It's marvellous that Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings gives foreigners another reason to get excited about visiting New Zealand, but what do international travellers expect to find when they get here?
The Observer reports that there have been some unusual problems for travel companies making New Zealand bookings.
"We like to
say anything is possible, but some requests are proving a little too, well, fictional," Tim Stubbings, spokesman for London-based New Zealand Affair, told the paper.
"We're scratching our heads on how we can provide accommodation at Bag End, and just how do you tell someone the Mines of Moria live in the director's computer?"
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We note with interest Australian reports that Macquarie Bank may be in line for a $US25 million ($58 million) success fee for advising takeover target Normandy Mining. Normandy, Australia's biggest gold miner, sought after by South Africa's AngloGold and US-based Newmont Mining, recently swallowed Kiwi miner Otter Gold. We don't think Otter's advisers got as much.
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A joke EU directive doing the rounds: "In order to meet the conditions for joining the single European currency, all citizens of the United Kingdom must be made aware that the phrase 'spending a penny' may no longer be used. The correct term is now: 'Euronating'."
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Spotted at a Warehouse store among the throngs of post-Christmas bargain hunters: the eminently wealthy Douglas Goodfellow.
Our informant says that in the midst of his red barn outing, the octogenarian Sanford chairman (whose shopping habits suggest he knows how to retain his millions) had a fainting spell and had to be helped out of the shop.
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