Bent to Every Whim
“The beauty of train journeys is that you can appreciate the dominance of New Zealand’s landscape over its inhabitants,” writes The Independent’s Dan Poole post-Tranz Scenic trip down through both islands. “Over…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Christie Gets Loud
Whangarei-raised New Zealand international midfielder Jeremy Christie, 27, has signed a two-year deal with Florida team the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the second tier North American Soccer League. Christie has won 20 caps for…
Extreme Shearing
Shearing sheep in New Zealand is included in Time magazine’s list of ’25 (More) Authentic Asian Experiences’. “Schweebing and Zorbing not your thing? While many pumped-up tourists go to New Zealand to…
Togaless
Actress Lucy Lawless “is attracting a lot of attention for her latest character — not that the New Zealand actress isn’t used to recognition,”…
Courting Kiwis
Prince William, 27, has officially opened the new $80.7 million Supreme Court building on Lambton Quay in Wellington, now the country’s highest court of appeal. Architects Warren and Mahoney modelled the courtroom on a…
Further Accolades for Brown
Ladyhawke is up for another music gong this month having been nominated for a BRIT best International Female Solo Artist award. Masterton-born Pip Brown, 30, will compete with big name stars Lady Gaga, Rihanna,…
Improbable classic
Director Jane Campion’s 1993 film The Piano is considered a “classic” of the cinema by the Times which examines the merits of the film starring New Zealand actress Anna Paquin, Holly Hunter and Harvey…
Barrier Time
“You won’t find street lights, an ATM or a bank on the Barrier,” a local tells Los Angeles Times reporter Rosemary Macclure. “But we do have two stop signs.” They also have a place…
Stepping off the deck
For the past 20 years, Sir Peter Blake’s widow Pippa Blake has lived on the Chichester harbour sea front in a 1940s bungalow where just recently “a forward-thinking architect tore down walls, built a…
Fast friends
Rose McIver arrives at New York’s Griffith Observatory “fashionably on time” to meet fellow Lovely Bones actress Saoirse Ronan for a tour …
Top of the World
Air New Zealand has been named Airline of the Year, with judges of the Air Transport World magazine awards, “amazed and surprised at the degree of innovation that was occurring at a remote relatively…
Auckland Airport Expands
Auckland International Airports has acquired Westpac’s 24.55 per cent stake in North Queensland Airports (NQA) for AU$132.8 million as part of a strategy to grow beyond its New Zealand business. It sees Cairns as…
Shadows and light
New Zealand choreographer Lemi Ponifasio’s “disturbing, visually beautiful” Tempest: without a body, recently performed as part of the Sydney Festival, is reviewed by The Australian’s Deborah Jones who describes Tempest as a production with…
Missouri Dairy Kings
New Zealander Kevin Van der Poel, 46, remembers the skepticism and suspicion when he moved to Missouri more than four years ago to raise dairy cattle. When Van der Poel started construction on rock…
Together in Song
New Zealand’s national anthem could soon be played alongside the Australian during Anzac Day ceremonies at Queensland schools. Premier Anna Bligh, who is chairwoman of the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee (ADCC), is to send…
Ruthless makes US list
New Zealand romance writer Natalie Anderson’s novel Ruthless Boss, Royal Mistress recently featured in USA Today’s top 150 books sold over the New Year. Her book about a “billionaire businessman who teaches a spoiled…
McIver learns from best
New Zealand actress Rose McIver, 22, plays the younger sister to Saoirse Ronan in Peter Jackson’s thriller The Lovely Bones. Teen Hollywood talks to McIver about working with stars Ronan, 15, and Susan Sarandon….
Spartacus Debuts in US
Former warrior princess Lucy Lawless stars as Lucretia in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, “a sword-and-sandals epic that Starz, the US premium cable network, rolls out January 22”. Spartacus is a flashy, big-budget attempt to…
Likened to Lennon
Christchurch singer-songwriter James Milne, or as he is otherwise known, Lawrence Arabia, “can sound uncannily like John Lennon” writes Times Online reviewer Mark Edwards. “Exactly why Milne chose his pseudonym isn’t clear; this isn’t…
On the Floral Trail
New Zealand municipal botanical gardens, including Hamilton Gardens and the Whakarewarewa Forest and Government Gardens in Rotorua, feature in a travel article written by Ray Boren for the Desert News. “Indeed, the…
Ideal weather for tea
Katherine Mansfield’s 1922 short story The Garden Party provides summery inspiration for Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel writer Kristyna Wentz-Graff who includes recipes for making club sandwiches, date scones and pavlova as part of a monthly…
Attention seeker
“A little bit of Clement can go a long way,” writes Katey Rich for US entertainment site Cinema Blend.com. Quiet Earth is reporting that Clement, “who was so woefully underused in Gentlemen Broncos”,…
Record Warm
New Zealand has had its warmest decade since records began 150 years ago. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) climate scientist James Renwick said there are plenty of causes. “Natural variations, such…
A Man and His Machine
Extreme enduro rider Aucklander Chris Birch, 29, “is expected to be one of the guys to beat in the World Xtreme Enduro Championships (WXEC)” reports The Independent on Sunday. With boyish good looks and a…
Consistency and then Some..
The NZ Black Caps followed up their Test series victory over India with an unassailable 4-0 lead in the one-dayers. The Kiwis have remained on top form against the somewhat disappointing tourists, with stand-out performances from fast-bowlers…
No Pain No Gain
Dunedin ironman Olympian Greg Henderson, 32, won stage two of the Jayco Bay Classic Criterium in Geelong. And when Henderson admits to hurting, you know he’s had a tough day. “The legs are absolutely…
