Taking the mickey
The Age finds literal mirth in New Zealand’s “quirky” place names travelling from the North Island town of Waipu, through several of the “whaka-” and on to Shag River, Pigroot and Cape Foulwind. “Also…
Blog Archives
Near Perfect North
The Bay of Islands “is not only South Pacific-beautiful, it has been an important crucible for New Zealand’s human history”. That history begins with arrival from the north in sea canoes of the fierce,…
Goodbye on the Ganga
Auckland yoga instructor Karla Brodie bid farewell to her husband Mitchell Samuels on the Ganga River, Varanasi in what The Times of India described as a “poignant meeting of the East and…
Commission reviewer
Director Peter Jackson will lead a review of the New Zealand Film Commission alongside head of screen business at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School David Court. Jackson will examine the 30-year-old legislation…
Cooper the Wallaby
Tokoroa-born Quade Cooper, who recently played his first Test as a Wallaby, knows rugby’s brutal side says Greg Growden of the Brisbane Times, and growing up in the North Island timber town, it was…
Cheerful Change
New Zealand is home to some very happy British expatriates according to a NatWest International survey of 2,000 Britons living abroad. And though a long way to go to start a new life, workers…
42 x 42
Director Niki Caro is one of 42 creatives signing up for the 42Below vodka-instigated ONEDREAMRUSH campaign, which will see each individual create a 42 second film based on a dream they’ve had. Caro…
Sultry Sookie
“It’s no secret at Self, we love True Blood. Anna Paquin’s emergence as a sex symbol — and the onscreen (and off-screen!) heat between her and costar Stephen Moyer — has made HBO’s…
Induction Duets
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa performs at this month’s Hollywood Bowl’s season-opening gala, which will also serve as the soprano’s induction into the Bowl’s Hall of Fame. Te Kanawa spoke candidly with the Los Angeles…
Pests Busted
Orchard worker Don Sullivan and a team of 30 trappers have been awarded the Forest & Bird annual Pestbuster prize for their work in nabbing 530 pests over the last year in four forested…
From Lush Pasturelands
“Make it New Zealand lamb every time!” encourages British celebrity chef Delia Smith from her official website. “When treating friends and family to luscious barbecue lamb recipes or feeding the family during the week,…
Bloody messy
Anna Paquin, 26, has slept through her first interview with Time Out New York having for two weeks been shooting back-to-back episodes of HBO’s True Blood. “I don’t party. I’m not that cool,” Paquin…
Autozamm: Long Days
Autozamm’s music video for their track, Long Days, featuring the girls from the first season of New Zealand’s Next Top Model.
Positive Thinking
All Whites coach Ricki Herbert is confident the All Whites will earn their first ever point in a FIFA Confederations Cup this month in South Africa. “I think we have to believe it’s a…
Candid in Cork
Doug Howlett, 30, who is based in Cork having signed with Munster in 2008, is profiled in the Irish Times which discusses the Northern Hemisphere team, his family and whether he’ll return to New…
Winter Bar-Hopping
Queenstown’s “bar scene can match any city for quantity, variety and quality and the disarming sincerity of this cold town’s warm heart is impossible to resist,” writes West Australia Today’s Amy Cooper on a…
Small But Mighty
The New Zealand Defence Force is reviewed by military publication Jane’s which describes the Force as “always attempting to perform on the world stage at a level that belies the size of its defence…
Teddy charms
“There could not have been a more dashing, roguish Count than the New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes,” writes Janelle Gelfand in a Cincinnati Enquirer review of Cincinnati Opera’s production of The Marriage of…
Sunshine’s sisters
Auckland film maker Christine Jeffs created the independent feature Sunshine Cleaning with sisters in mind, and being one herself, Jeffs told The Age, she wanted to explore the dynamics between older and younger siblings….
Decade of purity
The 100 per cent pure New Zealand campaign is celebrating a decade in business and a decade promoting the “essence” of this country. Well, if New Zealanders can do it then why not the…
Janet’s grace
“To whatever extent the intellectual, emotional, and artistic struggles of Janet Frame’s protagonist mirror those of its author, a wrenching portrait of both emerges, fascinating especially in its exploration of…
#109: NZEdege Heroes, Recent Publishing
Edge Message #109 from Brian Sweeney, producer NZEDGE.COM Pictured above: Flight of the Conchords, Anna Paquin, Mils Muliaina, Helen Klisser…
Gene Predictions
University of Auckland researchers have developed the world’s first test to measure the risk for individual smokers and ex-smokers of developing lung cancer with a simple mouth swab, trade named Respiragene. The test combines…
All Black Nostalgia
Dan Carter is returning to New Zealand from his time playing in Perpignan, France and in the first of an exclusive two part interview with The Independent, Carter “makes an unequivocal statement about a…
Investing in Breath
Roger Dickie New Zealand Ltd is offering investors shares in Onslow Carbon Forest, an established Douglas-fir forest east of the township of Roxburgh for $25,000 allowing investors the potential to earn carbon credits, and…
High Above the Bay
Bay of Islands luxury self-contained accommodation Cloud9 is reviewed by the International Business Times which describes the $1700 per night hilltop house as about “as close to heaven as you can get.” “This place…
It’s All Turned Sour
Federated Farmers President Don Nicolson has lashed out against President Barack Obama and US milk subsidies in an opinion piece for the latest issue of The Wall Street Journal. Nicolson vented his frustrations in…
King of the Derby
New Zealand jockey Larry Cassidy rode New Plymouth trainer John Wheeler’s Court Ruler to victory in the $500,000 Queensland Derby at Eagle Farm. Wheeler won his first Derby with his champion Rough Habit in…
Investing in New Zealand
A number of New Zealand companies are seeking alliances with the Silicon Valley’s tech investors and entrepreneurs in an effort to grow and extend their reach into world markets. “Everyone realises the best thinking…
Historic battle concludes
David Bain, 37, now a free man “who served almost 13 years in prison for murdering his family, has been cleared after a retrial that was only secured by an appeal to the Privy…
Sheep jokes abate
Trans-Tasman relationships have warmed in recent times with Australia becoming “far more inclusive” of New Zealand, “no longer pretending we’re not really here” according to the head of the New Zealand Australia Research Centre…
Jackson in the district
Wellington director Peter Jackson will attend this year’s San Diego convention Comic-Con International on July 24 for the first time, the prospect delighting thousands of comic-book, science-fiction and fantasy fans. Jackson, a three-time Oscar…
Tongue-twisters charm
New Zealand children’s author Margaret Mahy has won a best picture book award for Bubble Trouble at the 2009 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards for excellence in children’s and young adult literature announced June 2….
Good as gold
Zespri is encouraging Malaysians to eat two kiwifruit a day in a six-month campaign dubbed ‘Extreme Nutrition, Extreme Vitality’. In its promotional flyer, Zespri claims that kiwifruit has immune-boosting qualities; it contains twice the…
Spreading the word
New Zealand is the most peaceful country in the world and Americans might want to consider moving here suggests The Washington Post. According to the 2009 Global Peace Index released by an Australian-based research…
Madcap genius
What were the 1949 “leading thinkers at the London School of Economics” to make of New Zealand inventor Bill Phillips’ hydraulic water system used to predict the economy, wonders New York Times’ columnist Steven…
Awards for inspiration
New Zealand retailer Michael Hill was one of 50 finalists in the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year awards held in Monte Carlo. Last year in New Zealand, judging panel chairman David…
Under the Influence
Michael Brajkovich, 49, winemaker at Kumeu River was the first New Zealander to claim the title of Master of Wine; he has worked with Bordeaux’s Christian Moueix and is one of the world’s leading…
Serene Spar
“If New Zealand were a boxer, it would be a contender for best pound-for-pound puncher on the planet,” according to canada.com. The North American news site describes “New Zealand one of those countries…
Wellington for Women
Wellington’s “glam beer hall” Mighty Mighty, “funky little” BATS Theatre and the “legendary” Slow Boat Records are included in a suggested itinerary for “ladies of the world” in the June/July issue of American popular…
Miliaina to Skipper
Fullback Mils Muliaina will captain the All Blacks home tests against France and Italy in June, taking over from an injured Richie McCaw. “Mils is in the leaders group in the All Blacks,” New…
Beats the Trail
“The Queen Charlotte Track is to the Appalachian Trail what the Ritz-Carlton is to a homeless shelter,” writes Angus Phillips for The Washington Post. Polar opposites. Phillips and a friend wanted to see the…
On Women in Yemen
Former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley has been in Yemen lecturing in a workshop promoting local women’s political participation with a special emphasis on New Zealand women and their role in decision making and development…
Goats the New Carrot
Peter Wilkins of Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand launched an advertising ploy to increase sales of the Mitsubishi Triton with the promise of a goat. Buy a Triton — win a goat! Goats improved farm…
Helen Clark Welcomed to UN With Powhiri
Helen Clark is welcomed into the United Nations with a traditional Maori Powhiri.
One for the ladies
New Plymouth-raised, UK-based magazine editor Suraya Singh, 30, has got Europe talking with the launch of Filament, a self-funded quarterly UK magazine that is squarely aimed at turning women on. Tired of being…
Identity Theft
A Fiordland kea made off with a Scottish tourist’s passport when the man’s tour bus driver opened the luggage compartment of the vehicle. The passport has not been recovered and, given the 4,600 square…
Harvest Hoppers
Blenheim’s Montana Brancott Winery hosts Canadian Lindsay Forsey to work “the vintage” between March and May, one of 120 seasonal employees hired from around the world. “I scored the lab position with a bit…
Heavenly Pop Hits
Morr Music, an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany, has recently released “a double-disc salute to New Zealand’s ever-influential ’80s indie pop scene”. The album, entitled Not Given Lightly – A…
With breath for peace
Richard Nunns, an authority on Maori traditional instruments or taonga puoro, performed the Gillian Whitehead composed “Hineputehue” at Luther College, Minnesota with the New Zealand String Quartet last month. Dunedin based Whitehead wrote “Hineputehue”…
Out on her own
Annabel Alpers has put New Zealand on the tech-pop map writes Guelph Mercury reviewer Jake O’Connell. Recording as Bachelorette, the Christchurch musician’s first album for the American Drag City label is a pop treatise…
Pip’s Poster Power
Royal New Zealand Navy Lieutenant Commander Pip Gibbons was one of four UN peacekeepers featured on a poster to promote the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on May 29. Lt Cdr Gibbons recently…
Whiteware deal
Fisher & Paykel has signed a US$50 million deal with Chinese appliance maker Haier, which will see the Qingdao-based manufacturer take a 20 per cent stake in the New Zealand company. Haier has signed…
