Hyde’s Bitter Strength
Robin Hyde’s “remarkable tribute, in tough and rugged language, to a Chinese peasant”, the poem “Ku Li” is the Guardian’s “Poem of the Week”. “Ku Li” was begun in China during the second Sino-Japanese…
February 2011 Archives
Taking the Tube
“Taniwha Cave Tubing, embraces much of what makes the New Zealand West Coast so special, with its combination of wild rivers, unspoiled forest, turbulent mining history … and an adventurous spirit,” Jim Eagles describes…
Educational Destination
India has emerged as the second largest source country after China for international students in New Zealand during 2010-11, according to statistics released by Immigration New Zealand (INZ). The number of Indian students approved…
Travel to New Zealand
“I’ve always liked Phil Keoghan as host of The Amazing Race,” Orlando Sentinel television reviewer Hal Boedeker professes. “I didn’t realize he was from New Zealand, but there he was on The Late Late…
Strategic Partners
New Zealand will open an embassy in the UAE within two months, announced Minister for Economic Development and Energy and Resources Gerry Brownlee. Brownlee said the country is looking to the UAE and Saudi…
Mysteries Remain
“Days after the quake, a friend returns home to the eeriness of a place that’s undergone incredible violence,” author Emily Perkins writes for an article in the Guardian. “Everything is upended, on its side,…
Unflagging Optimist
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker has been there in front of the news cameras almost from the moment the deadly earthquake struck the tourist city of Christchurch. At 57, Parker is Christchurch’s Earthquake Mayor. It’s…
Sense of Community
The White House deployed disaster-response and urban-search-and-rescue teams to Christchurch following the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that rocked the city on February 22. They were greeted there by Timothy Manning, a deputy administrator at the US…
Roman Wallflower
Lucy Lawless, New Zealand’s one and only Xena, Warrior Princess, doesn’t mind being typecast, saying, “What am I going to complain about? How many actresses work as much as me?” “Being the star of…
Celebrating Chardonnay
“We hardly ever talk about New Zealand chardonnay yet a decade ago it was the country’s most widely planted grape,” the Telegraph’s Victoria Moore writes. “As recently as 21 there were 333 hectares of…
Looking at Tectonics
The devastating earthquake that tore through Christchurch on the afternoon of February 22 is the product of a new fault line in the Earth’s crust — an offshoot from the Alpine fault — that…
In The Press Building
“I was on the phone to a man whose earthquake-damaged home burned down in Pines Beach when the earthquake hit,” eyewitness Nicole Mathewson writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. “At first I thought it…
Glacier Collapses
A huge vertical slab calved off the front of New Zealand’s longest glacier, the Tasman Glacier, into Tasman Lake after the 6.3-magnitude quake hit Christchurch on 22 February. The chunk is estimated to have…
Google Responds
New Zealand-born Google executive Craig Nevill-Manning, who lives in Tribeca, New York, has been using his high-tech skills to help anxious relatives locate loved ones in earthquake-ravaged Christchurch. Nevill-Manning first created the Google Crisis…
John Key’s Christchurch Message
A special message from John Key following the Christchurch Earthquake.
Our Darkest Day
Christchurch has been struck by yet another devastating earthquake, this time with scores of casualties, after a 6.3-magnitude shock struck just before 1pm during a busy lunchtime on Tuesday 22 February. The official death…
Goal Overshadowed
West Ham defender Auckland-born Winston Reid has spoken of his sadness at the deadly earthquake that rocked Christchurch hours after the Hammers had booked their place in the last eight of the FA Cup…
World Transformed
Author David Haywood describes the earthquake that destroyed his home and killed scores of New Zealanders in an eyewitness account for the Guardian. “The first jolt knocked me off my feet. A desktop computer…
Steaming Forward
Contact Energy is to go ahead with the $623 million Te Mihi geothermal power project, having awarded the contract to engineering and construction management giant SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. in a joint venture with United…
Enduring Friendship
New Zealand has the “enduring friendship and support of many partners around the world,” President Obama said in a White House statement. Obama offered his “deepest condolences” to the people of New Zealand and…
Aftermath of Christchurch Earthquake
Footage of the aftermath of the earthquake that rocked Christchurch on 22 February 2011.
Rear View Girls
Aspiring Auckland actresses Jessie Gurunathan and Reanin Johannink used hidden cameras fitted to the back of their jeans to film unsuspecting individuals staring at their backsides. The footage, taken in LA, was the idea…
Culinary Samplings
New Zealander Sam McFarren has lived in Brentwood, Tennessee for the past four years; she is profiled by the local newspaper The Tennessean in an article in which she talks about the differences between…
Complex Notes Cast
“Complexity — The Fine Wines of New Zealand”, a webcast wine tasting project which was launched by 21 boutique wineries last year in Denver, Colorado, was held again on Waitangi Day in Chicago in…
Easy Opening Match
The Black Caps have begun their World Cup campaign with a resounding win over Kenya, who had “no answer to some outstanding New Zealand bowling, which was full and accurate.” Paceman Hamish Bennett took…
Getting Noticed in NY
Matamata’s Emily Baker and Palmerston North’s Jessica Clarke took to the catwalks at New York Fashion Week recently with Baker named one of the top 1 newcomers of the season by online fashion bible…
Timelord Travels South
“We had only been in New Zealand for a weekend but already I had begun to understand how the country’s dramatic landscape — volcanoes, mud pools and geysers, pristine beaches, lush vegetation, lakes and…
Packing a Punch
New Zealand is one of those countries that packs an enormous amount into a relatively small package. It’s unpretentious, despite its wonderful portfolio of natural treasures that range from the semi-tropical tip of North…
Crowds Go Wild
Gisborne hosted as many as 25, spectators and 2 competitors at this year’s National Kapa Haka Festival, Te Matatini o Te Ra, held from16 through 2 February, with Rotorua-based Te Matarae i Orehu taking…
Twitter Tourism
Scottish journalist Danny Wallace recently tweeted his way around New Zealand garnering valuable travel tips from locals on the way who suggested views from atop Auckland’s Mt Eden, a Guinness…
Money Helps
“Even when wandering through the heat in the transport black hole of Pyrmont, Sam Morgan is alive to a gap in the market,” Tim Dick writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. “He asks why…
Year for the Kereru
A project to help the kereru and native forests thrive once more throughout the Wellington region has received new funding from the Nikau Foundation with support from the Willscott Endowment Fund, and WWF-New Zealand…
Gastronomic Benchmark
New Zealanders are pushing culinary boundaries at this year’s Hokitika Wildfoods Festival serving up shots of horse semen to iron-stomached food lovers. The equine delicacy will be on the menu at the annual festival…
Dealing to Manure
New Zealand has approved the release of 11 Australian species to manage a massive heap of livestock dung. Manure accounts for around 14 per cent of New Zealand’s emissions of nitrous oxide, a powerful…
Back to Business
The New Zealand dairy co-operative of 1,5 farmers, Fonterra, which controls about a third of all internationally traded dairy products, has resumed its operations in Egypt in the wake of political unrest there. “We…
Into the Stormy Pot
Outdoor adventure instructors taking shelter from a storm in Kahurangi National Park on Mt Arthur have stumbled across what may prove to be the country’s deepest cave. Instructor Kieran McKay and four others took…
Trekking Frozen Tears
“With the help of experienced guides it’s possible to safely enjoy the exquisite beauty of ancient, frozen rivers, their icy blue splendour glowing in the southern hemisphere’s brilliant summer sun,” Carmen Gentile…
Republic of Waiver Forms
“It’s perfectly normal to jump off buildings, planes, canyons and bridges in New Zealand,” writes the Globe and Mail’s Robin Esrock. “No other country compels visitors — of all ages — to push their…
Stronger ‘Mateship’
Julia Gillard is now coming to the end of her first official visit to New Zealand. In speeches to New Zealand business leaders and Parliament yesterday, Gillard sought to “pay tribute to the friendship”…
Island Spirit
Actor Martin Henderson — who stars in the latest series from Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, Off the Map — talks to Metro Canada about working in Hawaii, keeping his accent and arguing for…
Return to Erebus
Over 1 relatives of those killed in the Mt Erebus air disaster visited Antarctica yesterday. The flight’s 14 passengers, who were selected by ballot, flew out of Christchurch to attend a memorial for their…
Jet-ski World Record
An Auckland man has set a world record for the distance covered by jet-ski within a 24 hour period. Jeremy Burfoot rode his Sea-Doo jet-ski 2,287km during his record breaking session on Lake Karapiro….
Running to a New Record
A New Zealander has successfully run the fastest half-marathon by a woman on American soil. Kimberley Smith won the women’s section of the New Orleans half marathon by over three minutes, completing the course…
Gillard Makes History
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is poised to make history on her first official visit to New Zealand this week. Gillard will be the first foreign leader in New Zealand history to address New…
Whitten’s Legacy
Veteran New Zealand actor, Frank Whitten, has died at age 68. Best known for his role as Ted “Grandpa” West on Outrageous Fortune, Whitten passed away in his sleep on Saturday after a battle…
The Wright Impact
The Black Caps are a team to watch at this month’s Cricket World Cup. Despite back-to-back ODI series defeats, players Scott Styris and Brendon McCullum agree the team is in the process of a…
Children Call Space
A group of Nelson school children are preparing to speak to astronauts living on the International Space Station. Victory Primary School successfully applied for the chance to speak with in-orbit astronauts through the Amateur…
William Trubridge Freediving Record
William Trubridge sets a new Freediving world record without the need for fins.
Diva Loves Danny Boy
Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa is a “sucker” for sentimental Irish ballad Danny Boy. Te Kanawa is one of eight musicians asked by the Los Angeles Times to share their favourite love song in the…
All Work for TNAF
The Naked and Famous are currently on tour in the UK and with their London performance feature in the Guardian’s weekly gig guide. The publication writes: “Essentially the project of Thom Powers and Alisa…
Hobbit Cast Front-up
The cast of Peter Jackson’s two-film adaptation of The Hobbit were this month introduced to the news media at a press conference in Wellington at the Park Road Post production facility. The event featured…
Anti-cancer Effects
Otago University scientists have found that children who regularly drink milk are up to 40 per cent less likely to suffer from bowel cancer. The researchers found that drinking nearly 250ml of milk daily…
Whitebait and Wine
The Noosa News New Zealand Wine Festival will be held in Noosa on February 25-27 and will include a seven-course degustation menu matching two New Zealand wines to each of the courses. Although Noosa…
Checking in at Opua
Opua is the first mandatory stop in the Bay of Islands for boats arriving from foreign waters and where visiting sailor, and blogger, Ruth checks in with New Zealand customs and immigration officials. “Actually,…
Hobbit Tourism
With filming on The Hobbit confirmed to begin in March, New Zealand is preparing for another tourism boom. It is expected that Peter Jackson’s latest film creation will drive a renewed bout of Tolkien…
