New Zealand: Quest For Kaitiakitanga
From the original Maori settlers to present-day tourists, all who travel to New Zealand are awed by its natural beauty. The Maori concept of “Kaitiakitanga” sees humans as earthly…
October 2013 Archives
Sweeping Seismic Building Review Surpasses US Attempts
After the deadly Christchurch 6.3 magnitude earthquake, city officials responded with the most sweeping seismic review of concrete buildings ever attempted, far surpassing anything achieved in California. Post-earthquake, residents were stunned to learn that two-thirds…
Penney Says Welfare of His Players Is Paramount
Munster coach New Zealander Rob Penney is so sensitive to the dangers of concussion that he applies a stringent approach to any head injuries suffered by his players – he responds with the level…
Kiwi Eleanor Catton Wins Man Booker Prize
New Zealand writer Eleanor Catton has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize. Ms Catton’s novel The Luminaries was shortlisted among six other titles for the fiction writing award. The Duchess of Cornwall…
Pop Sensation Unfazed by Impending Global Stardom
Lorde, 16, who says she chose her stage name because she wanted an aesthetically feminine aristocratic title, tells the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis that the record company “got straight away that I was a bit…
Biennale Arte 2013 – New Zealand
Take a look at Bill Culbert’s amazing artwork, ‘Front Door Out Back’, featured at the 55th Venice International Art Exhibition 2013. Bill Culbert works takes ordinary, found objects and…
Xero Further Expands into US
New Zealand-based online accounting software company, Xero has opened a Denver-area office as part of its US expansion. The local office, in the Denver Tech Center, will be Xero’s fourth in the US. The Wellington…
Our Islands Formally and Bilingually Named
15 October 2013 – New Zealand has formally adopted names in English and Maori for the North Island and the South Island; the English already in use but which had not been officially designated. In…
Leading Amateur Award Ahead of Pro Decision
New Zealander Lydia Ko, 16, has received the McCormack Medal as the world’s leading women amateur for a third straight year, which was presented to her by the Royal & Ancient and United States…
Dropping Sentimentality with Print Paywalls
“Last November Mike Darcey, then a top executive at BSkyB, a British satellite-television company, received a phone call from Rupert Murdoch, the boss of News Corporation,” The Economist writes. “Murdoch wanted him to run…
Close up with Cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh
Acadamy Award-nominee New Zealander Stuart Dryburgh is interviewed in the August issue of American Cinematographer magazine as part of the “Close-Up” section of the publication which each month features a member of the American…
The Hobbit: Behind the Scenes – Production Video Blog Part 11
Take a look at Peter Jackson’s first video blog of 2013 for the early production of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. This time, the Hobbit crew get back…
Fraser a Classical Dance Convert with New Film Giselle
New Zealand director and playwright Toa Fraser admits he wasn’t much of a dance fan before setting out to make Giselle, a new full-length film of the 1841 Romantic ballet of the same name,…
Neill Recalls Camping Catastrophes and Culinary Havens
Star of 1920s-set gangster drama Peaky Blinders, New Zealand actor Sam Neill, talks about culinary havens, camping catastrophes, and fishing in Scotland in a Telegraph travel piece. “This year, I’ve been to New York, Sydney,…
South Pacific Star at Home in Sydney Opera House
Christchurch-born operatic baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes, 47, shows Sydney Morning Herald journalist Tim Elliot around the Opera House, which is open 363 days a year – closing only Christmas Day and Good Friday –…
Rihanna Gets a Maori Tribal Tattoo the Traditional Way
In order to mark her recent trip to New Zealand, Rihanna decided to get a permanent reminder by having a traditional Maori tattoo added to her already vast collection of inkings. The tattoo was done…
New Age Sensitive Guy Brings Heart to the Beast
Auckland-born Jay Ryan, 32, “brings a deep-voiced sensitivity to Vincent”, in his role as the “Beast” in the CBS remake of the 1980’s TV show Beauty and the Beast starring Ron Perlman and Linda…
Kiwi a la Carte Wins Michelin Star
Gordon Ramsay: Nil. New Zealand chef Matt Lambert: One. That’s the score in the highly competitive world of fine dining in New York, where the latest list of the Big Apple’s Michelin star restaurants…
Plans to WOW the World on the Global Stage
Fashionistas first scoffed at Suzie Moncrieff’s displays of bizarre bras and out-there attire, but 25 years on international designers are clamouring to be part of Wellington’s annual World of WearableArt (WOW) show,…
Helen Clark Tackles Digital Discrimination
Digital gender inequality – women’s access to technology is less than men’s – is being tackled by the United Nations in a new report unveiled by Helen Clark, administrator of the UN Development Programme….
Revolutionary Commercial Fishing Technology Out of the Net
New Zealand says it has developed a technology that will revolutionize commercial fishing with “Precision Seafood Harvesting”, which brings targeted species undamaged to the surface and keeps unwanted catch alive. The technology replaces trawling nets…
What Do You Say UK? Tourism in NZ
100% New Zealand’s new campaign ‘What Do You Say UK?’ interviews UK travellers about their experiences and adventures in New Zealand and what it has to offer.
Safari Photographs to Be Exhibited in Pall Mall
Award-winning nature photographer, New Zealander David Lloyd’s “stunning safari photographs” are part of an exhibition called “Bronze, Black and White, a Joint exhibition with Sculpture”, on from 18-30 November at the Royal…
SBW: Maybe, No, Yes
The first question, impolitely rhetorical, was WTF? The answer to the second question – will the Kiwis still want him? – will be decided today. Sonny Bill Williams has flip-flopped. Again. After keeping the…
Auckland Art Gallery World Building of the Year
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki has won the coveted World Building of the Year Award at the 2013 World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Singapore. Designed by Sydney-based Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp, in…
RBS Appoints Kiwi to “Toughest Job in Banking”
Talk about taking the hot seat. New Zealand banker Ross McEwan is taking charge at the troubled Royal Bank of Scotland, following five turbulent years under Stephen Hester, who replaced the disgraced Fred Goodwin…
Big Visions for UNDP’s Leading Woman
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, currently administrator of the United Nations Development Program, features in CNN’s monthly column, “Leading Women”, which connects readers to “extraordinary women of our time.” Almost a decade before…
Watties Pizza Spaghetti 1991
Why waste time making spaghetti or pizza, when you can find it all-in-one can! Take a trip back in time and meet your old friend Ghetti the Spaghetti Yeti,…
Life on the Ice Makes for Award-Winning Viewing
A beautifully shot documentary about a year in the life of a New Zealander living in Antarctica was the big winner at the Calgary International Film Festival, snapping up two of the major awards…
Stand Up Winner at California Paddle Awards
Aucklander Annabel Anderson has been named stand up female paddler of the year at the 2013 SUP Awards in California. Anderson was the 2012 Stand Up World Series champion, Battle of the…
Soprano a Splendid Feather in Downton Abbey’s Cap
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, “one of the greatest opera sopranos of the past 40 years”, has joined Downton Abbey for a single episode to play Australian soprano Nellie Melba. The Telegraph’s Laura Thompson meets…
ABs vs Boks: The Greatest Match Ever?
The All Blacks retain the Rugby Championship with an epic 38-27 win over the Springboks at the South African spiritual home of rugby, Ellis Park. Described as “a match that ranks among the greatest…
Evocative Portraits of LA Homeless in Close Up
Hamilton-based photographer and graphic designer Michael Pharaoh’s gripping series of portraits “The Homeless of LA” evoke, in tremendous detail, the identity of Hollywood’s homeless population in a series of muted yet stylistically…
The Hobbit: Behind the Scenes – Production Video Blog Part 10
Take a look at Peter Jackson’s tenth behind the scenes video blog during the ending of the production and the premiere of The Hobbit. This time, we see the…
Air New Zealand Staff Have Nothing to Hide
Air New Zealand finds an interesting way to show that have nothing to hide with their customers just using a lot of body paint and Gin Wigmore’s track Under…
In Memory of an Advocate for Women
Wellington-born Jill McLean Taylor’s memory is being kept alive by her three sons with a scholarship they began shortly after McLean Taylor’s death in the United States in 2010. He Also Had…
Plans for Icy Demonstration Flight South
Air New Zealand is planning a demonstration Boeing 767 flight to Antarctica on 5 October, and if all goes well the airline is expected to operate two more chartered flights to “the ice” later…
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa: ‘Hine E Hine’ & ‘Tahi Nei Taru Kino’
Listen to Dame Kiri Te Kanawa’s beautiful voice as she performs Hine E Hine & Tahi Nei Taru Kino in London 1985. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has had a…
Phil Keoghan’s 23 Destinations You Have To See Before You Die
In honor of Season 23 of The Amazing Race, BuzzFeed Travel spoke to Kiwi adventurer and The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan to find out his favourite destinations from around the world-…
Milking Sheep for All They’re Worth
New Zealand’s sheep-milking is predicted to be big industry for New Zealanders in the future with Southland sheep-milking business Blue River Dairy planning to invest millions of dollars in new equipment. Blue River manufactures and…
Lorde Number One in the US
Sixteen-year-old singer, Lorde has become the first New Zealander to top the US Billboard charts, following the release of her first album, Pure Heroine, in the US at start of this month. Her single…
When Zipper Met Kanye at No 3 Abbey Road
“It’s always going to be an entertaining proposition when American hip hop star Kanye West grants someone an interview opportunity” Pedestrian TV says, and this time, New Zealand-born broadcaster BBC Radio 1 host Zane…
A Tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary – Sand Art
Watch this video by Marcus Winter that celebrates one of New Zealand’s greatest achievements and acknowledges the man who conquered the world’s highest mountain, Sir Edmund Hillary.
Storyteller Keeps Visitors Enthralled at Opera House
Former radio announcer and television reporter New Zealander Bruce Barnett, 62, is now a tour guide at the Sydney Opera House, and this week his job features in the WA Today column, “On the…
Raglan’s Endless Summer Still Shines
New Zealand’s “surf mecca”, the “legendary” Raglan features this month in both the Wall Street Journal and Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine. “Legend has it this quaint settlement of about 3000 people…
Gracefully Addictive San Francisco Gig
“The Portland-based (though one-third New Zealand-born) trio finds a delicate balance between lo-fi minimalism and swirly, disoriented pop songs heavy on themes of isolation, which they translate gracefully into a live…
Behind the scenes of WOW 2012
Air New Zealand presents a peek behind the scenes of the World of Wearable Arts in Wellington on Awards Night 2012. Designers and models talk about their experiences and…
Thanks to This Smart Guy NYC Tech Blossoming
Google’s chief engineer Blenheim-born Craig Nevill-Manning may be responsible for igniting New York City tech and not Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to The Huffington Post. “It’s kind of funny that one of the key reasons…
Bank Chief Faces Long List of Challenges
New Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief executive New Zealander Ross McEwan must confront a long list of challenges, according to the Financial Times, and at the forefront of issues facing him, “is the…
Measure Your World with a Smartphone Laser
New Zealand-developed Spike, created by ikeGPS, “the world’s first laser accurate smartphone accessory,” is crowd-funding on Kickstarter and offering those who pledge more than $10,000 a trip to New Zealand to visit the development…
