Up close with nature
Alf Hoyle of Rotorua writes: "Fishing yesterday on Lake Tikitapu in the morning, just out of Rotorua - we had two fish in the bin and I was playing a third when I saw what looked like a large brown handbag swimming towards me. I boated the fish to investigate. It was a large deer and appeared to be heavily pregnant. It was pretty exhausted and swam right past me. Twenty minutes later it landed on the end beach and flopped in the sand for 10 minutes before loping off into the bush. Where else in the world could you catch three rainbow trout in two hours barely 8km from a major city and have an experience such as that."
Leonie from Tauranga writes: "When we woke this morning and went to get the Herald from our letter box we found that someone had decided to post a letter box to us, and as we already have one, we would like to return it to owner, but sadly there was no forwarding address, can anyone help us locate the owner?"
Sounds like a beaut all right ...
Guy tries to sell car named Carol on Trade Me. "Rightio, one of you bloody legends is about to own Carol, arguably the world's most heroic '92 Camry wagon with literally dozens of Toyota's finest horsepowers. Look I don't wanna give ya false hope. She's had her glory days ... I think the alternator may be struggling with motivation cause every now and again when you're whistling down the highway with the wind in your hair and a smile on your face, feeling one with the road, maybe you're wearing driving gloves I'm not one to judge, but I digress ... The car comes with a hat, a Makita pencil, roughly $1.10 in loose change; essentially what I'm getting at is I'm not gonna clean her out before you pick it up, I'll lob the keys at ya and she's beer o'clock ... We met in Auckland and she swept me off my feet and whisked me around this beautiful country like a true hostess. She's Pamela Anderson; there was a time when she was every man's dream. Not any more. But let's be honest, we'd all still go there in a heartbeat. I'd say she's probably worth 1200 bucks tops but I'm selling her to buy a new parachute so if you wanna throw down three grand you'll own her with a smile."
Pre-Seasonal: Gwyneth Paltrow's GOOP newsletter has a handy Christmas Gift Guide including a super pretentious and expensive section, described as 'ridiculous (but awesome)' includes a steamer seat, gold bum bells and a vintage ball and chain...
Good read: It was once socially acceptable and surprisingly affordable to send children by parcel post...
Video: Treating a dog like one of their own...
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Got a Sideswipe? Send your pictures, links and anecdotes to Ana at ana.samways@nzherald.co.nz