Home Match For Crusaders
One major symbol of regeneration in Christchurch is the construction of a temporary stadium in Addington that will be used by the Crusaders Super Rugby team Emma Stoney explains in The New York Times. “The…
February 2012 Archives
Running Paths Of History
New Plymouth-based ultra-distance runner Lisa Tamati and Australian travel journalist Chris Ord recently ran 140km from the desert outpost of Hermannsburg to Alice Springs — retracing the route taken by stockman Hezekial Malbunka when…
Dave Takes Avalanche On Tour
Auckland folk band Avalanche City has signed to Roadrunner Records for distribution in North America, releasing the four-track Love Love Love EP on 3 April. Avalanche City is the brainchild of Dave Baxter, a singer songwriter…
Future Garden Plans Bloom
New Zealand’s High Commissioner in Canada Ottawa-based Andrew Needs writes for The Vancouver Sun about the upcoming Ellerslie International Flower Show held from 7 -11 March at North Hagley Park in Christchurch. “Leading designers are busy…
Shooting Vampires In NZ
New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi — whose 2010 film Boy was recently released in the United States — talks to Rotten Tomatoes about his five favourite films and his upcoming vampire movie plans with Flight of…
Nationwide Smoking Ban
New Zealand is aiming to eradicate smoking across the country by 2025. In an article published in the international Tobacco Control journal, health researchers at the University of Otago have said the government needs to set…
Succeeding With Smarts
In what airline revenue specialists say is a first for any airline, Air New Zealand has ventured into banking, converting its frequent-flier club members into financial services clients, with the OneSmart card. The card,…
Kairuku Comes Alive
The full skeleton of an ancient penguin that roamed New Zealand 25 million years ago has been reconstructed by experts from the University of Otago and North Carolina State University. Standing about 1.3m tall,…
Cleaning Up The Sty
An innovative biogas system developed by New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) is making Australian pig farms cleaner and greener as well as reducing the smell. Australian pork industry association,…
All About Winning
Hamilton-born Warren Gatland, 48, the current Wales National Rugby Club Coach, speaks to Meet the Boss TV presenter Padraig Hyland about his ambitions as a coach and for the Welsh team. His greatest satisfaction…
Long Island Hopes For Olympics
New Zealand runner Leanora Petrina, 29, who lives in Bayport, Long Island, is profiled in local publication Long Island Business News. “I run anything from 1500-5km on the track, including the steeplechase, Petrina says. “On…
Proud of Being a New Zealander: John Key
John Key reflects on what makes him most proud to be a New Zealander.
Distinctively World Famous
“Today, of 164 buildings constructed between 1920 and 1940, 140 remain, forming a time capsule of design elements — zigzags, sunbursts, Egyptian motifs and geometric patterns — that characterize the style and garner…
Traverse Demands Respect
“The Tongariro Crossing is considered New Zealand’s best one-day trek, and one of the best in the world,” Star Tribune reporter Melanie Radzicki McManus writes. “The trail winds through soft alpine meadows and past burbling mountain…
NZ Film for Manila Filmgoers
“While New Zealand may primarily be known as the setting of the Lord of the Rings franchise and having tons of sheep, one look at the lineup of the first-ever New Zealand Film Festival is enough…
#143: Lloyd Morrison Tribute; Global Headlines
THE GLOBAL LIFE OF NEW ZEALANDERS From Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM | 24 February 2012| #143 |…
Pebble Beach On Steroids
“There are a lot of places your golf ball can go on this course, and many of them are not good,” cautioned Ryan Brandeburg, the director of golf at a thrill ride of a…
Groundswell Of Riesling
“The emergence of exceptionally fine New Zealand wines proves there is a groundswell of real talent and ambition in these islands,” Jancis Robinson writes in the Financial Times. “Two weeks ago, I came across the…
Unfinished Business
Ahead of the “highly anticipated” sequel to Sione’s Wedding, actor Robbie Magasiva, 40, is in Sydney for a Q & A at the Liverpool Event Cinemas to promote Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business. The latest instalment is…
Experimental Eugenia In NY
New Zealand playwright Lorae Parry’s Eugenia will be performed at the State University of New York (SUNY) from 1-11 March. The play is a debut for the region, having been performed only once in the United…
Unprecedented After-Shock
Deon Swiggs, 25-year-old director of the fledgling nonprofit Rebuild Christchurch, talks to the Los Angeles Times about how New Zealanders are coping one year after a massive magnitude 6.3 earthquake killed 185 people and…
Challenging Reputations
Despite the prevalence of foreign-chartered vessels (FCVs), which in 2010 earned $274.6 million in export revenue and hauled in 62.3 per cent of New Zealand’s deepwater fisheries catch, some companies have determined they are…
Towering Forward Impresses
Wellington basketball player, former Scots College student, Steven Adams is Sports Illustrated’s ‘High School Player of the Month’. Seven-foot Adams, who has relocated to the United States playing for Notre Dame Prep, is immensely talented and…
Paradigm For The Future
Bronwen Evans, former Radio New Zealand economics correspondent and co-owner of Faasai Resort and Spa, an award winning eco-resort in Thailand, will be one of the international speakers at the inaugural IncrediblEdge…
Affecting Festival Lineup
One of this year’s New Zealand International Festival of the Arts features will be the New Zealand Opera production, Hohepa, which premieres on 15 March. It tells the tragic tale of Maori chief Hohepa Te…
Up to No Good in the Caitlins
Flight of the Conchord Bret McKenzie and Australian comedian Hamish Blake star in a screwball manslaughter comedy who end up on the road trip of their lives in the feature film Two Little Boys,…
Chicken Little Might Be Right
Over the past ten years, the height of clouds has been shrinking according to researchers at the University of Auckland. The time frame is short, but if future observations show that clouds are truly…
Thrilling Win for Paddison
Wellington golfer Gareth Paddison, 31, held on in a nail-biting finish to win the Victorian PGA Championship at Creswick’s Forest Park by one shot ahead of Australian Leighton Lyle. Forest Resort pro-golfer Ben Roberts…
Compelling Business Software
New Zealand-based small business accountancy software developer Xero has recently expanded its footprint to the United States. Business Insider reporter Ramon Ray talks to the president of the company’s American operations Jamie Sutherland. “Xero is first…
Servant of Cricket
New Zealand cricket commentator, coach, administrator and former Canterbury offspinner, Peter Sharp has died aged 72. Sharp played eight first-class matches over two seasons, taking 21 wickets at an average of 26.90. He began…
Downtime In The Trailer
Actor Sam Neill, who is starring in the US television series Alcatraz, has convinced his famous friends to compile Top 10 lists of their favourite songs, publishing them on the website for his boutique winery,
We Bought a Marina
Three years ago, Wellingtonian Boyd Tomkies, 38, combined his childhood passion with a way to support his family – buying what he described as a “failing” inflatables business and recently becoming the owner of…
Sam Neill Extols NZ Pinot Noir
New Zealand actor Sam Neill pioneered pinot noir in his homeland. In 2012, Neill’s pinot noir won gold at the London International Wine and Spirit Competition. ‘In a matter of about 30 years, we’ve come…
Staying Atop an Alpine Meadow
“Whare Kea Lodge pilot James Ford is gunning his helicopter up a wide, verdant valley on a perfect summer’s day,” Toronto Star travel editor Jim Byers describes. “He climbs up and up and clears a…
Discussing Democracies
New Zealand and the United States are open and democratic societies with British colonial origins, a frontier legacy, a history of mass immigration and widely remarked-upon senses of optimism, but New Zealanders, by contrast,…
Buying Up the Grammar Zone
The campus of Auckland Grammar School, designed in the Spanish style of the California missions, is one of New Zealand’s largest, oldest and most prestigious schools for boys, established in 1868. By…
Homes Bring Hope in Cambodia
Palmerston North City Council civil engineer Kelvin Au (left), 25, is putting his skills to good use in Cambodia as part of a Habitat for Humanity one-year placement, organized via Engineering Without Borders, building…
Wonders of Waiheke
“ is famed for its hippies and nudist beaches, its boutique art galleries and cafe culture, and for its stunning wineries, the production of which, although small by commercial standards, regularly match up…
CarboNZero Skateventure
Auckland trio Alan Carnaby, Troy Bilbrough and Guy Parsons spent five weeks from November to January skateboarding 1600km from Arequipa, Peru to La Serena, Chile to raise awareness about sustainable travel. They wound through…
Rings Of Change
“At The Kauri Museum in Matakohe biologist Dr Jonathan Palmer explains a novel approach to assessing global climate change — by analysing the rings of ancient kauri trees,” Chris Kilham writes for Fox News….
Sky is the Limit
Since December, New Zealand-based SkyCity has been in talks with the South Australian government on the redevelopment and expansion of their Adelaide casino. SkyCity, which also has casinos in Auckland, Hamilton, Queenstown and Darwin,…
Lifestyle Comes At A Price
Auckland and Wellington have risen in their rankings of the most expensive cities to live in, with Auckland jumping nine places to rank 15 and Wellington rising 16 places to rank 17th with London….
Chinese Tourism Numbers Climb
Chinese tourists in New Zealand outspent American visitors last year for the first time on record. Spending by Chinese tourists gained 26 per cent to $457 million last year, the Ministry of Economic Development…
Land Sale Stopped In Court
High Court Judge Forrest Miller has halted the first ever sale of dairy farms to Chinese investors, Shanghai Pengxin, the latest twist in a saga that’s dividing a country reliant on agriculture for much…
More Tintin Adventures
Peter Jackson will direct the second film in the planned Tintin trilogy, following the success of the first film in the series, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. Director Steven Spielberg said…
Celebrating Women Top Chefs
New Zealander Anna Hansen, 42, chef-owner of the highly lauded Clerkenwell restaurant The Modern Pantry, is a participant in next month’s inaugural Girls’ Night Out — three evenings in London designed to celebrate…
Getting Back to Basics
The Topp Twins, who are touring the UK in February, say the secret to their longevity and success is because of their strength and independence, and that because they are “old-fashioned” entertainers they appeal…
Highlight Of Career
Taupo-born triathlete Bevan Docherty, 34, has beaten seven-time Tour de France winner American Lance Armstrong to take the Panama half ironman title. Olympic silver-medalist Docherty beat Armstrong by 31 seconds after overtaking him on…
New Zealand Farewells A Leader
Lloyd Morrison, Wellington businessman, founder of infrastructure investment company Infratil, philanthropist and patron of the arts, has died in Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, aged 54. Speaking from Seattle, his brother…
Onward To The Future
“In the big picture is bigger than the destruction,” SF Gate reporter Spud Hilton writes. “I had come to Christchurch to better understand how a series of quakes can turn a metropolis upside…
Talented Teen Enchants
Director Pietra Brettkelly’s documentary Maori Boy Genius, which premiered at this month’s Berlinale, tracks 16-year-old Tuhoe prodigy Ngaa Rauuira Pumanawawhiti as he attends summer school at Yale and applies to study there full-time. “Ngaa carries…
Taking The Phibian For A Spin
Gibbs Technologies, a company founded in 1996 by New Zealand entrepreneur Alan Gibbs, has demonstrated its newest amphibian vehicle model on land and in the waters of the Potomac River in Arlington,…
Sustainability Success Inspires
Along with its other exports, New Zealand has given us a template for sustainability success according to Huffington Post writer Craig Comstock. “New Zealand, apart from supplying the setting for The Lord of the Rings, is a…
Glue And Poetry In NY
For two years, owner of Christchurch-based Phantom Billstickers, Jim Wilson travelled throughout the United States putting poem posters by New Zealand poets on bollards, walls and in cafes and stores. As a result of…
Killer Instinct KO’s American
All Black and heavyweight boxer Sonny Bill Williams, 26, scored a first round knockout over American Clarence Tillman III at Claudelands Events Centre in Hamilton earning him the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association championship…
Invaluable Coaching Insights
World Cup-winning All Black coach Graham Henry, 65, has signed a part-time contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) to help develop New Zealand’s coaching talent. Henry had been interested in working for…
