Nga Kupu Aroha – Words of Love
1 March 2011
In the wake of the quake D goes swimming in the Ahuriri pond and reflects on the local signs of nature’s great seismic shifts and the reality that in Aotearoa we do indeed live on the edge. He reckons that along with the people of Canterbury its time to pick each other up at a community level and to forgo the badmouthing of the poor and less engaged that has seemed to dominate the national discourse in recent years. After a bit of blarney about the upcoming Hui & Huilli he canvasses the Report of the Welfare Working Group and sees signals of a big shake up coming for the generally vulnerable. After describing the intent of the whanau ora policy congratulates Te Puni Kokiri for delivering a sort of social Civil Defence kit and supporting whanau to plan for the future. D visits issues of youth offending and gang policies and, in light of the fact that we might all need each other’s help, calls time for a bit of reflection: time to crouch and get ready; touch one another to let each know the other’s there and to give reassurance; pause to reflect on what we’re going to do and how we’ll do it; and engage with each other with goodwill and intensity such as we’ve never done before.
General
1 March 2011
During the February 22 earthquake which struck Christchurch, the bronze statue of the city founder, John Robert Godley toppled to the ground. The discovery under Godley’s plinth of two time capsules, one made of glass and the other of metal, …
Nature
1 March 2011
As New Zealand’s summer draws to an end, blooms of tiny ocean plants swirl in turquoise and green along the shores of the South Island. NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on February 1 showing the large phytoplankton blooms. These …
Writers
28 February 2011
Robin Hyde’s “remarkable tribute, in tough and rugged language, to a Chinese peasant”, the poem “Ku Li” is the Guardian’s “Poem of the Week”. “Ku Li” was begun in China during the second Sino-Japanese War and is among the last …
Adrenalin
27 February 2011
“Taniwha Cave Tubing, embraces much of what makes the New Zealand West Coast so special, with its combination of wild rivers, unspoiled forest, turbulent mining history … and an adventurous spirit,” Jim Eagles describes in an article for the Warwick …
Education
27 February 2011
India has emerged as the second largest source country after China for international students in New Zealand during 2010-11, according to statistics released by Immigration New Zealand (INZ). The number of Indian students approved to study has increased steadily over …
Film & TV
26 February 2011
“I’ve always liked Phil Keoghan as host of The Amazing Race,” Orlando Sentinel television reviewer Hal Boedeker professes. “I didn’t realize he was from New Zealand, but there he was on The Late Late Show, promoting his country after the …
Politics and Economics
25 February 2011
New Zealand will open an embassy in the UAE within two months, announced Minister for Economic Development and Energy and Resources Gerry Brownlee. Brownlee said the country is looking to the UAE and Saudi Arabia as strategic partners and key …
Nature
25 February 2011
“Days after the quake, a friend returns home to the eeriness of a place that’s undergone incredible violence,” author Emily Perkins writes for an article in the Guardian. “Everything is upended, on its side, fallen all over floor, drawers open …
Nature
25 February 2011
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker has been there in front of the news cameras almost from the moment the deadly earthquake struck the tourist city of Christchurch. At 57, Parker is Christchurch’s Earthquake Mayor. It’s a moniker he’s earned in the …
Nature
24 February 2011
The White House deployed disaster-response and urban-search-and-rescue teams to Christchurch following the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that rocked the city on February 22. They were greeted there by Timothy Manning, a deputy administrator at the US Federal Emergency Management Agency who is …
Film & TV
24 February 2011
Lucy Lawless, New Zealand’s one and only Xena, Warrior Princess, doesn’t mind being typecast, saying, “What am I going to complain about? How many actresses work as much as me?” “Being the star of an action show is really, really …
Wine
24 February 2011
“We hardly ever talk about New Zealand chardonnay yet a decade ago it was the country’s most widely planted grape,” the Telegraph’s Victoria Moore writes. “As recently as 21 there were 333 hectares of chardonnay growing across the North and …
Nature
23 February 2011
The devastating earthquake that tore through Christchurch on the afternoon of February 22 is the product of a new fault line in the Earth’s crust — an offshoot from the Alpine fault — that seismologists were previously unaware of. “It’s …
Nature
23 February 2011
“I was on the phone to a man whose earthquake-damaged home burned down in Pines Beach when the earthquake hit,” eyewitness Nicole Mathewson writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. “At first I thought it was just another aftershock but quickly …
Nature
23 February 2011
A huge vertical slab calved off the front of New Zealand’s longest glacier, the Tasman Glacier, into Tasman Lake after the 6.3-magnitude quake hit Christchurch on 22 February. The chunk is estimated to have been 12m long by 75m wide, …
Nature
23 February 2011
New Zealand-born Google executive Craig Nevill-Manning, who lives in Tribeca, New York, has been using his high-tech skills to help anxious relatives locate loved ones in earthquake-ravaged Christchurch. Nevill-Manning first created the Google Crisis Response website with colleagues immediately after …
Politics
23 February 2011
A special message from John Key following the Christchurch Earthquake.
General
22 February 2011
Christchurch has been struck by yet another devastating earthquake, this time with scores of casualties, after a 6.3-magnitude shock struck just before 1pm during a busy lunchtime on Tuesday 22 February. The official death toll currently stands at 75, with …
Nature
22 February 2011
West Ham defender Auckland-born Winston Reid has spoken of his sadness at the deadly earthquake that rocked Christchurch hours after the Hammers had booked their place in the last eight of the FA Cup with a 5-1 win over Burnley. …
Nature
22 February 2011
Author David Haywood describes the earthquake that destroyed his home and killed scores of New Zealanders in an eyewitness account for the Guardian. “The first jolt knocked me off my feet. A desktop computer landed near my head and exploded …
Business
22 February 2011
Contact Energy is to go ahead with the $623 million Te Mihi geothermal power project, having awarded the contract to engineering and construction management giant SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. in a joint venture with United States consultants Parsons Brinkerhoff and McConnell …
Nature
22 February 2011
New Zealand has the “enduring friendship and support of many partners around the world,” President Obama said in a White House statement. Obama offered his “deepest condolences” to the people of New Zealand and the families and friends of earthquake …
Travel
22 February 2011
Danny Wallace from the Guardian visits White Island.
Video
22 February 2011
Footage of the aftermath of the earthquake that rocked Christchurch on 22 February 2011.
Media
21 February 2011
Aspiring Auckland actresses Jessie Gurunathan and Reanin Johannink used hidden cameras fitted to the back of their jeans to film unsuspecting individuals staring at their backsides. The footage, taken in LA, was the idea of Levis who said the clip, …
Taste
20 February 2011
New Zealander Sam McFarren has lived in Brentwood, Tennessee for the past four years; she is profiled by the local newspaper The Tennessean in an article in which she talks about the differences between New Zealand and American cooking. McFarren …
Wine
20 February 2011
“Complexity — The Fine Wines of New Zealand”, a webcast wine tasting project which was launched by 21 boutique wineries last year in Denver, Colorado, was held again on Waitangi Day in Chicago in front of a studio audience. Backed …
Cricket
20 February 2011
The Black Caps have begun their World Cup campaign with a resounding win over Kenya, who had “no answer to some outstanding New Zealand bowling, which was full and accurate.” Paceman Hamish Bennett took 4-16 as New Zealand thrashed Kenya …
Fashion
20 February 2011
Matamata’s Emily Baker and Palmerston North’s Jessica Clarke took to the catwalks at New York Fashion Week recently with Baker named one of the top 1 newcomers of the season by online fashion bible models.com, which predicted she would take …
New Zealand
20 February 2011
“We had only been in New Zealand for a weekend but already I had begun to understand how the country’s dramatic landscape — volcanoes, mud pools and geysers, pristine beaches, lush vegetation, lakes and huge, huge skies — could inspire …
New Zealand
19 February 2011
New Zealand is one of those countries that packs an enormous amount into a relatively small package. It’s unpretentious, despite its wonderful portfolio of natural treasures that range from the semi-tropical tip of North Island to the British-like climes at …
Te Ao Maori
19 February 2011
Gisborne hosted as many as 25, spectators and 2 competitors at this year’s National Kapa Haka Festival, Te Matatini o Te Ra, held from16 through 2 February, with Rotorua-based Te Matarae i Orehu taking the world title of Kapa Haka …
New Zealand
19 February 2011
Scottish journalist Danny Wallace recently tweeted his way around New Zealand garnering valuable travel tips from locals on the way who suggested views from atop Auckland’s Mt Eden, a Guinness at “a pub called The Bog” and his first reply, …
Business
19 February 2011
“Even when wandering through the heat in the transport black hole of Pyrmont, Sam Morgan is alive to a gap in the market,” Tim Dick writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. “He asks why there’s no decent ferry service. Rather …
Nature
18 February 2011
A project to help the kereru and native forests thrive once more throughout the Wellington region has received new funding from the Nikau Foundation with support from the Willscott Endowment Fund, and WWF-New Zealand in partnership with the Tindall Foundation. …
Taste
18 February 2011
New Zealanders are pushing culinary boundaries at this year’s Hokitika Wildfoods Festival serving up shots of horse semen to iron-stomached food lovers. The equine delicacy will be on the menu at the annual festival held on March 12 along with …
Agriculture
18 February 2011
New Zealand has approved the release of 11 Australian species to manage a massive heap of livestock dung. Manure accounts for around 14 per cent of New Zealand’s emissions of nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. Beetles can make short …
Agriculture
17 February 2011
The New Zealand dairy co-operative of 1,5 farmers, Fonterra, which controls about a third of all internationally traded dairy products, has resumed its operations in Egypt in the wake of political unrest there. “We had a bit of backlog at …
Nature
17 February 2011
Outdoor adventure instructors taking shelter from a storm in Kahurangi National Park on Mt Arthur have stumbled across what may prove to be the country’s deepest cave. Instructor Kieran McKay and four others took shelter in what they thought was …
New Zealand
17 February 2011
“With the help of experienced guides it’s possible to safely enjoy the exquisite beauty of [New Zealand’s] ancient, frozen rivers, their icy blue splendour glowing in the southern hemisphere’s brilliant summer sun,” Carmen Gentile writes for Time. “New Zealand has …
Adrenalin
16 February 2011
“It’s perfectly normal to jump off buildings, planes, canyons and bridges in New Zealand,” writes the Globe and Mail’s Robin Esrock. “No other country compels visitors — of all ages — to push their limits.” Esrock explains that Kiwis take …
Politics and Economics
16 February 2011
Julia Gillard is now coming to the end of her first official visit to New Zealand. In speeches to New Zealand business leaders and Parliament yesterday, Gillard sought to “pay tribute to the friendship” demonstrated by New Zealand during the …
Film & TV
16 February 2011
Actor Martin Henderson — who stars in the latest series from Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, Off the Map — talks to Metro Canada about working in Hawaii, keeping his accent and arguing for more wardrobe. “Hawaii offers for me …
General
15 February 2011
Over 1 relatives of those killed in the Mt Erebus air disaster visited Antarctica yesterday. The flight’s 14 passengers, who were selected by ballot, flew out of Christchurch to attend a memorial for their loved ones on the ice. The …
Sport General
15 February 2011
An Auckland man has set a world record for the distance covered by jet-ski within a 24 hour period. Jeremy Burfoot rode his Sea-Doo jet-ski 2,287km during his record breaking session on Lake Karapiro. This compares to Croatian Ivan Otulic’s …
Sport General
15 February 2011
A New Zealander has successfully run the fastest half-marathon by a woman on American soil. Kimberley Smith won the women’s section of the New Orleans half marathon by over three minutes, completing the course in 1h 7m 36s. This time …
Politics and Economics
15 February 2011
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is poised to make history on her first official visit to New Zealand this week. Gillard will be the first foreign leader in New Zealand history to address New Zealand parliamentarians in their debating chamber …
Obituaries
14 February 2011
Veteran New Zealand actor, Frank Whitten, has died at age 68. Best known for his role as Ted “Grandpa” West on Outrageous Fortune, Whitten passed away in his sleep on Saturday after a battle with cancer. Fellow Outrageous Fortune star …
Cricket
14 February 2011
The Black Caps are a team to watch at this month’s Cricket World Cup. Despite back-to-back ODI series defeats, players Scott Styris and Brendon McCullum agree the team is in the process of a makeover with new coach, John Wright, …
Education
14 February 2011
A group of Nelson school children are preparing to speak to astronauts living on the International Space Station. Victory Primary School successfully applied for the chance to speak with in-orbit astronauts through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station …
Sport
13 February 2011
William Trubridge sets a new Freediving world record without the need for fins.
Music
12 February 2011
Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa is a “sucker” for sentimental Irish ballad Danny Boy. Te Kanawa is one of eight musicians asked by the Los Angeles Times to share their favourite love song in the lead up to Valentine’s Day. “When …
Music
12 February 2011
The Naked and Famous are currently on tour in the UK and with their London performance feature in the Guardian’s weekly gig guide. The publication writes: “Essentially the project of Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith, The Naked And Famous are …
Film & TV
11 February 2011
The cast of Peter Jackson’s two-film adaptation of The Hobbit were this month introduced to the news media at a press conference in Wellington at the Park Road Post production facility. The event featured Martin Freeman, the British Office and …
Medicine/Health
11 February 2011
Otago University scientists have found that children who regularly drink milk are up to 40 per cent less likely to suffer from bowel cancer. The researchers found that drinking nearly 250ml of milk daily has a strong protective effect against …
