Masters of Mustering
“There are only two breeds of sheep in the world,” Jim Murray of Glenmore Station at Lake Tekapo once told Irish writer and photographer Jamie Ball, who is based in Christchurch. “Merinos,…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Deployment to Timor-Leste
A 62-strong New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent has left for a six-month deployment to Timor-Leste to support the Australian-led International Stabilization Force (ISF) in the country. The NZDF has supported various peacekeeping operations…
Peacekeepers a Symbol of Success
Former deputy prime minister Jim McLay, now New Zealand’s ambassador to the United Nations, writes an opinion piece for The Kansas City Star about May 29 — International Day of UN Peacekeepers and a…
Solemn Repatriation
A mummified and tattooed Maori head has been returned to New Zealand after spending 136 years in a Normandy museum. This is the first to be returned of a total of 16 in France….
HardTalk With John Key
BBC’s Stephen Sackur tackles PM John Key in London in a 25 minute interview for HardTalk (Part 1, Part 2). Positioning New Zealand as “very small” and “too small”, Sackur…
Unrecognisable Love Songs
Saddlebacks, native to the North Island, seem to have developed various regional ‘accents’ over the last 5 years after humans relocated the species to small island refuges to aid in their preservation,…
All Eyes on the Palace
The popularity of the monarchy has surged in New Zealand since April’s royal wedding, with a big fall in the number of people expecting the country to become a republic. A new poll by…
Community Justice
“Canada’s criminal justice system should mirror that of New Zealand’s,” an Edmonton Journal article suggests. “New Zealand has incorporated the use of community conferencing, a restorative justice programme, that has returned to…
Staying Connected with Home
Online networking site Kea New Zealand has launched a global ‘census’ of expatriate New Zealanders, dubbed ‘Every Kiwi Counts’, and aimed at connecting the estimated one million of us living overseas. “New Zealanders living…
Maori Forefathers Return Home
The remains of three Maori people, kept for 13 years in boxes in Lund, south Sweden, have been returned to a delegation from Te Papa led by the museum’s Kaihaut? Michelle Hippolite and representing…
Return of the Yeti Hand
Adventurer and Air New Zealand pilot Mike Allsop is in Nepal to return a replica of what some believe is the hand of a yeti to a remote monastery in the Everest region. Allsop…
Shannon’s One and Only Lord
While European nobility gathered in Westminster Abbey for April’s royal wedding, one British lord was content to watch the nuptials on television in Shannon, the small New Zealand farming town he calls home. Lord…
Enduring Legacy
This year marks the 96th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli and to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers who fell in 1915 the annual Anzac Cove dawn ceremony took place…
NZ Well Perceived by Indians
The number of migrants coming to New Zealand from India has continued to increase rapidly in the last three years, despite the global economic downturn that saw significant reduction in the flow of foreign…
Medal of Honour for Doctor
Aucklander Dr Alan Kerr (left) has received Palestine’s highest honour, the “Medal of Honour”, from PNA President Mahmoud Abbas for saving more than 6 children’s lives in the West Bank and Gaza…
Swimming By the Stars
An eight-year University of Canterbury-led study that tracked humpback whale migrations by satellite shows the huge mammals follow uncannily straight paths for weeks at a time. Humpbacks use a combination of the sun’s position,…
Return of One Precious Book
The bible of New Zealand World War One soldier Private Richard Cook, which he dropped as he came under heavy fire during the Battle of Messines in Belgium in June 1917, has found its…
Helping His Hometown
New Zealander Phil Keoghan, host of The Amazing Race and chief marketing officer of drinks company Gatorade, along with New Zealander Sarah Robb-O’Hagan have organised a video titled ‘Christchurch Stay Strong’, using the power…
Loved By Robins and Kakapo Alike
Internationally renowned conservationist Don Merton has died in Tauranga, aged 72. “Forest and Bird is extraordinarily grateful for the work Don did over several decades,” Forest and Bird executive member Dr Peter Maddison said….
To Curb Or Not To Curb
New Zealand is among several regions in the world where geese are in the crosshairs, Renata D’Aliesio writes for The Globe and Mail. “As the population of Canada geese continues to increase, so does…
Flyer Up for Sale
The 12-year-old steam locomotive Kingston Flyer is being offered for sale on auction site Trade Me. With the locomotive come two beautifully wood-panelled passenger carriages, a kitchen van, several goods wagons, almost nine miles…
Remembered Always
The Prince of Wales has joined a congregation of some 19 — mainly made up of London-based New Zealanders — at a Westminster Abbey memorial service for the victims of February’s Christchurch earthquake. At…
Not All Sweetness and Light
“The beautiful island nation of New Zealand hides something ugly beneath its lush exterior, hundreds of its children under the age of 16, some even as young as 9, are alcoholics,” Pamela Wallace reports…
Bold, Courageous and Anarchic
Te Aroha-born actor and co-founder of London’s Common Stock theatre group Frank Whitten, who died in February at the age of 68, was “a giant beanpole of a man who only seemed to open…
One Courageous Dolphin
Moko the dolphin, who resided at Mahia Beach for two and a half years from 27 to September 29, has been included in a Time magazine Top 1 list of history’s most courageous animals….
Just Like Everybody Else
“The world’s best rugby player” Dan Carter talks exclusively to The Telegraph about how he fled for his own safety during last month’s earthquake in Christchurch, and about how he helped the city in…
Century-Old Tradition To Go On
The All Blacks may continue to perform the haka at international matches after coming to an agreement with the tribe that created it, Ngati Toa Rangatira. There had been fears their chanting days were…
Royal Visit Lifts City’s Spirits
The scale of damage caused to Christchurch by last month’s earthquake is “unbelievable” said Prince William when he visited the city at the start of a tour of New Zealand. The prince walked through…
Taiwan Looks to Closer Relations
The number of Taiwanese visiting New Zealand has increased by 4 per cent since Wellington granted Republic of China passport holders visa-free privileges last year, Taiwanese representative to New Zealand Elliot Charng said. New…
Volunteers Abroad in Pacific
New Zealand’s Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) is expanding its programme in the Pacific re-establishing relationships with Samoa, Tonga and Kiribati, taking the number of Pacific countries it works in to seven. VSA chief executive…
Great Voice of Stories
New Zealand scriptwriter Graeme Tetley, whose body of work included films Vigil, Ruby & Rata, Bread and Roses and the Aramoana depiction Out of the Blue, has died in Wellington, aged 69. A script…
Good Place To Be a Girl
New Zealand is the best place in the Commonwealth to be born a girl, according to a study undertaken by Plan International and the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS). New Zealand took the top spot…
One-of-a-kind Parrot
The kakapo, Strigops habroptilus, also known as the owl parrot, is the Guardian’s “Mystery Bird” this week. “This stunning but rare species is so unusual that it is the only member of its genus…
Fabled Serenity Endures
Despite the tragedy of February’s catastrophic earthquake, New Zealand still delivers sublime travel experiences, writes Chris Leadbeater for The Independent. “Since 1884 has played a role as a lone token of man’s…
New Governor-General Named
Former Defence Force head Jeremiah (Jerry) Mateparae has been named as New Zealand‘s next Governor-General, succeeding Sir Anand Satyanand on August 31. Mateparae joined the New Zealand Army in 1972 and rose through the…
Talking Clinical Ethics
Associate professor and chair of the department of philosophy at the University of Auckland Tim Dare recently delivered the keynote talk, entitled “Challenges to Clinical Ethics Committees”, at Washington and Lee University’s Medical Ethics…
Bottled Mysteries
During the February 22 earthquake which struck Christchurch, the bronze statue of the city founder, John Robert Godley toppled to the ground. The discovery under Godley’s plinth of two time capsules, one made of…
Turquoise Currents
As New Zealand’s summer draws to an end, blooms of tiny ocean plants swirl in turquoise and green along the shores of the South Island. NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on February 1…
Educational Destination
India has emerged as the second largest source country after China for international students in New Zealand during 2010-11, according to statistics released by Immigration New Zealand (INZ). The number of Indian students approved…
Strategic Partners
New Zealand will open an embassy in the UAE within two months, announced Minister for Economic Development and Energy and Resources Gerry Brownlee. Brownlee said the country is looking to the UAE and Saudi…
Mysteries Remain
“Days after the quake, a friend returns home to the eeriness of a place that’s undergone incredible violence,” author Emily Perkins writes for an article in the Guardian. “Everything is upended, on its side,…
Unflagging Optimist
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker has been there in front of the news cameras almost from the moment the deadly earthquake struck the tourist city of Christchurch. At 57, Parker is Christchurch’s Earthquake Mayor. It’s…
Sense of Community
The White House deployed disaster-response and urban-search-and-rescue teams to Christchurch following the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that rocked the city on February 22. They were greeted there by Timothy Manning, a deputy administrator at the US…
Looking at Tectonics
The devastating earthquake that tore through Christchurch on the afternoon of February 22 is the product of a new fault line in the Earth’s crust — an offshoot from the Alpine fault — that…
In The Press Building
“I was on the phone to a man whose earthquake-damaged home burned down in Pines Beach when the earthquake hit,” eyewitness Nicole Mathewson writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. “At first I thought it…
Glacier Collapses
A huge vertical slab calved off the front of New Zealand’s longest glacier, the Tasman Glacier, into Tasman Lake after the 6.3-magnitude quake hit Christchurch on 22 February. The chunk is estimated to have…
Google Responds
New Zealand-born Google executive Craig Nevill-Manning, who lives in Tribeca, New York, has been using his high-tech skills to help anxious relatives locate loved ones in earthquake-ravaged Christchurch. Nevill-Manning first created the Google Crisis…
Our Darkest Day
Christchurch has been struck by yet another devastating earthquake, this time with scores of casualties, after a 6.3-magnitude shock struck just before 1pm during a busy lunchtime on Tuesday 22 February. The official death…
Goal Overshadowed
West Ham defender Auckland-born Winston Reid has spoken of his sadness at the deadly earthquake that rocked Christchurch hours after the Hammers had booked their place in the last eight of the FA Cup…
World Transformed
Author David Haywood describes the earthquake that destroyed his home and killed scores of New Zealanders in an eyewitness account for the Guardian. “The first jolt knocked me off my feet. A desktop computer…
Enduring Friendship
New Zealand has the “enduring friendship and support of many partners around the world,” President Obama said in a White House statement. Obama offered his “deepest condolences” to the people of New Zealand and…
Crowds Go Wild
Gisborne hosted as many as 25, spectators and 2 competitors at this year’s National Kapa Haka Festival, Te Matatini o Te Ra, held from16 through 2 February, with Rotorua-based Te Matarae i Orehu taking…
Year for the Kereru
A project to help the kereru and native forests thrive once more throughout the Wellington region has received new funding from the Nikau Foundation with support from the Willscott Endowment Fund, and WWF-New Zealand…
Into the Stormy Pot
Outdoor adventure instructors taking shelter from a storm in Kahurangi National Park on Mt Arthur have stumbled across what may prove to be the country’s deepest cave. Instructor Kieran McKay and four others took…
Stronger ‘Mateship’
Julia Gillard is now coming to the end of her first official visit to New Zealand. In speeches to New Zealand business leaders and Parliament yesterday, Gillard sought to “pay tribute to the friendship”…
Return to Erebus
Over 1 relatives of those killed in the Mt Erebus air disaster visited Antarctica yesterday. The flight’s 14 passengers, who were selected by ballot, flew out of Christchurch to attend a memorial for their…
