Going Vertical
Kiwi filmed/helmed Vertical Limit gave star Chris O’Donnell a few moments of terror: “my next thought was, somebody better show me a copy of my paycheck again, so I can remember why I’m doing this…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Shear Mind-power
New Zealander Rodney Sutton holds three major shearing records. He credits his success to understanding “what nervous lambs do under pressure”.
Anzacs?
New Zealand voice in Sydney Bernard Lagan dissects the question of Federation with Australia: “It is unlikely that what modern New Zealanders most define themselves as – a nation of Pacific peoples – could have come…
Spin the disc
Radio Pacific DJ Des Coppins hit the airwaves nude after losing his shirt, and his trousers, in an unwise bet.
Hunter Becomes Hunted
Diving for crayfish off the Coromandel, British diver Peter Fuller was hooked by a passing fisherman: “the idiot was rigged for marlin but caught me,” said Fuller, still nursing the hand he was hooked through.
Flying Doctor
Mama Daktari spent her life working for the African Medical Research Foundation, co-founded by Kiwi Sir Archibald McKindoe.
Precision Boat
Details of the construction Louis Vuitton challenger Young America, designed by Aucklander Bruce Farr.
Facelift, Mate?
Face peels and face-lifts are hot in rural New Zealand – sun-burned, nuggetty farmers are twice as likely as city-dwellers to put themselves under the plastic surgeon’s knife.
Demon Cricket
New Zealand giant wetas – also known as “demon crickets” – are among the most exotic animals at London Zoo.
Born Free
New Zealand organisation has succeeded in liberating Sonny the chimp, a former performer with Ridgeways Circus. He has been reunited with his brother Buddy in Zambia.
Deadly Thorn
A thorn in your side could prove fatal according to doctors at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital. The bug streptococcus pyogenes, present in soil, can enter the bloodstream through small wounds.
First Wedding
Julie and Sean Humphrey “found out how beautiful New Zealand was and just decided to do something a little different” – traveling from Ohio to Christchurch for the first wedding of the (real) millennium.
Never Say Die
One of Briton’s most popular MPs before being expelled from the Labour party for communist sympathies, New Zealand-born John Platt-Mills is still a practicing lawyer at 94. “Is there anything else he wants to achieve? ‘Yes, I’d…
First Golf – Definitely
“Armed with a three iron, a luminous golf ball and a light strapped to his head, Ant Gear dashed around the course at North Island Manawatu Golf Club in 114 – eight shots better than his…
Moving Opera
Diva Kiri Te Kanawa’s welcome to the millennium was “the first, and one of the relatively few, moving moments among a hailstorm of images bearing down from around the globe during marathon New Year’s…
Masai Milk
Milk from Asian and African cows is free of the heart disease-linked beta casein protein found in other milk, according to Professor Bob Elliott of the University of Auckland. The healthy hearts of the milk-drinking Masai switched Elliot…
Dishy Neill
Sam Neill puts in a “terrific performance” in The Dish, a “little-known story of how an obscure Australian tracking station provided the crucial downlink for the worldwide broadcast of the 1969 moon walk”, which has…
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Design
The revolutionary John Britten V1 bike featured in a story in Germany’s top news magazine Focus on the ‘The Art of the Motorcycle’ exhibition at the new Rem Koolhaas designed Guggenheim, Las Vegas. And in CycleWorld the…
Sixties Icon
Check out Sixties Motor Racing for Bruce McLaren shots, including New Zealand’s greatest driver salon racing in a Jaguar (choose Catalogue on Palawan website). McLaren is also featured in British Esquire‘s quarterly sports supplement.
Asparagus are from Mars, Potatoes are from Venus
Lincoln University researchers have successfully grown potatoes and asparagus in soil collected from Mars. “Space-based soils could potentially support future human expansion in the solar system,” according to Professor Michael Mautner. “I wouldn’t say very soon, but…
Life in a Te Kuiti Villa…
Hints for a best-seller: New Zealand that “far-off place where property is cheap and the good life is to be had on a modest income,” would be ideal for Year in Provence-style escapism.
Tui Flower and ANZAC Biscuits
Tui Flower, the “Julia Child of New Zealand” shares her ANZAC biscuits recipe with readers of the Los Angeles Times.
They’re Off
The Race, featuring New Zealand skipper Grant Dalton, kicked off in Barcelona on December 31. The giant catamarans are expected to circumnavigate the globe in around 65 days.
Unblemished
“We did not spot a single blemish in New Zealand, where it’s hard to tell where the pristine national parks end and the rest of the country begins….We discovered why New Zealand’s Milford Track, with its…
Gender Tee-off
Michael Campbell is one of four top male golfing stars to meet women’s #1 Karrie Webb in a million dollar “Battle of the Sexes” series later this year.
Awards of Merit
Controversial clergyman and academic Lloyd Geering carried off the highest honour in the New Years’ list, Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Colin “Pinetree” Meads, All Black 1957-71 and all-time greatest AB, is one…
Bungy-free Zone
“They’re funny things, kiwis – like big hedgehogs with bird bits sticking out, and they snuffle around with their heads to the ground.” An anxious Brit birdwatches as an adrenaline-free alternative to “catapulting about the place”.
Scots Bemused
“The strangeness of New Zealand is brought home to us the very first night of the tour. We’ve just bought our first round in a bar in Paihia, when this Maori guy rolls up to us…
Window Rescue
Christchurch window-cleaner Brent Harrington’s rescue provided a spectacle for 200 cheering tourist after his pulley-operated platform malfunctioned, stranding him outside the fifth floor of the BNZ.
Is That a Wallet in Your Sofa or Are You Just Pleased to See Me?
After 57 years apart US marine Chuck Herrler was reunited with his wallet, courtesy of Wellington woman Louise Alliston, who noticed a strange bulge in the arm of her second-hand sofa.
Kreme de la Kreme
New Zealander Donald Henshall is the new president of international development for Krispy Kreme, makers of President Clinton’s favourite doughnuts.
Tennis Ace
Since coming to New Zealand six years ago, 19 year old Ilke Gers has developed into a potential tennis champion, currently aiming to break into the world top 400.
Federate or Die?
“It is likely that the New Zealand situation will become so critical in the early years of this century that support for political union will rise rapidly.”
Smart Milk
Breast is best for premature babies according to Christchurch School of Medicine researchers. Brest-fed babies have a slighter higher IQ at ages 7 and 8, compared to their peers raised on the bottle.
Berg Ahoy!
Kiwi Nigel Jolly heads a team of eleven sailing into Antarctic waters in search of a giant iceberg. The crew are hoping to film the berg inside and out.
Resolute Squash
Ireland’s “cultural aspects” have drawn New Zealander Andrew Flemming away from exercise, but regular squash is on his New Year’s resolution list.
Chathams Hungover
“We blew our budget last year and walked away with a huge headache, but we had a lot of fun,” says Chathams man Robin Preece, predicting a quiet New Year for the first place to see…
In the Pink of Elf
“Cate Blanchett is looking particularly ethereal…perhaps it’s just a little leftover glow from the four months spent in New Zealand playing the Lady Galadriel…”
Controversial Language
The “anthropological treasure trove of the Pacific” is a breeding ground for academic debate. University of Auckland researchers Russell Gray and Fiona Jordan have adapted DNA mapping techniques and applied them to language families, creating a new…
Woolly Luxury
Wools of New Zealand will be displaying the braided, cut-piled and knotted wares of 33 carpet-makers at the Surfaces 2001 convention in Las Vegas. They also announce four key Carpet Colour Sensations for 2001.
Cold Shoulder
Warming-swarming says Wellington scientist Vincent Gray, whose anti-global warming beliefs challenge scientific orthodoxy.
Birth blocked
New Zealand website Calendargirls’ planned broadcast of a live birth on Christmas day was stymied by a high court ruling.
Backwards Into the Future
“The past is not found in the days gone by, but in the days that sit in front of us,” says Moana Jackson, stating the Maori view of the past during the opening address…
Campbell’s Leap
“The biggest move outside the top 10 was by New Zealander Michael Campbell who leaped from 108th to 14th” in the golf world rankings.”
Roaring Fun
“In Australia and New Zealand, long ago, it was called a ‘bull roarer’ and used to scare away evil spirits; Native Americans made it hum during rain ceremonies; South American fisherman swirled it over rivers to…
Vertical #2
“Vertical Limit has its flaws – but they’re not enough to dim rousing, old-fashioned escapism which uses modern techno-skills to really put you in the picture and on the mountain peak.”
Escape from Middle Earth
With a $100 000 budget and all the glamour Wellington could muster, the Rings wrap party was like “something straight out of Tolkien”.
Brain Gain
“We’ve made the decision to go home, and I urge other New Zealanders to do the same. Let’s stop helping the economy of a country where we’re not welcome,” says Phillipa Hawkes, packing to come home following…
Christmas in Auckland
“Then Christmas dinner – Polynesian style – got under way, accompanied by the sound of guitars and the laughter of girls, flowers in their hair, dancing the hula, the siva and the tamoure.”
Kiss Off
Don’t pick the mistletoe – it’s endangered, but you can take a chainsaw to the holly – a noxious weed.
