Blog Archives

Fans Pack Australian Cinemas in Record Numbers

Fans Pack Australian Cinemas in Record Numbers

Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug recorded the second-highest Boxing Day opening in Australian history taking $AU5.465 million, with the only film topping that, his own. The first film in the trilogy,…

Mutual Interest Means Increase in India-NZ Study Numbers

Mutual Interest Means Increase in India-NZ Study Numbers

Indian studies is attracting more and more students in New Zealand, where seven out of the eight universities offer these courses, according to Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, director of the New Zealand India Research Institute (NZIRI)…

Tree Traditions for a New Mexico Christmas

Tree Traditions for a New Mexico Christmas

New Zealander Aly Hyder lives in Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico and has a very different Christmas experience to the “barbeque Christmas” of the southern hemisphere. Hyder goes out to the forest for a Christmas tree…

Shooting a Secret Life with Ben Stiller

Shooting a Secret Life with Ben Stiller

New Zealand cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh’s latest project is actor-director Ben Stiller’s film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, some of which was shot in mid-summer Manhattan, and the hardest aspect of that was not…

Living Museum is all Camera-Hogging Art Deco

Living Museum is all Camera-Hogging Art Deco

“It’s a near-cloudless afternoon, and I’ve spent the past hour weaving dreamily around dozens of sun-dappled, immaculately preserved 1930s buildings. Art deco was all the rage when these storefronts were erected; the streets are…

Flying Australian Kiwis Could Put Paid to Moa Ancestry

Flying Australian Kiwis Could Put Paid to Moa Ancestry

New fossil research suggests the flightless kiwi and emu share a common ancestor able to fly, which travelled over to New Zealand from Australia millions of years ago. Experts have long assumed that the kiwi…

If You Love Nature New Zealand Was Made for You

If You Love Nature New Zealand Was Made for You

Eight days spent in Queenstown and at Lake Wanaka “were some of the best of my life”, writes Emily Dickinson for the Huffington Post. Dickinson recommends that if “you love nature, wonderfully friendly…

Shipwreck Find Could Alter Our History

Shipwreck Find Could Alter Our History

Timbers from a shipwreck found in Kaipara Harbour have been dated to some 70 years before Captain Cook, identified as having originated in Southeast Asia as early as 1700. Captain Cook’s Endeavour encountered New…

Raise a Glass to the Coach of the Year

Raise a Glass to the Coach of the Year

Wales and Lions head coach Warren Gatland has been named the BBC Coach of the Year at an awards ceremony in Leeds. The New Zealander “deserves his moment in the sun, as does the…

Simba Impresses in Sydney Lion King Production

Simba Impresses in Sydney Lion King Production

22 December 2013 – South Auckland-born Nick Afoa, 27, makes a “fine musical theatre debut as the adult Simba” in an Australian musical production of Disney’s The Lion King. Afoa, “moves with the exuberant…

One Small Step for New Plymouth Student

One Small Step for New Plymouth Student

New Plymouth engineering student Hamish Fagg, 21, is preparing to become the first New Zealander in space having won a prize organized by Unilever-owned men’s product LYNX and endorsed by the world’s most famous…

Strictly Star Sambas off to Sunderland

Strictly Star Sambas off to Sunderland

Strictly Come Dancing star New Zealander Brendan Cole, who is currently starring in the hit BBC show with celebrity dance partner Sophie Ellis Bextor, is taking his own show, Licence to Thrill to Sunderland…

Like a Weird Untitled Mixtape They Beguile

Like a Weird Untitled Mixtape They Beguile

The songwriting savant behind Unknown Mortal Orchestra, New Zealander Ruban Nielson, 33, spends many of his nocturnal hours locked away in the basement of his Portland, Oregon home, creating beguiling, hypnagogic psych-pop, the Guardian’s…

Treasuring Every Infinitesimal Bite

Treasuring Every Infinitesimal Bite

The food at New York’s Musket Room is “ambitious and meticulously detailed”, New York Times correspondent Ligaya Mishan writes in a review of the restaurant, which opened in Nolita in June. Owned by Aucklander…

All We Want for Christmas Is Bespoke Couture

All We Want for Christmas Is Bespoke Couture

Emilia Wickstead, having now secured her couture clientele (alongside Alexander McQueen, the New Zealander is one of the Duchess of Cambridge’s go-to designers for foreign visits), wanted to offer a service that was exclusive…

National Theatre Role from Morning to Midnight

National Theatre Role from Morning to Midnight

Auckland-born actress Gina Bellman – who played Sophie Devereaux in American television drama series Leverage – is currently starring in Britain’s National Theatre revival of Georg Kaiser’s expressionistic 1912 play From Morning…

Strong Brand and the Product’s the Real Deal

Strong Brand and the Product’s the Real Deal

Lewis Road Creamery, located at Green Valley Dairy, Mangatawhiri in the Waikato, is included in the “The Monocle 100” list as one of the “innovative minds behind global food production.” “Until last year, the…

Modern-Day Forager Launches Unique Catering Operation

Modern-Day Forager Launches Unique Catering Operation

When New Zealander Campbell Rowe is not harvesting lychee, green mango, lime and black sapote, or eggs from a small brood of free-range chooks at his New South Wales farm, he’s visiting farmers’ markets…

Lowe Is ENERGY Personified at BBC 1

Lowe Is ENERGY Personified at BBC 1

In the studio of the BBC’s Radio 1 station, the boisterous New Zealander Zane Lowe is a few minutes into his own show, Peter Robinson reports for the Guardian. “RIDICULOUS SOUND!” Lowe honks over…

Talent Pool Something to Write Home about

Talent Pool Something to Write Home about

From Lorde to Gin Wigmore, to chef Matt Lambert and model Ashleigh Good (pictured), New Zealand punches above its weight, writes fellow New Zealander Kirsten Matthew for the New York Post. It’s not just pop…

Decorated Lifetime of Service at Sea

Decorated Lifetime of Service at Sea

Rear-Admiral Ted Thorne, who has died aged 89, was a New Zealander who was on hand when female naval personnel suffered their greatest loss of the Second World War. Wellington-born Thorne was under training in…

Middle Earth’s Man Contemplates Doctor Who Offer

Middle Earth’s Man Contemplates Doctor Who Offer

Peter Jackson has confirmed reports that he has offered to direct an episode of Doctor Who. “I’m a Doctor Who fan, certainly. I’m of the generation that hid behind the sofa, and Patrick Troughton…

Dancing Her Dreams at Paris Opera Ballet

Dancing Her Dreams at Paris Opera Ballet

16 December 2013 – Twenty-year-old Auckland dancer Hannah O’Neill, who has a lifetime contract with the world’s pre-eminent academy, the Ballet de l’Opéra National de Paris, told the New Zealand Herald recently that…

On Set with Once Upon A Time’s Tinkerbell

On Set with Once Upon A Time’s Tinkerbell

Flying around in a harness playing Tinkerbell on the set of American fairy tale drama series Once Upon A Time has been “so much fun” for Auckland-born actress Rose McIver. “I am very aware of…

Casting Agent and Playwright a Tour de Force

Casting Agent and Playwright a Tour de Force

“To label Ann Brebner an instrumental force in Marin’s film and theatre scene is to undermine the breadth of her work,” writes Stephanie Powell for the Pacific Sun, a local newspaper based in Marin…

Oamaru-Made Gingerbread Cathedral Pleases Exeter Locals

Oamaru-Made Gingerbread Cathedral Pleases Exeter Locals

Owners of Oamaru’s Pen-y-bryn Lodge, James Glucksman and James Boussy have built a gingerbread Exeter Cathedral to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the lodge next year. Glucksman explains: “In a nutshell we always make a…

Take a Dream Drive off the Beaten Track

Take a Dream Drive off the Beaten Track

If you are looking for an alternative, and beautiful, route to travel New Zealand, News.com.au recommends 10 “different dream trips … to get you from landmark to landmark.” “More of a dream trip than any…

Table of Ugly Words Star of Feminist Militia Exhibit

Table of Ugly Words Star of Feminist Militia Exhibit

“I am sitting at a long antique wooden school table, burning capital letters onto the surface: ‘B****,’” the Independent’s Zoe Pilger describes from exhibition rooms HQ, London. “Other words swarm all over it: ‘Vagina…

State of the Art Voyage to the Deep

State of the Art Voyage to the Deep

New Zealand and Japanese scientists joined forces on a recent expedition to explore underwater mountains and volcanoes 1000km northeast of the country around the Louisville Seamount Chain and the Kermadec Arc. From the research…

Neill Content to Be in Two Worlds

Neill Content to Be in Two Worlds

In the latest of a series of opinion pieces for British political and cultural magazine the Spectator, actor and vigneron Sam Neill argues that “actors are allowed to do other things other than act.” “Increasingly…

Michelin Star for Stuttgart-based Chef

Michelin Star for Stuttgart-based Chef

Against all odds, Waikato-born head chef Russell Pirrit has earned a Michelin star for restaurant “5” in Stuttgart, Germany. Pirrit, who grew up in Te Kauwhata, suffers from severe dyslexia. Twelve years…

Mentoring Young Snowboarders on the Aspen Slopes

Mentoring Young Snowboarders on the Aspen Slopes

Snowboard coach with Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club (AVSC), New Zealander Tim Ward, 33, talks about his role with the club and about his focus on developing the person first and the athlete…

Awe-Inspiring Film Documents Life on the Ice

Awe-Inspiring Film Documents Life on the Ice

One of those working year-round on Antarctica in a non-research role is New Zealander Anthony Powell who as well as maintaining communications networks for a living, is a “self-taught photographer and filmmaker”. His documentary…

Urban Plays Human Cop Patrolling Streets in 2048

Urban Plays Human Cop Patrolling Streets in 2048

New Zealand actor Karl Urban hits the beat in 2048 as “grizzled human” cop John Kennex, alongside Michael Ealy, who plays Urban’s “synthetic” partner Dorian in television sci-fi drama, Almost Human. Premiering this month on…

Movie-Making to Rival Lucas and Spielberg

Movie-Making to Rival Lucas and Spielberg

“Peter Jackson has picked up the pace … The Desolation of Smaug is a cheerfully entertaining and exhilarating adventure tale, a supercharged Saturday morning picture: it’s mysterious and strange and yet Jackson also effortlessly…

Grammy Nominee Crowned WILD Cover Girl

Grammy Nominee Crowned WILD Cover Girl

Lorde, who has been nominated for two Grammys for her hit “Royals”, up for both record of the year (for the recording) and best song (for songwriting), “stuns” on the cover of the

Amounting to a Kind of Debonair Psychedelia

Amounting to a Kind of Debonair Psychedelia

“Dean Wareham ranks high among the most faithful disciples of Lou Reed,” the Wall Street Journal’s Andy Battaglia writes in a review of Wareham’s recent New York show at Brooklyn’s Bell House. “He doesn’t have…

New Zealand Trumps at Annual IRB Awards

New Zealand Trumps at Annual IRB Awards

New Zealand have made a clean sweep at the International Rugby Board (IRB) awards once more, taking away all three major end-of-season prizes, with number eight Kieran Read named player of the year, the…

Taylor Swift Posts Dreamy NZ Holiday on Instagram

Taylor Swift Posts Dreamy NZ Holiday on Instagram

In between shows on her Red tour in New Zealand, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift posted Instagrams of herself busy at “aesthetically pleasing activities … like driving a boat, gazing off into the…

For a Vessel You Can Trust

For a Vessel You Can Trust

Three “nautical pros” of New Zealand’s multi-million dollar boat building industry feature in “The Monocle 100” special supplement of “things to sample experience and discuss.” “While Emirates Team New Zealand lost the America’s Cup in…

Photography in the Thick of a Botswana Pride

Photography in the Thick of a Botswana Pride

With the help of a remote control buggy, New Zealand photographer Chris McLennan has managed to capture images of a pride of eight lions in the Khwai region, Botswana. McLennan attached his camera to the…

Bungee Celebrates 25 Years of Adrenaline

Bungee Celebrates 25 Years of Adrenaline

To mark the 25th anniversary of the world’s first organized bungee jump made in New Zealand, the Guardian has picked the 10 best adrenaline dives on the planet, including naturally, Queenstown’s 43-metre drop over…

An Audience with Jonah Lomu

An Audience with Jonah Lomu

Rugby great Jonah Lomu – who had sixty-three caps as an All Black and is the Rugby World Cup all-time top try scorer – was in Lomond, Ireland in November to meet with fans…

Gemma New on Gender Equality in Contemporary Music

Gemma New on Gender Equality in Contemporary Music

New Zealander Gemma New, associate conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and director of the Lunar Ensemble, talks with Bachtrack’s Meg Wilhoite about the question of gender equality in the world of new…

Wellington’s Craft Beer Scene Big Business

Wellington’s Craft Beer Scene Big Business

How such a small city consumes such quantities of liquid we may never know, but with 50 per cent of New Zealand’s craft beer consumption going on in the capital, it’s little wonder a…

Great All Black Returns to Where It All Began

Great All Black Returns to Where It All Began

Richie McCaw returned to where his career began in Dublin for his 124th Test on 23 November, and, just like in that debut game where New Zealand were 21-7 down just after half-time, it…

Kiwi Exchange Student Makes His Mark on L.A’s Football Fields

Kiwi Exchange Student Makes His Mark on L.A’s Football Fields

One of the stars of Venice High School’s football team this season is seventeen-year-old New Zealand foreign-exchange student James Cherrington. The 6-foot-1, 97-kg Cherrington has six sacks—or Quarterback tackles—playing defensive end for the Los Angeles…

Wine for the Discerning but Diet-Conscious

Wine for the Discerning but Diet-Conscious

New Zealand has announced its intention to become the world’s leading producer of “lifestyle wines” – those with fewer calories and lower alcohol levels – for the discerning but diet-conscious drinker. The government has decided…

Island Paradise Enticing Auckland Urbanites

Island Paradise Enticing Auckland Urbanites

“Waiheke Island is now the go-to holiday home destination for wealthy New Zealand urbanites … with the west coast draw the most punters, in particular the beaches near the island’s main town Oneroa and…

Williams Takes Player of the Year Award

Williams Takes Player of the Year Award

New Zealand forward Sonny Bill Williams, 28, has been voted rugby league’s International Player of the Year, the first ever non-Australian to take the award. Williams was reduced to tears when his team-mates performed an…

Enabling Teens to Learn Through Responsibility

Enabling Teens to Learn Through Responsibility

Fulbright scholar and Victoria University senior lecturer Dr Barrie Gordon was in DeKalb, Illinois this month giving a presentation to students at Northern Illinois University on a teaching model, which is aimed at helping…

Marathon a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Marathon a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Twelve years ago, New Zealand-born endurance athlete Janette Murray-Wakelin was told she had six months to live after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, she’s in the midst of running a marathon every day…

Wairarapa Pinot Noirs Outdoing the Best

Wairarapa Pinot Noirs Outdoing the Best

Martinborough has perfect growing conditions for producing award-winning Pinot Noir, with soil and climate closely resembling those in Burgandy, France. The Telegraph’s Cameron Wilson signs up for some tastings with Wairarapa local Sue McLeary…

White Island’s Bubbling Features Ever-Changing

White Island’s Bubbling Features Ever-Changing

The most memorable sighting of New Zealand geothermal activity for the National Post’s Maryam Siddiqi was on a trip to White Island, “an active volcano that contains all of those belching, bubbling features, and…

Catton Reflects on Books That Have Shaped Hers

Catton Reflects on Books That Have Shaped Hers

Award-winning author New Zealander Eleanor Catton, 28, whose novel The Luminaries won this year’s Man Booker Prize and this month, Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award, reflects on the influences that have shaped her as…

One of the World’s Top 99 Greatest Investors

One of the World’s Top 99 Greatest Investors

Sir Ron Brierley has been included in Swedish hedge fund manager Magnus Angenfelt’s book, The World’s 99 Greatest Investors, which will be released in Australia later this year. The New Zealander is named alongside many…