Blogs

No shame in asking for help with dementia care

Better Understanding Dementia with Ruth Thomas from EnlivenPlus We all need help at some point, but when a loved one has dementia that help is even more important. Over the years I've met so many people who feel they... Read More

Blues & BBQS – but mainly blues!

Music Plus with Winston Watusi watusi@thesun.co.nz This week it's all about blues - and here's an extravagant statement to open with... It may sound like an exaggeration, but I reckon the NZ Blues & BBQ Festival 2023,... Read More

New cricket format raises eyebrows

Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid There were a few eyebrows raised by local cricket watchers when the Bay of Plenty Cup premier club competition underwent a change of format at the start of the 2023-24... Read More

Solar Activity and the next Maunder Minimum

Weather Eye with John Maunder The ‘Maunder Minimum' is the name given to the period from 1645 to 1715 when the number of sunspots - ‘storms' on the sun - became almost zero. The period is named after... Read More

Happy Christmas, ho-bloody-ho

Roger Rabbits with Jim Bunny A heads up - there's 45 shopping days until Christmas. Or thereabouts. We might want to start thinking about it. We might also want to start thinking about the difference between... Read More

Oozing talent from Octogenarians

Music Plus with Winston Watusi watusi@thesun.co.nz Just occasionally, as we rush towards the precipice, it can feel like time is standing still. I've felt that recently, enjoying in the same week both a new Martin... Read More

Looking back to the 1967 Melbourne Cup

Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid History buffs tend to collect things - and I am no exception having collected sporting memorabilia over half a century. The oldest piece I have, is a 1936 Auckland... Read More

Tauranga October Rainfalls 1898-2023 and Temperatures 1913 - 2023

Weather Eye with John Maunder The graph below shows the range of Tauranga's October rainfalls, from an extreme high of 357 mm in 1916 to a low of only 7 mm in 1984. The second wettest October was 1928, when... Read More

The Day My Car Ate Me... (...and other damned nuisances)

Roger Rabbits with Jim Bunny ‘The Day My Car Ate me'. I know it smacks of those outrageous British tabloid headlines - like ‘I'm having a martian's baby' or ‘Adam and Ed - gay couple were first humans'. Now... Read More

Brand new music from the plentiful Bay

Music Plus with Winston Watusi watusi@thesun.co.nz I do love when local music gets released; today I have some new Tauranga tunes for you. Firstly, there's an album set for release which - due to the complicated... Read More

A milestone for local cricket

Sports correspondent & historian with Sideline Sid A big milestone in the advancement of Western Bay of Plenty women's cricket was announced last Saturday, with Bay of Plenty Women's Captain Tash Wakelin posting... Read More

The tragic ‘4/10’ Kiwi bloke

Roger Rabbits with Jim Bunny He has the hands of a blacksmith - big, vice-like, scarred and calloused. But…oh my! He is also blessed with the touch and tenderness of Casanova himself. 'And,” says the... Read More