1. Free Webspace

For those of you who haven't got a website yet, the cost of domain names and webspace to house your site can be surprisingly high. True most internet service providers (ISPs) now give you free webspace, but the address can be very clumsy - for example my own free webspace from the first ISP I signed up with has the address http://homepages.force9.net/warren1/index.html. Not too good if you want to give a professional impression!

2. Natural History New Zealand and Animal Planet Join Forces For New Series Collaboration

Dive adventure series set to reveal mysteries of sharks

The Emmy Award-winning combination of Natural History New Zealand and US-based broadcaster Animal Planet is set to dispel the man-eating myths about sharks in a new 13 X ½ hour series.

Nine months of filming begins in March 2000 off New Zealand’s Northland coast, home of the deadly Mako shark, before the crew head off on an odyssey around the Pacific and Indian Oceans in search of a variety of shark species.

A specialist crew of experienced Natural History New Zealand divers and cameramen will follow Gordon as he hand-feeds and swims with some of the world’s most fearsome creatures, at the same time finding out more about aspects of their little-known behaviour.

Each show will explore a new species of shark following Gordon to Australia, Hawaii, Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, California’s Monterey Bay and inland to the US state of Montana, where he will hunt out fossilised sharks.

"What we’re trying to do is de-emphasise the fear factor and increase the fascination factor. Hopefully people will realise these animals aren’t coming up through the bath plug to get them," Gordon says.

"There is a high level of misunderstanding about sharks and this series aims to dispel some of those popular misconceptions with a unique combination of adventure and scientific credibility," says Natural History New Zealand managing director, Michael Stedman. "Sure, there’s a high level of danger attached to making a series about sharks, but some species of shark are actually endangered. They deserve to have their stories told."

Executive producer Kevin Mohs, of Animal Planet, a network of Discovery Communications Inc, was in New Zealand this week as the crew tested the high-tech camera and dive equipment needed to film the series.

Gordon has acted as design and construction consultant for more than a dozen multi-million dollar aquariums around the world, and has helped to secure the protection of rapidly declining populations of Great Whites in Australia and many countries. He has also worked on research and Great White conservation projects with oceanic research and preservation organisation, the Cousteau Society.

"Since the movie ‘Jaws’ everyone’s been shooting sharks, especially Great Whites, but as top order predators they’re extremely important," Gordon says.

Gordon does not deny their killer instinct. He has been attacked, once requiring 15 to 20 stitches to his head, and has been in numerous life-threatening situations with sharks.

"If I didn’t keep my head I could have suffered massive injuries. But sharks are really quite predictable once you get to a certain level of knowledge about them. I now have a sixth sense that tells me when it’s not a good time to approach them," Gordon says.

Bhana has already produced and directed three shark documentaries, all Natural History New Zealand-Discovery Channel co-productions for the cable network’s popular Shark Week season: Swift, Smart and Deadly, about mako sharks, Riddle of the Rays, and the recently completed Nature of the Beast. All of these involved diving with and around sharks so, like his show’s host, Bhana is no stranger to the risks he’s taking.

"When you’re trying to keep a clear line of vision on all the animals, what sends your heart into your mouth is when you don’t know where one of them is – that’s the biggest rush," Bhana says.