News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Surviving A Day Of Fun

Surviving A Day Of Fun

“In one day I jumped from a bridge, rode at breakneck speeds in a canyon on a jet boat, took a helicopter flight over a mountain range, survived four hours on Class IV white…

New Zealand Facebook First

New Zealand Facebook First

“New Zealand already has lush rainforests and sandy beaches, bungee jumping and scuba diving, gourmet restaurants and lively night life, even a thriving tech community that has drawn investment from the likes of Peter…

Observing Oceanic Responsibilities

Observing Oceanic Responsibilities

New Zealand and Australia have signed a marine observation agreement, which is expected to result in improved knowledge of regional climate systems. New Zealand’s high commissioner Major-General Martyn Dunne and Australia’s Science Minister Kim…

Give Them Authority

Give Them Authority

Former New Zealand cabinet minister and member of parliament, Maurice McTigue, who is currently vice president of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia, comments on changes at the United States Postal…

Must Eats In The South

Must Eats In The South

When visiting New Zealand there are five foods “you’ve just got to try” according to Jaunted’s Eric Rosen. “On our own recent long visit to the South Island, we discovered more and more chefs…

Reporting From New Zealand

Reporting From New Zealand

“For a small place, New Zealand generates a lot of news,” ABC New Zealand correspondent Dominque Schwartz tells Elizabeth Jackson. “Its population is less than that of Sydney, but this year alone there’ve been…

Physicality Earns Top Award

Physicality Earns Top Award

All Blacks loose forward Jerome Kaino, 28, was named New Zealand player of the year at the Steinlager Rugby Awards held in Auckland. Kaino played all but 55 seconds of New Zealand’s seven World…

Great Barrier Phenomenon

Great Barrier Phenomenon

American entomologist Mark Moffett, 53, claimed he discovered the largest weta of the species ever found. International publications, such as the Daily Mail, The Huffington Post and Telegraph, have declared Moffett’s find the world’s biggest insect in terms…

Documenting Recovery

Documenting Recovery

While an exchange student in New Zealand, American Peter Hoffman, 27, discovered his passion for photography, and for the country. This year, Hoffman plans to return to Christchurch, where in February this year an…

Stay At The Furthermost Edge

Stay At The Furthermost Edge

Tucked up in the high country of the South Island, Mount Aspiring teetering to the rear, Lake Wanaka far down below, the 65,000-acre Minaret Station is not so much the middle of nowhere as…

Challenging Classroom Prejudice

Challenging Classroom Prejudice

New Zealand-born teacher Suran Dickson, 34, felt moved enough to leave her job and launch Diversity Role Models, a charity which tackles the worrying incidence of homophobic bullying in British schools, where terms…

Magical Parrot Meetings

Magical Parrot Meetings

The rangers and scientists of the Kakapo Recovery program on Codfish Island are slowly but surely succeeding in their mission to “make more kakapo” by micromanaging the birds’ diet, mating, births, and fledging —…

New Zealand Least Corrupt

New Zealand Least Corrupt

New Zealand is perceived as having the least corrupt government and public institutions in the world, topping the Corruption Perceptions Index 2011 survey. 178 countries were included in this year’s iteration of the annual survey,…

Alien Disappearance

Alien Disappearance

Without any human intervention, the Argentine ant — the world’s most invasive species — is disappearing from New Zealand. The alien ant arrived in New Zealand in 1990 and has since marched across our…

Muppets Made Malevolent

Muppets Made Malevolent

Peter Jackson’s Meet the Feebles is “a hilariously offensive film,” the Muppet’s exact reverse,” writes New York Times’ blogger Lia Miller. “As I began researching this article,” Miller writes, “I was reminded of the most fantastically warped Muppet-style…

Calling Australia Home

Calling Australia Home

Almost one in five Maori — or 151,000 of the total population of 815,000 — now live outside New Zealand, with most — 140,000 — calling Australia home. An increasing number were born in…

Kudos Across The Tasman

Kudos Across The Tasman

Hamilton-born singer Kimbra has taken the title of Best Female Artist at the Australian 2011 ARIA Awards, following in the footsteps of fellow New Zealander Jenny Morris who won the title twice in 1987…

Cranking Out A Conchords Film

Cranking Out A Conchords Film

Bret McKenzie has said he has hopes for a film version of his and Jemaine Clement’s hit television show Flight of the Conchords. “We’re going to try and do a movie,” McKenzie said at The Muppets premiere…

Birds In Paradise

Birds In Paradise

About an hour from downtown Wellington is Kapiti Island, one of New Zealand’s most successful nature reserves and a model for wildlife and flora conservation. Award-winning journalist Jill Robinson takes a day-trip there. “On…

Gorge Of Gold

Gorge Of Gold

The Karangahake Gorge, between the Coromandel Peninsula townships of Paeroa and Waihi, features walkways offering a glimpse of goldmining history amidst dramatic scenery. The USA Today’s Liz Lewis describes: “Enormous foundation ruins of the gold…

Crooning Retro Sass

Crooning Retro Sass

Wellington-born 21-year-old Willy Moon is “dressed up to the nines in a black wool coat, white suit, pale blue shirt and tie, hair greased and parted with precision — the spitting image of a…

Slamming Sixes Galore

Slamming Sixes Galore

Masterton-born batsman Jesse Ryder, 27, smashed a world record 16 sixes against Australia A in Brisbane on 27 November. Ryder blasted 175 off 137 deliveries primarily against Australia A’s spinners and part-time bowlers at…

Woodland Harmony

Woodland Harmony

A 1960s Boston house designed by Hamilton-born Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor and architect Maurice Smith is advertised as for sale in the Boston Herald. “This Weston contemporary is built to harmonize with its…

Astrophotography First

Astrophotography First

With only a 25cm telescope, amateur New Zealand astronomer Rolf Olsen has for the first time been able to get a direct photograph of the disk of swirling material forming a planet around a…

Paddling Perfection

Paddling Perfection

Abel Tasman National Park, Lake Tarawera and Urupukapuka Island in the Bay of Islands are all included in The Australian’s “Ten top paddling experiences in Australia and New Zealand.” “ day-touring itineraries include…

Spellbound On Tiritiri Matangi

Spellbound On Tiritiri Matangi

New Zealand bellbird, Anthornis melanura was the Guardian’s ‘Mystery Bird’ on 24 November. “This bird is named for its gorgeous song, which consists of three distinct sounds that resemble the chiming of distant bells,” evolutionary…

Man Of Masterpieces

Man Of Masterpieces

Kerikeri resident Russell Garcia, an California-born arranger, composer and conductor who was an influential figure in the West Coast music scene during the 1950s and ‘60s and whose work in Hollywood included writing the…

Sacred Heart Star To Blackburn

Sacred Heart Star To Blackburn

Seventeen-year-old Junior All White Aucklander Tim Payne is the second New Zealander, after All White Ryan Nelsen, to join Lancashire Premiere club the Blackburn Rovers. Payne, who is expected to sign his first professional…

Wine Producer Of The Year

Wine Producer Of The Year

Brent Marris’ Marlborough winery Marisco Vineyards, which produced its first vintage just two years ago, has been named New Zealand Wine Producer of the Year by the International Wine & Spirits Competition. Former chief…

Freedom For Little Blues

Freedom For Little Blues

Forty-nine little blue penguins rescued from the Rena oil spill that occurred in October off the coast of Tauranga have been returned to the wild at Mt Maunganui beach. Most of them immediately ran…

Upon A Breathing Planet

Upon A Breathing Planet

“Step into the volcanic crater on White Island, among the steaming fumaroles and geysers, and you’re instantly in a geothermal wonderland,” American journalist Jill Robinson writes for The Washington Post. “The hissing and bubbling…

From Top To Bottom

From Top To Bottom

The 3000km Te Araroa, or The Long Pathway, the world’s longest walking trail, will be officially opened on 3 December in Wellington. The trail is the result of a massive volunteer effort that…

Queens Street Firsts

Queens Street Firsts

Andrea Hewitt, 29, won the women’s event while Kris Gemmell beat compatriot Bevan Docherty in the men’s race as New Zealanders dominated their home leg of the ITU World Cup triathlon series in Auckland….

Unique Island Perspective

Unique Island Perspective

New Zealand’s first-ever entry in the foreign-language Oscar race, Samoan-born director Tusi Tamasese’s debut feature The Orator is being hailed as a brave new voice in world cinema. Orator is pioneering in more ways than that:…

Jackson’s Effect

Jackson’s Effect

New Zealand filmmaking is at an all-time high thanks to Lord of the Rings’ director Peter Jackson who, 12 years ago, boosted the country’s Hollywood stock The Hollywood Reporter’s Pip Bulbeck writes. Jackson — who also appeared on…

Inspired By Ancestral Loss

Inspired By Ancestral Loss

New Zealand actor Charles Chan writes about his role as Wang in the play The Bone Feeder — which was on at Auckland’s TAPAC in November — for a story in The Malaysian Star. The Bone…

Xena Loves Geniuses

Xena Loves Geniuses

“You may know her as Xena from Xena: Warrior Princess and, more recently, Lucretia from Spartacus, but you may not expect that Lucy Lawless would fly all the way from New Zealand to California for TEDMED, a…

Cycle Team Signing Coup

Cycle Team Signing Coup

Takaka native Jack Bauer, 24, represents a “signing coup” for CEO Jonathan Vaughters of Boulder-based cycling unit the 2012 Team Garmin-Cervelo. Vaughters went deep into cycling’s hinterland to find a possible star for Europe’s…

Recapturing the Glory Days

Recapturing the Glory Days

Papakura-born fly-half Stephen Donald, 27, who signed a two-year deal with Premiership club Bath in August, says he wants to help the team recapture their “glory days”. “They’re very ambitious. I’d love to contribute…

Horse Whispering

Horse Whispering

An image of Hurricanes assistant coach Alama Ieremia working with his horse during a leadership programme run by Talkinghorses in Te Horo, is included in the Globe and Mail’s ‘Day in Photos’. The publication…

Radical Award For Professor

Radical Award For Professor

Christchurch biochemist Professor Christine Winterbourn has become the first woman to receive New Zealand’s top science award in its 20-year history, the Rutherford Medal. Winterbourn, Otago University pathology department’s director of the Free Radical…

On The Road In Western Australia

On The Road In Western Australia

Hamilton-based eight-piece reggae group Katchafire play at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Bunbury on 25 November as part of the band’s Australian tour promoting their new album, On the Road Again. Vocalist Logan Bell,…

Welcome to The Gilbert Scott

Welcome to The Gilbert Scott

General manager of The Gilbert Scott restaurant in London, New Zealander Chantelle Nicholson, 31, is profiled in the ‘Modernisms’ section of the British biannual magazine The Gentlewoman. Nicholson “is the warm welcome” at the…

Composing For Kermit

Composing For Kermit

Wellingtonian Bret McKenzie has applied “his rare talents to a sacred” and “daunting” “Muppets-related endeavour” writing three songs for the forthcoming movie The Muppets. The New York Times’ cultural editor Adam Sternbergh writes for the publication’s magazine:…

Rats Not Such Pests After All

Rats Not Such Pests After All

Invasive rats are compensating for the loss of native pollinators in New Zealand, scientists report in a paper published in a Royal Society journal. “New Zealand offers a really interesting and rare opportunity to…

By Heck It’s Back

By Heck It’s Back

One of the world’s smallest and rarest marine dolphins, the Hector’s Dolphin, has been seen in Wellington Harbour, more than two years after the last sighting. The person who spotted the dolphin said it…

Wellington-Fitzroy Pop-Up

Wellington-Fitzroy Pop-Up

When tickets went on sale for pop-up restaurant WLG in Fitzroy run by New Zealand’s best chefs, 500 seats were sold in 25 minutes. The temporary restaurant, named after Wellington’s airport code, opens for…

Warriors Rewarded

Warriors Rewarded

New Zealand intelligence expert Upper Hutt resident Major Rory McGregor was among 25 New Zealand Defence Force personnel to receive US military medals from visiting Major General Peter Talleri, the Okinawa, Japan-based commander of…

Playing Egg-Ball In France

Playing Egg-Ball In France

“Like many of his contemporaries, Blair Stewart is a valuable commodity: a New Zealand rugby player,” Tadhg Peavoy writes in a profile of Christchurch-born Stewart, 28, for RTÉ Sports. “Stewart began his career playing…

Smoking Hot Tourism

Smoking Hot Tourism

“Geo-thermal activity is everywhere ,” Ritu Singh writes for The Times of India. “Pits steam, holes smoke and water boils wherever you look – inside hotels, behind bushes even in people’s…

Fluent in Pinot Noir

Fluent in Pinot Noir

Pinot noir from New Zealand’s Marlborough region is inimitable says the Telegraph’s Victoria Moore. “If I had to choose one New Zealand region whose pinot noir I would drink for the rest of my life, I…

Competition and Camaraderie

Competition and Camaraderie

New Zealand firefighters Rob Holah and Donny Butters recently travelled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to compete in the 20th annual Firefighter Combat Challenge World Challenge. Holah said camaraderie is one of the biggest…

Manawatu Teen Makes It Big

Manawatu Teen Makes It Big

Palmerston North model Jessica Clarke, 18, is the first New Zealander to feature in a Victoria’s Secret show, which was held at New York’s Lexington Avenue Armory on 10 November. Father, Shaun Clarke said:…

Home Is Where The Boom Is

Home Is Where The Boom Is

New Zealanders and Australians once flocked to the UK for the opportunity to gain experience and return home with some valuable pounds, but the booming Australian economy and a sharp appreciation in the New…

Top NZ Big Apple Eateries

Top NZ Big Apple Eateries

“I just got back from a trip to New Zealand and loved it. What are New York’s top spots for Kiwi cuisine?” asks a Village Voice reader in the publication’s ‘Ask the Critics’ section. Critic Lauren…

Study In The Elusiveness Of Home

Study In The Elusiveness Of Home

Best known for her many novels, including The Room of Lost Things, New Zealand-raised writer Stella Duffy has most recently been spending her time scribbling lists on the walls of London’s Ovalhouse Theatre devising a…