| Two Australian kayakers conquer Tasman
EXHAUSTED and at the point of collapse, they stumbled to shore arm-in-arm and immediately announced plans for their next adventure. Sydney athletes James Castrission, 25, and Justin Jones, 24, yesterday made history after becoming the first two people to kayak across the Tasman, in what is believed to be the longest two-man kayaking expedition. Their path saw them paddle about 3300km, far further than the 2000km they anticipated when they set out, and took 62 days - 20 days longer than scheduled. Almost unable to walk after their leg muscles atrophied in the hull of the kayak, the pair paddled to Ngamotu beach inside Port Taranaki at 12.20pm and were greeted by a crowd of up to 10,000 people. After a welcoming haka, a chorus of Waltzing Matilda and cheers of "Go Aussie", the pair were finally reunited with family.
Surfing's oldest pro hangs up wetsuit after 25 years
After 25 years of professional surfing, Mark Occhilupo has retired at the age of 41.
Occhilupo first burst onto the pro surfing scene back in 1983 at the young age of 17. Brash and cocky but with the surfing ability to back it up, Occhilupo was a media sensation. Being one of Australia's best surfers, Occhilupo not only influenced the surfing world but also represented the nation he proudly came from.
Before his retirement he was the oldest surfer still competing. "Occy's" surfing career lasted 25 years, making his surfing career professional surfing's longest. Occhilupo came into professional surfing a champion and exits a champion.
Any long and successful career is going to have its share of good times, bad times, victories and defeats, Occhilupo's included.
Michelle Kinsey: Key Palace kicks off new season
TICKET WINDOW. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 4, for the July 3 Tom Petty show at Verizon Wireless Music Center. Tickets range from $29 to $94.50. Steve Winwood will open the show. Tickets are available at www.livenation.com, Ticketmaster outlets, or by phone at (765) 644-3131. .
Wii bit of bother? Call the gadget doctor
For the tens of thousands of people who received the latest must-have gadget for Christmas but do not have a clue how to use it, help is at hand. So-called "gadget doctors" are coming to the rescue of confused customers who are struggling to set up their Nintendo Wii, activate their iPhone or "sync" their MP3 player with their computer. .
Zucker: NBCU will change its program development
The U.S. economy is on the verge of a recession, but that didn't spur much tune-in for President Bush's State of the Union address on Monday night. The speech aired on nine networks – ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Univision, Telemundo, Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC – and averaged a total of 37.5 million total viewers, according to Nielsen. That's the lowest viewership of Bush's tenure and down nearly 18 percent from the 45.5 million those same networks averaged last year for Bush's State of the Union address. The networks combined to average 27.7 million households and a 24.7 rating, down about 16 percent from 33.0 million homes and a 29.6 combined rating last year. Bush's all-time high in terms of State of the Union viewership came during the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003, when his speech averaged 62.1 million viewers.
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