You will find chardonnay thriving in Gisborne on the South Island.
Directions a bit tipsy
Simon Kember was recently in a Sainsbury's store in London and says he got the fright of his life thinking that there had been another major earthquake in New Zealand resulting in Gisborne being relocatedby a great seismic event. Fortunately not.
Climate change in action
Facing unbearable heat, Qatar has begun to air-condition the outdoors — well at least the sports arenas. It was 47C in the shade outside the new Al Janoub football stadium, and the air felt to air-conditioning expert Saud Ghani as if God had pointed "a giant hair dryer" at Qatar.
"Yet inside the open-air stadium, a cool breeze was blowing. Beneath each of the 40,000 seats, small grates adorned with Arabic-style patterns were pushing out cool air at ankle level.
Photo / AP
"And since cool air sinks, waves of it rolled gently down to the grassy playing field.
"Vents the size of soccer balls fed more cold air on to the field."
Qatar has already pushed out the date for the 2022 World Cup by five months over fears hundreds of thousands of football fans might wilt or even die while shuttling between stadiums and metros and hotels in the unforgiving summer heat. (Via Washington Post)
Osama bin Laden 'reincarnated as a seashell'
A woman from East Sussex was collecting seashells when she found one that bore an uncanny resemblance to the late terrorist, Osama bin Laden.
Debra Oliver noted that both had been "buried at sea", adding: "It's not that often you find a seashell that looks like anyone at all, so finding Osama bin Laden was amazing."
