Archive >> January 2011

Entrepreneurs Abound

New Zealand has begun 2011 as one of the most entrepreneurial countries on the planet — “an entrepreneurial powerhouse,” according to The Economist. With a recent study by The…

New Face of League

Wests Tiger Benji Marshall “is the new face of rugby league” according to The Sydney Morning Herald, having been “chosen as the man to front the code as the…

Nice Uppercut

In a unanimous points decision Sonny Bill Williams has won his third professional boxing bout in six-rounds against Sydney forklift truck driver Scott Lewis at the Gold Coast Convention…

Field of Dreams

Mangatainoka farmer Neil Symonds has taken his fanaticism for rugby to a new level. There are Test centuries and famous tries scored in many a backyard but not many…

Trail-blazing Tomatoes

Auckland-based Status Produce is New Zealand’s largest tomato supplier producing 10 million kilograms of tomatoes each year. Status Produce began as a vision in 1993 by John Becroft, a…

Colours of Aotearoa

Whanganui-born composer Douglas Lilburn’s overture ‘Aotearoa’ and ‘Symphony No. 2’ were recently performed by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra in Charleston; the conductor was New Zealander Grant Cooper, who…

Princely Role

Wellington actor Nico Evers-Swindell will play the part of Prince William in a television movie about the royal couple, William & Kate, which is due to start production in…

Frontier Travel

“Driven by an adventurous national spirit and blessed with an extraordinarily rugged landscape that calls to adrenaline addicts like a jungle gym calls to children, New Zealanders and visiting…

Young Blood Take Scroll

Auckland five-piece band Naked and Famous have won the Silver Scroll prize for their smash hit “Young Blood” at the Australasian Performing Right Association’s awards held in Auckland on…

Retiring From the Pitch

Former New Zealand opening batsman Dunedin-born Matthew Bell has announced his retirement from all forms of the game, after struggling with injuries over the past two seasons. “It’s a…

Difficult News to Hear

Chief coroner Judge Neil MacLean has ruled that the 29 men killed in the Pike River mine disaster died almost immediately and had no hope of rescue. The men…

Springboard for MLS

Auckland football player Michael Boxall has made the first pick in the supplemental draft for Vancouver team the Whitecaps. Boxall said of his selection: “Vancouver’s a great place to…

Ladyhawke at Laneway

“For an artist with such a fierce-sounding moniker, award-winning New Zealand singer-songwriter Ladyhawke — whose name conjures up anything from female shaman warriors to an Academy Award-nominated fantasy film…

Shirtless in Character

“As Dr Ben Keeton, the head of a South American jungle clinic, actor Martin Henderson has finally found a role that not only maximizes his ruggedly handsome good looks,…

Manhattan Ambition

New Zealand fashion photographer Regan Cameron who is based in New York, has shot some of the world’s biggest celebrities including Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen, Madonna, Kate Moss and…

Dancing Success

A New Zealand dancer took out one of the top accolades in the dancing world at this year’s Critic’s Circle National Dance Awards. Following in the success of her…

Wind Assisted Travel

When in Wellington “you don’t need energy to walk as you’ll be assisted by the wind,” discovers Malay Mail reporter Dominah Devadas. Devadas writes that asides from the wind,…

Ball Player Takes a Hike

“Without question, the highlight of offseason was the 53.5km trek on one of New Zealand’s Great Walks that opened his eyes to the…

Self-Controlled Success

A study by an international team of researchers who looked at 137 children in Dunedin born in the early 197s, observing their levels of self-control at ages 3 and…

Queenstown Todo

As the brochures boast: “Whether you crave adventure daily, or just like to have your pants scared off occasionally, you will find what you are looking for” in Queenstown….

Tourism Awakening

These days, Nelson is a city “very much awake to the rewards of top-class dining and swish eco-stays”, Jimmy Thomson writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. “‘I’ve been to…

Singer of the World

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is the new patron of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition following the death of Dame Joan Sutherland last year. Chairman of the…

Relief for Black Caps

The New Zealand Black Caps ended their 11-game losing run in one-day internationals thrashing Pakistan in Wellington to take a 1-0 lead in the six-match series. Seamer Tim Southee…

Home Made in Nelson

A Nelson family of six achieved their dream of home ownership recently with the help of Habitat for Humanity International and 11 American volunteers. Oregon Live reporter and volunteer…

Scratching the Surface

“No, you can’t do New Zealand in a week,” is what a travel writer friend told The National’s Rosemary Behan when she was invited on a seven-day whirlwind tour…

Pursuit Win for Trio

New Zealand’s women — Rushlee Buchanan, Kaytee Boyd and Jaime Nielsen — took gold in the pursuit event in Beijing to strengthen their position at the top of the…

Adjusting to Change

In 21, New Zealand journalists Rebecca Todd and Kirk Hargreaves travelled to Nepal and visited Sanischare and Beldangi II, two of seven camps that housed 1, Bhutanese refugees for…

Golfer’s dream courses

The sister golf courses of Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers are included in a list of Toronto Star travel writer Ian Cruickshank’s “top five places that still need to…

High-End Drama

Director Lee Tamahori’s new Sundance film The Devil’s Double, a violent glimpse at Saddam Hussein’s notorious son Uday and his unwilling body double, is a chance for the 60-year-old,…

Song of the Day

Tim Finn’s ballad “Persuasion”, from his 1993 album Before and After, was named ‘Song of the Day’ on January 20 by the New Jersey Star-Ledger’s Tris McCall. McCall declares…

Shameful Shortfalls

The New Zealand Herald reports that the United Nations committee on the rights of the child has expressed concern over shortfalls in the rights of New Zealand…

Exciting Nano Potential

Victoria University PhD graduates Dr Fern Kelly and Dr Kerstin Burridge have completed parallel research projects pioneering a way of embedding tiny nanoparticles of gold and silver in New…

Young Guns Qualify

The Young All Whites have qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 211 beating Tahiti in Auckland 2-. Cameron Howieson had coach Steve Cain’s side off to a…

Keat Makes a Splash

“ midfielder Daniel Keat looks to join the ranks of those En Zedders who first made a splash playing in Major League Soccer,” Bleacher Report’s Jo-Ryan Salazar writes. “And…

Different Sort of Luxury

“Forget hot showers, nice meals and clean sheets, walking New Zealand’s spectacular Milford Track is a luxury in itself,” Eric Arnold writes in a travel piece for Forbes. “Most…

Contemporary encounters

New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana is one of three New Zealand artists participating in an exhibition called Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years on at an “unprecedented number” of…

Burry’s Glorious Gaudi

Melbourne-based Mark Burry, executive architect and researcher on the Temple Sagrada Família project in Barcelona, “is lost for words to describe how he felt at the consecration by Pope…

Weighing in on the Buzz

“For the first time, probably ever, a band from is poised for huge success in the States,” The Huffington Post’s Jon Chattman predicts. “The Naked and the…

Oh For a Lamington

“The use of fresh and organic produce is what defines modern New Zealand cuisine, and it is this feature that chef Clinton Cooper believes will draw health-conscious Indians towards…

Utopian Tech Mecca

New Zealand is a newly discovered “utopia” for American entrepreneur Peter Thiel, famous for co-founding PayPal and being an early investor in Facebook, buying 5.2% in 2004 (the scene…

The Promiscuous Hihi

A team of researchers has found that reintroductions of a small New Zealand bird, called the hihi (Notiomystis cincta), onto the tiny islands around the North Island and into…

Kayaking Refuge

“Whale Island, in the Bay of Plenty is roughly 15km long by 5km wide with a central dome that reaches 354m,” describes Keith Austin in a travel piece for…

Prints out of the box

New Zealand printmakers are showcasing their work in New South Wales at Tweed River Art Gallery, in an exhibition titled Out of the Box. Out of the Box features…

Cake History For Sale

New Zealand woman Katrina Greenslade is selling a piece of wedding cake on online auction site Trade Me which she says is from the 1981 wedding of Princess Diana…

Richard Henry Lives On

Legendary kakapo, Richard Henry, whose genetic material helped recover the species of rare flightless parrot, has died at the ripe old age of 80. Researchers believed the kakapo had…

Commanding changes

The leaders of New Zealand’s military commitment in East Timor have changed with Wing Commander Sam Leske RNZAF (left) taking over from Commander Tony Millar RNZN. Held at Kiwi…

Wine About the Bay

There’s more to New Zealand wine than Marlborough, and much of it is within an hour of New Zealand’s major cities jaunted reporter Eric Rosen discovers on a “whirlwind…

Musical Fashion

Fashion designers Trelise Cooper and Karen Walker are among a wave of labels turning their hand to costume design in 2011. Cooper has created costumes for the Victorian Opera…

Organic targets set

Twenty per cent of vineyards in New Zealand will be farmed organically or biodynamically by 22, according to a new target set by Organic Winegrowers New Zealand (OWNZ). “By…

Buzz-worthy bands

“Z is For (New) Zealand,” in NME’s New Music Glossary for 2011, “a handy guide to all the buzz-worthy jargon for the coming 12 months.” “Finally it seems there’s…

Sound from all sides

New Zealand musician and ribbon-microphone enthusiast Larry Killip has helped introduce Chinese microphones to the English-speaking market. In 23 he discovered a new line of cheap Chinese ribbon microphones…

It Must Be Heaven

Gore woman Gay Dillon and Joni Knight from Langley, British Columbia have been penpals for 45 years. Knight finally got to meet Dillon in person in 2010, when she…

Irish Take to the Edge

“It is the home of the All Blacks and Middle Earth, and it is increasingly home to a growing number of Irish migrants, seeking a fresh start in the…

Revealing the inner

“Everyone’s favourite sexy vampire-loving barmaid” New Zealand actress Anna Paquin is on the cover of the January 2011 issue of Dazed & Confused magazine. In the cover story titled…

New Zealand and You

After more than a decade of success with the 100% Pure New Zealand brand, Tourism New Zealand has changed the slogan to 100% Pure You. Tourism New Zealand chief…

Ulva Island transfixes

“I feel like I’m in a New Zealand tourism commercial,” Sarah Nicholson writes for Adelaide Now describing her “perfect New Zealand moment” wandering the golden sand of Ulva Island,…