Comet C/2006 P1 McNaught

The McNaught comet - we could see this clearly in the sky at around 10:30pm on Saturday. It wasn't quite as bright as it is in this picture (which I found online) but otherwise very similar - a little more orange when we saw it, perhaps. Apparently this comet was only discovered on 7 August 2006 and it won't be visible again... ever! It's the brightest comet to be seen in 42 years.

Wellington Cup Day

Yesterday we caught the early train to Trentham Racecourse (in the Lower Hutt Valley, ringed by high hills) and spent the day at the races. It was the Wellington Cup, a big day for NZ racing by all accounts, and a pretty big event with thousands of very dressed-up punters (it was a lot busier than it looks in these photos - unfortunately taken on my mobile as i forgot my proper camera). Although this was my first time at a racecourse, I refrained from gambling all afternoon before putting $10 each was on Far Away Places and Sordid Affair in the Cup race itself. Predictably neither of them placed. Judith gambled on every race and picked a fair few winners (1st and 2nd in one race) but placed small bets and so only ended up breaking even. It was also a lot hotter than it looks in these photos - the sun was blasting us through the clouds you can see here with at times almost unbelievable intensity. Having learned my lesson whilst bowling (see December's blogs) I was ready with sunscreen and my diesel cap.



Champagne was the weapon of choice, with corks popping through the air all day.



The finish line. Most of each race was watched on a big screen with frenzied commentary booming out over the PA, but we had a good view of the last 50 metres of so - a fair number of the races were won in these last seconds too, with the winners suddenly breaking from the pack and snatching victory by a nose or neck.






The birdcage (left) and members stand (right).

Much to our surprise, when they came to award the trophy to the winner of the Wellington cup race - one of 10 races on the day - Prime Minister Helen Clark appeared, about 30 feet away, in 'the birdcage'. That's her dead-centre in the pink top!

Art and music updates!

Some pictures of an interesting exhibition we went to at Wellington's Civic Art Gallery, plus a street-side tribute to James Brown (presumably) and the poster for the M. Ward gig we saw recently...

View from Work

More rubbishy phone shots, but taking pictures out the window at work is a clandestine business. Every time I turn my head the sea is there (assuming the weather is behaving itself...).




I don't remember where I took this last one, but felt the addition of a 'the' might have been a good idea?

Dusk snapshots

I took these on my (somewhat ropey-quality) mobile phone camera as dusk fell in Wellington.









This last one is the NZ parliament (The Beehive), from where I sometimes sit at lunchtime - work is a couple of minutes away.