Beyond the humble bach
The Guardian explores NZ’s high-end bach culture, with profiles of such luxurious rentals as the Glasshouse on Waiheke Island, Oceania II and Villa Toscana Lodge on the Coromandel Peninsula, and the Hawke’s Bay’s Tom’s…
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The High Life
The opening in March of NZ’s first and only luxury alpine retreat – the Whare Kea Chalet – rates a mention in both the Guardian and Observer. Guests reach the chalet via a “dazzling” 15…
Quality tucker
January 14, 2004 – Significant New York Times feature ‘The Other Down Under’ chronicles NZ’s culinary revolution – from land of the long boiled mutton to world-class gastronomic player. The new breed of Kiwi…
The People’s Choice
Aotearoa earned its second consecutive “Top Destination for the Coming Year” award in the annual poll of Lonely Planet staff around the world. According to global travel editor, Don George, for one country to top the poll…
Sir Bob Farewelled in Almost Perfect Symmetry
NZ golfing great, Sir Bob Charles, made his last ever appearance at the NZ Open – an event he won for the first of 4 times as an 18-year-old amateur in 1954. Said Charles, prior to…
Down Under Up-and-coming
CNN profiles the rash of Australasian talent currently infiltrating PGA ranks. Included in its top ten are two NZ golfers, “since to North Americans they’re Down Under, too” – Michael Campbell (world ranking 45) and Phil Tataurangi…
Pure dynamite
Global sales of Pure, the international debut album by teenage singer Hayley Westenra, hit the one million mark in early January. Released in September, Pure is the best-selling debut classical album in British chart…
Best of the Summer Wine
The NZ wine industry is set to benefit from the country’s Rings-inspired tourist influx this year, with two major travel features in the Chicago Tribune and Boston Globe. The former relates an American journalist’s experience…
Track Star
The Observer‘s “20 journeys of a lifetime” includes NZ’s legendary Milford Track. “Traversing the heart of South Island’s wild fjord country, the Milford Track is often described as the finest walk in the world. Famed for spectacular…
Taranaki’s Hollywood ambassador
Tom Cruise sang the praises of Aotearoa to the US on his promotional tour for The Last Samurai, the Japanese military epic filmed largely in Taranaki. As well as the beautiful scenery and friendly…
From Hollywood to Bollywood
NZ actor Martin Henderson is currently starring in Torque, the big-budget Hollywood motorcycle flick by the makers of 2 Fast 2 Furious and xXx. He describes Torque as a movie that “doesn’t…
Mother of Invention
Age feature charts former Thompson Twin Alannah Currie’s career trajectory from 80s popstar to the face of MadGE (Mothers Against Genetic Engineering) – NZ’s most visible opponent of genetically modified crops. Currie is credited with making the…
Cultural export
Boston Globe writer catches a performance from acclaimed NZ dance troupe, Black Grace, at their first European festival outing in the Netherlands. “Australia and NZ are among those enlightened nations that want the rest…
Over but Not Quite Out
No.1 women’s squash player, Carol Owens, retired from her professional career on a high note by winning her second World Open title in December. Owens may still represent NZ at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne: “I don’t think…
Innovators R Us
NZ has been named one of the world’s most entrepreneurial countries for the third year running by the annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The 41-country UK/US-based survey identified NZ – alongside Chile, Korea, Venezuela, and Uganda -…
Easy Money
NZ has the world’s third freest economy, to an annual survey by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. Hong Kong took the top spot for the tenth consecutive year, followed by Singapore.
Earthsea in Aotearoa
NZ is to act as ‘best supporting location’ for yet another cult fantasy series; this time for an adaptation of Ursula Le Guin’s acclaimed Earthsea novels by the creative team behind Dune. The miniseries will screen…
Recognition for Political Torchbearer
Mayor of Dunedin, Sukhi Turner, has been conferred the Indian government’s highest honour for non-resident civilians, the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award for the Indian Diaspora. She is the first New Zealander to receive the award, and one of…
From sea to sky
Witi Ihimaera – “debonair 59-year-old, multi-award winning author, playwright, librettist, anthologist, university lecturer, former foreign diplomat and Maori activist” – interviewed in the Age about his latest novel, Sky Dancer. Following on the successful formula…
100 Years of Class
Worldwide centenary celebrations for Rolls Royce were launched in NZ January 25, with a commemorative dinner for fans and owners held in Auckland. 50 of the company’s luxury cars – including a 1912 Silver Ghost and a…
Whale watching on Ponsonby Rd?
Moby, the world’s most vocal vegan, has spilled the beans on his favourite places to dine around the globe. His list of ethical eateries includes Ponsonby Road mainstay, Musical Knives. ” cute little…
Straight Outta Cambridge
The Datsuns made Rolling Stone‘s Critics Top Albums of 2003 list with their eponymous debut record: “This NZ four piece aped the Stooges and AC/DC and helped re-ignite the post-millennium garage, cock-rock flame.” The…
Off the Beaten Track
NZ is one of 30 “hot spots for switched on travellers” recommended by Lonely Planet for 2004. To avoid the inevitable horde of Rings fans, LP suggests taking the Pacific Coast Highway down the Coromandel Peninsula, stopping…
Lord of PR
Pete Hodgson – AKA ‘Minister of the Rings’ – dubbed “the most intelligent politician I have ever met” by National Post journalist, Cleo Paskal, in her article on the government-supported LotR publicity machine. “It…
Big read
Elizabeth Knox’s Daylight – a typically imaginative tale involving caving, mysterious deaths, and a Resistance heroine – makes the Australian‘s list of Big Reads for 2004.
Would the real Middle Earth please stand up?
“Tolkien may have intended The Lord of the Rings as an epic myth for England, but even he would acknowledge … that the world of Middle-earth and the tiny nation of NZ had become…
New Frontier
The NZ government’s multimillion dollar media campaign in the US aiming to lure wealthy Americans to “the new California” is the subject of a December Voice of America feature. Major selling points are the clean/green…
Uggly in pink
LA Times profiles that old Kiwi staple, the Ugg Boot, which thanks to appearances on Sex & the City and Oprah has been elevated from surfer’s necessity to fashion accessory. “They’re selling…
Now Wear This
Boston Globe profiles Nelson’s World of Wearable Art (WOW), which has grown “from a soggy one-night affair in a tent 16 years ago to become one of New Zealand’s iconic arts events,…
Play it Safe with Silver
According to research undertaken at Auckland University, silver cars are significantly less likely to be involved in a serious crash than vehicles of other colours. Sue Furness, who led the study, suggests that this “may be…
Lions and Witches in Kiwiland
18 December 2003 – Pre-production on The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is officially underway in NZ, with Weta Workshop on board for the visual effects and Kiwi Andrew Adamson (Shrek) at the…
Eating on the edge
Public – helmed by NZ chefs Peter Gordon, Anna Hansen, and Brad Farmerie – has administered a welcome shock to the tastebuds of New York diners. According to New York Times food critic, William…
Kiwi Buddha
SunSpot profiled the Venerable Pong Re Sung Rap Tulku Rinpoche – AKA “Kiwi Buddha” – on his return to his native NZ. Three years ago, the ten-year-old was identified as the reincarnation of a…
Judith Mayhew Jonas: Alpha female
14 December 2003 – Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas – former financial advisor to the Mayor of London, current Provost of Kings College, Cambridge, and chairman of the Royal Opera House – was one of nine “alpha females”…
South Seas style in Costa Meca
Noel Turner’s epoynmous LA eatery continues to raise the flag for antipodean cuisine and produce along the US West Coast. “The climate produces some of the world’s cleanest foods, most notably from Noel Turner,…
How Much do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways…
The Guardian asks LotR cast members to explain their widely publicised admiration for NZ. Billy Boyd (Pippin): “The land feels new; it feels like what Scotland might have been like a few million years…
The Verdicts
The usually art-house sympathetic New York Film Critics Circle chose Return of the King as their Best Film of 2003, The American Film Institute named the film in its top-10 of the year….
Edge Envoy to Iraq
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan named New Zealander Ross Mountain as his interim envoy to Iraq. Veteran Mountain has had a long career with the UN and has worked as a relief co-ordinator in war zones in Africa,…
Top Christmas Tipple
Villa Maria’s 2002 Private Bin Riesling is one of the Observer‘s top 36 wines for Christmas drinking. “Villa Maria is better known for its in-your-face Sauvignon Blancs than its other New Zealand whites, but this screwcapped Riesling…
Alternative Slopes
Scotsman feature urges snow bunnies further afield than the Alps and Rockies, recommending NZ alongside Iran, Alaska and Chile as a desirable alternative. “The Alps that run spine-like through the South Island are dotted with ski resorts. Mt…
Sleeping Outside the Square
The Hotel off the Square in Christchurch featured in the Guardian‘s ‘What’s Hot’ travel section. “The Hotel off the Square … proclaims itself a ‘hotel with attitude’ with 38 rooms decorated in a quirky style. The most quirky…
Knowledge Economist
Finance Minister and Deputy PM, Dr. Michael Cullen, articulates the edge phenomenon in a lengthy interview with the Economist. ” a very significant solid eclectic range of niche manufacturing and service industries which have developed in…
Talking Turkey
Evolutionary biologists at Auckland University have made ivory tower headlines by providing compelling evidence of the origins of the Indo-European language family. Associate Professor Russell Gray and PhD student Quentin Atkinson applied a complex computer program modelled…
Karl’s Eye View
Australian Vogue’s December 2003 collector’s edition includes NZ designs hand-picked by guest editor/fashion icon, Karl Lagerfeld. Featured are Karen Walker’s baby-doll dresses and op-art minis, Zambesi’s cutting-edge sportswear and metallic accessories, and Kate…
I See Red, I See Red, I See Red
According to leading wine magazine, Decanter, “red wines in NZ are undergoing a revolution that promises to be as dramatic as the discovery that Marlborough could produce world-class Sauvignon Blanc.” The December issue included 1 Kiwi…
Road-tripping in Style
Condé Nast writer takes a “wholly enchanting” tour of the North Island behind the wheel of a BMW 745Li – dubbed the All Black “in honour of New Zealand’s brutal and beloved national rugby team.” Highlights on…
Sauvignon Tsunami
CNN and the Arizona Republic lavish praise on NZ Sauvignon Blanc, recommending the 2003 Brancott Estate and 2003 Nobilo Icon Series respectively. “NZ is now a tsunami of Sauvignon Blancs, and diligently as I’ve tried, I…
Colour Me Bad
The outlines of stylist/illustrator Kate Ruth are adorning hip US magazines Nylon, Soma and Fader. Drawings by the Victoria University grad have also graced the clothes of such edgy popstresses as Shirley Manson and…
Street Cred
“Dressing icons of the now” on the streets and slopes are home-grown favourite Huffer. The street-wear label, created by Steve Dunstan and Dan Buckley in 1997, is now sold through 10 stores in Australia,…
More Glowing PJ Praise
Sydney Morning Herald awestruck by the premiere, wonders how PJ managed to pull off “the trilogy of a lifetime” Operatic high praise from The New Yorker who credits the trilogy with reviving “the…
Here’s to you, Ms. Caro
30 November 2003 – Whale Rider director, Niki Caro, was named one of Ms. Magazine‘s women of the year for 2003, alongside Salma Hayek, Eileen Fisher, and Loune Viaud. The US feminist publication recognised…
Praise the Lord
Peter Jackson: “‘He’s as cool as an elf, he has the heart of a hobbit, and he’s as mad as a wizard.’ That’s the awestruck opinion of Lord Of The Rings star…
Russ stands his ground
“I’d move to LA if Australia and NZ were swallowed up in a huge tidal wave.” December cover feature by UK Vanity Fair finds Russell Crowe firmly rooted Down Under despite being one of…
Rings-led Revolution
“New Zealand has had a day like no other”. The world premiere of The Return of the King in Wellington outshone all expectations, with a 100,000+ crowd lining the route of the spectacular…
Kia Ora Fellows
For the international family of actors, surfing at Lyall Bay, brunching at Chocolate Fish Cafe, the Wellington premiere was thankgiving for the city and people who have embraced them as locals during the epic…
Chameleon Car Coolest of ’03
Alan Gibbs’ Aquada skims into Time magazine’s list of ‘Coolest Inventions of 2003.’ The Aquada also featured in Arthur Lubow’s article ‘Inspiration: Where Does It Come From?’ for the New York Times, alongside the Band-Aid, the…
