Farmers Uprooting to Tasmanian Dairy Paddocks
A wave of New Zealand farmers are being wooed to Tasmania’s dairy scene, where milk production is rising helped by a record price from processor Fonterra of $6.64 a kilogram for milk solids this…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
For the Times We Live in, NZ the Best Country to Be
New Zealand “is absolutely the best country in the world for the times we’re living in”, according to former Seattleite, speculator and business consultant Chris Eyerman. When Eyerman, his wife Kelly, and their young twins…
New Guernsey Energy Role for New Zealander
Guernsey-based New Zealander Paul Wright, who has lived on the island for the past 17 years, has been hired as finance director of Guernsey Gas, Jersey Gas and Manx Gas and will be involved…
Teen Environmental Animation Premiers at US Festival
A short film by 16-year-old Nastasha Bishop has had its US premier at the prestigious Environmental Film Festival in Washington DC at the weekend. As the Washington Post notes, the festival is misnamed. These…
The Female Punchline: Don’t Ask that Question
A little bit of comedian Michele A’Court dies when she is asked this question: Are women funny? A’Court is asked this question so often that deep inside her, nestled somewhere near her heart, is…
It happened in NZ first: Oceanic Apocalypse
At first it was dismissed as a freak event. In 1998, a mass of jellyfish carried by the tide into Big Glory Bay, Stewart Island, became pinned against the netting of salmon farm pens:…
NZ Prepares to Wear ‘Big Boy Pants’
British BBC readers overwhelmingly support New Zealand ditching the last official remnant of its colonial past. A referendum will be held at this year’s election on whether to change the flag, which features the…
Overland Journey in a Balloon for the World’s Kids
Hot air balloon pilot Andrew Parker, 30, is attempting a four-year overland journey across more than 100 countries, in which he aims to raise awareness and US$1 million for the UNICEF Flying…
Kiwi Whisky Judged One of the Greats
A top-shelf tipple from the planet’s southern-most country has been named as one of the world’s best by a global whisky expert, Jim Murray. The flagship 21-year-old South Island Single Malt has been adjudged…
Learning to Stand Upright in New Zealand
Historically, geographically, culturally – there are many points of comparison between New Zealand and its neighbour to the west, Australia. But there are notable differences. Victoria University’s Professor Harry Ricketts examines migration in New…
Toddler’s Golf Swing a Match for Tiger’s
A New Zealand toddler has just placed third in an international competition for junior golf swings. William Tye, who modelled his golf swing on Tiger Woods after watching a video of the famous athlete,…
Large Numbers of Australians Flocking to NZ to Wed
31 January 2014 – More than a quarter of all same-sex marriages in New Zealand are couples from Australia, according to the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages’ first release of statistics since same-sex marriage…
Kiwi Doctor Has the Best Fisherman’s Tale
A medical degree and a typical ‘South Island’ kiwi attitude has come in handy for one New Zealand doctor who fought off an attacking shark with a knife and stitched his own wounds before…
From Amidst Highland Heather to Paparata Farmland
This week, as part of the Highland News’ “Friends Around the World” series, the newspaper meets Min Walker, who emigrated to New Zealand in the 1960s to work as a nurse and gain experience…
New Zealand’s Warm Weather Patterns to Continue
The year 2013 was New Zealand’s second hottest year on record according to Auckland University climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger, with the winter season found to be the warmest and temperatures hitting 1.3 degrees…
New Zealand a Multicultural Model for the EU
January 13, 2014 – Multicultural policies, like those adopted by the immigrant countries of New Zealand and Canada, may be exactly what European Union countries need, according to journalist Kait Bolongaro, writing for Al…
Travelling the Inked Map of Her Father’s Life
A coloured butterfly, a pseudo-celtic armband, a giant spiral: the tattoos on New Zealander Nell Frizzell’s father are an inky historical record of his lifetime’s journey through continents, relationships, families, marriages and deaths. Ahead…
New Zealanders Living Life in Berlin
“When a German realises you’re a New Zealander … they often can’t quite seem to believe it, the implication of the questioning being ‘You’re from New Zealand! Why would you ever want to leave?…
Plenty of Scope for More Art and Enterprise
The disaster that reduced Christchurch to rubble has given rise to a spirit of art and enterprise, writes Tijana Jaksic for the Herald Sun, and the city is “embracing the change” she says. The
Tree Traditions for a New Mexico Christmas
New Zealander Aly Hyder lives in Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico and has a very different Christmas experience to the “barbeque Christmas” of the southern hemisphere. Hyder goes out to the forest for a Christmas tree…
Shipwreck Find Could Alter Our History
Timbers from a shipwreck found in Kaipara Harbour have been dated to some 70 years before Captain Cook, identified as having originated in Southeast Asia as early as 1700. Captain Cook’s Endeavour encountered New…
NZ Public Institutions Trustworthy
New Zealand has been declared the least corrupt nation on earth, equal with Denmark. Rounding out the top four are usual Scandinavian suspects Finland and Sweden, according to Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index….
Island Paradise Enticing Auckland Urbanites
“Waiheke Island is now the go-to holiday home destination for wealthy New Zealand urbanites … with the west coast draw the most punters, in particular the beaches near the island’s main town Oneroa and…
Marathon a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Twelve years ago, New Zealand-born endurance athlete Janette Murray-Wakelin was told she had six months to live after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, she’s in the midst of running a marathon every day…
Maori to NY: Let our People Sleep the Sweet Slumber
Pressure will be mounting on the American Museum of Natural History in New York to return sacred Maori remains to New Zealand after USA Today gave prominence to the issue of toi moko (tattooed…
New Zealand Continues to Beat Australia with Smarts
25 November 2013 – Auckland is the only New Zealand city, and the first of four cities from Australia and New Zealand, to make Fast Company’s list of ‘The 10 Smartest Asia/Pacific Cities’. To decide…
New Zealand a Great Place to Start-Up
New Zealand is sitting amongst the top ten most prosperous nations globally, according to the Legatum Institute’s 2013 Prosperity Index rankings. Placing fifth, on a list otherwise heavily populated by Scandinavians countries, New Zealand sits…
Cold, Hard Cash Works Better than Welfare
Giving money directly to the poor is one of the best ways to raise education levels and lift people out of poverty, a study by the University of Otago shows. Development economist Dr Sarah…
Portrait of a Leader
Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples features in a photographic exhibition featuring portraits of Tangata whenua, including Sharples. Sharples was stunningly captured on film by British photographer Jimmy Nelson, who was touring the world recording…
Responsible for the Rights of Children in Indonesia
UNICEF representative in Indonesia, New Zealander Angela Kearney is responsible for leading a staff of 150 to carry out the duty of realizing the rights of every child in the country. Besides Jakarta, UNICEF also…
Life on Board Ship a Daily Adventure into the Wild
For the past 24 years, New Zealand mountain climber Greg Landreth and Canadian photographer Keri Pashuk have been living on a sailboat, travelling thousands of nautical miles into some of the coldest and most…
We’ll Never be Royals – Clark
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark appears to have taken teenage pop sensation Lorde’s lyrical sentiment – “We’ll never be royals” – to heart. In comments following a meeting at Clarence House in London with…
Postal Service to Reduce Deliveries from 2015
With more people emailing their correspondence rather than popping it in the mailbox, New Zealand Post will deliver mail as infrequently as three days a week to most customers from June 2015. The…
Happiness: Voting With Your Feet
New Zealand, allegedly, is the third happiest place on earth. Happiness is a subjective subject. Couples, for instance, routinely report higher relationship satisfaction when they are able to favourably compare themselves to other less…
NZ Pinot Beats Burgundy
A wine-tasting of international Pinot Noir – 18 wines from six different regions, including Burgundy – by more than 100 experts has seen New Zealand deemed best by value. Influential business magazine Forbes positively…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
V8 Supercar Driver Promotes Safety on the Road
Twenty-year-old V8 Supercar rookie and Fujitsu Racing GRM driver, New Zealander Scott McLaughlin recently visited Maroochydore State High School in Queensland to spread the road safety message. Christchurch-born McLaughlin made his V8 Supercar debut at…
Social Media Carrier for Mass Contagion
Robert Bartholomew, a sociologist in New Zealand and expert in mass hysteria, is warning how Facebook and Twitter have the potential to act as global carriers of mass hysteria. The most famous instance of…
Winter Warmest since Records Began
Scientists says New Zealand has had its warmest winter since record-keeping began in 1909. The average nationwide temperature was 9.5C for June, July and August, about 1.2C above average, the National Institute of Water…
Hope for Help from British Construction Workers
An innovative live webcast run by Immigration New Zealand and the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) hopes to encourage British civil construction and engineering workers to consider a move to earthquake-ravaged…
Prince George Gets His Own NZ Post Stamp
For the first time in its 170-year history, New Zealand Post is issuing a stamp to celebrate a Royal birth, that of Prince George of Cambridge. While Royal children have featured on several New…
New Zealand’s First Same-Sex Marriages Occur Across the Country
Just hours after same-sex marriage laws came into force, New Zealand’s first gay marriages began taking place across the country. 31 couples plan on tying the knot today, but the number is likely to…
Why You Should Retire in New Zealand
The benefits of retiring in New Zealand are extolled by Catey Hill of MarketWatch, as she explains why the country is a great place to retire for active baby boomers. The “dramatic natural landscape…
Invaluable Volunteer Helps out in Arundel
New Zealander Andrew Wood, 26, who has been in the UK for the past 18 months, has been “the stalwart” of Arundel’s annual nine-day festival, “proving an invaluable volunteer”. Originally from Christchurch where…
Déjà Vu for California-based Royal Biographer
New Zealand writer Susan Maxwell Skinner, who lives in Charmichael, California, “knows much about the doings of England’s royal family”, writes The Sacramento Bee’s Bill Lindelof. As a young writer, Skinner moved to England…
At Home on the Banks of the Mekong
The home of New Zealand doctor Andrew Thomson, who works for the United Nations in Cambodia, features in The New York Times’ section “Great Homes and Destinations” this week. “It was more of a…
Mayor Gives Residents a Sense of What Auckland Could Be
Auckland sits at No 10 on Monocle magazine’s annual “Top 25 liveable cities” list, with Copenhagen at No 1, followed by Melbourne at No 2. “Auckland’s mayor Len Brown talks of making his city…
Canada Should Consider NZ’s Sex Work Rights
Catherine Healy, a member of the New Zealand Prostitutes’ Collective, and Sandra Ka Hon Chu of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, discuss “New Zealand’s model of sex work respects rights and the “Swedish model,”…
New Zealand’s Oldest Driver Has No Plans to Give Up
Born before the first Model T rolled out of Henry Ford’s factory in Detroit, Northland man Bob Edwards, 105, is New Zealand’s oldest licensed driver – and one of the oldest in the…
Life Behind Many Doors in a Vintage Ho Chi Minh Home
New Zealand engineer Rick Stockley and his wife Rosie Pollard, 30, a choreographer, were not planning to move in October 2011, but a surprise offer prompted them to reconsider. Some acquaintances were going to…
