Life Spent Winning
Former All Blacks captain and New Zealand Rugby Union chairman Christchurch-born Jock Hobbs, has died of cancer in Wellington, aged 52. Hobbs played 21 Tests for the All Blacks as an openside flanker between…
Blog Archives
High Life On The Edge
New Zealand is becoming a favourite place to live for wealthy foreigners, with American Facebook billionaire Peter Thiel, Russian steel billionaire Alexander Abramov, and New York Empire State Building’s Tony Malkin among those recently…
Welcome To New Zealand
New Zealander Dana Wensley returns home for a short visit from Canada where she claims to feeling like “an immigrant.” “In some ways, anyone who is not part of the indigenous Maori population will…
Phantom Restored In NZ
New Zealand has done wonders for the health of former Phantom of the Opera and Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em star Michael Crawford. Seventy-year-old Crawford said moving to New Zealand had cured him of the chronic…
Deliciously Unique
New Plymouth’s Big Wave Café, the Flying Fox café on the Whanganui River and Dargaville’s Funky Fish are some of the “one-of-a–kind character” cafés worth travelling off the beaten track to find according…
Matchless Legend Remembered
Former All Blacks lock Richard “Tiny” White, regarded as New Zealand’s finest rugby players in his position, has died in Gisborne aged 86. White played 30 matches, including 23 consecutive tests for New Zealand…
Capital Drinking Haunts
“Wellington is famous for its tiny, tucked-away bars, quirky cafes and galleries, fashion boutiques, award winning restaurants and buzzing nightlife,” Lost at E Minor travel site explains. Australian tourist, Patrick Stevenson — a.k.a. The…
Tramping The South
“Our visit to 47 degrees south has come during a seven-day trekking tour on the South Island — a round trip taking in Queenstown, Milford Sound, Stewart Island and the Catlins, a region hunkered…
Simplifying Change
The ever practical New Zealanders are always tweaking their system, right down to their pocket change, writes Eric Bergeson for the Morris Sun Tribune. “They got rid of the 1-cent and 2-cent coins during my…
Benefits Of Filming On The Cheap
Director of Western Good for Nothing, New Zealander Mike Wallis, discusses the benefits of making a film with little money in The Huffington Post’s column ‘The Blog’. “With a limited amount of funds to…
Runway Sales
Owners of Glasgow’s Prestwick Airport, New Zealand-based infrastructure investment company Infratil, are putting the property up for sale. Infratil has said it is also looking for a buyer for its British airport, Manston in…
Pumas Sign Henry
Sir Graham Henry has signed with the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) as a part-time consultant with a particular view to improve coaching at Argentina’s high performance centres. The World Cup-winning coach will help fine…
Icebreaker On-Demand
Pioneering outdoor merino apparel company Icebreaker has relaunched its American ecommerce site using on-demand ecommerce platform Demandware, and has plans to expand beyond North America into Europe and the Southern Hemisphere during 2012 and…
With A Vision For More Gold
New Zealand gold medal eventer Mark Todd, 56, one of only two New Zealanders to compete in six Olympics, says he will ride at his seventh Olympics with a horse “as good as any…
Frontiers Compared
New Zealand reveals many similarities with Appalachia — the eastern United States region that stretches from New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia — according to The Washington Times columnist Lisa King. “Isolated from…
24 Hours In Rotovegas
Rotorua set itself up as a tourist destination in the 1800s; its pink-and-white terraces became New Zealand’s first attraction with people having to pass through sleepy Rotorua to reach them. “Today, Rotorua receives 3.2…
Juke Joint Revelations
In the wake of her successful debut album Holy Smoke, Auckland-born songstress Gin Wigmore talks about the process which led to her second, the blues-inspired Gravel and Wine, a sophomore album high on sass with numbers…
Wimbledon Of Shearing
The 4600 sheep picked for the 2012 World Sheep Shearing Competition in Masterton, and the national Golden Shears championships, were pampered this week, with top clippers from around the globe competing for a top…
Worth The Wait
Ladyhawke, a.k.a. Pip Brown, 32, features in the Guardian’s ‘The Week in Music — in pictures’ gallery performing a free in-store gig at Rough Trade, east London. The release of Brown’s highly-anticipated second album Anxiety has been postponed…
Attention-Seeking TV Role
Fourteen-year-old Porirua actress Stefania Owen will play Dorrit, Carrie Bradshaw’s younger rebellious sister in The Carrie Diaries, the prequel of the iconic television series Sex and the City. Set in the 1980s, the show will follow…
Coney Lights Up The Stage
Ex-New Zealand cricket captain and stage lighting designer Wellington-born Jeremy Coney, 59, lights up a London production of The Leisure Society, starring former British model Agyness Dean. “An air of glamour surrounds this French-Canadian import…
Buying Into The Warriors
New Zealand billionaire Owen Glenn has taken a stake in the New Zealand Warriors. Glenn and major shareholder Eric Watson announced the new ownership structure of the Warriors would give them each…
Memorable Boy Grows On You
“Next year’s Oscars, if they were to include the just-for-fun idea of outstanding performance by a setting, should have a nominee in Boy,” The New York Times movie critic David DeWitt expounds. “This movie from New Zealand,…
Home Match For Crusaders
One major symbol of regeneration in Christchurch is the construction of a temporary stadium in Addington that will be used by the Crusaders Super Rugby team Emma Stoney explains in The New York Times. “The…
Running Paths Of History
New Plymouth-based ultra-distance runner Lisa Tamati and Australian travel journalist Chris Ord recently ran 140km from the desert outpost of Hermannsburg to Alice Springs — retracing the route taken by stockman Hezekial Malbunka when…
Dave Takes Avalanche On Tour
Auckland folk band Avalanche City has signed to Roadrunner Records for distribution in North America, releasing the four-track Love Love Love EP on 3 April. Avalanche City is the brainchild of Dave Baxter, a singer songwriter…
Future Garden Plans Bloom
New Zealand’s High Commissioner in Canada Ottawa-based Andrew Needs writes for The Vancouver Sun about the upcoming Ellerslie International Flower Show held from 7 -11 March at North Hagley Park in Christchurch. “Leading designers are busy…
Shooting Vampires In NZ
New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi — whose 2010 film Boy was recently released in the United States — talks to Rotten Tomatoes about his five favourite films and his upcoming vampire movie plans with Flight of…
Nationwide Smoking Ban
New Zealand is aiming to eradicate smoking across the country by 2025. In an article published in the international Tobacco Control journal, health researchers at the University of Otago have said the government needs to set…
Succeeding With Smarts
In what airline revenue specialists say is a first for any airline, Air New Zealand has ventured into banking, converting its frequent-flier club members into financial services clients, with the OneSmart card. The card,…
Kairuku Comes Alive
The full skeleton of an ancient penguin that roamed New Zealand 25 million years ago has been reconstructed by experts from the University of Otago and North Carolina State University. Standing about 1.3m tall,…
Cleaning Up The Sty
An innovative biogas system developed by New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) is making Australian pig farms cleaner and greener as well as reducing the smell. Australian pork industry association,…
All About Winning
Hamilton-born Warren Gatland, 48, the current Wales National Rugby Club Coach, speaks to Meet the Boss TV presenter Padraig Hyland about his ambitions as a coach and for the Welsh team. His greatest satisfaction…
Long Island Hopes For Olympics
New Zealand runner Leanora Petrina, 29, who lives in Bayport, Long Island, is profiled in local publication Long Island Business News. “I run anything from 1500-5km on the track, including the steeplechase, Petrina says. “On…
Proud of Being a New Zealander: John Key
John Key reflects on what makes him most proud to be a New Zealander.
Distinctively World Famous
“Today, of 164 buildings constructed between 1920 and 1940, 140 remain, forming a time capsule of design elements — zigzags, sunbursts, Egyptian motifs and geometric patterns — that characterize the style and garner…
Traverse Demands Respect
“The Tongariro Crossing is considered New Zealand’s best one-day trek, and one of the best in the world,” Star Tribune reporter Melanie Radzicki McManus writes. “The trail winds through soft alpine meadows and past burbling mountain…
NZ Film for Manila Filmgoers
“While New Zealand may primarily be known as the setting of the Lord of the Rings franchise and having tons of sheep, one look at the lineup of the first-ever New Zealand Film Festival is enough…
Pebble Beach On Steroids
“There are a lot of places your golf ball can go on this course, and many of them are not good,” cautioned Ryan Brandeburg, the director of golf at a thrill ride of a…
Groundswell Of Riesling
“The emergence of exceptionally fine New Zealand wines proves there is a groundswell of real talent and ambition in these islands,” Jancis Robinson writes in the Financial Times. “Two weeks ago, I came across the…
Unfinished Business
Ahead of the “highly anticipated” sequel to Sione’s Wedding, actor Robbie Magasiva, 40, is in Sydney for a Q & A at the Liverpool Event Cinemas to promote Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business. The latest instalment is…
Experimental Eugenia In NY
New Zealand playwright Lorae Parry’s Eugenia will be performed at the State University of New York (SUNY) from 1-11 March. The play is a debut for the region, having been performed only once in the United…
Challenging Reputations
Despite the prevalence of foreign-chartered vessels (FCVs), which in 2010 earned $274.6 million in export revenue and hauled in 62.3 per cent of New Zealand’s deepwater fisheries catch, some companies have determined they are…
Towering Forward Impresses
Wellington basketball player, former Scots College student, Steven Adams is Sports Illustrated’s ‘High School Player of the Month’. Seven-foot Adams, who has relocated to the United States playing for Notre Dame Prep, is immensely talented and…
Paradigm For The Future
Bronwen Evans, former Radio New Zealand economics correspondent and co-owner of Faasai Resort and Spa, an award winning eco-resort in Thailand, will be one of the international speakers at the inaugural IncrediblEdge…
Affecting Festival Lineup
One of this year’s New Zealand International Festival of the Arts features will be the New Zealand Opera production, Hohepa, which premieres on 15 March. It tells the tragic tale of Maori chief Hohepa Te…
Chicken Little Might Be Right
Over the past ten years, the height of clouds has been shrinking according to researchers at the University of Auckland. The time frame is short, but if future observations show that clouds are truly…
Compelling Business Software
New Zealand-based small business accountancy software developer Xero has recently expanded its footprint to the United States. Business Insider reporter Ramon Ray talks to the president of the company’s American operations Jamie Sutherland. “Xero is first…
Servant of Cricket
New Zealand cricket commentator, coach, administrator and former Canterbury offspinner, Peter Sharp has died aged 72. Sharp played eight first-class matches over two seasons, taking 21 wickets at an average of 26.90. He began…
Downtime In The Trailer
Actor Sam Neill, who is starring in the US television series Alcatraz, has convinced his famous friends to compile Top 10 lists of their favourite songs, publishing them on the website for his boutique winery,
Sam Neill Extols NZ Pinot Noir
New Zealand actor Sam Neill pioneered pinot noir in his homeland. In 2012, Neill’s pinot noir won gold at the London International Wine and Spirit Competition. ‘In a matter of about 30 years, we’ve come…
Staying Atop an Alpine Meadow
“Whare Kea Lodge pilot James Ford is gunning his helicopter up a wide, verdant valley on a perfect summer’s day,” Toronto Star travel editor Jim Byers describes. “He climbs up and up and clears a…
Discussing Democracies
New Zealand and the United States are open and democratic societies with British colonial origins, a frontier legacy, a history of mass immigration and widely remarked-upon senses of optimism, but New Zealanders, by contrast,…
Wonders of Waiheke
“ is famed for its hippies and nudist beaches, its boutique art galleries and cafe culture, and for its stunning wineries, the production of which, although small by commercial standards, regularly match up…
CarboNZero Skateventure
Auckland trio Alan Carnaby, Troy Bilbrough and Guy Parsons spent five weeks from November to January skateboarding 1600km from Arequipa, Peru to La Serena, Chile to raise awareness about sustainable travel. They wound through…
Rings Of Change
“At The Kauri Museum in Matakohe biologist Dr Jonathan Palmer explains a novel approach to assessing global climate change — by analysing the rings of ancient kauri trees,” Chris Kilham writes for Fox News….
