Blanket Bay Lodge a Hidden Getaway
If you’re looking for the perfect getaway this winter, you should look no further than New Zealand’s best luxury lodge on the north edge of the stunning Lake Whakatipu at Blanket Bay. Blanket Bay is…
Blog Archives
Cars in NZ Are Running on Beer-Flavoured Petrol
New Zealand brewers DB Export have turned their leftover slurry of yeast and grain into a biofuel. Brewtroleum is available for a limited time at Gull petrol stations throughout the country. One of the leftovers…
Sarah Ayala’s Businesses Thriving in Houston
New Zealander Sarah Ayala is “living the American dream” in Houston where she and her husband relocated to a year and a half ago from Portland, Oregon. Ayala, who recently started The…
Brian Fuata’s Video a 24 Frame Per Second Highlight
Wellington-born Sydney-based artist Brian Fuata, 37, was one of 24 artists exhibiting as a part of the “pioneering video art-inspired dance project” “24 Frames Per Second” on at Sydney’s Carriageworks. The exhibition delivered “a groundbreaking…
The Brokenwood Mysteries a Hit in France
New Zealand’s murder-mystery television series, The Brokenwood Mysteries, is a hit in France and was the second-most watched show on French TV on a Tuesday night with 3.7 million viewers. On Bastille Day it out-rated…
Len Lye Centre Opens in New Plymouth
“Travel to New Zealand for the love of art,” declares India Today in a feature about New Plymouth’s brand new Len Lye Centre, New Zealand’s first gallery dedicated to a single artist. The
Kiwi DNA Study Reveals Bird Lost Colour Vision
Scientists at the University of Leipzig in Germany say they have sequenced the genome of the brown kiwi for the first time, revealing that the shy, flightless bird likely lost its ability to see…
Anna Hansen Says It’s Not Fun Boiling a Pig’s Head
New Zealand chef Anna Hansen, 45, who worked with Michelin-starred Fergus Henderson and fusion expert Peter Gordon before opening her own London restaurant, The Modern Pantry, talks with the Independent about music to make…
Iconic Mountain Bike Race The Pioneer Set for Alps
A new mountain bike race, The Pioneer, is set to hit the rugged trails of the Southern Alps from 31 January through 6 February 2016. The race will string together established bike trails with…
Sir Edmund Hillary’s Name Taken to New Heights
A newly discovered mountain range on Pluto has been named Hillary Montes in homage to New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary, half of the pair who first climbed Mount Everest in 1953. Tenzing Norgay, his…
Finnian Galbraith’s Hit Te Reo Pronunciation Video
Raumati College pupil Finnian Galbraith’s YouTube video complaining about poor pronunciation of Maori words has proved a hit online, with more than 160,386 views. Galbraith, 15, says in his YouTube video that many people in…
Sileni Estates Winery Finds Ripe Market in US
Nigel Avery, CEO of Sileni Estates USA, and a former member of New Zealand’s Olympic weightlifting team, has moved his family to Minnesota while he works to expand sales and learn the US market…
Jono Williams Invents the Ultimate Man Cave
Plastics engineer and inventor Jono Williams has built possibly the world’s most coveted man cave in Linton. After shooting the breeze one night with his mate Grant Ramsay, a mechatronics engineer, Williams committed to building…
Darren Pene Pati Wins at Operalia 2015
New Zealander Darren Pene Pati, “the one with the special tenor voice”, took second prize and the audience prize for male singer at this year’s Operalia, The World’s Opera Competition, held in London. According to…
McCaw Magic Seals All Blacks Win at Ellis Park
New Zealand captain Richie McCaw grabbed a late winning try to lift the All Blacks to a dramatic 27-20 win over South Africa at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. The home side led for most of…
Seb Chan Is Digitally Revitilising Museums
New Zealand-born Seb Chan, lauded for his leading role in transforming the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York with a human-centred digital renewal, has been appointed chief eXperience officer (CXO) at the…
Warren Gatland Steers Wales into World Cup Ready
With a near perfect World Cup training trip to Switzerland in the bank, Wales coach Warren Gatland has steered his squad into a very good place, according to Wales Online rugby editor Delme Parfitt. “If…
Cutthroat role for Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Sweeney
Operatic baritone New Zealander Teddy Tahu Rhodes has the lead role as the infamous barber in Victorian Opera’s take on Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim’s bloodiest musical. Rhodes, playing Sweeney for the first time, hasn’t watched…
Owen Dippie Sprays NY Masterpieces with a Twist
New Zealand street artist Owen Dippie is making a name for himself in Brooklyn, New York with “show-stopping” murals. It takes a true intuitive sense and careful execution to produce a mashup or remix, and…
Photographer Tony Carter Finds Other World in Ohuru – a “tight-knit and colourful community”
Ohura is a tiny town with a population of just 120 people where there is next to no power, internet, or jobs – where time almost stands still. Photographer Tony Carter spent one year…
Michel Tuffery Invites Sydney to Siamani Samoa
New Zealand artist Michel Tuffery joined forces with the Royal Samoa Police Band, who were in Sydney playing outside the Pacific Islands for the first time, to mark the 100th anniversary of the end…
Flight of the Conchords Role Models for Success
Flight of the Conchords stars Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie are California-born stand-up comedian Arj Barker’s role models, he tells the Guardian. Barker, who is best known for his role as pawnshop owner Dave in…
Lujo’s Free-Standing Hammock a Visual Masterpiece
A free-standing hammock designed by New Zealand-based company Lujo features in the Dallas Morning News Home & Gardening section. Lujo, which designs and manufactures top-of-the-line lounge furniture, describes its free-standing hammock as “a functional sculpture…
New Zealand Biker Jed Mildon Lands World First BMX Quadruple Backflip
New Zealand professional BMX biker Jed Mildon, 28, has landed the world’s first quadruple backflip after four years of planning for the incredible feat. Riding a 20-foot box jump, Mildon scored his second world first…
All Blacks Dominate Argentina in Christchurch
Captain Richie McCaw scored a try and stand-off Dan Carter kicked 14 points in their last home Test at AMI Stadium in Christchurch as the All Blacks beat Argentina 39-18 in the opening match…
Diplomatic Businessman Sir John Buchanan
Sir John Buchanan, who has died aged 72, was an Auckland-born scientist who rose to be finance director at BP before taking on prominent non-executive board roles in sectors ranging from mining, most recently…
Annette Tanner on a Unique Broadway Mission
New Zealander Annette Tanner, executive director of Atlanta-based non-profit organisation Broadway Dreams Foundation, is one of a “handful of remarkable women who are making their mark on educational theatre” in the United States, the…
Massey University Professor Chris Galloway committed to telling stories of Palestinians
“I feel personal commitment to tell the stories of Palestinians in the West Bank where I taught voluntarily a few times,” Chris Galloway, a professor from Massey University, told the Tehran Times on the…
Tree Church by Barry Cox a Backyard Sanctuary
Barry Cox’s Waikato Tree Church is a “heavenly 100-seat chapel set among a three-acre landscaped garden … walls are made of living trees planted around an iron frame”, Slate magazine reports. “In 2011, Cox,…
People Age at Wildly Different Rates Study Shows
Tests done in Dunedin on physiological markers in nearly 1000 38-year-olds has found that some had biological ages many years older than their birthdates would suggest. The research confirms that people grow old at…
Bologna-Based Guy Lydster Installs Headscapes
A new public art installation in Bologna sculpted by acclaimed Auckland-born artist Guy Lydster, has added an ecological dimension to the red-stoned city. A two-metre tall “headscape” base relief sculpted from Veronese marble showcases…
Beer and Burgers at Wellington on a Plate
New Zealand’s annual Wellington on a Plate culinary festival, which runs from 14-30 August, features in a Daily Telegraph travel feature. The newspaper takes a tour of the city’s breweries and seeks out the…
All Blacks Coach Steve Hansen Now a Samoan Chief
Three-times World Rugby Coach of the Year New Zealander Steve Hansen, 56, has been named an honorary high chief, or matai, of Vaiala village in Samoa, a day after his All Blacks team beat…
Tim Finn Loves Writing Songs More than Ever
Forty years in the music business, one of New Zealand’s most celebrated singer-songwriters, Tim Finn, 63, recently performed his new collaboration, White Cloud at the Galway International Arts festival. White Cloud may be derived from…
Twenty-Six Reasons NZ is the World’s Best To Visit
Once again, New Zealand has topped the Telegraph Travel awards as the world’s best place to visit; the publication offers up 26 reasons why. “First and most importantly, it looks amazing. Douglas Adams, the author…
Mitch Evans Is Formula One’s next Big Thing
The brightest star in the Formula One (F1) feeder series GP2 is Aucklander Mitch Evans who has amassed an impressive list of accolades despite being just 21 years old. He also has an attribute…
Weta Smithy Peter Lyon in the Mix at Comic-Con
Amongst the colourful characters who flood the San Diego Convention Center Comic-Con was New Zealand smithy Peter Lyon, who has worked the past 16 years for Weta Workshop. “When I started at Weta…
Comedian Rhys Darby Joins X-Files Cast
Actor Rhys Darby, who played werewolf Anton in What We Do in the Shadows, will join the cast of The X-Files “event series” as a man suspected by Fox Mulder to be the perpetrator…
How Elk Farmer Thom Van Eeghen Became Canadian
Ottawa elk farmer Thom Van Eeghen, “a landed immigrant from New Zealand”, explains how he became a Canadian, and what he thinks Canada should do to celebrate the country’s 150th birthday in 2017. “I came…
JK Russ Major Player in US Art Scene
New Zealand-born artist JK Russ is included in a Los Angeles Confidential feature “spotlight and celebrating the freshest, boldest artistic talent” from each of the 11 American cities in which the magazine publishes. “From Aspen…
Andrew Niccol Gets Green Light for Monopoly Script
Writer of The Truman Show, New Zealand-born Andrew Niccol has been hired to script the Monopoly movie, which will be a co-production between the game manufacturer Hasbro and Lionsgate. The companies called it “a film…
Joseph Michael Capturing Moments of Magic
Joseph Michael, New Zealand photographer, spent hours capturing the light from glowworms in limestone caves, a photographic feat for the low light and freezing temperatures. Because the glowworms are found above water, Michael stood hours in…
Rocket Lab to Launch from Kaitorete Spit
New Zealand company Rocket Lab says it plans to build its own launch site – the world’s first commercial orbital launch range – on Kaitorete Spit in Canterbury by the end of the year. The…
Dean Hall Tackles New Game Post DayZ Success
Dean Hall was on stage at Microsoft’s E3 press conference this year to unveil a name and a teaser for his studio RocketWerkz’s brand new game, Ion. But despite his role in helping Microsoft…
Raiders Punisher Josh Papalii Back in Form
Auckland-born Raiders enforcer, the “revitalised” Josh Papalii, 23, credits some tough love from coach Ricky Stuart as the key to turning his fortunes around. After a sluggish start to the NRL season when he questioned…
Swiss-Belhotel Chief Gavin Faull Ever the Traveller
New Zealander Gavin Faull, 63, has been living out of a suitcase ever since he decided to join a consulting firm in Hong Kong back in 1973. Now, as chairman and president of Swiss-Belhotel…
North Island a Feast of Exhilarating Activities
Ahipara, on the west coast of Northland, New Zealand’s northernmost region, is a fantastic place to begin a tour of the North Island, the National Post’s Kat Tancock suggests. “It’s late afternoon on a hot…
Picturesque Doesn’t Begin to Describe Minaret
Matt Wallis is one of four brothers who own Minaret Station, a working farm at Lake Wanaka with a luxurious alpine lodge for tourists and accessible only by helicopter, Katarina Kroslakova writes for the…
Marlon Williams’ Voice Skips Decades and Genres
Marlon Williams’ recent gig at Sydney’s Basement was “terrific”, according to music writer Bernard Zuel. “Williams is tall and good looking and charming and winning. That will get you far. He can write a…
NZ-Designed Waterslide Relocating to US Ski Trail
The World’s Longest Waterslide, designed by New Zealander Jimi Hunt, is to be rebuilt in the United States on the slopes of Mountain Creek in Vernon, New Jersey. After learning from Travel Channel producers about…
Jereme Aubertin Makes Surf Photo Comp Semifinals
New Zealander Jereme Aubertin has been named one of 10 semifinalists competing for the 2015 Follow The Light Photography grant, the most prestigious competition in surf photography. Aubertin, who took the picture above in the…
Zane Lowe Helping Apple Reinvent Live Radio
For the last 12 years, New Zealand radio DJ Zane Lowe has been a top tastemaker on the BBC’s Radio 1 by championing brand-new music, landing interviews with stars like Kanye West and running…
South Island Skies Illuminated by Aurora Australis
Local photographers Stephen Voss and Blair Pattinson braved freezing temperatures in the South Island to capture images of the Aurora Australis, a natural light display in the sky. A solar storm meant that the Aurora…
On Tiree at the Beach with Chef Margot Henderson
Chef owners of London’s Rochelle Canteen and St John New Zealander Margot Henderson and her husband Fergus talk with the Observer about their beach holidays on Hebridean island Tiree, a place for “recharging the…
Lemi Ponifasio Directs Epic Canadian Theatre Piece
Canada’s most ambitious musical theatre piece had a recent curtain call 35 years after its premiere, as part of Toronto’s 2015 Luminato Festival. New Zealand-based choreographer Lemi Ponifasio was called in to revive…
Artist Kristina Webb Prospering in Insta-Economy
Kristina Webb, a 19-year old New Zealander, has built a full-time job on Instagram with colourful, Disney-like pictures, which are appealing to a huge teenage base of viewers. “It is sort of my perfect job…
