IN A BIT of a career change, former Lakes Environmental enforcement boss Tim Francis – whose job was axed last December – is driving ski buses up the mountain this winter. 

DURING televised coverage of the All Blacks’ ninth successive win over the Australian rugby team at Guilty bar last Saturday, an interested spectator was former World Cup-winning Wallaby captain Nick Farr-Jones. 

MORE milestone birthdays were marked last weekend. Bathhouse chef Dugi Anderson, who won his boxing bout during Winter Festival’s Mountain Scene Thriller in the Chiller, celebrated his 40th at Surreal and Red Rock last Saturday. On the same night, Showbiz musical director Cheryl Collie hosted a glitzy party at SkyCity Casino for her 60th. Raconteur and Coronet Peak Ski Area ambassador Clive Manners-Wood turned 65 last Friday – he was born on the day the atom bomb was dropped over Hiroshima. And Queenstown Taxis driver Bryan Smith reached 70 on Sunday.