Blog Archives

Extraordinarily Special Kiwi

Extraordinarily Special Kiwi

A rare white kiwi chick has been born — the first to be hatched in captivity — at the Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre, 24km north of Masterton. The chick, named…

Ponoko Perfect

Ponoko Perfect

Ponoko, the virtual manufacturing pioneer, has announced that its Personal Factory platform will support the new 3D modelling software, Autodesk 123D. The partnership between Autodesk and Ponoko allows the companies to meet…

In The Nick of Time

In The Nick of Time

Two-time Olympian triathlete Kris Gemmell from Palmerston North has won his first Memphis in May Olympic Triathlon in one of the closest finishes in the event’s 28-year history. Gemmell finished 61 seconds…

Written Words Prevail

Written Words Prevail

New Zealand author Craig Cliff has won the Commonwealth Writers Prize best first book award, worth £5000,, for his short story collection A Man Melting, which judges called “highly entertaining and thought-provoking”. Glasgow-born Aminatta…

This is the Buzz

This is the Buzz

Hip-hop star Auckland-born Dane Rumble and Avalanche City recently featured on ABC’s top-rating celebrity gossip show What’s the Buzz. Rumble and Dave Baxter, brainchild behind and frontman of the folksy Avalanche City, were guests…

Tales From the Kitchen

Tales From the Kitchen

New Zealand-raised chef Anna Hansen tells The Independent how she came to meet the chef behind London’s St John Bar and Restaurant, Fergus Henderson. Hansen came to the UK in 1992 and got a…

#130: Jim Tim Sam Kiri & JK

#130: Jim Tim Sam Kiri & JK

Edge Message #130 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM Greetings. NZEDGE.COM publishes daily on Facebook and Twitter. This newsletter presents a selection of…

All Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs

All Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs

Auckland’s Naked and Famous are included in a Guardian list of “12 new bands you have to catch” at one of this summer’s UK music festivals. “ New Zealand five-piece make the…

Heart-to-Heart in Red Zone

Heart-to-Heart in Red Zone

Bob Parker is taking advice from former San Francisco mayor Art Agnos, who was mayor when the Californian city was struck by a devastating earthquake in 1989. Agnos has come to Christchurch to advise…

Spend Your Time Wisely

Spend Your Time Wisely

New Zealander Derek Handley, who sold his mobile marketing company, The Hyperfactory to American media conglomerate Meredith Corporation last year for an undisclosed amount, gave a speech in April at Kea, New Zealand’s global…

Home Away from Home

Home Away from Home

Canadian life coach Karen Miners has made a new home for herself just outside of New Plymouth with her New Zealand partner, Dave. Miners, a former Montrealer, describes her life living abroad….

Little Blues Find Help

Little Blues Find Help

At Christchurch’s International Antarctic Centre 24 Little Blue Penguins are being cared for having been found injured and with no chance of survival in the wild. “Most of them have broken or…

Aiming for Competitive Edge

Aiming for Competitive Edge

“In what is probably a bit of mid-life crisis I have come up with a solution — trying to get fit and up to speed to play a competitive game of cricket again,” former…

Paradise In the 21st Century

Paradise In the 21st Century

“New Zealand may well be the most desirable tourist destination in the world,” author Michael Tobias writes. “It is certainly among the most beautiful island nations on the planet, its biodiversity magnificent…

Blue takes best short in Cannes

Blue takes best short in Cannes

New Zealand short film Blue, made by Aucklander Stephen Kang, has won the Canal Plus’ Grand Prix and Du Meilleur Court Metrage Best Short Film award at the Cannes Film…

Cricket Star Scales Everest

Cricket Star Scales Everest

Former New Zealand wicketkeeper Aucklander Adam Parore has reached the top of Mt Everest. Parore, who represented New Zealand in cricket for more than a decade, climbed the world’s highest mountain to…

Clay Figures Make US Debut

Clay Figures Make US Debut

New Zealand artist Francis Upritchard will exhibit for the first time in the United States at the Cincinnati Art Museum and Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) next year. Upritchard’s “Wanting” (above) will feature…

Trinity Opportunities

Trinity Opportunities

University of Canterbury student Bree Loverich is one of 42 from Christchurch studying free at Oxford University for its eight-week Trinity term, after the British university offered places to those affected by February’s earthquake….

South Pole Misadventures

South Pole Misadventures

A new book by New Zealand journalist and respected author on Antarctic explorers John Thomson says Edmund Hillary “cheated” his way to the South Pole in 1958. Thomson, author of Climbing the…

Keeping His Shirt On

Keeping His Shirt On

All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter has announced he has signed a four-year contract to stay in New Zealand after this year’s Rugby World Cup while retaining an option to play overseas for a short…

Californian Yellow Jersey

Californian Yellow Jersey

Cyclist Greg Henderson has claimed the third stage of the Tour of California completing the 192.2km road race from Auburn to Modesto in 5 hours 14 minutes 29 seconds. Juan Jose Haedo of Argentina…

Leading Lights of Architecture

Leading Lights of Architecture

Auckland architecture firm Patterson Associates has been named as one of the five practices set to shape the future of architecture. World Architecture News, the top international architecture journal, announced the win…

Distinctly New Zealand Feel

Distinctly New Zealand Feel

New Zealand landscaper Sam Martin has landed a multi-million dollar contract to redevelop London’s iconic Battlesea Power Station. After sitting derelict for nearly 3 years, Europe’s largest brick building is now being revamped to…

Masters of Mustering

Masters of Mustering

“There are only two breeds of sheep in the world,” Jim Murray of Glenmore Station at Lake Tekapo once told Irish writer and photographer Jamie Ball, who is based in Christchurch. “Merinos,…

Deployment to Timor-Leste

Deployment to Timor-Leste

A 62-strong New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent has left for a six-month deployment to Timor-Leste to support the Australian-led International Stabilization Force (ISF) in the country. The NZDF has supported various peacekeeping operations…

#129: Remarkable New Zealanders

#129: Remarkable New Zealanders

Edge Message #129 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM Greetings. NZEDGE.COM publishes daily on Facebook and Twitter. Below a selection of New Zealand headlines in the…

Sunshine Beats Pneumonia

Sunshine Beats Pneumonia

Researchers at Waikato University have found that sunshine can help save the lives of pneumonia patients. Medical scientists at the University have found that vitamin D, which is absorbed through the skin and produced…

Taste the Santa Rosa plums

Taste the Santa Rosa plums

The 27 Mountford ‘Liaison’ Pinot Noir is the Los Angeles Times’ ‘Wine of the Week’. “Elegant and smooth, this New World Pinot carries the taste of Santa Rosa plums and sweet Asian…

Strike a Pose

Strike a Pose

Fresh on the fashion scene is 17-year-old New Zealander Emily Baker — “undisputedly, this season’s top new face” — featured in NYMag.com’s The Cut blog. This rising star made her debut on the…

Te Kanawa to Sing in Israel

Te Kanawa to Sing in Israel

“There may be imitators or wannabes, but there is really only one true diva — legendary soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa,” The Jerusalem Post’s David Brinn writes in a profile of the…

Repositioning Long-Haul Travel

Repositioning Long-Haul Travel

Air New Zealand’s “innovative” Skycouch Economy seat has won the Aviation category in Condé Nast Traveller’s 211 Innovation and Design Awards trumping new First Class A38 cabin designs entered by…

Peacekeepers a Symbol of Success

Peacekeepers a Symbol of Success

Former deputy prime minister Jim McLay, now New Zealand’s ambassador to the United Nations, writes an opinion piece for The Kansas City Star about May 29 — International Day of UN Peacekeepers and a…

Coup for Moving Images

Coup for Moving Images

The Natural History New Zealand (NHNZ)’s archive sales arm has been chosen by National Geographic Channels Worldwide to represent its footage from the past 2 years. The National Geographic archive adds thousands…

Back to Biological Basics

Back to Biological Basics

“At Seresin Estate, a winery owned by New Zealand cinematographer Michael Seresin known for such films as Midnight Express and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the past blurs with the…

Passion for the Game

Passion for the Game

What is immediately obvious about John Kirwan, coach of the Japanese rugby side, is his passion for the game that has given him a living for the past 28 years. Auckland-born Kirwan,…

City on the Edge of the Pacific

City on the Edge of the Pacific

“Nestled in tree-covered hills at the head of a spectacular harbour, Dunedin’s rise to prominence as the gateway to the Otago region came with the discovery of gold at Gabriel’s Gully, to…

Solemn Repatriation

Solemn Repatriation

A mummified and tattooed Maori head has been returned to New Zealand after spending 136 years in a Normandy museum. This is the first to be returned of a total of 16 in France….

HardTalk With John Key

HardTalk With John Key

BBC’s Stephen Sackur tackles PM John Key in London in a 25 minute interview for HardTalk (Part 1, Part 2). Positioning New Zealand as “very small” and “too small”, Sackur…

Beauty in Clamorous Times

Beauty in Clamorous Times

Tim Radford is the only person British writer Peter Forbes can think of who has been both literary and science editor of the Guardian. Forbes continues, in a review of Radford’s new…

Left Past the Fumaroles

Left Past the Fumaroles

After a 2-minute helicopter ride from Whakatane airport to White Island, Sydney Morning Herald journalist Keith Austin’s “first aerial impression is of a volcano from a movie, albeit with one side completely,…

One Opportunity to Get It Right

One Opportunity to Get It Right

“’Martin Snedden the former international cricketer now charged with delivering the Rugby World Cup to New Zealand, is clock-watching; has been for the best part of three years,’ the Telegraph’s Paul Ackford writes. ‘We’ve…

Structural Snapshots

Structural Snapshots

New Zealand’s best new buildings range from a bus shelter in Queenstown and an office tower in Auckland, to an opera house in Oamaru, houses on Waiheke Island, and an apartment in…

Burgers and Fries to Iraq

Burgers and Fries to Iraq

New Zealand-listed gourmet burger company BurgerFuel Worldwide has sold the Master License agreement for the rights to BurgerFuel Iraq. It is the company’s fourth new territory in the Middle East. The brand…

Girlfriends in Sydney

Girlfriends in Sydney

A gallery of the Stolen Girlfriend’s Club show at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week features on Vogue Australia’s website. The label collaborated with Wellington artist Karl Maughan using his paintings of gardens, bright…

Southee Signs with Essex

Southee Signs with Essex

Northern Districts bowler Tim Southee has signed with Essex for this year’s Twenty2 campaign, which begins in June. Whangarei-born Southee has played 19 Twenty2 internationals for his country, taking 22 wickets with best figures…

#128: Palestine to Southern Ohio

#128: Palestine to Southern Ohio

Edge Message #128 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM Greetings. NZEDGE.COM publishes daily on Facebook and Twitter. This newsletter presents a selection of New Zealanders appearing…

Bringing Life Force to Nevada

Bringing Life Force to Nevada

Hastings-based full-time Maori dance company Kahurangi recently performed at the Carson City Library in Nevada as part of a theatre in education tour of Canada and the United States. A performance by…

Unrecognisable Love Songs

Unrecognisable Love Songs

Saddlebacks, native to the North Island, seem to have developed various regional ‘accents’ over the last 5 years after humans relocated the species to small island refuges to aid in their preservation,…

Te Kairanga Sold to American

Te Kairanga Sold to American

Martinborough’s Te Kairanga Wines, renowned for its pinot noir, has been purchased by American businessman Bill Foley. Te Kairanga is the largest holder of vineyard land in the Martinborough region. The price…

Bountiful Inspiration

Bountiful Inspiration

New Zealand’s exotic landscapes and lush flora were the inspiration behind American artist Mary Powell’s monotype prints she is exhibiting at RiverSea Gallery in Astoria, Oregon. Each piece has been printed several…

All Eyes on the Palace

All Eyes on the Palace

The popularity of the monarchy has surged in New Zealand since April’s royal wedding, with a big fall in the number of people expecting the country to become a republic. A new poll by…

Weathering the Storm

Weathering the Storm

“This picture was taken on our way to Saint Arnaud, but it could have been the west coast of Ireland, as the weather kept changing from sun to lashing rain,” amateur photographer Arnaud Chevalier…

Sans Guide in Wine Country

Sans Guide in Wine Country

“I’ve travelled to New Zealand about a dozen times from the US and one of my favourite areas is Marlborough, aka wine country (natch), which is found on the north part of…

NEW Zealand: NEW Thinking

NEW Zealand: NEW Thinking

Brian Sweeney’s Speech at Kea’s “NEW Zealand: NEW Thinking” event in New York. (13 minutes)

Love Letter to Outsiders

Love Letter to Outsiders

New Zealand fashion label Lonely Hearts’ designer and co-founder Helene Morris is interviewed in the May issue of Australian magazine Frankie about their new collection ‘Little Bandits’ — “a love letter to outsiders.” “We…

Don’t Ask About the Price

Don’t Ask About the Price

Auckland yacht manufacturers Diverse Projects’ 31.5m boat Black Pearl headlines this year’s Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show in Queensland. The hull of the superyacht is modelled on a rare…