New Zealand Dolphin Faces Extinction
An estimated 55 adult Maui dolphins are left in the world. The Maui is unique to the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. It is the world’s rarest and smallest dolphin. And, by…
January 2013 Archives
#154 New Zealander’s Have The Most Freedom
THE GLOBAL LIFE OF NEW ZEALANDERS From Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM | 31 January 2013 |…
Pinot Noir Our New Obsession
“They don’t call is the only grape that generates such enthusiasm,” actor and winemaker Sam Neill said at the Pinot Noir…
Spectacular Mud Explosions on White Island
Activity on New Zealand’s White Volcano, 50km off the East Coast of the North Island with amazing mud explosions.
Penguin Paradise
Farmer Francis Helps and his wife Shireen have converted much of their Banks Peninsula land into a safe haven for one of the word’s smallest penguins, the rare white-flippered penguin, also known as korora….
Big Beauty in Small Town
Queenstown is one of the world’s top 10 best small towns, according to Ben Groundwater of The Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s got all of the adrenalin-charged clichés you can think of,…
Mythologising Mayhem
New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra is currently on tour – promoting their latest album II – in Europe before heading to the United States. Band member Oregon-based Ruben Neilsen, 32, formerly of…
On the Wing for Scotland
Tokoroa-born Sean Maitland, 24, made his Scotland debut against England in the RBS 6 Nations Championship opener against England on 2 February at Twickenham, scoring the first try of the match. Maitland qualifies for…
Lloyd Phillips, Film Producer
New Zealand’s first Oscar winner, international film producer Lloyd Phillips has died in Los Angeles after a heart attack, aged 63. Born in South Africa and raised in New Zealand, Phillips had a long…
Tim Groser Favorite for WTO Director-General
London bookies Ladbrokes have named Tim Groser, New Zealand’s Trade Minister, ‘joint favourite’ to be the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) new Director-General. Mr Groser is at 3:1 to take out the top job, along…
Another Record Pocketed
Professional pool player Macau-based Rocky Lane has broken his own jump-shooting world record time, potting 15 pool balls from the table in 11.29 seconds. New Zealand-born Lane is newly invited as…
Dodson’s Insulin Legacy
Distinguished biochemist and “outstanding x-ray crystallographer”, Palmerston North-born Guy Dodson has died in York, aged 75. Dodson was world-renowned for his research on the three-dimensional structure of biologically important proteins, particularly insulin; for his…
Century and a Win
Black Cap Kane Williamson, 22, finished unbeaten on 145 from 136 balls before New Zealand fielded their way to a 27-run victory over South Africa in Kimberley. New Zealand secured their first series victory…
From the Top and On Fire
New Zealander Victoria Ransom is chief executive of Wildfire, a provider of social media marketing software, which was acquired by Google last year. In an interview with Adam Bryant of The…
London Kiwi Chef Brings ‘Balm to the Soul’
Kiwi chef Tyler Martin hails from New Plymouth. His Fulham restaurant is called Manuka Kitchen. The name is entirely apt, according to Independent food writer John Walsh. Martin and his partner Joseph Antippa’s food…
Secrets of the Mask
New Zealand stuntwoman and actress Zoë Bell, 34, who recently starred as the mysterious masked tracker in Quentin Tarentino’s Django: Unchained, also appears as the Tall Witch in this year’s release Hansel and Gretel:…
Half a Century of Legend
Fifty years ago, New Zealander Bruce McLaren launched a company that has gone on to become one of the greats of world motorsport and on 2 September this year, McLaren…
Rocky Horror Turns Forty
New Zealand-raised actor Richard O’Brien, 70, writer of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, talks about family shame over working class roots, being transgender, the difficulty of born- again Christians, wanting to be a fairy…
Scary Script Tops US Box Office
Horror film Mama, co-written by Wellington-based novelist and scriptwriter Neil Cross, recently took the top spot at the North American box office. Mama earned $28.1 million from Friday through to Sunday at…
Cat-free Isles?
Prominent New Zealand economist and environmentalist Gareth Morgan wants his country 100 per cent cat-free and he’s willing to go extraordinary lengths to make it a reality. Cats are a “friendly neighborhood serial killer”…
Networked Lab Rats
New Zealanders have become the Internet’s most beloved lab rats, according to Bloomberg Businessweek writer Ashlee Vance. New Zealand has a large enough population to adequately test products, and the population is self-contained. Last…
NZ to Aid UAE
New Zealand will help improve food security for the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) and particularly the UAE, Murray McCully, New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs said in a special interview with Gulf News. “New…
Touring about Canvases
Queenstown artist Alice Blackley runs Art Adventures, a tour company that takes visitors about the resort town’s galleries and studios. The Washington Post’s Michael Kaminer joins in for a day out. “A…
Home in the Clouds
Choreographer and former Footnote dancer Lisa Densem returns to New Zealand from Berlin, where she has been based for over a decade, to collaborate with the company on a new work called, Cloud In…
Shopping at Sundance
Feature debut from New Zealand filmmakers Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland, Shopping, which has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, deals with the troubled home life of two half-Samoan brothers against a backdrop of…
Futures in the Public Sector
New Zealand’s State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie has called on civil servants across the world to remember to think ahead in addition to addressing short-term challenges. Rennie, speaking as part of the Guardian’s Global…
New Zealand Extends Hand to Mindanao
Since the 1960s, some 150,000 people have died and more than three million have been displaced on Mindanao Island (Philippines); the result of a bloody conflict between Muslim rebels and government forces. Now, after…
Remarkable Global Firsts
New Zealand has much more to shout about than just global rugby dominance and hirsute heroes of the big screen, according to Kate Rowan of the Irish Independent. “Taking a look at New Zealand’s…
Dotcom Goes MEGA
From his home north of Auckland, former hacker and internet cult hero Kim Dotcom, tells the Guardian his eyes have been opened to US tactics after his Megaupload site was shut down last year….
Yes He Can
Mosgiel man Dean O’Brien, 34, a former radio presenter, has topped the United Kingdom iTunes children’s chart this week with, The Yes I Can Club, an album created to make children feel…
Students Give Cyclone Relief
New Zealand volunteers “joined hands” with locals and other foreign aid workers to help Fiji get back on its feet after recent Tropical Cyclone Evan, the biggest such storm in 20 years. High School…
Touring Dance Thrills
Professional New Zealand Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole, 36, who has appeared in all ten series of one of Britain’s longest running television programmes, has built up a following of his…
Letting in the Light
New Zealander, Huxley Somerville, 52, a managing director at Fitch Ratings in New York, bought a run-down Upper West Side brownstone apartment in 1994 and set about converting the space into “four separate living…
Whale Attracts Curious
Hundreds of people gathered to take a look at the remains of a 15-metre, 45-tonne sperm whale, which washed up on Paraparaumu Beach this week. This image featured in the Guardian daily series, ‘Best…
Biking Africa for Acumen
Twenty-four-year-old New Zealander Phillip English has been making his way by bicycle from Egypt to Cape Town, travelling for the past 10 months over some 15,000km through Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi,…
Cycling Holidays Transformed
By the end of 2012, 10 of the 20 tracks making up the 2340km New Zealand Cycle Trail were open to riders, with the remainder scheduled for completion by the end of 2013. Veteran…
Clark Pleads Complexity
Administrator of the United Nations’ Development program Helen Clark is in a philosophical and operational stoush with her governing board over approaches to global poverty reduction. The UNDP board issued a report…
Looking Back As If Beggars
Wellington band The Garbage & the Flowers originally released Eyes Rind as if Beggars in 1997, but these songs were recorded earlier in the decade, Wire reviewer Frances Morgan writes….
Return To Middle Earth
“In New Zealand, there is a peculiar clarity to the sunlight,” Lonely Plant traveller Alex Von Tunzelmann writes for the BBC. “Highlights blaze; shadows are cast very, very dark. The effect makes the grass…
Bevan’s Gold Win
Queenstown-born film producer Tim Bevan (standing left in picture) took the stage with fellow cast and crew at the 70th Golden Globes Awards for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy for Les Misérables. The…
Outdoing the Big Guns
“Even when New Zealand isn’t top of the list, they’re outranking and outperforming the United States on just about any index you want to consider,” contributor Nonny Mouse writes for political blog Crooks and…
Weaving the Threads of Life
New Zealander Cassandra Ellis, a quiltmaker who has settled in London, believes a quilt is a great way to mark an occasion, from a birth to a death to a marriage or…
Everyone’ll be Here Next Year
Waiheke Island is included in the prestigious New York Times’ “46 Places to Go in 2013”, featuring at No 35 under the title, “A homegrown arts scene beckons from down under”. “Long home to…
Tackling Teen Angst
New Zealand director Andrew Niccol’s film The Host is one of several films to be released over the next three months targeting “voracious” teen movie goers. In his quest to adapt Stephenie…
Where No Man Has Gone Before
New Zealand world record-breaking freediver William Trubridge, 32, is one of the few people on the planet who can dive deeper than WWII submarines without coming up for air. Trubridge talked to Bob Simon…
Tourism At Speed
New Zealand’s newest cross-country Te Araroa Trail is the perfect challenge for British ultrarunner Jez Bragg, 31, who plans to run the track – from Cape Reinga to Bluff – in 50…
On The Run And Insanely Hot
Taking a page from Strike Back, the new series Banshee also stars an insanely hot foreigner who sounds more American than she does, according to New York Post television critic Linda Stasi, who writes…
Freedom At The Edge
New Zealanders enjoy a higher level of human freedom than anyone else, according to a report written by The Canadian Fraser Institute, which evaluated 123 countries to see how each country measures up in…
Oil Man Bows Out
After 36 years of “distinguished” service, New Zealander Leo Lonergan will retire from his position as chief procurement officer at Chevron in London. Executive vice president Jim Blackwell said: “During his tenure as chief…
Fun-Loving MP Lit Our Screens
As New Zealanders gathered around their black and white sets to experience the miracle of television for the first time the face many of them will have seen staring back at them was that…
Head Coach Role For Soccer Star
Former All Whites captain and Tottenham Hotspur player Ryan Nelsen, 35, has been signed with Toronto FC as head coach. Christchurch-born Nelsen is no stranger to Major League Soccer (MLS), having captained American team…
Tips From The Top
New Zealand’s top performing farms operate on seven principles according to Irish dairy consultant Dr Mary Kinston. Firstly: “Top farmers benchmark against other farm businesses. Eighty-five per cent of farm managers would have a…
On The Road
New Zealand’s five best alternative road trips are included in a Lonely Planet feature this month. From a Caitlins penguin drive to Auckland’s newest winemaking area east of Warkworth, author Brett Atkinson recommends experiencing…
Fresh HBO Role For Starr
New Zealand actor Antony Starr, 37, who played twins Van and Jethro West in Outrageous Fortune, has a role in the new HBO/Cinemax action-drama series Banshee, produced by Alan Ball of True…
Trading Black Gold
New Zealand is famous worldwide for its dairy exports, Sylvia Pfeifer writes for the Financial Times. “Its dairy industry generated $13.9bn in revenues in the year to March 2012. But now the government is…
Our Dark Side
Jane Campion’s seven-part miniseries Top of the Lake, which was shot in and around Queenstown, premieres on the Sundance Channel in the United States on 18 March. “It’s the most comprehensive documentation of modern…
