Paul Hickey: Black Caps' heroic deeds unite country

Martin Guptill's double century on Saturday has got the country buzzing. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Well it has certainly been an eventful week since my last piece here in the Rotorua Daily Post. While we all go about our own personal lives, the worlds of entertainment and sport can be factors that unite people whose paths would otherwise never cross, and both of these elements did unite our nation over the past seven days.

First there was the comments made on a reality TV show by two people most of us had never heard of (and probably never will again!) that saw a social media storm erupt in a massive way. This negative story certainly became a positive as the country stood up to bullying united and people power won out.

The country is also united in a big way behind our cricketers as they continue their march in the World Cup. It's great to see cricket being cool again. I went to the World Cup semifinal back in '92, and wish I could be at Eden Park tomorrow. Many are calling for tomorrow to be declared a national day off, but you can be sure from 2pm onwards work productivity may reach an all-time low across New Zealand ... but this is certainly an okay thing for this momentous occasion.

Good luck to the Black Caps - and good riddance to um ... who were they again?

I mentioned last week about the busy week ahead and it certainly was. More than $75,000 raised at the Ronald McDonald Retreat Supper Club, a neat sit-down and chat with caddy Steve Williams along with a knowledgeable audience at the Chamber Of Commerce Golf Day, then getting myself beaten up in a Medieval Fighting Battle. What an experience that was. Clad in nearly 50kg of armour, getting hit repeatedly in the head by a sword left my head ringing, and body sore. But a great experience none the less. A short video is online at thehits.co.nz/rotorua.

I'm hoping that the long-term weather forecast is going to change, as our annual The Hits Rotorua Easter Beach Dig is scheduled for this weekend.

This has become one of my favourite events to be involved with over the past couple of years, with hundreds of under-12s taking part.

The sandstorm created when we open the beach at 10am is certainly pretty cool to see. There are guaranteed prizes for every child, plus we've got plenty of spot prizes and the major prizes to give away too.

So come out as a family and let the kids have a bit of free fun with The Hits on Sunday at Hannahs Bay Reserve.

In fact, it could be a pretty cheap day out for the family as there is also the BayTrust Rescue Helicopter Open Day happening up at their hangar on Hospital Hill.

It's your chance to get up close to the chopper itself, meet the team that fly it, and see all the various demonstrations and displays that will be set up.

These guys and girls do a great job for our community, so get along and find out about how you can support them - it's on between 10am-2pm.

Paul Hickey is the host of the locally-based 9am-3pm show on The Hits Rotorua 97.5FM. Follow on Facebook The Hits Rotorua and on Twitter @paulhickeynz