to a standstill.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Troppo Season hits NZ

The first of this seasons' tropical lows hit NZ's East Coast last week, with another on the way already. Here's a pic of an East Coast right pt doing its thing, cher for the pick Ray!

Monday, January 23, 2006

The Mount Reef, NZ

The Mount Reef is an artifical surfing reef and is currently mid-way through being constructed opposite Tay Street at Mount Maunganui's Ocean Beach. The Mount Reef was dreamt-up, designed, and delivered by the NZ company ASR.Ltd based in Raglan, NZ (see link in right column). It's designed to create a world class wave when the swells up while simultaneoulsy protecting the beach immediatly in front of it by dissapating the waves energy before it can reach the shore and can cause erosion. The reef has been designed as a peak which will peal both left and right when it breaks, and as it is based on Hawaii's Pipline, will create as hollow a wave as anyone will need. While the reef is currenlty being constructed and presently only half finshed, its already creating waves totally foreign to the usal close outs locals are so used to. Full story : http://www.surf2surf.com/story2.php?story=15 First glimpses of the potential, Dec 05 :

A more melow but crowded day in January 06 :

The first troppo swell of 2006 also produced a few gems for the sliders in Feb:

Rest Bay, Wales

Heres some pics of some fun little waves I scored at Rest Bay, Porthcawl on the southern coast of Wales . Sun was out, the waves were fun and there was a ridiculous amount of rubber being worn.