News
Bird survey starts soon!
The 2019 Garden Bird Survey starts soon! Get ready the binoculars, and sharpen those pencils for a lovely hour watching birds. This is the 13th year the project has been run and by taking part you’ll help build a picture of New Zealand’s common and widespread birds, as well as inform future conservation efforts.
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Recent Posts
News
Rain watch
Rain watchers Mike Taylor and David Riddell present their wet weather figures for keen followers of weather. After a very dry late summer, April and May in Gordonton and Puketaha had more rain, though still below the monthly averages for this part of the world. Gordonton’s rainfall averages are 91mm for April and 108mm
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The Dirty Dog Challenge is back!
The Dirty Dog Challenge is back – an event where dogs and their owners get to navigate their way through a mud-filled obstacle course in Ngaruawahia. If your dog loves running, climbing, water or mud – and you don’t mind getting a bit grubby – then come along, says Waikato District Council Animal Control Education
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Antivirus protection – who to trust
Computer columnist Matt Bentley takes a look at antivirus protection. The things we do! The other day I was on the phone to Norton (also known as Symantec), an antivirus company, for a full 50 minutes. Every step of the way they tested our patience; they checked things that had already been checked, did things
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Reading with alpacas delights kids
There were delighted squeals aplenty at Gordonton School yesterday as the junior classes joined a million kids to read the same book, here and in Australia. Better yet, after reading Alpacas with Maracas projected on the big screen, two VIPs came by the school – real life cuddly alpacas from the nearby Cornerstone Alpaca Stud.
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Home Range magazine underway
We’ve been a tad busy here at Number 8 Network. Over the last many weeks we’ve been running around compiling stories for the next issue of Home Range magazine. Launched last year by Number 8 Network, two issues – Summer and Winter – were delivered to about 3000 letterboxes in the Gordonton, Puketaha, Orini and
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Home Range
You’ve got mail!
Rural postie Michael Blank featured in the latest Home Range magazine. The 24-page, full colour publication is packed full of local stories from Gordonton, Puketaha, Orini and Horsham Downs and put together with love by Number 8 Network. If you didn’t see the magazine or would like a link to the digital editon, click here.
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In the kitchen at the Firepot Cafe
It’s two years this month since Carmen Ko took over the Firepot Cafe, with her wife Yupin. It’s been just great, she tells N8N’s Annette Taylor. This story featured in Home Range magazine recently. “I really love Gordonton,” says the Firepot Cafe’s Carmen Ko. “There’s a warm feeling here. I love the locals. Some come
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Out & About
Struggling to find the words: inside Fukushima’s nuclear plant
Gordonton’s Iris Riddell toured inside the disabled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant recently. She shares the experience here. “Your total radiation dose on this tour will be 0.01 millisieverts – about the equivalent of a dental x-ray.” That’s what we’d been told, barely 40 minutes earlier. I tried to keep that firmly in
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Huimai explores Pukemokemoke
Children and helpers from Huimai Playcentre had a great time exploring the bush and critters at Pukemokemoke Reserve recently. The budding biologists completed a treasure hunt, spotting intricate spider webs, cicada shells, birds and trees along the way. And of course there was time to take time out and have a breather in the
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Country Cooking
Slow roasted duck with bacon and wine
I do like wild duck dinners. But I don’t have a gun, and I’m not good at sitting near a pond in a maimai, waiting for the sun to rise. Luckily, I have a brother-in-law whose happy place is the above mentioned maimai. He also has Smudge, an eager dog who bounds into the
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Muttonbird on the menu
David Riddell whips up a special lunch I’ve often seen sooty shearwaters at sea, and occasionally on their breeding grounds, but until now I’d never eaten one. When on the table they’re better known as muttonbirds; I spotted some in the window of a Ngaruawahia butcher’s shop the other day and thought I’d give one
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History
Fun days at Woodlands
Number 8 Network shares some photo highlights from the Pioneer Fundays held at Woodlands Estate last week. The free family fun, during the school holidays, are an extravaganza of 19th Century delights and goings-on – featuring pony rides, vintage machinery, old fashioned games, and skills including butter churning. It was a fabulous three days, thank
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From Gordonton to Oxford and back
The first Maori woman to gain a PhD – from Oxford, no less – began her educational journey at Gordonton School 78 years ago. Dr Ngapare Hopa still lives in her parent’s house, in the middle of Gordonton village. She featured recently in Home Range magazine. She has headed Auckland University’s Maori Studies Department, worked
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