Dave Gee: Life from Right Field

New Zealand's media were a bit light on their sense of humour this morning, with only a handful getting into the spirit of April Fools' Day.

The ever-reliable Otago Daily Times newspaper relegated their April 1st piece to page 3 this year. Their story was about a unique laser-guided sheep mustering project on the hills of the Harbour Cone property recently bought (at great cost, and with no consultation) on Otago Peninsula.

The sheep were apparently died pink, and laser-mustered in the shape of a giant bra. Nice work on the photoshopping, but not really as clever as last year's plans to dye the local Yellow-eyed Penguins Orange, under a sponsorship deal with Mitre 10 Mega ;-)

Meanwhile TV3's early morning show Sunrise had an "exclusive report" about Christchurch-based heptathlete Rebecca Wardell, who's apparently taken up smoking to help boost her chances at this year's Olympics, being held in the heavily-polluted city of Beijing.

Nationwide radio station The Rock tried to get into the sprit of things, but ended up having to apologise to listeners who "didn't get" their early April Fools Day prank.

The station had been promoting a one-off "secret" acoustic concert early this morning by American rockers the Foo Fighters at Auckland's Powerstation.

But after being overwhelmed with inquiries from listeners (with some people booking the day of work, and planning to fly up to Auckland to see the band) The Rock was forced to pull the planned stunt and apologise... Some people have no sense of humour!

Other April Fools' Day reports...

* Labour Government says April Fool!... (Scoop Satire)
* Newmarket signs fashion contract with Helen Clark
* Microsoft acquisition of 1-day!
* Plans to Launch a Revolutionary New Hydrobus