Amidst grottos of fern
About 4 walkers, both guided and independent, tramp Fiordland’s Hollyford Track each year. The Australian’s John Borthwick writes that New Zealanders’ “love of hoofing it over hill, dale and scrub, tramping, not rugby, is…
Tag Archives: Australian (The)
Edge Quake
Salmonella Dub’s epoynmous DVD reviewed in The Weekend Australian. With a large Australian following and formidable live reputation Elizabeth Coleman finds the Kaikoura dub waves don’t disappoint: “from the animated single Platectonics through to the exhilarating Push…
Top Shots
The photographer who captured Sir Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Mt Everest hosts a retrospective at Lab X in Melbourne. Alfred Gregory documented Hillary and Tenzing’s feat in a series of images that became recognised…
Rugby and Much More
The arrival of a 25 metre-long New Zealand rugby ball on Circular Quay “within cooee of the Sydney Opera House” marks one year until the 211 Rugby World Cup kicks off. As a conspicuous…
Celebrating clumsiness
“Maori get pigeonholed into the idea they’re spiritual and telling stories like Whale Rider and Once were Warriors, quite serious stuff, but we’re pretty funny people and we never really have had an opportunity…
Rave reviews for app
Since launching a free iPad application, which went live on July 23, APN News and Media-owned The New Zealand Herald “has earned near-rave reviews, averaging four-star ratings on Apple’s iTunes site,” The Australian’s Lara…
Anniversary of sinking
Twenty-five years ago two French agents coordinated the bombing of the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior in Waitemata Harbour, a tragedy in which Portuguese-Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira drowned. The attack on the ship was remembered…
Where the locals go
“Sometimes in New Zealand the differences between us and them become much greater than a few murky vowel sounds and divided rugby and cricket loyalties,” The Australian’s Nicole Jeffery writes. Driving SUVs in snow…
National carrier wins
Air New Zealand has won the Australia-Pacific’s best airline and the region’s staff service excellence award and was voted fifth in the world in the annual Skytrax awards. Eighteen million people voted in this…
NZ gothic on show
The Queensland Art Gallery’s Gallery of Modern Art is showcasing its substantial collection of contemporary New Zealand art — the largest outside of this country — with an exhibition called the
Controversial Precision
“New Zealand is joining the global race to meet a surging demand for energy and minerals, with a plan to open up highly protected conservation areas to mining,” writes Paul Cleary for The Australian. The…
Davenport’s coup
New Zealand-born chef Phillip Davenport, group executive chef at Bali’s popular Ku De Ta restaurant and bar, discusses his “must-buy ingredient of the moment”, his “best recent dining experience” and his “most embarrassing pantry…
She’s a Sensation
Fifteen-year-old wildcard Sarah Mason surprised the crowd at New Plymouth’s Fitzroy Beach beating current surfing world champion Stephanie Gilmour in the third round of the TSB Bank Classic. Mason handled the 1–1.5m waves more…
Twomey triumphs
Artistic director of the New Zealand International Arts Festival Lissa Twomey has “put together a triumphant programme of calculated risk-taking”. Guided by her long experience with the Sydney Festival and her now shrewd understanding of…
Auckland Airport Expands
Auckland International Airports has acquired Westpac’s 24.55 per cent stake in North Queensland Airports (NQA) for AU$132.8 million as part of a strategy to grow beyond its New Zealand business. It sees Cairns as…
Shadows and light
New Zealand choreographer Lemi Ponifasio’s “disturbing, visually beautiful” Tempest: without a body, recently performed as part of the Sydney Festival, is reviewed by The Australian’s Deborah Jones who describes Tempest as a production with…
No Pain No Gain
Dunedin ironman Olympian Greg Henderson, 32, won stage two of the Jayco Bay Classic Criterium in Geelong. And when Henderson admits to hurting, you know he’s had a tough day. “The legs are absolutely…
Union Purgatory
“If we need any proof that God is a New Zealander,” writes The Australian’s Bret Harris, “it is the hell that Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is going through.” “Deans’ mortal sin was leaving New…
Pure Success
Tourism New Zealand’s 100 per cent Pure campaign has topped an international branding survey published by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation and European Travel Commission. The survey asked 165 national tourism organisations which…
Letters to the Editors
“Small town” New Zealander and self-confessed letter addict, Andrew Prieditis, 30, has been published in over 60 newspapers globally in the past six weeks alone by writing ‘letters to the editor’ and supplying a…
Front row seat for Kirk
Former Fairfax boss and All Black great David Kirk is the newly appointed executive chairman of the Pacific Equity Partners-owned Hoyts cinema group. The move, which will also see Kirk invest his own money…
Moral repatriation
More than a dozen mummified Maori heads could be returned to New Zealand once a French bill is approved by the Senate in Paris. “The Maori heads that are still dispersed in European and…
Adieu to a Comedienne
Opera singer Heather Begg, a mezzo-soprano who last month was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, has died in New South Wales, aged 76. Begg was the first person…
Sauvignon’s Secret Scent
New Zealand’s world-renowned sauvignon blanc is made up of a combination of aromas including sweet, sweaty passionfruit, asparagus, and cat’s pee according to a six-year study conducted by wine scientists. The tests were carried…
Painted loneliness
Christchurch-born painter Euan Macleod has won the 2009 Gallipoli Art Prize, a prize valued at $20,000 for Smoke/Pinklandscape/Shovel which portrays the muddy trenches of World War I. Competition judge John McDonald said: “This year,…
Moa Meals Uncovered
University of Otago postgraduate Jamie Wood collects moa dung, or coprolites, which he finds on tip-offs from hunters who report findings of moa bones. Alan Cooper of the University of Adelaide, who specialises in…
Sixties renewal
Auckland-based fashion designer Kate Sylvester and her partner Wayne Conway chose New Zealand architect Belinda George to design the renovations to their 1960s Westmere home, remaining true to that decade’s form, combining new with…
The Racing Reverend Rests
Legendary racing announcer Darren Tyquin died in a car crash in Christchurch recently, at 41. Tyquin had been calling races since he was fifteen, when he began covering greyhound and harness meetings for a…
One Fine Fishing Boat
New Zealand naval architect and multi-hull specialist Roger Hill has designed the Montebello, a luxury 12.5m planing power catamaran for a group of Gold Coast businessmen who – headed by industry identity Gary Zamparutti…
Call to arms
Actor Sam Neill, one of the stars of New Zealand/British film Dean Spanley, has told Prime Minister John Key at the premier of the film that: “George Bush declared war on an emotion, a…
NZ’s film bonanza
Wellington’s Weta Digital will develop the effects for upcoming 3D motion-capture trilogy, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the sequel of which Peter Jackson will direct in New Zealand. Recently announced is…
Awarded for Imagination
New Zealand mineral chemist Dr Alan Reid, 77, has won the Ian Wark Medal in acknowledgement for his outstanding contribution to Australia’s prosperity through the advancement of scientific knowledge. One of a number of…
Lakeside Hedonism
Blanket Bay luxury lodge on the shores of Lake Wakatipu is the starting point for any adventure a guest can imagine, but it is also home to some very fine cuisine, according to The…
Newspaper Half Mast
A homage to Sir Edmund Hillary has won this year’s best newspaper advertisement at the 2008 Caxton Awards in Australia picking up the top prize, the Quinlivan Black Award. The Saatchi & Saatchi Australia…
Screen Australia hires Harley
New Zealander Ruth Harley – currently CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission – has been appointed chief executive of the newly formed national film agency, Screen Australia. Dr Harley begins the position in…
Te Reo Goes Google
Google Aotearoa has been launched to coincide with July’s Maori Language Week (Te Wiki O Te Reo Maori 2008), with more than 8750 words translated. Potaua Biasiny-Tule, 32, and his Puerto Rican wife Nikolasa,…
Cooking from Scratch
Bridal Falls provides a spectacular setting, and outdoor market, for chef Charles Royal’s Maori feast made with bush asparagus-flavoured pikopiko fern, horopito and supple jack vine. On Royal’s food tour, which he offers from…
Loving the lovemarks
An Australian is looking to NZ for inspiration in re-branding itself at home and abroad; hoping to shed its “where the bloody hell are you” ocker image by emphasising its sporting culture, vibrant food…
Good Things Come in Threes
The Royal NZ Ballet’s recent tour earned high praise in the Australian national media. The RNZB performed a trio of works by Christopher Hampson, Javier de Frutos and Michael Parmenter, collectively entitled Trinity. The…
Douglas Wright’s “poem of love, cruelty and death”
During his dance career Douglas Wright was said to resemble Nijinsky in his face, his flair and his soaring leap. He now has the taut, high cheekbones, full lips and furrowed brow of…
Impeccable balancing act
Anna Paquin is back in the news with a spate of new film projects nearing release. A Times profile, reprinted in The Australian, charts her “impeccably navigated career path,” from The Piano to her…
Sam’s Back
Called by Kerry Packer “the world’s best television executive,” NZ-born Sam Chisholm is back helming Packer’s Channel Nine. In the 90s he turned UK’s BSkyB into a cash cow for Rupert Murdoch. The Auckland born…
Rann – Global Warming “Frightening”
Mike Rann, the Auckland University-educated and former NZBC journalist and now, Labor Premier of South Australia, writes in The Australian that “the world should make no mistake: in 2005, global warming is a real…
The money or the bag?
Scott Smith of Auckland became the 7th contestant to face the million dollar question on hit Australian quiz show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The aspiring minister ended up taking $500,000 as opposed…
Stopping traffic
Cliff Curtis earns praise across the Tasman for his gritty performance in Traffic: The Miniseries. Australian: “By far the best performance is from Maori actor Cliff Curtis. His dark complexion means he is…
The Sheep That Roared
An Australian feature by Claire Harvey likened the Israeli passport scandal to the infamous Rainbow Warrior incident of 1985. PM Helen Clark has cut diplomatic ties with Israel until an official apology and explanation is offered stating,…
Increased Coverage This Season
“Dusseldorf, Reykjavik, Melbourne, Madrid and Hong Kong may as yet be household names only in the households taking part, but Mercedes-Benz Sydney Fashion Week, Air New Zealand Fashion Week and Sao Paulo Fashion Week…
Big read
Elizabeth Knox’s Daylight – a typically imaginative tale involving caving, mysterious deaths, and a Resistance heroine – makes the Australian‘s list of Big Reads for 2004.
Perfect Strangers
Sam Neill, Rachel Blake (Lantana) and Joel Toebeck star in Gaylene Preston’s genre-bending twisted-tale of a pick up gone wrong on the South Island’s rugged West Coast or, “chick flick – deconstructed … subversion…
Deep south delights
The Australian finds the university city of Dunedin a “hearty mix of charm and character – with plenty of wee surprises”. In the ‘Scotch Broth’ Stephen Brook includes culture and characters during a visit…
Australia Looks to the Near East
The Australian features a 20 page special report on The Pacific. Strongly focused on NZ, the supplement includes a regional overview (“Australia is said to be the superpower of the South Pacific. If so then New…
Ringing Up the Profit
Telecom NZ has made a NZ$703 million net profit for the past year, ending a four-year run of negative growth. The solid progress comes despite a troubled foray into the Australian market.
Ted Man Walking
Kiwi baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes is the Weekend Australian’s cover-boy for his lead role in opera Dead Man Walking, which opens shortly at Adelaide’s Festival Theatre. The opera is based on the story of…
Once Were Panelbeaters
NZ’s 2003 “Rich List” is headed by billionaire businessman Graeme Hart, who last year accomplished a daring takeover of Australian food giant, Goodman Fielder. Hart was the subject of the Australian headline; ‘Once were panelbeaters, now cashed-up Kiwis.’…
Third Culturist Boyd nets Nabokov
Brian Boyd-edited Nabokov’s Butterflies, an exploration of Nabokov’s obsession with butterflies that posits Nabokov’s scientific pursuit of lepidoptry as a way of understanding the author more completely, hailed as third culture exemplar in…
Land of the long black shadow
The Stedelijk Museum curated Colin McCahon retrospective – ‘A Question of Faith’ – reviewed in the Weekend Australian, prior to its opening at the Ian Potter Centre in Melbourne’s Federation Square. Critic Susan McCulloch:…
