News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Throwing Down the Gimlett

Throwing Down the Gimlett

Terroir – it’s French for “good wine grows here”. Gimlett Gravels in the Hawkes Bay, a patch of gravelly soil that supports 34 wineries, is New Zealand’s first venture into this elite area of wine marketing….

Happily.Married

Happily.Married

Wellingtonians Rob and Liz Flavhive.Hill say ditch the hyphen – the dot is so much more 2001.

Rating Well

Rating Well

Standard and Poors lifts New Zealand’s long-term foreign currency credit rating to stable on the back of a government surplus and declining debt burden.  

Bored? Zorb!

Bored? Zorb!

“Over the years, Kiwis apparently have become bored counting sheep and have amused themselves by coming up with some extreme sporting activities. They pioneered bungee jumping and zorbing (literally rolling down a hill strapped inside a ball). Also,…

Co-operation

Co-operation

The time is right for co-operation between India and New Zealand on food processing, IT and forestry, says Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Phil Goff.  

I’m Looking for a Holy Man: Green, Short, Talks Kinda Funny?

I’m Looking for a Holy Man: Green, Short, Talks Kinda Funny?

The full force of the law is against them: despite attempts to have Jedi registered as an official religion on this year’s census form, it won’t happen unless adherents can produce solid evidence the religion exists. …

Use the Force

Use the Force

The force of email is being tested by a New Zealand group attempting to get Jedi recognised as an official religion.

League of its Own

League of its Own

League in the UK: “mullets, mud and Maoris”.  

Awesome Dame

Awesome Dame

New Zealand thoroughbred superpower Sunline receives “spine-tingling” farewell from Sydney. “She is the best horse I will ever train,” states trainer Trevor McKee.

Travel Gets Edgy

Travel Gets Edgy

Being on the edge means being “enroute to nowhere,” but good cocktails in hot bars, great views from hot baths, wine, alps, adrenaline and Auckland’s revolving restaurant “make this one you must go to sometime”. Also,

The Win

The Win

New Zealand racing legend Grant Dalton brought giant Club Med in to Marseilles 62 days after leaving Barcelona – winning The Race by over 900 miles and clocking the fastest circumnavigation ever.

Caught on Film

Caught on Film

Father of Polaroid George W Wheelwright III had eclectic interests – including the fodder potential of “exotic grasses from New Zealand”.

Gene Out of the Bottle

Gene Out of the Bottle

A gene identified by Auckland National Women’s Hospital researchers may help woman at risk of early menopause to plan children or have eggs frozen for later.

Russ of the jungle

Russ of the jungle

Russell: Charismatic, attractive and talented, but also fearless, said Sharon Stone years back. He proves her right on the screen and in the jungles of Ecuador.  

History revised?

History revised?

Controversy and acclaim for edge-director Roger Donaldson’s nuke-spook Kennedy paean 13 Days.“Yet, despite these difficulties, the film works and ought to be essential viewing for those too young to have been around in October 1962,…

Antipodean Greatness

Antipodean Greatness

Aussie journalist ponders greatness, noting New Zealand’s “two truly international figures,” Sir Edmund Hillary and Ernest Rutherford.

Wine of Human Kindness

Wine of Human Kindness

New Zealand brand In the Black chardonnay contributes to Comic Relief in Scotland.  

Everybody on Board

Everybody on Board

“Kiwi Experience, a hop-on-hop-off backpacker bus service that was created in New Zealand in 1998 proved such a successful concept that it became a blueprint for imitators around the world.”

Cyberreads

Cyberreads

Denis Dutton’s “admirable venture,” Cybereditions, allows publications to be constantly updated,  exploiting the interactivity and flexibility of the net to deliver superior content.

Machine to the Milker

Machine to the Milker

Edge-inspired milk-machine gives room service.

Do the Funky Mushroom

Do the Funky Mushroom

Malborough pinot noir smells like “funky mushroom” – that must be a good thing, because “New Zealand’s Pinot Noirs are as good as anyone’s outside Burgundy”.  

Lord of nations…

Lord of nations…

“Barton’s encore – her own variations on the New Zealand national anthem, inspired by a tour of that country made at the invitation of James Judd – was full of devilish pyrotechnics, skittery bowings…

Vagana Bio

Vagana Bio

New Zealander Joe Vagana, “one of the best packmen in the world”, is set to be a star with English club Bradford Bulls.  

Flying Feeling

Air New Zealand is highest-ranked Holiday Which? airline, beating out Britain’s “no-thrills” EasyJet.

It’s in the Genes

It’s in the Genes

“Is this new arrival destined to take on the roistering tendencies of his Viking ancestors, the dour fatalism of his grandfather’s West Highland forebears, the mercantile instincts of Scots traders on his grandmother’s side, his mother’s New…

Everybody Wants a Piece of You

Everybody Wants a Piece of You

“New Zealand has given us plenty of stuff. Russell Crowe, Crowded House, Maori bouncers who scare the crap out of you. They can have it all back if they will only let us have…

Best Friends Share Everything

Best Friends Share Everything

Including their dog biscuits, if the situation requires it.

Judgement in Paradise

Judgement in Paradise

Retired New Zealand  Appeal Court judges Sir Maurice Casey and Sir Ian Barker lead the judicial charge for democracy in Fiji.  

Ambassador Goes Nutty

Ambassador Goes Nutty

“I love New Zealand and New Zealand has been a warm and just an extraordinary experience,” says former US ambassador Carol Mosley-Braun, returning to the States to take up pecan farming.

Oh Lovely Olearia

Oh Lovely Olearia

New Zealand olearias feature in celeb-gardner Penelope Hobhouse’s top picks.

Edge Unity

Edge Unity

“There are no two countries in the world that are closer historically, culturally and economically than Australia and New Zealand,” stated Australian PM John Howard on a friendship visit, claiming a “relationship that has substance and durability…

Compudigm is Watching You

Compudigm is Watching You

Wellington compu-data wizards Compudigm nominated for prestigious 2001 Computerworld Honours (Smithsonian). The nomination recognises the “spectacular success” of Compudigm’s Telstra Sydney Olympics Project.

Fine Drinking

Fine Drinking

Palliser Estate Sauvignon with “real intensity, poise and class”. “Brilliant reds” are “the undiscovered splendors of New Zealand”. Wine of the week: Stoneleigh Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.  

Oil and Ice

Oil and Ice

New Zealand micro-biologist Jackie Aislabie is working on an international effort to fight oil-slicks in pristine Antarctica.

Victory: The Aftermath

Victory: The Aftermath

More stories from across the globe: “this moment is directly connected to those childhood imaginings” quotes The Advertiser; Crowe “shocked and emotional” in the LA Times; “I was thinking this is one of those bad…

Orchid Can-do

Orchid Can-do

Volunteers at the new International Orchid Centre in Florida will “communicate their enthusiasm for orchids and an attitude of ‘Hell, if I can grow them, you can too’,” says American Orchid Society director of education, Kiwi…

Here with Lee Majors

Here with Lee Majors

NYNZer Brendan Donovan scores Best Cinematography award for his short film Here at the Angelciti Film Festival LA and his star Lee Majors wins Best Actor at the Santa Monica International Film Festival. Majors…

Science Star

Science Star

New Zealand planktonologist Allison Joy Haywood is one of ten international recipients of a UNESCO-L’OREAL Fellowship for developing research talent.

Bad Bird

Bad Bird

“Even in New Zealand there are sheep farmers that lose stock to wildlife, namely the Kea, a large native and protected parrot. It may seem incredible, but it’s true.”

Circus Life

Circus Life

New Zealand Olympic gymnast David Phillips has given up the competitive grind for life as a circus performer.  

Protest Flotilla

Protest Flotilla

“The people who live around the Japanese reactor that the plutonium is destined for don’t want it, Australians and New Zealanders don’t want their seas being used to transport it and Pacific Islanders are vehemently opposed,” says…

Flying High

Flying High

The contemporary kite industry is still riding the buzz generated by New Zealander Peter Lynn’s 80’s creation, the kite-powered buggy.

Lamb OK

Lamb OK

I will buy in New Zealand lamb, but I won’t buy anything else says a British butcher feeling the pinch of foot and mouth.

Ciao, Gladiatore!

Ciao, Gladiatore!

Crowe-band Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts gig Milan for Children in Crisis fund-raiser.

Furry Love

Furry Love

Wellington residents disturbed by amorous possums engage in chemical warfare to keep the peace.

Kiwis in Oz

Kiwis in Oz

Taking the edge to the world, Russell Crowe and former Australian Channel 9 boss, now Telstra board member Sam Chisholm are examples of Kiwi excellence that “will always float to the top”.

Sweet Tooth

Sweet Tooth

Dental-wise, honey’s sweet as says Waikato scientist Dr Peter Molan.

Great Spinner

Great Spinner

New Zealand-born Clarrie Grimmet’s 216 wickets from 37 tests earned him a place in Australia’s pantheon, despite a rift with the big man of Australian cricket.

She’s Right

She’s Right

New Zealand business confidence hits two-year high.  

Environmental Energy

Environmental Energy

A proto-type has been built for New Zealand’s first alternative power plant, using water to power a dual-cell hydrogen power station designed to supply energy to a timber company.

Fleet of Foot

Fleet of Foot

Ex-New Zealand detective Cheryl Fleet now runs international tours catering to women on journeys of adventure and renewal.

Living Well

Living Well

Buzzy Auckland hits the big time, ranked 7th best-living city world-wide. Wellington also cruised high, beating London, Paris and New York at 23rd equal.

Gene Genie

Gene Genie

Edge Gene Therapist and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Jefferson Medical College Philadelphia Matthew During, releases a first and major step forward in the prevention and possible treatment of stomach cancers through a technique involving oral doses…

Classical Stirrer

Classical Stirrer

“By instinct a man of the left and no respecter of reputations,” influential Cambridge Classical scholar Professor Robert Coleman “brought from his native New Zealand a suspicion of the great English institutions and took delight in expressing…

View From an Ass

View From an Ass

Masterton man Geoff Roder will fight for his right to watch the drive-in from his donkey.

Sea of Faith

Sea of Faith

What do edge theologian Lloyd Geering and Lisa Simpson have in common?