New Zealander Lance Abernethy Uses A 3D Printer To Make The World's Smallest Electric Drill...

Auckland maintenance engineer Lance Abernethy who's been making tiny things since he was a small child drew up the plans using the computer design software package Onshape 3D and the Ultimake Two 3D printer to print out the drill body in two halves which took about twenty five minutes. And then it took another three hours to painstakingly get the wiring perfect. What could be the world's tiniest electric drill 
is powered by a hearing aid battery and
a miniature motor.
For his next trick Lance is hoping to drill
the world's smallest hole...

Come Play With Us...

Dolphin Days.
A pod of twenty to thirty dolphin had a play
near Leigh on Auckland's beautiful Hauraki Gulf
the other day. Who'd need a second invitation
to engage with these amazing creatures...

New Zealand Leads The World In Economic Growth But Some Of The Country's Poor Resort To Living In Cars...

According to the number crunching gnomes at Credit Suisse, New Zealand's wealth since the year 2000 has grown more than any other country in the world.
It must be something in the water down under because Australia ranks second.
I'm sure the economists in Auckland, New Zealand's richest city, are patting themselves on the back, congratulating each other and saying how clever they are.
And I'd applaud them too, maybe I will, when we eliminate poverty and reduce the growing gap between the haves and the have nots.
I should live that long.
So people like the Tuuu family of five are not compelled by circumstances beyond their control, to live in their car.
In the country called Aotearoa,
The Land Of The Long White Cloud.
For some, the forecasted future continues to appear bleak with black clouds
and very little sunshine coming their way...

Wildboy Brando Yelavich Arrives In Auckland On His Way To Completing His Epic Walk Around New Zealand's Beautiful Coastline...

I caught up with Brando, his mother Donella, sister Brooke and dad Todd at Auckland's Mission Bay a couple of days ago.
Brando will spend the next few days in the Auckland area speaking to and inspiring young children at many schools in the area before continuing on the last few hundred or so kilometers of his epic walk around New Zealand's beautiful coastline...

Big Brother Got Me...

Well it was Big Sister actually.
Last evening was Census night in New Zealand and Jean was going to make sure nobody was left unaccounted for in her area.
It wasn't the first time I'd been in an isolated part of the country on census night and they've always managed to catch me in their bureaucratic net.
Not that I went to great lengths to avoid them.
I was just living my life and doing what I do.
One night many census's ago I was on my yacht Sofia in the beautiful Bon Accord Harbour at Kawai Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.
The sun was going down and friends and I were toasting the fact that we had escaped the census when there was a put-put-put of a little outboard motor and sure enough, in the tiny dinghy was an intrepid census taker with their reams of paperwork. He came aboard, we had a few laughs and he went away happy and satisfied with a job well done.
Last evening I was sitting once again with a few friends at Tokerau Beach and we were wondering if we were going to be counted.
They were voicing their concerns about not existing. I'd just said they shouldn't worry,
someone will turn up.
And moments later someone did.
It was Big Sister Jean.
So I guess I'll continue to exist as a statistic.
Until next time...

The Flying Tortoise Is Freedom Camping At Gulf Harbour...

Gulf Harbour Marina is at the end of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island and's a place I'll sometimes spend a few days when I'm to'ing and fro'ing.
There's great views all round and the island of Rangitoto is just over there.
I don't need retail therapy but can catch the daily ferry into Auckland City should I choose.
There's fresh water, toilets, a dump station, a few shops and cafes to enjoy too.
And the swanky townhouses with their yachts and launches tied up at the door that I can wander by without envying them their monthly mortgages, rates and utility bills.
Then there's the marina which always holds fascinations for me as I wander the piers.
I freedom camp facing out past where the pleasure craft enter and exit the marina.
As well as good fishing just a few metres away, there's always plenty of something or nothing going on.
The sun is shining and all's well with the world.
Well, my world at least...

New Zealand's Kiwi Kid...

Wenona visited Ambury Park yesterday in her immaculate 1981 Bedford ex ambulance motorhome called 'Kiwi Kid'.
Passionate about her country, she tours around entertaining all that can't help but notice this beautiful little Beddy with it's New Zealand Silver Fern flying in the breeze.
And if they don't see it, they'll hear it when she turns on the PA system that blares out the anthem 'God Defend New Zealand'.
'And if he doesn't, who will' she says...