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 a "spacious quality that gives room for reflections of many kinds, depending on one's worldview". "Tempest, performed by Ponifasio's New Zealand-based company MAU, is certainly making its mark. The title evokes Shakespeare's great play and therefore ideas of dispossession and magic. Another thread is the experience of detention and the loss of freedom after September 11; above all is the yearning for the deep sense of belonging that comes from knowing exactly who you are and where you have come from. Ponifasio creates this multiplicity of meanings in a setting of immense austerity. Ponifasio is uncompromising in his stretching of time, repetition of images and a mood of deep desolation, but surrendering to the work yielded great riches." 
(12 January 2010)

McIver learns from best 
New Zealand actress Rose McIver, 22, plays the younger sister to Saoirse Ronan in Peter Jackson's thriller The Lovely Bones. Teen Hollywood talks to McIver about working with stars Ronan, 15, and Susan Sarandon. "Susan is fantastic," McIver said. "I think she pushed me to see how far it could go. She's such a professional and has a lot of experience I feel like I learned a lot from working with her." Asked what most impressed her about working on the film, McIver said: "Just working with such high calibre people; leaders in their fields; crew and cast. I loved how they really get down to work and they are actors' actors but still a very down-to-earth bunch of people." McIver plays the lusted-after Maybelle in the movie Predicament, an adaption of the book written by late Hawera author Ronald Hugh Morrieson. 
(11 January 2010)

Challenge in the trees 
Thirty minutes out of Auckland in Woodhill Forests Tree Adventures has set up an adventure park allowing students and executives the chance to excape classrooms and offices and clamber up branches, balance on tightropes and zoom down flying foxes. Philippine Daily Inquirer reporter Queena Lee-Chua "had the time of [her life], skipping over ropes, hanging onto swaying steps, maneuvering through obstacles, way above the trees." "Tree Adventures is not just physical — the challenges are mental as well. My son had to think about how to go over tall pinions (meant for longer legs) while still maintaining his balance. My husband had to think how not to rely too much on his shoulders, so as not to inflame an old injury, as he held on to much-needed pulleys and harnesses. No wonder Tree Adventures is a popular retreat for students and executives. Not only is it a decent team-building activity, it also promotes mental and physical learning." Tree Adventures offers nine different courses ranging from three to 14 metres above the ground. 
(10 January 2010)

Ruthless makes US list 
New Zealand romance writer Natalie Anderson's novel Ruthless Boss, Royal Mistress recently featured in USA Today's top 150 books sold over the New Year. Her book about a "billionaire businessman who teaches a spoiled heiress a lesson," has just been released in America by her publisher, Harlequin Presents. Ruthless Boss placed 108th of bestsellers. She says one of the biggest influences on her literary career was, perhaps unusually, her grandmother. "My grandmother lived with us when I was growing up and she was a voracious reader of everything and she used to read a lot of Mills and Boons and I would read them, too." Anderson — Christchurch mother of four children under five, including twins — has written a number of other books, including Hot Boss, Boardroom Mistress. She is one of the few authors to have a multi-book contract with the world's most famous romance publishers, Mills and Boon. Anderson has an arts degree from the University of Canterbury and a masters in library and information studies from Victoria University.
(11 January 2010)

Spartacus debuts in US 
Former warrior princess Lucy Lawless stars as Lucretia in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, "a sword-and-sandals epic that Starz, the US premium cable network, rolls out January 22". Spartacus is a flashy, big-budget attempt to forge a brand, complete with a big-name costar (Lawless) and the heavily stylised, comic-book-like use of green-screen technology familiar from movies like 300 and Sin City. "We tried to do the western, operatic version of violence and bloodshed," said executive producer Rob Tapert, Lawless' husband. Spartacus took advantage of tax breaks in New Zealand — where Tapert and Lawless now spend much of the year — and was shot entirely on soundstages, with effects and settings filled in later by computer. 
(10 January 2010)

Record over ice 
Twizel adventurer Kylie Wakelin and six other women who made up the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition have made it to the South Pole, cross-country skiing 900km over 38 days to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth. Wakelin, 36, is the first New Zealand woman to reach the site. Each woman towed an 80kg sled loaded with food, fuel and equipment. The significance of Wakelin's time in Antarctica had started sinking in only on her plane flight home. "It's just an incredibly beautiful landscape — when we arrived at the pole, I was trying to remain calm, but it was just an amazing feeling." Wakelin, who has worked in ski-touring and mountaineering, said the trip was different from anything she had done before. "It wasn't a technically difficult trip, but just endurance-wise, we had 37 days of skiing and one rest day — it really does start to wear you down." The best part of being back was "definitely free-flowing hot water and mattresses". 
(31 December 2009)

Back on the Lion 
Artist Sarah-Jane Blake, the 26-year-old daughter of the late New Zealand sailing icon Peter Blake, has helped create a documentary about her father for a permanent exhibition on him in the new wing of the Maritime Museum in Auckland. She has also found herself volunteering to race in June from Auckland to Noumea, New Caledonia, on Lion New Zealand, the refurbished 24-metre, maxi on which her father won line honors in the Sydney-Hobart in 1984 before using it in the Whitbread. This is the 25th anniversary of Lion's victory, and Blake will be on board with Conrad Gundry and Sam Cray, who are also children of 1984 crew members. Lion New Zealand skipper, Alistair Moore, acknowledges that it is more a commemorative endeavour than a competitive one. With Lion New Zealand now serving primarily as a floating educational platform for youth, Moore said he felt as if he were being true to the spirit of his role model. "I was an eight-year-old boy who would fanatically draw pictures of this yacht in every textbook I owned," Moore said. "Peter was my hero, absolute hero, and it's quite emotional sometimes, because I know he would be happy with what we're doing, because it's giving something back."
(25 December 2009)

Banning the bomb 
New Zealand has voted to unanimously to ban cluster munitions. New Zealand's Cluster Munitions Prohibition Bill bans the use, development, production and stockpiling of cluster munitions in the country and by New Zealanders offshore. The first cluster bombs uses operationally were the German butterfly bombs during World War II to attack military and civilian targets. Around 34 nations have made them in the past, but the United States, Russia and China are the major producers now. American slang for the bomb is firecracker or popcorn. New Zealand was one of the first countries to sign the convention banning cluster bombs. New Zealand played a leading role in the negotiation of the convention, including hosting a crucial meeting in Wellington in February 2008. "New Zealand has a profile far above our size or place in the world on disarmament issues and I am extremely proud to continue that tradition with this bill," Disarmament and Arms Control Minister Georgina te Heuheu said. 
(18 December 2009)

Luxury lodge world's best 
Rotorua's luxury Lake Okareka Lodge has been voted the world's best luxury country lodge at the Luxury Hotel Awards held in Thailand. The five-year-old lodge has three double bedrooms, each with bathroom en suite, plus breakfast, dining and living areas, a kitchen, library, gallery, gym and massage room. The 2500-square-metre site includes a helipad, stream, waterfall and spa pool. The room rate is $7150 a night for two people, $9350 for four, and $11,550 per night for six. Guests can treat the lodge as their own home, or a staff of 10, including a 24-hour on call butler service, is available. Lodge manager Diana Moore said the award was recognition for providing exclusive accommodation for discerning guests who could treat it like their own home. The award was judged from guest feedback, including a "mystery guest", and by the travel industry. 
(17 December 2009)

Marriage good for you 
University of Otago clinical psychologist Kate Scott led a study of the effects of marriage on 34,493 people across 15 countries finding that it really is good for you and reduces the risks of depression and anxiety. Scott said that the study found that getting married, compared to not getting married, was good for the mental health of both genders, not just women, as previous studies had found. It also found that ending marriage through separation, divorce or death is linked to an increased risk of mental health disorders, with women more likely to resort to substance abuse and men more likely to become depressed. "What makes this investigation unique and more robust is the sample is so large and across so many countries and the fact that we have data not only on depression ... but also on anxiety and substance use disorders," Scott said. "In addition, we were able to look at what happens to mental health in marriage, both in comparison with never getting married, and with ending marriage." The study was recently published in the British journal Psychological Medicine. It was conducted in association with the World Health Organisation, Harvard University and a number of other international organisations. 
(15 December 2009)

Dispelling the dark 
An exhibition featuring New Zealand designers Nom*D, Doris De Pont, World and Zambesi is on now at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. The exhibition, entitled, Together Alone: Australian and New Zealand Fashion, highlights the practices of eight leading New Zealand and Australian fashion houses. The diverse approaches to fashion represented through these fashion houses at once dispels the stereotyped references to the 'casual and carefree' nature of Australian fashions and the 'dark and gothic' label frequently attached to New Zealand design. With over forty works on display, the exhibition spans the period when independent fashion design from New Zealand and Australia moved beyond regional boundaries, influencing how fashion from the area has been perceived in the last decade. Together Alone runs through April 18. 
(December 2009)

Quality not quantity 
New Zealand's wineries are "fighting to preserve their reputation as premium wine producers, even as bumper harvests and thrifty drinkers pull them in the opposite direction," writes Alexandra Harney for The New York Times. The introduction of Cloudy Bay's chief winemaker Kevin Judd's first vintage label Greywacke comes at a time of reckoning for New Zealand's wineries. New Zealand is desperate to avoid the fate of neighbouring Australia. A surge in investment drove that country's wine exports up from 151 million litres in 1996–97 to 786 million litres in 2006–07, but bulk sales to supermarkets have lowered both prices and cachet. Exports slipped to 750 million litres in 2008–09. "We can't compete and remain viable if we are producing bulk wine," said Marcus Pickens, marketing manager for industry association Wine Marlborough. New Zealand's smaller size, high labour costs, and cool climate make it harder for the country to sustain the big yields that volume production requires, Pickens added. Greywacke, then, could be seen as Judd's attempt to keep New Zealand wine small but beautiful. 
(10 December 2009)

O'Brien to Middlesex 
Black Caps seamer Iain O'Brien, 33, has retired from international cricket and joined Middlesex as their overseas player for 2010 having spent last season at Leicestershire. The right-armer, who is also a prolific blogger, made his Test debut in 2005, taking a career-best 6–75 against West Indies in Napier in December 2008. O'Brien has said that "being on the road for 11 months of the year" was something he could no longer cope with. "I've placed cricket in front of everything else, but it's now time to put Rosie first and start a family. Since we married two and a half years ago, we've only spent nine months together," he explained. "I intend to keep playing the game I love, and have an opportunity to finish my career with Middlesex which is very exciting." Captain Daniel Vettori said: "I don't think people quite realise how much the team will miss him in terms of his bowling and the intensity and energy and desire to want the ball at every stage." 
(6 December 2009)

Model of all things 
"People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things." So said the mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary. In the pursuit of the extraordinary, the dean of private business school INSEAD Frank Brown has always believed a business leader and a mountaineer share certain traits. In order to succeed and reach their goals, both must be determined, focused, brave, sceptical and understand the importance of teamwork. "Hillary, the man who conquered Everest in 1953, was a leader and innovator who was inspired by the idea of adventure," Brown continues. "He was a real model for our leaders of tomorrow. But it's the fact that Hillary remained modest and responsible towards society and the environment that makes him inspirational to today's business leaders. As the dean of a business school, it is my job to mould tomorrow's leaders; leaders who not only want to develop viable businesses but who also genuinely want to contribute to a better society. For me, Edmund Hillary is a model of all these things." 
(4 December 2009)

Courting kiwis 
Prince William, 27, has officially opened the new $80.7 million Supreme Court building on Lambton Quay in Wellington, now the country's highest court of appeal. Architects Warren and Mahoney modelled the courtroom on a kauri cone and designed it in accordance with sustainable design policies. On the second day of Prince William's first official visit overseas, he finally met a local who didn't want to meet him on the 800ha Kapiti Island reserve. In his case it was a drowsy Little Spotted Kiwi, rooted out of its undergrowth habitat and nocturnal routine the previous evening and kept in a box to be introduced to the prince on his visit to the astonishingly beautiful Kapiti Island reserve. The prince's kiwi, about the size of a small chicken, is the smallest of the six sub-species of the bird and it deployed its defences against the unwelcome intrusion of visitors by unleashing a small shower of feathers, a move designed to distract attention. It is a tactic royals could perhaps consider deploying for themselves. As it was, the prince, gingerly holding the kiwi upside down, merely turned to the accompanying flock of press photographers and beamed knowingly: "At last — me with a kiwi bird." 
(18 January 2010)

Missouri dairy kings 
New Zealander Kevin Van der Poel, 46, remembers the skepticism and suspicion when he moved to Missouri more than four years ago to raise dairy cattle. When Van der Poel started construction on rock walkways for moving cattle between pastures, rumour spread that he was building housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Some locals thought his cows seemed too thin and speculated that they had to go too far to forage or weren't adequately protected from the elements. He was a foreigner who had purchased a prized farm and had a different way of doing things. Some folks told him he would fail — though you would be hard-pressed to get many of them to say so now. Instead, Van der Poel is among those credited with boosting the state's reeling dairy industry. Now, on just over 2000ha, Van der Poel has 3800 dairy cows and an additional 2000 still too young to milk. The operation pumps about US$6 million a year into the local community and employs 28 people, about a third the number required to run a confinement dairy with a similar-sized herd.In the last few years, he and a handful of New Zealanders have invested US$100 million in Missouri's dairy industry, which annually generates more than US$900 million in economic impact. The New Zealanders operate four dairies and own almost 10 per cent of the state's herd. And with milk prices so low, their less expensive methods — which mostly involve a different way of feeding cows — are luring converts. "Their impact has been so significant in our state that it's hard to get your arms around it," said executive director of the Missouri Dairy Association David Drennan. 
(11 January 2010)

A man and his machine 
Extreme enduro rider Aucklander Chris Birch, 29, "is expected to be one of the guys to beat in the World Xtreme Enduro Championships (WXEC)" reports The Independent on Sunday. With boyish good looks and a disarming line in self-deprecation ['Birchy'] has come from nowhere to challenge the biggest names in the sport: despite being a full-time rider only since 2008, he won his first 'Big Five' extreme enduro event, the Roof of Africa, that year, a race he won again in 2009. Extreme enduro is a relatively new sport, which has taken elements of enduro racing, supercross, motocross and trials riding to create the ultimate test of man and machine. It is survival of the fittest on a dirt bike," explains Jeff Pakosta, the man behind the new WXEC. "It is about these guys challenging themselves against the clock on the most brutal terrain." The first race in the Championships takes place on February 6 at Hell's Gate in Tuscany, Italy. 
(5 January 2010)

Highest compliments 
French winemakers have been accused of trying to pass off their bottles as New Zealand produce to cash in on the popularity of brands from down under reports the Telegraph. A tribunal in Australia has ruled Loire Valley-based firm Lacheteau labelled its sauvignon blanc Kiwi Cuvee in a nod to the quirkily-named New Zealand and Australian white wines. The wine is currently sold in British and European supermarkets, but when the company attempted to register the brand in Australia, New Zealand winemakers cried foul. The New Zealand Winegrowers Association opposed the registration and a trademarks hearing decided the name was likely to deceive and confuse consumers. The ruling said customers could misunderstand the wine's name "on wine lists in restaurants and bars". Bordeaux wine expert Jeffrey Davies said there was a "nasty irony" about a French producer muscling in on this country's success and it was a sign New Zealanders had "beaten the French at their own game". 
(8 January 2010)

Success at boiling point 
Fahrenheit 212 co-founder and CEO Geoff Vuleta leans back in his chair and muses thoughtfully about his native New Zealand. "There's a lawn at Oxford with a sign on it that clearly says, 'Don't walk on the grass," he says. "And at 18, every kid in New Zealand goes off to England and walks on that grass. We all do, and I certainly did." While it may not be immediately clear how this is even remotely relevant, spend a few hours at Fahrenheit and hearing this sort of quirky New Zealand wisdom becomes positively routine; the tenets of Vuleta's scrappy island upbringing inform just about every aspect of the company. And that means the entire staff walks on the grass for a living. There doesn't seem to be a recession on at the Manhattan "innovation consultancy". New York-based Fahrenheit 212 has made a thriving business out of solving other companies' innovation problems, companies such as: Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Hershey, Samsung Electronics, Starbucks and Gucci Group. To understand Fahrenheit 212, you've got to start with Ernest Rutherford: New Zealand lore tells us that when native son Rutherford, known today as the father of nuclear physics, split the atom in 1917, an American journalist asked him how he — someone from a South Pacific backwater — did what so many European and American thinkers could not. He famously replied, "We didn't have the money, so we had to think." This fundamental principle of Kiwi thinking has never been more apropos. "What gets in the way of transformation," Vuleta says, "is money." And now that it's in short supply, his 25 person company is doing better than ever. Because, believe it or not, recessions may be just the time to make it in corporate America. Geoff Vuleta founded Fahrenheit 212 as part of Saatchi & Saatchi in the USA before taking the company independent. 
(16 December 2009)

Perfectly picturesque 
New Zealand's "countryside is stunning (no wonder The Lord of the Rings was filmed there); the people are charming — like happy Britons; and the food and drink can be memorable," writes Oxford University chancellor Lord Patten in an article for the Financial Times. Patten, "on a lecture tour of New Zealand attempting to explain the often puzzling role of the EU", and his wife arrive in Christchurch "in time for the rhododendrons and the azaleas" at the Botanic Gardens in Hagley Park. "In Nelson, we stayed at Warwick House, a delightful Victorian gothic mansion 10 minutes' walk — much of it along the banks of the river — from the city centre. The owners of this small hotel, retired from commercial adventures in Asia, are perfect guides to the area and, if you like a walk, you can take their Labrador with you." 
(19 December 2009)

Arise Sir Snell 
New Zealand three-time Olympic gold medalist Dr Peter Snell, who is based in Dallas, was honoured twice this year for his athletic career. Snell was knighted in August and his likeness commemorated in a bronze statue unveiled in Whanganui at the site where on January 27, 1962, he broke the world record of 3 minutes, 54.5 seconds in the 1-mile run with a time of 3 minutes and 54.4 seconds. The statue is based on a photograph of Snell crossing the finish line. "It was a tremendous, rewarding experience," Snell said of the knighting ceremony, the first of its kind in almost a decade. "It was certainly unique to have been part of that ceremony, and it's a pleasure to be honored in this way." Snell is director of the UT Southwestern Human Performance Laboratory, where he conducts exercise and metabolic studies on patients with a variety of adverse metabolic conditions. He is interested in exercise training and its impact on athletic performance, aging and health, particularly the prevention of heart disease. 
(17 December 2009)

Two Globe nominations 
New Zealand-raised actress Anna Paquin has been nominated for two best actress Golden Globes in her roles as Sookie Stackhouse in True Blood and playing the lead in made-for-TV movie The Courageous Heart of Irena Sandler. "It's very flattering and a great honour," Paquin said. "I'm very happy with what I have. If anything else comes of it, that's wonderful, but it's really wonderful already." The roles are vastly different — in True Blood, which is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris, she plays a telepathic waitress in small town Louisiana. Meanwhile, she takes on the part of a Polish social worker who smuggles Jewish children to safety during World War II in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. As defending champion in the drama-series actress category, Paquin will compete with The Closer's Kyra Sedgwick, Damages' Glenn Close, Mad Men's January Jones and The Good Wife's Julianna Margulies. 
(15 December 2009)

Christmas and cows 
New Plymouth physical education teacher Tracey Dravitzki explained New Zealand Christmas celebrations to a York News-Times journalist while stopping off in the American country town to participate in a local primary school's classes with her cousins. Dravitzki is in York until Christmas week, visiting her uncle, Paul Dravitzki, and his family. She has taken two years off work in New Zealand to travel the world. It takes so long, and costs so much, she says, to go anywhere from the bottom of the world, that many New Zealanders do it this way. Tracey spent the last year and a half using London as her home base to travel Europe. She worked some while she was there, too. Her family are dairy farmers and keep about 300 cows. Christmas Day starts like any other, she says. "Someone has to get up and move the cows." They eat breakfast, exchange a few presents, and go to church. Then, in a tradition familiar to many Americans, it's "dinner at Granny's." 
(15 December 2009)

Exeter organics 
New Zealand native Jude Essame and her Devon-born husband Mark took their five years of organic farming experience in New Zealand and opened Joshua's Harvest Store in Exeter. That was 20 years ago and the couple's innovative venture is still going strong. The market-style site sells everything that a conventional supermarket offers, but handpicked from local producers. Apart from locally-reared meat, fruit and vegetables, the shop boasts cakes, bread and puddings, which are all baked on the premises. They had been farming organic vegetables, kiwi fruit and peaches and when they returned to the Westcountry they realised there was a market to grow and sell their own produce from the garden gate. "We started as a cottage industry," Mark explained. "Our objective was always about having a certain lifestyle, anti-supermarket and the big guys." The couple recently opened up a sister shop in Dorchester, Dorset. 
(14 December 2009)

Revered geochemist dies 
Port Chalmers-born Smithsonian scientist Brian Harold Mason, who was internationally known for his study of meteorites and moon rocks and who was the first to discover that a rock found in Antarctica came from the moon, has died at his home in the United States, aged 92. "Brian Mason was probably the best known and most revered geochemist of his generation," said chair of the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History Sorena Sorensen. "He was one of the last polymaths of the earth sciences that we'll ever see. He could look at a rock and know something important about it. He could pick it up and elicit its story." While examining meteorites collected by US expeditions to Antarctica, Mason wrote in his notes that they seemed to be rocks from the moon, an idea that astrophysicists had said was impossible. Unwilling to show up other scholars in the field, his published comment was that they "had a passing resemblance to certain Apollo 15 lunar rocks." Within a year, other scientists agreed. It wasn't the first or last time his work forced a reconsideration of an entire field. In recognition of his accomplishments, an asteroid appearing between Mars and Jupiter was named 12926Brianmason. Two minerals, Brianite and Stenhuggarite (from the Swedish "stenhuggar," meaning "mason") also carry his name. Mason graduated from New Zealand's University of Canterbury in 1936, from which he later received master's degrees in chemistry and geology. He became a US citizen in the 1970s. Among his many honors, he won the Leonard Medal from the Meteoritical Society in 1972 and the Roebling Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America in 1993. 
(9 December 2009)

Return to self 
Flight of the Conchords duo Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement have ended their HBO series after two seasons. On their website, the pair said: "We're very proud of the two seasons we made, and we like the way the show ended. While the characters Bret and Jemaine will no longer be around, the real Bret and Jemaine will continue to exist." Flight of the Conchords won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album for their Distant Future EP. 
(10 December 2009)

Working to live 
New Zealander Michelle Clark-Smith, 32, who is now based in Durango, Colorado, is "building a semi-professional ski career for herself in tandem with her partner-in-crime and husband, longtime local photographer Scott DW Smith". In the autumn of 2007, Clark-Smith came to "check out Durango" and never left. First it was a Purgatory season pass, which she worked off as a ski model for the resort. Then came other sponsorships from Wagner Custom Skis, BCA, Leki, Smith Optics, Flylow Gear, Hestra and Osprey Packs. She has also been seen in Colorado Ski Country USA, Durango Magazine, Pagosa Magazine and various catalogues and resort marketing publications. This winter, I-70 commuters will see her on a billboard ad for Chicago Ridge Snowcats. Clark-Smith grew up around New Zealand's Southern Alps. In 1999, she secured a job as a chef at a club field in Castle Hill Basin near the Craigieburn Range where at the age of 20, she taught herself to ski. By 2003, Clark-Smith was turning out notable results on the New Zealand freeskiing competition circuit. 
(10 December 2009)

Smooth operator 
New Zealand-based bus manufacturer DesignLine, which already has three 37-seater vehicles valued at $784,000 operating as part of a pilot scheme in New York City, may be joined by 87 more buses by the end of the year. The newest addition to New York City's formidable bus fleet — the experimental DesignLine turbine hybrid — is notable mainly for a feature it does not have: noise. "Quiet as a tomb," declared Doreen Frasca, an appointee to the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who has taken the bus several times in the last month. Silence, that rare commodity on the city streets, is achieved by throwing out the most basic element of automobile design: internal combustion. Instead of a noisy, piston-based engine, the DesignLine operates on a spinning turbine that recharges a lithium-ion battery, a green energy source more commonly found inside laptop computers. That means fewer moving parts, and fewer ways to create a racket. DesignLine International Holdings employs between 130 and 150 people in Ashburton and last year set up a second manufacturing plant in Charlotte, North Carolina. New Zealander John Turton started the business 23 years ago but sold out to a North Carolina-based investment group in 2006. 
(6 December 2009)

Eastern tastes approve 
Many newcomers drawn to New Zealand's quality of life are of Asian descent observes Ming Wong writing for the Chinese publication Global Times. "This explains why cities such as Auckland and Christchurch now offer a variety of decent Asian cuisines. In Riccarton, a working class suburb of Christchurch, I had authentic-tasting xiaolongbao. In Lake Tekapo, surely one of the most scenic locations in the country, I ate silky smooth salmon sashimi at the Japanese Kohan restaurant. New Zealand cooking as a whole has gone both gourmet and upmarket, with a lot of emphasis on organic ingredients, sophisticated cooking and pleasing décor. Even in a small place like Arrowtown (population 2151), we had the choice between Thai, Indian, a lovely-looking English pub lunch and a chic Italian place." 
(8 December 2009)

Knighthood for Jackson 
Director Peter Jackson was among five New Zealanders to become knights or dames after a return to New Year's honours. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark — who axed British honours while in office — received the country's highest accolade, becoming a member of the Order of New Zealand. Jackson, whose career started with the 1987 horror movie Bad Taste, was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002. "I didn't think anything would surpass the 2004 Academy Awards, but I was wrong," Jackson said. His Lord of the Rings trilogy won a total of 17 Academy Awards. It is understood Jackson is now working to adapt the Mortal Engines fantasy novels for the screen, as well as producing The Adventures of Tintin and The Hobbit.
(31 December 2009)

McAlpine Stylish By Design 
The international career of Pukekohe-born, Elam-educated film designer Andrew McAlpine continues to unfurl in ever-larger circles. McAlpine's most recently-designed film, An Education (produced by Wellington-born Finola Dwyer) is nominated for Best Picture at the 2010 Academy Awards. The film, starring Carey Mulligan as a young woman swept up by an unsuitable suitor, recreates early 1960s London ("61 was more like the 1950s" says McAlpine). And a commercial he designed for British television has been named ITV's "Best Commercial of the Decade." Go On Lad for Hovis bread follows the journey of a young boy taking a condensed trip through over a century of British history. McAlpine won a BAFTA for The Piano and has designed numerous feature films including Clockers, Sid and Nancy, The Beach and the Best 2009 New Zealand Film Dean Spanley. A recent event at the British Film Institute brought McAlpine and Oscar-winning film designer Eugenio Caballero together to discuss the role of the production designer and the close relationship designers have with both producers and directors to develop the visual concept for films.
(February 2010)

Fast friends 
Rose McIver arrives at New York's Griffith Observatory "fashionably on time" to meet fellow Lovely Bones actress Saoirse Ronan for a tour and an interview with The New York Times. That evening McIver, 22, would fly to New Zealand. She hoped it would be easier than entering the United States. "My fingerprints didn't read on the machine because I'd used some really intense bleach at home," she said. "At least I got the blood out of my carpet." The pair, who play sisters in the film, have developed a fast friendship. Moving into the Café at the End of the Universe for fruit salad and chips, the two talked about their childhoods. "When I was younger, I used to collect rocks," Ronan said. "What a nerdy thing to do." "I used to try to sell rocks," McIver said. "I was a poor 7-year-old." 
(15 January 2010)

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 a good fit because of its focus on Asian tourism, with Mackay's exposure to the North Queensland resources sector an added bonus. NQA operates the nation's seventh-busiest airport at Cairns, with 3.7 million passengers in 2008–09, as well as the smaller Mackay airport. Both Auckland, which attracted 13 million passengers in 2008–09, and Cairns are end-point destinations keen to attract more flights. Auckland airport chairman Tony Frankman said yesterday the deal opened up new opportunities to use Cairns as a stepping stone between New Zealand and Asia. "While our primary focus remains direct Asian connections with Auckland, an important stepping stone is to strengthen our connection with other strategically located airports," Frankman said. 
(12 January 2010)

Record warm 
New Zealand has had its warmest decade since records began 150 years ago. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) climate scientist James Renwick said there are plenty of causes. "Natural variations, such as El Nino and volcanic eruptions, play quite a role," Renwick said. "That's what made the 1990s cool in a lot of places, especially New Zealand." Tauranga was the country's warmest city last month, while Christchurch was the driest and Dunedin the coolest. 
(6 January 2010)

On the floral trail 
New Zealand municipal botanical gardens, including Hamilton Gardens and the Whakarewarewa Forest and Government Gardens in Rotorua, feature in a travel article written by Ray Boren for the Desert News. "Indeed, the web site www.nzescapes.com acknowledges, 'From the landscaped front lawns of their detached suburban houses to public parks and gardens — there are a wealth of botanic delights waiting to be discovered.' The world-spanning, 58ha garden complex in Hamilton certainly has to be counted as among the nation's very best. Without leaving the gardens' expansive site, one can time-travel through the Egyptian and Chinese Scholars gardens, the contemplative Japanese Garden, the modernist American 'West Coast' garden (complete with a pool presided over by a pointillist image of Marilyn Monroe) and a spectacular Italian Renaissance Garden, as well as patches showcasing English flowers, and herbs and vegetables grown as demonstrations for native Hamiltonians." 
(9 January 2010)

Attention seeker 
"A little bit of [Jemaine] Clement can go a long way," writes Katey Rich for US entertainment site Cinema Blend.com. Quiet Earth is reporting that Clement, "who was so woefully underused in Gentlemen Broncos", is part of the cast of Jason Stutter-directed film Predicament, a crime comedy set in the 1930s. "No, normally, a small New Zealand movie wouldn't gather attention around these parts. But ever since Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie walked away from the Flight of the Conchords TV series I've been wondering what [Clement] would be up to next. No telling if we'll ever see [Predicament] in the States, but now you'll know to keep an eye out." Meanwhile, the official FOTC website is a collection of tour artwork, each promoting a specific show the duo played throughout the US and Canada. 
(8 January 2010)

In father's strokes 
New Zealand adventurer Shaun Quincey, 25, hopes to follow his father Colin Quincey into the history books by becoming the second person to row solo the 2200km from Australia to New Zealand. His father made history in 1977 by becoming the first — and to date, only — person to row solo across the Tasman, crossing from New Zealand to Australia, his son said. Expecting to the trip to take between 50 to 70 days, Quincey junior plans to depart from Coffs Harbour in January. He is raising funds and awareness for the NZ Surf Life Saving Association. 
(31 December 2009)

Bond leaves Test cricket
Christchurch-born paceman Shane Bond, 34, has retired from Test cricket and though he played just 18 Tests after making his debut in 2001, he claimed 87 wickets at an impressive average of 22.09. "It's been a tough call, because Test cricket remains the ultimate form of the game, but I'm comfortable I've made the right choice," Bond said. "I feel I gave as much as I could, but looking back, so many of my injuries have come during Test cricket." Bond said that his body could not stand the rigors of five-day Tests but he would remain available for the shorter form of international cricket. On January 19, the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise paid an undisclosed amount for Bond in excess of the total franchise ceiling of US$750,000 ($1.01 million) for one season. Bond is also aiming to rejoin the New Zealand squad for the limited-overs matches against Australia, which start with two Twenty20 internationals in late February. 
(23 December 2009)

Controversy in the hay 
Auckland's St Matthew-in-the-City church has ignited controversy with a billboard depicting Mary and Joseph lying partially nude beneath the sheets. In an unorthodox take on the Christmas tale, the billboard depicts a forlorn Joseph and Mary looking to the sky with a caption which reads: "Poor Joseph. God is a hard act to follow." The Anglican church said it wanted to inspire people to talk about the Christmas story. Archdeacon Glynn Cardy said the church meant to challenge a fundamentalist interpretation of Christ's birth. "What we're trying to do is to get people to think more about what Christmas is all about. Is it about a spiritual male God sending down sperm so a child would be born, or is it about the power of love in our midst as seen in Jesus?" Cardy said one person had threatened to tear down the billboard but that of the 20 odd emails and phone calls he had received "about 50 per cent said they loved it, and about 50 per cent said it was terribly offensive". 
(17 December 2009)

Butter on ice 
The world's oldest block of butter — believed to have come from the Canterbury Central Co-operative Dairy Company, formed in the 1890s and based in Christchurch — has been found in the stable area next to Captain Robert Scott's Antarctic hut. The building, with its shelves of tinned food, bedding and clothing, offers a remarkable snapshot of the conditions faced by Scott and his men. Freezing temperatures have preserved the building's contents, but increased snowfall over recent years has put the fragile structure under threat, prompting the Antarctic Heritage Trust to launch a preservation project. Members of the Trust were working on the stables next to the hut when they found the two frozen blocks of butter next to empty butter boxes. "I think the butter was absolutely a treasure find," Lizzie Meek of the Antarctic Heritage Trust told TVNZ. "It looked like an old wrinkly bag and you look inside and saw the wonderful Silver Fern logo," Meek said. She described the butter's smell as "very pungent." "What's amazing is how strong that smells," she said. "I'm not sure I'd want it on my toast." The team will now attempt to restore the butter, removing tiny pieces of grit that are embedded in it. It will then be placed back in the stables, where temperatures seldom rise above 10C. If it does not deteriorate, the team will leave it for another 100 years, said Meek. 
(16 December 2009)

House of pallets 
Auckland sculptor Aaron McConchie's Chep pallet installation "The Continuous Work of (a) Giant(s)" is on display at Manukau City's Highbrook Business Park through January 9. The exhibit consists of nine pyramid-like structures that resemble house of cards. Each of the structures is made of 15 wooden pallets painted with water-based biodegradable paints and decorated with stenciled designs. McConchie and his father used a bucket truck to lift and position the heavy pallets, working in rain and wind. Heavy-duty steel pins keep the pyramids safely in place. According to McConchie's website, the exhibition "not only references the industrial environment that it is in and the materials it is made of but also the sustainable nature of the work." "With the waterbased paints used and the robust construction of the pallets, the result is a durable artwork that at the end of its lifespan as a work of art will beautifully disappear back into the system from which it came." McConchie graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in 2002. 
(14 December 2009)

Liddell to Detroit 
General Motors, #4 on the Fortune 500 and now US-government-owned following a 30 year decline, has named Chris Liddell as Chief Financial Officer at possibly the most critical time in the company’s history following its recent bankruptcy and restructuring. Liddell recently announced his resignation as CFO of Microsoft, citing the desire for a bigger role. Matamata born and educated at Mt Albert Grammar and Auckland and Oxford Universities, Liddell was CEO of Carter Holt Harvey in New Zealand and CFO of International Paper in Connecticut. He is a founder of the New Zealand Institute and recently awarded university scholarships to former Mt Albert Grammar students. In his new role his first challenges are reorganizing GM’s finance operations, repaying billions of dollars of government debt, and potentially launching an initial public offering. 
(22 December 2009)

Tough cherub 
Auckland singer Gin Wigmore, 23, is included alongside Little Boots, Peaches and Megan Washington in Australian magazine Yen, in an article called 'All the Single Ladies' , which says: "They may not have rated a mention in Triple J's 'Hottest 100 of All Time', but we say the girls have got it going on". Wigmore's debut EP, Extended Play, went gold in New Zealand and her current album Holy Smoke has some serious cred, having been recorded at the iconic Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. She's also now being backed by The Cardinals. "You have to be really strong, confident and determined as a girl in this industry to make any headway," Wigmore says. Also mentioned in this month's edition of Yen are accessory designers Liam Bowden and Katie Smith of Deadly Ponies. "You never thought a leather bag could drip, right? You've not felt a Deadly Ponies creation then." (December 2009)

Gimblett amongst the best 
"New Zealand has been one of the great success stories of the Noughties," writes the Telegraph's Jonathan Ray in a wine trend review of the decade. "It's a country that I simply adore and I can't get enough of its wines. The figures speak for themselves: in 2001, New Zealand sold 15.2 million bottles; this year it sold 55.7 million (of which 45.2 were sauvignon blanc). Notoriously mean, we British spend an average of just £4.30 on a bottle of wine (and £4.82 on French wine). Yet we're happy to spend an average £6.25 on New Zealand wine. Most exciting in the past 10 years, though, is the rise of the merlot-based reds of the Gimblett Gravels, a 2,000-acre sub-region of Hawke's Bay on the North Island. I was at the remarkable blind tasting in London earlier this year when six 2006 Gimblett Gravel wines were put up against six of the best 2005s from Bordeaux. The results were astounding: Bordeaux grabbed the first three spots with Châteaux Lafite, Mouton and Angélus, which was no great surprise. But Sacred Hill Helmsman was fourth and Newton Forrest Cornerstone sixth, behind Château Haut-Brion. Not bad when you consider that the six bottles of claret on show cost a total of £3,060 and the Kiwi wines just £108. Watch this space." 
(9 December 2009)

Boondigga takes on US 
Wellington band Fat Freddy's Drop recently played three sell-out shows on the West Coast of the United States. The seven-piece dub outfit has been together for nearly a decade, yet only recently released its second album of studio material Dr Boondigga and the Big BW and, up until last week, had played just one gig in North America. "We are an indie group — we have to crack the whip on ourselves," the band's trumpeter and unofficial spokesman, Toby Laing, says with a laugh. "It would have been good to be quicker, but we have to be really happy with the production side of it as much as the music." Laing promises that Fat Freddy's Drop will return early next year and that the wait for the third album won't be nearly as long. Fat Freddy's Drop features at the Parihaka Peace Festival on January 8. 
(8 December 2009)

Meeting of minds 
New Zealanders director Jane Campion, 55, and actress Kerry Fox, 43, tell The Independent on Sunday how they both came to meet. Fox recalls: "I walked into the audition for An Angel at My Table nervous but very determined, knowing that I had to figure out what the director was looking for but also feeling overwhelmed by the other people and the camera in the room. It took a while to dawn on me that this woman with the dark-red beret, who I hadn't seen at first, was the director. I kind of remember her now as a shadow." And Campion: "Then this young woman came in. One of the characteristics of girls in New Zealand at that time was that they didn't shave their legs, so like the rest of them, Kerry had lovely hairy legs. She was quite strong, 'I'm me' and all that — great. She started to audition, and for the first time I saw someone real. She was this true spirit. I remember thinking 'and you're beautiful'." Campion's Bright Star is in UK cinemas now. Fox is also in Speaking in Tongues at the Duke of York's Theatre, London WC2. 
(6 December 2009)

Watch out for Laulala 
New Zealand centre Casey Laulala, 27, signed with the Cardiff Blues in July, having turned down Magners League champions Munster. Samoan-born Laulala is described by many as one of the hardest players to contain in broken-field play in the New Zealand game and was schooled at Wesley College in Pukekohe — the same place that helped develop Jonah Lomu. Laulala, who made his debut for New Zealand against Wales in Cardiff in November 2004, signed off the season Down Under in Canterbury's 28–20 Air New Zealand Cup win over Wellington in Christchurch in November. What impact do you think Casey Laulala will have at the Cardiff Blues? "It was good to leave Canterbury on a high having won the Air New Zealand Cup but I was ready for a change," he said. "I wanted a change of lifestyle and living in Europe certainly appealed." 
(2 December 2009)

Dishy beef cakes 
Wellington waiters Strip-of-Meat are a company with "a dress code that involves a lot of skin" writes website Inventorspot. "Yes, we've seen plenty of businesses of this sort lately, but with a name like this as part of their marketing plan; they offer something that just can't be passed over." Wellington entrepreneur Christian Newman said the idea for the company came after he was asked by a friend to be a waiter at her hen's night in Taupo. "I wasn't even wearing an apron, just a pair of underpants and a bow tie. It was a bit raunchy and made me realise there is a market out there," Newman said.
(December 2009)

Likened to Lennon 
Christchurch singer-songwriter James Milne, or as he is otherwise known, Lawrence Arabia, "can sound uncannily like John Lennon" writes Times Online reviewer Mark Edwards. "Exactly why Milne chose his pseudonym isn't clear; this isn't music that brings to mind huge, sweeping shots of the desert, or even the young Peter O'Toole. "The core of the eminently likeable album Chant Darling is a bright, harmony-rich pop, fuelled by slightly brittle guitars; but 'Eye' A finds common ground between the Clash and the Beach Boys, and 'Auckland CBD Pt 2' favours South African guitar styles set against 1970s TV-theme strings." Edwards gives the album four stars. Guardian reviewer Tom Hughes writes: "Nothing here is without precedent, but personality goes a long way, and the best bits of Chant Darling are full of it." In 2006 Lawrence Arabia released his self titled debut album with his band The Reduction Agents, The Dance Reduction Agents. 
(10 January 2010)

Barrier time 
"You won't find street lights, an ATM or a bank on the Barrier," a local tells Los Angeles Times reporter Rosemary Macclure. "But we do have two stop signs." They also have a place that seems a million miles from reality. The kind of place you might expect to see a castaway living on a powdery white beach in a shack built from driftwood. At 110 square miles, Great Barrier Island is the largest in the gulf. It was named by explorer Captain James Cook in 1769, and its history includes whaling, mining and logging. Today, its 1500 residents depend on sheep and dairy farming, besides tourism. During the peak summer season — underway now — visitors come to surf, mountain bike, swim, fish, kayak, explore the island's hot springs and hike its lush tramping trails. Guests camp, or stay in cabins, holiday houses or lodges, many of which also serve meals. Life slows down; things don't always happen on time — they happen in "Barrier time." Friendliness comes with the territory, as does national pride. 
(17 January 2010)

Top of the world 
Air New Zealand has been named Airline of the Year, with judges of the Air Transport World magazine awards, "amazed and surprised at the degree of innovation that was occurring at a remote relatively small airline on the edge of the world". Judges said the airline won for its commitment to safety and operational excellence and groundbreaking customer service that combined passenger-friendly check-in technologies with caring staff. Air New Zealand had also maintained a "sterling financial performance" during one of the most turbulent periods in aviation history while also leading the way in environmental initiatives, including making the world's first flight using a sustainable biofuel. Chief executive Rob Fyfe and a delegation of 10 top-performing staff are due to collect the award in Singapore on February 1. 
(15 January 2010)

Together in song 
New Zealand's national anthem could soon be played alongside the Australian during Anzac Day ceremonies at Queensland schools. Premier Anna Bligh, who is chairwoman of the Anzac Day Commemoration Committee (ADCC), is to send a letter to principals asking them to play 'God Defend New Zealand' along with 'Advance Australia Fair'. "This would be a fitting tribute and suitable recognition of the members of the New Zealand armed forces who have served alongside the men and women of our Australian armed forces during wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations," Bligh says in the letter. More than 150,000 New Zealanders live in Queensland, about 40 per cent of all New Zealanders in Australia. 'God Defend New Zealand' was first performed at the Queen's Theatre, Princes Street, Dunedin, on Christmas Day, 1876.
(11 January 2010)

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 screaming at me," a jubilant Henderson said after the win. "The pace was a cracker from the opening lap. The speed of the attacks and counter-attacks was just unbelievable. The field raced at full gas throughout. After two days here, I now know why the Jayco crits produce the quickest closed-circuit racing anywhere in the world." Henderson showed just why the new Rupert Murdoch-backed Team Sky paid big money for his services with a dazzling display of sprinting around a tight and technical Eastern Park circuit on the foreshores of Corio Bay. In 2009 he won the Clásica de Almería in Spain and the second stage of Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia. 
(4 January 2010)

Ideal weather for tea 
Katherine Mansfield's 1922 short story The Garden Party provides summery inspiration for Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel writer Kristyna Wentz-Graff who includes recipes for making club sandwiches, date scones and pavlova as part of a monthly book-themed menu. "While the opening line of [Virginia Woolf's] Mrs Dalloway is very good ('Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself'), it doesn't quite top the opening for The Garden Party: 'And after all the weather was ideal.'" There is so much that is fine and economical in Mansfield's stories that it would seem superfluous if they were stretched into novels. What Woolf did in a couple of hundred pages, Mansfield was able to achieve in just a couple of dozen." The story includes reference to Mansfield's Heroes page on nzedge.com calling it, "A fascinating analysis, from a New Zealand perspective, about Mansfield's influence as a writer and New Zealanders' somewhat ambivalent feelings toward her". 
(9 January 2010)

Saloon win for Williams 
Tiger Woods' caddie Steve Williams, 47, has won the New Zealand Saloon Car championship at Mt Maunganui's Baypark Speedway. It was his first national championship in the saloon class and came on the heels of his victory in the North Island Saloon Championship. Williams, whose team, Caddyshack Racing, is named after Tiger's favorite movie, said he treated stock car racing as "more than a hobby." "People recognize me as a caddie, but I treat my racing equally as seriously as my career as a caddie," he said. 
(10 January 2010)

Y2K a decade on 
University of Canterbury professor of philosophy, Arts & Letter Daily founder and author of The Art Instinct Denis Dutton writes a New York Times op-ed about the turn of the century at the turn of the decade. "From today's perspective, the Y2K fiasco seems to be less about technology than about a morbid fascination with end-of-the-world scenarios. Religions from Zoroastrianism to Judaism to Christianity to U.F.O. cults have been built around notions of sin and the world's end. The Y2K threat resonated with those ideas. Human beings have constructed an enormous, wasteful, unnatural civilization, filled with sin - or, worse in some minds, pollution and environmental waste. Suppose it turned out that a couple of zeros inadvertently left off old computer codes brought crashing down the very civilization computers helped to create. Cosmic justice! Apocalyptic scenarios are a diversion from real problems - poverty, terrorism, broken financial systems - needing intelligent attention. Even something as down-to-earth as the swine-flu scare has seemed at moments to be less about testing our health care system and its emergency readiness than about the fate of a diseased civilization drowning in its own fluids. Turning practical problems into cosmic cataclysms takes us further away from actual solutions." 
(31 December 2009)

Understanding terroir 
Auckland University scientists are working with winemakers attempting to solve the puzzle of terroir by researching yeast varieties indigenous to West Auckland vineyard Kumeu River Estate. The study has uncovered close to 100 new varieties of wine yeast, each of which is specifically indigenous to the greater Kumeu wine region and unlike any other strains of yeast in the world, according to lead researcher Dr Mat Goddard. He believes this scientific breakthrough could have wide-ranging benefits. "The use of New Zealand-specific wine yeasts may prove a powerful tool to further differentiate New Zealand wine," Goddard said. "They more faithfully reflect the New Zealand sense of place than overseas wine yeasts." Kumeu's winemaker Michael Brajovich believes a commercial yeast strain tends to dominate a ferment, which often leads to a lack of varietal definition and lessens the expression of the vineyard. But subtle wild yeasts seem to let the geography show, he says. "With wild yeasts, the yeast character retreats a lot, allowing the expression of variety and vineyard," he says. "This makes the wine much more expressive of its place. It allows the vineyard to show better. That, and because the yeasts are unique to us, which has been shown through DNA analysis, they are, arguably, part of the terroir." 
(23 December 2009)

Defining experience 
"The New Zealand lodge is almost a travel genre in its own right; and, like the safari lodge, the ranch and the spa resort, it comes with a set of defining experiences," writes Max Anderson for the Times Online. "Chief among these is wilderness, something that New Zealand —  populated by just 4 million people —  has in excess." Anderson recommends six lodges "offering something fresh and fine": Manawa Ridge, The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, Whare Kea Lodge and Chalet, Wharekauhau, Blanket Bay and Otahuna Lodge. "The experiences are as rich and 'gourmet' as the price tags suggest; but while wealthy guests like to lodge-hop (slowly killing themselves with kindness), three nights at a single lodge in the midst of, say, a camper-van holiday would be just as rewarding." 
(13 December 2009)

Manhire made happy 
Director of Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters and New Zealand's inaugural poet laureate Bill Manhire has had a poem — My Childhood In Ireland — published in The New Yorker. It is the first time Manhire has been published in the magazine and, with characteristic humility, he said it was "very nice". Arts Foundation director Simon Bowden said that, as far as he knew, Janet Frame and CK Stead were the only other New Zealanders published in the journal. "I can't imagine how many people submit work. It's fantastic for Bill and fantastic for New Zealand." The poem begins: 'I never climbed the hill / or strolled to the end of the pier / to see what the walkers in the rain / might be finding out there.' It will be published in a collection due to be released in March. 
(21 December 2009)

Palpable landscapes 
Winemaker and international landscape photographer Kevin Judd's book The Landscape of New Zealand Wine is one of seven of the "best wine reading on offer this year" according to Jeni Port of Melbourne newspaper, The Age. Featuring alongside Peter Mayle's Vintage Caper and Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve's Bettane & Desseauve: The World's Greatest Wines, Judd's second book, with words by master of wine Bob Campbell, "will make you want to book a one-way ticket to Auckland". "Do you tire of looking at vines? No. The colour of the seasons, the energy and the birth of a new vintage are palpably real … The former Cloudy Bay winemaker is renowned for his wine and his photography, and in [The Landscape of New Zealand Wine] (which has been quickly followed by the cute Australasian edition of Wine Dogs), he travels the wine regions of New Zealand capturing the raw, surreal beauty of vineyards." 
(15 December 2009)

Hatchery to home 
In the last eight years, 89 chicks have been returned to the wild by the Whakatane Kiwi Project, and on a recent holiday to New Zealand, Vancouver-based freelancer Jennifer Laidlaw joins a crowd of 200 to watch Te Kauhoe, or the Paddler, make his own trip from box to burrow in the Mokorua Scenic Reserve. Conservationist with the Whakatane Kiwi Project Kerry Oates pulls back the top of the box, and carefully lifts out the brown, chicken-sized kiwi. "Come on, come on," he clucks softly as the kiwi frantically shoves his long beak into Oates' armpit. "Come on little guy, it's time to see your new home," Oates says. 
(12 December 2009)

Icy conundrum 
New Zealand is one of the dozen founding members of the Antarctic Treaty, along with the United States, Russia, Britain and others, and is among those leading the push for shipping regulation — particularly considering controls on cruise boats visiting the frozen continent — in order to reduce the growing threat of human and environmental disasters posed by exploding numbers of tourists. A proposal for a code to ensure ships plying the world's southernmost seas could withstand hitting an iceberg and other measures were discussed at a recent meeting in Wellington of more than 80 experts from signatories to the Antarctic Treaty, the international accord to oversee the region. Annual tourist numbers have grown from about 10,000 a decade ago to 45,000 last year. Head of Antarctic policy at New Zealand's foreign ministry Trevor Hughes said the sinking of the ice-strengthened Explorer was a wake-up call to Antarctic Treaty nations, and experts from all key members of the Antarctic Treaty now want a tough new code for shipping in Antarctica. "Without regulations, we are going to have a disaster where a lot of lives are lost and where oil spills out into the environment, and we see penguins being smothered and poisoned by fuel oil in their rookeries," Hughes told The Associated Press. 
(9 December 2009)

Picking up the protocol 
"New Zealand may be best known for adventure tourism including sky diving, bungee jumping, gliding and 'Zorbing' — rolling downhill in a 10-foot-tall inflatable sphere cushioned with water." Yet the most enriching part of Seattle Times reporter Kathy Matheson's trip was the cultural tourism that taught her about the Maori. "Don't be fooled: 'Meeting' a Maori tribe at a heritage centre can be just as intimidating as thrill-jumping off Auckland's Skytower. What's the proper reaction when a tattooed, spear-carrying warrior bounds out of a house, shouts something in Maori at you, makes menacing faces and throws a leaf at your feet? Think fast, because that spear is pretty sharp. My adrenaline got pumped enough by the spear-carrying Maori at the heritage centre in Rotorua who threw down the leaf. The proper reaction, by the way, is to pick it up. They'll invite you in. Stay a while — they make a mean feast." 
(6 December 2009)

Chain reaction 
New Zealand-invented coffee the flat white will now be offered to British Starbucks customers from December 7, the first new type of coffee the company has offered to British consumers since it opened up shop in Britain more than a decade ago. Alan Hartney, Starbucks's coffee ambassador in Britain, said: "I love the taste. The quality of the milk gives it a sweeter taste and velvety texture. And it brings out the caramel taste of the espresso." New Zealander Eric Hiakita, the manager of Soho coffee shop Flat White, is considered to be the first man to start serving the drink in London. Hiakita said he did not feel threatened by Starbucks's move. "It all comes down to the quality of the coffee. And frankly the big chains just can't train up their staff to the high standard needed. "Comparing us with Starbucks would be like comparing Gallo wines to Petrus." Flat White opened in September 2005. 
(5 December 2009)

Pricey contest 
A New Zealand sauvignon blanc was the biggest selling wine in Australia last year, with three out of the five top selling wines coming from this country. New Zealand Winegrowers data shows the country's exports to Australia have more than quadrupled in the past five years from AUD$46.3 million in 2004 to AUD$222.31 million last financial year. So why are Australians choosing New Zealand whites over the home grown product? Part of the reason is price. New Zealand sauvignon blancs are noticeably cheaper at the bottle shop. The President of the Wine Industry Association of Western Australia John Griffiths said the visibility of New Zealand sauvignon blanc in the retail market has contributed to its success. "What New Zealand did across Australia, and around the world a little bit, was show how much people like fresh, crisp, aromatic lighter styles of wine and this is the new direction of wine," he said. "I think the New Zealanders did a good job of highlighting that demand." 
(2 December 2009)