Extolling winged virtues

A New Zealand manufactured turbine-powered bush plane, the P750 XSTOL is being promoted in Alaska by a Californian dealer who says the aircraft rivals the traditional Cessna turbine aircraft…

Mobile Bach Adventure

A Christchurch Classic Camper Volkswagen Vanagon is rented by Los Angeles Times’ reporter Mary Engel and her  husband who says the rented vehicle makes for an “experience still more…

Top Lodge Spots

The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs has been voted No. 1 Lodge/Resort in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific in the 2009 Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards readers’…

Charismatic Leader

Chief executive of New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa, Dr Seddon Bennington, 61, died on July 15 tramping in the Tararua Ranges, a sight Dr Bennington admired from his…

Rise of the Grape

Brancott Winery’s Ivan Yukich – who planted his first vines in the Waitakere Ranges in 1934 – was a visionary who fought through poor economic times, prohibition and New…

This is really a dog

Gisborne dog owner Cheryl McKnight believes her 6-month-old Maltese puppy Scooter, which stands at just 8cm tall, is a Guinness World Record potential for the smallest dog by height….

Radio with Pictures

New Zealand-born DJ, radio host and television personality, Zane Lowe, 35, is piloting an initiative by BBC’s Radio 1 to make radio a visual medium, with Lowe’s antics being filmed by…

If Trees Could Talk

Much movie magic is created “in and around Wellington, the San Francisco-like capital city situated at the southwest tip of North Island” writes Boston Globe correspondent Ethan Gilsdorf. “In…

Cheap but cheerful

New Zealand tourists are among the most fiscally tight travelers in the world according to a survey by online travel company Expedia, who asked more than 4,500 hoteliers around…

Leading from the Front

Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Ramsden, has become the first New Zealander to be awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal at a special ceremony recently in Brussels, Belgium. The award was…

Taking over Rotterdam

Iconic Auckland pop artist, Billy Apple, has hijacked the Netherlands art scene by holding a major solo exhibition at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam….

Back in the Hot Seats

All Blacks head coach Graham Henry and his two assistants Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen have been re-appointed for an extended two seasons until the end of the 2011…

Face to Face on the South’s Slopes

Western Australia Today has pit two of New Zealand’s banner ski resorts against each other to see whether Wanaka or Queenstown really has it all. Combing through the views,…

Ospreys Welcome Collins

Former All Black back-rower Jerry Collins, 28, has signed two-year contract with Welsh Liberty Stadium side the Ospreys having arrived from French team Toulon. Collins says he is taking…

American hoopla

The Datsuns are in the United States promoting their fourth album Headstunts — the first time the band has been in the country since touring with the Pixies in…

Interpreting Haydn

The New Zealand String Quartet performed two pieces by Haydn at Ithaca College in New York to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his death in 1809. The group also…

Energetic last dance

Wellington jazz musicians the Ford/Tipping/Wise Trio have released a “hard-grooving, impressively creative release” called After the Last Dance, which music site All About Jazz reviews this month. “Each [of…

Paddock To Plate

New Zealand chefs and consumers are increasingly embracing diverse homegrown produce, with Queenstown’s Saffron restaurant at the forefront of this “quiet revolution” explains Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service. Sourced from…

Bet on the Baa Blacks

The town of Methven (population 1200) recently hosted a sheep-race, which saw two teams of eight “professionally trained” sheep speed round the local pub and over barrels at speeds…

Stellar young talent

Eleanor Catton, 24, has been praised in the first international reviews for her novel, The Rehearsal, receiving rave write-ups in influential publications The Scotsman, The Times and…

On display in Venice

The work of New Zealand artists Judy Millar (above) and Francis Upritchard (below) at the 53rd International Venice Biennale is beautifully showcased in a photographic essay by Ronnie Peters…

Eblack strummer wins

New Zealander Mason Maddox or “massi4h”, a member of the 2009 eBlacks team, has won a gold medal at the World Cyber Games Asian Championship in Singapore. Maddox won…

Pastry Mad In The Bay

Aucklander Alka Patel has taken the New Zealand pie to the streets of San Francisco, selling the pastry goodness at Stonestown farmers’ market. “I sold out of everything both…

In Praise of Hard Work

Radio New Zealand has received a Gold Medal at the recent New York Festival Radio Awards for its documentary on the life of Mount Everest conqueror, Sir Edmund Hillary….

Supernova discovery

Oxford dairy farmer Stuart Parker, 37, had been scanning the North Canterbury skies through his telescope for 15 years searching for a supernova before finally coming across one -…

Straight to the point

Two hard-hitting, ‘in your face’ anti-speeding campaigns from Colenso and  Saatchi & Saatchi — who were both awarded Bronze Lions at the recent 2009 International…

Piecing life together

Mt Maunganui artist and jigsaw puzzle creator Royce McClure, 53, was in India this month assembling a 25,000 piece puzzle he designed for a Lipton Tea promotion. A veteran…

Everyman’s House

Artist Dick Frizzell’s Haumoana home ‘Faraway’ – “a sky blue, maritime-themed house that is surrounded by an olive grove, an orchard and a flower and vegetable garden” – features…

Pakiri Paradise

Horse-riding on a secluded North Island beach is one of the activities included in the series and accompanying BBC book Unforgettable Things To Do Before You Die; examiner.com reporter…

Unbeatable on the Thames

New Zealand have beaten the British at the five-day Henley Royal Regatta winning gold in four finals. New Zealand won the head-to-head clashes 3-2, Mahé Drysdale getting revenge for…

Bedroom Dealings

Westport couple Wayne Saggers and Kathy Wahrlich sold their bed and threw in six-bedroom historic Stone House in an online auction on TradeMe for $302,600 to an Aucklander named,…

Jet back to Oshkosh

Christchurch inventor Glenn Martin, 49, will make another appearance, albeit without his Martin Jetpack, at this year’s EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to report on the progress of his…

Online generation bridge

Auckland City Libraries and the New Zealand Chinese Association Auckland Inc. have joined forces to develop the first New Zealand Chinese digital communities website, which will be launched at…

On the rocks

Minus5 creator Craig Ling has opened another ice bar, this time in Stillwater, Minnesota. “Patrons looking for something really cool will now be able to don a parka and…

Sting in UK market

Family-owned business Nelson Honey is seeking approval to market its bee venom honey in Britain, claiming the product alleviates the symptoms of arthritis. Britain’s Food Safety Authority has to…

Front row seat for Kirk

Former Fairfax boss and All Black great David Kirk is the newly appointed executive chairman of the Pacific Equity Partners-owned Hoyts cinema group. The move, which will also see…

Hell has no borders

New Zealand fastfood chain Hell Pizza will open 30 franchises throughout Ireland by 2016. The first Hell’s Pizza was launched in Dublin earlier this year, which made Ireland the…

Currant discovery

A recent study lead by Roger Hurst of the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research (NZIPFR), has discovered that blackcurrant extract improves athletic performance. The findings, which…

Creators and Destroyers

The history and breathtaking landscape of New Zealand’s first national park, Tongariro (which dominates the middle of the North Island) is subject to an in-depth analysis by travel writer…

True Colours

The oldest moa feathers yet discovered and their DNA are providing New Zealand and Australian scientists with clues to the plumage of the giant bird – perhaps not unlike…

Little Island Paradise

Waiheke Island, in the North Island’s Hauraki Gulf has placed 6th in the 2009 list of the ‘World’s Best Islands to Live On’ by Islands magazine, and is praised…

By Hook or by Hudson

Christchurch car enthusiasts Tony and Lynnette Mallard are touring the United States in a 1934 Hudson making their way toward the Detroit suburb of Pontiac and the 100th anniversary…

Emerging from underground

New Zealand music icons The Bats and The Clean both release new albums this year and in “anticipation of this sudden surge in Antipodean creativity, [arts and culture site…

Take a Seat

Wellington-based office seating and furniture company, Formway Design has featured recently in Fast Company, Time and The Wall Street Journal for its work on the Generation by…

Accolades for Catton

Wellington author of The Rehearsal (Victoria University Press, NZ and Granta, UK) Eleanor Catton, 23, has won the UK’s Betty Trask Award worth £8,000. Sebastian Faulks presented £60,500 in…

Redhead Hopes She Has

New Zealand native Rachel Paget, 37, is competing in the American reality television show She’s Got the Look hoping for a win and a photo spread in Self magazine,…

Back for More

Rugby great Jonah Lomu, 34, is to join French third division side Marseille Vitrolles. And Lomu hopes that, together with fellow new boys Alain Hyardet, Isitolo Maka, Julian Vulakoro…

Icy Kicks

Queenstown’s annual week-long Winter Festival saw mountain bikers tear down Coronet Peak’s slopes, near-naked bird people leap into a freezing Lake Wakatipu and cross-dressing men in heels sprint toward…

Moral repatriation

More than a dozen mummified Maori heads could be returned to New Zealand once a French bill is approved by the Senate in Paris. “The Maori heads that are…

Hot in the Isles

Ladyhawke played to a packed audience, including The O.C. A-lister Mischa Barton, in the John Peel Tent at this year’s Glastonbury Festival on June 28. “Pip Brown and her…

Abstract-minded

New Zealand-inspired prints by American artist and solarplate expert Dan Welden feature in an exhibition at Adelphi University, Garden City, with some of the paintings evoking those of Colin…

Rising Star

Christchurch-born singer Boh Runga is the “next singer-songwriter to keep your eyes on” according to music site Top40-charts, which goes on to describe LA-based Runga’s latest solo album Right…

Antipodeans reminisce

New Zealanders flocked to London’s Clapham Common to celebrate all things pineapple lump and barbeque over music and sauvignon at the three-day Toast festival. The welcome ceremony was hosted…

Lover of Words Passes

Respected literary scholar and Professor Terry Sturm, who played a leading role in placing New Zealand literature at the centre of the academic curriculum and was awarded a CBE…

Holiday With Gradient

At 2797m, Mt Ruapehu is the North Island’s highest peak with the largest area of patrolled skifield in the country on the Whakapapa side, and on the Turoa, Australasia’s…

Oaks from iPods

New Zealanders John and Sarah Lewis, directors of London-based company AcornHQ, are encouraging iPhone and iPod owners to offset carbon emissions associated with the devices by making a…