Being a Sport

When interacting with New Zealanders “bone up” on the intricacies of how rugby and cricket are played, expect the dialogue to be frank yet friendly, and don’t broach topics…

Two men and a bear

Teddy, a short film directed by New Zealanders Christopher Banks and produced by Andy Jalfon, screened at the recent San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival. The 13 minute film…

Blacks Triumph

The Junior All Blacks have won the IRB Toshiba World Junior Championship beating England 44-28 in Tokyo, retaining the title won last year in Wales when they thrashed the…

Arrivals Soar

New Zealand saw the number of Australian tourists exceed the one million mark for the first time and the total annual immigration increase to a two year high, Statistics…

iDYLLIC

The New Zealand designed iPAD is an eco-friendly prefabricated building and one of “six of the best in the world” according to the Independent on Sunday. After producing the…

Point of Pride

The All Whites have secured their first ever point at a FIFA tournament in the South African Confederations Cup. Though goal-less for all three matches played, the New Zealand…

Phenomenal in Peoria

Auckland athlete Kim Smith, 27, who is based in the United States, has won the 36th annual Steamboat Classic 4-mile women’s race in Peoria, Illinois, running the third fastest…

Western Scenes

The West Coast’s Bruce Bay is “windswept, isolated and utterly beautiful” where travellers “have left their mark on the beachfront with small cairns of smooth rocks carefully balanced on…

With Gratitude

Thanks be to New Zealand for giving the UK butter and for the might of Sir Keith Park writes The Financial Times’ Miss Moneypenny. “New Zealand’s dairy farmers deserve…

Near Perfect North

The Bay of Islands “is not only South Pacific-beautiful, it has been an important crucible for New Zealand’s human history”. That history begins with arrival from the north in…

Taking the mickey

The Age finds literal mirth in New Zealand’s “quirky” place names travelling from the North Island town of Waipu, through several of the “whaka-” and on to Shag River,…

Goodbye on the Ganga

Auckland yoga instructor Karla Brodie bid farewell to her husband Mitchell Samuels on the Ganga River, Varanasi in what The Times of India described as a “poignant…

Commission reviewer

Director Peter Jackson will lead a review of the New Zealand Film Commission alongside head of screen business at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School David Court. Jackson…

Cooper the Wallaby

Tokoroa-born Quade Cooper, who recently played his first Test as a Wallaby, knows rugby’s brutal side says Greg Growden of the Brisbane Times, and growing up in the North…

Cheerful Change

New Zealand is home to some very happy British expatriates according to a NatWest International survey of 2,000 Britons living abroad. And though a long way to go to…

42 x 42

Director Niki Caro is one of 42 creatives signing up for the 42Below vodka-instigated ONEDREAMRUSH campaign, which will see each individual create a 42 second film based on…

Sultry Sookie

“It’s no secret at Self, we love True Blood. Anna Paquin’s emergence as a sex symbol — and the onscreen (and off-screen!) heat between her and costar Stephen…

From Lush Pasturelands

“Make it New Zealand lamb every time!” encourages British celebrity chef Delia Smith from her official website. “When treating friends and family to luscious barbecue lamb recipes or feeding…

Induction Duets

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa performs at this month’s Hollywood Bowl’s season-opening gala, which will also serve as the soprano’s induction into the Bowl’s Hall of Fame. Te Kanawa spoke…

Pests Busted

Orchard worker Don Sullivan and a team of 30 trappers have been awarded the Forest & Bird annual Pestbuster prize for their work in nabbing 530 pests over the…

Bloody messy

Anna Paquin, 26, has slept through her first interview with Time Out New York having for two weeks been shooting back-to-back episodes of HBO’s True Blood. “I don’t party….

Positive Thinking

All Whites coach Ricki Herbert is confident the All Whites will earn their first ever point in a FIFA Confederations Cup this month in South Africa. “I think we…

Winter Bar-Hopping

Queenstown’s “bar scene can match any city for quantity, variety and quality and the disarming sincerity of this cold town’s warm heart is impossible to resist,” writes West Australia…

Candid in Cork

Doug Howlett, 30, who is based in Cork having signed with Munster in 2008, is profiled in the Irish Times which discusses the Northern Hemisphere team, his family and…

Small But Mighty

The New Zealand Defence Force is reviewed by military publication Jane’s which describes the Force as “always attempting to perform on the world stage at a level that belies…

Teddy charms

“There could not have been a more dashing, roguish Count than the New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes,” writes Janelle Gelfand in a Cincinnati Enquirer review of Cincinnati Opera’s…

Sunshine’s sisters

Auckland film maker Christine Jeffs created the independent feature Sunshine Cleaning with sisters in mind, and being one herself, Jeffs told The Age, she wanted to explore the dynamics…

Decade of purity

The 100 per cent pure New Zealand campaign is celebrating a decade in business and a decade promoting the “essence” of this country. Well, if New Zealanders can do…

Janet’s grace

“To whatever extent the intellectual, emotional, and artistic struggles of Janet Frame’s protagonist mirror those of its author, a wrenching portrait of both emerges, fascinating…

Gene Predictions

University of Auckland researchers have developed the world’s first test to measure the risk for individual smokers and ex-smokers of developing lung cancer with a simple mouth swab, trade…

All Black Nostalgia

Dan Carter is returning to New Zealand from his time playing in Perpignan, France and in the first of an exclusive two part interview with The Independent, Carter “makes…

High Above the Bay

Bay of Islands luxury self-contained accommodation Cloud9 is reviewed by the International Business Times which describes the $1700 per night hilltop house as about “as close to heaven as…

Investing in Breath

Roger Dickie New Zealand Ltd is offering investors shares in Onslow Carbon Forest, an established Douglas-fir forest east of the township of Roxburgh for $25,000 allowing investors the potential…

It’s All Turned Sour

Federated Farmers President Don Nicolson has lashed out against President Barack Obama and US milk subsidies in an opinion piece for the latest issue of The Wall Street Journal….

King of the Derby

New Zealand jockey Larry Cassidy rode New Plymouth trainer John Wheeler’s Court Ruler to victory in the $500,000 Queensland Derby at Eagle Farm. Wheeler won his first Derby with…

Jackson in the district

Wellington director Peter Jackson will attend this year’s San Diego convention Comic-Con International on July 24 for the first time, the prospect delighting thousands of comic-book, science-fiction and fantasy…

Sheep jokes abate

Trans-Tasman relationships have warmed in recent times with Australia becoming “far more inclusive” of New Zealand, “no longer pretending we’re not really here” according to the head of the…

Investing in New Zealand

A number of New Zealand companies are seeking alliances with the Silicon Valley’s tech investors and entrepreneurs in an effort to grow and extend their reach into world markets….

Historic battle concludes

David Bain, 37, now a free man “who served almost 13 years in prison for murdering his family, has been cleared after a retrial that was only secured by…

Tongue-twisters charm

New Zealand children’s author Margaret Mahy has won a best picture book award for Bubble Trouble at the 2009 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for excellence in children’s and young…

Spreading the word

New Zealand is the most peaceful country in the world and Americans might want to consider moving here suggests The Washington Post. According to the 2009 Global Peace Index…

Good as gold

Zespri is encouraging Malaysians to eat two kiwifruit a day in a six-month campaign dubbed ‘Extreme Nutrition, Extreme Vitality’. In its promotional flyer, Zespri claims that kiwifruit has immune-boosting…

Madcap genius

What were the 1949 “leading thinkers at the London School of Economics” to make of New Zealand inventor Bill Phillips’ hydraulic water system used to predict the economy, wonders…

Awards for inspiration

New Zealand retailer Michael Hill was one of 50 finalists in the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year awards held in Monte Carlo. Last year in New…

Serene Spar

“If New Zealand were a boxer, it would be a contender for best pound-for-pound puncher on the planet,” according to canada.com. The North American news site describes “New Zealand…

Under the Influence

Michael Brajkovich, 49, winemaker at Kumeu River was the first New Zealander to claim the title of Master of Wine; he has worked with Bordeaux’s Christian Moueix and is…

Wellington for Women

Wellington’s “glam beer hall” Mighty Mighty, “funky little” BATS Theatre and the “legendary” Slow Boat Records are included in a suggested itinerary for “ladies of the world” in the…

Miliaina to Skipper

Fullback Mils Muliaina will captain the All Blacks home tests against France and Italy in June, taking over from an injured Richie McCaw. “Mils is in the leaders group…

Beats the Trail

“The Queen Charlotte Track is to the Appalachian Trail what the Ritz-Carlton is to a homeless shelter,” writes Angus Phillips for The Washington Post. Polar opposites. Phillips and a…

On Women in Yemen

Former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley has been in Yemen lecturing in a workshop promoting local women’s political participation with a special emphasis on New Zealand women and their role…

Goats the New Carrot

Peter Wilkins of Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand launched an advertising ploy to increase sales of the Mitsubishi Triton with the promise of a goat. Buy a Triton — win…

One for the ladies

New Plymouth-raised, UK-based magazine editor Suraya Singh, 30, has got Europe talking with the launch of Filament, a self-funded quarterly UK magazine that is squarely aimed at turning…

Identity Theft

A Fiordland kea made off with a Scottish tourist’s passport when the man’s tour bus driver opened the luggage  compartment of the vehicle. The passport has not been recovered…

Harvest Hoppers

Blenheim’s Montana Brancott Winery hosts Canadian Lindsay Forsey to work “the vintage” between March and May, one of 120 seasonal employees hired from around the world. “I scored the…

Heavenly Pop Hits

Morr Music, an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany, has recently released “a double-disc salute to New Zealand’s ever-influential ’80s indie pop scene”. The album, entitled …

Out on her own

Annabel Alpers has put New Zealand on the tech-pop map writes Guelph Mercury reviewer Jake O’Connell. Recording as Bachelorette, the Christchurch musician’s first album for the American Drag City…