Kiwi Culture in Bloom
The UC Santa Cruz Arboretum held a ‘New Zealand Day’ in May, to “celebrate the mix of culture and botanical diversity of NZ through music, against the backdrop of its various plant collections.” Events…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Location Long-drop
A new archaeology site has been opened in Wellington, on the site of the proposed city bypass. A group of 30 of NZ’s leading archaeologists, led by Rick McGovern Wilson, are examining the remains…
Three-pronged Aid Effort
As well as donating $10 million to the tsunami stricken Indian Ocean countries, the NZ government provided Thailand with a state-of-the-art victim identification software package, developed by NZ’s Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR)….
From Lamb to Land
Property has overtaken lamb as NZ’s major spending ground for Britons. Sprawling sheep stations are being divided into smaller blocks and sold off at a great rate to young families, business entrepreneurs, and “lifestylers”…
“For Many NZ is the New Utopia”
20 April 2004 – The flood of US immigrants seeking a better life in NZ continues – with good reason, according to a lengthy San Francisco Gate article. “It’s like California, it’s like San…
The Good Life
Auckland was ranked 5th and Wellington 15th out of 215 cities in the annual quality of life survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Said Mercer director, Rob Knox, “Despite NZ’s geographic location and distance…
Edge of the World (Cup) Musing
The Rugby World Cup saw columnists muse on NZ’s evolving relationship with its (big) brotherly neighbour. SMH: “For those who’ve not noticed, New Zealand – a small nation off the east coast of…
Cool Kiwis: Why It’s Suddenly Not on the Edge of the World
The Edge metaphor permeates Timemagazine’s 50-page rave on NZ. ‘NZ Journeys’ takes an in-depth look at our designers, scientists, exporters, film industry, Maori language revival, musicians, and winemakers, in a bid to discover “what makes…
“Australia’s Castaways Are Happier to Call NZ Home”
SMH profiles the Afghani “Tampa” refugees, who were taken in by the NZ government after being refused entry to Australia. Pacific minded NZ authorities have granted them the right to reunite with their families,…
The Lowe-down
George Lowe along with fellow NZer Ed Hillary – attended the 5th anniversary Everest celebrations in London, as one of 7 remaining members of the 1953 expedition. Lowe was the recipient of Hillary’s now…
Christchurch the New Bondi?
Kiwis are coming home to roost according to latest Australian immigration statistics that reveal a dramatic brain-drain reversal: NZers are returning home from Australia at a greater rate than they are arriving. The SMH…
Sweating in the Name of
Ex-pat Kiwi Richard Stevens likes to do more than his bit for charity. The Belfast resident hopes to raise £2,000 for the Save the Rhinos fund by running both the Belfast and London marathons…
Pavlova Paradise?
Observer offers a how-to guide to buying property in NZ in its assessment of the global property market’s latest hot spot. According to their sources, “screen gods and goddesses are buying up idyllic island…
Million Mark
NZ’s population is expected to hit the 4 million mark in the next few months, according to the latest figures released by Statistics New Zealand. Last year the population grew by .5% on account…
Brothers in Farms
“So if the grass is always greener in NZ, let’s colonise it.” SMH reader’s opinion column ‘heckler’ proposes the immediate annexation of NZ as a quick and cheap solution to drought-proofing Australia (currently experiencing…
“They Know They Have an Edge”
November’s French Vogue goes south seas gothic in fashionable NZ, with the edge providing both spectacular and downtown Aotearoa-style backdrops for a Mario Sorrenti photo shoot, from the volcanic plateau to the local 4-Square….
66 and Still Dancing the ACDC Way
NZ’s “first really iconic out-and-out drag queen” – Carmen Rupe – was honored at the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney. The November 2 opening ceremony at the Sydney Football Stadium devoted a segment entitled…
Daggs vs. SNAGs
Kiwi men not wild but woolly apparently: NZ Rugby columnist “Jessie”(Jack?) was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald calling her male countrymen “girls with hairy legs” in a rant against men embracing, “their long-haired,…
Re-re-colonisation
“Fleeing grey skies and commuting blues.” NZ raised the skills requirements for British migrants this month in response to record numbers seeking permanent residence. “Better lifestyles, cheaper homes and warmer weather” are the top…
“Asia is Us”
NZ’s Asia2000 head Chris Butler on a recent 5-city tour of Asia, Butler spoke of NZ’s 40 year evolution towards a post-colonial identity: “Now, instead of relying on the ‘Lion of England,’ NZ is…
Scandanavia Cleans Up
NZ was ranked 19th best place to live according to the UN Development Programme’s annual quality of life survey. The report looks at issues such as life expectancy, per capita income, educational opportunities, and…
And God Created … the Chainsaw
Tiny farming/forestry town of Tapawera holds church service in honour of chainsaws. Churchgoers “brought their chainsaws with them, placed them on the altar, and afterwards performed an impromptu ‘chainsaw orchestra,’ complete with Mexican wave…
Black and White or Rainbow Nation?
Kathy Marks visits Waitangi and gives an outside perspective on the state of the nation 162 years after the treaty: “New Zealand is truly a bicultural nation, and the sense of two races living…
Counted the Neighbours Yet?
Statistics New Zealand is making census data available online free of charge. Formerly $3,300 to $25,000 for special software, now users can simply transfer data and use their own software. The US, UK and…
OE to Go UN
Kiwis will have plenty of fellow travellers when they travel to the UK for the two year woring holiday scheme. In the past, 96% of applicants came from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa,…
Ed from the Edge: “World’s Greatest Living Explorer”
“Humble beekeeper turned world’s greatest living explorer” – Legend Sir Edmund Hillary leads the pack of the ‘ten greatest living explorers’ in an extensive Vanity Fair photo essay. “‘Those magnificent men’ …the men and…
En-Rot
New Yorkers jaded by the Enron scandal voice their concern on the street and yearn for the paradise in the Southern Seas – writer Alex Bauman: “If I had money, I’d be in New…
Heckler Good-humoured
500 e-mails, several severed subscriptions, and a visitation by one J.Lomu later, Graham offers an open apology. Planting tongue firmly in cheek, he concedes amongst other things that Split Enz are indeed better than Midnight…
#1 Trans-Tasman Lampoon
Australian correspondent Martin Graham, in the ‘Heckler’ section of Sydney Morning Herald mocks Kiwi hobbit hubris over Lord of the Rings raving. While accusing NZers of fawning over “the fulm” like they’d split…
Double Happy
“Deputy chief content producer Peter is celebrating twice. He’s not greedy, he just comes from New Zealand. The Kiwi has already raised a glass as the clock struck midnight in his homeland – 14…
The Queen and Us
Analysis of the Queen’s Message reveals her accent is going downhill. Meanwhile, New Zealanders and Australians speak increasingly different English.
Kiwi Temps
New Zealanders on the big OE are staffing London’s offices: “They usually have stable work histories and excellent IT skills, great interpersonal skills, confidence, and a good work ethic”.
Tour That Divided the Nation
It was twenty years ago that New Zealand heaved into violence as 150,000 New Zealanders took to the streets to stop the Springbok tour. A time when “New Zealander turned against New Zealander” in…
Driving On
Eric Bailey-Balfour, 99, of Timaru passes his “very easy” driving test and gets a cake from the AA.
Out of the Roo’s Pouch
New Zealand’s continued “innate patriotism and pride” make a political merger with Australia unlikely, but economic convergence is welcome says foreign minister Phil Goff.
AIDS Action
New Zealand’s health minister Dr Annette King calls on the world not to neglect the small island nations of the Pacific in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Fe-mail, He-mail
Gender can’t be hidden, even in faceless e-communication according to research by Tamar Murachver of Otago University.
Camera Obscura
When is a pin-hole camera a pen-hole camera? When the person issuing the instructs has a strong New Zealand accent…
Britain’s Brain-drain
Young educated people are leaving Britain for the good life down under: “There’s both a pull of countries like Australia and New Zealand and a push from this country, where there are too many…
Top Talk
Up there with the big events in Washington: Ken Gutschick presents a talk on New Zealand at the Long Branch Senior Centre.
Jack Off?
Should New Zealand drop the Union Jack and opt for the Silver Fern as a more unique and marketable symbol?
Too Smug?
New Zealand is making an official effort to cultivate Asia-literacy, but are individuals are unjustifiably smug in their attitudes to Asia?
Tests of Nationhood
“If you asked a random person how one can tell China and France are different nations, almost every test they would probably offer-language, culture, race, religion, cuisine, origins – would fail to distinguish the…
In Bed with Matilda
Waltzing won’t cut it says Professor Bob Catley – New Zealand is screwed unless we go all the way with our neighbor. A recipe for bare-foot and pregnant?
Sent to Safety
Shirley Rose and her brother Isaac Beder were sent from Poland to New Zealand in 1937. The difficult separation from their father almost certainly saved their lives.
On Top of the World
Sir Edmund Hillary had a brush with altitude sickness, but has made a full recovery, returning to the Nepalese hospital two days after he was discharged to inaugurate a new children’s ward.
U Sux
Hi-tech bullying via txt msg has lead to the banning of cell-phones in two New Zealand schools.
Good Background for Conciliation
South African immigrant Gregory Fortuin, New Zealand’s new race relations conciliator, has his experience of “ugly and oppressive racism” under apartheid to motivate him in his new job.
Strenuous Endeavour
“How a poor Yorkshire farm boy became a saltwater giant is an incredible tale. Formally speaking, 4-year-old Cook wasn’t even a captain when, over considerable objection, he was appointed master of a naval ship…
Wahine Remembered
March 10 was the thirty-third anniversary of the day the ferry Wahine ran aground on Barrett’s reef.
Antipodean Greatness
Aussie journalist ponders greatness, noting New Zealand’s “two truly international figures,” Sir Edmund Hillary and Ernest Rutherford.
Kiwis in Oz
Taking the edge to the world, Russell Crowe and former Australian Channel 9 boss, now Telstra board member Sam Chisholm are examples of Kiwi excellence that “will always float to the top”.
