Ice Telescope to Reveal Secrets of the Universe
27 November 2013 – University of Canterbury scientists are using a telescope pointed at the earth’s interior over 2000m below the surface of ice in Antarctica to study tiny particles in the hope of…
Blog Archives
Wales a Team Invigorated Thanks to Gatland
Under the coaching direction of New Zealander Warren Gatland, the Welsh rugby team has “changed beyond all recognition”, according to Wales forward Ryan Jones. Gatland was at the helm of his 100th career Test…
Exciting Caramel Flavours Cooked Up in Tokyo
“A defining sense of optimism and curiosity took Mockasin and his then band, The Mockasins, to London in 2006, where, despite running out of money very quickly, their initial style of…
She’s a Huge Fan of Her Mother Jane Campion
Alice Englert, the actor and daughter of New Zealand screenwriter, producer and director Jane Campion, talks choosing passion over cash and whether her mum makes sexy films with the Guardian’s Alex Godfrey. She’s only 19…
New Zealand Stun England in League Semi
The Rugby League World Cup 2013 semi-final, which saw New Zealand defeat England 20-18, portrayed the game “at its finest”, according to the Telegraph’s Paul Hayward, who was witness to England’s “devastating defeat” in…
Responsible for the Rights of Children in Indonesia
UNICEF representative in Indonesia, New Zealander Angela Kearney is responsible for leading a staff of 150 to carry out the duty of realizing the rights of every child in the country. Besides Jakarta, UNICEF also…
Aucklander Brings Fresh Perspective to Sydney’s Art Month
New Zealand-born Scrap Wall has been named artistic director of Sydney’s largest annual celebration of art, Art Month. Wall is a well-established pioneer in the emerging art scene of his native Auckland. Wall…
Wickstead Nominated for UK Fashion Prize
New Zealand fashion designer and royal favourite, Emilia Wickstead was one of four nominated for the fourth annual Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize, established by the hotel group in 2010 to discover and support emerging…
Golden St Petersburg Captured with Help from Drone
11 November 2013 – Award-winning New Zealand-born photographer Amos Chapple recently sent a small drone helicopter up into the skies over an autumnal Saint Petersburg to take pictures and the Daily Mail has published…
Wanaka Aerobatics in a Vintage Tiger Moth
Classic Flights takes San Gabriel Valley Tribune reporter Richard Irwin up in a vintage de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane for some shallow dives over Lake Wanaka. “The friendly pilots offer 20-minute scenic flights over beautiful…
Adventurer’s African Queen Back on the Nile
The boat thought to be the original African Queen used in the film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn has been restored by owner, New Zealander Cam McLeay. There’s no sign of the 2000 cigarettes…
Bringing Something Different to Every Party
Neil Finn, who is playing at Australia’s Falls Festival in December, has had a colourful career so far. Wild in Split Enz, he’s been a straightforward balladeer, the front man of a…
Life on Board Ship a Daily Adventure into the Wild
For the past 24 years, New Zealand mountain climber Greg Landreth and Canadian photographer Keri Pashuk have been living on a sailboat, travelling thousands of nautical miles into some of the coldest and most…
Bespoke Diamonds for the Jet Set Available at the House
Rihanna, Madonna and Carine Roitfeld love New Zealand-born designer Jessica McCormack. But there’s only one way to buy her show-stopping jewels, the Telegraph explains, and that’s the old-fashioned way: visit her shop. Popstar Rihanna bought McCormack’s…
Businessman Buys up Rights to Lennon’s Solo Recordings
New Zealand businessman Sir Douglas Myers has secured the rights to John Lennon’s music and some early Beatles records, he says in an exclusive interview with the Herald on Sunday. Meyers owns Downtown Music, a…
Cambridge Cycle Path Has a Mind of Its Own
Hamish Scott’s “glowing, seemingly self-aware bike path” is being tested in Christ’s Pieces park in Cambridge. The New Zealander’s “Starpath” is a type of solar-enhanced liquid and aggregate made by UK-based Pro-Teq Surfacing, which…
Plans Afoot for Animated Comedy Set in NASA Office
Academy Award winner Wellingtonian Bret McKenzie, 37, is creating an animated workplace comedy for Fox set in the world of NASA, according to TV Guide. McKenzie will executive produce the untitled show he came up…
Days of Grey Meat and Three Veg Are Behind Us
Founder of Kent’s Moons Green Charcuterie, New Zealander John Doig, agrees with London delicatessen owner, the trend-setting Antonio Cardoso about promoting British farmers and too that charcuterie is a slow-pace, long-term income for them. Doig,…
Rare Chinese Carved Rhino Horns Sale Makes Auction Records
A pair of very rare 19th century Chinese carved rhinoceros horns has sold for a record $797,300 Auckland-based auction house Webb’s – 454 per cent above the estimate of $125,000 – $150,000. The…
Every Hour on Holiday Another Gorgeous Spot
After a two-week winter holiday in New Zealand, Washington couple Nikki Magaziner Mills and her husband Keith Mills tell the Washington Post in a readers travel column that pictures cannot do the country justice….
Perth Breakfast Host Turns His Alarm Clock Off
After more than four decades hosting Perth’s mix94.5 breakfast show, New Zealand-born radio announcer Fred Botica, 66, will be able to have a sleep-in ahead of a new shift in the afternoon drive program. Botica…
Curating the Authentic at the Paris Art Fair
With the International Contemporary Art Fair in Paris celebrating its 40th year, director of the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC) New Zealander Jennifer Flay discusses the past, and the quality of art…
Grand Theft Auto Five Developer Requests NZ Audio Input
New Zealand-based technology company Arvus Digital has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto Five (GTA5) developer RockStarNorth used its unique audio technology High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) to AES/EBU digital audio converter the HDMI-2A. Arvus…
Photojournalist Awarded Grant for Condemned
01 November 2013 – New Zealand photojournalist Robin Hammond, 38, is the recipient of this year’s W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, a US$30,000 prize in support of his…
Taking His Own Passions into New Sydney Role
Senior curator at the Christchurch Art Gallery Justin Paton has been named as the new head of international art at the Art Gallery of NSW and will take up the position in January. Paton has…
Young Soccer Player off to Flying Start in US
Aucklander Nicolai Berry, 19, is a freshman midfielder for the University of Buffalo (UB), and amid his transition to a new culture in the United States, Berry has excelled on the pitch, according to…
Coffee Revolutionaries Educate the Locals in Lyon
New Zealander Roz Morris James and her French partner Sadry Abidi, owners of Cafe Mokxa, are spearheading a slow but steady coffee revolution in France’s second biggest city, Lyon. Their 29 square metre…
Postal Service to Reduce Deliveries from 2015
With more people emailing their correspondence rather than popping it in the mailbox, New Zealand Post will deliver mail as infrequently as three days a week to most customers from June 2015. The…
Talented Generation of Welsh Stars Mean Coach Could Stay
Wales coach New Zealander Warren Gatland, 50, has hinted he may stay with the “golden generation of stars” beyond the 2015 Rugby World Cup, according to WalesOnline. Gatland’s current deal with the Welsh Rugby Union…
World-First Footpath Lights up the Way
New Zealander Hamish Scott has had offers from all over the world for what could be the future in street lighting – glow-in-the-dark footpaths, which light up when the sun goes down. London-based Scott approached…
BMX Canyon Leap Just Felt Right so He Sent It
Footage of New Zealand BMX sensation Kelly McGarry’s 20 metre leap, complete with backflip, across a Utah canyon gap has gone viral. The incredible stunt won Nelson-born McGarry, 31, the hearts and…
Hobbit Global Fan Celebration Event Planned
Director Peter Jackson has announced plans to preview footage from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug at a “global fan celebration” on 4 November that will be simulcast in theatres and feature…
Tramp the Past with Milford Anniversary Heritage Walk
The Milford Track is celebrating its 125th anniversary with a Department of Conversation (DOC) guided commemorative heritage walk to be held between 31 October and 3 November so that participating trampers may have…
Walker and De Mey Are the Fashion Business
New Zealander Karen Walker has been named as one of the world’s most influential designers by leading industry website The Business of Fashion. Walker was one of 118 designers included on the site’s annual Bo500…
Introspective New Album for LA-Based Singer
New Zealand-born singer and songwriter, Los Angeles-based Ted Brown has released his second album, An Unwide Ride; “an elegantly spare and tenderly introspective record”, recorded at Roundhead Studios in Auckland. In 1993, Brown…
Oscar Foreign-Language Submission a Battle of Wills
Based on the novella Medicine Woman by Witi Ihimaera, New Zealand’s 2014 foreign-language Oscar submission, White Lies (Tuakiri Huna) is a period drama about three women drawn together in conflict. David Rooney, reviewer for the…
On the Trail of Colour in Hokitika
For those “following the trail of the world created” in Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries, the Telegraph suggests ten great things to do in Hokitika. Included in the list is a cycle…
McKenzie Stars in Austenland Though More a Brontë Man
Bret McKenzie, 37, one half of the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, stars opposite Jane Seymour in the new romantic-comedy Austenland, which opened in the UK in September. “I’m not a crazy Jane Austen…
Repatriation of Lost Ancestral Remains
A tattooed preserved Maori head, or toi moko, and skeletal remains, koiwi tangata, discovered in the anatomy department at the University of Birmingham, are being returned to New Zealand. University staff said the ancestral items…
Aotearoa Casts Its Shadow on the Clouds
“There is a playful antagonism between the inhabitants of New Zealand’s two islands, North and South,” Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton writes for the Guardian in a story about growing up in New…
Move to the Sunshine Has Rejuvenated Golfer
Queensland Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner Hamilton-born Jim Cusdin, 28, credits a move to Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast for revitalising his golf career. It was somewhat of a risk he says, but…
Musket Room Cellar Tips for Future NZ Classics
23 October 2013 – The sommelier at New York’s first restaurant showcasing haute New Zealand cuisine, The Musket Room suggests we start cellaring future New Zealand classics before the rest of the world catches on. Erin…
Lorde’s Bid for the Big Time
Lorde makes it into the New Yorker this week, the subject of a profile by contributor and music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, who conducted several conversations with the 16-year-old about, amongst other things, how important…
Degrees Available in Healing with Humour
New Zealanders considering a career as a professional clown will now be able to earn a certificate, diploma or full Bachelor of Arts in Medical Clowning. The qualifications are scheduled to be launched in…
Katherine Mansfield Interacts with Google
Google commemorated the birthday of writer Katherine Mansfield on 14 October with an interactive doodle on its homepage, marking the 125th anniversary of the New Zealander’s death in Fontainebleau, France, aged 34. The first
Leap to Victory at the Boekelo in the Netherlands
New Zealand eventer Lizzie Brown, 25, has claimed the biggest victory of her career, winning the 2013 Boekelo CCI3* in the Netherlands, ahead of veteran rider Sir Mark Todd. Brown, who is based…
Dixon Does It Again Claiming Third IndyCar Title
New Zealander Scott Dixon has claimed his third IndyCar championship, regardless of a fifth place finish at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Dixon won the title by 27 points over Power teammate Helio…
Bledisloe Cup Whitewash with Win over Wallabies
The All Blacks have maintained their 100 per cent record this year, beating Australia at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin 41-33 to seal a 3-0 Bledisloe Cup whitewash, the BBC reports. Having clinched the…
Winter Wonderland for World’s Best In-Training
“Every August, the world’s best snowboarders come to work on big-air and physics-defying tricks in this tiny town hidden by mountains and surrounded by sheep,” New York Times reporter Joe Drapes writes. “The athletes…
Building New Zealand’s Fashion Profile Online
The New Zealand Fashion Museum is a very modern affair with a strong online presence, organising exhibitions around the country but without a physical location of its own. It is only one of a score…
Sweeping down the Staircase for Tea at Otahuna
A stay at the five-star Otahuna Lodge located in Tai Tapu, Canterbury “will give you a tantalising taste of landed gentry living”, according to travel writer, New Zealander Amanda Jones for the Los…
As If You Needed Another Reason to Go Down Under
Waiheke Island’s “stylish hotel” Oyster Inn has its own selection of fashionable Waihetian beach accessories available on site at their shop; souvenirs worth the trip to New Zealand, according to Condé Nast Traveler. “We’ve always…
Fifty Thousand Kilometre Journey Peddling for the Heart
After two years and 43,000km, New Zealander Jeremy Scott is almost home having been riding his bike from London since 5 October 2011, heading to his final destination, Auckland, by March next year. He made…
Sweeping Seismic Building Review Surpasses US Attempts
After the deadly Christchurch 6.3 magnitude earthquake, city officials responded with the most sweeping seismic review of concrete buildings ever attempted, far surpassing anything achieved in California. Post-earthquake, residents were stunned to learn that two-thirds…
Penney Says Welfare of His Players Is Paramount
Munster coach New Zealander Rob Penney is so sensitive to the dangers of concussion that he applies a stringent approach to any head injuries suffered by his players – he responds with the level…
Pop Sensation Unfazed by Impending Global Stardom
Lorde, 16, who says she chose her stage name because she wanted an aesthetically feminine aristocratic title, tells the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis that the record company “got straight away that I was a bit…
