Duran Duran go out and get physical

By JULIET ROWAN

Visiting British pop stars Robbie Williams and Duran Duran yesterday made the most of New Zealand's great outdoors before their concert in Auckland tonight.

Bad-boy singer Williams was rumoured to be playing golf near the Bay of Islands, and Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon, John Taylor and Roger Taylor boarded a yacht for an evening's sailing in Auckland Harbour.

The two Taylors, who had spent the day "chilling out" and shopping, looked relaxed in jeans and T-shirts as they joined the crew of yacht Hydroflow for Friday evening racing.

But the newly reunited group's lead singer missed the 4.30pm start gun after arriving late from a "fantastic day lounging around" with Sir Michael Fay at Mercury Island, off Coromandel Peninsula.

The keen sailor and former Whitbread yacht-owner was ferried to Hydroflow mid-race by a waiting television crew.

Whether Le Bon was splicing mainbraces or shivering timbers, he must have done something right, since Hydroflow was first across the line by three minutes, although it dropped to second on handicap.

Le Bon's 1980s group play supporting act to 29-year-old Williams at Western Springs.

About 50,000 fans are expected to attend.

The concert's main man has been avoiding the limelight since slipping out of a back door at Auckland Airport on Thursday and refusing interviews.

Instead, he has preferred to hit the golfing green, playing at Gulf Harbour, on Whangaparaoa Peninsula, on Thursday afternoon and reportedly enjoying a round yesterday at Kauri Cliffs at Matauri Bay.

The singer also dined at Orbit restaurant in the Sky Tower on Thursday evening with about 15 people, including his father, Pete.

Nick Christiansen, the restaurant's senior waiter, said Williams was "very friendly and very polite - not necessarily what you'd expect from someone with his international super-stardom".

While fans hoping for a glimpse of the elusive singer may have been disappointed, several of his band members were yesterday spotted at restaurants and cafes around the central city.

* Williams has set a record with the fastest-selling music DVD in the UK, his record label says.

The Press Association reports that Williams shifted 46,000 copies of his What We Did Last Summer concert film. The one-week sales exceeded those of previous record holders Led Zeppelin, who shifted 27,000 copies of a recent DVD.