NZ Brings First Fake Mānuka Honey Prosecution
In the first case of its kind, a mānuka honey company is being prosecuted by New Zealand’s food safety agency over claims it added artificial chemicals to its product, including one commonly used in…
Blog Archives
Lifetime Achievement Award for Ron Holland
Every winter, the world’s best superyacht designers and builders gather with some of the world’s most passionate yacht owners to ski, party, share ideas and inspiration, and most of all, to recognise the most…
Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Picks Up Merata Doco
American director Ava DuVernay, of A Wrinkle in Time fame, has acquired the Sundance Film Festival (SFF) documentary MERATA: How Mum Decolonised the Screen. The pick-up by DuVernay’s film collective, ARRAY…
Dunedin Film Crew Gets Their Dream Job
A small team of filmmakers from Natural History New Zealand (NHNZ) has made it their mission to tell the stories of Indonesia’s orphaned orangutans in a new documentary called, Orangutan Jungle School. Cameraman Alex Hubert…
Flight of the Conchords Announce New Album
New Zealand’s “fourth most popular parody duo” Flight of the Conchords have announced a new live album to follow their 2018 HBO special Flight of the Conchords: Live in London. Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie…
J.P. Pomare’s Debut a Powerful Thriller
“Touted as a ‘literary thriller’, a genre classification often used to characterise a book written by an author who does not usually write crime fiction, Call Me Evie might best…
Chef Sid Sahrawat Reinventing NZ Fine Dining
Sid Sahrawat has been serving up a beautifully executed culinary adventure at his Auckland finer diner Sidart since 2009. The chef and restaurateur relocated to New Zealand from India with his wife Chand in…
Somerset Chef Myles Anderson Cooking Memories
While head of catering at King’s College in Somerset, UK, New Zealander Myles Anderson got the cookery bug and wanted to return to the kitchen on his own terms. Anderson wanted the freedom and creativity…
Best Places to Eat and Shop in Wellington
Art-sprinkled laneways, quirky boutiques and a crop of esteemed restaurants and bars – Wellington is a purveyor of all things bold and exciting. Fashion and interior stylist Brooke Testoni spent a weekend exploring the…
Marie McNaughton Back on the Trail Again
Legendary Hong Kong-based runner, New Zealander Marie McNaughton is on the long road back from injury but recently received a boost with an invite to the prestigious Western States. McNaughton discusses her road to…
Former Wada Head David Howman Slams Drug Tests
Former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), New Zealander David Howman, has added to pressure on the foundation by saying that its testing methods are outdated. Howman, the director-general of Wada from 2003 to…
Mrs Krishnan Puts on a Party in Vancouver
Mrs Krishnan’s Party is a semi-improvised comic celebration of the southern Indian harvest festival of Onam, brought to Canada’s shores by New Zealand’s Indian Ink Theatre Company. It is reviewed by the Vancouver Sun. “The…
YouTube Picks Its New Zealand Artists to Watch
As part of YouTube’s ‘Artists to Watch’ 2019 spotlight, the video-sharing website has highlighted 10 acts from New Zealand and Australia which it predicts are going to create tsunamis this year. The line-up includes…
Master Class in Furniture with Cassandra Ellis
New Zealand-born furniture designer Cassandra Ellis has taken a laid-back approach to decorating her south London flat, and shares her tips for a tranquil home with the UK’s Sunday Star Times. In the past six…
The Tattooist of Auschwitz Translated into Persian
Recently claiming top spot on The New York Times paperback bestseller list, New Zealand author and screenwriter Heather Morris’ historical novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz has now been published in Persian and is available…
When Does a Meringue Become a Pavlova?
“What exactly is a pavlova?” Irish Times journalist Aoife McElwain asks. And when is a pavlova an Eton Mess, or a meringue, merely a meringue? “‘I’m serving pavlova for dessert,’ announced the host of a…
NBA’s Toughest Enforcer is Steven Adams
The days of the NBA’s powerful big men are slowly dwindling. Players like Detroit Pistons’ enforcer Bill Laimbeer and the Chicago Bulls’ Dennis Rodman have been effectively pushed out of the game with rule…
From Practising Law in Dublin to Yoga in Auckland
Each week, Irish Times Abroad meets an Irish person working in an interesting job overseas. Lawyer and yoga teacher Paul Gillick shares his experience of moving to Auckland with his New Zealand-born wife where…
Helen Clark On Jacinda Ardern’s Kindness Quotient
“Jacinda Ardern’s sudden, spectacular rise to the position of New Zealand’s prime minister in 2017 propelled her into headlines around the world. Deservedly so,” Helen Clark writes in a piece for Foreign Policy magazine. “In…
New McLaren Spider a Car with Heritage
Bruce McLaren, a New Zealander, started racing in his teens and worked his way up to Formula One driver, winning the US Grand Prix in 1959 and, at age 22, was the youngest such…
Malware Doesn’t Sleep and nor Does Emsisoft
Christian Mairoll is the CEO of malware protection business Emsisoft – a New Zealand-based company with no offices, where every single one of his 40 or so employees works remotely, including Mairoll who works…
Candyman’s Quiet Quest to Collect Banana Varieties
In Alega, American Samoa some delicious banana varieties are getting harder to find. A New Zealander, known only as Candyman, collects the fruit. Acquiring a new one can be as simple as trading with…
Legend of Scrabble Nigel Richards Continues to Grow
Hunched motionless over the board and calling out his word scores in a voice slightly louder than a whisper was four-time World English Scrabble champion, New Zealander Nigel Richards, 51, in closely-cropped grey hair…
How Tourism NZ Lures Visitors with WeChat
For a small island nation, tucked away in the South Pacific, New Zealand has an interesting challenge: to attract tourists to its picturesque shores, but not too many. Marketing and media magazine, The Drum…
Big New Zealand Presence at Berlinale and SXSW
Ten New Zealand features and shorts including a record number by female directors will screen in official selection at the Berlin International Film Festival in February while two will feature at the SXSW Festival…
Hopes World Will Follow Our Wellness-Based Policies
In an article featured in the Financial Times, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urges the world’s governments to focus on “living standards and human, social and natural capital when we set targets and track progress”. “There’s…
Best Luxury Lodges in the North Island
The North Island’s “enchanting” luxury lodges are reviewed in a travel piece by Forbes contributor, Amber Gibson, who visits Huka Lodge (pictured), Wharekauhau Country Estate and The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs. “First conceived as a…
Ten Wonders to See in the South Island
From fiords to world-class vineyards, and forested mountains to Alpine lakes, London Evening Standard journalist Kate Springer discovers the South Island’s hotspots. “We have just embarked on a week-long road trip through the South Island,…
No Worries for Swiss Family in New Zealand
Even though she’d never been here before, Eva Hefti took the chance and moved with her family to New Zealand. Her husband had found a job in Northland which, due to the shorter working…
Adelaide Café Clement + Herron Shines
In Australian city guide Broadsheet’s coverage of this year’s café openings, “avocado” wasn’t mentioned anywhere near as much as in previous years. And that’s a good thing. Operators are straying from the cookie-cutter-cafe formula….
Chef Jess Murphy on Ireland’s Food Renaissance
Ireland’s national cuisine is being redefined – thanks to a growing number of very ambitious chefs, including New Zealander Jess Murphy, 39, who runs Kai in Galway’s West End. “It’s a really exciting time to…
Kiwi Shake and Bake Opens in Idaho
“Intrigued Boiseans are feasting” at a newly opened bakery and café in Idaho in the United States, which is serving up traditional New Zealand meat pies, mousetraps, cakes and soup, milkshakes, coffee, beer and…
Say Hello to Hong Kong’s Only Locally Distilled Gin
Gin is having a bit of a moment in Hong Kong, and everywhere for that matter. “However, there’s not been a gin actually made and distilled in Hong Kong, until now. Largely, that is…
Liam Malone Running Down a New Track
Double-amputee and Paralympic gold medalist, Nelson-born Liam Malone, 25, talks to Britain’s GQ magazine about anxiety, depression and how a life-changing car accident helped him get to Rio. When Malone’s mother died of cancer, it…
Thomasin McKenzie Reflects on Breakout Year
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 18-year-old Wellingtonian Thomasin McKenzie reflects on her breakout year (after Debra Granik’s latest film Leave No Trace premiered at Sundance, she shot four other films), frequent comparisons…
Mining Boss Chris Ellison Set to Dig Deep in 2019
After a year of frenetic deal-making, 2019 is shaping up as a year of execution for Mineral Resources boss, New Zealand-born Chris Ellison. The West Australian includes Ellison in a feature looking at mining…
What Is the Sea Telling Us about Whale Strandings?
Whale whisperer Hori Parata was just seven years old when he attended his first mass stranding, a beaching of porpoises in Northland, their cries screeching through the air on the deserted stretch of sand. Seven…
Champions Chris Waller and Winx Stars of New Book
“The human stars are painted just as painstakingly as the equine heroine, but the man who is the most fascinating is the Sydney-based New Zealander Chris Waller, who arrived…
Pits and Puts with Surfer Kehu Butler
“Kehu Butler may hail from New Zealand, the land of lefts, but you’d never guess that by the regularfoot’s powerful forehand in his new edit,” Ben Waldron writes for SURFER magazine, which features the…
Acclaimed DJ Opiuo Returns to Colorado
New Zealand-born DJ and producer Oscar Davey-Wraight, who performs as Opiuo, solidified his place in the annals of Colorado music history last April with a groundbreaking and by-all-accounts epic one-night performance with a 20-piece…
Chile’s WineBox Hotel a Hit with Tourists
An environmentally friendly container hotel owned by New Zealand-born winemaker Grant Phelps has become a popular tourist spot for visitors to the port of Valparaíso, Chile. WineBox, a wine themed hotel,…
More Career Firsts for Conductor Gemma New
New Zealand-born conductor Gemma New is building a resume with lots of little “first-ever” asterisks. Like her months-old appointment as principal guest conductor of the Dallas Symphony beginning in the 2019-20 season. Recently, New…
Hopes Webcam Can save Endangered Albatross
Millions of amateur naturalists around the world have been tuning in to the secret lives of albatrosses as Department of Conversation (DOC) rangers on the Otago Peninsula employ YouTube in a bid to save…
Albert Alferink’s Waikato Cheese Wooing the World
Since 1981, a pioneering Dutch immigrant has been developing a distinctive New Zealand style of cheese, and now the world is starting to sit up and take notice. But for Albert Alferink, he’s just…
Endangered Penguins Kitted Out in Onesies
Ahead of Penguin Awareness Day on 20 January, a story has been doing the rounds about The Wildlife Hospital in Dunedin. They are using baby onesies to aid in the recuperation of endangered yellow-eyed…
CoAqua Snapped Up by Gywneth Paltrow’s Goop Store
New Zealand coconut water brand, CoAqua has caught the eye of actor Gwyneth Paltrow and her team at Goop, her international “lifestyle” store. The store, which offers “cutting-edge wellness advice from doctors, vetted travel recommendations,…
Looking Forward to Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit
“Matthew McConaughey as a stoner poet, Hitler as an imaginary friend and Cats the movie – the third in our five-part look at 2019’s key titles takes us into strange territory,” Guardian film writes. “[Jojo…
Children Walk From One End of NZ to the Other
Jonathan Rapsey, six, and Elizabeth, nine, are on track to become the youngest to walk the 3000km Te Araroa trail, which runs the length of New Zealand, having completed the entire North Island a…
Spend Some Layover Time in Auckland
“Auckland is the international gateway to the green pasture paradise that is New Zealand. But before you head on to Queenstown to hit the slopes, bungee jump off cliffs, and dive into all the…
Ed Mumm’s Earthmoving Fun to Franchise
New Zealand-born Ed Mumm is the founder of Dig This LLC, a hands-on excavating experience in Las Vegas unlike any other where people from 8 to 108 can operate heavy machinery just as if…
Gisborne on 2019 Global Travel Hotlist
“A total solar eclipse, two World Cups, several new flights and walking trails, and big birthday celebrations from Havana to ,” The Guardian lists their top 40 destinations worth checking out this…
Bill Manhire’s Antarctic Poems Spare and Tender
Ernest Shackleton’s account of his mission and New Zealander Bill Manhire’s Field Notes are among Canadian author Jean McNeil’s favourites about the Antarctic continent. “Antarctica is the fifth largest continent, but it is home to almost…
NZ Wine Has Huge Potential in Japan
From sleepy New Zealand hillsides to sleek Tokyo dining scenes, a bottle of Hawke’s Bay wine shipped to Japan traces an arc that exporters like Sileni Estates’ CEO Nigel Avery see as an avenue…
New Zealand Wool Used to Redefine Surfboards
New Zealand wool will replace fibreglass in revolutionary new surfboards that will hit the Australian market next year, under the Firewire Surfboards brand ‘Woolight’. The redefined art of making surfboards with the use of wool…
Art Basel Winner Zac Langdon-Pole Talks to Forbes
The latest BMW Art Journey is informed by the ancient art of mapping stars. The winner, New Zealand-born artist Zac Langdon-Pole, will take on an adventurous journey, following the path humans and birds have…
Why Dan Carter Is Still the Main Man in World Rugby
Dan Carter led Japanese team, the Kobe Kobelco Steelers to victory in the Top League final recently, and with that victory the former New Zealand fly-half wins over the hearts of yet another nation….
