Archive >> June 2012

Saving the Arctic at all Costs

New Zealand-born actress Lucy Lawless, who was recently in Rio de Janeiro to launch Greenpeace’s Save the Arctic campaign alongside Sir Richard Branson, talks to the Guardian’s…

Wines Making the Cut

Cinema celebrities New Zealanders Michael Seresin and Sam Neill are two of a growing number of filmmakers turning their knowledge of a good drop into winemaking. The Australian’s Michael…

New Album with Swagger

Gin Wigmore featured on MTV Australia’s ‘Local Produce’ June special. Wigmore talked to MTV about how she got her start, her plans for the year ahead and her latest…

Cricket Council President Named

New Zealander Alan Isaac has been appointed the eighth president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) succeeding India’s Sharad Pawar. Isaac, the former chairman of New Zealand Cricket, has…

McKellen Show Just for New Zealand

“For the past decade he has been best known as the X-Men antihero Magneto or The Lord of the Rings wizard Gandalf, but in more than a dozen sold-out…

Veterans Remember their Friends

New Zealand World War II airmen were among 800 veterans present at Green Park, London for the Queen’s unveiling of a memorial sculpted by Scotsman Philip Jackson. New Zealand…

Mr Fix-it in the Running

Arguably the best-placed candidate to head News Corporation’s new publishing company is New Zealander Tom Mockridge, the safe pair of hands that Rupert Murdoch parachuted in to lead News…

Velocity is Everything

Business leaders have things the wrong way round according to New Zealand-based Kevin Roberts, chief executive worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi. They spend far too much time…

Strategically Repositioning Business

Investment banking faces a shakeup and only large commercial players and boutiques offering outstanding service will survive and prosper, New Zealander Stephen Jennings, the head of Moscow-based Renaissance Group…

Devastating ABs Stifle Irish

All Blacks Sam Cane and Sonny Bill Williams each scored double tries to inflict a record 60-0 defeat on Ireland and sweep their three-Test series. “We knew we had…

Brightening the Bridge

The Wanganui City Bridge is sporting a refreshing new look at night as a result of new GE80W R150 LED luminaires, the Financial describes. “The 14 new fittings on…

What This Hotelier Wore

New Zealand-born Sean MacPherson, 47, proprietor of the Bowery, Jane and Maritime hotels and an owner of the Waverly Inn restaurant, is revamping the Crow’s Nest Inn…

Off on a Dream Holiday

“In a nutshell,” this is why American Jennifer Thomas went to New Zealand: “I’m driving along some winding country road and a flock of sheep shamble up a hill…

New Zealand’s Great Indoors

New Zealand’s temperate climate, stunning scenery and lower cost of living make it an attractive option for young Irish people and families who are looking to find a new…

Puttin’ ‘Em Back in the Trees

A mammoth conservation effort stretching back decades is offering hope for one of the world’s rarest birds, the kakapo, lifting its numbers from about 50 in 1990 to 126…

Windows to the Soul

New Zealand’s blue-eyed triplefin fish is one of American National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry’s “amazing pictures from beneath the waves” featuring in the Daily Mail. The triplefin…

Cheap Beginnings and a Title

Little Bridge, bred by Des Hawkins’ Llanhennock Trust at Wentwood Grange in Waikato, has became the first New Zealand-bred horse to win at the Royal Ascot meeting,…

Fern Hopes for Place in London

Football Ferns goalkeeper Aucklander Aroon Clansey, 26, who currently plays for English FA Women’s Super League club Liverpool Ladies, is hoping to be in the New Zealand team who…

Air New Zealand: Safety Sketch

Ed O’Neill and Melanie Lynskey explain the dos and don’ts of flying in Air New Zealand’s latest safety video.

Radio New Zealand Wins Gold

New Zealand’s top ranking radio station, Radio New Zealand, has won gold at the 2012 New York Festival Radio Awards for their Christchurch earthquake documentary, Broken River.…

Big Plans for the Pacific Rim

Former president and chief executive of Unilever’s Canadian business, New Zealander Christopher Luxon, 41, has been named Rob Fyfe’s successor as CEO of Air New Zealand. Luxon joined Air…

Reputation Grows in UK

“We’ve always thought we’d love New Zealand-born New York-based designer Rebecca Taylor, but meeting her yesterday to talk through her holiday collection it became official — Grazia’s got a…

Our Great Women Celebrated

New Zealand Women’s Weekly marks eight decades of publication after being launched in the depths of the Great Depression and lists the top 10 women who have…

Possums and Their Strings Hit US

New Zealand bluegrass group The Johnny Possum Band have announced tour dates for their 2012 tour of the United States. “The Johnny Possum Band has been delivering…

Meeting Porgy in Cincinnati

Dunedin opera singer Jonathan Lemalu takes the lead role in Cincinnati Opera’s production of Porgy and Bess, which runs through 8 July in Music Hall. During rehearsals, Lemalu tells…

Golden Oars Row the Isar

New Zealand has taken third place at the World Rowing Cup in Munich, after winning three golds and six medals. Lightweight women’s double scullers Southland’s Louise Ayling and Rotorua’s…

From Meek Geek to King of Cool

New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby, 38, is taking his latest live show, the award-winning This Way to Spaceship, to Leeds on 14 July as part of his first UK…

Niccol Adapts Meyer Novel

New Zealand-born director Andrew Niccol, 48, has adapted Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s The Host, which stars The Lovely Bones’ actress Saoirse Ronan as Melanie Stryder, one of the last…

He Makes Stuff You Want

Professor of mechatronics at Massey University in Auckland Olaf Diegel’s bespoke nylon-bodied guitars are attracting interest from all over the world. An exponent of 3D printing, Diegel’s zany guitar…

On Shortlist for Dream Win

Outrageous Fortune actor Tammy Davis’ short film Ebony Society has been picked as a semi-finalist for the first international Your Film Festival. The competition is described as…

Connecting the Health System

General manager for planning and funding with Canterbury District Health Board Carolyn Gullery explains how the city’s healthcare workers responded so quickly and effectively to last year’s devastating earthquake….

On From London to Rio

Despite pushing his body to breaking point for years five-times world rowing champion Mahe Drysdale cannot resist the lure of an Olympic gold medal. While Drysdale looks forward to…

On the Slopes by Lunchtime

It’s possible to take an early flight from an eastern capital in Australia and be lining up at the lifts above Queenstown, by mid-afternoon, The Sydney Morning Herald’s online…

Servilles Steals the Show

New Zealand-based Servilles came out on top at this year’s Schwarzkopf Professional Hair Expo Awards held in Sydney last week, taking away three of the event’s top prizes….

Taking in the Majestic

“New Zealand is a country of breathtaking extremes and that is spectacularly evident in the central North Island where you’ll find the world famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing,” Australian reporter…

Selling it Natural

Award-winning nudist resort Katikati Naturist Park is for sale. Owners Kevin and Joan Sampson began the naturist resort in 1996, and it ended up being very successful….

Trailer: LOTR – The Two Towers

Silence on Sunderland

“In days gone by, sleepy Clyde really made some noise, writes Caroline Gladstone for The Age. “Tuesday morning, 7 o’clock and the streets are pretty quiet. You could fire…

Designer Tramping with the Birds

“In the style stakes, there is no contest between hikers and pied oystercatchers in Abel Tasman National Park,” Melanie Ball writes for The Australian’s Vogue Living section. “For while…

Savea Does Us Proud

The All Blacks trounced Ireland 42-10 at Eden Park in the first test since winning last year’s World Cup, with 21-year-old winger Julian Savea scoring three tries…

Drafted into the Major League

Auckland catcher Daniel Devonshire, 19, is “the talk of the Moose Jaw baseball community”, according to Saskatchewan local newspaper reporter Aaron Stuckel. “Devonshire is the third ever baseball player…

Startlingly Beautiful by Boat

An image of a local tour boat taken in the Milford Sounds, Fiordland National Park, is featured in the USA Today’s ‘Photo Friday’. “The whole park is part of…

Flair on the Field

“If you are in search of a player that encapsulates a sense of flamboyancy, and something just a little out of the ordinary then, Sonny Bill Williams may just…

Prize for Elegance and Economy

Wellington author Emma Martin has won the £5,000 Commonwealth short story prize for Two Girls in a Boat, which chair of judges Bernardine Evaristo described as “gorgeous, elegant and…

Experiencing Activism in Thames

Thames was the first stop in New Zealand for American Deborah Swift, author of The Tin Ticket: The Heroic Journey of Australia’s Convict Women. On a three-week book tour…

Wellington Hosts Hobbit

The world premiere of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will take place at Wellington’s Embassy Theatre on 28 November two weeks ahead of the film’s…

Breaking More Ice

New Zealand-based clothing company Icebreaker, makers of hand-picked merino wool adventure-wear will open a second Vancouver store in September. “Vancouverites have been such great supporters of Icebreaker,…

Remarkable Command on Tough Track

New Zealand IndyCar champion 28-time winner Scott Dixon, 31, took top of the podium at the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix in Detroit. Dixon pulled away on lap 55…

Sharing in Canadian Energy

The Richard Chandler Corporation has announced acquisition of shares in Canadian energy company InterOil Corporation. The Richard Chandler Corporation is a private investment group based in Singapore…

Samosas Fit For a Queen

New Zealand chef Anna Hansen, owner of London’s The Modern Pantry, was one of “six food-and-drink creatives” invited by The Independent “to dazzle ” with a…

Not for Children

Aucklander Chelsea Nikkel a.k.a. pianist and vocalist Princess Chelsea, is the Guardian’s recommended ‘New Band’ for 1 June. “Princess Chelsea is the solo project of Nikkel, a…

Winning from Within

President of Gatorade New Zealander Sarah Robb O’Hagan is No 23 on Fast Company’s 2012 list of The 100 Most Creative People in Business. No Gatorade shower could extinguish…

Solving the Jam

Auckland businesses have come out in favour of a surprising solution to finding the cash for mayor Len Brown’s $12bn transport improvements, Monocle correspondent Simon Farrell-Green explains: “A daily…

Making Small a Virtue

Chief executive officer of Air New Zealand Rob Fyfe, 51, talks to Monocle about the importance of national identity to the airline and staying competitive in the industry. “One…

Rising Star Enamours

Wellington-born singer Willy Moon “is quickly establishing himself as one of today’s more fascinating and engaging pop stars,” according to music, style and culture magazine DIY. “Ever…