Blog Archives

Why Golriz Ghahraman Entered NZ Politics

Why Golriz Ghahraman Entered NZ Politics

New member of parliament Golriz Ghahraman is having her Twitter feed documented by the national archive as a testimony of New Zealand’s 2017 election. “It will be interesting for others to see what happens when…

Vintner Hugh Crichton Loves Chardonnay

Vintner Hugh Crichton Loves Chardonnay

Hugh Crichton gave up a successful career in the London financial markets to return home to New Zealand to pursue his first love – wine. But Crichton, 51, is not obsessed with sauvignon blanc,…

LeRoy Transfield’s Design Makes Commemorative Coin

LeRoy Transfield’s Design Makes Commemorative Coin

New Zealand-born sculptor LeRoy Transfield’s winning design for a collectible silver dollar commemorating all Americans who served in the First World War has been unveiled. Available to buy from January 2018, sales of the centennial…

Great Barrier Island Best Spot for Stargazing

Great Barrier Island Best Spot for Stargazing

“It was as if a great celestial Bake Off was in action. Handfuls of sugar spilt across the sky and the faint floury stain of the Milky Way scattered overhead. With my neck craned…

High Commissioner Mark Ramsden Says Fiji Farewell

High Commissioner Mark Ramsden Says Fiji Farewell

The outgoing New Zealand High Commissioner Mark Ramsden says Fiji has gone through a lot of positive changes during the time he worked in the country. “The Fiji New Zealand Business Council has been a…

Bittersweet Return to Georgia for Amos Chapple

Bittersweet Return to Georgia for Amos Chapple

One man who knows the country of Georgia better than most is Amos Chapple. The New Zealand photographer, known for his pioneering use of drones, has been a regular visitor for the last seven…

Will Paton in the Front Seat of New UK Trains

Will Paton in the Front Seat of New UK Trains

It’s hard to imagine being responsible for the safety of 1700 lives, but that’s what New Zealander Will Paton faces every day, when he steps into the high-tech cab of his train. Paton spends up…

Sara Wiseman and Craig Hall Acting Up Together

Sara Wiseman and Craig Hall Acting Up Together

New Zealand actors and couple Sara Wiseman, 45, and Craig Hall, 43, work together on Australian series A Place to Call Home. Wiseman, who grew up in Auckland, gives the Herald Sun her tips…

New Zealand Wasp Named After Harry Potter Villain

New Zealand Wasp Named After Harry Potter Villain

Auckland University entomologist and Harry Potter fan Tom Saunders has named a parasitoid wasp after “redeemed” character Lucius Malfoy in the hope of showing not all wasps are bad. Saunders named and described the wasp…

Lessons from New Zealand on Fiscal Discipline

Lessons from New Zealand on Fiscal Discipline

“New Zealand and the UK are both regarded as pioneers in the use of a more modern system of accounting – accrual accounting, a method that records revenues and expenses when they are incurred…

Racing’s Brendon Hartley to Make F1 Debut

Racing’s Brendon Hartley to Make F1 Debut

New Zealander Brendon Hartley, 27, is Toro Rosso’s new driver and will make his Formula One debut in Austin at the 2017 United States Grand Prix on 22 October. He will become New Zealand’s first F1…

John Clarke Remembered by Popular Radio Host

John Clarke Remembered by Popular Radio Host

New Zealander John Clarke was “adored and admired” by the host of 3AW breakfast radio, Ross Stevenson, who dominates Australia’s most competitive radio market, Melbourne. Clarke and Stevenson co-wrote the ABC TV comedy The Games…

Phil Wood in Charge of Dream Restaurant Project

Phil Wood in Charge of Dream Restaurant Project

New Zealander Phil Wood, 35, has been singled out by Australian property magnate John Gandel to be the “culinary director” of the most ambitious restaurant development in Australia. Wood’s new winery restaurant will open…

New Zealand Film Team Transforms London

New Zealand Film Team Transforms London

The bestselling book by Peter Reeve, Mortal Engines, is now being adapted for film by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, with visual effects specialist New Zealander Christian Rivers directing the project and…

Florida’s Etaru Opens With Hamish Brown as Chef

Florida’s Etaru Opens With Hamish Brown as Chef

In the kitchen at the all new Etaru on Hallandale Beach, Florida, New Zealand-born chef Hamish Brown was until recently at the helm of it’s well-established sister restaurant in London, Roka. Originally from Christchurch, Brown,…

Maggie Hewitt’s Stratospheric Fashion Ascent

Maggie Hewitt’s Stratospheric Fashion Ascent

New Zealander Maggie Marilyn Hewitt’s story reads like a corny cartoon bildungsroman, Ellie Pithers reports for British Vogue. It goes like this: Fashion-obsessed teenager from pipsqueak, middle-of-nowhere town thousands of miles away from a…

Neil Finn’s Latest is a Quiet Masterpiece

Neil Finn’s Latest is a Quiet Masterpiece

Neil Finn’s latest solo album, Out of Silence, offers us the gift of catharsis in a season of unpredictable politics and societal division. This month, the Crowded House singer has returned with ten songs…

Grant King’s The Antipodean Most Promising

Grant King’s The Antipodean Most Promising

“Grant King hails from New Zealand, and has decided that cooking with ingredients sourced from Australasia is the way forward. The menu at The Antipodean is blissfully unadorned by anything…

Hard Work Pays Off Says Dancer Lance Savali

Hard Work Pays Off Says Dancer Lance Savali

Lance Savali is currently working with music artist Chris Brown on the hip hop star’s Party Tour while travelling the world teaching workshops and brushing shoulders with superstars which have included Jennifer Lopez, Brandy…

Margot Henderson Opens Second London Canteen

Margot Henderson Opens Second London Canteen

One of London’s most discreet restaurants, co-owned by New Zealander Margot Henderson and Briton Melanie Arnold, will step out from behind its red-and-brown brick walls next month when Rochelle Canteen emerges from Shoreditch in…

Taika Waititi Best Dressed Director in Hollywood

Taika Waititi Best Dressed Director in Hollywood

Taika Waititi is a fashion superhero, according to Degen Pener writing for The Hollywood Reporter. The proof: When the New Zealand native and director of November’s Thor: Ragnarok showed up at Comic-Con in July,…

Author Lynley Dodd on the Secret Lives of Pets

Author Lynley Dodd on the Secret Lives of Pets

On the release of her new picture book, Scarface Claw, Hold Tight! acclaimed New Zealand writer and illustrator Lynley Dodd talks animal antics and her favourite children’s books. Many cat owners would be familiar with…

Local Millennial Artists Confront Stigma

Local Millennial Artists Confront Stigma

Are millennials equally lost and lamentable the world over? A recent trio of forward-looking exhibitions in New Zealand, including New Perspectives, suggests that youth remains a truly international – and consistently problematic – art-world…

KJ Apa Chats About Archie’s Second Season

KJ Apa Chats About Archie’s Second Season

Right now, only a handful of people know what happens after the big cliffhanger from Riverdale’s season one finale: whether or not Fred Andrews, who was shot in Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe, has survived. But…

New Zealand’s Tech Industry Boots Up

New Zealand’s Tech Industry Boots Up

Majestic scenery, adventure tourism and agricultural products may be central to New Zealand’s international image, but technology and digital exports are growing fast, prompting industry calls for greater recognition, David Brooks reports for Nikkei…

Rainbow Youth Ad Challenges Casual Homophobia

Rainbow Youth Ad Challenges Casual Homophobia

An advert released by LGBTIQ rights charity Rainbow Youth is calling out New Zealanders over the negative use of the word “gay” through the medium of a dropped pie. The video was created to draw…

New Zealand Contingent Screenwriting Pioneers

New Zealand Contingent Screenwriting Pioneers

“To make a good film,” Alfred Hitchcock once said, “you need three things: the script, the script, and the script.” Yet while it’s easy to find (and argue over) lists of the greatest films…

Ben Cochrane Wins Ironman on Gold Coast

Ben Cochrane Wins Ironman on Gold Coast

Ironman Ben Cochrane’s move to Surfers Paradise has paid dividends in a single off-season, with the New Zealander winning the Coolangatta Gold short course event. Cochrane, who is originally from the Bay of Plenty, completed…

Aldous Harding Talks about Creative Processes

Aldous Harding Talks about Creative Processes

“I called singer-songwriter Aldous Harding in the early evening hours from a computer telephone in the projection booth of a theatre in New York City. She picked up a hemisphere away in New Zealand…

Japan’s Landscapes Inspire Photographer Damon Bay

Japan’s Landscapes Inspire Photographer Damon Bay

New Zealand photographer Damon Bay is shining an outsider’s eye on Japan’s countryside. He’s reimagining an ancient art form to showcase the beauty in everyday landscapes, according to Hiroyuki Tanaka, a journalist for Japanese…

Rising Star Vinnie Bennett Hits Toronto

Rising Star Vinnie Bennett Hits Toronto

New Zealander Vinnie Bennett, 25, who stars in Nic Gorman’s Human Traces, was one of seven actors selected to participate in this year’s Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF’s) Rising Stars programme. For four days during…

Drilling Reveals Secrets of Sunken Lost Continent

Drilling Reveals Secrets of Sunken Lost Continent

The mostly submerged South Pacific landmass Zealandia may have been closer to land level than once thought, providing pathways for animals and plants to cross continents from 80 million years ago, an expedition has…

Alien Weaponry Sign with Berlin Label

Alien Weaponry Sign with Berlin Label

Thrash metal band Alien Weaponry, a group of three teenagers from Northland’s Waipu, has signed a management contract with Berlin label Das Machine. The band has also just won the coveted APRA Maioha Award…

William Trubridge’s Autobiography Oxygen

William Trubridge’s Autobiography Oxygen

New Zealand freediver William Trubridge’s autobiography Oxygen will be released on 30 October in New Zealand and Australia. Trubridge said on his Facebook page: “After Vertical Blue this year I locked myself in my house…

Pianist Jason Bae Performs Classics in Vietnam

Pianist Jason Bae Performs Classics in Vietnam

New Zealand pianist Jason Bae, 26, recently performed a classical concert in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, playing compositions by Chopin, Ravel and Rachmaninoff. Bae began studying piano when he was five, and had his…

Rodd and Gunn Takes NZ Style to LA

Rodd and Gunn Takes NZ Style to LA

New Zealand menswear label Rodd & Gunn celebrated the soft opening recently of its first Los Angeles store, which joins others in San Francisco and Newport Beach. The focus on California makes sense, said the…

World’s Rarest Travel Books Auctioned

World’s Rarest Travel Books Auctioned

In a September Sotheby’s auction in London, some 400 books of explorers and travellers, scientists and sailors, botanists and big-game hunters were put up for auction, including a first edition of the official account…

Toronto Film Fest Review of Human Traces

Toronto Film Fest Review of Human Traces

“A sub-Antarctic research station is the setting for Human Traces, a twisty psychological thriller from promising New Zealand director Nic Gorman,” Richard Kuipers writes in a review for Variety. “Isolation is anything but splendid in…

New Zealand Opens First Rocket Launch Site

New Zealand Opens First Rocket Launch Site

New Zealand’s first orbital launch site, Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, on the Mahia Peninsula has been officially opened by New Zealand Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce. Joyce congratulated Rocket Lab’s chief executive and founder…

NZ-UK Co-Production 6 Days to Screen on Netflix

NZ-UK Co-Production 6 Days to Screen on Netflix

The heroism of SAS soldier, Scotland-born John McAleese is being brought to the small screen in a joint £20 million UK-New Zealand co-production called 6 Days, which screens on Netflix on 3 November. The…

New Zealand Cap Fifth Rugby Championship Victory

New Zealand Cap Fifth Rugby Championship Victory

New Zealand has capped their fifth Rugby Championship victory in six years with a 36-10 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires. The earlier 27-27 draw between South Africa and Australia in Bloemfontein had already ensured…

Destination Tauranga for Surreal Kayak Adventures

Destination Tauranga for Surreal Kayak Adventures

“In New Zealand, there are many places to see glowworms and also many places to paddle a kayak. These two experiences, already lovely on their own, merge for a surreal adventure in Tauranga,” Straits…

Lynley Dodd’s Scarface Set Loose Again

Lynley Dodd’s Scarface Set Loose Again

New Zealand’s favourite scrappy cat returns, taking the ride of his life in author Lynley Dodd’s latest adventure, Scarface Claw, Hold Tight. Dodd is bringing the book to Perth’s Awesome Festival along with a free…

Shearer Kerry-Jo Te Huia Busts the Stereotypes

Shearer Kerry-Jo Te Huia Busts the Stereotypes

It’s one thing to shear a sheep, but try fleecing 507 in just eight hours. New Zealand-born South Australia-based Kerry-Jo Te Huia, 29, relishes the challenge and says even though some sheep are “big,…

Bespoke Jeweller Jessica McCormack’s Lucky Charms

Bespoke Jeweller Jessica McCormack’s Lucky Charms

London-based designer, New Zealand-born Jessica McCormack’s new collection of everyday diamonds was inspired by ancient Chinese fortune-telling sticks. McCormack has a way with diamonds, Rachel Garrahan writes for the Robb Report. Her luxurious yet wearable…

Interview With RBS Chief Ross McEwan

Interview With RBS Chief Ross McEwan

Straight-talking New Zealander Ross McEwan has been at the helm of Royal Bank of Scotland since 2013, working to try and rebuild its tattered reputation and repay the £45bn of public money required to…

Octogenarian Wilf Deck’s New Direction

Octogenarian Wilf Deck’s New Direction

At the age of 82, New Zealand-born Wilf Deck is embarking on a new career as a counsellor and life coach in Australia, where he splits his time between Dee Why and Norah Head…

New Zealand’s Iconic Kiwi May Be Losing Its Sight

New Zealand’s Iconic Kiwi May Be Losing Its Sight

The flightless nocturnal kiwi may be evolving to lose its eyesight altogether, suggest researchers. The blindness was discovered during a study of 160 Okarito brown kiwis (Apteryx rowi) in the South Island’s Okarito forest….

Chantelle Gerrard Dresses to Kill at Pop-Up Globe

Chantelle Gerrard Dresses to Kill at Pop-Up Globe

If there were a holy grail for costume designers today, it would have to be working on Game of Thrones, according to Kerrie O’Brien writing for the Sydney Morning Herald. New Zealander Chantelle Gerrard,…

Translated Moana Bolsters Maori Language

Translated Moana Bolsters Maori Language

New Zealand writer and director Taika Waititi, who worked on the original English-language version of Moana, also approached Disney early on about translating the film, and his sister, Tweedie Waititi, went on to produce…

Lorde Notches up Another Vogue Australia Cover

Lorde Notches up Another Vogue Australia Cover

As global superstar Lorde prepares for the Antipodean leg of her Melodrama World Tour, the 20-year-old Vogue Australia cover girl chats to Alice Birrell about exiting her teenage years, coping with soaring success and the…

Top Business Dining at Matt Lambert’s Musket Room

Top Business Dining at Matt Lambert’s Musket Room

“There are many restaurants we visit during our lives. Some however become memorable.” Huffington Post contributor Anurag Harsh recommends his “absolute favourite restaurants in New York” to take “your clients, business partners or significant…

Jane Campion’s Real Life Motherhood Plot

Jane Campion’s Real Life Motherhood Plot

Amidst Top of the Lake: China Girl’s central thematic story lines related to motherhood – Mary’s relationship with Julia grows tense as she gets to know Robin – there was a real-life motherhood “plot”…

Toast of Taranaki

Toast of Taranaki

Arts, culture, hiking and fine dining abound in New Plymouth, on the west coast of New Zealand. The Australian’s Jane Nicholls recommends some highlights. “New Plymouth is festooned in festivals, including the world music festival…

Q and A With Opera Singer Kiri Te Kanawa

Q and A With Opera Singer Kiri Te Kanawa

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, who was presented with the 2017 Gramophone Awards Lifetime Achievement Award last week in London, and who has just announced her retirement from public performance, sat down with the Financial…

Intergalactic Gary a Visionary Selector

Intergalactic Gary a Visionary Selector

“Since the early 1980s, John Scheffer has established himself not only as an esteemed selector and master of his craft, but as an artist who has dedicated his life to weaving music…