Handbags & Hovercrafts

A number of very prominent auctions on the Trade Me website have really caught the public imagination and become the subject of TV, press and radio attention. Items such as Tana Umaga's handbag, Lisa Lewis' bikini, the scary washing machine and the cast from John Key's broken arm all became major news stories as the auction bids for them skyrocketed. Good old Kiwi ingenuity has meant that a bizarre range of things have also been auctioned - and discussed at length - like a motorised drinking couch, an apostrophe, the infamous underarm cricket ball, a comfort hug, a feijoa kiwi and Australia. Driven by excellent comments by the sellers, the site's questions and answers attract all manner of witty and clever comments - and make for terrific reading. This book collects the best of the 'strange but true' auctions with edited Q and As plus the backstories - what happened to each object after it was auctioned. It's a real insight into what's really going on in Kiwi culture today and makes a perfectly hilarious stocking stuffer for anyone.