625 comments

I mentioned in a post the other day about young Australian Jessica Watson and the website and blog chronicling her attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the globe. She’s 16 and the voyage is 38,000 kilometres (23,000 nautical miles) in some of the most ferocious seas on the globe.

Photo by Jessica Watson

It’s a hugely popular blog and she gets around 250 – 300 comments each day as people wish her the best. Well, Jessica crossed the equator the other day and she posted an update on her blog to let everyone know – she got 625 comments on the post. That’s right, 625 comments. That is mind blowing, apparently it’s the most read blog in Australia right now, and for good reason. She’s seems like a lovely kid who’s doing something incredibly brave and plus she’s a great writer. Her updates are a pleasure to read.

The website is http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/

Her blog http://youngestround.blogspot.com/

Her course and current location is recorded here http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/the-voyage

I understand she’s now passed Kiribati and will soon be turning around and heading back under the equator to round Cape Horn (southern tip of South America). Although she’s circumnavigating the globe in the southern oceans, in order to break the record she much cross the equator which is what she’s been doing.

Check it out.

Friday flowers

Sorry for the belated Friday flowers publication.

Our Pohutukawa tree (aka the New Zealand Christmas tree) is just starting to bloom so I’ve been on the look out for a nice one to show you. The Pohutukawa grows along the west coast so when I took Bonnie for a walk at the beach today I looked out for a tree in good bloom to show you. Unfortunately I didn’t end up with a good shot so I’m sharing a professional pic by photographer David Wall. The Pohutukawa tree grows up to a about 25 metres high and 15 meters wide. It’s a gnarly tree with twisting branches that often reach out rather than up and their low boughs can provide an excellent place to lie in the shade for a nap after a summer swim and barbecue.

I’ll repost a of photo of Pohutukawa that I took earlier this year in winter before they were blooming so you can see the shape I’m talking about. I took this shot on Great Barrier island in August. They’d be looking awesome right now covered in red blooms.

Addiction

A few weeks back Bob from I Should Be Laughing mentioned that Carlos was addicted to spider solitaire. I think Bob said that Carlos called it spidey. I thought I would check it out as I’m always on the look out for another time waster. 

Big mistake.

Fast forward to today and I must face the sad and awful truth that I am now fully addicted to spidey just like Carlos.

I recently graduated to intermediate level (with two suits) and am barely managing to maintain a 40% success rate. It’s completely infuriating and I plainly don’t have the patience for the game but I just can’t stop. 

As if I don’t have quite enough addiction in my life *sigh*

Two for Tuesday

I) Topiary tendril

 

Photo lifted from yepyep.gibbs12.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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II) Cottage envy

Rock cottage is in a hill outside Wolverley, Worcestershire, England. It is one of 50 'built' in the area in the late 18th century. The place was apparently for sale in 2007 and a metro.co.uk article states the vendor was hoping to get £25,000 at the time even factoring in the lack of plumbing and electricity.

I’m not positive that ‘envy’ is quite the right term for today’s pic but it’s certainly an interesting pad.

Football fever

Rory Fallon (in white) headers the winning goal

For the first time since Spain in 1982 the New Zealand football team has qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals by beating Bahrain last night in Wellington. The final score was 1-0.

Football doesn’t have a high profile here in NZ where it’s all about rugby, so it’s great that the sport will benefit from the increased exposure. Lots more kiwi kids play football over the last few years but when they reach a certain age the boys tend to swap to rugby  so comparatively few players reach the top levels unfortunately.

26 countries have qualified in 6 zones for the 2010 finals so far, while another 5 places are still to be finalised.

• Europe: England, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Slovakia, Switzerland, Italy, Serbia and Spain
• Africa: South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria
• North America, Central America and Caribbean: United States, Honduras and Mexico
• South America: Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Paraguay
• Asia: Australia, Japan, Korea (North), Korea (South)
• Oceania: New Zealand

The first games kick off in Johannesburg, South Africa in June 2010. Realistically we understand we’re minnows especially against the Euro teams and the big South American teams so we’ll no doubt be out after the first round but it’s just fun even getting there for us - who knows though what could happen?

Photographs by Getty Images

*EDIT* I just had a browse though a BBC forum regarding the New Zealand qualification. Some commenters there don’t share our joy.