Wooing the shuttle
Auckland badminton player Joe Wu, 24, who currently holds the triple national title holder in the sport, is representing the country at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Originally born in Taiwan, Joe immigrated to New Zealand with his parents when he was nine. He will spearhead New Zealand’s challenge in the men’s singles of the badminton event in the October event. Wu says he began playing the sport when he was four or five. “It has always been my passion and after I migrated to New Zealand, I followed my passion,” he said. Asked about his hopes in the tournament, the world number 102 shuttler said it would be very challenging because there are some tough teams such as India, Malaysia and Singapore. “A good performance will set the things rolling for our future aim 2012 London Olympics. I really want to do well here.”
(30 September 2010)

Land purchase backlash
New Zealand plans to tighten controls on foreign land purchases amid fears that the Chinese acquisition of local farms may not be in the country’s strategic interests, in particular after a fierce public backlash against a Hong Kong-listed firm that attempted to buy New Zealand’s biggest private dairy farm. Natural Dairy — previously known as the China Jin Hui Mining Corporation — offered to pay $1.5bn for farmland, cattle and milk powder production plants, according to the domestic media. This bid for the Crafer family’s farms — now under review — has stirred up considerable concern in a country that depends on the dairy industry for almost a quarter of its export earnings. The Federated Farmers of New Zealand say planned Chinese purchases of arable land are unfair because foreign firms are forbidden from acquiring similarly large swathes of farmland in China.
(27 September 2010)

Seeing the small
University of Otago scientists have made a “major physics breakthrough”, developing a technique to capture the image of a single atom, the Rubidium 85. The process takes a matter of seconds, starting by dramatically slowing down a cloud of about 10,000 atoms in a vacuum chamber. A laser beam is then used to hold about 50 atoms. Finally, light from another laser at a particular frequency causes the atoms to repel each other, leaving a lone atom. Lead researcher Mikkel Andersen said individual atoms were consistently isolated, which meant “a major step” toward using the atoms to build ultra-fast quantum-logic computers capable of performing complex information-processing tasks. “What we have done moves the frontier of what scientists can do and gives us deterministic control of the smallest building blocks in our world,” Andersen said. The findings have been published in the scientific journal Nature Physics.
(27 September 2010)

Familial trail-blazer
New Zealand director Jane Campion’s daughter Alice Englert, 16, has her sights set firmly on a career in music rather than film writes Kristie Lau for The Sydney Morning Herald. “I love my mum but she really can’t sing,” Englert said, laughing. “We both noticed it, like, ‘Woah, I can sing and you can’t.’ So we know it’s not something I got from her, it’s my own.” Englert — who takes the surname of her father, producer-director Colin Englert — has performed at several international open-mic nights and plays a regular spot at a cafe in Newtown, Sydney. She has also started a MySpace page and uploaded a collection of self-penned songs. Although she said she felt incredibly supported by her prominent parents, Englert is keen to blaze her own trail as an artist.
(12 September 2010)

Funding local talent
New Zealand On Air is a “generous government-funded programme that’s fast-tracking New Zealand bands on the road to stardom and beyond,” writes Lars Brandle for Australian site The Music Network. “The likes of Kids Of 88, Gin Wigmore and Midnight Youth and many others are making waves across the Tasman and further afield, thanks in no small part to the New Zealand government’s pragmatic approach to supporting the creative industries. The NZ Music budget receives about $5.4 million a year, or roughly 4 per cent of New Zealand On Air’s total expenditure. Those funds are distributed to support better-quality recordings and videos, the idea being that local artists would then have a stronger chance at competing for airtime. ‘Back in the early 1990s,’ Auckland music promotion executive Mike McClung explains, ‘there used to be 2 per cent New Zealand music on commercial radio. Now it’s up around the 20 per cent mark. That has huge cultural benefits but also huge economic benefits because that airplay fuels the local music economy.’”
(21 September 2010)

Welsh prize shortlist
New Zealand author Eleanor Catton, 24, has made the short list for the University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize. The award, which is open to writers under the age of 30 who have been published in English, is worth £30,000 and is believed to be the world’s most lucrative prize for young writers. Catton’s critically acclaimed debut novel, The Rehearsal, chronicles a sexual scandal that engulfs an all-girls high school. “She’s really on the international radar,” Victoria University Press publisher Fergus Barrowman said. Professor Peter Stead, who is on the award’s judging panel, said he loved The Rehearsal, one of six on the short list. “This is very much for the current generation and the role of performance culture in today’s society has never been better explained.” The Rehearsal was published in Britain last year by Granta and this year in the United States by Little, Brown. Canadian-born Catton currently lives in Iowa City, Iowa, where she is attending the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
(21 September 2010)

Granville’s choice
Two years ago Aucklander Granville Tither and his wife Laura decided to travel to the United States to celebrate his 65th birthday this year, and after googling various locations in the Midwest, Tither came upon the small town bearing his namesake, Granville, Ohio. “I wanted traditional, down home, away from the big cities and the tourist hoopla — the real American heartland,” Tither said. As well as dining at the Granville Inn, Tither, a former policeman in London, also took a tour of the village in a Granville police squad car.
(23 September 2010)

Long Tan hero dies
Former New Zealand Vietnam war hero Morrie Stanley from Campbells Bay in Auckland, who was recently presented with an Australian Unit Citation for Gallantry, 44 years after the renowned battle of Long Tan in Vietnam in 1966, has died aged 79. Captain Stanley was in the thick of the action, directing artillery fire in torrential rain to land the artillery shells on the enemy soldiers within 30m of the Australian soldiers. “It was like an exceptionally violent thunderstorm, supplemented by the crack of the rifles and machinegun fire and the noise of detonating shells — it really was bedlam,” Stanley told NZPA at the 40th anniversary commemoration of the battle in Sydney in 2006. He was also awarded a military MBE and a US Presidential Unit Citation. In Australia, Stanley is viewed as the New Zealand hero of Long Tan and the Australian War Memorial dedicated a special part of its Long Tan exhibition to recording his role. After his army service he worked for the former Auckland Area Health Board.
(17 September 2010)

Economical happiness
New Zealand has retained third place in a world economic freedom report carried out by Canada’s leading public policy think-tank, the Fraser Institute. The 2010 report takes data from 2008 and compares 141 countries by measuring the degree to which a country’s policies and institutions support economic freedom. Hong Kong took first place and Singapore second. The report notes that countries that have free and open markets also tend to have a strikingly higher quality of life. People living in countries of greater economic freedom appear to enjoy higher levels of economic well-being, greater individual freedom and longer life expectancy.
(20 September 2010)

Worth the wait
Wellington-based Maori electronic duo Wai has released their second international release Ora and Guardian reviewer Andy Childs gives it four out of five stars. “Ten years ago, singer Mina Ripia and her partner Maaka McGregor set out to shake up the New Zealand music scene by mixing the melodies, rhythms and language of the Maori people with subtle western electronic,” Childs writes. “Their album 100 per cent was deservedly nominated for awards ... It has taken them years to complete, and involves a variety of special guests, including Iain Gordon from their more boisterous compatriots Fat Freddy’s Drop, but the resulting songs are remarkably fresh and uncluttered. It has been worth the wait.”
(9 September 2010)

Mountains rising
New Zealand’s 450 kilometer-long Southern Alps have been the subject of a ten year American study which has been collating data by GPS in order to determine how fast the mountain range is rising. The information collected is the first to record the vertical movement of a mountain range. “I don’t think anyone has done vertical movement outside of places like Canada. The reason that we chose to use the Southern Alps is because they are moving very quickly,” Peter Molnar of the University of Colorado-Boulder said. “The motivation behind this is finding out to what extent is this vertical movement due to plate movement and to what extent is it other effects such as erosion,” Molnar said. The paper appears in the September issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
(14 September 2010)

Return to the land
Ethel May Helmbright — for some years a homeless fixture in Waikiki until she was hospitalised last year unable to remember her name — may well be the key to her estranged family’s land disputes in New Zealand. Her large Maori family in New Zealand says she is the last granddaughter of a Maori chief who signed the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. Helmbright's re-emergence in New Zealand could provide a vital piece of her family’s right to land around an area called the Bay of Plenty. “Auntie’s the last line of ariki (a person of high regard in Maori culture),” said her nephew, Peter Helmbright, whose late father was Ethel’s oldest sibling. “Now the land, all of it, goes to her. It’s all about the land.” If the land around New Zealand resurrects happy memories for Ethel and eases her transition home, that would be fitting to Peter, her nephew. “Auntie used to work the land,” he said. “If the land triggers her memories, that would be nice now, wouldn’t it?” And it could help Ethel regain her place in the world, identifying herself with her whakapapa once again.
(10 September 2010)

Young blood take scroll
Auckland five-piece band Naked and Famous have won the Silver Scroll prize for their smash hit “Young Blood” at the Australasian Performing Right Association’s awards held in Auckland on 8 September. Alisa Xayalith, Thom Powers and Aaron Short from the electronic/alt-rock act won the Silver Scroll, the main song-writing prize at the awards. Released on Somewhat Damaged/Universal, the song debuted at No. 1 earlier this year and also features on the Naked and Famous’ debut album, “Passive Me, Aggressive You,” which was released this month. APRA NZ director Anthony Healey described “Young Blood” as “stroppy, youthful and energetic ... it should take the world by storm.” In other awards, Dane Rumble — together with Te Awanui Reeder and Samuel King — picked up the award for most performed work on radio and television for “Cruel,” while the Crowded House classic “Don’t Dream It’s Over” was once again the most performed work overseas.
(9 September 2010)

One big break
One of the most influential performing artists agents in the United States will represent Wellington actor Jacob Rajan and his Indian Ink Theatre Company. Agent David Lieberman, a legend in performing arts and festival circles, represents only eight to 10 acts at one time. Acts include Hollywood actor Tim Robbins’ Actors’ Gang theatre company, popular new music ensemble Kronos Quartet and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Rajan, best known for the long-running hit play Krishnan’s Dairy, said Lieberman had the potential to expose Indian Ink to a vast new audience. Rajan co-founded the company with Justin Lewis. “I’m not in it for celebrity,” Rajan said. “I’m in it to get the work to the people and for them to enjoy it as a live theatre experience.” Indian Inks latest play The Guru of Chai opens at Wellington’s Downstage Theatre on September 15 and will also be staged in Australia and Singapore.
(7 September 2010)

Land apart
Garden editor for the New Zealand House and Garden magazine Gordon Collier was recently in Seattle giving a lecture on the flora and fauna of the remote Chatham Islands. Collier’s illustrated lecture, “A Land Apart,” discussed what makes these islands so unique and why they are the newest “It” destination for plant hunters. Images of some of its 40 endemic plants that cling to life there told a tale of millions of years of isolation from other land masses; these include two plants beloved by gardeners everywhere — the giant forget-me-not Myosotidium hortensia, and the equally spectacular Astelia chathamica. Collier is the creator of the famous Taihape Titoki Point Garden, one of New Zealand’s most visited gardens.
(4 September 2010)

Patent challenge
New Zealand patent lawyer Professor Yvonne Cripps, who is now based in London, was recently a guest on the BBC World’s radio programme The Forum discussing the patenting of genes and whether “we really do write the story of our own lives”. Cripps explains: “One of the most recent developments has been a case in the US where the American Council for Civil Liberties has joined with various medical groupings and surgeons to challenge a company called Myriad Genetics, which has patents over the breast cancer genes, BRCA1 and 2. What makes the current case very interesting is that the patents are being challenged not just because they’re invalid in traditional patent law terms as being obtained over discoveries and not inventions — that would be grounds for challenging patent law — but they’re being challenged on the grounds that they’re unconstitutional. Unfortunately, the case has only got to its lowest level so far, there hasn’t yet been an appeal, but the plaintiffs won in the challenge against the breast cancer genes at that lowest level.” This is a result that was not expected by patent lawyers and a result Cripps has long hoped for. Cripps is a part-time professor at Indiana University School of Law.
(5 September 2010)

On the ring of fire
In the early hours of Saturday, September 4, Christchurch was struck by an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale, the same magnitude as that which hit Haiti in January. The quake was shallow, at only 10km deep, and hit 40km west of the city on the east coast of the island close to the town of Darfield, at 4.36am local time. Residents reported collapsed buildings and bridges, as well as power cuts. Christchurch, which has a population of around 400,000 people, was then rocked with a series of sharp aftershocks. Christchurch mayor Bob Parker declared a state of emergency four hours after tremors rocked the region. It is the most damaging earthquake in New Zealand since the Hawke’s Bay earthquake in 1931, but this time there was no loss of life. Christchurch resident Cam Gordon summed up the fear felt by people caught in the quake. “It was like a giant had picked up our house and was just shaking it, shaking and shaking.” The Press arts editor Christopher Moore said it felt “much worse” than the Inangahua earthquake of 1968 — also a magnitude 7.1. “It was savage, terrifying, horrible,” Moore said.
(4 September 2010)

International expertise
Palmerston North midfielder Nick Roydhouse, 22, who transferred from Hartwick College to play football for Syracuse University in New York, is profiled by local publication The Daily Orange. In 2007, Roydhouse was part of New Zealand’s national soccer team that travelled to Canada to compete in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. “Our first game we had in Toronto, and we played against Portugal in a packed stadium,” Roydhouse said. “Just walking out, the roar was incredible. The part that I didn’t really expect was when the national anthem came on, and I realised how much I loved my country.” Now, Roydhouse brings that international experience to Syracuse. Roydhouse is enrolled in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.
(31 August 2010)

Ah Van switches sides
New Zealand Warriors utility Aucklander Patrick Ah Van, 22, has signed a one-year contract with West Yorkshire rugby league team Bradford Bulls. Of Ah Van’s switch, Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah told the club website: “Patrick has been part of our NRL squad for several years now ... He had an opportunity to take up a contract with Bradford in the Super League and asked for a release. We appreciate the contribution he’s made to the club both in the NRL and NYC and wish him all the best.” Ah Van made his debut for the Warriors in 2006 against the Manly Sea Eagles. Since then he has played over thirty nine games for the club.
(31 August 2010)

Mammoth but fragile
Australian scientists have found that eggs from the giant flightless moa were miniscule and vastly disproportionate to the bird. Eggshells identified by DNA as belonging to the two largest, heaviest moa species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezealandiae, were thinner than expected, at just 1.41mm (less than the length of a flea) and 1.06mm (about the diameter of a pinhead) thick, respectively. These eggshells seemed especially thin for birds whose females could weigh as much as 250kg. When the researchers tested the outer surfaces of the eggshells, they found them covered in male DNA. Still, even if assumed that the lighter males incubated the eggs, the researchers calculated that given the thinness of the shells, Dinornis eggs would have proven far more susceptible to breakage than any of the 3434 bird species (both living and extinct) measured to date for eggshell strength.
(31 August 2010)

Crunching genetics
Roger Hellens from New Zealand’s Plant & Food Research has identified the genetic code for Golden Delicious apples meaning growers will be able to produce crunchier, juicier and healthier fruits. Hellens said: “We will be able to identify the genes which control the characteristics that our sensory scientists have identified as most desired by consumers — crispiness, juiciness and flavour.” The breakthrough is already being used to breed red-hued apples with more anti-oxidants, known for a host of health benefits. Although apple farmers try to breed only the best plants, they are able to know the outcome only eight years later, thanks to the slow growth of apple tree. Now breeders will be able to screen seedlings for key genes, vastly speeding up the process.
(30 August 2010)

Gore filled retribution
A supernatural horror film made by New Zealand director David Blyth made its European premiere at this year’s Fright Fest in London. “A controversial cult film in the making, Wound, explores the wicked ties that bind,” the official site describes. “Blyth directed New Zealand’s first ever splatter horror Death Warmed Up in 1984 starring punk psycho killers, mad scientists and mutant marauders. Now he makes a welcome return to the genre he pioneered with a David Lynch/Alejandro Jodorowsky influenced fantasy chiller exploring the dark worlds of mental illness, incest, revenge and death.” The film stars Kate O’Rourke as ‘Susan’ and Te Kaea Beri as ‘Tanya’.
(29 August 2010)

Book award winner
Auckland historian Dame Judith Binney’s Encircled Lands has been awarded the New Zealand Post Book of the Year. Encircled Lands explores the history of the Tuhoe people’s journey for autonomy. Dame Binney received $15,000 for her efforts, making a clean sweep of the non-fiction category, but more importantly she has given people a new understanding of New Zealand history. Judge Paul Diamond described the book, published by Bridget Williams Books, as one that will “profoundly change our understanding of our shared history” and an “exhaustive, comprehensive history of Te Rohe Potae o Te Urewera”. Other award winners included Brian Turner for poetry, Allison Wong for her book As the Earth Turns Silver, and Al Brown for his recipe book Go Fish: Recipes and Stories from the New Zealand Coast. Brown also won the People’s Choice award.
(28 August 2010)

Inspired in Jodphur
Author of young adult novel The Bone Tiki, New Zealander David Hair, will launch his latest book Pyre of Queens, published by Penguin Books India, in Bangalore. Hair, who lives in New Dehli with his wife, says the Pyre of Queens was inspired by a trip to Jodphur. “It wasn’t easy writing a book outside my culture, but fortunately, I had friends here whom I used as a sounding board,” Hair says. “I would ask them if an Indian would say this or do that and they would help me. The book is action-packed and fast, and was great fun to write.” Hair has planned four books in this series to be released over the next few years. He returns to New Zealand soon, as his wife’s posting at the New Zealand High Commission is coming to an end, but he plans to keep writing books on Indian themes. The Bone Tiki, Hair’s first book, won the Best First Novel award in the Young Adult Fiction genre of books at the 2010 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards.
(27 August 2010)

She wants to go to Chelsea
New Zealand women’s football captain Hayley Moorwood, 26, has joined English club Chelsea FC. Moorwood, who was also attracting interest from Chelsea’s London rivals Arsenal, was thrilled at the signing. “Joining a club like Chelsea is an exciting move at an exciting time for women’s football in England and back home,” Moorwood told The New Zealand Herald. The 51-cap midfielder takes the number of Football Ferns playing professionally overseas to four with German-based VfL Wolfsburg defender Rebecca Smith joined by Ali Riley (FC Gold Prise, USA) and Kirsty Yallop (Kristianstads DFF, Sweden) this year. Moorwood will also lead the Football Ferns as they attempt to qualify for the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany via the eight-nation OFC Women’s Nations Cup at North Harbour Stadium from September 29 to October 8.
(26 August 2010)

Real farms promoted
A large selection of New Zealand farmland, businesses and property will be on display in North Yorkshire in October, as part of a national road show from real estate company, Bayleys Realty Global. Bayleys marketing manager Richard Graham said several economic indicators were now pointing toward a favourable New Zealand property investment scenario for UK residents, including record pay-outs for dairy farmers, and a recovering beef and lamb sector. “From a foreign exchange perspective, some eight years of a high-valued New Zealand dollar against the British pound is coming to an end, adding to the attractiveness of New Zealand farms as business opportunities,” Graham said.
(25 August 2010)

Atom spy claims
New Zealand-born DNA pioneer and Nobel Prize recipient Professor Maurice Wilkins was investigated by MI5 as a possible atom spy who had passed US nuclear secrets to the Russians. Security service files recently released at the National Archives show that Wilkins had worked during WW2 on the Manhattan Project, building the hydrogen bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico. In 1951, the FBI told MI5 that one of the nine Australian and New Zealand scientists had been in close contact with members of the American Communist party. A letter to MI5 in August 1953 described Prof Wilkins as “certainly a very queer fish” but said his associates were left-wing socialists rather than communists. In June 1953 MI5 reported they had “nothing concrete against Prof Wilkins” and that telephone and mail intercepts were “so far not producing much of interest or value” and the case was dropped. Wilkins was born in Pongaroa, Wairarapa in 1916. He died in London in 2004.
(26 August 2010)

Smeltz to Turkey
New Zealand striker Shane Smeltz, 29, is leaving Australian football team Gold Coast United having signed a two-year deal with Turkish Süper Lig club Gençlerbirliği S.K. The reigning A-League Golden Boot played in United’s opening two games of the season, scoring a double in the Coast’s 3-3 draw with his former club Wellington Phoenix. “Naturally we will be sorry to see Shane go but we are pleased that he may now be able to pursue his dream of playing with a major overseas club,” United CEO Clive Mensink said. On 20 June 2010, at the seven minute mark of the 2010 World Cup match against reigning champions Italy, Smeltz scored the opening goal, enabling the All Whites to draw the game 1-1. He was born in Göppingen, Germany.
(24 August 2010)

Sneaker tapping tunes
Auckland electro-dance duo Kids of 88 has released their debut album Sugarpills. “Kids of 88 show Flight of the Conchords how to get it done, and done,” Brandon Diaz writes for American music site Green Shoelace. “Sporting a resume opening for acts like Passion Pit and Scissor Sisters, they’ve also put out hot remixes for the likes of Cobra Starship and Ke$ha’s famed ‘Tik-Tok’. While the twosome describe their music as an ‘…alleyway gangbang between Grandmaster Flash and The Knack,’ their new video for the track ‘Downtown’, has the spirited refrain of up-tempo INXS and the video stylings of a Max Headroom clip.” Kids of 88 are Jordan Arts, programming and keyboards, and Sam McCarthy, vocals.
(23 August 2010)

Chaucerian find
University of Otago English lecturer Dr Simone Celine Marshall has discovered a previously unidentified edition of the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, sometimes referred to as the father of English literature, and best known for The Canterbury Tales. Marshall said the find had important ramifications internationally for the study of medieval literature. There had been confusion establishing exactly which poems were his as he lived before the invention of the printing press. For many centuries many works were wrongly attributed to him. The 1807 edition discovered by Marshall was the first time the distinction between works by Chaucer and those wrongly attributed to him had been made.
(17 August 2010)

We must talk about it
New Zealand’s chief coroner Judge Neil MacLean has made “an impassioned plea for people to speak more openly about suicide calling for a re-think of laws and self imposed restrictions on what Coroners can say about suicides.” MacLean talks to Radio Australia presenter, Philippa McDonald about “one of the country’s biggest public health issues”. “We are unduly coy about talking about suicide to the affect of both our law and the practice of coroners is meaning the public aren’t getting the true full picture about the reality of suicide,” MacLean says. “Now, suicide deaths exceed the road toll; that’s the same in both our countries. The public just don’t know.” MacLean is meeting with the news editors of New Zealand’s major media organisations during August, and he’ll be a key speaker at an international conference of coroners in November.
(16 August 2010)

Olympic gold for Barclay
Southland teenager Aaron Barclay has won gold in the men’s individual triathlon and silver with Australasian team-mate Maddie Dillon in the team race at the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. Barclay, 17, who began racing in 2006 said of his gold medal win: “It’s pretty incredible. I don’t know what to say, but I’m very proud to get it for New Zealand.” Barclay and Dillon then flew to Germany to join the national triathlon squad as they prepare for next month’s ITU World Championships in Hungary. Cambridge rider Jake Lambert, 16, claimed silver in the team show jumping event.
(16 August 2010)

Colostrum for all
Taranaki-raised biochemist Dr Andrew Keech is the founding and managing director of Phoenix-based APS BioGroup, which adds bovine colostrum to dietary supplements in order to boost the human immune system. Keech and American Les Soyland, APS BioGroup’s chief operating officer, built the 60,000-square-foot plant and the equipment used to transform the substance into a powder. Keech’s patented extraction techniques isolate the Proline-rich Polypeptides (PRPs) − the active ingredients in colostrum, for an effective oral spray, called Pepticol now available over the counter in most chemists and natural health outlets. PRPs have the unique ability to support a balanced immune system, and provide immune harmony where needed. “PRPs are probably the most significant natural substances in the human body relating to the immune system,” Keech says. “They are so important that they are the first ‘food’ we have as soon as we enter this world,” he said.
(13 August 2010)

Teenage asthma findings
A team from the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand have found that teenagers who regularly took paracetamol were more than twice as likely to have asthma. A study of more than 300,000 teenagers, aged 13 and 14, found those who took paracetamol once a month were 2.5 times as likely to have asthma than those who never took it. Those who used it once a year were 50 per cent more likely to have asthma, it was found. Lead author Dr Richard Beasley, professor of medicine, said because paracetamol is so widely used almost half of severe asthma cases might be prevented if paracetamol were avoided. Dr Beasley said: “Randomised controlled trials are now urgently required to investigate this relationship further and to guide the use of antipyretics, not only in children but in pregnancy and adult life.” The findings are published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
(14 August 2010)

Search for Sutcliffe
Attempts to find and relocate the ashes of cricketing great Bert Sutcliffe have failed because no-one recorded where they had been buried nine years ago. Sutcliffe’s ashes were buried at the Carisbrook ground in Dunedin in April 2001, but none of those who attended the ceremony can agree where the burial had exactly taken place. The ground is being redeveloped and the Sutcliffe family had agreed for the ashes to be relocated to University Oval, the headquarters for cricket in the city. “Dad’s ashes are proving as elusive as bowlers found taking his wicket,” son Gary Sutcliffe told The Otago Daily Times. Sutcliffe, a left-hander, was regarded as one of New Zealand’s most elegant batsmen. He played 42 tests, with five centuries and an average of 40.1.
(12 August 2010)

Calm in victory
Scrabble master Nigel Richards, 43, has won the National Scrabble Championship in Dallas. The Malaysia-based security analyst played 31 games, winning with a 25-6 record. Richards is known for his photographic memory and for being calm. “He has mental focus — he has zen,” executive director of the National Scrabble Association John D. Williams Jr. said. “He doesn’t get too crazy or ecstatic when he wins and he isn’t hard on himself when he loses.” The word wizard is used to wearing the Scrabble crown. Richards won the 2008 national championship, as well as the 2007 World Scrabble Championship. He also prevailed at the 2008 World Players Championship, held in Dallas. But for a word master, Richards is a man of few words. “I enjoy it,” he said when asked about his victory. “I like playing.”
(12 August 2010)

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 in Wellington, aged 82. Hawera-born Trotter was a director of several companies in New Zealand and Australia, including Air New Zealand, as well as being a director of New Zealand’s central bank. He undertook several government assignments, including chairing the committee to advise on state-owned enterprises and urged the government to go ahead with privatisation of the public sector. “Sir Ron played a pivotal part in the modernisation of New Zealand’s economic direction during the 1980s and after, and all of us as New Zealanders have benefited from that leadership,” Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O’Reilly said. Trotter was knighted in 1985 for his services to business and in 1999 he was awarded membership of the Business Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding contribution to New Zealand’s development.
(11 August 2010)

Pure advice for Coast
Former CEO of New Zealand Tourism and creator of the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign, George Hickton, was the keynote speaker at a gathering of 300 tourism sector operators making up the new Australian regional tourism body, Sunshine Coast Destination Ltd. Hickton, who built an impressive CV in both the private and government sector before taking on his role at New Zealand Tourism, warned that a slogan alone would not draw people to the area and retain their business. “The biggest marketing tool you have is word of mouth,” Hickton said. “If you fail to deliver on the expectation, you waste your money.” He said the 100% Pure campaign sold not only New Zealand’s natural assets but also the people experience. Hickton said the challenge was to define the Sunshine Coast in terms of its point of difference and why one would choose a holiday there rather than the Gold Coast.
(10 August 2010)

Record latching on
Hundreds of women throughout New Zealand have taken part in an attempt to set a breastfeeding record as part of the annual Latch On campaign. Former Silver Fern Julie Seymour, 39, and 27 other women gathered at the Waipuna Early Childhood Centre in Linwood to take part in the attempt to set a record for the most women breastfeeding simultaneously. Seymour, a mother of four, said the event helped people feel comfortable about breastfeeding in public, and that it was important to encourage mothers to breastfeed, despite its challenges. “I think it is harder for young mums, but, then again, I think it’s hard for everyone; it’s really not the easiest thing to do, especially not in the world today,” Stuff quoted her as saying.
(7 August 2010)

Hammers signing
Auckland-born Winston Reid, 22, who scored the memorable last-minute equaliser for New Zealand at the World Cup against Slovakia, has signed a three-year contract with English Premier League club West Ham United for an undisclosed sum. “It has been a mad couple of weeks and the last couple of days have been pretty hectic, so I am just happy to be here now,” Reid told the club website. Reid, who lived in Denmark as a child, has been a regular in the Danish First Division for the last two years, being linked with a move to Italy’s Serie A and playing in both legs of Midtjylland’s Uefa Cup penalty shoot-out loss to Manchester City in August 2008. Reid made his debut for New Zealand in May this year.
(5 August 2010)

Don and his euphonium
Singer Don McGlashan, 51, performed at San Francisco’s Café Du Nord ahead of a “songwriting train trip” from Chicago to Oakland. Former Muttonbirds frontman, Auckland-born McGlashan, learnt the French horn at school before settling on the unlikely — and unwieldy — euphonium, which he recently played on tour with his good friends Crowded House, who in turn featured him as their opening act. Why the awkward instrument choice? “I had a very aggressive brass teacher in school,” McGlashan says. “He tried to get me to play trumpet, but my teeth were too crooked. And he needed a good euphonium player, so he managed to convince me that the euphonium was made for me and it would get me lots of girls.” In New Zealand, McGlashan is currently working with side group The Bellbirds, and on several TV and film soundtracks.
(4 August 2010)

Chance taken
Auckland-based hip-hop women’s dance troupe Request has won the 2010 World Hip Hop Dance Championship at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The eight-member group is the first dance crew from New Zealand to win the adult division of the nine-year-old championship. The same crew won the varsity division last year, the only team to pull off that double. Request dancer Parris Goebel said that going into the competition the troupe just wanted to represent New Zealand well. “Honestly, we didn’t think we had a chance,” Goebel concedes. “We asked ourselves, ‘Are we really that good?’” The girls’ intricate and entertaining choreography wowed the panel of international judges, which included one New Zealander.
(3 August 2010)

Deliver or die
Christchurch film company Gorilla Pictures has created an interactive YouTube zombie adventure film for Hell Pizza which was launched online on July 31. The film, called Deliver Me To Hell, has been endorsed by US horror site DreadCentral’s Uncle Creepy who writes: “I can guarantee that if ever a pizza joint named ‘HELL’ opened up anywhere near the DC offices, yours truly and the rest of the crew would be frequent visitors.” Player’s objective: “Help Steve get across the city to deliver his pizza without being killed by the zombies. Make it all the way, and put yourself into the draw to win a year's supply of Hell Pizza.”
(2 August 2010)

Ski resort purchase
Auckland-based entrepreneur Nick Wood has bought the Teton Pass Ski Resort, west of Choteau, Montana for just under $410,000 and will spend a further $4 million upgrading the area over the next three years. Rich Lister Wood said he plans to build two new ski-lifts to add to over 100ha of additional ski terrain. The New Zealander − who with his brother Tim founded iHug and sold it for $80 million in 2003 – has said he also planned to repair existing lifts and renovate all the buildings. Wood has previous experience working in the resort industry, as he developed several resort hotels in the South Pacific.
(2 August 2010)

Our pick for ICC
Chairman of New Zealand Cricket Alan Isaac, 58, has trumped former Australian Prime Minister John Howard as the region’s nominee to take the ICC’s vice-presidency, which after a two-year term leads to the top post. Isaac supports the creation of windows in the future tours schedule for the Indian Premier League (IPL). Isaac is also supporting the creation of a Test championship series. He assumes the ICC presidency in 2012 and hopes at the end of his tenure all international cricket matches have context and happily co-exist with lucrative domestic leagues. "The Future Tours Program has to allow the IPL, because unless it is accommodated we will end up with more challenges,” Isaac said. "There will be more pressure put around the scheduling of ICC events [such as World Cups and the Champions Trophy], and those ICC events are so critical to members because of the revenue generated.” Isaac is also chairman of advisory firm McGrath Nicol, the New Zealand Fire Service Audit Committee and director of Wakefield Health and Rugby New Zealand 2011.
(31 July 2010)

Rules are rules
New Zealand IndyCar driver Scott Dixon has won the Honda Edmonton Indy, the second win of the year for the 30-year-old racer with the Target Chip Ganassi team. This latest victory however was somewhat controversial after rival Helio Castroneves crossed the finish line first, but was penalised for blocking his own teammate, Will Power. “Pretty strange to not run a lap and actually win the race,” Dixon said afterward. “[But] rules are rules, man. It was obvious Will had a pretty good run. The only way to stop him was blocking.” Dixon’s teammate Dario Franchitti was third, 3.28 seconds behind. Dixon won in Edmonton in 2008 en route to six victories and the overall points championship.
(25 July 2010)

Citrus solutions
The University of Otago’s Free Radical Research Group claim vitamin C can help curb the growth of cancer cells. “Our results offer a promising and simple intervention to help in our fight against cancer at the level of both prevention and cure,” associate professor Margreet Vissers said. While Vissers’ previous research had demonstrated the vitamin’s importance in maintaining cell health and hinted at its potential for limiting diseases such as cancer, the latest study looked at whether vitamin C levels were lowered in patients with endometrial tumours. Details of the research are published in the latest edition of the Cancer Research journal.
(26 July 2010)

Kitchen for hot shots
One thousand young chefs will compete in the 18th Annual New Zealand Culinary Fare at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland on August 22-24. The three-day ‘hot kitchen’ competition is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Helen Emler of the Restaurant Association of New Zealand said the competition involved: “One hundred and twenty hours of comps with 72 competitions to choose from” and 200 judges. The competitions range from confectionary showpiece, innovative tapas and molecular gastronomy to high tea, table setting and duck carving. The event is free and open to the public.
(24 July 2010)

Holy smoke he’s good
Takapuna Grammar student Jacko Gill, 15, has astonished the athletics world with his shot put ability winning gold at the World Junior Championships in Canada. Gill threw the 6kg ball 20.76m winning by more than 50cm. “He is just 6 foot 1 and 87kg!” cried a blogger on the BBC site. “This is completely bonkers ... a guy this small, this young, throwing this far must be completely unprecedented.” He also set a world under-16 age group record. Gill, son of former shot put and discus national champions Walter and Nerida Gill, described himself as thrilled. “I was the young guy coming into the competition and pleased to be able to pull this off since I’m one of the smaller guys in the field,” Gill said. He will next travel to France to train with Valerie Vili and Didier Poppe ahead of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games held on14-26 August.
(22 July 2010)

UAE presence strengthens
New Zealand will open an embassy in Abu Dhabi, its first in the UAE and second in the Gulf region, where it is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully said: “The UAE and New Zealand share a diverse and growing bilateral relationship, and our commercial presence in the UAE is also developing strongly.” According to the Minister, the UAE embassy will “provide a step forward” for New Zealand's diplomatic presence in the Middle East, facilitating trade in the region. The Abu Dhabi embassy is scheduled to open in January 2011.
(19 July 2010)

Hammering out beauty
Metalsmith and jewellery designer New Zealander Amy Bixby, who is based in Seattle, “grew up on a sheep station with parents who instilled the value of making things from scratch”, freelance writer Kathy Schultz explains for Seattle Times blog NW Source. “It surely influenced her aesthetic. She hand-fabricates her own beads and works each piece of jewellery by hammering, punching, molding and experimenting with metal techniques. “My Dad’s work shed was always full of intriguing bits and pieces,” Bixby says. “An array of hammers and wrenches lined the walls and bench tops and I’m sure this is where my fascination for hand tools was born.” A new collection is punctuated with simple gold cross-stitches. The line extends to wedding rings, men’s rings and custom-made jewellery. A wide collection of Bixby’s jewellery is sold at Venue in Ballard, Seattle. Bixby has a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Diploma in Jewellery & Textiles from Otago School of Arts.
(14 July 2010)

Mega mobile sale
The New Zealand-based mobile marketing company Hyperfactory, whose clients include Coca-Cola, BlackBerry, Disney, Kraft, L’Oreal and Vodafone, has been bought by Iowa-based media group Meredith Corporation, publisher of Family Circle and Successful Farming, for an undisclosed sum. Meredith took a 19.9 per cent stake in the company in July last year. Co-founder and chief executive Derek Handley announced it had now bought the remaining 80 per cent. The Hyperfactory was created by brothers Derek and Geoffrey Handley in 2001, and they are set to retain leadership of the business under the deal. Derek Handley said selling to Meredith was always part of their vision and showed how competitive New Zealand companies could be on the world stage. “Globally, New Zealand companies are at the cutting edge of the use new technology, and by having the courage to take our ideas and capabilities offshore, we are able to become a significant powerhouse within some of the world’s leading corporations.” 
(10 July 2010)

Do the Dracula
Otago University researchers from the Wellington campus conducted a trial in the capital at the tail end of the swine flu pandemic last August which has found that the majority of people still don’t cover their mouths when sneezing and coughing. For the study, medical students secretly watched hundreds of people cough or sneeze at a train station, a shopping mall and Wellington Hospital. What they saw wasn’t pretty, with most people failing to properly prevent an airborne explosion of infectious germs. Health officials recommend that people sneeze into their elbow, in a move sometimes called ‘the Dracula’ for its resemblance to a vampire suddenly drawing up his cape. But only about 1 in 77 did that. “When you cough into your hands, you cover your hand in virus,” said study author Nick Wilson, an associate professor of public health at Wellington’s Otago University campus.
(12 July 2010)

Igniting efficient burn
Four hundred and fifty tons of New Zealand lignite has been successfully dried in a southwestern Dakota coal drying plant’s first commercial test of the process, which removed 65 per cent of water from the low-quality lignite, allowing it to burn cleaner and produce more than 40 per cent additional energy. The New Zealand lignite was shipped in December last year to the North Dakota plant, where it was dried into chunks the size of barbecue briquettes using a process called benefication. About 20 tons of the dried lignite was tested successfully at a coal-fired power plant in North Dakota, chief executive officer of GTL Energy USA Ltd Robert French said. French said a plant using GTL Energy’s benefication technology may be built in New Zealand.
(13 July 2010)

Zest for news
BBC current affairs TV producer and executive New Zealand-born Janine Thomason has died aged 63. She was born to Lesley and Jack, her father being director of marketing and technical support at the New Zealand Dairy Board. His work took him abroad, and Janine was schooled in Hong Kong as well as at Queen’s High School in Dunedin, Wellington High School and Victoria University. At 22 Thomason arrived in London hoping to make a career in television. Beginning by writing Autocues, a BBC producer soon noted her liveliness, ingenuity and zest for working late on breaking stories, and brought her into his programme team. She went on to work as producer and film-maker for a string of flagship programmes — 24 Hours, Nationwide, The Money Programme, Tonight, Panorama — in the vibrant, creative and cheerfully irreverent world of the Lime Grove studios in west London. Peter Horrocks, now head of the World Service, recalled that in working on election specials with her, “you learned the lesson that journalism (and politics) is all personal. Janine had better contacts, and better relationships, in politics than anyone I’d worked with.”
(8 July 2010)

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 in Auckland this month with a grave commemoration and the opening of an exhibition in Whangarei. In Poland’s Gdansk shipyard, a ceremony was also held for the keel-laying of Rainbow Warrior 3, which will be primarily powered by sail. The captain of the first Rainbow Warrior, Peter Willcox, attended the keel-laying in Gdansk, where participants laid a wreath in memory of Pereira. The bombing reinforced powerfully New Zealand’s sense that it had been right to ban nuclear-powered or armed ships, and gave a massive global fillip to the profile of Greenpeace − which was then using Rainbow Warrior as its flagship to interrupt French underground nuclear testing on Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia. And it marked the desultory end of significant European power-plays in the Australasian region. Nuclear testing in the Pacific was halted and although testing was briefly resumed in 1995, its days were numbered.
(10 July 2010)

Healthy advice for kids
Entrepreneur Dr Kate Hersov “was working as a paediatric doctor in her home country New Zealand when she and business partner Dr Kim Chilman-Blair struck the million pound idea,” Kate Lockyer writes in an article for Fresh Business Thinking. “They were totally frustrated by the lack of medical information for kids. ‘For the parents there were books, brochures and online communities that we could direct them to,’ Dr Hersov says. ‘For the kids there was nothing.’
Medikidz has become the place where sick children go to have their medical condition explained to them in their own language. The Medikidz brand was incorporated in Britain in June 2008 as a website for young people aged 10 to 15. Since September 2009, the official launch of the brand, they have published 16 comic book titles such as Medikidz Explain Diabetes and Medikidz Explain HIV and sold over 500,000 of them around the world. Not bad for a business which is effectively just a few months old. And Hersov has plans to publish 300 altogether.”
(5 June 2010)

Familiar green
New Zealander, Indianapolis-based Indycar driver, Scott Dixon talks to Democrat and Chronicle writer James Johnson about racing at the world-famous race track Watkins Glen International in New York. Dixon has three victories in IndyCar races at Watkins Glen. “It’s very much like racing in New Zealand,” the Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver said. “It’s an old circuit, a great layout, lots of elevation changes. The scenery [around the track] is very similar to New Zealand, as well. Lots of rolling hills, very green, rains quite often. It’s almost like going back in time as far as to where I started my career. To me, it’s a lovely place to go.” Dixon, a two-time series champion and the IndyCar wins leader with 22, has one victory this season. He led 167 of the 200 laps of the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 on May 1 at Kansas Speedway. “Don’t count him out,” ESPN analyst Scott Goodyear said. “He’s the guy that maybe hangs in there, then comes and gets things done at the end. And he likes that.”
(3 July 2010)

Restless creativity
Wellington’s beloved Fat Freddy’s Drop perform in Hawaii at the Maui Arts & Cultural Centre this month ahead of major gigs in Europe in September. According to DJ Fitchie, bandleader and producer, Fat Freddy’s Drop is the product of both the band’s restless creativity and New Zealand’s geographic isolation. “One of the upsides of being far away from the action and not having to deal with the weight of a strong musical history is that we don’t feel we have to stick to one particular style or approach,” Fitchie said. Fat Freddy’s 2005 debut album, Based On A True Story remains the highest selling independently released album in New Zealand’s music history. BBC Worldwide voted it as “Album of the Year.” Fat Freddy’s play the Coliseum in Lisbon, Portugal on 2 September ahead of the Bristol Academy on 11 September and the Isle of Wight’s Bestival on 12 September.
(1 July 2010)

Sound return
Researchers from the University of Auckland have discovered a potent new drug which once injected into the inner ear could reverse hearing loss caused by prolonged exposure to loud noise. The chemical agent ‘ADAC’ is thought to work by increasing the sensory hair cell’s ability to break down the damaging waste products, which build up during noise exposure. Lead researcher Dr Srdjan Vlajkovic and his team injected the chemical into rats which had been exposed to loud noise. Dr Vlajkovic said: “To our knowledge, this study presents the most effective pharmacological strategy to date for reducing noise-induced hearing loss after exposure to damaging noise. We now hope to test its effectiveness in humans and are currently seeking industry partners to move this to clinical trials.”
(01 July 2010)

Woods’ own hill
New Zealand entrepreneur Nick Wood, co-creator of internet service provider iHug, which sold for NZ$82 million in 2003, is currently in the United States where he has purchased Teton Pass Ski Resort in Wyoming and which he is now in the process of remodelling and reinvigorating. “We’re not talking about turning this into a big grand ski hill. It will be a boutique, a small, quiet secret for those in the know,” Wood said, adding with a smile “I’ve skied since I was a kid … and always wanted to have my own hill.” He closed on the US$270,000 deal in July, and with a couple of investors plans to invest about US$3 million in upgrades over the next few years. He’s marketing to locals, along with national and international clientele, and notes that he already has had inquiries about ski packages, as well as wedding accommodations. Choteau mayor Jay Dunckel said the community is intrigued by Wood’s efforts, and a few stores already are stocking ski equipment and clothing. “If he can turn that into a destination area like he’s trying to do, it would be a great economic boost for our community,” Dunckel said.
(30 September 2010)

Cool but not too cool
The Flight of the Conchords appeared as camp counsellors in the premiere episode of season 22 of The Simpsons which went to air in the US in September. In the episode, titled Elementary School Musical, Marge Simpson sends her daughter, Lisa, to a performing arts camp where McKenzie and Clement inspire her to embrace creativity. In one part, Clement heckles the actors with the call: “I’ve seen more life in the Wellington Botanic Gardens,” while McKenzie worries if the actors will understand the reference. According to Fox Broadcasting, the camp helps Lisa “connect with her inner hipster.” American independent student newspaper columnist Dan Cusack claims he too is becoming a hipster after watching the episode. “They are deeply ingrained in hipster culture, for their subverse comedy and because they got popular, but not too popular,” Cusack writes. “Plus they dress in ironic T-shirts and they are from a cool foreign country, New Zealand.” After reviewing the episode on “the hipster TV haven, AVclub.com” Cusacks says: “I agreed it was not as good as their TV show and blamed The Simpsons writers. That’s when it hit me, I was becoming a hipster.”
(28 September 2010)

Winning waves
State science company Wave Energy Technology New Zealand (WET-NZ) has won a grant of more than NZ$2 million from the United States Government to develop a wave power prototype design. WET-NZ has developed a quarter-scale wavepower device which has been moored off Christchurch since 2006, producing 2kW of electricity. The new funding means Wave Energy will build and test a quarter-scale version of the device off the coast of Oregon and carry out detailed modeling work in wave tanks at Oregon State University. The company is a collaboration between Industrial Research Ltd (IRL), and Power Projects Ltd, a Wellington-based company headed by wave energy expert John Huckerby. “Taken together, our New Zealand and US-based activities will accelerate the design and development of our 100kW device and our programme towards commercialisation,” Huckerby said. “Project work in both countries will cross-fertilise our development.”
(29 September 2010)

Compressed innovation
Fisher & Paykel Appliances (FPA) has claimed a technology breakthrough that will boost the energy efficiency of home refrigerators by 30 per cent and increase their storage capacity. The company has designed a revolutionary compressor, the component that pumps refrigerant gases around the appliance to keep it cold. This development could provoke a revolution in refrigerator design and production around the world and is potentially as important to manufacturers as the electric car engine was to the automobile industry. “In addition to energy savings, the shape of the compressor will allow around 15 liters more space inside the fridge, the equivalent of five 3-litre containers of milk, or an extra fruit and vegetable compartment,” FPA managing director and chief executive Stuart Broadhurst said. FPA, which was founded in New Zealand in the 1930s, has manufacturing sites in Auckland, Italy, Thailand and Mexico.
(27 September 2010)

Calling all hobbits
An advertisement in Wellington’s Dominion Post has called for diminutive actors to audition for the parts of Middle Earth hobbits in Peter Jackson’s prequel to the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy. Roles for men between 123cm and 158cm and women up to 152cm are being offered. The roles are as “scale doubles” for actors with speaking parts. Scale doubles are used in crowd scenes and long shots in order to make a contrast with taller “human” characters. A spokesman for Jackson’s company, WingNut Films insisted the film-makers were continuing with their plans despite not having an official green light to begin. “We do need to be prepared in the event that we get one,” he said. “That means having a little look around Wellington for scale doubles.”
(24 September 2010)

Electric retrospect
The first ever retrospective exhibition of Christchurch-born artist Len Lye in the UK will be held at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery from 24 November through 6 February 2011. Comprising film, sculpture, painting and drawing, often influenced by indigenous Antipodean traditions, [the exhibition] conveys the complexity as well as the simple joys that inspired the artist. Lye’s philosophy of ‘Individual Happiness Now’ — a belief in the possibility of ‘the best in human experience’ for all — is embodied in his work. This exhibition, called ‘The Body Electric’, is co-curated by Tyler Cann (Len Lye Foundation) and supported by Creative New Zealand. Lye was born in 1901. He died in New York in 1980. Although he became a naturalised citizen of the United States in 1950, much of his work went to New Zealand after his death, where it is housed at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth.
(26 September 2010)

Record inhalation
Wellington free-diver David Mullins, 29, has set a world record for distance travelled underwater without a breath, swimming 265 metres, at the Naenae Olympic Pool in Lower Hutt. The swim took four minutes and after popping his head out of the water to a standing ovation from the spectators, the 2m tall Mullins joked he was trying to remember where he was before expressing relief at cracking the record. “It was a pretty average swim really, from a technical point of view. I went too fast and I was tired from the two aborted swims, so I was getting progressively more relieved and surprised the further I went,” he told NZPA. Mullins is a champion free diver whose lungs can hold 15 litres of oxygen. He can hold his head underwater on a single breath for eight minutes. Mullins’ ultimate aim is to break the glamour record among freedivers, the constant weight in open water, at an invitational event in the Bahamas next year.
(25 September 2010)

Peak to break
Four of New Zealand’s top ski and surf personalities have completed a first, travelling the length of the country in five days, skiing a different summit and surfing a different break every day. Coming together for the world record mission were: Kingswood Skis founder Alex Herbert, pro skier Tom Dunbar, pro snowboarder Maria Kuzma, and skier and surfer Angus Kebbell. The ambitious journey saw the group drive, helicopter, ferry, fly, surf, snowboard, and ski the length of the country from Cape Reinga to Bluff. The adventure ended at Colac Bay, where the four surfed amid howling winds, snow, and hail.
(22 September 2010)

Special mention
Actress Melanie Lynskey, 33, gets a special mention in a Tulsa World review of director Tim Blake Nelson’s black comedy Leaves of Grass. New Plymouth-born Lynskey plays Colleen opposite star Edward Norton, who plays Brady. The plot follows an Ivy League philosophy professor (Norton) who is lured back into his home town by his twin brother (also Norton) for a doomed scheme against a local drug lord (Richard Dreyfuss) that unravels his life. “Multiple performances stand out, such as Melanie Lynskey as Brady’s pregnant fiancee, who sets the film’s events in motion by demanding that, with their first child on the way, he quit the pot business.” The film was released in the United States on September 17. It also featured at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Lynskey is next set to star in the 2011 films Win, Win opposite Paul Giamatti and Touchback opposite Kurt Russell. She lives in Los Angeles.
(17 September 2010)

Exciting appointment
Huntly-born rugby league half-back Jeremy Smith, 29, who currently plays for the UK team Salford City Reds, has signed a one-year contract with another British club, the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. Smith, who can play at both scrum-half and stand-off, has played three times for his country, having represented Aotearoa Maori in the 2000 World Cup. “He’s an international quality player and will add an extra competitive edge in the middle of the field,” Wakefield coach John Kear said. “He’s an exciting footballer who has played at the highest levels.” Smith has made 44 appearances for Salford joining the club in 2009 after moving from South Sydney.
(22 September 2010)

More the merrier
The number of overseas visitors arriving in New Zealand has hit an August record, with strong growth from China who more than doubled from 4600 in August 2009 to 9700 this August, exceeding the previous August high of 9000 visitors from China in 2007, Statistics New Zealand said. Visitors from Japan were up last month after being affected by the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. Last month, New Zealand residents departed on 180,200 overseas trips, 2 per cent more than a year earlier, with more trips to the United States, Britain, the Cook Islands and China.
(21 September 2010)

Brazil on the cards
Ricki Herbert has signed a new two-year contract as coach of the All Whites. Herbert, 49, took New Zealand to the World Cup championship for the first time since 1982 guiding the squad through an unbeaten campaign. The All Whites were the only team not to lose in South Africa, drawing against Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay. “The intention is for both parties to assess the requirements of the role at the end of the initial term, with a view towards extension through to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil,” New Zealand Football said. New Zealand, which is 54th in FIFA’s world rankings, hosts Honduras on October 9.
(13 September 2010)

Sold out pop-up
The recent New Zealand Food and Wine Month in Sydney included a “pop-up” restaurant called WLG — named after Wellington’s airport code — run by award-winning local chefs from Wellington’s Logan Brown, Boulcott Street Bistro’s Rex Morgan, The Larder’s Shaun Clouston and Capitol’s Tom Hutchison. The food personalities were WLG’s ‘chefs in residence’, and took control of the temporary kitchen for three to four days each, over two weeks, delivering different menus reflecting the seasonal nature of the capital’s top restaurants. Australia marketing manager at Positively Wellington Tourism Brad Monaghan, said the menu included a range of produce not typically available in Sydney from cheeses, oils and coffee to meat, seafood and chocolate and local wines. “WLG [was] a unique opportunity for Sydney diners to experience Wellington’s famed hospitality and burgeoning food scene,” Monaghan said.
(2 September 2010)

Fletchers rebuild city
Though a regional disaster for most, the 7.1 earthquake which hit Christchurch in September will generate some serious business for New Zealand’s largest construction group Fletchers. While acknowledging the tragedy of the earthquake, investors say it’s clear New Zealand’s construction sector, which had been expected to be quite subdued, will see a lift from the added government spending following the earthquake. Early figures from the New Zealand Treasury estimate the reconstruction costs to damaged assets could be $4 billion and as one of only two major suppliers of cement in the market, Investors Mutual senior portfolio manager Simon Conn said he expected Fletcher Building’s products to be in high demand. “The Christchurch rebuild will lift demand for a whole list of their products, so Fletcher is well placed on the back of that,” Conn said.
(14 September 2010)

Colorado platinum
Otago filmmakers Guy Ryan and Nick Holmes have won the Platinum Best Film Award at the Colorado International Film Festival for their documentary Carving the Future, which was inspired by grass roots youth driven community action. The film was produced as part of Ryan and Holmes’ Masters in Science Communication. The film follows four young New Zealanders as they lead large-scale community projects to confront the challenge of climate change and environmental degradation. “The film has been really well received — screened in every region, and now seen by more than 6000 New Zealanders,” Ryan said. One thousand copies of the film are to be used as a teaching resource in schools nationwide. The film is also one of three finalists in the best newcomer section at this year’s WildScreen Festival Panda Awards film competition held in Bristol in October. New Zealanders Carla Braun-Elwert and Jane Adcroft are also finalists in the best newcomer section for their short film Love in Cold Blood about the slow-burn tuatara courtship between 111-year-old Henry and 80-year-old Mildred.
(10 September 2010)

Powell wins Burghley
Christchurch equestrian star Scotland-based Caroline Powell, 37, is the first New Zealand woman to win the prestigious four-star Burghley Horse Trials held in Lincolnshire. Riding 17-year-old grey Lenamore, Powell held off local favourite William Fox-Pitt, the winner in three of the past five years, as Lenamore went clear over the 12 show-jumping obstacles with a rail to spare. “I’m absolutely amazed. I never, ever thought that was going to happen to me, or Lenamore,” Powell said after hoisting the prized silver plate and pocketing the winner’s cheque of $107,000. Powell will next compete in the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky on her other regular mount Mac Macdonald.
(7 September 2010)

Hero at the crease
“It’s remarkable that a biography had not been written on one of New Zealand’s most distinctive sports figures before now,” writes The New Zealand Herald’s David Leggat after the launch of Richard Boock’s The Last Everyday Hero: The Bert Sutcliffe Story. A project of Dunedin author and cricket lover Rod Nye, who died six years ago, and completed by former Herald sports writer Boock, The Last Everyday Hero details the life of Sutcliffe, who for years was New Zealand cricket for thousands of young, and not so young, fans. Boock was quick to praise Nye, describing his research as a “precious resource”. “A lot of the people he interviewed have also since died,” Boock said. “It is an amazing resource. And time does not diminish the story at all.” Sutcliffe was recently inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. He died in 2001, aged 77. Nye also documented the life of New Zealand’s other famed left-hander, in the biography: Martin Donnelly: New Zealand cricket’s master craftsman.
(21 August 2010)

Smiling assassin woos investors
John Key, nicknamed “the smiling assassin” during his time at global exchange in London, is now using his trademark beam to woo billionaire immigrants, foreign investors and high-end tourists according to Bloomberg Markets magazine. New Zealand Herald writer William Mellor takes a closer look at New Zealand’s PM, where he came from and where he is heading. “Attracting high-net-worth individuals is critical in terms of the investments they make and the opportunities they provide for others,” says Key. New Zealand has been struggling to rebound from the worst recession to hit in 30 years. Since he took office in November 2008, John Key has cut income and corporate taxes, offered scholarships for business executives and taken personal control of the countries tourism ministry to boost a stuttering $125 billion economy.
(25 August 2010)

Mudgway then Melbourne
Cambridge jockey James McDonald, 18, has became the first apprentice to win a Mudgway Stakes with Keep The Peace winning in the group one feature at Hastings. It was the third group one win for McDonald who won the 2009 New Zealand Oaks on Jungle Rocket at Trentham and the 2008 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes on Special Mission at Te Aroha. Keep The Peace only got home by a nose in the 1400m weight-for-age feature but considering it was her first race in more than four months it confirmed her as top-class. The four-year-old mare’s Waikato trainer Shaune Ritchie is still to work out a spring campaign with the horse’s owners but is inclined to switch the focus from New Zealand to Melbourne. “I would like to think she’s up to Melbourne but whether she’s up to the very best we won't know until we get over there,” Ritchie said.
(29 August 2010)

Everyday hero
Ray Avery — New Zealander of the Year 2010 — is interviewed by Hindustan Times reporter Tithiya Sharma for a series she is undertaking throughout the year profiling 100 “everyday heroes”. In 2003, Avery established Medicine Mondiale, an independent development agency and charity, which creates low-cost solutions to combat health issues plaguing the poorest in the world. Some of his pet projects include the Intraocular Lenses, an invention to combat cataract blindness. It has restored the sight of over 16 million people. “I hope by the time I die, the number will be up to 40 million people,” Avery says. Another of Avery’s inventions is a low cost, high tech incubator for babies called the ‘LifeRaft’, which cuts the risk of bacterial infections and costs a fraction of the traditional incubators in use today. “Kiwis are highly under-appreciated for their achievements,” he says. “They are a clever, inventive lot but they are not good with getting the word out about their work.” Ray Avery’s biography Rebel with a Cause is out now.
(4 September 2010)

Bag brand buyout
Auckland entrepreneur Graeme Hart, 55, is buying Pactiv, the US maker of Hefty brand rubbish bags. The purchase will create a packaging giant with sufficient bulk to strike exclusive packaging arrangements with global food conglomerates, such as Kraft. With debt included, the acquisition is valued at around $US6 billion. Hart has a fortune estimated at $4 billion by New Zealand’s National Business Review "Rich List" and holds spot No. 144 on Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s wealthiest people. The elusive Hart, who reportedly last gave an interview to a reporter in 2003, is the nearest thing to being a business loner according to New Zealand business commentator and author Graeme Hunt. “I think he really enjoys looking at the back end of annual reports, looking at balance sheets, looking at uncovering and unlocking value within companies,” Hunt said. “The amount of money he borrows would scare most people, but he's probably the most skilled New Zealander at raising debt.”
(3 September 2010)

All the better for Pero
First the Tall Blacks beat Canada 71-61 at Halkapinar Arena in Izmir, Turkey, and then France 82-70 in the knockout round of the FIBA World Championship. The team now faces Russia (the TBs went down). Head coach Nenad Vucinic believes the Tall Blacks should be viewed as one of New Zealand’s most successful and most respected sports teams after qualifying past the group stage at a third straight Championship. “The Tall Blacks are a team that’s a legend of New Zealand sport because of how much they punch above their weight,” Vucinic said. The Toronto Suns’ Mike Ganter wrote that though captain Pero Cameron, 36, is “round in the middle, big in the hips and just as likely to crack you in the head as he is knock down a three over an unsuspecting opponent ... New Zealand was a better team because of [him].”
(2 September 2010)

Catwalk curves
Designer Caroline Marr’s label The Carpenter’s Daughter returns to New Zealand Fashion week this year showcasing her Winter 2010 collection for women with curves. Specialising in “Clothing for Curvy Girls”, producing 100 per cent New Zealand-made clothes in sizes 12-24, The Carpenter’s Daughter has grown from humble beginnings to become a destination fashion label with six stores nationwide. Marr’s philosophy is to: “celebrate the curves of women’s bodies, accentuate the positive, and empower curvy women to hold their heads proudly, and feel worthy of fashion.” New Zealand Fashion Week runs from September 20 through September 24.
(29 August 2010)

Clement’s double life
“One of the reasons I went into comedy and acting was that I was sick of being shy,” Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement tells the Guardian’s Killian Fox. “I guess I have an extrovert side and now I get to channel it.” Clement, who stars in Dinner for Schmucks, with Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, next plays a villanous alien in Men in Black III. “I have these prosthetics over my face and body. I’ve been travelling to the States for the last few months just to try on different prosthetics. Then I go home to New Zealand and have a totally ordinary lifestyle where I’m changing nappies and going to the park.” Dinner for Schmucks opened in the UK on September 3.
(29 August 2010)

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 2011 Rugby World Cup kicks off. As a conspicuous invitation to a fun-filled sporting festival, a large inflatable rugby ball is hard to beat. It has already graced similarly iconic spots in Paris, Tokyo and London. The Rugby World Cup, held every four years, is the world’s third largest sporting event after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, and RWC 2011 will be the biggest crowd-puller New Zealand has staged. Tourism New Zealand and RWC 2011 organiser Rugby New Zealand anticipate the 48-match event will attract 60,000 to 85,000 visitors, including about 21,000 Australians. New Zealand has been preparing for it for years and the prime message is that RWC 2011 will offer a lot more than rugby. Throughout the event expect food and wine, a silent film festival, Old Napier Prison tours and even indoor curling.
(28 August 2010)

Undead and on cover
True Blood star New Zealand-born actress Anna Paquin, 28, who plays waitress Sookie Stackhouse in the hit show, features on the latest issue of Rolling Stone, bloodied and naked in the arms of co-stars, husband Stephen Moyer and Alexander Skarsgard. The controversial cover reads: “They’re hot, they’re sexy, they’re undead”. True Blood screens on Prime in New Zealand. Venice Beach-based Paquin will make a cameo in Wes Craven’s Scream 4, now shooting in Michigan. Those in the know say the cameo is of a similar nature to that of Drew Barrymore’s in the original Scream.
(17 August 2010)

Speed queen on salt
Christchurch-born Miriam MacMillan is the third New Zealander and first New Zealand woman to earn a “200 MPH hat”, which she claimed driving a 2.1 litre Honda CRX at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, during Speedweek. Qualification for the 200mph club consists of not only exceeding 200mph, but breaking an existing record as well. By way of comparison, MacMillan’s CRX ran straighter and faster than an Enzo Ferrari, which was also competing at Speedweek. “My Honda CRX was very well behaved,” MacMillan said. “It was smooth, stable and handled everything we could throw at it.” MacMillan’s husband Doug earned his 200 MPH hat in 2008. They live in Los Angeles.
(27 August 2010)

Guardian wins Red Dot
For the second year running, Massey University honours graduate and designer Annabel Goslin, 22, has won a prestigious Red Dot Design Award for her sports face protector. Last year Goslin entered an all-purpose sports rain jacket called the Armadillo, which took out the top spot. Now working as an industrial designer at Unlimited Realities in Palmerston North, Goslin designed the “Guardian” for her final-year design school project, aiming to reduce the frequency and severity of injuries hockey players experienced. Her own hockey team acted as guinea pigs. “They loved the Darth Vader [look] and the idea behind it,” she said. Red Dot is an internationally recognised label for excellent design. This year, Goslin’s design beat more than 12,000 other entries from 60 countries, of which just 7 per cent received awards.
(28 August 2010)

Reassuring the fans
Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson is optimistic The Hobbit will still go ahead “sometime soon” and that Warners was “making progress untangling the MGM situation”. In an interview with the Dominion Post, Jackson also said there should soon be certainty about whether he would direct The Hobbit movie, which would allow him to map out a five-year plan for projects “that will keep many people very busy”. But that’s not all he’s planning: it sounds like his long hinted-at ANZAC project may be the next project on his plate. A huge fan of Gallipoli, Peter Weir’s 1980s take on the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought in the Mediterranean in WW1, Jackson hopes to get his own take on the story of the disastrous Dardenelles campaign off the ground. Jackson’s other commitments include directing the second Tintin film — the first, directed by Steven Spielberg, is to be released next year.
(26 August 2010)

Tri-Nations clinched
New Zealand has won the Tri-Nations series beating South Africa 29-22 in Johannesburg. The hosts had led 22-17 up until the 78th minute when All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw scored a controversial try in the corner to level the scores. Substitute Israel Dagg also ensured New Zealand extended their winning run to 14 successive matches when he outsprinted full-back Gio Aplon after centre Nonu carved through the beleaguered Springbok defence. And Dan Carter, who missed five of his nine attempts at goal at the stadium formerly known as Soccer City, added the conversion in front of the posts before the final whistle. “I’m proud of our boys,” said a jubilant McCaw. “We kept believing in what we were doing. We got some pressure on in that second half and perhaps their weary legs gave us a few opportunities that we managed to take.”
(21 August 2010)

Nexus for talent
Neil Finn’s Auckland property, the formerly “dusty old art deco edifice” of Roundhead Studios, is where he and band Crowded House recorded their latest album Intriguer. Finn talks to The San Francisco Examiner about the building ahead of two shows at The Warfield and Mountain Winery in the Bay Area. Finn says: “It absolutely announced itself as a great building to play music in. It just had a really good feel and lovely big windows looking west, so there was really good light all day. Inside, it was a good space, with good dimensions.” Finn trusted his instinct and bought the place, initially just for equipment storage for the freshly rejuvenated outfit, Crowded House. However, the building just kept right on talking. “So I took a big, deep breath and said, ‘Yeah! I want to build a studio here,’” Finn says of what soon became a bustling nexus for New Zealand musicians. Crowded House continue their North American tour before heading to Australia in November.
(18 August 2010)

Song from both worlds
New Zealand singer-songwriter Maisey Rika is currently touring Australia performing songs from her debut album Tohu. Often compared to Indie Arie and Sade, Rika sings in both Maori and English because she was brought up in “both worlds”. Rika is from a small town near Whakatane and attributes her Maori heritage and her family to inspiring her music. “I come from a musical family where we always have a guitar around and everyone will gather and sing around the guitar,” she said. Rika began singing at a professional level at 13 and her first collection of traditional Maori songs, E Hine, went double platinum and won Best Maori Language Album at the New Zealand Music Awards.
(18 August 2010)

Taking the sting out
Gisborne-based Dive Tatapouri is defending the reputation of the short-tailed stingray, offering plucky tourists the opportunity to hand-feed the sea creatures. “They’re incredibly good-natured,” owner Dean Savage says. “It’s extremely rare for them to be aggressive and they’re absolutely fine around us.” “A line of 15 visitors kitted out with waders and bamboo staffs have signed up for today,” The Sydney Morning Herald’s David Whitley explains. “The waders are to stop us from getting wet in the shallows; the staffs help us walk. Mainly, though, they’re to stop the stingrays from sneaking behind us. “While leading one ray on a chase, Savage asks us to look at its tail. ‘The barb is about one-third of the way up,’ he says. ‘It’s razor sharp and full of toxins but unless it gets you through the heart, it won’t kill you.’”
(15 August 2010)

Thrill-seeker flips
With this “insanely-extended Hart Attack backflip” (above), Palmerston North daredevil Levi Sherwood, 19, won the fifth stop of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour, held at Battersea Power Station in London. This is Sherwood’s second win on the Tour, his first coming in Mexico. ESPN blogger Ryan Leyba writes: “Qualifying by a whopping 22-points over [American] Nate Adams’ score of 405-points, Sherwood was clearly the best rider in London. Extending his tricks more and more at each and every round, Sherwood’s progression has made him become the rider to beat at the final X-Fighters competition in Rome on October 1. Pulling one of the biggest Hart Attack look back backflips in the history of the sport, as well as his signature overly-extended ruler flip, the young New Zealander is absolutely on fire.”
(14 August 2010)

First-rate funny man
Wellington actor Jemaine Clement, 36, “steals every scene he’s in” in the Steve Carrell comedy Dinner for Schmucks, according to Peninsula Clarion reviewer Chris Jenness. Clement, who plays a narcissistic artist with an animal fetish named Kieran, is best known for playing a fictional version of himself in Flight of the Conchords. “Wildly hedonistic, but with a kind of zen attitude”, Clement reminds Jenness “a little of Russell Brand’s Aldous Snow, with some dry ‘Conchords’ humour thrown in.” “[Director Jay] Roach has loaded the supporting cast with first-rate funny people, from The Hangover’s Zach Galifianakis to Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement and Kristen Schaal,” writes Martin Morris for CBS News. Dinner for Schmucks is an American remake of a French farce. Clement and fellow Conchord Bret McKenzie will guest star as a pair of camp counsellors in “Elementary School Musical”, the season premiere of the 22nd season of The Simpsons, which will air on September 26, 2010.
(30 July 2010)

Woolly takeover
Sheep have replaced hobbits at The Shire in Matamata. The rolling green pastures and hobbit houses that provided the backdrop for director Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy were originally going to be converted into hobbit theme park, to attract tourists to the town. But the plans were shelved, and the land is now home to 12,000 sheep and 250 cattle. They are allowed to roam around the 17 hobbit holes left behind after the production team departed. Visitors too are able to explore the village through Hobbiton Movie Set and Farm Tours, a company established by the farmers who own the land.
(13 August 2010)

Excelling on all levels
Dunedin ballerina Jordan Mullin, 16, had high hopes ahead of her 2010 McDonald’s Ballet Scholarship contemporary and classical solos in the Concert Hall at Sydney Opera House. Mullin, who moved to the Gold Coast last year to study at Mudgeeraba’s Prudence Bowen Atelier, said a win would mean her parents in New Zealand would not have to sell their home if she was successful in her Royal Ballet School (RBS) audition in November. And win she did, before a capacity crowd in Sydney Mullin was awarded the $15,000 scholarship, $3000 cash prize and an array of other prizes. One of the judges, Australian Ballet artistic director David McAllister, said Mullin and the male recipient of the second scholarship, Evan Loudon, had excelled at every level of the competition. The experience of dancing in front of more than 2000 people at the Opera House was a “big jump” from Dunedin competitions she was more used to competing in, Mullin said. “I almost didn’t walk out on stage, I was that nervous.”
(7 August 2010)

Humanitarian career
Wellington doctor Adrick Baker, 69, has devoted a large part of his career to serving thousands of poor villagers for free in northeastern Bangladesh, opening a free health centre in Kailakuri, which has since grown into a small hospital with 87 staff. “In the beginning, my family and friends funded the centre. Now foreign donors help me continue the service,” Baker said. He now plans to open a maternity wing thanks to funding from Belgian donors. Patients have nothing but praise for the hospital. “It used to be very difficult to get health care. Village doctors used to maltreat us,” said 26-year-old Khokon Mia. “Thanks to Doctor Baker no one in the area goes without proper treatment.” A graduate from Otago University’s medical school, Baker first served as a surgeon during the Vietnam War, then in Papua New Guinea and Zambia before arriving in Bangladesh in 1979.
(9 August 2010)

London to Gaza
Six New Zealanders, calling themselves the “Kia Ora Gaza” team, will make up part of an aid convoy taking humanitarian assistance to Gaza departing from London on September 18. Queen’s Service Medal recipient, Aucklander Roger Fowler, 61, is the manager of the Mangere East Community Learning and the “captain” of the New Zealand contingent. It also includes his London-based son, Hone, 25, photojournalist Chris Van Ryn, 50, electrician Pat O’Dea, 51, trainee teacher Mousa Taher, 23, and journalist Julie Webb-Pullman, 57. Fowler said the six were spurred by the deaths of nine Turks when Israeli troops intercepted a Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla on May 31. “People around the world, including here in New Zealand, were absolutely outraged at that,” Fowler said. He said they represented a cross-section of New Zealanders. They would drive three trucks nearly 4000km from London to Gaza, taking up to a month.
(8 August 2010)

By hook or by jetski
New Zealander Jeremy Burfoot has begun a 32,000km journey on a jetski, setting off from London’s River Thames on August 1 and aiming to be in Auckland by November. Burfoot, an airline pilot, is attempting to break a world record and raise awareness of cancer and will spend 12 hours a day in the saddle. Burfoot, who circumnavigated New Zealand on a jetski in 2005, is travelling with a support team of four. The father-of-three, who says he’s “probably the fittest 51-year-old you would ever have met”, is looking forward to the challenge. “When we get to the end of it we’ll go, ‘Well, we’ve achieved something good here’,” he said. After crossing the English Channel, Burfoot and his team head to Rotterdam riding the rivers of the Rhine and Danube and out to the Black Sea. The current jetski record is a journey of 18,400km.
(31 July 2010)

Watch this space
Eighteen-year-old superheavyweight boxer Joseph Parker has been invited to compete at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore this month. Parker, who stands at 1.95m, recently pummelled Pan-American champion Cuban Yuniel Castro Chavez in the World Youth Boxing Championships with an outstanding score of 9-1 in the quarter-final; Parker also vanquished Turkey’s Yusuf Acik 7-2 in the preliminary round. Coach Grant Arkell said of the Papatoetoe- trained teenager’s success: “He’s been the only New Zealand boxer to ever beat a Cuban and he beat him 9-1 and he’s a good Cuban.” Parker is ranked in the top three in the world for his age. “He’s got speed to burn,” Arkell said.
(7 August 2010)

Celebrating a decade
Designers NOM*d, Zambesi, Trelise Cooper and Starfish — who will stage the very first Eco Show — all feature as part of the largest ever line up at New Zealand Fashion Week held from September 21 to 25 in Auckland. The industry week will see around 60 labels hit the catwalk. Stolen Girlfriends Club, Annah Stretton, Sabatini and Stitch Ministry will also show, along with Australian labels Ellery, Fernando Frisoni and Megan Park. US designer Nicole Miller has been announced as this year’s international guest. The main focus of the 2010 show is celebrating local talent and a decade of fashion, says director Pieter Stewart. “2010 is all about celebration for New Zealand fashion industry,” Stewart says. “A lot has changed in the past ten years.”
(5 August 2010)

Calcium cancer link
Professor Ian Reid and colleagues at the University of Auckland have found a link between calcium supplements and a higher rate of heart attacks. The research team pooled the results of 11 clinical trials in which 12,000 people over 40 were randomly assigned to take either a placebo or at least 500mg of calcium a day for an average of 3.5 years. After considering age, smoking, high blood pressure, and other risk factors for heart disease, the researchers found that people who took calcium supplements were 30 per cent more likely to have a heart attack than people who took placebos. Calcium supplements are commonly taken by older people for skeletal health. The results have been published in the British Medical Journal.
(2 August 2010)

No sweat merino
Wellington-based merino wool pioneer for the outdoors, Icebreaker, recently launched its new range of technical knits for runners, the GT Run range, at a product show in Friedrichshafen on the shores of Lake Constance in Germany. Icebreaker claims that its knitted merino running shirts resist odour and can be worn for days or even sometimes weeks, without washing. “When we tested our running clothing by selling Icebreaker at the 2009 New York Marathon, we sold out. That shows how much demand there is for quality natural running clothing,” Icebreaker founder and CEO Jeremy Moon said. Icebreaker’s creative director Rob Achten, who runs between five and nine hours a week said: “I’ve been a runner for 20 years, and it’s exciting to finally have a natural alternative to all that synthetic stuff,” he says. Icebreaker was launched in 1994.
(27 July 2010)

All Blacks dominate
“Dan Carter inspires as freewheeling New Zealand crush Australia,” headlines the Guardian. “The All Blacks gained their third successive five-pointer in the tournament at a sandy Etihad Stadium in Melbourne beating the Wallabies 49-28 and aided by the home side’s indiscipline. New Zealand were more coordinated and ruthless, dominating the restarts to an embarrassing extent. A year ago, the All Blacks looked lost and vulnerable, uncomfortable with the kicking game the way the breakdown was refereed had spawned but now the attacking team has been given more latitude in the tackle area, their licence to counter-attack has been renewed. For all the invention of Carter, the power of Ma’a Nonu, the subtlety of Smith and the pace of their back three, New Zealand have added steel in their forwards. Their set-pieces are stronger, they have a blend of mobility and grunt in the tight five and their back row is the most effective unit in the game.” The All Blacks next play the Wallabies at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch on August 7, where “New Zealand will win their 10th Tri-Nations title if they secure a bonus point victory over Australia and prevent the Wallabies from scoring four tries.”
(31 July 2010)

WW2 pilot laid to rest
The puzzle of New Zealand pilot officer W. Stuart Beattie who was killed 69 years ago has finally been laid to rest. Torquay Royal British Legion secretary Ena Pethick turned supersleuth to find out why Beattie was buried miles from home with full military honours at Devon’s St Marychurch in December, 1941. His family and friends reunited for a memorial service on July 31. Pethick explained that the Beattie family had forged links with a family in St Marychurch when wounded soldier Jack Beattie was convalescing in Torquay during the First World War. A decade later, his nephew Stuart was undertaking air force training in England during the Second World War and would spend his leave with the English family. Stuart was killed in a plane crash over England on December 22, 1941. Pethick explained: “The Matthews family offered to organise his funeral and burial at St Marychurch.”
(30 July 2010)

Craving more bleu
Former sheep farmer New Zealander Alistair MacKenzie moved to Canada 11 years ago with his French-Canadian wife, Karien Piché and made a career change, purchasing a small artisan cheese-making and sheep farming business called Fromagerie la Moutonnière in Ste-Hélène de Chester, Quebec. Until recently the two were making up to 10,000kg of cheese out of Giroux’s basement. In 2009, having outgrown their entrepreneurial roots, they finally opened a full-scale cheese plant. MacKenzie, who has an agricultural degree, says that in New Zealand (which has about 40 million sheep) dairy sheep farming is just catching on. Sue Riedl, who studied at London’s Cordon Bleu, describes the couple’s bleu for The Globe and Mail: “Visually this is a beauty for the cheese board. Like its fragrant ‘nose’ it delivers big flavour, nicely rounded and not sharp. Wonderfully salty but well balanced, you immediately crave more.”
(27 July 2010)

Justice argued
Rob Hamill — whose 28-year-old brother Kerry fell into the hands of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime when his yacht was captured in Cambodian waters in 1978 — was in Cambodia for the sentencing of the chief of the prison Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Comrade Duch. Sitting in the courtroom presided over by former New Zealand governor-general Dame Silvia Cartwright, Hamill, 46, watched Duch intently as the 35-year sentence was handed down but said the torturer’s face was “completely neutral”. “There’ll never be justice for our family,” Hamill said, noting his mother died seven years ago and did not get to witness the trial or hear its verdict. “I can’t quite reconcile how justice can ever be served with the nature and the way these people’s lives were taken.” Hamill said the verdict had to be put in perspective “He’s already served time in prison. The reality is now he [Comrade Duch] will have 19 years to serve. He’s 67 now so he’ll be 86 when he is released.” “The one real issue I have is there are a lot of people really unhappy here. A lot of the people in the court wanted life, no matter what. But the prosecution had asked for 40 years. I would have preferred it if they’d asked for 50, 60 or 70 years.” About a dozen Westerners were among the estimated 16,000 people held at S-21 before being killed. Hamill said he was still very keen to track down his brother’s remains.
(22 July 2010)

Battle of wool
Te Kuiti’s David Fagan, 48, and Cam Ferguson, 26, from Waipawa have won the teams machine shearing title at the 14th Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Wales, with Ferguson taking out the prestigious individual machine shearing category and Fagan runner-up. Ferguson shore 856 sheep in a nine-hour blow-out at Ohineumeri, near Waipukurau, last December and after his success in Wales was still not discounting a challenge for the woolshed record. “We can talk about that,” he said in the din of the pavilion where he and New Zealand-based Scottish hope Gavin Mutch each shore 20 lambs in 11 minutes 45 seconds to finish seven seconds ahead of shearing icon Fagan. Twenty eight countries took part in the two-day shearing contest, which also saw the woolhandling teams title go to Taihape schoolteacher Sheree Alabaster and Te Awamutu’s Keryn Herbert. There were also podium finishes for blades shearers Brian Thomson and Allen Gemmell third in the teams event while Thomson was third in the individual blades final. Competitors sheared about 5000 animals in pursuit of the top prize. Fagan has won the New Zealand Golden Shears contest a record 16 times.
(21 July 2010)

Visual Poetics
In the Fall 2010 issue of the Kehrer catalogue, New Zealander Harvey Benge is featured for his recent work in All the Places I’ve Ever Known. Kehrer, based in Heidelberg and Berlin, specialises in publishing fine art photography and recognises Benge’s work for his creativity, humour and irony. Based in both Auckland and Paris, Harvey Benge aims to investigate the relationship between parallel lives and thus his photography reveals the strange and absurd nature of everyday life. His photos then are at the same time ambiguous, incongruous, poetic and dreamlike. Harvey Benge is held worldwide in public and private collections. His newest body of work in All the Places continues to explore the concept of perception and the nature of seeing in its visual endeavors, a theme that is emphasised by the book’s opening quotation by the ancient Buddhist Master Longchenpa: “Since everything is but an apparition, perfect in being what it is, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance and rejection, you might as well burst out laughing.” 
(22 July 2010)

Obama in multigrain
Paeroa-born artist Maurice Bennett, famous throughout New Zealand for portraits made from toast, has recently unveiled his latest piece. Bennett’s Barack Obama portrait required over 1200 pieces of toast, including white, whole wheat, and pumpernickel, the mixed toast reflecting Obama’s mixed race. Wellington-based Bennett has created a number of works with toast including portraits of the Mona Lisa, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, Elvis Presley and rugby great Jonah Lomu. Bennett describes his latest endeavours as “better relat[ing] to New Zealand and the Pacific-rim artistic styles ... with exhibitions inspired by tapa cloth, Maori carvings, and Pacific patterns.” His art has featured on Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the Japanese show Amazing Stories.
(23 July 2010)

Educational benefits
New Zealand is suggested as a good choice for international students by Nepalese newspaper República because the country has a Code of Practice that provides a framework for looking after foreign students. This system covers pastoral care, accommodation and provision of information. As well, New Zealanders have travelled widely and are known to have a great interest in people from other cultures. Another aspect of New Zealand’s education is that it is comparatively affordable compared to Australia or Canada. Universities in New Zealand offer many such subjects that could be of interest especially for Nepali students, said the assistant to New Zealand’s honorary consul in Kathmandu Namita Shresta. “Subjects like forestry, environment and film-making are offered there, which if taken up by Nepali students can be beneficial to both them and the country,” Shresta explained.
(19 July 2010)

Sedimentary strata studied
Waipaoa River was recently visited by a team of international scientists gathering data for research into how materials from land are moved through and accumulated in the ocean and, in particular, how floods carry sediments along the coast. The Waipaoa River, which drains the East Cape region of the North Island, is the focus because it is small yet discharges a large amount of sediment, which enables scientists to more easily access and measure the system. East Carolina University professor and chief scientist on the expedition JP Walsh of the Department of Geological Sciences said the knowledge gathered may be valuable to understanding how pollutants like oil are dispersed or buried in the seafloor. “Also because our historical records of storms are limited, sedimentary strata created in the ocean can provide key insights into how such events have varied over time, perhaps in response to climate change,” Walsh said.
(17 July 2010)

NZ takeover in US
New Zealanders Joanne Kiesanowski, 31, and Catherine Cheatley, 27, who represented New Zealand at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, finished first and second, respectively, in the 10-lap Senior Women’s Category 1-2 event at the Grand Cycling Classic in Grand Rapids, Michigan. While Patrick Bevin, 19, a member of the hometown Bissell Pro Cycling Team — who moved to the US from his native New Zealand a year ago — won the Men’s Pro 1 race of 90 minutes plus 10 laps. Kiesanowski was also a member of the 2004 New Zealand Olympic team in Athens. “Grand Rapids put on a great race,” Kiesanowski said. “I was definitely hoping to break away with Catherine, my fellow New Zealander, but there was a quality field racing today.”
(10 July 2010)

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 country is one of them, Jeffery says. “As we creep cautiously up an unpaved, non-guardrailed road full of hairpin bends (of the sort that lead to most New Zealand ski resorts), we are repeatedly overtaken by locals, zipping along roads as if they were entrants for the Monaco grand prix. If there were dust, rather than slush, we would be eating it.” Jeffery goes on to describe a number “of winter playgrounds [between Queenstown and Wanaka] offering some of the best skiing and variety in the southern hemisphere.”
(10 July 2010)

Second wave cohesion
Crowded House performed with Lawrence Arabia July 13 at Montreal’s Metropolis as part of the band’s North American tour promoting Intriguer, the second album of the “second wave”. Frontman Neill Finn says the band’s average set list these days is split equally between new material, standards and “album tracks that people are fond of.” He also says these days don’t need to come to a full stop the way the band did in 1996, with a final bow outside the Sydney Opera House in front of more than 100,000 fans. “This record has got a bit more of the band’s character from beginning to end, and is more cohesive for it ... We’d done a lot of touring, which really worked out for some intuitive things in the studio that are hard to learn other than from just playing gig after gig after gig.” Crowded House play the Ottawa Bluesfest On July 15, the Bowery Ballroom, New York July 19-21 and The Tabernacle in Atlanta, Georgia on August 1.
(10 July 2010)

Tokyo strategies
Anti-whaling activist Pete Bethune, 45, has been convicted by a Tokyo court of assault and obstruction of Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic Ocean, receiving a suspended two-year prison sentence. Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd banned Bethune for carrying a weapon onboard ship as a strategy to help him avoid prison in Japan, and he’s free to rejoin its protests, founder Paul Watson said. Watson said the ban “was really just a legal strategy” as “the Japanese judges would [have been] hesitant to release Pete ... if they knew he was going to be [back] down in the southern ocean.” “He’s a hero to the conservation movement and we’d certainly welcome him back,” he said. Sea Shepherd has been protesting Japan’s whaling in Antarctic waters for years, and often has engaged in scuffles with Japanese whalers. It claims the research whaling program, an allowed exception to an international whaling ban, is a cover for commercial hunting.
(8 July 2010)

Undersea utterances
Researcher Shahriman Ghazali of Auckland University has discovered that fish communicate with each other in a secret language of grunts, growls, chirps and pops. Predators may even hunt out prey by intercepting fish talk, Ghazali said. “All fish can hear but not all can make sound — pops and other sounds made by vibrating their swim bladder, a muscle they can contract,” he said. He placed groups of fish into tanks in a laboratory, gave them a few weeks to settle in, and monitored them using an underwater microphone and instruments that detect water movement. It emerged that gurnard are among the most talkative, making distinctive grunts and keeping up a pattern of chatter throughout the day. Cod, on the other hand, stay mostly silent, except while spawning when they become very vocal.
(7 July 2010)

New curatorial role
New Zealand-born Helen Klisser During (right) is the new director of visual arts at Westport Arts Center in Connecticut. Weston-based Klisser During, who moved to the United States in 1985, grew up working in her family’s bakery, the renowned Vogel’s, and was a member of the New Zealand national ski team. As director at the Center, a visual and performing arts organization, which showcases contemporary art, Klisser During is, amongst other roles, responsible for curating three to four themed exhibitions a year. Klisser During has deep contacts in the New York art world and elsewhere, and in curating art shows. She says: “I am not interested in being provincial, showing the same old, same old. Shows need to be juried and themed; we need to treasure what is strong locally, but also bring in artists from outside the area and be elegant and sophisticated in what we’re doing so that viewers leave enlightened and engaged.”
(2 July 2010)

Wellington storms Berlin
Wellington-raised actress and English teacher Amy Nye, 31, appears as ‘Louise’ in playwright Duncan Sarkies’ 1992 Love Puke at Berlin’s English Theatre through July 10. Also from Wellington, Fingal Pollock, 28, directs “eight characters who delve into the complications binding love and sex together in [Sarkies’] light-hearted yet poignant work”. Nye, who was most recently based in Madrid working for British theatre troupe Face2Face, says the play is: “Sexy, complete with saucy power games, providing the audience a modern interpretation into the intricacies of relationships.” Stage manager Sarah Silver, 28, and lighting assistant Geoff Pinfield, 30, round out the capital contingent.
(1 July 2010)

Peak performance
New Zealand has paid tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay with their Commonwealth Games logo and unique team-identifier, ‘29028 Hillary and Tenzing’, the figure being the height of Mt Everest. “It’s an incredible story and one that will inspire our athletes. Our athletes strive for the qualities that made Sir Edmund and Tenzing great and we’ll be asking them to draw on those characteristics in Delhi,” New Zealand chef de mission Dave Currie said. With its own dedicated page on Facebook, the campaign has drawn support nationwide. Hillary’s son, Peter Hillary said of the campaign: “It is about being passionate, being totally committed to where you want to go, much like my father and Tenzing when they were climbing the Everest.”
(29 September 2010)

Northern resonance
Musician Tim Finn is playing a “best-of” show in Cairns, his first show in the northern Australian city in nearly 30 years. Finn says he’ll be performing music from his 2009 album Anthology: North, South, East, West, a collection of his best songs from the whole gamut of his career. What does he think makes that perfect song, one that runs around your mind like [Split Enz hits] I See Red or tugs on the heart strings like How’m I Gonna Sleep? According to Finn, it isn’t something esoteric or philosophical, rather a simple approach that resonates with people deep inside. “Good melody, good words and some sort of mood or atmosphere. Above that, it’s got to take you somewhere, take you out of yourself. You kind of know when you’ve written one, they always seem to come easier than the rest.” Finn performs at the Tanks Art Centre in Cairns on October 8.
(30 September 2010)

Safety indoors
The legislative changes introduced in New Zealand de-criminalising adult prostitution have been a model for Canadian judges to do the same, with courts recently ruling Canada’s adult prostitution laws unconstitutional. Justice Susan Himel considered the experience of New Zealand and other jurisdictions that have liberalised their prostitution laws. Himel said evidence shows violence against prostitutes can be reduced when women can work indoors, near people who can intervene if necessary, and when they can screen clients and take their credit card numbers. Under the Prostitution Reform Act introduced by the New Zealand Government in 2003, brothel operators who don’t promote safe sex face criminal charges. Prostitutes are also covered under occupational health and safety laws. “It’s been just fantastic, really,” said national coordinator for the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective Catherine Healey. Street prostitutes, who account for about 11 per cent of those in the industry, generally haven’t moved indoors, but prostitutes are now more likely to report violence. “They can pick up the phone and talk to police. That is enormously important,” Healey said.
(29 September 2010)

Lifetime achiever
Jeweller Doug Erkkila, 83, has won the inaugural Jewellers Association of New Zealand’s (JANZ) Hall of Fame and Lifetime Member Award. When accepting the award, the jovial and popular Erkkila was, unusually, lost for words saying only “I really don’t know what to say. For me to have won such an award is such an honour, especially when you look at the calibre of the other four nominees. The list is a Who’s Who of the jewellery trade”. Erkkila first entered the jewellery industry in 1949 as a representative of watch supplier Mitchell & Co.
(September 2010)

Icy southern beauty
“New Zealand is the land of all things possible,” Josh Green writes in a travel piece for the San Jose Mercury News. “It’s one of those places where you would like to take a vacation and then forget to return home. The South Island, in particular, offers a road system capable of taking you on a circle-tour that offers charming cities, a gorgeous coastline, glaciers, staggering sounds and some very quiet places. A mere day’s drive away [from Abel Tasman National Park] are the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. As you might see in Alaska, these glaciers almost kiss the coastline. A helicopter gives you the most direct start on the glacier, dropping you off in the middle for guided walks (complete with your own giant axe-wielding guide to keep you safe).”
(26 September 2010)

Picnic in Boulder
New Zealand dance troupe EyeSoar Performance opened the second day of the weekend Boulder Fall Festival in Colorado with a 30-minute modern-day circus act called, “A Delightful Show”. Shown entirely through a narrative dance, the troupe paid special attention to children in the crowd with their dramatic facial expressions and prop interaction. “A Delightful Show” was created specifically for the Fall Festival and told the story of two hungry picnickers who only have one apple. The pair fall asleep and a magical dream sequence ensues, complete with dragon fights and stilts, centered around their only apple. Boulder residents Ted Skolnick and Kristen Reisniger brought their two children, Oscar and Nina, to watch the performance and said they loved it. “Yeah, apple!” 2-year-old Nina said excitedly from her mother’s lap. EyeSoar Performance was founded by Annabel Reader and Shaun Oshman.
(25 September 2010)

Coup for the shweeb
Internet giant Google is granting Rotorua-based company Shweeb Holdings a sum of $1 million to develop a pedal-system monorail for use in “traffic-clogged, skyscraper-strewn cities”. The company has been operating a monorail at an adventure park in Rotorua since 2007, beat over 150,000 other ideas and inventions to nab the $1 million award from Google. The monorail, designed by Australian Geoff Barnett, uses transparent pods, where travelers have to pedal their pods like bicycles while lying backwards. After six years of developing the concept in Melbourne, he chose an adventure playground in Rotorua as a venue for tourists to test-ride it. Barnett has said potential sites were being explored in Europe, the US and Japan. Google wanted the award-winning company to develop a project that would help to move “more people with less energy, greater efficiency and fewer casualties”.
(25 September 2010)

Scented feathers
Canterbury University associate professor Jim Briskie is hoping to develop a deodorant for New Zealand’s native birds to stop them falling prey to introduced predators. Briskie says it appears New Zealand birds suffer from body odour, making them an easy target for predators. He says unlike their overseas counterparts, which evolved alongside mammals, New Zealand birds emit a strong smell when preening as they produce wax to protect their feathers. He says kiwis smell like mushrooms or ammonia, while the flightless and endangered kakapo parrot smells like “musty violin cases”. The New Zealand robin had a musky smell that was more pungent during mating season. The Canadian, who moved to New Zealand 13 years ago, has been awarded more than $600,000 over three years from this year’s Marsden Fund to investigate the theory.
(24 September 2010)

From planet Wow
“Coming on like a teenage Joan Jett with a drum machine, all Pulp Fiction bangs and kaleidoscopic baton swinging, Zowie is a futuristic cheerleader from planet Wow,” writes US culture and entertainment site Bloginity about the Aucklander formerly known as Bionic Pixie. “A whip-smart 22-year-old karate-proficient Antipodean with a penchant for percussion, a hyperglycaemic imagination and a dizzying creative ferocity. Recently signed to Sony Music she released her debut single “Broken Machine” in Australia and New Zealand and it debuted in the top 5. Zowie is due to land on US shores in October for shows in Los Angeles and at the CMJMarathon in New York City. Colour us excited.”
(22 September 2010)

Cat walk car wreck
Dunedin-based fashion label NOM*D held one of the “craziest” runway shows The Huffington Post has ever seen. The American news site describes the New Zealand Fashion Week event: “Seated guests watched models make out, smoke cigarettes, sit on a bed, eat a candlelit dinner and prance by a car wreck.” The New Zealand Herald’s Zoe Walker said the show “was an ambitious installation that provided some much-needed theatrics to the event.” Also featuring on day two were Trelise Cooper, Ruby, Sabatini, James Dobson, the Crane Brothers, World, Alexandra Owen and new label Neverblack.
(22 September 2010)

Future focus
The “All Blacks [are] looking good, and that’s a problem” headlines a New York Times story profiling the team ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Despite all the team’s previous upsets, New Zealand has entered every World Cup tournament as the raging favourite. And in a little less than 12 months, when the seventh edition returns to New Zealand shores for the first time since 1987, the All Blacks will once again be heavily favoured to take the crown. While captain Richie McCaw is adamant the team is not peaking too early — and the last-gasp wins against the Wallabies and Springboks in the past month prove there is room for improvement — Grant Fox, who was the leading points scorer at the 1987 tournament, remains cautious. “Those of us who have watched the All Blacks for a long time are perhaps just enjoying the moment now, and we’ll worry about next year next year,” Fox says. “I don’t think we want to read too much into it because history tells us we shouldn’t.”
(22 September 2010)

Participant in history
“I am in the midst of a living, pictorial history as it is being etched into our nation’s collective memory and into the core of this unstable but stunning landscape of Canterbury,” Jacqueline Monkman describes for the Telegraph’s Expat Life column. “We have just experienced an earthquake of immense proportions. It measured 7.1 on the Richter scale. In Akaroa the community spirit was quickly evident. Our rural fireman was out early with his farm digger clearing up landslides which blocked the road ways. Friends from our local supply store ten miles away popped in to see if we were alright. Their store was awash with wine as many bottles had crashed down onto their wooden flooring. We have had over sixty aftershocks already, and I am still counting. It is as though we are being warned by the earth itself to stay vigilant. I will never forget 4th September 2010.”
(7 September 2010)

New Zealand Creative Guns
New Zealand is still hitting its creative stride, and is right up there with the big competitors according the most recent Young Guns Awards. Auckland’s Media Design School has been named 4th best advertising school of the decade on account of the number Young Guns gongs awarded to its students in the last ten years. “As we recognise the best of the past decade, it’s an exceptional achievement for Media Design School to place within the top 10 school, especially when you consider the size of some of the other schools”, says Young Guns founder Kristina Barnes. David Bell, founder of the Media Design School course said the original goal in 1999 was to make the best creative advertising course in the Southern Hemisphere. “We never really knew if we’d pulled it off until now, so thanks Young Guns for quantifying its successes,” he said. New Zealand was also ranked second in the most awarded countries category, and BBDO, with a big effort from Colenso, won network of the year.
(10 September 2010)

Ferns win again
The Black Ferns have won their fourth Women’s Rugby World Cup beating England 13-10 at Twickenham Stoop in front of a crowd of 13,253. Guardian sports writer Robert Kitson declared the match “the most intense 80 minutes female rugby has ever known.” For veteran first five-eighth Anna Richards, 45, the final marked her 49th test for the Blacks Ferns. “It feels awesome, it feels kind of surreal,” Richards said at a post match interview. Black Ferns coach Brian Evans said of the team: “They’re incredible people first and foremost. They get together and they pass on knowledge and they enjoy themselves — that’s the biggest thing I notice. It’s interesting watching how much fun the Black Ferns have. Winning helps that but I think they create that for themselves anyway.”
(5 September 2010)

Winning ways
Champion jockey Rotorua-born Michael Walker, 26, has won the $AU70,000 Sphinx Hotel Handicap (1200m) on Venus World at Moonee Valley in Melbourne. Walker started his riding career 11 years ago and in his first season won the New Zealand jockey’s premiership with 131 winners. He was the talk of racing world with a staggering 653 winners as an apprentice and gained experience in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Malaysia. Walker is now based in Melbourne, a move influenced by businessman and high profile owner and breeder Sean Buckley. “Sean is a great mate of mine and every runner he has I have first option to ride,” Walker said.
(12 September 2010)

Dalmatian industry
Soljans Estate Winery marketing and sales manager Claire Cameron says a group of Dalmatians rather than British settlers established New Zealand’s wine industry, planting vines and opening wine shops for their fellow countrymen in the far north. Bartul Soljan, whose ancestors for centuries had made wine in the ancient town of Stari Grad on the sun-drenched Croatian island of Hvar moved to New Zealand in 1927 where they planted vines and established the first family vineyard in 1932. Soljan’s eldest son Frank, the father of Soljans’ present owner, Tony Soljan, established Soljans Wines in 1937. Today, the Mediterranean-styled winery is producing award-winning wines and local food critics rank the estate's cafe as one of the 40 top places to dine in Auckland. “Tony’s five-year-old grandson Tyler has made his first bottle of Merlot, complete with a label and it now has pride of place in the family memories cabinet,” Cameron says.
(8 September 2010)

Spunky wonky donkey
Queenstown-born children’s author Craig Smith is currently touring Australia promoting his best-selling book Wonky Donkey. Smith began his tour at Hobart Library where a crowd of 50 children danced and clapped as he read and sang to them. Smith said he was more than happy to be part of the Get Reading program, which is an initiative of the Australia Council. “I’m quite honoured to be involved with this tour,” Smith said. “Any organisation which encourages kids to get reading is a good thing.” Smith’s profile in New Zealand is sky-high. As well as being a top-selling author, his Wonky Donkey CD went platinum, and a Wonky Donkey iPhone app is the biggest seller in New Zealand history. The Wonky Donkey won an APRA Silver Scroll Award in 2008 for Best Children’s Song of the Year.
(6 September 2010)

Delightfully posh
Auckland-born fashion designer Emilia Wickstead, 26, talks to the Telegraph’s Samantha Cameron about low-key style and “how to do stealth chic”. Wickstead says: “When I was 14 I moved from New Zealand to Milan, which was quite a big shock — I saw an enormous contrast in how women dressed. I design classic pieces with a twist. It’s about taking a shift dress, and changing it with an interesting neckline, or an unusual hemline. Then all you need to do is put on a simple pair of platforms. Prada and Lanvin are labels that embody stealth chic.” Wickstead has featured in UK Vogue and Tatler and was described in a recent video on Italian Vogue’s website as a “posh young talent”. The wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron, and former creative director of high-end luxury goods brand Smythson, is also a fan of Wickstead. She lives in London.
(1 September 2010)

Carbon trading issues
Three years ago, in anticipation of substantial growth in the voluntary and compliance carbon markets, governments and business groups around the Asia-Pacific region were jockeying to establish a regional hub for carbon trading, including New Zealand, which had dreams of becoming the world’s ‘Green Wall Street’, writes Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop for a New York Times special report on energy. The New Zealand Stock Exchange started working on developing a carbon trading system and a carbon registry. After three years, little concrete progress has been achieved in the region, though New Zealand, the first jurisdiction outside Europe to commit to a nationwide mandatory carbon pricing plan, started the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme on July 1. “NZX has the platform, the technology and the capability to run a carbon market,” New Zealand stock exchange spokeswoman Merja Myllylahti said. “We generated a very good return out of the carbon registry business.” “However, the Emissions Trading Scheme, as it is designed, has very little liquidity. Building the platform does not in itself create the market.” Still, she said, “were this to change in future, we will be ready.”
(1 September 2010)

Otago tourism mined
The Otago Rail Trail is New Zealand’s first dedicated long-distance cycleway, following part of the course of a former railway 150km into Central Otago from Dunedin, and used by some 20,000 cyclists a year. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew Bain joins the region’s new gold rush, a modern resource for an area that had, until the past decade, been all but forgotten by tourism. “The rail trail’s impact in Central Otago is obvious,” Bain writes. “Despite initial indifference and some opposition to the trail’s creation, the towns along the route are dominated by its presence. Almost every bed-and-breakfast, hotel and restaurant is adorned with cycling mementoes, pubs spruik menu items such as the Big Bike Burger and the trail head at Clyde can seem as crowded as the long-gone goldfields.” The Otago Rail Trail opened in 2000.
(4 September 2010)

Oklahoma appointment
Emma Gresson, originally from Hamilton, has joined The University of Oklahoma rowing staff as an assistant coach. Gresson previously worked with the Orlando, Florida Area Rowing Society (OARS), assisting with the junior girls’ programme and coaching and co-coordinating the men’s masters programme. Oklahoma head coach Leeanne Crain said of Gresson’s appointment: “She is a perfect fit for our programme. Her passion, enthusiasm, and love of the sport will factor significantly in the growth and development of our novice team.” Gresson competed collegiately at the University of Central Florida (UCF) where she also graduated with a degree in psychology in 2009. In New Zealand, Gresson attended Otago University and in 2006 placed first in the National Championship regatta in the U21 eight.
(1 September 2010)

Urban shark attack
New Zealand filmmakers Andrew Todd and Johnny Hall are making a horror film inspired by a road trip which took them through the town of Oamaru. They describe the moment: “We passed through Oamaru, which has a lot of old turn-of-the-century buildings, and is right on the coast. We thought it’d be a great place to do a ghost movie, then we saw some locations that were right out of Jaws, and we kinda just looked at each other and went ‘Ghost Shark’!” And sometimes a movie concept is so awesome that you have to make the sequel first. This is the premise: “When Ghost Shark escapes from his extradimensional prison to terrorise Auckland, Mayor Broody calls in an expert ghost shark hunter to protect the citizens and finally defeat the creature.” “God. Damn. Brilliant,” writes ‘Scott’ of the trailer for movie site Gunaxin. Ghost Shark 2: Urban Jaws is in production in Auckland now. A full interview with the directors can be seen at www.roberthood.net/blog.
(29 August 2010)

In between memories
Auckland-born novelist James McNeish, 78, is returning to the country having been in Berlin for the past year working on a memoir. McNeish will travel home to New Zealand via Australia where he is a guest at the Melbourne Writers Festival promoting his latest novel, The Crime of Huey Dunstan. McNeish, who while researching the novel Lovelock (about New Zealand runner Jack Lovelock, who won the 1500m in the 1936 Berlin Olympics) discovered a story about Werner Seelenbinder, a wrestler and communist who took part in the same games but was also part of a resistance group to the Nazis and was eventually executed, is at the point in his memoir when he is trying to answer the question of why he went off on his folk-music travels. But he’s not sure how far he’ll get. “Two days ago my wife said, ‘The Seelenbinder story is more important than your memoir and more urgent; you should do it first.’” McNeish lives in Wellington.
(21 August 2010)

World-class dining
“Auckland’s subtropical climate, Polynesian culture, unpolluted waters and cosmopolitan buzz have combined to create a world-class dining scene,” according to the Guardian’s food writer Kevin Gould. Gould is particularly taken with Peter Gordon’s “two, gorgeous slick joints” Dine, in the SkyCity Grand Hotel, and Bellotta, which he describes as “the loungiest, sexiest, flirtiest tapas bar ever”. “[Auckland] is blessed with a first-class eating and drinking scene that makes our own seem smug and flat,” Gould writes. “Prego, an Auckland institution has an all-New Zealand wine list to die for, delicate pizzas and seafood pastas, juicy and olive-oily grilled fish, equally well-oiled service, happy punters, and prices that make those in London restaurants laughable.”
(28 August 2010)

Stopping the sales
New Zealand group Save Our Farms, who say local farms should not be sold to overseas investors, have launched an advertising campaign to stop foreigners buying up agricultural land. The campaign was rolled out as the Crafar family returned to court seeking a court order to stop the receiver evicting them from a farm in Reporoa in the Bay of Plenty. Hong Kong-based company Natural Dairy is bidding to buy 16 Crafar farms being sold by receivers. Save Our Farms’ spokesperson Aucklander Tony Bouchier, a former policeman turned lawyer, thinks that future generations must have the country’s land intact, rather than owned by overseas investor giants. Bouchier said the group wanted a national debate on the issue of overseas ownership of New Zealand land and the Government needed to take urgent action. “New Zealand must retain ownership of our primary resource, the land and waters of Aotearoa New Zealand,” Bouchier said. Currently a government review is underway to make the sale process more transparent and simplified. The review, which was initiated in 2009, will also hopefully shed light on the quantity of lands sold.
(21 August 2010)

Ever the cameraman
Christchurch-raised film instructor Ian McIver, currently an adjunct instructor at Solano Community College and Napa Valley College in California, is leading a 12-class film discussion series at the Cameo Cinema in St Helena. The adult Ian laughed as he described the imaginative 6-year-old Ian growing up in the South Island. “I had three sticks that I made into a tripod and pretended I had a camera,” McIver said. “I was fascinated with cowboys and always wanted to make a Western with my buddies,” he said. “I’d have them charge over the hill and I’d ‘film’ them. The biggest thing was finding a piece of string to hold the sticks together.” McIver was drawn to California again 10 years ago. He joined the staffs of Solano Community College and Napa Valley College where he taught classes on gender and culture in American film, the art of cinema, mass communication in radio, TV and film, and for awhile, a class in public speaking.
(26 August 2010)

Death of a genius
Thames-born scientist and obstetrician Sir Graham Collingwood Liggins has died at the age of 84. Liggins was described as one of New Zealand’s greatest scientists who undertook groundbreaking obstetrical research. Known to his friends and colleagues as Mont, Liggins followed his father into medicine to train as an obstetrician and gynaecologist. Liggins used his surgical skills on the pituitary gland in sheep to not only prove that the gland in the foetus controlled the timing of birth, but that the hormone responsible was cortisol. With paediatrician, Professor Ross Howie, Liggins conducted a controlled trial of pre-natal corticosteroids and showed a big reduction in respiratory distress syndrome in pre-term babies — a landmark study published in 1972. It was the first treatment which made it possible for babies who were born prematurely, with lungs that were not functioning properly, to have a chance to breathe and survive. “Without doubt it is considered the single most important advance in obstetrical and perinatal research of the last 50 years,” the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman said. Liggins received numerous fellowships, doctorates, awards and medals, became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1980 and was knighted in 1991, after receiving a CBE in 1984. Auckland University’s Liggins Institute was named in his honour.
(24 August 2010)

In search of the real deal
“When you’re a New Zealander, or ‘Kiwi’, as they like to call themselves, you seem to take that rite-of-passage world trip for a year or two — sleeping in hostels and living out of a backpack — more serious than any other culture,” Stephan Lorenz writes for Houston’s Culture Map. “Well, maybe just second to the Brits. After having met my fair share of kiwis during my own travels and eating the synonymously named fruit (fresh, with peel, without peel, in salads and baked goods) until it became as exotic as another apple, it was finally time to see the real deal.” Lorenz sets out to track down the elusive bird “spend[ing] hours at night wandering through New Zealand’s most pristine places”, travelling to Stewart Island and Trounson Kauri Park in Northland. “Did I manage to spot a kiwi in the wild? I am proud to say I saw three different kinds ... All hail the kiwi.”
(21 August 2010)

Laughing at the edge
Director Taika Waititi says the humour in Boy is both colonial-outpost and self-deprecating Maori humour. “You’ve just got to laugh at awkward, crazy, painful stuff when you’ve been banished to the nether regions of the globe,” Waititi says. “Maori humour is more true to life to see humour among really upsetting situations — laughing and crying at the same time — dealing with things by trying to see the flip-side.” The Americans didn’t get it. The further you get away from New Zealand, the less funny it seems, Waititi says of Boy. “When we screened it in Germany, they took it totally seriously. The Americans were the worst: ‘Oh those poor children!’” Boy won the audience award for a fiction feature at the Sydney Film Festival in June. Waititi is recently back from New Orleans, where he was cast as best friend of the super hero in Warner Bros’ Green Lantern.
(20 August 2010)

Soul on the outside
Award-winning tattooist Te Tangitu Netana, 37, famed for inking UK popstar Robbie Williams, is offering his services to residents of Colchester in Essex until the end of August. Netana is currently in the area visiting friends and family. He performed his first tattoo at the age of 17, becoming the official tattooist for three of his local tribes. “We believe the ink becomes the beginning of time,” Netana says. “Before there was any light, there was darkness. The black ink can represent our own past and all the knowledge that past contains in a symbol. By displaying this on our body, we give life to our ancestors and the knowledge they have, so it becomes our guidelines in life, helping us to navigate towards our goals. It then becomes a living thing, it is very spiritual.” Netana describes it as “wearing your soul on the outside”. Those interested in a Netana tattoo can visit the Facebook group, “I want a tattoo by Te Rangitu Netana”.
(19 August 2010)

Medals and a record
Seventeen-year-old swimmer Sophie Pascoe has won four medals at the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands, with her first gold in the women’s 100m butterfly and in world record time. She knocked more than half-a-second from the previous record set 16 years ago at the 1996 Paralympics. Pascoe also won the silver medal in the 50m freestyle, silver in the 200m medley and bronze in the 100m breaststroke. The IPC Swimming World Championships run from 15-21 August. New Zealand has a five-person team competing at the event.
(16 August 2010)

Lucky for some
Whitianga-based vet Alex Elson, 58, has completed Britain’s 1017km South West Coast Path 13-years after she began it in the coastal town of Minehead. Elson and her British friend Sandra Fairchild met about 17 years ago and discovered they both liked walking so began doing a few local parts of the coast path. But Elson emigrated to New Zealand before they could finish the route. Showing an extraordinary level of determination she came back every year, for the next 13, to walk another section of the trail with Fairchild. “Although it has taken 13 years to complete, in actual fact it was about 13 weeks,” Elson said. New Zealand walks were now on the agenda but as she got older she said she might do it differently. “I really want to do the Routeburn Track but I might do it the luxury way... with someone carrying my pack,” she laughed.
(5 August 2010)

Innovators named
Ryan Sanders of Christchurch-based Haka Tours, Rhythm and Vines’ Hamish Pinkham and Ben Knill of interactive online holiday planner Beek, have been named finalists in this year’s Pacific Asia Travel Association Young Tourism Entrepreneur Award to be held in Auckland on October 14. Tourism Industry Association chief executive Tim Cossar said the theme of this year’s awards is innovation and that these three directors had plenty of it. He also said continual innovation and a commitment to that is what they were looking for when selecting the finalists. “That is critical in an industry that has to compete for visitors against much bigger and better resourced international competitors,” Cossard said.
(14 August 2010)

East to west by terra
New Zealand adventurer and CEO of tour company Active New Zealand Andrew Fairfax, 40, is riding a three-wheel “terra-bike” across the United States. Pedaling across the States is something Fairfax has wanted to do for years, after taking an interest in cycling following an aeroplane accident. “It’s just a rehabilitation thing for me because I was in a very bad plane crash about nine years ago,” Fairfax said. “That’s when I got into these very big bike rides.” Fairfax was flying a plane with his instructor over New Zealand when, for an unknown reason, the plane went down in a lake at a high speed. As part of his rehabilitation, Fairfax began riding. So far, Fairfax’s rides include from Istanbul to London and Casablanca to Paris. He estimates that the American trip will take approximately six weeks.
(11 August 2010)

Fruit ban overturned
Australia’s 89-year ban on imports of New Zealand apples is illegal, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled, ordering Canberra to comply with international commerce law. In a 548-page verdict, the WTO rejected Australia’s arguments that the apple restrictions are necessary to keep out pests and diseases. The ban was first imposed in 1921 to prevent the spread to Australian trees of fire blight — a disease that damages apple trees and reduces their ability to produce fruit. Although the apple issue is an irritant, the South Pacific neighbours have one of the most open economic relationships of any two countries. They traded merchandise valued at more than $12 billion last year. New Zealand claims the apple trade in Australia could be worth up to $6.2 million a year.
(9 August 2010)

World Cup promotion
Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay Darryl Dunn is promoting Rugby World Cup 2011 holiday packages in New Zealand. The concept the New Zealand Embassy is trying to instil in the Argentine market is that those who do travel can also “be lined-up with non-rugby related opportunities” Dunn says. The minus 400 day mark for Rugby World Cup 2011 passed in early August and New Zealand is working very hard towards ensuring this tournament is an unbelievable trip for all those who venture to the South Pacific in search of an incredible experience. “For example, both New Zealand and Argentina are food producers and there are a lot of commercial partnerships that can be organized thanks to the links that Rugby World Cup can produce,” Dunn says. Current estimates speak of 1500 to 2000 Argentines going to the World Cup.
(11 August 2010)

Wine search simplified
New Zealander Martin Brown’s search-engine wine-searcher.com “has done more to transform that commercial landscape than any other, affecting every facet of the way the wine business is conducted, certainly in this country and increasingly on a global scale,” Patrick Comiskey writes in a profile about Brown for the Los Angeles Times. Brown, 53, helped to set up and maintain the e-commerce operations for one of Britain’s largest, oldest and most reputable wine merchants, Berry Bros. & Rudd. It was there that Brown observed just how difficult it was for BBR’s marketers to compile and compare the price lists of its nearest competitors. “It was very time-consuming to locate where to purchase a wine or a specific older vintage,” he said. “I could see how many people would be doing the same exercise and how much time everyone could save if there was a service like wine-searcher.” Brown developed wine-searcher.com to address these needs. Every day, 20 full-time programmers (who worked from their homes until 2005) maintain the existing retailer base of more than 17,000, acquiring prices and inventory information for nearly 4 million offers worldwide.
(12 August 2010)

Recalling Rousseau
New Zealand-made documentary This Way of Life is a “gloriously photographed film” — “a story of a Maori family catapulted beyond mere portraiture and into a realm of metaphysics, melancholia and cosmic doubt”, writes Variety reviewer John Anderson. Directed and produced by the husband-wife team of Thomas Burstyn and Barbara Sumner Burstyn, the self-funded This Way of Life was shot over four years in the Ruahine Ranges and at Waimarama Beach, Hawke’s Bay, and follows Peter and Colleen Karena as they raise their six children off the land. “Its attractive, unconventional subjects should help it find a life beyond the festival circuit,” Anderson says. The documentary won a Jury award at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year.
(9 August 2010)

UN confirms Palmer
With Israel agreeing to participate in a UN investigation of its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla earlier this year, former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer will chair the four-member panel inquiry made up of outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe as vice-chairman, plus one Israeli and one Turkish member.. The New York-based panel will start work on August 10 and submit its first progress report by mid-September. Palmer said heading the inquiry will probably be the hardest job he has done. “I can’t think of a harder one that I’ve had,” Palmer said. “I think it’s the inherent complexity of it, that’s the problem.” He said he felt honoured by the appointment. “It is some sort of recognition that New Zealand can play a useful role in this sort of thing and I think that’s good.”
(2 August 2010)

They’ve done it again
New Zealand have secured their 13th consecutive Test win beating Australia 20-10 in Christchurch, securing the Bledisloe Cup for the seventh straight year. After their 48-29 hammering when the teams met in Melbourne last time out, Australia were keen to get a grip on the game early on. Dan Carter’s penalty made it 17-10 at the interval before a scoreless third quarter in a tight second half. Carter’s second penalty with nine minutes left sealed New Zealand’s ninth consecutive win over the Wallabies. The All Blacks need another point from their final two matches to reclaim the Tri-Nations title, with South Africa at a sold-out match in Johannesburg on August 22. New Zealand next face Australia in Sydney on September 11.
(7 August 2010)

Army Band humour
New Zealand’s Army Band will perform at the 60th anniversary of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August. Major Leanne Smith, director of music for the 28-piece Band said they can’t wait to perform in front of sold out crowds. “We are a brass band rather than a military band and we have been invited to Scotland three times now,” Major Smith said. “We just keep coming back because the invitations keep coming.” Formed in 1964, the official Tattoo site says the Burnham Camp-based Band is “an Army band renowned for their talent, diversity and humour”.
(3 August 2010)

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 cricket was far from his greatest achievement,” Huw Richards writes for The New York Times. A few men have played both cricket and rugby union at test level. The occasional test player goes into umpiring or refereeing and officiates in international matches. Nelson-born Tindill did it all — playing and officiating at test level in both sports. Tindill is credited with being in a distinguished band of seven ‘double All Blacks’, those who have represented New Zealand at cricket and rugby. ‘Snowy’ Tindill, his fair hair marking him for spectators, made his first impact in rugby, winning selection as a halfback and five-eighth for Wellington’s provincial team in 1932. His solitary All Blacks test was against England in London in January 1936, which they lost 13-0. Tindill made 14 appearances on that British tour and played 16 All Blacks matches in all. A left-handed batsman and wicketkeeper, Tindill’s international cricket career spanned nearly a decade, both sides of World War 2 in which he served as a member of the NZEF. Tindill’s great-nephew Elliot Lodge writes: “My family took immense pride in having a figure of his significance amongst us. A memory which sums up his character was when I was a young aspiring wicket-keeper and Eric, well into his 90s, got down on his haunches and demonstrated the technique required.” In 1995 Tindill was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.
(2 August 2010)

Broadening horizons
A 13,600-kilometre sub-sea fibre-optic cable linking New Zealand, Australia and the US will be ready for service in 2013. The US$400 million Pacific Fibre cable will be laid jointly by Pacific Fibre and Asian telecommunication services provider Pacnet. Pacnet chief executive Bill Barney said the investment was an important part of his company’s strategy to expand its undersea cable facilities into Australasia. “As Australia and New Zealand look towards deploying national broadband networks that will raise broadband penetration and access speeds, this new cable that we are building with Pacific Fibre will deliver the enhanced international connectivity that is essential to support these broadband initiatives,” Barney said.
(29 July 2010)

Rubber Kid’s silver spin
Palmerston North’s Levi Sherwood, 18, the only New Zealander at the summer X-Games 16 in Los Angeles, has won silver in the moto-x freestyle final. Rookie rider Sherwood was just one point behind winner, and the sport’s biggest name, American Travis Pastrana. The field started with 16 riders and carved back to the top four pointscorers for the three run final. Sherwood first rose to prominence when he won the Red Bull X Fighters in Mexico last year. “Going into this I didn’t think I’d get onto the podium,” Sherwood said.
(29 July 2010)

 

Gold stars for Lam
Bay of Plenty baker Patrick Lam has won the national Supreme Pie Award for the fourth time in the competition’s 14-year history. His bacon-and-egg special was named the best of a record 4336 entries from 386 bakeries in this year’s competition. Lam, who owns Gold Star Patrick’s Pies in Rotorua and Tauranga, won the supreme award in 2003 and 2004 with a mince and cheese pie, and again last year with a gourmet meat pie. “The pastry is the secret,” he told Television New Zealand’s Breakfast show. “If you make good pastry, you make a good pie.” Chief judge Dennis Kirkpatrick described Lam’s feat as “testimony to an outstanding baker.” Lam arrived in New Zealand as a refugee from Cambodia 13 years ago. Today, he is the nation’s undisputed Pie King.
(28 July 2010)

Tourists keep coming
Statistics New Zealand has released figures which show the number of overseas visitors arriving in New Zealand for short term stays has topped 2.5 million for the first time in the past 12 months. “This milestone was almost reached in 2008, but the global economic downturn contributed to a decline in visitor numbers after a peak of 2.497 million in the March 2008 year,” Population Statistics manager Bridget Hamilton-Seymour said. Visitor arrivals from Australia in June were up 7 per cent from a year earlier to 76,200, while combined arrivals from China, Japan and South Korea were up 6900, or 86 per cent, after the influenza H1N1 pandemic affected numbers travelling from those countries in June 2009.
(21 July 2010)

Wartimes yarns touching
The Gaylene Preston-directed film Home by Christmas is a “touching memoir” based on interviews which Preston “conducted with her now-deceased father” and “not only re-creates those conversations and their evocation of wartime yarns, but delivers a subtle dramatisation of the home front’s less sensational events,” Russell Edwards writes in a review of the film for Variety. “In a shadowy minor role, Preston plays herself as she interviews her father, Ed [Australian Tony Barry], about his military life. The second narrative strand focuses on the filmmaker’s mother, Tui (Chelsie Preston-Crayford, the director’s daughter). Aided by superb art direction and a strong score by Preston’s sister, Jan, [Home by Christmas] communicates the complexity of home life with judicious minimalism.”
(28 July 2010)

All Blacks start afresh
“New Zealand are revolutionising rugby,” according to The Independent’s Peter Bills. “For those with a brain to think, a mind to rationalise, what the All Blacks are doing right now in world rugby terms is what Guevara proposed all those years ago. Sweep away the old rubbish and start afresh. A strange, alien sighting was glimpsed in the skies above Wellington’s Westpac stadium [during the second Tri-Nations match between New Zealand and South Africa]. Or rather, it was something that wasn’t there that was so bewildering, so baffling. A rugby Test match was played without any aerial ping-pong, the great kicking plague of the modern game. Well, that isn’t strictly true. One side did still try it. But they lost by 31 points to 17, four tries to two. As the former World Cup winning Australian coach Bob Dwyer wrote recently ‘Their [New Zealand’s] performances in the recent Junior World Cup final and [the second Tri-Nations match in Wellington], surely have shown the world — hopefully, once and for all — that we have all been going down a false path and we need to urgently change course.’ Here’s to the revolution, comrade ...”
(19 July 2010)

Changing family units
Couple without children in New Zealand are expected to surpass two-parent families as the most common household formation by next year, according to Statistics New Zealand figures. National Family and Household Projections released on Monday showed the number of families would increase from an estimated 1.17 million in 2006 to 1.46 million in 2031. Couples without children would account for the majority of the growth, up from 468,000 in 2006 to 721,000 in 2031. The increasing prevalence of couple-without-children families was mainly due to the large number of people born during the 1950s to the early 1970s reaching older ages. Most of these couples would have had children who had left the parental home. “The faster growth in the number of families and households is due to the ageing of New Zealand’s population, leading to an increasing proportion of couple-without-children families and one-person households,” population statistics manager Bridget Hamilton-Seymour said.
(19 July 2010)

Kiwis relocate to US
New Zealand Ambassador Roy Ferguson officially presented America’s National Zoo with a pair of rare kiwi. The handover took place in Front Royal, Virginia at the Zoo’s Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. The Zoo will use these birds to establish a new breeding centre. The pair consists of a male named Tamatahi, meaning first-born son, and a female, Hinetu, meaning proud woman. Scientists at the Institute hope to become the first to successfully artificially inseminate a kiwi. Upon arrival in Front Royal, the birds were blessed in a traditional Maori ceremony. When the birds eventually pass away, their remains will be sent back to New Zealand for tribal burial.
(17 July 2010)

New boots to fill
Whangarei-born Jason Shoemark, 29, former captain of both the Highlanders and the New Zealand Colts, has signed with the Exeter Chiefs. Exeter boss Rob Baxter said: “Jason could be regarded as one of the best mid-field players not to win a full cap for the All Blacks. He will bring leadership and competitive qualities to our team.” Shoemark will not arrive at Sandy Park until the end of the current Championship season in New Zealand in November. Shoemark started his career with Northland.
(15 July 2010)

NZ’s own Moss shines
Eighteen-year-old Remuera-raised model Georgia Fowler, who featured in June’s Harper’s Bazaar cover story titled “The Rise of The Australian Supermodel”, has generated interest from Calvin Klein, YSL, Top Shop and Armani. Represented in New Zealand by Clyne Models and overseas by the world’s largest agency, IMG (Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bundchen, Kate Moss, Gemma Ward), has been making big ripples on the international circuit in the last couple of years, walking at New York Fashion Week and Rosemount Australia. Fowler, who is studying for a Bachelor of Science degree extramurally, says that though modelling might seem like the best job in the world there are a lot of pitfalls. “While it all sounds glamorous, it is hard having to be away from home for months at a time, and handing all plans to your bookers with no clue what the next week or even day holds,” Fowler says.
(14 July 2010)

Dream team celebrated
The New Zealand Olympic Committee has decided to pay tribute to the world’s most famous mountaineering duo by naming the country’s Commonwealth Games logo “29028 Hillary and Tenzing”. The Games will be held in Delhi this year. The “29028” in the logo stands for the height of Mt Everest in feet when it was conquered by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing’s son and Everester Jamling Tenzing Norgay Sherpa said the decision was a great honour. “The two did little talking while climbing as my father could not speak English and Sir Edmund did not understand Nepali. But they worked as a team and it was the passion to excel that helped them overcome all odds,” Darjeeling-based Jamling said. New Zealand Olympic Committee secretary general Barry Maister said: [Tenzing] is thought of highly by the people of Nepal and India. With the Commonwealth Games in Delhi this year it was an ideal time to honour the two great men.” Tenzing died in 1986 and Sir Edmund Hillary in 2008 at the age of 88.
(14 July 2010)

Gifted with melody
Wellington jazz vocalist Tessa Quayle’s self-produced album Whisper Not — a selection of ten jazz and American Songbook standards — is reviewed by US music site All About Jazz, which describes Quayle as a “gifted melodicist and improviser” and the record, “a fresh take on the traditional jazz repertoire”. “While she may not be a household name, yet, Quayle gives a performance that stands on its own two feet, firmly solidifying her as a singer to watch for as she moves forward in her budding career … this album is the first step in bringing much deserved attention to yet another hidden gem of the New Zealand jazz scene.”
(11 July 2010)

Good as gold
Waiheke Island is a prime growing spot for olive trees and each year, in November, the Waiheke Olive Festival takes place on the estate of one of the local producers. Toronto Star freelance travel writer Cleo Paskal describes the set-up: “In front of each stand are more bowls of locally, lovingly produced olive oil. There are international award winners, organic oils and oils grown in groves where the alpacas roam free. There are also stands for the local wine producers, fresh local oysters and beer. The atmosphere is what the 1950s pretended to be. Outside, families are picnicking on the grassy slope, watching a cheerful jazz band playing old standards. Older kids are sledding down the grass on sheets of cardboard. Gingerbread cookies and lemonade are for sale. And the teens are flirting in a not-that-I-care-or-anything way.”
(9 July 2010)

Second wave cohesion
Control on the Park
The All Blacks have beaten the Springboks in their opening Tri-Nations match 32-12 at Eden Park “with a superbly controlled and aggressive performance”. The All Blacks, who had lost their three previous encounters against the world champions, soaked up wave after wave of green-jerseyed attackers to continue their long unbeaten run at Eden Park and give them an early advantage in their quest to recapture the Tri-Nations crown from the Springboks. “I think it was a pretty special day for All Blacks rugby,” New Zealand coach Graham Henry said. “It was a special day and every guy played well. I think the edge was created by the results from last year and the boys should be very proud.”
(10 July 2010)

One great ride
The first legs of the 3000km New Zealand Cycle Trail have been opened between Ruapehu and Whanganui. This 242km section of the trail will take four to six days to ride, with varying levels of difficulty. The opening is a major milestone on the much larger New Zealand Cycle Trail project, which aims to link existing ‘Great Rides’ up and down the country to create one continuous route. Fifty million dollars has already been invested in the scheme. Cyclists eyeing up New Zealand as a travel destination can expect the national cycle trail to be completed by the end of 2011.
(8 July 2010)

Against the grain
“An act of real political courage by the National Party would be to increase its commitment in the dangerous areas of Afghanistan and to announce that New Zealand was rejoining the ANZUS Alliance, which it bailed out of two decades ago,” suggests executive director of The Sydney Institute Gerard Henderson in an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald. This comment after “conservative prime minister [John Key] rejected a modest request for military support by, a social democratic leader in Australia.” “Key’s decision will no doubt go down well among his fellow New Zealanders,” Henderson continues. “An Australian academic, Hugh White, a critic of Australia’s Afghanistan commitment, has praised Key’s ‘political courage’ in this instance. Yet it takes no particular courage for a New Zealand political leader to appeal to that nation’s isolationist tendency and its considerable left-wing constituency.”
(6 July 2010)

Sparkling run continues
Former first-class cricketer Aucklander Michael Hendry, 30, has won the million-dollar Indonesia Open at Damai Indah golf club in Jakarta. In-form Hendry, who won the Fiji Open two weeks ago, finished with a four-round aggregate of 269, 19 under par, walking away with the $180,000 winner’s cheque. “This feels surreal. It will take some time to sink in,” Hendry said. “I was on fire out there today. I have worked really hard on my game over the past year and it has paid off. I know my mortgage is now going to be a lot smaller.” Hendry played cricket for New Zealand’s under-19 cricket team and later represented Auckland before opting to focus on golf when he was 24. He became a member of the paid ranks in 2004. He is currently enjoying a sparkling run, winning back-to-back titles on New Zealand’s domestic Tour in May and leading the money list in New Zealand − an award he claimed last year for the first time.
(4 July 2010)

Gritty becomes hip
Sleepy port suburb Ahuriri features in a New York Times slideshow, with six images of its wharf, the organic grocer Picada, beachfront restaurant Milk & Honey, the classic Ahuriri Café, and a hair salon come gallery. Ahuriri’s transition from seedy port to charming suburb has been decidedly slow. For decades the small seaside neighborhood on the northwest coast of Napier, was dominated by its wharf, cavernous warehouses left empty as the wool industry declined, and rough-and-tumble pubs frequented by local dock workers. But in 2000, with the demolition of a vacant building and the construction of an apartment block, the area started to turn. A row of those wool warehouses on the quay was converted into bars and restaurants that these days heave with 20- and 30-something revellers on warm nights.
(2 July 2010)

Tasman trounce
New Zealanders have done it again, bemoans Huon Hooke writing for The Sydney Morning Herald. “They have trounced us in the Tri Nations,” Hooke continues. “Not at rugby but wine. It’s becoming a regular thing in the Tri Nations Wine Challenge. They were the most successful nation last year and this year. But what really hurts is they’ve won the coveted shiraz trophy three years out of the past four and last year South Africa won. This year, New Zealand won six trophies to Australia’s five (and South Africa’s two), along with seven double-gold medals to our six (and South Africa’s four), and tied with us for gold medals — 40 each — while South Africa won 25.”
(28 September 2010)

Eclecticism for Finns
The one-woman band Annabel Alpers aka Bachelorette stopped off in Helsinki, Finland as part of her European tour playing at the city’s Club YK. The Helsinki Times wrote: “The live music scene of Helsinki will be treated to yet another interesting performance hailing all the way from New Zealand. In the beginning of September the dream-pop-trio The Ruby Suns enlightened the music life of the capital with their presence and now Bachelorette brings her unique electro-pop tunes to town. The sound of Bachelorette is hard to pin down to just one genre as her music flows from soulful psychedelic pop songs and dreamlike tunes to electro dance grooves. Her instrumental choices vary from a collection of vintage synthesisers and drum machines to real drums, bass and guitars with which she creates a unique sound, all of her own.”
(30 September 2010)

On the small screen
Filmmaker Jane Campion has been commissioned by the BBC to work on a television series thriller set in New Zealand called Top of the Lake. The series will follow the disappearance of a five month pregnant 12-year-old girl last seen standing chest deep in a freezing lake. Investigating detective Robin Griffin is tested when she takes on the mystery and ends up learning more about herself. Top of the Lake has been described as a “powerful and haunting story about our search for happiness in a paradise where honest work is hard to find”. Filming for Top of the Lake will begin next year. It is co-written and directed by Campion, and produced by Emile Sherman and Iain Canning of See-Saw Films.
(29 September 2010)

Pleasingly solid week
New Zealand Fashion Week may have lacked in sponsor capital, but it was pleasingly solid in terms of creativity,” The Australian’s fashion editor Georgina Safe writes. “Most of the designers who were in the ones-to-watch category years ago — including Juliette Hogan, Cybele Wiren and Adrian Hailwood — showed they had matured and evolved their aesthetics into singular and commercially viable collections. Wasted Days, Wasted Nights: we’ve all had them, but World put them to good use by creating a collection around the concept of misspent hours. What a show it was, with lashings of leopard print, cascades of ruffles and sequins scattered everywhere. But lurking beneath a riot of colours and sparkle there were some very wearable pieces, most notably in the brand’s menswear, including some highly tailored suits in checks and solids that were cropped above the ankle. Along with designers such as Juliette Hogan, Deanna Didovich and James Dobson, Alexandra Owen’s fresh and feminine aesthetic is moving New Zealand fashion forward into an exciting new chapter beyond a moody attitude and masses of fabric.”
(29 September 2010)

Black in the sky
Air New Zealand’s chief executive Rob Fyfe revealed images of the company’s design for a black domestic jet aircraft in Sydney this month. Fyfe said: “In celebration of Air New Zealand’s long running support of rugby in New Zealand, our first new A320 will arrive in January sporting a sleek black livery complete with silver fern motif and koru on its tail.” The first aircraft will be the only one in the fleet featuring the distinctive black. “Air New Zealand is crazy about rugby and from February this distinctive new plane will be operating on our main domestic New Zealand routes,” he said.
(23 September 2010)

Shades of dandelion
Designer Karen Walker’s latest collection shown at New York Fashion Week was “a Kiwi brand of cool” and “a winner among flirty young things stateside,” reporter Robert Codero described for United Arab Emirates publication The National. “The collection included a pair of green leaf-print shorts worn with a double-breasted dandelion jacket, burlap-esque square jackets with sporty, bright-orange shorts, and a poncho-like top, a remnant of grunge styles with printed silk shorts, all of which look both fashion-forward and functional.” The collection, dubbed ‘Perfect Day’, also marked the debut of a footwear collaboration with Beau Coops designer New Zealander Carrie Cooper. The 18-month old brand Beau Coops has been a huge sell-out success for UK retailer Selfridges.
(15 September 2010)

Talk like a vampire
New Zealand-raised actress Anna Paquin and British husband Stephen Moyer worked with Los Angeles dialect coach Liz Himelstein to get their accents right for True Blood. Their speech is nothing like wide-eyed Southern waitress or the vampire of over 170 years from Louisiana. “We take the dialect and sing it, whisper it, make it part of the whole process,” says Himelstein, who has 20 years of experience in the film and theatre industry. Paquin found her voice for the show by listening to a lot of recordings of poetry from the South, which is appropriate because he character Sookie Stackhouse is “a poet in a funny way,” Himelstein said.
(22 September 2010)

On loan to Barnsley
Eighteen-year-old Aucklander Chris Wood has signed with South Yorkshire’s Barnsley Football Club on a three-month emergency deal. The 6ft 2ins tall New Zealand international, who is a striker for West Bromwich Albion, played in three games at this summer’s World Cup in South Africa. Wood, who has already won 13 international caps for New Zealand, first came to England in 2008 when he joined Albion’s academy. He has since gone on make 27 first-team appearances for the Baggies, hitting three goals.
(23 September 2010)

Shrouded statement
Wellington designer Alexandra Owen, 28, sent models down this year’s New Zealand Fashion Week catwalk wearing knit shrouds and fencing masks. Styleite writes: “Perhaps the masks were intended as commentary on the lack of diversity in the industry, or perhaps to underscore the idea that models are just breathing, walking hangers and you should be focusing on the clothes — not their doll-like features. Or maybe she just liked them.” The Huffington Post’s Lesley M. M. Blume described Owen’s recent New York debut: “Like American greats Donna Karan, Tory Burch, and Maria Cornejo, she falls into that especially revered category of ‘real women designing for real women’. ‘I design for working women who want to appear feminine without compromising their dignity,’ says Owen, whose edgy but sophisticated apparel will appeal to ladies of all ages. In regard to both the presentation and the collection: it’s nice that Owen has given fashionable grown-ups a place to go, while the kiddies have their playtime elsewhere. We look forward to seeing more of her.”
(22 September 2010)

Centenary spread
Marmite is celebrating its 100th year in New Zealand with a competition for New Zealanders living overseas to win one of 100 one-way flights home from anywhere in the world this December. Hayley Findlay, Marmite’s brand manager at the Sanitarium Health Food Company, Marmite’s New Zealand manufacturer, said: “There are over 600,000 Kiwis living somewhere other than New Zealand, and we know that in terms of the things they miss most about home, Marmite is usually near the top of their list. One hundred years is a great milestone for a New Zealand brand. We’re looking forward to a patriotic response.” Marmite was invented in Staffordshire, England in 1902, and was exported to New Zealand for over thirty years before New Zealand’s Sanitarium Health Food Company developed its own version of the product.
(22 September 2010)

Heavy duty crush
Christchurch tourism company Tanks for Everything is “New Zealand’s latest adrenalin adventure that takes you to the edge and then charges over it, literally,” reporter Rebekah Devlin describes. Created by former IT manager Jonathan Lahy-Neary, the experience enables visitors to drive a dozen vehicles ranging from a jeep all the way up to the Russian T-55AM2 tank and the 52-tonne Centurion. Lahy-Neary said he came up with the idea after a long flight from London. He blames a lack of sleep — or a dodgy airline meal — but he woke with an idea, to import some tanks and let people drive them. “Despite being terrified before stepping in”, it wasn’t long before Devlin was “wearing that dopey expression only pure joy brings”.
(16 September 2010)

Hacking for good
Aucklander Barnaby Jack is director of security testing at Seattle-based company IO Active and a “good-guy” ATM hacker. At July’s Black Hat computer security conference in Las Vegas, San Jose-based Jack, 32, achieved rock star status by demonstrating how he hacked two different models of ATMs and turned them into cash-spewing wonders. The idea is not to rob banks blind, but to let the machine manufacturers know what bad guys could do if they worked at it as hard as Jack did. “In the security scene, the hacker scene, people think that it’s a made-up handle,” Jack said. It’s not. He says he’s been interested in cracking code since he was a child in New Zealand, puzzling over ways to get around software copy protection. It was something about understanding how things work, getting a look under the hood.
(15 September 2010)
 

Historical appointment
Aucklander Professor Noel Cox has been appointed head of Wales’ oldest law and criminology department at Aberystwyth University. Cox’s main research interests include constitutional, Church-State and cyberspace law. Cox is the author of more than 100 academic papers and four books. He has worked on a number of high-profile legal cases in New Zealand and Australia and was lead consultant for a World Bank-funded project investigating legal professional standards and ethics in Kenya. Speaking of his appointment, Cox said: “I am excited by the prospect of building on the achievements of the long-established law and criminology department and look forward to energising and developing what is already a well-regarded law department, and the oldest in Wales.”
(9 September 2010)

Close call in Sydney
New Zealand narrowly beat Australia 23-22 in the final Tri-Nations match sealing an unprecedented clean sweep in the southern hemisphere rugby championship with a record 10th consecutive win over the Wallabies in Sydney. New Zealand’s 15th straight Test victory makes Graham Henry’s top-ranked team the first to win all six of its matches in a Tri-Nations tournament. By lifting their points tally to 184, the All Blacks also eclipsed their own series scoring record of 179 in 2006. “The guys just showed huge character,” Henry said. “They just hung in there, got better as the game went on and pulled it out of the fire.”
(11 September 2010)

Comparing hemispheres
New data from evidence found in New Zealand has revealed that the Southern Hemisphere continued to warm its way out of the ice age, even as the north temporarily plunged back into a another deep freeze. American paleoclimatologist Michael Kaplan undertook his study at the Mackenzie Country’s Irishman Stream. The Irishman valley is strewn with soil deposits and large boulders that had been pushed downstream by a glacier during the ice age. Kaplan says he and colleagues chose the valley because the team’s previous research had shown that the location remains essentially undisturbed from when it emerged from the ice — the boulders and soil have not budged since. Evidence found proves glaciers in New Zealand were retreating at the same time as the glaciers covering the northern half of the globe were on the move again.
(8 September 2010)

Player of the year
Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori, 31, has won New Zealand Cricket’s top award: Player of the Year. Vettori also won the Walter Hadlee trophy for being the best ODI bowler. “Daniel is and has been a consistently excellent performer for New Zealand over a long period and his fourth National Bank Player of the Year award is a reflection of his hard work and dedication,” New Zealand Cricket chief executive, Justin Vaughan, said. Auckland’s Michael Bates was the domestic Player of the Year in the men’s category, taking 37 wickets in the Plunket Shield, 14 in one-dayers, and 15 in the HRV Cup. Nicola Browne won the women’s category and took the award for best woman bowler.
(10 September 2010)

Without peer
Wallabies coach New Zealander Robbie Deans says there is no doubt Richie McCaw is the greatest modern skipper in All Blacks history. McCaw has led New Zealand in more rugby Tests than any other. And Deans, who coached McCaw during his time at the Crusaders in Super 14 rugby, says no-one comes close to the 29-year-old — not even 1990s great Sean Fitzpatrick, the man McCaw will overtake when he makes his 52nd Test appearance as All Blacks skipper. “He’s clearly grown into a very effective leader,” Deans said. “You look at his performance, his performance stats, which obviously aren’t attributable solely to Richie but he’s a big part of that, he’s without peer."
(10 September 2010)

Banking on youth
Aucklanders Justin Crooks and Roger Chu have taken New Zealand cuisine to Shanghai, opening Little Huia restaurant on Dagu Lu. “We wanted to create what we believe epitomizes the New Zealand dining experience, being able to enjoy top quality ingredients, good wines and great coffee in a casual and friendly environment,” Crooks explains. Unlike restaurants serving more established cuisines, Crooks recognizes that the major challenge for the venture will be convincing people that a New Zealand restaurant has something to offer. “As you know New Zealand is a young country so people don’t associate a particular style of cuisine with it,” he says. “This is why our concept is based on the experience and the ingredients of a New Zealand restaurant.”
(6 September 2010)

One of the best
New Zealand’s listed stock exchange NZX has been included in a Forbes list of the 200 ‘Best Under a Billion’ top-performing companies in Asia for the fourth consecutive year. The NZX was listed by Forbes as having sales of $US31 million, net income of $US28m and a market value of $US121m. “Representing New Zealand on the Forbes Best Under a Billion list is testament to the tireless work of the team at NZX, in Auckland, Feilding, Wellington and Melbourne, and their fundamental belief that what we do in New Zealand can, and does, matter,” NZX chairman Andrew Harmos said. Next month, NZX will launch a diversification into derivatives, starting with cash-settled contracts on the price of whole milk powder traded internationally by Fonterra.
(3 September 2010)

Amidst grottos of fern
About 4000 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 probably their national sport.” “Fiordland is sometimes called ‘the walking capital of the world,’” Borthwick’s guide Ray says. On Borthwick’s second day: “We begin walking again, this time amid tall podocarp forests and grottos of ferns that burn like emerald fire. We’re now so far beyond the world of freeways and vehicles that they seem a century away, either behind or ahead of us. Instead, we have fresh air, oxygen in vast amounts.”
(4 September 2010)

Onward to Rome
Palmerston North-born Levi Sherwood, 19, wondered if he would ever get that second major freestyle motocross victory, writes Keith Lair for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Competing on the Red Bull X-Fighters tour, Sherwood won the Mexico City event in 2009 off a wild-card entry, becoming the youngest to win an X-Fighters event. Despite numerous attempts to get that second win, though, he needed to wait until this past June — more than a year since his initial victory — before finally getting it, winning in Moscow. “It has been the highlight of my season,” said Sherwood, who lives in Palmdale, California in the summer and New Zealand in the winter. He then went on to win in London at the Battersea Power Station. Sherwood is ranked third on the 2010 World Tour Standings and will next compete in Rome at Stadio Flaminio on October 2.
(2 September 2010)

Not quite themselves
Flight of the Conchords’ stars Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie will make a guest appearance on hit show The Simpsons in the first episode of the new season, Elementary School Musical, to be broadcast in the US on September 26. Stars from American television show Glee will also feature. “We don’t play ourselves, because most people won’t know who we are, but they’ll look like yellow versions of ourselves,” Clement told the Guardian. “We play counsellors at an arts camp that Lisa’s going to.” The episode will air on New Zealand screens next year.
(3 September 2010)

Shift in aid delivery
“In an effort to get more value from taxpayers’ dollars, the [New Zealand] government wants better co-ordination between development agencies in the Pacific,” Johnny Blades writes for the Guardian. “The type of aid approach emerging provides for expansion of the established regional role of New Zealand in peacekeeping missions such as those to the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste, to encompass humanitarian assistance and the challenges of disaster relief. An example of this shift in aid delivery, Tropic Twilight 2010, a joint operation by the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) and the country’s foreign aid programme. The two-week exercise had two major aims: to practice a response to a natural disaster such as a cyclone or tsunami in low-lying islands, and to deliver a series of aid programmes to Tuvalu.”
(31 August 2010)

Constitution conundrum
Former Labour deputy Prime Minister Dr Michael Cullen is calling for an end to the British monarchy. This month Cullen, who stepped down from Parliament when Labour lost power in 2008, will deliver a speech to an Institute of Policy Studies think-tank conference reviewing the country’s constitution in Wellington. Cullen said criteria for appointing a head of state which include preferment of male heirs and Anglicans are inconsistent with modern New Zealand values. He says the Queen should be allowed to live out her time as monarch of New Zealand because of her “dogged” and “old-fashioned” sense of duty, but that the country should become a republic on her “death or incapacity”. He also calls for the national flag, with the Union Jack in the top left corner, to be scrapped in favour of the Maori inspired Tino Rangatiratanga. A survey earlier this year showed 45 per cent of New Zealanders polled supported Prince Charles becoming king on the death of the Queen, while 43 per cent were opposed.
(29 August 2010)

Studying the drain
New Zealand’s best and brightest expatriates are costing the country US$10,000 each through foregone tax and costs of government services such as education, according to World Bank research. Though returning New Zealand expats can also look forward to a bright future, with a mean salary of US$75,100 bringing back an average $US53,700 in savings with them. Even accounting for higher costs of living abroad, New Zealanders were better off by US$21,000 overseas than they were at home, the study found. The study surveyed 271 New Zealanders who excelled academically between 1976 and 2004, and the average sample member was in the top 7 per cent of New Zealand earners.
(25 August 2010)

Claim to fame
On a barista training course at Auckland’s Allpress Espresso, the Guardian’s Chris Mugan learns the flat white-making mantra: “stretch, whirlpool, surf” in the city that claims the iconic drink as their invention. “The brew is gearing up to become as widely known in the UK as the country’s last great export, Flight of the Conchords, as at the beginning of the year, the nationwide chains joined in. Peter Andre launched Costa Coffee’s maiden flat white in January, around the same time that Starbucks got in on the act. [In September], Allpress is due to open a roastery/café in Shoreditch. Mugan goes on to recommend Auckland’s Queenie’s Lunchroom in Freeman’s Bay; Frolic Café in Grey Lynn; and Good One “off the uber-trendy Ponsonby Road”.
(28 August 2010)

Ride of your life
Heli-biking in Queenstown is “an exhilarating experience and a must for anyone visiting” the southern city, recommends the Telegraph’s Tarquin Cooper. “Visit New Zealand for rest, relaxation and rugby; unless, you’re a die-hard who likes to ‘earn your turns’, most routes begin after an off-road drive up to the hills. There is another, slightly quicker way — by chopper. It’s more expensive, but it adds a whole new level of excitement to the experience — and one that will instantly over-ride any feelings of guilt for taking the easy way to the top. The mountain bikes are strapped to the outside on special mounts and once everyone’s strapped in on the inside, the most exciting helicopter ride of your life will begin.”
(27 August 2010)

Hands like wings
Lemi Ponifasio’s 2009 work Birds with Skymirrors, which was performed by his company MAU at this year’s Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, is awarded four stars by Guardian reviewer Alice Bain. “With Skymirrors, [Ponifasio] fills an (interval-free) hour and a half with rippling torsos, hands that beat like wings, and feet that somehow glide bodies around the stage. The images created in this work are physically extraordinary and imaginatively charged, embracing a global view of the world and our place in it. Birds with Skymirrors — a multi-layered work that focuses on the subject of oceanic pollution and climate change — is like catching a field of sunflowers in the act of turning towards the sun.”
(19 August 2010)

Fascinating portrait
South Auckland-set film Matariki, directed by Reefton-born Michael Bennett, has been selected to screen at the opening weekend of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in the Contemporary World Cinema section on September 11. Matariki is Bennett’s first feature film. The official TIFF site describes the film: “Just as the stars of the Pleiades constellation come together to mark Matariki — Maori New Year and a time of new beginnings — so too do the five intersecting stories of Bennett’s film merge into a fascinating portrait of a community.” Matariki includes Go Girls' Alix Bushnell, Outrageous Fortune's Sara Wiseman, Sione’s Wedding’s IaHeto Ah Hi and recent Romeo Michael Whalley.
(25 August 2010)

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 to show that side of ourselves, the clumsy, nerdy side of ourselves, which is something I am,” director of the box office hit Boy Taika Waititi says. Waititi is something more than clumsy and nerdy. The 35-year-old has a background in painting and photography, having exhibited in Wellington and Berlin. The semi-autobiographical Boy was the first, tentative screenplay he wrote as he mulled the prospect of being able to move from shorts to feature films. He has also just finished filming a performance in the big-budget studio superhero film, Green Lantern, and expects a sequel to follow. “I think I’m a better filmmaker than actor, so I already know that,” Waititi says. “That’s OK; I can handle not being a famous actor.”
(25 August 2010)

Wine for football fans
New Zealand’s Clark Estate in the Awatere Valley has produced an official wine for the Watford Football Club or the Hornets, as they are known in the UK. Lifelong Hornets fan Peter Clark, 61, moved to New Zealand 30 years ago where he set up his own winery with his wife Jane. Clark has now completed his dream of launching his own Hornets Sauvignon Blanc. Clark said: “I’m absolutely delighted. I created it for the fans so it will be great to see them drinking it. The club was very keen to get involved. As far as I know, it’s the first wine associated with a football club. It’s unique in a way.” The Clark Estate sells its range of wines — Clark Estate and Boreham Wood — in New Zealand while also exporting the two brands to Australia, the US, the UK and South Korea.
(22 August 2010)

Buckle up team
A number of All Blacks, coach Graham Henry and rugby commentator Tony Johnson feature in Air New Zealand’s latest in-flight safety video. Henry, a former secondary school headmaster, playing the role of captain, sternly warns passengers of the airline’s no-smoking policy: “If you find yourself needing to smoke on this flight, consider yourself dropped... we can’t have that kind of disruption in the team”. Richie McCaw, Conrad Smith, Mils Muliaina and Richard Kahui also feature in the video, along with some garishly dressed rugby fans and plenty of rugby symbolism and terminology.
(20 August 2010)

Whale debate continues
Sea Sheppard anti-whaler Pete Bethune’s Tokyo trial “earlier this year for interfering with Japan’s annual whale hunt dominated New Zealand media, and direct action at sea connects with long-standing cultural currents to do with whales and whaling,” The Japan Times’ Dougal McNeill begins in an opinion piece for the publication. “For all the intensity and depth of that support, the debate around whaling exists in a strangely ahistorical and decontextualized space, a self-righteousness sealing itself off from examination or self-reflection. The whales in question are often referred to as ‘our whales,’ suggesting a debate as much about ownership and dominion of the seas as any narrower environmental concern. And, for all that these associations may be unwelcome, they point to unsettling traditions in the history of Japanese-Australasian relations. The aspect of the debate —the way it fits into where it happens, how it both draws on and in turn shapes and continues local discourses on race, on racism, and on local anti-Asian sentiment — is almost wholly lacking from even considered commentary.”
(17 August 2010)

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 “has earned near-rave reviews, averaging four-star ratings on Apple’s iTunes site,” The Australian’s Lara Sinclair writes. “That’s well above the 1.5 stars awarded to Fairfax’s app for The Sydney Morning Herald... and The Australian’s 2.5 stars,” Sinclair continues. Both publications charge users for their applications. APN group head of content and integration Warren Lee said more than 10,000 people had downloaded the Herald app in three weeks, making it the most popular iPad app in New Zealand. “We didn’t want to replicate the website or newspaper experience,” Lee said. “You want to be able to find a new audience with a new device.” He said photo galleries had been popular, and people were viewing 14-15 pages per visit.
(16 August 2010)

On race and Harawira
Senior Lecturer at Victoria University’s School of English Film Theatre and Media Studies Dr Alice Te Punga Somerville discusses Maori party MP Hone Harawira’s recent comments about intermarriage in the Guardian. “Harawira stated to a newspaper journalist that he ‘wouldn’t be comfortable’ if one of his children was dating a Pakeha,” Te Punga Somerville writes. “He went on to clarify that he is ‘just like every other New Zealander, except [he] is comfortable in recognising that prejudice exists.’ Whether Harawira is a media spectacle, an astute social commentator, a loose cannon or an honest leader ‘telling it like it is’ the public response to his comments slid quickly into assertions about the ongoing presence of European blood in Maori veins, rather than dealing with the question of social prejudice. I wonder if Harawira’s ‘discomfort’ is not so much with the hypothetical person standing on his doorstep nervously wondering if they can step inside, but with the two centuries by which the size, shape and ownership of the doorstep has been decided by a series of unfair and prejudiced processes.”
(13 August 2010)

Relentless finish
Gisborne surfer Jay Quinn, 27, has taken second place at the ASP Relentless Boardmasters competition in Newquay, England. Quinn said of his placing: “I’m happy because it’s a career best result for myself and hopefully it will get me on a roll heading into the next five events.” The Relentless Boardmasters is the fourth of 12 events which will eventually crown this year’s European Men’s Champion. Fellow New Zealander Billy Stairmand finished 17th. Quinn currently lives on Australia’s Gold Coast.
(8 August 2010)

Fear the Cone
“The big daddy of New Zealand’s South Island fields has a reputation for being big, bad and nasty — in a good way,” Rachael Oakes-Ash writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. “Some whisper about Treble Cone in fear, others just try to keep it a big secret. Treble Cone is a local’s mountain. It doesn’t have the big marketing money of Coronet Peak and the Remarkables to help put it forefront in the minds of cashed-up travellers. With Lake Wanaka below and a Southern Alps vista that stretches for miles, the view alone is worth the life-threatening 20-minute drive — on un-tarred roads that a mountain goat would think twice about attempting. As with most reputations, Treble Cone’s starts with a hint of truth: yes, it has extreme terrain but it has plenty for intermediates, too. I suspect the rumours have been created by diehard Treble Coners who want this mountain to themselves. After my first trip, I could see why.”
(8 August 2010)

In defence of milk
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. is defending products sold to China two years after the 2008 milk scandal, in which at least six children died and 300,000 were sickened from milk that contained dangerous levels of industrial chemical melamine. Mounting questions about abnormal hormone levels in several Chinese infants who demonstrated early signs of puberty have prompted Chinese milk supplier, Synutra and Fonterra’s defence. Synutra has said it has been using milk powder imported from Europe and New Zealand. Both Fonterra, which supplies milk powder to Synutra, and New Zealand authorities, issued statements earlier this month. “In New Zealand there are strict legislative controls on the use of hormonal growth promotants,” the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) said. “NZFSA is seeking clarification about the media reports from China.” Fonterra said the country’s strict controls mean the routine testing for hormones is unnecessary. “Fonterra remains 100 per cent confident about the quality of its product,” it said. Federated Farmers dairy section chairman Lachlan McKenzie said he was totally confident in the quality of New Zealand milk exports. “If there is something untoward, then it won’t be from New Zealand.”
(12 August 2010)

Fighting the demons
Principal photography has begun in Wellington on World War II horror film, The Devil’s Rock, award-winning director Paul Campion’s debut feature film. Academy Award-winning Weta Workshop (Avatar, District 9, Lord of the Rings, King Kong) will create the film’s physical effects. The Devil’s Rock is set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D-Day. Two New Zealand commandos, sent to destroy German gun emplacements to distract Hitler’s forces away from Normandy, discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash demonic forces to win the war. The cast includes Craig Hall, Matthew Sunderland, Gina Varela and Karl Drinkwater. Campion began his career as a freelance illustrator working in the advertising and publishing industry.
(9 August 2010)

Young star shines
With director Taika Waititi’s film Boy opening throughout Australia on August 26, The Age talks to 11-year-old lead James Rolleston about his first ever acting gig. Waititi had already chosen a lead for Boy, but when he met Rolleston, who had never even acted in a school play, he changed his mind. “It’s the only time I’ve ever acted,” Rolleston says. “I don’t know if it was hard, because it was my first time.” “He just launched himself into it, he was so enthusiastic about it,” adds Waititi, in Melbourne with Rolleston for a special preview screening. “It was awesome — he was just being himself.” Rolleston, who has been lauded for his poignant, funny performance, says he enjoyed the film-making experience, but isn’t quite ready for a thespian’s life just yet. “I like to do a bit of acting part-time, but I also want to get my own hunting show or maybe be a marine biologist,” he says. “I love the outdoors.” Boy has become the top-grossing New Zealand film ever, and has drawn comparisons with the films of American indie director Wes Anderson.
(10 August 2010)

Following Frodo
Fiordland’s Routeburn track may attract significantly less visitors to than the Milford Sounds, but the “majestic, snowcapped peaks in every direction, along with waterfalls and hidden tarns” are well worth the hike says The New York Times writer Alex Hutchinson. He describes the beauty and staggering size of fjords of the World Heritage site located in the South Island. “A tract of near-virgin wilderness the size of Connecticut with a permanent population — according to the most recent census — of 18.” “Amply stocked with snowy peaks, alpine lakes and primeval forests, this massive World Heritage Area is most celebrated for the 14 fjords that slash into its coastline, carved by glaciers from erosion-proof granite more than 10,000 years ago.” The area has seen a significant up rise in tourism since the striking scenery appeared in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.
(1 August 2010)

Walker makes podium
Whakatane-born Sarah Walker, 22, has won silver at the UCI BMX World Championship in Peitermaritzburg, South Africa. Racing in the elite women’s category, Walker, the 2009 world champion, took second place after a hard fight with American Alise Post who took the bronze. “You know the guys over are psyched with Walker and Post on the podium holding them up,” ESPN blogger Pat Nugent writes. “Overall I am pleased with today,” Walker said. “We came here to find they had made the track a lot longer than in their plan and therefore I hadn’t really prepared for that. It made for a really long and tiring day.” Three New Zealanders qualified for the elite juniors: Trent Woodcock (Pukekohe), Daniel Franks (Christchurch) and Nic Fox (Gisborne) — all first year in the junior ranks.
(31 July 2010)

Avalanche highlight
The 8th Annual New Zealand Heli Challenge was recently held in Wanaka. The two-day Heli Challenge involves a “freestyle” day, while the other is reserved for “freeride” stylings. The highlights of the contest included a class-two avalanche that American skier Ted Davenport set off, and skied out of, on the first day, and a hairball line that snowboard-event winner American Travis Rice rode on day two. New Zealander Will Jackways was third in the men’s class. The challenge featured nearly 40 national and international extreme skiers and snowboarders.
(6 August 2010)

Mobile learning
Students at Auckland’s Howick College are using free software to convert computer files into mobile phone study notes for a pilot study called ‘mLearning’ which is examining the result of using mobile phones as a teaching aid. Howick College teacher Nathan Kerr says pupils are given a sample exam question to answer using PowerPoint, or a video assignment to film and edit through Microsoft’s MovieMaker. When the teacher is satisfied the relevant content has been pulled together and understood, it is condensed into a format that can be transferred on to any mobile phone with a media player. “[New Zealand teachers] are a lot more innovative and part of the reason is many teachers in New Zealand are given a free hand, with guidelines, while overseas your professional development as a teacher has been worked out by experts — it’s top down,” added Kerr.
(3 August 2010)

Default pop accent
Auckland University of Technology University culture, discourse and communication masters student Andy Gibson has found that an American-influenced accent is the default when singing pop music. Gibson studied three New Zealand singers and looked at why people pronounce words differently when they sing. “Studies in the past have suggested that non-American singers wilfully put on American accents but the research suggests the opposite,” Gibson said. “We do it automatically; it does not require any effort to sing with an American-influenced accent.” Even well-known artists — such as Crowded House and Dave Dobbyn — sing with the pop music accent. “To sing in a New Zealand accent takes awareness and effort, and it is usually quite noticeable because it is so uncommon,” he said. “The American accent doesn’t stick out in singing because we are so used to hearing it.” But not all pop musicians sing with the default pop accent. “Anika Moa has moments here and there where you can definitely hear her distinct New Zealand vowels.”
(2 August 2010)

Record for Rocket Man
All Blacks star Joe Rokocoko, 27, is the team’s most-capped winger surpassing national treasures John Kirwan and Jonah Lomu. “It’s a huge honour for myself considering the players who have gone before me — it’s just sinking in slowly,” Fijian-born Rokocoko said, who has 45 tries for the All Blacks at a remarkable average of better than two in every three Tests. With his NZRU contract to expire this year, Rokocoko said it would be his ability to continue meeting the standards set by Lomu, Kirwan, Doug Howlett and Jeff Wilson that would determine whether he chased his 2011 World Cup goal. “If I know I can’t do the black jersey justice and play to my best it will be a better option for me to leave.” Rokocoko made his first appearance for the All Blacks on 14 June 2003 against England. He migrated to New Zealand with his family at the age of five, settling in South Auckland and attending James Cook High School.
(27 July 2010)

Sounds of old and new
The New Zealand String Quartet recently performed a programme entitled “East Meets West” at Ithaca College’s Ford Hall. The programme featured music by Beethoven, Shostakovich and contemporary Chinese, Japanese and Cambodian composers. Quartet member Douglas Beilman, second violin, said: “Beethoven’s Opus 95 in F minor is a powerfully concise and rigorous package of passion, intense lyricism and compelling architecture.” The group has recorded an extensive discography. Most recently, the quartet recorded all of Mendelssohn’s string quartets in a three-volume CD set for Naxos. The other quartet members are Gillian Ansell, viola; Rolf Gjelsten, cello; and Ithaca native first violinist Helene Pohl.
(8 July 2010)

Mourning Moko
Tauranga’s favourite dolphin Moko has been found dead on an island off the coast of the port city. Department of Conservation area manager Andrew Baucke said Moko’s death was a sad loss. “The way Moko interacted with people really inspired public interest and care for dolphins and marine mammals, and their environment in general,” Baucke said. “I’m sure those who got to see and swim with him will treasure those memories.” Moko first became a celebrity three years ago after amusing swimmers off the North Island’s east coast by playing ball games with them. On one occasion he was credited with saving the lives of stranded pygmy sperm whales by guiding them to safety in deeper waters. He even has his own Facebook page, with more than 500 friends.
(8 July 2010)

Sustainable style
Cape Kidnappers in Hawke’s Bay is included in a Reuters list of “10 green getaways” compiled by “boutique hotel specialists Mr & Mrs Smith (http://www.mrandmrssmith.com)”. “Combine a 6000-acre working sheep and cattle farm with Pacific Ocean views, gourmet food, a golf course and a spa to produce the Farm at Cape Kidnappers on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. The hotel has been involved in reintroducing the endangered kiwi, along with other native birds, to the peninsula.” The Farm is included alongside Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa in the Blue Mountains, Australia; Masseria Torre Maizza in Puglia, Italy; and Hôtel de la Paix in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
(2 July 2010)

Fortune offshore
With local favourite Outrageous Fortune beginning its sixth and final season of 18 episodes this month, its popularity has spread offshore, with the show sold to networks in England, Ireland, Italy, Canada, Australia, Slovenia and Croatia. As well, a US version of the show, Scoundrels, is now airing as a short-run summer series on the ABC network. JAG star David James Elliot, who plays the equivalent of Westie character Wolf, says the fact the concept had a proven run in New Zealand was a plus when deciding to take the part. “You look for something that speaks to you,” Elliot says. “Here, there are endless possibilities for story lines. Other than that, you look for the writing and characters that speak to you, speak to a gut feeling you have.” UK production company, Greenlit Rights has also made a local version of the show called Honest, a six-part series that aired on ITV1 in 2008. The New Zealand series began in first aired in 2005.
(3 July 2010)

Feathery dilemmas
“For some insight as to why rapid development is important to nesting birds, especially small songbirds, visit New Zealand, where native birds have had some challenges,” suggests the Mail Tribune’s Stewart Janes. “New Zealand, being a remote set of islands, had no native land mammals apart from a couple of bats. The native land birds, in the absence of predators, gave up the frenetic pace of development observed elsewhere. Young typically spend a leisurely 17 to 21 days in the nest, nearly twice as long as similar birds from Europe. This means the period of vulnerability to nest predators is nearly twice as long, and this has huge consequences.”
(1 July 2010)