Extolling winged virtues
A New Zealand manufactured turbine-powered bush plane, the P750 XSTOL is being promoted in Alaska by a Californian dealer who says the aircraft rivals the traditional Cessna turbine aircraft for travel in the American…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Mobile Bach Adventure
A Christchurch Classic Camper Volkswagen Vanagon is rented by Los Angeles Times’ reporter Mary Engel and her husband who says the rented vehicle makes for an “experience still more up-close and personal”. No taller…
Top Lodge Spots
The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs has been voted No. 1 Lodge/Resort in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific in the 2009 Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards readers’ survey, with The Farm at…
Charismatic Leader
Chief executive of New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa, Dr Seddon Bennington, 61, died on July 15 tramping in the Tararua Ranges, a sight Dr Bennington admired from his office window, “frequently think of…
Rise of the Grape
Brancott Winery’s Ivan Yukich – who planted his first vines in the Waitakere Ranges in 1934 – was a visionary who fought through poor economic times, prohibition and New Zealand’s preference for beer and…
This is really a dog
Gisborne dog owner Cheryl McKnight believes her 6-month-old Maltese puppy Scooter, which stands at just 8cm tall, is a Guinness World Record potential for the smallest dog by height. McKnight says he hasn’t grown…
Radio with Pictures
New Zealand-born DJ, radio host and television personality, Zane Lowe, 35, is piloting an initiative by BBC’s Radio 1 to make radio a visual medium, with Lowe’s antics being filmed by no less than six television…
If Trees Could Talk
Much movie magic is created “in and around Wellington, the San Francisco-like capital city situated at the southwest tip of North Island” writes Boston Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf. “In the city limits and within…
Cheap but cheerful
New Zealand tourists are among the most fiscally tight travelers in the world according to a survey by online travel company Expedia, who asked more than 4,500 hoteliers around the globe their opinions on…
Leading from the Front
Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Ramsden, has become the first New Zealander to be awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal at a special ceremony recently in Brussels, Belgium. The award was presented NATO Secretary-General His Excellency…
Taking over Rotterdam
Iconic Auckland pop artist, Billy Apple, has hijacked the Netherlands art scene by holding a major solo exhibition at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam. Comprising two parts ‘A History…
Back in the Hot Seats
All Blacks head coach Graham Henry and his two assistants Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen have been re-appointed for an extended two seasons until the end of the 2011 World Cup. “Graham, Wayne and…
Face to Face on the South’s Slopes
Western Australia Today has pit two of New Zealand’s banner ski resorts against each other to see whether Wanaka or Queenstown really has it all. Combing through the views, nightlife, food, accommodations, and skiing,…
Ospreys Welcome Collins
Former All Black back-rower Jerry Collins, 28, has signed two-year contract with Welsh Liberty Stadium side the Ospreys having arrived from French team Toulon. Collins says he is taking nothing for granted at his…
American hoopla
The Datsuns are in the United States promoting their fourth album Headstunts — the first time the band has been in the country since touring with the Pixies in 2004. When The Datsuns blasted…
Interpreting Haydn
The New Zealand String Quartet performed two pieces by Haydn at Ithaca College in New York to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his death in 1809. The group also played Janacek’s String Quartet No…
Energetic last dance
Wellington jazz musicians the Ford/Tipping/Wise Trio have released a “hard-grooving, impressively creative release” called After the Last Dance, which music site All About Jazz reviews this month. “Each tunes is thoughtfully…
Paddock To Plate
New Zealand chefs and consumers are increasingly embracing diverse homegrown produce, with Queenstown’s Saffron restaurant at the forefront of this “quiet revolution” explains Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service. Sourced from the restaurant’s surrounding environs is…
Bet on the Baa Blacks
The town of Methven (population 1200) recently hosted a sheep-race, which saw two teams of eight “professionally trained” sheep speed round the local pub and over barrels at speeds of over 40kmp/h. Organiser and…
Stellar young talent
Eleanor Catton, 24, has been praised in the first international reviews for her novel, The Rehearsal, receiving rave write-ups in influential publications The Scotsman, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Tom…
On display in Venice
The work of New Zealand artists Judy Millar (above) and Francis Upritchard (below) at the 53rd International Venice Biennale is beautifully showcased in a photographic essay by Ronnie Peters on his blog RonnieWorld. “Artist…
Eblack strummer wins
New Zealander Mason Maddox or “massi4h”, a member of the 2009 eBlacks team, has won a gold medal at the World Cyber Games Asian Championship in Singapore. Maddox won gold competing on the Xbox…
Pastry Mad In The Bay
Aucklander Alka Patel has taken the New Zealand pie to the streets of San Francisco, selling the pastry goodness at Stonestown farmers’ market. “I sold out of everything both days,” Patel told SFoodie, including…
Supernova discovery
Oxford dairy farmer Stuart Parker, 37, had been scanning the North Canterbury skies through his telescope for 15 years searching for a supernova before finally coming across one – now named SN2009GJ – on…
In Praise of Hard Work
Radio New Zealand has received a Gold Medal at the recent New York Festival Radio Awards for its documentary on the life of Mount Everest conqueror, Sir Edmund Hillary. The medal went to ‘It’s…
Straight to the point
Two hard-hitting, ‘in your face’ anti-speeding campaigns from Colenso and Saatchi & Saatchi — who were both awarded Bronze Lions at the recent 2009 International Advertising Festival in Cannes
Piecing life together
Mt Maunganui artist and jigsaw puzzle creator Royce McClure, 53, was in India this month assembling a 25,000 piece puzzle he designed for a Lipton Tea promotion. A veteran of over 180 puzzles and…
Everyman’s House
Artist Dick Frizzell’s Haumoana home ‘Faraway’ – “a sky blue, maritime-themed house that is surrounded by an olive grove, an orchard and a flower and vegetable garden” – features in the real estate section…
Pakiri Paradise
Horse-riding on a secluded North Island beach is one of the activities included in the series and accompanying BBC book Unforgettable Things To Do Before You Die; examiner.com reporter Jenna Voigt decides to complete…
Unbeatable on the Thames
New Zealand have beaten the British at the five-day Henley Royal Regatta winning gold in four finals. New Zealand won the head-to-head clashes 3-2, Mahé Drysdale getting revenge for the 2007 final against Alan…
Bedroom Dealings
Westport couple Wayne Saggers and Kathy Wahrlich sold their bed and threw in six-bedroom historic Stone House in an online auction on TradeMe for $302,600 to an Aucklander named, Mike. The package, which had…
Online generation bridge
Auckland City Libraries and the New Zealand Chinese Association Auckland Inc. have joined forces to develop the first New Zealand Chinese digital communities website, which will be launched at the Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas…
Jet back to Oshkosh
Christchurch inventor Glenn Martin, 49, will make another appearance, albeit without his Martin Jetpack, at this year’s EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to report on the progress of his personal flying machine, to give…
Front row seat for Kirk
Former Fairfax boss and All Black great David Kirk is the newly appointed executive chairman of the Pacific Equity Partners-owned Hoyts cinema group. The move, which will also see Kirk invest his own money…
On the rocks
Minus5 creator Craig Ling has opened another ice bar, this time in Stillwater, Minnesota. “Patrons looking for something really cool will now be able to don a parka and gloves and step into an…
Sting in UK market
Family-owned business Nelson Honey is seeking approval to market its bee venom honey in Britain, claiming the product alleviates the symptoms of arthritis. Britain’s Food Safety Authority has to approve the marketing of any…
True Colours
The oldest moa feathers yet discovered and their DNA are providing New Zealand and Australian scientists with clues to the plumage of the giant bird – perhaps not unlike a giant chicken and speckled…
Hell has no borders
New Zealand fastfood chain Hell Pizza will open 30 franchises throughout Ireland by 2016. The first Hell’s Pizza was launched in Dublin earlier this year, which made Ireland the fifth country to open a…
Currant discovery
A recent study lead by Roger Hurst of the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research (NZIPFR), has discovered that blackcurrant extract improves athletic performance. The findings, which were published in the American…
Creators and Destroyers
The history and breathtaking landscape of New Zealand’s first national park, Tongariro (which dominates the middle of the North Island) is subject to an in-depth analysis by travel writer Mel White and photographer Stuart…
Little Island Paradise
Waiheke Island, in the North Island’s Hauraki Gulf has placed 6th in the 2009 list of the ‘World’s Best Islands to Live On’ by Islands magazine, and is praised in particular for being emigration-friendly…
By Hook or by Hudson
Christchurch car enthusiasts Tony and Lynnette Mallard are touring the United States in a 1934 Hudson making their way toward the Detroit suburb of Pontiac and the 100th anniversary celebration of the Hudson Motor…
Emerging from underground
New Zealand music icons The Bats and The Clean both release new albums this year and in “anticipation of this sudden surge in Antipodean creativity, rang up the Bats…
Take a Seat
Wellington-based office seating and furniture company, Formway Design has featured recently in Fast Company, Time and The Wall Street Journal for its work on the Generation by Knoll office chair — a…
Accolades for Catton
Wellington author of The Rehearsal (Victoria University Press, NZ and Granta, UK) Eleanor Catton, 23, has won the UK’s Betty Trask Award worth £8,000. Sebastian Faulks presented £60,500 in prize money to twenty-one writers…
Moral repatriation
More than a dozen mummified Maori heads could be returned to New Zealand once a French bill is approved by the Senate in Paris. “The Maori heads that are still dispersed in European and…
Redhead Hopes She Has
New Zealand native Rachel Paget, 37, is competing in the American reality television show She’s Got the Look hoping for a win and a photo spread in Self magazine, a contract with Wilhelmina, and…
Back for More
Rugby great Jonah Lomu, 34, is to join French third division side Marseille Vitrolles. And Lomu hopes that, together with fellow new boys Alain Hyardet, Isitolo Maka, Julian Vulakoro and David Gerard, he can…
Icy Kicks
Queenstown’s annual week-long Winter Festival saw mountain bikers tear down Coronet Peak’s slopes, near-naked bird people leap into a freezing Lake Wakatipu and cross-dressing men in heels sprint toward victory in a drag race….
Hot in the Isles
Ladyhawke played to a packed audience, including The O.C. A-lister Mischa Barton, in the John Peel Tent at this year’s Glastonbury Festival on June 28. “Pip Brown and her band played a charged set…
Abstract-minded
New Zealand-inspired prints by American artist and solarplate expert Dan Welden feature in an exhibition at Adelphi University, Garden City, with some of the paintings evoking those of Colin McCahon. Both artists use abstraction…
Rising Star
Christchurch-born singer Boh Runga is the “next singer-songwriter to keep your eyes on” according to music site Top40-charts, which goes on to describe LA-based Runga’s latest solo album Right Here as “strongly reflective of…
Antipodeans reminisce
New Zealanders flocked to London’s Clapham Common to celebrate all things pineapple lump and barbeque over music and sauvignon at the three-day Toast festival. The welcome ceremony was hosted by former All Black Zinzan…
Lover of Words Passes
Respected literary scholar and Professor Terry Sturm, who played a leading role in placing New Zealand literature at the centre of the academic curriculum and was awarded a CBE in recognition of his services…
Holiday With Gradient
At 2797m, Mt Ruapehu is the North Island’s highest peak with the largest area of patrolled skifield in the country on the Whakapapa side, and on the Turoa, Australasia’s longest vertical rise of 722m….
Two men and a bear
Teddy, a short film directed by New Zealanders Christopher Banks and produced by Andy Jalfon, screened at the recent San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival. The 13 minute film is about the romance and…
