News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Whale Shark Expert Simon Pierce Hopes Tourism Helps

Whale Shark Expert Simon Pierce Hopes Tourism Helps

New Plymouth-born head of the Marine Megafauna Foundation and leading authority on whale sharks Simon Pierce has been overseeing a project on Nosy Be, an island off the northwestern coast of Madagascar, where there…

Kahurangi National Park Gets Bigger

Kahurangi National Park Gets Bigger

Kahurangi National Park, situated in the north-west corner of the South Island, the second-largest national park in the country, has expanded by 14 per cent, roughly half the size of Auckland. More than 64,000ha of…

Tim Topham Drills Through Adversity

Tim Topham Drills Through Adversity

New Zealanders Tim Topham and his brother had little to show for their business dream in 2006, spending their nights on mattresses in their newly purchased yard in Boulder, Western Australia. By day they…

The Breaker Upperers a Netflix Smash Hit

The Breaker Upperers a Netflix Smash Hit

For New Zealander comedy collaborators Madeleine Sami and Jackie Van Beek, it all started with an idea, a friendship, and one magical ingredient: Celine Dion. Los Angeles Times correspondent Jen Yamoto investigates. Van Beek was…

Warren Gatland’s Wales Reflect Image of Its Leader

Warren Gatland’s Wales Reflect Image of Its Leader

“For all his success in his coaching career, Warren Gatland is no José Mourinho peering into the mirror all the time and trading on past glories. He looks ahead rather than back, plotting the…

Gymnast Ruby Hamilton In Training for Olympics

Gymnast Ruby Hamilton In Training for Olympics

As Abu Dhabi and Dubai prepare to host the Special Olympics World Games, seven women who will be representing the UAE talk about what tolerance, hard work and winning mean to them. Twelve-year-old New…

New Zealand Mourns

New Zealand Mourns

“We’re a long way from anyplace, and that’s the point of New Zealand: We like it like that. We’re lucky here. We’re out of the picture. We’re too distant and obscure for terror cells…

PRINS on Visual Side of Music & Her New Single ‘Notion’

PRINS on Visual Side of Music & Her New Single ‘Notion’

“Fresh off the release of her incredible new single Notion,” music magazine Happy “caught up with New Zealand-based artist PRINS for a chat.” When asked how it feels to have

Living the Change Inspired by Sustainable Stories

Living the Change Inspired by Sustainable Stories

Sometimes focusing on the ecological and environmental problems facing the world is overwhelming – so why not put the spotlight on the solutions instead? That was the aim of Christchurch-raised filmmaker Antoinette Wilson and…

Danielle Cormack’s Political Role in Secret City

Danielle Cormack’s Political Role in Secret City

New Zealand-born actor Danielle Cormack (pictured left) seems passionate about politics. She was in the Australian capital recently talking to the Canberra Times about the second series of Secret City: Under the Eagle, which…

Krispy and the Pooch Unveil Irresistible New EP

Krispy and the Pooch Unveil Irresistible New EP

“What do you expect from a band named Krispy & The Pooch? Approaching their music, we weren’t too sure,” Sydney music site, Happy reports. “With their wild band name and even wilder cover art,…

Lonely Lingerie One of the Labels Changing Lingerie

Lonely Lingerie One of the Labels Changing Lingerie

“Lingerie is set to become a $59 billion market globally by 2024, up from $38 billion in 2017, according to Zion Market Research. And as sales grow, tastes also appear to be shifting,” writes…

Margot Henderson’s Recipe for Bacon-and-Egg Pie

Margot Henderson’s Recipe for Bacon-and-Egg Pie

“This pie feels as if it is too simple to work – but it does and very easily,” according to London-based chef and caterer Margot Henderson, who dishes up her bacon-and-egg-pie recipe to Guardian…

Golf in New Zealand Exceeds its Hype

Golf in New Zealand Exceeds its Hype

“Tell people you’re going to New Zealand and the praise pours in faster than Cam Champ’s downswing. From the country’s many fans, I heard raves about the people, the wine, the scenery, the food,…

What We Do in the Shadows on TV and Note-Perfect

What We Do in the Shadows on TV and Note-Perfect

Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s TV reboot of their vampiric comedy, What We Do in the Shadows is “wonderfully, absurdly over-the-top and hilarious”, according to Hollywood Reporter reviewer Tim Goodman. “There is a point early…

Meet The Kiwi Whose Blog Went Big In Japan

Meet The Kiwi Whose Blog Went Big In Japan

“In 2011, two expats in Tokyo started a blog about making the most of Japan’s capital on a budget. Tokyo Cheapo is now one of the most popular English-language websites…

Architect Megan Wraight Collaborates in NSW

Architect Megan Wraight Collaborates in NSW

In a collaboration with Melbourne’s Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA), New Zealander Megan Wraight (pictured right), principal at Wellington-based Wraight + Associates, is designing a major expansion of Australian artist Arthur Boyd’s Riverdale site in…

Laybuy Partners with Footasylum to Mark UK Launch

Laybuy Partners with Footasylum to Mark UK Launch

“New Zealand-based ‘buy now, pay later’ platform Laybuy has marked its official UK launch by announcing a partnership with high street brand Footasylum,” George Nixon reports for The Daily Mail. “Online…

Samuel Wilkes Rolls Out New Business in Manila

Samuel Wilkes Rolls Out New Business in Manila

Serving handcrafted ice cream in Bali, Indonesia since 2017, XOXO has now opened branches in Manila. “We opened here at Greenbelt 3 in October of last year,” says Samuel Wilkes, the New Zealand-born co-founder…

Artist Richard Lewer’s Sydney Show an Adventure

Artist Richard Lewer’s Sydney Show an Adventure

Richard Lewer “is a New Zealand-born artist with an understanding of history and a sense of compassion”, John McDonald writes for The Sydney Morning Herald in an article about Lewer’s current exhibition, which is…

Taika Waititi to Direct ‘Time Bandits’ Series

Taika Waititi to Direct ‘Time Bandits’ Series

The “Thor: Ragnarok” director is set to helm Apple’s TV adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 fantasy flick Time Bandits, which is currently in development,” writes Bill Thorne in an article for Variety. “The…

New Zealand Farmers Herd Sheep with Barking Drones

New Zealand Farmers Herd Sheep with Barking Drones

In New Zealand, farmers are using drones to herd and monitor livestock, assuming a job that highly intelligent dogs have held for more than a century, and though the robots have not replaced the…

Ambassador Clare Fearnley Interviewed on China

Ambassador Clare Fearnley Interviewed on China

The changes that have taken place in China in the past 70 years are very significant, New Zealand’s Ambassador to China Clare Fearnley has said in a recent interview with Xinhuanet. The ambassador also…

Karting Ace Madeline Stewart Behind New Wheels

Karting Ace Madeline Stewart Behind New Wheels

New Zealand karting ace Madeline Stewart, 18, will race for Australia’s Brad Jones Racing in the Super3 Supercars series this season. The teenager has spent nine years in karts, most recently competing in KZ2 in…

Wuhan Open Appoints Brenda Perry

Wuhan Open Appoints Brenda Perry

Wuhan Open has marked International Women’s Day by becoming the most prestigious professional tennis tournament to have two female tournament directors, New Zealander Brenda Perry and China’s Li Qiuping. Experienced tennis professional Perry will join…

Queenstown Considers Tourist Levy

Queenstown Considers Tourist Levy

In order to cope with large numbers of holidaymakers, New Zealand’s ‘adventure capital’ Queenstown proposes to charge international tourists a $7.50 fee for the privilege of visiting the area. Queenstown, situated in the picturesque Southern…

Academic George Cawkwell Lived Life to the Full

Academic George Cawkwell Lived Life to the Full

Auckland-born George Cawkwell, “who has died aged 99, was Scotland’s oldest rugby international having won one cap against France. He was also a distinguished academic, author and teacher in the field of ancient Greek…

Barbie Releases First-Ever Māori Doll

Barbie Releases First-Ever Māori Doll

Barbie has released its first-ever Māori doll, modelled after New Zealand sports journalist and former rugby player Melodie Robinson. The doll, which has “curly hair and beautiful brown skin”, holds a microphone as part of…

Kieran Read to Play for Japan After World Cup

Kieran Read to Play for Japan After World Cup

“All Blacks captain Kieran Read has signed up to play with Japanese club Toyota Verblitz after this year’s World Cup, bringing an end to 13 seasons as a professional…

Paintings from Sir Edmund Hillary’s Everest Climb Found

Paintings from Sir Edmund Hillary’s Everest Climb Found

“Never-before-seen paintings from Sir Edmund Hillary’s record-breaking expedition to Mount Everest have been found in a house clearance 66 years later.” Darren Boyle reports in an article for The Daily…

Canoeing a Living Entity in New Zealand

Canoeing a Living Entity in New Zealand

“The Whanganui is so important in Māori culture it has the legal rights of a person. A canoe trip along its forested valley proves a great way of getting to know it,” writes…

Rugby Star Sene Naoupu Takes Strength from Family

Rugby Star Sene Naoupu Takes Strength from Family

Spend any length of time with New Zealander Sene Naoupu, 35, and her love for friends and family will be palpable. But she doesn’t just value that ancestral bond, she cherishes it and is…

Sophie Rowley Makes Furniture From Denim

Sophie Rowley Makes Furniture From Denim

New Zealand-born, Berlin-based designer Sophie Rowley gives new life to discarded post-consumer denim offcuts by recycling them into pieces of furniture with marble-like markings. Called Bahia Denim, Rowley’s material development project has seen her transform…

Rose Matafeo to Star in Taika Waititi Exec Produced ‘Baby, Done’

Rose Matafeo to Star in Taika Waititi Exec Produced ‘Baby, Done’

New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo will star alongside Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis in feature comedy Baby, Done, which is exec produced by Taika Waititi. The film is directed by Curtis Vowell (Fantail). Nancy…

Extinct Penguins Wiped out by Hungry Humans

Extinct Penguins Wiped out by Hungry Humans

The discovery of two extinct penguin subspecies in New Zealand is a cautionary tale of the threats faced by the waddling birds in the wild. Veronique Greenwood reports for The New York Times. For thousands…

Antarctic Tour Guide Tarn Pilkington Job Addictive

Antarctic Tour Guide Tarn Pilkington Job Addictive

There is no doubt that Ernest Shackleton’s endeavours in 1916 – when he sailed a lifeboat 1287km across the southern Atlantic Ocean, crossed the remote frozen outcrop of South Georgia and returned to the…

Jess Cornelius’ Sudsy Self-Reckoning on Display

Jess Cornelius’ Sudsy Self-Reckoning on Display

In recent years, self-care culture has exploded beyond simple millennial infatuation; the term, which refers to the conscious integration of health and wellness practices into daily life, is equal parts lifestyle manifesto and multi-billion…

Sale of Portable Cabins Booms in NZ Amid Housing Crisis

Sale of Portable Cabins Booms in NZ Amid Housing Crisis

“The sale of portable cabins is booming in New Zealand, where a housing crisis means hundreds of thousands of Kiwis can no longer afford a home or even a rental.” Eleanor Ainge Roy reports…

Zero-Waste Advocate Kate Mercurio Starts with Soap

Zero-Waste Advocate Kate Mercurio Starts with Soap

Having grown fed up with watching her children play among plastic rubbish on Hong Kong beaches, New Zealand-born Kate Mercurio decided to tackle the issue head on – one bar of soap at a…

New Luxury Lodge The Lindis Blends In

New Luxury Lodge The Lindis Blends In

Boasting slick interiors and gaping floor-to-ceiling windows, this luxury hobbit house takes Middle Earth luxury to the next level, according to the Daily Mail. The Lindis, which is nestled into a slope in the…

Allbirds Taking Viral Wool Tennis Shoe to China

Allbirds Taking Viral Wool Tennis Shoe to China

Allbirds Inc., the wool shoe startup co-founded by New Zealander Tim Brown that’s become a staple of Silicon Valley fashion, is opening its first stores in China, aiming to replicate its viral success in…

In Conversation with the Band Yak

In Conversation with the Band Yak

One of “the most exciting acts around both on stage and on record” is called Yak, according to music site, The 405. Together the Wolverhampton-formed trio, including New Zealand-born drummer Elliot Rawson (pictured centre), talk…

Mt Manganui & Piha Beach among Top 10 Beaches South Pacific

Mt Manganui & Piha Beach among Top 10 Beaches South Pacific

Mount Maunganui and Piha Beach have been ranked among the Top 10 Beaches in the South Pacific in the latest TripAdvisor Traveller’s Choice rating. Hot Water Beach (15), Papamoa Beach (18)…

Max Gimblett Reflects On a Life of Love, Art And Freedom

Max Gimblett Reflects On a Life of Love, Art And Freedom

“Internationally renowned New Zealand painter Max Gimblett credits his wife as his greatest supporter, and his leading critic.” Warren Feeney reports for Stuff. “Born in Auckland in 1935 and based in New York since…

Lean On Me – Nga Kupu Aroha

Lean On Me – Nga Kupu Aroha

I nearly started to sob when Joe Walsh, Tim Schmit, and Vince Gill sang a waiata, acapella, at Hoani Waititi Marae Auckland, in support of the…

Invivo Teams Up with Sarah Jessica Parker

Invivo Teams Up with Sarah Jessica Parker

Waikato wine producer Invivo, which was started in 2008 by Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron, has teamed up with Sex in the City star Sarah Jessica Parker to develop sauvignon blanc and rosé wines. The…

Helen Clark Fighting Erosion of Women’s Rights

Helen Clark Fighting Erosion of Women’s Rights

More than 30 female world leaders including current and former heads of state have called for a fightback against the erosion of women’s rights, with one former minister singling out countries led by “a…

Cliff Curtis Set to Soar in Avatar Epics

Cliff Curtis Set to Soar in Avatar Epics

New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis, 50, modestly acknowledges he is not a brand or a marquee name, despite a vast body of work which includes Once Were Warriors, Whale Rider, The Dark Horse, Blow,…

Colenso BBDO Auckland One of 2019 Contagious Pioneers

Colenso BBDO Auckland One of 2019 Contagious Pioneers

Colenso BBDO, Auckland have been featured as number one 2019 Contagious Pioneers in a ranking published by creative and strategic intelligence service website Contagious. Their Te Kupu App campaign was…

Chef Peter Gordon’s Charity Dinners a Who’s Who

Chef Peter Gordon’s Charity Dinners a Who’s Who

Twenty years ago, 20 chefs headed to the Berkeley at the behest of Peter Gordon (pictured right), the New Zealander best known at the time for his Sugar Club restaurants. With 20 tables of…

Storyteller Anthony McCarten Humanises the Iconic

Storyteller Anthony McCarten Humanises the Iconic

An “exploration of humanity” drives novelist, playwright, television writer, and filmmaker New Plymouth-born Anthony McCarten to write about famous people. Initially a journalist, McCarten credits his time in the newsroom for learning how structure and…

Merata Mita Doco Reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter

Merata Mita Doco Reviewed by The Hollywood Reporter

The legacy and personal life of the late New Zealand filmmaker Merata Mita are brought to life in the documentary Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen. The film, which had its international premiere at…

Level Playing Field is a Myth Says Academic

Level Playing Field is a Myth Says Academic

“Those who argue that women with differences of sexual development and transgender should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports usually claim that their testosterone levels and different muscle-to-fat ratios give them an…

Upbringing Helped Turn Barrett Trio Into All Blacks

Upbringing Helped Turn Barrett Trio Into All Blacks

Running around frost-covered coastal Taranaki fields in their bare feet was indicative of the sort of grounded upbringing that former captain Richie McCaw believes helped the three Barrett brothers – twice World Player of…

Origins of Extinct Adzebill Traced to Africa

Origins of Extinct Adzebill Traced to Africa

Scientists at the University of Adelaide have revealed the African origins of New Zealand’s most mysterious giant flightless bird – the now extinct adzebill – showing that some of its closest living relatives are…

John Scott’s Werry/Francis Houses Make New Book

John Scott’s Werry/Francis Houses Make New Book

The sunlit spaces of a mid-century modern family home in Greytown, designed by the late architect John Scott, are captured in images by photographer Mary Gaudin. Gaudin, a New Zealander who…