February

This months calendar pic is courtesy of Linda Jackson, Kiwiscraps New Zealand - "Thai Cherish Card"

And I nearly forgot to post the answers to the Kiwi Kwiz, although Jaynes response is far more entertaining. Big prize coming your way Jayne - now aren't you all sorry you didn't try harder! LOL

1/. Sir Edmund Hillary - along with Sherpa,Tenzing Norgay, was the first to conquer Mt Everest, led expeditions across Antarctica, has done considerable humanitarian work with the Nepalese, is on the NZ $5 bill and all round nice guy.
2/. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (I didn't have to actually LIKE them) - soprano (opera not mob)
3/. Peter Jackson - film maker (Lord of the Rings, King Kong blah, blah, blah ... but "He Who Shall Not Be Named" also recommends "Brain Dead" & "Bad Taste". OK, Madcow does too.)
4/. Sam Neill - actor (Jurrasic Park etc if you must but Madcow recommends "The Dish" & "Death in Brunswick")
5/. Peter Snell - athlete. 1962 Snell broke the world mile record and set five individual world records and joined with fellow New Zealand athletes to set a new four by one mile relay record as well.
6/. Neil Finn - because I like him! Musician - Split Enz, Crowded House, The Finn Brothers
7/. Andrew Adamson - Animation & FX Artist, Director. (Shrek, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe)
8/. John Britten - Motorcycle Designer. Guggenheim curator Ultan Guilfoyle, lauds the V1000 as “perhaps the most influential racing motorcycle of the Nineties.”
9/. Sir Ernest Rutherford - Scientist. If you ask the Madcow Mother or indeed Madcow herself, we will say "he split the atom". Neither of us knows what that means but there you go. It seemed important for our teachers to tell us that so it must be true.
10/. Sir Archie McIndoe - Plastic Surgeon. During WWII McIndoe worked rehabilitating badly burned aircrew, not only physically but also psychologically.
11/. Janet Frame - Author. Try "To the Is-land", "An Angel at my Table", and "The Envoy from Mirror City" if you haven't already. Wasn't "Owls Do Cry" part of the curriculum? Or did I just read it when I was supposed to be reading something else in 6th Form English?.
12/. Dr John Money (now there's one we all wish was Australian) - Psychologist & Sexologist. You will need to do your own reading on this one and make up your own mind. I haven't read enough or know enough to offer more than a "he disturbs me". Try "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl" by John Colapinto
13/. The Hamilton Jet - a jet boat world famous in New Zealand!
14/. AJ Hackett - took a pretty silly idea from Vanuatu and turned it into the Bungy Jump.
15/. Jean Batten - Pioneer Aviatrix.

So there you go. More than you ever wanted to know about our mad Kiwi past.