November 2008 Archives

Contained Holiday Spots

Contained Holiday Spots

New Zealand-produced port-a-bach, made by Wellington company Atelier Workshop from shipping containers, are reviewed in multi-medium technology magazine Gizmag, which describes the relocatable dwellings as “the perfect home for a disaster situation.” All that…

Made for Manhattan

Made for Manhattan

New Zealand designers are now represented at essenze, a store within a store at the Metropolitan Design Center on Broadway in New York, which opened on November 19. Exporting to the US since 2005,…

Top Spot for Tahrs

Top Spot for Tahrs

New Zealand is one of the world’s top hunting destinations according to Men’s Vogue, with New Zealand Wildlife Safaris the magazine’s featured tour company. Terry and Glad Pierson have operated Wildlife Safaris since 1978…

Masterful to the End

Masterful to the End

Dunedin-born professional chess player and writer Robert Wade has died in London, aged 87, bringing to an end a career which famously included a draw with Bobby Fischer at the Havana tournament in 1965,…

Rugby’s Slam Dunk

Rugby’s Slam Dunk

The All Blacks have won their third Grand Slam and the inaugural Sir Edmund Hillary Shield beating England at Twickenham 32-6. In The Independent Hugh Godwin writes: “The clever clogs who got rid of…

Educating the World

Educating the World

New Zealand’s international students industry is flourishing again after a recent downturn in numbers. Smart marketing strategies and the lower New Zealand dollar are luring overseas students back. Compared to offshore competitors, New Zealand…

BC Health Sector Move

BC Health Sector Move

New Zealand health administrator Nigel Murray has been in Canada this past year having taken up the position of CEO for British Columbia’s Fraser Health Authority, which delivers care to 1.5 million people and…

2008 Rugby League World Cup Haka

2008 Rugby League World Cup Haka

Take a look at the Haka from the 2008 Rugby League World Cup final.

With Loppers at the Ready

With Loppers at the Ready

Conservation Volunteers New Zealand is joined by British gap-year blogger Ruth Holliday who writes about her time spent with the group in the Telegraph, “doing what is best described as heavy gardening in the…

Teaming up for culture

Teaming up for culture

New Zealand and South Korea are forging an artistic alliance with a film co-production treaty signed in September 27 and the forthcoming New Zealand Cultural Diplomacy International Program which will be held over three…

An Astral Heritage

An Astral Heritage

23 November 2008 – Tekapo’s Graeme Murray – director of Earth & Sky at Mt John Observatory – is the driving force behind obtaining UNESCO World Heritage Starlight Reserve status for the pristine skies…

Teaming Up for Culture

Teaming Up for Culture

New Zealand and South Korea are forging an artistic alliance with a film co-production treaty signed in September 2007 and the forthcoming New Zealand Cultural Diplomacy International Program which will be held over three…

Fantasy in Spain

Fantasy in Spain

Auckland Elam School of Fine Arts graduate Hye Rim Lee has just returned to her base in New York after a solo exhibition of ëCrystal Cityí in M·laga, Spain. South Korean-born Lee ó who…

Definitely No Regrets

Definitely No Regrets

The Kiwis dismissed the sceptics and the Kangaroos to win the Rugby League World Cup in Brisbane, beating the Australians 34-20, their first ever World Cup win. Outside of the New Zealand camp, few…

Walking the Wet

Walking the Wet

Fiordland’s Hollyford Track “lacks the traffic of Milford Sound” according to The Sydney Morning Herald’s Jenny Tabakoff who tramps the Valley in a guided tour on a particularly damp three days. Delivered by…

Cambodian Stint Rewarded

Cambodian Stint Rewarded

World aerobics champion Botany Downs local Angela McMillan, 28, has been in Phnom Penh coaching the Cambodian men’s team ahead of December’s Asian Aerobic Gymnastics Championships in Bangkok. McMillan, who claimed the world title…

AB Supporters Take Heed

AB Supporters Take Heed

New Zealander and London-based publisher Martin Moodie was “probably one of only 500 in the 26,000 strong crowd” at Limerick’s Thomond Park when the All Blacks played Munster, “ and was honoured to be…

Parliamentary Melting Pot

Parliamentary Melting Pot

Pansy Wong, 53, is New Zealand’s first Asian cabinet minister, having been named Minister for Ethnic Affairs and Minister of Women’s Affairs in the new government. Wong, who was born in Shanghai, said her…

Antarcticans Unite

Antarcticans Unite

Nearly every New Zealander, according to American author of The Entire Earth and Sky: Views on Antarctica, Leslie Carol Roberts “has some link to Antarctica – either they had been there, or someone they…

With Grand Applause

With Grand Applause

Wellington-based author Eleanor Catton’s first novel The Rehearsal has been bought by US publisher Granta for a six-figure sum. Currently working on her MFA at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop as a 2008 Glenn Schaeffer…

Te Rauparaha’s War Cry

Te Rauparaha’s War Cry

The all-Maori team first performed a haka against Surrey in Richmond in 1888 where they, according to theIllustrated London News, “cavorted about in ostrich-feather capes and tassell’d caps in a device of novelty and…

Judd Mixes It Up

Judd Mixes It Up

Chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay Kevin Judd’s 2008 sauvignon blanc has just hit British shelves and in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Judd explains the complexities of blending wine. “In the old days…

Easy Street in Rawene

Easy Street in Rawene

New Zealand-based designer Lise Strathdee’s company Outpost Hokianga, located in Rawene, is a “hip concept store that mixes fashion, books, art and fine food,” according to Time magazine. The notion that fashionable shopping…

Women’s Open Confirmed

Women’s Open Confirmed

Wellington golfer Sarah Nicholson and Aucklander Liz McKinnon will be two of 20 New Zealand and Australian players in a total field of 144 to appear at the inaugural New Zealand Women’s Open staged…

Collision with the big guns

Collision with the big guns

Te Awamutu-born Crowded House frontman Neil Finn is Billboard’s featured artist, just ahead of a planned studio project with his son singer Liam Finn, UK band Radiohead and American rockers Wilco. In a sequel…

Looking Back to Black

Looking Back to Black

Former All Black hooker Anton Oliver, 33, is now studying at Oxford University for an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management, but he’ll play “one more decent game” against Cambridge in the Nomura Varsity…

New Zealander in Ink

New Zealander in Ink

Auckland tattooist Nikole Lowe, 36, is one of four London-based artists featured on the Discovery Channel’s six-part reality show London Ink, a series which delves into the world of tattooing. Lowe is interviewed in…

Waterborne Cars Are Go

Waterborne Cars Are Go

16 November 2008 – New Zealand entrepreneur Alan Gibbs, 69, has opened an amphibious vehicle engineering and research centre for his firm, Gibbs Technologies in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Gibbs previewed two of his company’s…

In all honesty

In all honesty

“The curry-scented streets of Pip Brown’s east-London neighbourhood Brick Lane are a far cry from her beginnings in New Zealand,” writes The Independent on Sunday’s Luiza Sauma in a frank interview with Brown, now…

All Blacks Haka: 2008

All Blacks Haka: 2008

The All Blacks perform their iconic Haka before a 2008 match against Ireland.

Mail Man Has Role in US

Mail Man Has Role in US

Former New Zealand Post CEO and Royal Mail executive deputy chairman Elmar Toime has been appointed to American online postal service Earth Class Mail Corporation’s board of advisors. Toime – who also led the…

Thrive Wellington 08

Thrive Wellington 08

Brian Sweeney’s speech at Thrive Wellington 08 – “Lets Talk Business”. (29 minutes)

The siege of Helengrad

The siege of Helengrad

Antony Green, election analyst with the Australian Broadcasting Commission, summed up Election 08 thus (abridged): “Whether New Zealanders wanted change or just a change of government is the mandate question that John Key will…

Celebrating Two Decades

Celebrating Two Decades

For over 20 years, since A.J Hackett and Henry Van Asch’s first tandem leap of faith in 1988, bungee jumping has poured more than $1 billion into the New Zealand economy. On November 12,…

View From Olympus: John Psathas

View From Olympus: John Psathas

An excerpt from the documentary made around the recording of John Psathas’ concerto, View From Olympus

National Party’s 2008 Election Victory

National Party’s 2008 Election Victory

John Key’s 2008 election victory speech

One Visitor at a Time

One Visitor at a Time

New Zealand has been judged to have the most responsible tourism practises on the planet at the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards in London. The judges declared New Zealand the overall winner of 2008…

Music to his ears

Music to his ears

Associate professor in instrumental and vocal composition at The New Zealand School of Music Jack Body’s latest cross-cultural composition is a production called ‘The Seven Ages of Man’, which is a “multimedia music theatre”…

Fame from the field

Fame from the field

Wellington-born Singer Will Martin, 24, is one of a number of classical crossover performers who, writes the Times Online, made their “big break” singing the national anthem at a sporting event. Martin first performed…

Rugby’s Poster Boy

Rugby’s Poster Boy

All Black fly-half Dan Carter, who recently made number 11 on American network E! Entertainment channel’s list of the 25 Sexiest Men of the World, this week also featured in CNN’s Talk Asia series….

Legendary Cricketer

Legendary Cricketer

Former test-cricketer and left-arm spinner Aucklander Hedley Howarth has died, aged 64. Howarth claimed 86 wickets in 30 tests for New Zealand between 1969 and 1974, retiring from test cricket in 1977. He was…

Key In Clark Out

Key In Clark Out

8 November 2008 – National Party leader John Key, 47, has ousted Labour’s Helen Clark from office and a nine-year term, with a mantra of change. Prime Minister Helen Clark conceded defeat. Clark, 58,…

Home with Benefits

Home with Benefits

New Zealand is the favoured country for British expatriates to live because of its low property prices, mild weather and favourable tax rates. Having the lowest average property price at £105,750, low fuel, food…

#103: Economy on the Edge

#103: Economy on the Edge

Edge Message #103 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM This has become a mini-magazine. Pour a coffee. The view is from Raumati South, Kapiti, looking towards the top of the South Island.   It’s a great Saturday coming up…

Awarded for Imagination

Awarded for Imagination

New Zealand mineral chemist Dr Alan Reid, 77, has won the Ian Wark Medal in acknowledgement for his outstanding contribution to Australia’s prosperity through the advancement of scientific knowledge. One of a number of…

Tidal promotion

Tidal promotion

Christchurch singer-songwriter Anika Moa’s third studio album ‘In Swings the Tide’ has been released in Australia, and with the release Moa, 28, will perform several promotional concerts in Melbourne ahead of shows supporting Crowded…

Rethinking Polar Power

Rethinking Polar Power

Later this month, Meridian Energy will begin work on the most southernmost wind farm in the world, on Crater Hill, Ross Island in Antarctica. The turbines will provide renewable energy to New Zealand’s Scott…

Tama Heihei Kaki Maro

Tama Heihei Kaki Maro

I start this blog on Labour Day. I’m just back at Waiohiki from a Black Power hui near Rotorua, including a challenge for the Gabe Tawhaiti – and I’ll come back to that in…