Heroes - All Black on the Beaches:

Here we have local hero, dad of the year and all round nice guy Willie Magnus, and some of his mates.  They work as professional divers.  This clip is a bit of fun, but to find out what they really do in a typical days work check out some of the related Youtube clips, it's dangerous work, and often done in appalling conditions.

Last night the All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup.  Richie McCaw was a hero, he's still a hero this morning, and he'll be talked about for years, and good on him and the team, so they should be - it was a great game.  Both teams played well.

This morning the beaches of the East Coast are still All Black.  Watch this clip, and click the "Like" button to show your support for these guys, because while the rest of the country's partying and nursing hangovers, these guys are out there, over their heads in freezing cold water, filthy toxic oil, even more toxic Corexit and other chemicals, risking their lives on a daily basis to clean up this mess for us.  Everyone will be buying Ritchie a beer today, let's all buy one for someone working to clean up the mess the Rena left.  These guys are every bit the heroes too, let's remember them at this time, and get in behind the All Black on the Beaches campaign.

They'd all like to be home with their families today, Willie's got five lovely daughters, a lovely wife, a darling grandchild, he's got brothers and a sister, nieces and nephews, all the in laws and outlaws, they all love him to bits, we miss him to bits because he's such a good guy, and wish we were going for a bit of recreational hunter/gathering somewhere nice like Ngawi or Tora with him to keep us safe.  and if you go out with Willie (or Kate Jury), you can be sure you'll come back safe.  Thinking of everyone working to clean up the Rena catastrophy.  These are every bit our local heroes.

Please take the time to watch the clip and click the "Like" button, these guys do a great job in cold, dangerous uncomfortable conditions, show you like what they do.  The clip's funny as anything, especially if you have any idea of how much all that gear actually weighs and how big Willie actually isn't (you can't see because he's inside all that stuff, but the gear probably weighs twice as much as him), also, the tank, which is the heaviest thing, has a tendency to whack you in the back of the head if you aren't careful.  Hard.

The other thing about this clip is the little insight into the careful but casual way the team works together, checking, double checking, nothing left to chance, looking after each other, then suddenly, right before you're eyes . . . . da dah!  "Yeah, no worries mate" - classic Kiwi monkey business at work.

Also today, let's dedicate this World Cup win to some other ordinary heroes.  While Willie will be back in the bosom of his family soon, with his lovely wife and daughters.  Marelle Pereira was just eight years old when her father was murdered by agents of the French government, when they executed the plan to deliberately blow up the Rainbow Warrior.  This was an act of international terrorism which deserved total condemnation, as well as an act of Murder.  Politically motivated murder.  Marelle grew up without her daddy, she couldn't sit on his knee anymore, laugh and joke with him, snuggle up and talk with him . . .

Mirelle, and her mother, have grown up without Fernando Pereira, the peaceful, peace loving, gentle photographer, who did the same thing I do, spread the truth.  A photographer, a father, a gentle man.  A hero because he was trying to tell us about the real news.

Let's take a minute or two to remember all the quiet, humble, everyday heroes today (any day) and dedicate this win to them.  The French played a great game last night and deserve respect for that, and Fernando Pereira and the crew of the Rainbow Warrior deserve to be respected and remembered too.  Raise a glass to them today, and those out at sea working on the Rena, as well as Captain McCaw and the team.  Then do what you can to help get the Black Off Our Beaches.