Over the Alps
On the TranzAlpine, India’s Economic Times reporter’s travel from Canterbury, taking in mesmerising views of the Waimakiriri, through the Otira tunnel and on to Punakaiki and Greymouth. “The highest viaduct, 73m above the river,…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Pests Transformed
New Zealand possum fur is being imported by Portland-based company Eco-Luxury which produces throws, cushions and bedspreads, “for all of the luxury and none of the guilt.” On a trip to New Zealand,…
Alive in New York
Auckland multimedia and performance artist Shigeyuki Kihara will make her North American debut at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art with an exhibition called ‘Living Photographs’. During the exhibition, Kihara will also perform ‘Taualuga:…
Dream with Opera
Auckland five-star boutique hotel Mollies– owned by opera fanatics Frances Wilson and Stephen Fitzgerald– has received a coveted ‘Hideaways of The Year Award’ and is one of Harper’s ‘Longtime Favourite Hideaways…
Emotional Win
The All Blacks have retained the Tri-Nations title for the fourth successive year, beating the Wallabies 28-24 in Brisbane. Sustained by the brilliance of captain Richie McCaw and also Rodney So’oialo, the All Blacks…
Essence of Jade
Dunedin jeweller Jamie Fergus took a trip to the largest jade-deposit in the southern hemisphere, to Cowell in South Australia, after which he taught jewellery students in Adelaide how to carve the mine’s particularly…
Pride in Heritage
New Zealand’s first Governor-General of Asian descent Anand Satyanand – who recently paid a visit to India – is the subject of an article in The Times of India, which discusses how “the heirs…
Renewing the Fervour
Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour will fill with spectator boats early next year when six America’s Cup teams take to the water in a match racing series. Called the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, competitors will race…
The Final Lap
Celebrated Taranaki-born swimming coach Duncan Laing – who held a four-decade coaching tenure at Dunedin’s Moana Pools has died – aged 77. Laing is best known for coaching swimming star Danyon Loader to gold in the…
Comparisons of Reality
As an ‘Artist to Antarctica’ in 2 2, Wellington contemporary photographer Anne Noble, saw beyond conventional portrayals of the South Pole, instead focusing on the changing light patterns in whiteouts, swirling ice-crystals and then…
Dedicated Follower
Wellington-born designer Rebecca Taylor is better known in New York than New Zealand according to The Epoch Times, “where she has made a huge impression on the fashion scene” dressing celebrities like Sarah Jessica…
Look Up Without Pain
New Zealander Darrell Poole invented the neck safety-device Necprotech after surviving a rock-climbing accident in 1998 which saw him fall six metres because of a slack rope. Poole fell after his belayer – the…
In Sheep Code
New Zealand clothing label Icebreaker is enabling its customers to trace their purchased merino garment back to one of the 120 sheep stations where the fibre was grown by entering the individual ‘Baacode’ number…
Weddings on Ice
Auckland-based bar group Minus5 is opening the first ice-lounge in the United States, in Las Vegas, on September 26. Named for the temperature maintained within its 1,200-square-foot main room – 5 degrees Celsius below…
Edwardian assortment
Sam Neill stars in Toa Fraser’s second feature Dean Spanley which Variety reviews, describing the film as “immaculately cast”. “Based on an obscure novel by late Anglo-Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, Alan Sharp’s screenplay…
Green Invasion
Though New Zealand has 2,065 plant species which grow nowhere else on the planet, 22,000 non-native plants have also made the isles their home. Of those, 2,069 have become naturalized: they have spread out…
Teen Bags Four Medals
Christchurch 15-year-old Sophie Pascoe – the youngest participant at the Beijing Paralympics – has won four medals: golds in the 200m individual medley, in the 1m breaststroke and 100m backstroke and a silver medal in the…
To Cascading Waters
Waiheke Island, home to 8000 people and 30 vineyards, is a “true microcosm of Aotearoa” writes Boston Globe reporter Stephanie Stephens, who is “struck by the endearingly lower-stress pace of New Zealand life” coming…
Series Victory for Dixon
Aucklander Scott Dixon has won his second IndyCar Series championship at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois driving for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Though Brazilian Helio Castroneves won the race by .0033 of a…
Hareb Catches Some Ricos
Taranaki surfer Paige Hareb, 18, the No. 2 ranked women’s junior professional (under-20) in the world, has won the Port Stevens Pro Junior Series Event in NSW. Hareb is having a good year with…
Islands Preserved
New Zealand tourism is as much reliant upon maintaining the highest environment standards and preserving the Maori concept of kaitiakitanga – guardianship of the land and the animals – as it is giving visitors…
Persistence in Love
On Maud Island, evolutionary biologists from the University of Toronto have been studying the mating habits of giant male Cook Strait weta. Not only do males travel more than twice as far as females…
Taking on the Chutes
The fourth annual Volkl NZ Freeski Open held at Treble Cone in late August, marking the season opener of the international ski calendar, saw Dunedin’s Alastair Eason and Wanaka’s Janina Kuzma take the top…
Boutique at the Bach
Auckland-based lifestyle fashion label FEW is showing its spring 2009 collection – inspired by the New Zealand bach – at the Action Sports Retailer (ASR) trade show in San Diego. The spring designs are…
Provocative on Paper
Designer Karen Walker’s ‘Masters of Disguise’ eyewear shoot has inspired the editor of hip New York-based publication Paper Magazine to base an entire issue on the collection. Walker’s creative and quirky take on…
Luxurious Technology
New Zealanders Jeremy, Simon and Dareen Doherty have won first prize in an international design competition for their swan-shaped ‘Swarovski Mouse’, beating some 4074 individuals and institutions from 92 countries. The ‘Crystal Vision’ competition…
Cool on the Catwalk
The 2008 Air New Zealand Fashion Week in Auckland is followed by Australian Vogue who review the second day of the event at Trelise Cooper, Stolen Girlfriends and Deborah Sweeney shows. Cooper supplies “something…
Commendable Position
New Zealand’s refusal to approve of a nuclear deal between India and the United States has been praised in a New York Times editorial. Headed “Let’s hear it for New Zealand”, the newspaper writes:…
Celebrating the Centurions
Dunedin-born Glenn Turner, one of ten living batsmen to have achieved 100 first-class centuries, was honoured at London’s Hilton Hotel, where Turner’s bat, amongst other memorabilia, was auctioned for charity with a bid of NZ$13,937. The…
Branding Billy Apple
Aucklander Barrie Bates became Pop artist Billy Apple in 1962, and since then – his name now trademarked – has always made art, life. His 2008 solo exhibition ‘The Bruce and Denny Show’ at…
Familial Ties
Gisborne has the highest concentration of the surname Blair – and Northland the surname Beckham – in the English-speaking world, according to a new website which enables the names of people to be tracked…
Ambition at the Stoop
North Shore-raised former All-Black Nick Evans, 27, now fly-half for English side the Harlequins, could be the player the team needs to help them clinch a top four spot in the Guinness Premiership. So…
Four Decades With Finn
Musician and songwriter Tim Finn is interviewed by Salt Lake City newspaper The Deseret News about his forthcoming solo album release, ‘The Conversation’, and a career spanning 40 years. “If you would have told…
Controversial Evidence
Professor David Fergusson, founder and director of the Christchurch Health and Development Study, was one of 20 reviewers of the preliminary draft of an American Psychological Association (APA) paper on the mental health effects…
Filming the Arabian dream
New Zealand writer and director Craig Johnson, who has lived in Dubai since 2003, is about to begin filming an English-language production based on expatriate life in the city, to be released in time…
Edges painted black
New Zealand artists New York/Auckland-based Max Gimblett (above) and Judy Millar of Auckland, (below) feature in a group show exploring “different aesthetic angles using black”, in an exhibition entitled, ‘Edges of Darkness’ at Berlin’s…
Golf’s Rising Star
Rotorua schoolboy Danny Lee, 18, has the golfing world at his feet after becoming the youngest player ever to win the US Amateur championship, held at the Pinehurst club in North Carolina last week….
Hill Moves into the US
Michael Hill International (MHI) has purchased 17 stores in the American cities of Chicago and Missouri for a sum of US$5.5 million (NZ$8.1 million). “Chicago is a good market for a newly arrived retailer,…
On Board for Gold
World champion Auckland windsurfer Tom Ashley, 24, sailed past his rivals, to claim first place in the men’s competition and a gold medal, the third won by the New Zealand Olympic contingent in Beijing….
From Within the Soul
Lower Hutt runner Nick Willis surged forward in the final moments of the men’s 1500m for third place, in a race Willis’ University of Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said the 25-year-old “always had the…
Cocktails After Angkor
Former Radio New Zealand reporter Dean Williams has turned his talents to the world of hospitality in Cambodia’s popular tourist destination, Siem Reap. According to The Phnom Penh Post: “In September, Williams will open…
Releasing Expectations
Auckland-based band Cut Off Your Hands are described as a “vicious and vibrant foursome” and frontman Nick Johnston, “the new Iggy Pop of the New Zealand pop-punk pioneers” on a British news website. The…
In Search of a History
New Zealand film producer and public speaker Anna Wilding is now writing regularly for the TennisGrandStand site, and in her first column, as the US Open approaches, she writes about her great uncle, tennis…
Fraser’s film premiere
New Zealand film director Toa Fraser’s latest feature, Dean Spanley, is to have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 6. The film is part of the ‘gala programme’ which is…
Telepathic in Louisiana
Anna Paquin, 26, is mind-reading Southern waitress Sookie Starkhouse in the HBO vampire series True Blood, which starts September 7 in the United States. Paquin chats with Women’s Wear Daily about going blonde…
Sea Urchin Reef Concert
Auckland University marine biologists Craig Radford and Andrew Jeffs have discovered that sea urchins are behind loud noises emanating from underwater around New Zealand reefs. The 20- to 30-decibel sound is caused by the…
Four Years Pays Off
Athens silver medallist triathlete Bevan Docherty, 31, took third place and a bronze medal in the men’s triathlon at the Beijing Olympics and is determined to try for the gold in four years time….
Caged Art Debut
Auckland artist Sharon Finn is illuminating Sydney’s Simmer on the Bay with her first exhibition, ‘The Gilded Cage’, a collection of bejewelled chandeliers and bodiced mannequins, one adorned with antique watchfaces . For the…
Medal Haul in Beijing
Hastings twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell took gold medals in the double skulls beating their German rivals by 0.01 sec, the win on the same day Mahe Drysdale won a bronze in the single skulls and…
Gold in the Bird’s Nest
Auckland athlete Valerie Vili, 23, has won a gold medal in shot put at the Beijing Olympics, the first for New Zealand in track and field since John Walker’s gold in the 1500m at…
Screen Australia hires Harley
New Zealander Ruth Harley – currently CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission – has been appointed chief executive of the newly formed national film agency, Screen Australia. Dr Harley begins the position in…
Clement’s Celestial Chevalier
Wellington Conchord Jemaine Clement takes on the role of fantasy novelist Dr Ronald Chevalier in teen comedy Gentlemen Broncos, a film created by Napolean Dynamite’s Jared Hess to be released in 2009. According…
Science made funny
Auckland’s Indian Ink Theatre Company – with co-founder Jacob Rajan in the starring role – performed The Candlestickmaker to Australian audiences at Brisbane’s Cremorne Theatre. Rajan, who wrote the play with the other half…
Cooking by Numbers
Wellingtonian Matt Moss, 36, left New Zealand 16 years ago to play rugby in Britain, Germany and the United States winding up in Beijing working for catering company, Aramark as operations manager at the…
Into the Crystal Ball
Mark Todd, voted Rider of the Century 20th by the International Equestrian Centre, is hoping to compete next at the World Championships in Kentucky in 2010 and is not ruling out the London 2012…
Unconventional Movement
New Zealander Grant Harrison, 44, Hutt Valley High School old boy and owner of American health benefits company Humana, one of the largest in the United States, is the man behind bike-share programme
