Blog Archives

NZ Features in Time’s World’s Greatest Places List

NZ Features in Time’s World’s Greatest Places List

New Zealand stars in Time magazine’s annual ‘World’s Greatest Places’ feature. Wellington’s urban ecosanctuary Zealandia, Monique Fiso’s Wellington restaurant, Hiakai and Camp Glenorchy take spots in the special. The capital’s Zealandia is recommended in the ‘To…

Nelson Tasman Region Dazzles Visitors

Nelson Tasman Region Dazzles Visitors

“Even in a country renowned across the globe for its ineffable natural beauty, New Zealand’s Nelson Tasman region particularly astounds,” Alexandra Kirkman writes in a travel story for Fortune magazine. “It’s home to a literal…

Poet Selena Tusitala Marsh Rails Against Racism

Poet Selena Tusitala Marsh Rails Against Racism

She blows in like a song carried on a powerful current: a wild-haired woman, larger than life, carrying a tall carved stick. She loses things in that hair, she says; finds pens in there…

Anna Paquin Talks about Breaking Oscar Protocol

Anna Paquin Talks about Breaking Oscar Protocol

New Zealand-raised actor Anna Paquin, 37, who stars alongside Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Martin Scorcese’s The Irishman, talks to The Guardian about breaking Oscar protocol, loving film-set pranks, and being a…

Upper Hutt Performer Jason Henderson NY-Bound

Upper Hutt Performer Jason Henderson NY-Bound

Upper Hutt singer Jason Henderson, 30, is heading to New York City to spend two years studying acting at the Neighbourhood Playhouse School of Theatre, where he will follow in the footsteps of Robert…

Clues for Brexit Future May Be Found Here

Clues for Brexit Future May Be Found Here

There may be insights for the UK on leaving the European Union without a deal from a long time ago on the other side of the world, Bloomberg economic writer Eddie Spence says. Britain would…

Annaleese Jochems’s Debut Novel Alive and Squirming

Annaleese Jochems’s Debut Novel Alive and Squirming

“Cynthia, the simpering, scheming, covetous emotional sinkhole of New Zealander Annaleese Jochems’ assured debut novel, Baby, is alive and squirming; a memorable addition to the growing coterie of unapologetic antiheroines (dis)gracing the pages of…

Allbirds Co-Founder Tim Brown Talks Travel

Allbirds Co-Founder Tim Brown Talks Travel

In a new Wall Street Journal series, the newspaper interviews designers, artists and entertainers about where they’re travelling this summer, what they’re packing, how they stay entertained in-flight and more. First up, it’s New…

Young Māori Women Stand up for Their Land

Young Māori Women Stand up for Their Land

Five years ago, law graduate Pania Newton and her cousins got together around a kitchen table and agreed to do everything in their power to prevent a housing development at Ihumātao, the south Auckland…

Karen Walker Launching Cool and Real Wedding Line

Karen Walker Launching Cool and Real Wedding Line

New Zealand-based designer Karen Walker is expanding her business to include a fully-fledged bridal line, Karen Walker Atelier, according to Vogue magazine. To anyone who knows Walker’s kaleidoscopic prints, funky sunglasses, and approachable price point,…

ABs Deliver Bledisloe Pain With Wallaby Whitewash

ABs Deliver Bledisloe Pain With Wallaby Whitewash

“New Zealand secured the 2019 Bledisloe Cup with a resounding 36-0 victory against Australia at Eden Park to dent any hopes of a Wallabies resurgence ahead of next month’s Rugby World Cup,” Australian Associated…

Human-Sized Penguin Lived in New Zealand

Human-Sized Penguin Lived in New Zealand

The BBC reports on the findings of the remains of a giant penguin the size of a human that were discovered in Waipara, North Canterbury by amateur palaeontologist Leigh Love in 2018. The fossilised leg…

Inaugural Toronto Film Fest Award Goes to Taika

Inaugural Toronto Film Fest Award Goes to Taika

The Jojo Rabbit and Thor: Ragnarok filmmaker, Taika Waititi, will receive Toronto Film Festival’s (TIFF) first-ever Ebert Director Award, which will be handed out on 9 September at the inaugural TIFF Tribute Gala, reports…

Performance Artist Alicia Frankovich Set to Work

Performance Artist Alicia Frankovich Set to Work

Alicia Frankovich suspects that the activities we undertake as children can determine the shape of our adult selves, Neha Kale writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. When Frankovich, 38, who’s among the most respected…

New NAB Chief Ross McEwan Faced With More Repairs

New NAB Chief Ross McEwan Faced With More Repairs

Sitting in the Royal Bank of Scotland’s revamped offices near London’s Liverpool Street station last month – days after accepting the top job at National Australia Bank, having given 12 months’ notice at RBS…

Study Provides Alarming Biodiversity Figures

Study Provides Alarming Biodiversity Figures

“When humans arrived in New Zealand some 700 years ago, they discovered a plethora of unusual birds that could be found nowhere else in the world, having evolved in isolation on the island ……

Investigative Role for Lucy Lawless

Investigative Role for Lucy Lawless

In My Life Is Murder, a “delightful new detective show”, New Zealand actor Lucy Lawless plays Alexa Crowe, a former police investigator “half-reluctantly drawn back to work as an unofficial consultant on deaths the…

Fossils of Largest Ever Parrot Found in Otago

Fossils of Largest Ever Parrot Found in Otago

The fossils of an enormous parrot, estimated to have weighed about 7kg, have been found near Saint Bathans in Central Otago. The Guardian reports on the discovery. Palaeontologists have named the new species Heracles inexpectatus…

Thomasin McKenzie Chats to Vanity Fair

Thomasin McKenzie Chats to Vanity Fair

New Zealander Thomasin McKenzie, 19, made a name for herself in indie stunner Leave No Trace, Britt Hennemuth writes for US magazine, Vanity Fair. Now she’s taking winning turns in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit…

Rocket Lab Aims to Catch Boosters with Choppers

Rocket Lab Aims to Catch Boosters with Choppers

New Zealand-founded California-based Rocket Lab wants to use a helicopter to “catch” the first stage of its Electron rocket as it floats toward the ground with a parachute, according to Robert Mogg reporting for…

Man to Make $40k Profit After Buying Bradman Bat

Man to Make $40k Profit After Buying Bradman Bat

An unemployed New Zealander with an eye for sporting memorabilia has hit the cricket world for six by buying a rare bat once owned by the great Australian batsman Sir Donald Bradman, Roger Maynard…

Statistician Hadley Wickham Wins Global Award

Statistician Hadley Wickham Wins Global Award

Hadley Wickham, a statistician from Hamilton who is now based in Houston, Texas, has won the international 2019 COPSS Presidents’ Award. The prize is awarded annually to a statistician under 40 in recognition of…

Black Ferns Hand Wallaroos a Reality Check

Black Ferns Hand Wallaroos a Reality Check

Australia’s Wallaroos “were drowned” 47-10 by World Champions New Zealand in the first of two women’s Tests in front of 30,142 fans at Optus Stadium in Perth. Sam Worthington reports on the heavy loss…

New Zealand Study Looks At Robot Racism

New Zealand Study Looks At Robot Racism

The reason for shades of technological white in the creation of robots may be racism, according to new research undertaken by the Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HIT Lab NZ) and published…

All Black Brian Lochore One of Our Greatest Players

All Black Brian Lochore One of Our Greatest Players

Former New Zealand captain and World Cup-winning coach Sir Brian Lochore has died aged 78, the BBC reports. An All Blacks player between 1964 and 1971, he made 68 appearances and captained his country on…

Champagne Guru Nick Lane Discusses Vintage

Champagne Guru Nick Lane Discusses Vintage

“It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to visit three of France’s most prestigious champagne maisons in just one day,” Kylie McLaughlin writes for a story featured online at The Australian Financial Review. McLaughlin travels…

Power Inclusion Summit Attracts More Big Film Names

Power Inclusion Summit Attracts More Big Film Names

Award-winning writer-director Jackie van Beek joins fellow New Zealanders Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Mulan director Niki Caro at the two-day Power of Inclusion Summit in Auckland on 3-4 October. According to The Hollywood…

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker Drops New Invivo Wine

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker Drops New Invivo Wine

In February, Food & Wine magazine first caught wind of Sarah Jessica Parker’s latest project – her own line of wines, in collaboration with Auckland-based wine company Invivo & Co. Last week, the publication…

Monique Fiso Shows Gordon Ramsay How It’s Done

Monique Fiso Shows Gordon Ramsay How It’s Done

He’s been exploring the world while cooking for his new TV series on National Geographic, Olivia Wheeler reports for the Daily Mail. And during the second episode of the show, Gordon Ramsay, 52, travelled…

Porsche Driver Jaxon Evans on New Life in Germany

Porsche Driver Jaxon Evans on New Life in Germany

It’s been a whirlwind 18 months for New Zealander Jaxon Evans. Just days after securing last year’s Australian Carrera Cup title, Evans, 22, who is originally from Levin, jetted off to France for the…

Equestrian Legend Sir Mark Todd Retires

Equestrian Legend Sir Mark Todd Retires

Cambridge-born equestrian star Sir Mark Todd, who competed in seven Olympic Games, has announced his retirement after helping the New Zealand team to win a FEI Eventing Nations’ Cup event in Ireland. China’s English-language…

Entrepreneur Steve Ashby Helping Others Start Up

Entrepreneur Steve Ashby Helping Others Start Up

New Zealander Steve Ashby tells Dubai-based newspaper The National that he launched his start-up Businessmentals in the UAE in 2017 with one clear ambition: to provide other would-be entrepreneurs with everything they needed to…

Cellist Richard Belcher Appointed in Minnesota

Cellist Richard Belcher Appointed in Minnesota

New Zealander Richard Belcher, founding cellist of Grammy-nominated Enso String Quartet, has been appointed to The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) in Minnesota, the Violin Channel reports. A graduate of Yale University, where he studied…

Artist’s Black Finch Project Aims to Stop Mine

Artist’s Black Finch Project Aims to Stop Mine

Queenstown-born visual artist and writer Charlotte Watson is the instigator of the Black Finch Project, for which more than 1400 artworks featuring the endangered black-throated finch have been sent to Australian politicians in protest…

Rose Matafeo’s Comedic Rise to the BBC

Rose Matafeo’s Comedic Rise to the BBC

New Zealand stand-up Rose Matafeo, 27, talks on-stage confidence, teen crushes and writing her own BBC sitcom with Alice Jones, a journalist for UK newspaper, i. It is almost a year since Matafeo won the…

Waiheke’s Man O’ War Vineyards is Otherworldly

Waiheke’s Man O’ War Vineyards is Otherworldly

Luxury and lifestyle magazine Condé Nast Traveler is “currently obsessed” with Man O’ War Vineyards on Waiheke Island. “When I was planning a vacation to New Zealand earlier this year, Traveler’s resident Kiwi expert Erin…

Anti-Hate Satire Jojo Rabbit Trailer Out

Anti-Hate Satire Jojo Rabbit Trailer Out

The first trailer for Taika Waititi’s new “anti-hate” satirical film, set in Nazi Germany, has been released, featuring the much-loved Māori-Jewish actor and director playing a paunchy Adolf Hitler, Stephanie Convery writes for UK…

Why New Zealand’s Other All Blacks Matter

Why New Zealand’s Other All Blacks Matter

“The Māori All Blacks are a source of rugby-playing pride in a community that has struggled economically,” The Economist reports in a sports feature. “The team … is an enduring oddity.” “In late 2018, as…

Caravan’s Trio of Nomads to Open Vardo in Chelsea

Caravan’s Trio of Nomads to Open Vardo in Chelsea

Caravan Restaurants, the London group owned by New Zealanders and largely responsible for mainstreaming London specialty coffee a decade ago, has announced it will open at Duke of York Square off the King’s Road…

England’s Ben Stokes Nominated for NZer of the Year

England’s Ben Stokes Nominated for NZer of the Year

Christchurch-born Ben Stokes, 28, is already receiving award nominations for his match-winning role in England’s Cricket World Cup win – but not from who you would expect, BBC Sport reports. Despite breaking New Zealand’s heart…

Georgia Jay Turns Off-Cuts into Playful Bags

Georgia Jay Turns Off-Cuts into Playful Bags

New Zealand-based designer Georgia Davison first began working with leather in 2012. She tells Australian online city guide, Broadsheet: “I remember getting a leather pillowcase from a fair, and myself a funny little…

Little Blue Penguins Stake Out Local Sushi Joint

Little Blue Penguins Stake Out Local Sushi Joint

When the police call saying there’s been an arrest at your business, it’s usually cause for concern, CNN correspondent Isabela Espadas Barros Leal writes. The owners of the Sushi Bi restaurant in Wellington, however,…

National Australia Bank Hires RBS Head Ross McEwan

National Australia Bank Hires RBS Head Ross McEwan

National Australia Bank (NAB) has appointed the New Zealander who oversaw Royal Bank of Scotland’s lengthy restructuring as its new chief executive, Daniel Shane and Jamie Smyth report for the Financial Times. Melbourne-based NAB,…

New Zealand Trail Star Nancy Jiang Rises to Success

New Zealand Trail Star Nancy Jiang Rises to Success

Chinese-born New Zealander Nancy Jiang’s determination to succeed in trail running is shaped by her upbringing, when her parents pushed for academics over sport, according to Mark Agnew who interviewed Jiang on the South…

New Zealanders Turn over Their Guns

New Zealanders Turn over Their Guns

The first of more than 250 planned gun collections across New Zealand has been held in Christchurch. The buyback scheme was introduced after March mosque attacks in which 51 Muslim worshippers were killed, Deutsche…

New Culture Making Cow Cheese Without Cows

New Culture Making Cow Cheese Without Cows

Head of Silicon Valley-based food startup New Culture, New Zealander Matt Gibson, founded the company because he didn’t like the non-dairy options on the market, according to a story by Larissa Zimberoff published online…

What to Do in Cool Lil’ Wellington

What to Do in Cool Lil’ Wellington

Wellington is, “of course”, the more “Melbourne” of the North Island’s two largest cities, according to Pedestrian TV correspondent Chantelle Schmidt. Schmidt writes that Wellington is “art, vintage, bars and all-round vibes on speed”….

Stop and Wander Tokoroa’s Talking Poles

Stop and Wander Tokoroa’s Talking Poles

“Tokoroa uses public art to encourage tourists travelling between Hamilton and Taupo to stop and wander around,” online magazine and travel site Atlas Obscura writes about the North Island town of 14,000. “Wooden sculptures [Talking…

New Zealand Ramps up Plans to Purge All Pests

New Zealand Ramps up Plans to Purge All Pests

There are strains on New Zealand’s environment. In this corner of the South Pacific, waterways are increasingly polluted and, from the suburbs to the alpine peaks, an untold army of feral pests is running…

Artist Gill Gatfield Smashes the Glass Ceiling

Artist Gill Gatfield Smashes the Glass Ceiling

New Zealand artist Gill Gatfield is profiled in the latest World Sculpture News magazine, with particular focus on her latest work created in glass, which was exhibited in February this year at Silo Park…

Star Batter Kane Williamson Surpasses Them All

Star Batter Kane Williamson Surpasses Them All

“Martin Crowe’s batting was grace personified and had he been alive, he would have been the first one to acknowledge that Kane Williamson, 28, probably is the greatest batsman to have played for New…

Andrew Nicholson Claims Another Barbury Win

Andrew Nicholson Claims Another Barbury Win

New Zealand eventer Andrew Nicholson has continued his Barbury Horse Trials brilliance with another victory in the event’s premier competition as Swallow Springs triumphed in the CCI 4* class, according to Swindon Advertiser sports…

Stephen Hall Celebrates Manglish with New Book

Stephen Hall Celebrates Manglish with New Book

New Zealand-born linguist Dr Stephen Hall and his English language specialist wife Dr Lee Su Kim have teamed up to record a very unique number of colloquialisms in their latest book Manglish: Malaysian English…

Visiting New Zealand’s Oldest City Dunedin

Visiting New Zealand’s Oldest City Dunedin

“Dunedin has long had a reputation in New Zealand as the country’s avant garde student haven, a gritty post-industrial city now home to artists, musicians, academics and more than a handful of eccentrics. Odd…

Phoenix Player Sarpreet Singh Signs with Bayern

Phoenix Player Sarpreet Singh Signs with Bayern

Wellington Phoenix midfielder Sarpreet Singh, 20, has signed with German powerhouse Bayern Munich in one of the highest-profile transfers of a New Zealand footballer, AFP reports. Born in New Zealand to Indian parents, Singh was…

Fighting the Darkest Corners of the Web

Fighting the Darkest Corners of the Web

New Zealand has worked hard to keep the name of the man charged with killing 51 Muslims in Christchurch, out of the news, and to restrict the spread online of the hateful ideology he…