Wellington Crema the Crop!
Wellington, home of the flat white, has been named one of the world’s 8 great coffee cities by CNN, in a list which also includes roasting heavy weights Melbourne, Rome and Seattle. There’s…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
There’s a New Sheriff in Town
New Zealand actor Martin Henderson, 39, stars as sheriff Harold Jensen in Sundance Channel’s new thriller The Red Road. Dark and dramatic, The Red Road is set in in the fictional town of Walpole, New…
Egg of Bird Thought Extinct for More than a Century Found in NZ
For the first time, New Zealand scientists say they have found an egg on Little Barrier Island of an endangered bird that had been presumed extinct for more than a century. The storm petrel is…
At Home in Manhattan with Makeup Artist Valery Gherman
New Zealand makeup artist Valery Gherman moved to New York 11 years ago and now lives in Manhattan’s famed Peter Cooper Village where he shares a two-bedroom apartment with Canadian photographer Derek…
Visit the City Reinventing Itself with Art
For those fancying a long-weekend getaway in Christchurch, the Guardian recommends the best places to stay, eat and visit, “touring the extraordinary renewal of the city that survived an earthquake”. “There’s no camouflaging the damage,”…
Kiwi Leads the Trail in Iconic Alaskan Sled-dog Race
A New Zealander was the first musher en route to the town of Nome when the infamous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race began Sunday. Otago based Curt Perano and 68 other mushers began the…
Creation Is a Completely Divine Concept, Says Catton
Ahead of appearances at Perth Writers Festival on 22 February and Adelaide Writers’ Week on 1 March, the Guardian’s Vicky Frost met with Booker prize-winning author 28-year-old Eleanor Catton to talk about her next…
Prince George’s First Royal Trip to Be New Zealand
Prince George will take part in his debut public engagement next month when he accompanies the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to New Zealand, Kensington Palace has announced. The Prince, who will be…
Warriors Season Full of Hope. Again
Every year it’s the same: this time could be the season when the New Zealand Warriors finally deliver on all their promise. The world’s toughest league competition, the NRL, kicks off on Thursday, with…
Air NZ Soars Above Qantas
The last time Air New Zealand invested in the Australian aviation market, the airline required a Government bail-out to stave off bankruptcy as its subsidiary Ansett fell apart. This time round, it’s Air New…
Springsteen Covers Royals at Mt Smart Stadium
According to Rolling Stone, Bruce Springsteen made the most surprising cover choice of his career when he played an acoustic rendition of teenage Grammy award-winner Lorde’s song Royals during his Auckland show at Mt…
Finn’s NY-Inspired Third Album a Whirlwind of Weirdness
This coming May, New Zealand singer-songwriter Liam Finn, 30, will release his third full-length album, The Nihilist, on which Finn plays 67 instruments. Vice magazine’s music channel Noisey premieres the new video…
New Book Describes Athens Before the Bubble Burst
In his book Athens – The Truth: Searching for Manos, Just Before the Bubble Burst, New Zealand author David Cade describes his time in the city during the summer of 2009 as startling reports…
Miami Concert a Fine Showcase for Young Conductor
The “clear beat and enthusiasm” of New Jersey Symphony’s assistant conductor New Zealand-born Gemma New, “charged up the Miami Symphony’s crackling brass and percussion sections”, at the orchestra’s “Valentine Fiesta” in February. “With a colourful…
Meticulous Coach Adds Polish to Irish Flair
When 48-year-old New Zealander Joe Schmidt was being lined up to take charge of Leinster in 2010, he met the province’s captain Leo Cullen and Test fly-half Jonny Sexton at a Dublin hotel as…
International Stage for NZ Writing
Acclaimed literature almanac, the Griffith Review, has devoted an entire issue to New Zealand poetry, fiction, non-fiction, art and photography. Award-winning author of Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones, has been brought in as guest editor…
Debut Radio Single Heavy Seas Rolling out in UK
With a voice described as “Bowie meets Bono”, New Zealand-born Thom Cross will release his debut radio single Heavy Sea, mixed by Grammy Award-winning producer Guy Massey of Manic Street Preachers fame. London-based Cross talked…
Kiwi Whisky Judged One of the Greats
A top-shelf tipple from the planet’s southern-most country has been named as one of the world’s best by a global whisky expert, Jim Murray. The flagship 21-year-old South Island Single Malt has been adjudged…
Whare Kea Lodge Amongst the World’s Best Hotel Dining
Wanaka’s Whare Kea Lodge restaurant is one of the world’s best hotel restaurants according to the Sydney Morning Herald’s Ute Junker. It is included alongside New York’s Nomad Hotel and London’s Mandarin-Oriental Hotel, where…
Promoting an Egalitarian Workplace with a Global Approach
Originally from Hastings, Todd Lauchlan, 41, is Indonesia country head at property consulting company Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). He talks with the Jakarta Post about his role at the firm and how an egalitarian…
Lorde & the Perfectly Formed Sentence
Ella Yellich-O’Connor stares at the reader from the pages of Vogue magazine looking wraithlike, almost like another famous alien fallen to earth. This Lorde looks quite unlike the girl from Devonport who improbably conquered…
Exceptional Mountain Biking Trails Abound
New Zealand “boasts exceptional mountain biking” according to Men’s Journal, which includes a feature on our best trails, saying that local “fat tyre offerings are too often overlooked by adventure-seekers rushing toward the beach…
Top Burger from NZ’s Adventure Capital
The CNN is having a dilemma. It’s toying with the idea that the best burger joint might not be on the streets of New York or Los Angeles, but in small town New Zealand. After…
Rose McIver Stars in Flowers in the Attic TV Sequel
Twenty-six-year-old Rose McIver has been confirmed to play the role of Cathy Dollanganger in Petals on the Wind, American cable network Lifetime’s upcoming sequel to its hit adaptation of Virginia Andrews’s Flowers in the…
Serial Entrepreneur Forging His Own Online Spice Routes
New Zealand-born James Lillis, 37, is the founder of Black Milk, “one of the fastest-growing Australian clothing companies you’ve never heard of, selling more than 1000 garments a day,” Glenda Korporaal writes in a…
Pioneering People Who Value Community Rebuild a Theatre
How the Court Theatre rose from the rubble of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake is described by its chief executive Philip Aldridge for the Guardian’s “Culture Professionals Network” series. “[After the earthquake on the morning of…
Auckland Illustrator Lands Space on the Wall next to Banksy
25 February 2014 – Auckland-based illustrator Henrietta Harris will exhibit alongside the world’s most famous street artist at the Robert Fontaine Gallery in Miami from 8 March. The exhibition, called Insiders:…
Friends Bid Farewell to an “Outstanding Human Being”
Auckland-born television personality and former model Charlotte Dawson who has died in Sydney, aged 47, was “outrageous, outgoing and outspoken”, said sports presenter Ben Fordham, who worked with Dawson at Channel Nine. “More than anything…
Sublime Southern Photographic Opportunities
The South Island’s 13 most beautiful photo opportunities include a view of the braided banks of the Waimakariri River (pictured), the Matai Falls in The Caitlins and icebergs on Tasman Lake, according to last…
Brothers Thriving in Phnom Penh’s Lively Culinary Scene
“As Phnom Penh’s traffic roared nearby on a recent late afternoon, George and William Norbert-Munns were busy decorating. Amid piles of rubble and cement bags, the brothers mapped their vision for the…
Black Caps on the Rise
What a summer. Three test victories, two test series wins and a 4-0 drubbing of the No. 1 ranked one-day side in the world. New Zealand has risen one place to seventh in the…
Impressive and Uncommonly Versatile NY Triple Bill
24 February 2014 – The opening of Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) at The Joyce in New York “marked the final stop on a US tour that has covered a lot of ground –…
Restoring French Colonial Ruins in Southern Cambodia
Chris Connop, a 57-year-old New Zealander with a degree in engineering and a background in horticulture and construction, says he stumbled into his current occupation – restoring and rebuilding Kampot architecture in Cambodia –…
Chuck Berry’s Dream Flight over Pink Waters
Veteran skydiver and Red Bull air athlete New Zealand-born Chuck Berry, 47, was last week soaring over Lake Hillier in Western Australia mesmerised by the pink mystery below. “The whole crew was … blown away…
Artisan Café to Open in Revitalised Central London Precinct
New Zealander Jodie Whitelaw, 33, will open the first Antipodean artisan coffee shop in the “Government and God” quarter around Victoria station in London of which the first stage of the “extraordinary overhaul, has…
Learning to Stand Upright in New Zealand
Historically, geographically, culturally – there are many points of comparison between New Zealand and its neighbour to the west, Australia. But there are notable differences. Victoria University’s Professor Harry Ricketts examines migration in New…
Lange Intelligence Revelations Resurface in US report
A report by US online investigative journalist specializing in intelligence and international affairs, Wayne Madsen, reprises 2006 reports of the extent of New Zealand’s ongoing involvement in Western alliance intelligence gathering. In January…
Lorde Scoops Best International Female Solo Artist at The Brit Awards 2014
Lorde has overcome the odds and won the best International Female Solo Artist prize at the Brit Awards 2014. Despite going into the show as a huge underdog, the 17 year old newcomer took the…
Xero Eyes 29 Million US Small Businesses
Wellington-based accounting software maker Xero signals a major push in the United States market, with appointment of former and current executives from Microsoft, HP and PayPal in a move analysts say could foreshadow a…
Epic Innings Earns International Acclaim
Black Caps captain Brendan McCullum’s magisterial triple century – the first ever achieved by a New Zealander – has been hailed by Indian media as one of the greatest innings in cricket history. As…
Cover Duties for Our Own Alternative Pop Voice
Lorde takes one of four covers for fashion magazine V’s music special as part of a feature on the “next wave of alternative pop voices,” starring alongside HAIM, Say Lou Lou, and BANKS. The 17-year-old…
Fledgling Party Giving a Voice to New Zealanders Living Overseas
An estimated one million New Zealanders living overseas will become a serious political force if the newly formed Expatriate Party of New Zealand gets its way, says the Guardian. Based in Perth, the party says…
NZ Farm the Basis for Winning London Butchery
Nothing tastes better than grass-fed beef and lamb, as anyone raised on a New Zealand farm can tell you. But for those poor souls who flew the coop in search of a different life…
Women in Walker Strut Faster Better and Stronger
Karen Walker’s suffragette-inspired fall 2014 collection was shown at New York Fashion Week; “a modern and tongue ‘n cheek nod to women on the march”, the Daily Mail reported from the catwalk. “Our collections are…
Cricket’s Hottest Property Nearly a Millionaire
Black Cap Corey Anderson is only 23-years old and nearly a millionaire. Indian Premier League side Mumbai Indians paid $866,000 for the young all-rounder, who set the cricketing world alight with the fastest one-day…
Booker Judge Explains Catton’s Genius
Eleanor Catton’s Booker-winning The Luminaries is a novel in which almost everyone is obsessed with the acquisition of wealth, writes Robert Macfarlane in Intelligent Life, the sister publication to The Economist. But of all…
Toxicologist Claims Alexander the Great Died from Poisoned Wine
National Poisons Centre toxicologist Dr Leo Schep may have unravelled the mystery surrounding the death of Greek king Alexander the Great, who died at 32 in 323BC. Schep thinks the culprit could be poisonous wine…
Astronaut Says NZ Vineyards Most Appeal from Space
15 February 2014 – The vineyards of Marlborough are the part of the world which most caught Canadian Chris Hadfield’s eye from space. The “selfie”-taking astronaut, who became widely known after performing a rendition…
National Australia Bank Appoints Tech Whizz Geraldine McBride
Victoria University-educated Geraldine McBride, founder and chief executive of software company MyWave, has been appointed director of National Australia Bank (NAB) and will join the board in March. McBride’s appointment is a clear demonstration of…
Boy from Russell Turn Couture Designer for the Stars Returns
After leaving New Zealand 23 years ago for the lights of London, can-do eccentric artist Lyall Hakaraia is back this month for Auckland’s Pride festival. The nightclub owner, event director, fashion designer, DJ and…
One British Fashion Influence on Another
Coveted New Zealand-born designer Emilia Wickstead has hailed the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, as a credit to British fashion. Talking to CNN’s Max Foster, Wickstead said: “I am always designing with the idea of…
Exciting Things Afoot at the Royal New Zealand Ballet
Artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet Wellington-based Ethan Stiefel is significantly raising the “well-respected” company’s profile. The former American Ballet Theater principal was about as famous as it is possible for a…
Atea Setting Itself Apart with Considered Minimalism
A dress designed by New Zealand-born Laura Myers, founder of the London-based brand Atea, is included in a Wall Street Journal feature about new midprice labels setting themselves apart from their trend-chasing…
Understated Luxury a Big Drawcard for Tourists to Queenstown
Alpine and resort destination Queenstown, New Zealand’s answer to Aspen and Lake Como, offers outdoor adventurers vacation-home options for every season says global luxury source, Robb Report. In recent years, Queenstown’s reputation for adventure has…
Neil Finn’s Latest Solo Album His Funkiest
“Neil Finn makes pop music, and good pop music at that. He can’t help it,” espouses the Sydney Morning Herald’s senior music writer Bernard Zuel, and he “makes the oddest and, to these ears,…
Eric Tracey UK New Zealander of the Year 2014
Eric Tracey has been named the UK New Zealander of the Year 2014 at the New Zealand Society’s Waitangi Day Charity Ball held in London. Announced by the High Commissioner for New Zealand the Rt…
