What They’re Reading
Katherine Mansfield’s 1918 story Je Ne Parles Pas Français is included in the New Yorker’s ‘What We’re Reading’ column, a selection of notes from the staff on their literary engagements of the week. Andrew Mantz writes:…
Tag Archives: Wellington
Life Spent Winning
Former All Blacks captain and New Zealand Rugby Union chairman Christchurch-born Jock Hobbs, has died of cancer in Wellington, aged 52. Hobbs played 21 Tests for the All Blacks as an openside flanker between…
Capital Drinking Haunts
“Wellington is famous for its tiny, tucked-away bars, quirky cafes and galleries, fashion boutiques, award winning restaurants and buzzing nightlife,” Lost at E Minor travel site explains. Australian tourist, Patrick Stevenson — a.k.a. The…
Coney Lights Up The Stage
Ex-New Zealand cricket captain and stage lighting designer Wellington-born Jeremy Coney, 59, lights up a London production of The Leisure Society, starring former British model Agyness Dean. “An air of glamour surrounds this French-Canadian import…
Experimental Eugenia In NY
New Zealand playwright Lorae Parry’s Eugenia will be performed at the State University of New York (SUNY) from 1-11 March. The play is a debut for the region, having been performed only once in the United…
Lifestyle Comes At A Price
Auckland and Wellington have risen in their rankings of the most expensive cities to live in, with Auckland jumping nine places to rank 15 and Wellington rising 16 places to rank 17th with London….
On Track For Tenth Crown
New Zealand has won the fourth leg of the IRB Sevens World Series beating arch-rivals Fiji 24-7 in Wellington. The withering burst of 24 unanswered points in five minutes gave New Zealand a victory…
Miramar’s Awakening
“Until Sir Peter Jackson and his producer Jamie Selkirk made films in Miramar in the 1990s, the Wellington suburb was sleepy,” David Burton writes for Monocle. “‘There was tumbleweed, rolling down the street,’ jokes…
Debating Foreign Investment
New Zealand Federated Farmers chief executive Conor English speaks from Wellington with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television’s “On the Move Asia” about Shanghai Pengxin Group Co.’s plan to buy 16 New Zealand dairy farms….
Beats Picking Tomatoes
Wellington-based filmmaker Tusi Tumasese, 35, director of Oscar-nominated feature The Orator, explains to The West Australian why he left Samoa at the age of 18. “My mum sent me over to New Zealand because I was getting…
Toward A Takeaway Solution
Head of purchasing at pioneer Wellington coffee roaster Cafe L’Affare Zeke Alley says New Zealand is “screaming out for a solution” to the ever-increasing problem of disposing of paper takeaway coffee cups. Cafe L’Affare’s…
Exploring The North
Cathedral Cove, “the looming limestone archway seen in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” was one of the scenic spots The Tribune’s Sarah Linn stopped at on her tour of New Zealand. “Travelling along State Highway 25,…
Weta Leads The Charge
“Wellington: once you come, you stay,” Crave Online’s Grae Drake is told on a visit to Weta Digital. “This is both a threat and a promise, uttered by the geniuses employed at Weta. The…
Birds In Paradise
About an hour from downtown Wellington is Kapiti Island, one of New Zealand’s most successful nature reserves and a model for wildlife and flora conservation. Award-winning journalist Jill Robinson takes a day-trip there. “On…
Crooning Retro Sass
Wellington-born 21-year-old Willy Moon is “dressed up to the nines in a black wool coat, white suit, pale blue shirt and tie, hair greased and parted with precision — the spitting image of a…
From Top To Bottom
The 3000km Te Araroa, or The Long Pathway, the world’s longest walking trail, will be officially opened on 3 December in Wellington. The trail is the result of a massive volunteer effort that…
Wellington-Fitzroy Pop-Up
When tickets went on sale for pop-up restaurant WLG in Fitzroy run by New Zealand’s best chefs, 500 seats were sold in 25 minutes. The temporary restaurant, named after Wellington’s airport code, opens for…
Warriors Rewarded
New Zealand intelligence expert Upper Hutt resident Major Rory McGregor was among 25 New Zealand Defence Force personnel to receive US military medals from visiting Major General Peter Talleri, the Okinawa, Japan-based commander of…
Seriously Shaken
“By the standards of global hipness, New Zealand – where local food is a way of life and you’re as likely to see a beard on a farmer as on a barista – has…
Wellington Makes a Point
“Once a flyover city for tourists as they jetted between the thermal regions of the north and the cloud-scraping mountains of the south, or at best a pass-through destination for those taking the ferry…
September’s Best Track
Wellington-based musician Jon Lemmon’s “opus” Exodus I is the Guardian/Music Alliance Pact (MAP) New Zealand selection for September included in a list of best tracks from around the globe. Every month, 35…
Rewriting the Focus
A million-dollar investment in gold bullion has kept Wellingtonian Theresa Gattung, 49, financially secure for the past four years out of the spotlight, but now the former chief executive of Telecom New Zealand (TNZ)…
New Zealand Blanketed in Snow
August saw freezing cold and snow blanketing virtually all of the country, even typically mild cities such as Wellington and Auckland, which last saw accumulated snow 45 and 72 years ago, respectively. “What began…
Grass and Seeds
Wellington reggae-soul group The Black Seeds played at the Australian music festival Splendour in the Grass at Woodford in Queensland on 29 July; keyboardist Nigel Patterson was interviewed ahead of the gig by the…
Pioneering MP
Whetu Trikatene-Sullivan, New Zealand’s longest serving female MP has died in Wellington, aged 79. Trikatene-Sullivan, of Ngai Tahu, was Labour MP for Southern Maori for 29 years, from 1967 till 1996. She famously travelled…
D-Day Demons
New Zealand director Paul Campion’s debut feature film The Devil’s Rock is reviewed in the Guardian by Michael Hann. “ attempts to settle the type of question posed by bumptious schoolboys: which would be…
Living His Dream
At the age of 12, Wellingtonian Cole Peverley, who currently plays at midfield for Charleston Battery in South Carolina, travelled to Europe for a youth tournament in 2. He played so well that professional…
Wellington in the Spotlight
Wellington journalist and blogger Nick Churchouse takes the Guardian about the capital on a culinary tour of where to find the best food and drink between Rugby World Cup games. Wellington is hosting…
Board Made Bespoke
Wellington-based tailoring firm Working Style will make 1 bespoke suits for the management team of the International Rugby Board this year after winning a six-figure contract normally reserved for European companies….
Ponoko Perfect
Ponoko, the virtual manufacturing pioneer, has announced that its Personal Factory platform will support the new 3D modelling software, Autodesk 123D. The partnership between Autodesk and Ponoko allows the companies to meet…
Star in the Making
Twenty-year-old Declan O’Donnell scored a hat trick of tries for New Zealand in the Wellington final of the IRB Sevens World Series helping the team beat England 29-14. “If I see a star in…
Wind Assisted Travel
When in Wellington “you don’t need energy to walk as you’ll be assisted by the wind,” discovers Malay Mail reporter Dominah Devadas. Devadas writes that asides from the wind, “Wellington is home to magnificent…
Revealing the inner
“Everyone’s favourite sexy vampire-loving barmaid” New Zealand actress Anna Paquin is on the cover of the January 2011 issue of Dazed & Confused magazine. In the cover story titled ‘True Colours’, Paquin, 2008, was…
Sense of spaciousness
The Phoenix Foundation’s fourth album Buffalo is reviewed by the Guardian’s Dave Simpson who writes that “songwriting this good doesn’t come along often.” Like the xx — whose sense of spaciousness they share —…
Scenic Rail Journeys
Travelling by train from Wellington to London, BBC journalist Robert Greenall writes that “there are still plenty of good reasons to go by train.” “The joy of ‘slow travel’ is that you see how…
Airline alliance
Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue will form an alliance on trans-Tasman routes, after the competition regulator dropped its opposition to the plan. After indicating three months ago that it would block the deal,…
Onward to Invercargill
Wellington actor Bret McKenzie will co-star with Australian television and radio personality Hamish Blake in a New Zealand feature film, Two Little Boys, which is due to start filming in January in Southland. Based…
Demanding legacy
“All Blacks centre Ma’a Nonu believes the team’s success comes from always striving to improve their performance and like every All Black ever come across, Nonu is reluctant…
Passionate About Food
Wellington is New Zealand’s “culinary epicentre” according to the Los Angeles Times’ Laura Fraser, a city which “gazes out to the Mediterranean” for inspiration. “We’ve got a country with a very Anglo-Saxon food heritage,…
Death of an Iron Man
All Black prop Johnny Simpson, who played 33 matches including nine Tests for New Zealand in the late 1940s, has died in Wellington, aged 88. Know as the “Iron Man” for his strength and…
Structural winnings
The Supreme Court of New Zealand in Wellington, designed by New Zealand-based Warren & Mahoney and completed in 29, has won the Institution of Structural Engineers Structural Award in the heritage category, for its…
In love with Brooke
“In early 28, I fell in love with New Zealand indie-pop-rock sensation Brooke Fraser’s second album, Albertine,” Speakers in Code blogger Jason Gonulsen writes. “I played it everywhere — in my house, in my…
Psychological Primer
Wellington author and English teacher Denis Wright’s debut young adult novel Violence 11 is reviewed in the Los Angeles Times by Susan Carpenter who says the book “is a solid psychological primer that should…
Formalised Relationship
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited New Zealand in November “formalising its progressively warm relationship with New Zealand,” writes Wall Street Journal blogger Lucy Craymer from Wellington. “With a strategic agreement that promises…
Coolest Little Capital
Wellington has been named the ‘Coolest Little Capital City’ in the world by Lonely Planet. The Lonely Planet Best In Travel 211 also named Wellington as the fourth best city in the world to…
Eerie Compulsion
Lloyd Jones’ latest novel Hand Me Down World is reviewed in the Financial Times. Hand Me Down World, about an illegal immigrant who makes her way from Tunis to Berlin to find her son…
Ballet Appointment
The Royal New Zealand Ballet has appointed American dancer Ethan Stiefel, 37, as artistic director of the company. Stiefel, who assumes the role in 211, will be taking over from London-born Gary Harris, who…
Waving the flag
Wellington-born singer/songwriter Brooke Fraser’s third album Flags is reviewed by Birmingham, Alabama university magazine The Samford Crimson. Reviewer Matt Davidson describes the album as “unlike any other Fraser has put out because it tells…
Seeing some girls
Lord of the Rings stars Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Elijah Wood discuss their time spent in New Zealand working on the trilogy 11 years ago with Entertainment Weekly. Here they are, in a…
Starbucks combo
Wellington-based design company The Formary, have developed a new sustainable textile called “WoJo” which will be used by coffee chain Starbucks for chairs in their stores and unveiled as part of UK Wool Week…
Minnesota Exchange
Wellington teenager Madeleine Kwapisz is on a student exchange student studying at Fulda High School (FHS) in Minnesota and is profiled in the local newspaper. Kwapisz, 16, attends Wellington High School and will have…
Roundhouse drama
Wellington seven-piece dub/reggae group Fat Freddy’s Drop played a sold-out gig at the Bristol Academy and at Brighton’s Concorde2 in September on their European tour. Their live experience is now available in their latest…
Best of the vintage
Wellington’s vintage clothing store Ziggurat Fashion Emporium on Cuba Street is recommended in the Guardian by readers who name their favourite places to stock up on retro outfits and vintage pieces, in the UK…
Will They Be Drinking Their Tea Out of Saucers?
From Wellington to Wagga Wagga it’s Bledislode time again. The All Blacks come to July’s Tri-Nation series against Australia and South Africa with a string of wins under their belts, some less than convincing. They’d better…
End of an Era
New Zealand businessman and former chairman of Fletcher Challenge, Sir Ronald Ramsay Trotter, who was a vocal advocate of economic deregulation and personified big business in this country for nearly three decades, has died…
Snowy Did it All
“So remarkable was the sporting life of Eric Tindill, who has died in Wellington at 99 years and 226 days, that being the longest lived of all the 2600 men who have played test…
