Tag Archives: Auckland

Northern Exposure

Northern Exposure

Philippine Star travel  writer makes a good stab at the North Island, with a two-part article relating his adventures. The first piece covers Auckland and the Waikato, the second, Waitomo, the Coromandel, and Rotorua. Favourite spots include…

Opus Goes Trans-Atlantic

Opus Goes Trans-Atlantic

NZ firm Opus International Consultants has expanded its business in Canada with the purchase of Geoplan Consultants Inc. Opus already has offices in the UK, Malaysia and Australia, and in 2002 won the Trade New Zealand Services Exporter of…

Sir Bob Farewelled in Almost Perfect Symmetry

Sir Bob Farewelled in Almost Perfect Symmetry

NZ golfing great, Sir Bob Charles, made his last ever appearance at the NZ Open – an event he won for the first of 4 times as an 18-year-old amateur in 1954. Said Charles, prior to…

Track Star

Track Star

The Observer‘s “20 journeys of a lifetime” includes NZ’s legendary Milford Track. “Traversing the heart of South Island’s wild fjord country, the Milford Track is often described as the finest walk in the world. Famed for spectacular…

100 Years of Class

100 Years of Class

Worldwide centenary celebrations for Rolls Royce  were launched in NZ January 25, with a commemorative dinner for fans and owners held in Auckland. 50 of the company’s luxury cars – including a 1912 Silver Ghost and a…

New Frontier

New Frontier

The NZ government’s multimillion dollar media campaign in the US aiming to lure wealthy Americans to “the new California” is the subject of a December Voice of America feature. Major selling points are the clean/green…

‘Queen of the Green’ will be Missed

‘Queen of the Green’ will be Missed

Millie Khan, one of NZ’s best-loved and most successful sportspeople, died unexpectedly of a heart attack in Rotorua aged 65. Khan took up lawn bowls at 38 and was representing NZ 9 years later. She won silver…

End of a Long Innings

End of a Long Innings

Gordon Lindsay Weir, the world’s oldest surviving Test cricketer, died in Auckland on October 31 aged 95 years and 151 days. Known in cricketing circles as ‘Dad,’ the right-hand batsman and medium-pace bowler played 11 Tests for…

Go Karting Cunningham

Go Karting Cunningham

Auckland teenager Wade Cunningham added to NZ motorsport’s current winning streak by claiming the world karting championship crown in Sarno, Italy. According to Kartsport NZ spokesman, Ross McKay, the 19-year-old’s victory is “unprecedented in the history of NZ motorsport ……

Kiwis Tie Down Kangaroos

Kiwis Tie Down Kangaroos

The Kiwis convincingly defeated the Australian Kangaroos with a rousing 30-16 victory in a rugby league test at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. Led by the hat-trick of tries by Clinton Toopi (a trans-Tasman record) and another…

Runway Successes

Runway Successes

19 October 2003 – The usual suspects stood out from the crowd at the 2003 L’Oreal NZ Fashion Week in Auckland, with WORLD (above), Nom*D, and Zambesi flying the edge flag for innovative and individual…

Sideline Action

Sideline Action

With all eyes on Australasia for the Rugby World Cup, an Observer travel feature looks at new attractions on offer in the region. Included is the West Coast’s Wave Watchers Retreat (“a romantic bolthole with great…

Winning Edge

Winning Edge

2002 women’s rugby world champions, the Black Ferns, stormed a two-test series against a World XV with two convincing wins; 37-0 in Auckland, 38-19 in Whangarei. Chief point scorers in the second match were Mere Kingi,…

Thinking Inside the Square

Thinking Inside the Square

Auckland-based graphic design company, Creative Force, has won two awards at America’s Creative 33 competition for the second year running. Established in 2001 by Emma Mann, Creative Force beat thousands of entries from around the globe –…

No Mutinies Here Mate

No Mutinies Here Mate

The British government has named Auckland businessman, Leslie Jacques, as the new day-to-day administrator of Pitcairn Island. According to the British High Commission, Jacques has been hired for an initial 4 month period, during which time he…

Robin Williams: “I Realised I Could Fall Out of Jonah’s Nose …”

Robin Williams: “I Realised I Could Fall Out of Jonah’s Nose …”

Jonah Lomu has announced his withdrawal from this year’s NPC competition, and has given up any hope of making the 2003 World Cup squad. The most famed of wingers has experienced foot and calf muscle problems…

These Wings are Made for Walking …

These Wings are Made for Walking …

A team of NZ researchers – led by David Lambert of Auckland’s Massey University – has broken new ground in the field of genetics to reveal previously unknown details about the moa. In a world first,…

Kiwi Juice Goes Global

Kiwi Juice Goes Global

Auckland-based kiwifruit juice manufacturers – Nekta International Limited – have made a successful entry into the US market. Sales have “exceeded expectations” since the product was lauched there in June. Nekta is already sold in Australia, Asia,…

Charting the Edge

Charting the Edge

Sydney’s Morning Herald publishes its 2003 top-10 lists for global rovers with Aotearoa again destination du jour. The chart toppers – Wine: Marlborough (“with its combination of bush, mountains and coastline … Cloudy Bay, Cairnrae and Allan…

Kiwi ads bug Cannes

Kiwi ads bug Cannes

Kiwi ad agencies excelled at last month’s International Advertising Festival in Cannes. Grey Worldwide Auckland won the Outdoor Grand Prix for its innovative insect-eye-view Kiwicare bug spray campaign and Clemenger BBDO NZ and Colenso…

DIY Cruise Missile

DIY Cruise Missile

One for the z-files surely. Taking the No.8 wire mentality a little too literally, NZ internet developer Bruce Simpson, 49, has attracted headlines across the planet for his plans to build a DIY jet-propelled missle in his…

Walker’s Goes AWOL

Walker’s Goes AWOL

Nylon magazine is all praise for Karen Walker’s gender-bending Runaway collection, calling it “a perfect blend of daddy’s old fishing jackets and backless chiffon mini-dresses.” Based in Auckland, Walker attributes her edgy designs to…

NZ Rugby the Winner on the Day

NZ Rugby the Winner on the Day

The Auckland Blues emerged victorious in a NZ dominated Super 12 competition. The ACT Brumbies were the only non-NZ team to scrape into the semi-finals. The final saw Auckland beat defending champions the Canterbury Crusaders 21-17. Southern Hemisphere domination…

Iconic Image Auction

Iconic Image Auction

A signed photograph of the 1905-6 All Black “Originals” has been sold at auction for $41,000. The photo had been kept in Aucklander David Wright’s family since 1906, when it was presented to his grandfather Charles Victor…

How to Remember Sir Peter Blake?

How to Remember Sir Peter Blake?

The government has committed $2.5 million to the construction of a memorial museum in the late Sir Peter Blake’s honour on the Auckland waterfront. Sports Minister Trevor Mallard: “The  exhibition will ensure a…

Breaking Waves

Breaking Waves

The Auckland-based team set to compete in Australia’s National Basketball League has been christened the New Zealand Breakers, after consultations with players and public. According to Tall Blacks star Pero Cameron – who has been lured…

Captain Kirk

Captain Kirk

Aucklander Kirk Penney is one of the brightest stars on the American college basketball circuit. Penney captains and is the highest point-scorer for the Wisconsin Badgers, a team he has lead into the top 16. A…

Auckland Loves Lucy

Auckland Loves Lucy

American broadcaster CBS is the latest offshore company to take advantage of New Zealand as a production location. Currently shooting in Auckland is Redhead: The Lucille Ball Story, a 3-hour television movie.

Joining the Hoop

Joining the Hoop

A NZ team is to join Australia’s National Basketball League next year, in a move sure to raise the sport’s profile even higher in this country. The Auckland-based franchise is yet to announce its name and…

Auckland: An Urban Paradise

Auckland: An Urban Paradise

Leap-frogging Sydney, Auckland is the fifth-best city in the world to live in, according to an annual survey by Mercer Human Resources Consulting. The ranking takes into account a variety of political, social and economic factors,…

“The America’s Cup is …”

“The America’s Cup is …”

… off to Switerland. Team New Zealand, led by Dean Barker and defending the Cup for the second time, were eventually beaten 5-0 by the Swiss syndicate Alinghi, led by Kiwis, skipper Russell Coutts and tactician Brad Butterworth.

Wireless Oscars

Wireless Oscars

Auckland based company, The Hyperfactory, were commended at the 2003 GSM Awards in Cannes this month for their TXTDJ innovation. This was The Hyperfactory’s second consecutive nomination for what is essentially the wireless industry’s Oscar equivalent.

Bush Backlash Begins Down Under

Bush Backlash Begins Down Under

A global wave of protests against America’s proposed war on Iraq began in New Zealand, with thousands taking to the streets across the country. In Auckland, a Greenpeace plane with a banner reading “No war, peace now”…

Animating America

Animating America

Auckland-based Flux Animation Studio has made impressive inroads to the US market via a reciprocal partnership with New York’s Hornet Inc. The companies first teamed up on Saatchi’s acclaimed Anchorville series, creating a…

Out of the Primordial Mud

Out of the Primordial Mud

NY Times travel writer witnesses first hand the impact of Cup-fever on the cosmopolitan City of Sails and the hotel, restaurant, and entertainment legacy it leaves behind. “Auckland feels like a younger, fresher, smaller version of…

New Jump City

New Jump City

AJ Hackett Bungy is soon to open the world’s first harbour bridge jump site. The latest addition to the Hackett franchise will be located on Auckland’s harbour bridge – already a tourist hot-spot thanks to the…

NZ: Lonely Planet Hot Spot 2003

NZ: Lonely Planet Hot Spot 2003

Proving that NZ is not only destination of choice for Louis Vuitton carrying America’s Cup acolytes, Lonely Planet, bible of the young and Birkenstocked, picks NZ as the grand winner in its annual survey of hot spots….

America’s Cup: Billionaires and Espionage

America’s Cup: Billionaires and Espionage

“Yacht racing has been compared to tearing up $10 bills while standing in the shower. In the case of America’s Cup racing, make that $1,000 bills.” Time Magazine delves into the high rolling depths of…

“Go to the World Girls and Conquer It.”

“Go to the World Girls and Conquer It.”

“Top city dame teaches Brit woman a trick or two”: BBC News series on women in business profiles overachieving NZer and head of City of London, Dame Judith Mayhew.”For a glimpse of Britain’s future, look not to…

Auckland Holding its Breath

Auckland Holding its Breath

The 2002 America’s Cup challengers series has begun (click here for BBC, CNN coverage), launched with fanfare on the streets of Auckland. The competing teams paraded through the central city, the Swedes blasting ABBA,…

“If It’s Made in Auckland It Looks Like the Future”

“If It’s Made in Auckland It Looks Like the Future”

Spurred by the America’s Cup (“couldn’t be in a more fabulous setting”) Travel + Leisure checks out the evolving new world styles of Auckland: “The city has evolved over the past two decades from…

It’s in the Bag

It’s in the Bag

NZ designers, Emma East and Nicky Harris, have taken their successful accessories line Rosa Bespoke Bags across the Tasman. The pair arrived back from a trip to Europe determined to oust the black leather…

NZ Condé Nast Hot Spots

NZ Condé Nast Hot Spots

US Conde Nast Traveler’s influential “hot list” names the Auckland Hilton, Eagle’s Nest in the Bay of Islands, and the lodge at Kauri Cliffs as the premier places to stay in NZ. Auckland’s 

Karen Walker: Back Yard High Casual

Karen Walker: Back Yard High Casual

6 page Observer spread: Walker uses her distance to advantage, preferring the hilltops of Auckland to the glamour and pace of Europe. “Karen Walker’s lived-in fabrics and homely knits evoke her idyllic New Zealand…

From Here to Eternity

From Here to Eternity

“Tinkling ivories, crashing waves, visit volcanoes, rainforests and surf-pounded beaches where you can re-enact scenes from The Piano.” The Independent’s “one hour from …” series spreads its compass around Auckland and as well as soulful beachscapes in…

Sirs and Dames or Sheilas and Cobbers?

Sirs and Dames or Sheilas and Cobbers?

Four NZers received our country’s highest award via the Queen’s jubilee year honours list. Those admitted to the Order of New Zealand were; ex-Governor General Dame Catherine Tizard, Auckland anthropologist and Maori leader Sir Hugh Kawharu, former…

Aotearoa Adornment

Aotearoa Adornment

Auckland artist George Nuku’s mother-of-pearl pendants draw inspiration from his Maori cultural heritage and feature on the cover of June’s American Vogue. “Pile on multiple pendants for a modern, urban edge”, Elle’s ‘make it your…

Postcard-spotting?

Postcard-spotting?

Lynn Barber leaves the trains at home and follows the postcard route through godzone, finds it to be “truly paradise” but also close to 100% boring. “To appreciate NZ you need to be all the things…

Best Haul

Best Haul

Ironically for Lynn, NZ was once again voted “Best Long Haul Country” over Australia, Cuba, Japan, Thailand et al by Guardian and Observer readers – they must have got off the bus and visited at…

World Class Metropolis

World Class Metropolis

Good life here and now: Auckland is ranked above Munich, Melbourne, Stockholm and Toronto to win sixth place for overall quality of life in a William M. Mercer survey of 215 cities, topped by Zurich in…

Diabetes Breakthrough

Diabetes Breakthrough

Diatranz of Auckland claims it has conducted a successful trial that could eventually provide a cure for 15 million people around the world with type 1 diabetes who currently need daily injections of insulin. The Mexican…

Commanding Performance

Commanding Performance

Grant Dalton and his crew hold second place in the Volvo Ocean Race, as the event “reaches its spiritual home”, Auckland. “The World’s premier yachting capital”. according to the Volvo Ocean race website.

Cell-phone Sunblock

Cell-phone Sunblock

SMS sun-safety – who says cell-phones are bad for your health? As the Kiwi summer heats up Auckland’s Hyperfactory, in partnership with telco Vodafone and cosmetics company Nivea has developed a short-message service advising cellphone users of…

This is Your Life: Jonah Lomu

This is Your Life: Jonah Lomu

Jonah Lomu is lost for words when Michael Aspel accosts him at rugby training in England with the red “This is your Life” book, before taking him to the BBC studios. A long list of rugby…

NZ Hydro Pioneer Passes On

NZ Hydro Pioneer Passes On

“Each time a switch is thrown on a toaster, in a woolshed or in a steel mill, there is an odds-on chance that John Malcolmson will have had a hand in generating the necessary electricity.” Malcolmson, originally…

Kiwi Couture

Kiwi Couture

Kiwi fashion editor of the Daily Telegraph, Hilary Alexander, pushes the New Zealand Edge into euro fashion: ” may be half a world away from Europe and America, but its half a year ahead…