Looking Out For Archey
Archey’s frog, which is found on the Coromandel peninsula and in Whareorino Forest, finds itself on the full list of the planet’s 100 most endangered animals, as compiled by the International Union for Conservation…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
River with Standing
In a framework agreement signed between the Crown and the Whanganui River, New Zealand’s third largest river will be recognized as a person when it comes to the law, much the way a company…
On Wooing Women with a Bicycle
New Zealander Emily McLean, a columnist for The Copenhagen Post, writes about the difficulty of “Dating the Danes.” In this column McLean explains “The Danish Instrument of Love.” “I’ve come to notice during my…
Farewell to the Brave
“Portraits of the three soldiers killed 19 August in a massive blast from a roadside bomb in northeastern Bamiyan gazed out from the front pages of virtually every New Zealand newspaper, including the…
In Favour of Marriage
New Zealand lawmakers have overwhelmingly cast a first vote in favour of a gay marriage bill that was given impetus by President Barack Obama’s public support of the issue. The 80 to 40 vote…
Pyjama Police Alerted
“The city of Gisborne is divided and people are angry,” John Darkin writes in a letter to the Guardian. “It’s not the issue of water ownership that threatens the peace of this normally unflappable…
Floating Pumice Raft Intrigues
A mass of golf-ball-size pumice rocks almost the size of Belgium has been discovered floating 1000km off the northeast coast of Auckland. The 26,000 square kilometre- stretch of pumice was first spotted by an…
Olympians Visit UK Marae
The New Zealand Olympic team paid a visit to the Hinemihi marae in Surrey, England. Hinemihi was brought to Surrey by Lord Onslow, the former Governor of New Zealand, as a souvenir of his…
Choir Founder Profiled
Dunedin-born Marie Courtis Greathouse, who helped found the San Antonio Choral Society in 1965, is profiled by the San Antonio Express-News website mySanAntonio.com. Greathouse moved to England in her early 20s, where for a time…
Wartime Pianist Remembered
The New Zealand-born pianist Colin Horsley, who was among the last links to the era of British music-making dominated by Sir Henry Wood, has died on the Isle of Man. He was 92. “From…
Sleeping Giant Awakens
Mount Tongariro, dormant for more than a century, roared into life on 6 August erupting boulders and spreading an ash cloud over the centre of the country. The spew of rocks, fine particles and…
With the Push of a Button
New Zealand’s first-ever controlled building implosion executed in Christchurch brought down the earthquake damaged Radio Network House in seconds. American demolition experts detonated 130 pounds of explosives to blow up the 14-story building, which…
British Make the Move
The latest figures from Statistics New Zealand show that in June almost 40,000 New Zealanders left for Australia, the same amount as April 2012 and the highest ever recorded. But helping to stem this…
Modern Christchurch Planned
Plans for a new-look downtown Christchurch have been unveiled, with a convention centre, sports stadium and performing arts complex among the big projects. The blueprint for the city replaces office towers with green spaces,…
Fabled Shirt Replicated for Welsh Club
“There are thought to be only eight rugby jerseys still in existence from the fabled 1905 New Zealand world tour,” Alex Smith writes for the Carmarthen Journal. “Carmarthenshire’s Tycroes RFC owned one of…
Magically Marvellous Mahy
“Margaret Mahy, an award-winning children’s author who tested the limits of her readers’ whimsy and courage with fantastical tales of witches, hauntings, infinite fog, and robbers brought to account by peppery grown-ups wielding chocolate…
Reuniting Families with Sons
Bronte artist Darryl Robertson has dedicated the past few years to helping the Dutch town of Markelo track down the families of three RAF airmen who were killed when their bomber, one of three…
What Better Role Model
Corporal Willie Apiata, 40, the only living New Zealander to hold the country’s top award for battlefield gallantry, the Victoria Cross, is quitting the military to work with vulnerable youth at Papakura’s High Wire…
Pioneering Potter Remembered
New Zealand-born decorative ceramicist Kenneth Clark, who has died aged 89, was to tiles what James Dyson is to vacuum cleaners, Sarah Hosking writes for the Guardian. “He took a domestic product that had…
Homemade Air Adventure
New Zealand pilots George Richards and Darryn Morgan are participating in America’s largest experimental aviation convention — the EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, Wisconsin — and are flying there from Chino,…
Notable Beauty
“New Zealand contains an impressive series of national parks and other wilderness areas that are famous for their exquisite natural beauty and abundant, and often unique, wildlife,” Brian Clark Howard of National Geographic News…
Searching for Dark Skies
A view of Lake Tekapo features in the USA Today’s Photo Friday under the theme ‘Stars’. Though American journalist Chris Gray Faust’s plans to star gaze at the Mt John Observatory were thwarted by…
Uncorking Auckland’s Potential
Mayor of the new Auckland Council Len Brown is profiled in a Monocle report called, “Ten Smart Govenors”, “a selection of inspiring local legislators.” “In just 18 months he has…
Climbing the City Ranks
Auckland rises four places to rank at nine in Monocle’s annual list of “Top 25 Liveable Cities”. “What a difference a Rugby World Cup and a new political structure makes,” the magazine writes. “Aucklanders…
Veterans Remember their Friends
New Zealand World War II airmen were among 800 veterans present at Green Park, London for the Queen’s unveiling of a memorial sculpted by Scotsman Philip Jackson. New Zealand paid for 39 veterans, aged…
Brightening the Bridge
The Wanganui City Bridge is sporting a refreshing new look at night as a result of new GE80W R150 LED luminaires, the Financial describes. “The 14 new fittings on the bridge will save the…
New Zealand’s Great Indoors
New Zealand’s temperate climate, stunning scenery and lower cost of living make it an attractive option for young Irish people and families who are looking to find a new home. According to Quotable Value…
Puttin’ ‘Em Back in the Trees
A mammoth conservation effort stretching back decades is offering hope for one of the world’s rarest birds, the kakapo, lifting its numbers from about 50 in 1990 to 126 this year. The kakapo was…
Windows to the Soul
New Zealand’s blue-eyed triplefin fish is one of American National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry’s “amazing pictures from beneath the waves” featuring in the Daily Mail. The triplefin fish is commonly found around…
Connecting the Health System
General manager for planning and funding with Canterbury District Health Board Carolyn Gullery explains how the city’s healthcare workers responded so quickly and effectively to last year’s devastating earthquake. “The transition towards a more…
Selling it Natural
Award-winning nudist resort Katikati Naturist Park is for sale. Owners Kevin and Joan Sampson began the naturist resort in 1996, and it ended up being very successful. Each year, the property attracts…
Startlingly Beautiful by Boat
An image of a local tour boat taken in the Milford Sounds, Fiordland National Park, is featured in the USA Today’s ‘Photo Friday’. “The whole park is part of the Te Wahi Pounamu UNESCO…
Experiencing Activism in Thames
Thames was the first stop in New Zealand for American Deborah Swift, author of The Tin Ticket: The Heroic Journey of Australia’s Convict Women. On a three-week book tour of the Antipodes, Swift writes…
Solving the Jam
Auckland businesses have come out in favour of a surprising solution to finding the cash for mayor Len Brown’s $12bn transport improvements, Monocle correspondent Simon Farrell-Green explains: “A daily toll on the city’s motorway…
Unsung Hero of Buchenwald
Napier-born Squadron Leader Phil Lamason, who has died aged 93, was the leader of a group of Allied airmen sent to Buchenwald concentration camp by the Gestapo. Lamason worked in the Hawkes Bay as…
Walking Amongst the Dead
South Island cemeteries intrigue visiting USA Today correspondent, Liz Lewis, who stops in at Collingwood cemetery and the idyllic Church of the Holy Innocents graveyard at Peel Forest. “New Zealand crime writer Ngaio Marsh…
In Memory and For the Future
Several hundred people attended the unveiling of a new memorial in Paekakariki to commemorate the lives of 10 American servicemen who died at the town’s beach when a landing craft capsized during training exercises…
Rethinking Early Education
An analysis of pupils in New Zealand has found that pupils kept out of formal schooling until the age of seven perform just as well as those subjected to normal lessons at five. Academics…
Taxing the Habit
Over the next four years, smokers in New Zealand will have to pay 40 per cent more for a packet of cigarettes after the government announced tobacco tax hikes in this year’s budget. Prices…
Shakier Isles Than First Thought
A study has found earthquake-prone New Zealand is even more unstable than previously thought, after Victoria University scientists discovered deep tremors lasting up to 30 minutes along the country’s biggest fault line, the Alpine…
Lake Views To-die-for
A seven-bedroom home with unobstructed views of Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables features in the online property pages of the Wall Street Journal. “They’ve got quite a bit of land, a stream a…
Meet Our Distinguished Worm
New Zealand’s velvet worm shares the title of a new book by British palaeontologist and writer Richard Fortey. Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms describes “the distinguished groups of organisms that are still recognizable and…
One Fast Growing Underwater Volcano
Scientists have discovered a submarine volcano in New Zealand waters, 1000km northeast of the North Island, that has undergone the fastest episode of collapse and growth ever recorded in a volcano. The Monowai Cone…
Committed to Social Cohesion
Helen Clark, formerly New Zealand prime minister, has just announced that she will be seeking a second term as the first female head of the UN Development Programme. While visiting Brussels, she spoke to…
One of the Best Places for Mothers
New Zealand has been rated the fourth best place in the world to be a mother, in line after Norway at the top followed by Iceland and Sweden. Just ahead of Mother’s Day, Save…
Super Image of Cosmic Lunar Event
Auckland photographer Simon Runting captured this once-a-year cosmic event which lit up the New Zealand night sky as the full moon passed at its closest point to Earth, making it appear 14 per cent…
Introducing a Guardian Fan
New Zealander Roger Cowell, a UK-based freelance writer and registered nurse, features in the Guardian’s reader series, ‘Good to Meet You’. “In 1974, aged 23, I came to the UK from New Zealand and…
Homemakers Reunite in Indiana
Apparently, when a New Zealander makes a promise, it’s a vow to remember – even if it means travelling halfway around the world to attend a birthday party. That’s just what Yvonne Moore (left)…
Dr Bogan No Dimwit
Dave Snell has graduated from Waikato University with a doctoral degree that examined the social habits of bogans, who are typically portrayed as “dimwitted, uncultured, and unworthy of serious academic study,” Snell writes in…
Top Prize for Robotic Whizz Kids
Onehunga High School has won the VEX High School Robotics World Championships, which were held in Los Angles in late April. The team has qualified for the world championships almost every year since it…
Border Control Arguments
New Zealand may be one of the most geographically isolated nations on Earth, but its leaders say the country is not immune to the risks of refugees arriving by boat and have now drafted…
We’ve Heard of Her
Former prime minister Helen Clark, who is now administrator for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), has topped a list of 25 women in a Foreign Policy magazine article called, “The most powerful women…
Spotlight on Adolescent Health
New Zealand has the second highest overall mortality rate and the highest suicide rate in those aged 10-24 years among developed countries, according to recent analysis undertaken by medical journal The Lancet. In the…
Ultimate Legend Remembered
Rugby legend Fred “The Needle” Allen – who at age 92 was the oldest living All Black and one of the rare group of players to have both played in and coached the national…
Cup Makes Television History
Last year’s Rugby World Cup final, in which the All Blacks beat France, was the most-watched event in New Zealand television history “attracting a 98 per cent audience share,” Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL)…
Technologically Outnumbered
Mobile phones in New Zealand outnumber the country’s population, according to a study conducted by global market research firm TNS, which surveyed 48,000 people in 58 countries finding that almost half of New Zealanders…
