Flight from the Top
New Zealand world and Guinness record skydiver Wendy Smith was one of three daredevils to leap from an aircraft at a record height of 9000m in the skies above Mount Everest, free-falling for one minute…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Fleecing the Competition
New Zealand took home four of the six titles at the 13th Golden Shears World Championships held in Bjerkrheim, Norway, with Stratford farmer Paul Avery, 41 and Napier shearer John Kirkpatrick, 38, coming first…
UK Role for Sinclair
Former Auckland Airport chief financial officer Robert Sinclair has been appointed chief executive at Bristol International Airport. In Auckland, Sinclair oversaw a four-year investment programme in expansion, including runways, terminals, car parks and roads….
Big Red Excitement
Queenstown’s Shotover Jet is described by Washington Post reporter Barbara Bradlyn Morris, as one of a number of thrilling tourism activities available for kicks in the “Home of Extreme Sports and Hearty Sun-Bronzed Young…
Beyer Receives Iconic Status
Former mayor of Carterton and Labour MP Georgina Beyer – the world’s first transsexual to hold such positions – is interviewed by Boston publication Windy City Times about her recent selection as one of…
Wazza’s Gallic Reinvention
Toulouse No 9, Byron Kelleher says that moving to France was the best thing he ever did and though he misses the All Blacks, he has opened another chapter in his life. After 10…
Amateur Golfer Impresses
New Zealand geologist David Pocknall, 55, who is now based in the United States, is also an avid golfer winning a Texan club championship six times and now looking to claim the 2008 Men’s…
One Beloved Phantom
Much venerated entertainer Rob Guest, 58, who was awarded an OBE for his services to the New Zealand entertainment industry in 1994, has died in Melbourne. Guest had been starring in the musical Wicked….
Flights of Fancy
Chief executive of New Zealand-based Air Sports Peter Newport is the brains behind virtual game Sky Challenge which saw two pilots and a gamer race planes through hoops in the clouds above Spain….
Ditching the Dot-matrix
New Zealand’s second annual eDay saw more than 15,000 carloads of electronic waste dropped off at 32 centres throughout the country. The event was organised by the Computer Access New Zealand Trust (CANZ). Most…
Rhombus Nices It Up
Wellington-based musical collective Rhombus headline at Mullumbimby’s Mullum Music Festival in late November, having this month released their third full-length self-titled album. Initiated in 2001, Rhombus presents a seamless blend of hip-hop, soul, funk,…
Tramping Pick N’ Mix
New Zealand’s Department of Conservation has designated nine tramping tracks as “Great Walks”, which include the Tongariro Northern Circuit, the Kepler Track and the ever popular Abel Tasman Coast Track. “Fresh air, exercise and…
Back to the Basics
“New Zealand is a wonderful combination of all the good cuisines from around the world with a special touch of freshness,” writes The Economic Times in an overview of the country’s food and wine…
And the award goes to
Lincoln-born Phil Keoghan, Emmy Award-winning host of television show ‘The Amazing Race’, shares some of his on and off air adventures with USA Today ahead of the show’s 13th season and a stint in…
Top Honours in Toulouse
Dunedin-born Byron Kelleher, 31, former All Black and now scrum-half for French team Toulouse, has been voted the Top 14’s player of the season, succeeding Stade Francais’ Argentinean Juan Martin Hernandez. Kelleher scored three…
Villa Away from Chateau
Auckland entrepreneur Nick Wood sold internet service provider Ihug in 2003 to Perth company iiNet for $80 million and set up Distinctive Holiday Homes (DHH), a luxury destination club with property around the world….
Rachel for a Song
Model Rachel Hunter, 39, has launched an affordable range of clothing for budget store the Warehouse, called Rachel. “I could see a real gap in the New Zealand fashion market for stylish, well cut…
Councils Make Good
Christchurch and Hutt City are model municipalities and inspirations for their Canadian counterparts, according to the president of Canada’s Frontier Centre for Public Policy Peter Holle. “Hutt City is winning business excellence awards against…
Willis’ Photo Finish
Olympic bronze medallist Lower Hutt athlete Nick Willis, 25, has won New York’s Fifth Avenue Mile, a race which John Walker won in 1984. Michigan-based Willis finished in 3 minutes, 50.5 seconds to…
From dusk till dawn
Ladyhawke’s self-titled debut album has been released in the UK where the former-Wellingtonian is touring through October ahead of dates in the United States and Europe. In this Guardian review: “Not many budding pop…
Pests Transformed
New Zealand possum fur is being imported by Portland-based company Eco-Luxury which produces throws, cushions and bedspreads, “for all of the luxury and none of the guilt.” On a trip to New Zealand,…
Over the Alps
On the TranzAlpine, India’s Economic Times reporter’s travel from Canterbury, taking in mesmerising views of the Waimakiriri, through the Otira tunnel and on to Punakaiki and Greymouth. “The highest viaduct, 73m above the river,…
Alive in New York
Auckland multimedia and performance artist Shigeyuki Kihara will make her North American debut at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art with an exhibition called ‘Living Photographs’. During the exhibition, Kihara will also perform ‘Taualuga:…
Dream with Opera
Auckland five-star boutique hotel Mollies– owned by opera fanatics Frances Wilson and Stephen Fitzgerald– has received a coveted ‘Hideaways of The Year Award’ and is one of Harper’s ‘Longtime Favourite Hideaways…
Emotional Win
The All Blacks have retained the Tri-Nations title for the fourth successive year, beating the Wallabies 28-24 in Brisbane. Sustained by the brilliance of captain Richie McCaw and also Rodney So’oialo, the All Blacks…
Essence of Jade
Dunedin jeweller Jamie Fergus took a trip to the largest jade-deposit in the southern hemisphere, to Cowell in South Australia, after which he taught jewellery students in Adelaide how to carve the mine’s particularly…
Renewing the Fervour
Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour will fill with spectator boats early next year when six America’s Cup teams take to the water in a match racing series. Called the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, competitors will race…
Pride in Heritage
New Zealand’s first Governor-General of Asian descent Anand Satyanand – who recently paid a visit to India – is the subject of an article in The Times of India, which discusses how “the heirs…
The Final Lap
Celebrated Taranaki-born swimming coach Duncan Laing – who held a four-decade coaching tenure at Dunedin’s Moana Pools has died – aged 77. Laing is best known for coaching swimming star Danyon Loader to gold in the…
Comparisons of Reality
As an ‘Artist to Antarctica’ in 2 2, Wellington contemporary photographer Anne Noble, saw beyond conventional portrayals of the South Pole, instead focusing on the changing light patterns in whiteouts, swirling ice-crystals and then…
Dedicated Follower
Wellington-born designer Rebecca Taylor is better known in New York than New Zealand according to The Epoch Times, “where she has made a huge impression on the fashion scene” dressing celebrities like Sarah Jessica…
Weddings on Ice
Auckland-based bar group Minus5 is opening the first ice-lounge in the United States, in Las Vegas, on September 26. Named for the temperature maintained within its 1,200-square-foot main room – 5 degrees Celsius below…
Look Up Without Pain
New Zealander Darrell Poole invented the neck safety-device Necprotech after surviving a rock-climbing accident in 1998 which saw him fall six metres because of a slack rope. Poole fell after his belayer – the…
In Sheep Code
New Zealand clothing label Icebreaker is enabling its customers to trace their purchased merino garment back to one of the 120 sheep stations where the fibre was grown by entering the individual ‘Baacode’ number…
Edwardian assortment
Sam Neill stars in Toa Fraser’s second feature Dean Spanley which Variety reviews, describing the film as “immaculately cast”. “Based on an obscure novel by late Anglo-Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, Alan Sharp’s screenplay…
Green Invasion
Though New Zealand has 2,065 plant species which grow nowhere else on the planet, 22,000 non-native plants have also made the isles their home. Of those, 2,069 have become naturalized: they have spread out…
Teen Bags Four Medals
Christchurch 15-year-old Sophie Pascoe – the youngest participant at the Beijing Paralympics – has won four medals: golds in the 200m individual medley, in the 1m breaststroke and 100m backstroke and a silver medal in the…
Series Victory for Dixon
Aucklander Scott Dixon has won his second IndyCar Series championship at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois driving for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Though Brazilian Helio Castroneves won the race by .0033 of a…
To Cascading Waters
Waiheke Island, home to 8000 people and 30 vineyards, is a “true microcosm of Aotearoa” writes Boston Globe reporter Stephanie Stephens, who is “struck by the endearingly lower-stress pace of New Zealand life” coming…
Islands Preserved
New Zealand tourism is as much reliant upon maintaining the highest environment standards and preserving the Maori concept of kaitiakitanga – guardianship of the land and the animals – as it is giving visitors…
Hareb Catches Some Ricos
Taranaki surfer Paige Hareb, 18, the No. 2 ranked women’s junior professional (under-20) in the world, has won the Port Stevens Pro Junior Series Event in NSW. Hareb is having a good year with…
Persistence in Love
On Maud Island, evolutionary biologists from the University of Toronto have been studying the mating habits of giant male Cook Strait weta. Not only do males travel more than twice as far as females…
Taking on the Chutes
The fourth annual Volkl NZ Freeski Open held at Treble Cone in late August, marking the season opener of the international ski calendar, saw Dunedin’s Alastair Eason and Wanaka’s Janina Kuzma take the top…
Boutique at the Bach
Auckland-based lifestyle fashion label FEW is showing its spring 2009 collection – inspired by the New Zealand bach – at the Action Sports Retailer (ASR) trade show in San Diego. The spring designs are…
Luxurious Technology
New Zealanders Jeremy, Simon and Dareen Doherty have won first prize in an international design competition for their swan-shaped ‘Swarovski Mouse’, beating some 4074 individuals and institutions from 92 countries. The ‘Crystal Vision’ competition…
Provocative on Paper
Designer Karen Walker’s ‘Masters of Disguise’ eyewear shoot has inspired the editor of hip New York-based publication Paper Magazine to base an entire issue on the collection. Walker’s creative and quirky take on…
Cool on the Catwalk
The 2008 Air New Zealand Fashion Week in Auckland is followed by Australian Vogue who review the second day of the event at Trelise Cooper, Stolen Girlfriends and Deborah Sweeney shows. Cooper supplies “something…
Commendable Position
New Zealand’s refusal to approve of a nuclear deal between India and the United States has been praised in a New York Times editorial. Headed “Let’s hear it for New Zealand”, the newspaper writes:…
Celebrating the Centurions
Dunedin-born Glenn Turner, one of ten living batsmen to have achieved 100 first-class centuries, was honoured at London’s Hilton Hotel, where Turner’s bat, amongst other memorabilia, was auctioned for charity with a bid of NZ$13,937. The…
Branding Billy Apple
Aucklander Barrie Bates became Pop artist Billy Apple in 1962, and since then – his name now trademarked – has always made art, life. His 2008 solo exhibition ‘The Bruce and Denny Show’ at…
Familial Ties
Gisborne has the highest concentration of the surname Blair – and Northland the surname Beckham – in the English-speaking world, according to a new website which enables the names of people to be tracked…
Ambition at the Stoop
North Shore-raised former All-Black Nick Evans, 27, now fly-half for English side the Harlequins, could be the player the team needs to help them clinch a top four spot in the Guinness Premiership. So…
Four Decades With Finn
Musician and songwriter Tim Finn is interviewed by Salt Lake City newspaper The Deseret News about his forthcoming solo album release, ‘The Conversation’, and a career spanning 40 years. “If you would have told…
Controversial Evidence
Professor David Fergusson, founder and director of the Christchurch Health and Development Study, was one of 20 reviewers of the preliminary draft of an American Psychological Association (APA) paper on the mental health effects…
Filming the Arabian dream
New Zealand writer and director Craig Johnson, who has lived in Dubai since 2003, is about to begin filming an English-language production based on expatriate life in the city, to be released in time…
Edges painted black
New Zealand artists New York/Auckland-based Max Gimblett (above) and Judy Millar of Auckland, (below) feature in a group show exploring “different aesthetic angles using black”, in an exhibition entitled, ‘Edges of Darkness’ at Berlin’s…
