Buying Up the Grammar Zone
The campus of Auckland Grammar School, designed in the Spanish style of the California missions, is one of New Zealand’s largest, oldest and most prestigious schools for boys, established in 1868. By…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Lifestyle Comes At A Price
Auckland and Wellington have risen in their rankings of the most expensive cities to live in, with Auckland jumping nine places to rank 15 and Wellington rising 16 places to rank 17th with London….
Land Sale Stopped In Court
High Court Judge Forrest Miller has halted the first ever sale of dairy farms to Chinese investors, Shanghai Pengxin, the latest twist in a saga that’s dividing a country reliant on agriculture for much…
Getting Back to Basics
The Topp Twins, who are touring the UK in February, say the secret to their longevity and success is because of their strength and independence, and that because they are “old-fashioned” entertainers they appeal…
New Zealand Farewells A Leader
Lloyd Morrison, Wellington businessman, founder of infrastructure investment company Infratil, philanthropist and patron of the arts, has died in Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, aged 54. Speaking from Seattle, his brother…
Onward To The Future
“In the big picture is bigger than the destruction,” SF Gate reporter Spud Hilton writes. “I had come to Christchurch to better understand how a series of quakes can turn a metropolis upside…
All In A Day’s Work
Hahei diver Rhys Cochrane, 20, rescued an orca he found entangled in a fisherman’s rope attached to a crayfish trap several hundred metres off the coast of Coromandel Peninsula. Cochrane said the whale did…
Ruminating On A Skirmish
While stand-up paddling above a grey stingray languishing in the tidal shallows of Golden Bay, Gadling’s Kyle Ellison ruminates on the violent history of the waters and its former name. “An expedition from the…
Trench Living Makes Big
A ‘supergiant’ crustacean measuring 34cm has been found 7km deep in the Kermadec Trench north off the coast of New Zealand. Seven specimens, of which usually measure between 2-3cm, were caught in a trap…
Piece Of Hollywood In Wairarapa
Titanic and Avatar director James Cameron has spent $20 million buying more than 1000ha of farmland in South Wairarapa. According to application documents, Cameron and his family “intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the…
Celebrating Deco Heritage
On the third weekend of every February, Napier celebrates its unique Art Deco heritage with age-old fashions, wine, dance and song. The official programme of events has grown so much over the years that…
Debating Foreign Investment
New Zealand Federated Farmers chief executive Conor English speaks from Wellington with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television’s “On the Move Asia” about Shanghai Pengxin Group Co.’s plan to buy 16 New Zealand dairy farms….
Roadmap For Understanding
Mt Eden’s private Ficino School has a Sanskrit Language Studies program and claims that learning one of the world’s oldest languages accelerates a child’s reading ability. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has applauded the school…
Taking Back History
New Zealand ambassador Rosemary Banks and French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand presided over a solemn ceremony at Quai Branly museum in Paris where 20 Maori ancestral heads and bones were given back to New…
Mega Auckland Police Sting
New Zealand police arrested four of seven file-sharing firm Megaupload executives, including founder Kim Dotcom, 37, in an early morning sting at his $30 million rented mansion in Coatesville, 30km north of Auckland. The…
Sticks And Stones
On tour in “the luscious land of New Zealand,” British comedian Ed Byrne writes his weekly column for Metro. “They’re a bit fed-up at the moment over here: earthquake-ravaged Christchurch continues to be a drain…
Wooly Olympic Potential
New Zealand Federated Farmers says sheep shearing has the potential to become an Olympic demonstration sport. The “time has come to elevate shearing’s sporting status to the ultimate world stage,” the organisation said. New…
Ribboned Rakaia From Space
An image of the braided Rakaia River has won an online vote through Facebook for best satellite image of 2011. The image was captured by American commercial satellite imaging firm DigitalGlobe. The river, shown…
Hungry Lion Fascinates Toddler
A video of three-year-old Sofia Walker coming face to face with Wellington Zoo’s lion, Malik, has captivated international news media. The Daily Mail described her encounter: “Brave Sofia Walker refuses to back down and instead stares…
Inspiring A City’s Renaissance
Christchurch, “New Zealand’s bravest and most resilient communities … is re-emerging as one of most exciting cities,” according to Lonely Planet author Brett Atkinson. “If you’re heading to the South Island, definitely…
Ship Splits In The Rough
A Maritime New Zealand image of the stricken container ship Rena split in two features in the Seattle Post Intelligencer ‘News of the world in photos’ series. The Greek-owned ship ran aground on Astrolabe Reef off…
Carterton’s Hot Air Balloon Tragedy
New Zealand is in mourning following a fiery hot air balloon crash in the Wairarapa that left eleven people dead. The tragedy occurred when the balloon came entangled in power lines, causing the basket…
Justice Reserved For
Justice is the name most often refused by New Zealand registrars in the past ten years, with 49 sets of parents prevented from doing so according to the department for internal affairs. Next on…
Friendliest Place On The Planet
New Zealand is the world’s friendliest place according to the results of HSBC’s Expat Explorer Survey. “New Zealanders as a whole seem like happy people, and that translates into friendly, helpful and kind people,”…
Region Of Potheads
“New Zealand and Australia have a proud history of co-operation, but now it seems the nations have achieved a more dubious honour: the world’s biggest pot-heads,” The Sydney Morning Herald’s Amy Corderoy writes. “Together the countries…
Low On Brands, High On Beauty
For the first time, New Zealand is included in Monocle’s index of the top 30 soft power nations, coming in at number 17 and introduced as: “Low on brands, high on beauty and in between on…
Henry Receives Knighthood
Rugby World Cup-winning All Blacks coach Graham Henry, 65, has been awarded a knighthood in New Zealand’s annual New Year Honours List. Henry, a former school teacher, who resigned the All Blacks coaching job…
Orca vs Shark vs Dog
On Boxing Day at Blue Cliffs Beach near Tuatapere, residents witnessed a group of orca whales attacking a shoal of sharks. One shark desperate to escape from the enormous beasts even beached itself on…
Taste For The Finer Things
The intestinal transplant New Zealander Matisse Reid, 11, received a year ago at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh came with an unexpected surprise. The fifth-grader (Year 6) developed a sophisticated palate: a taste for…
Frighteningly Festive
Auckland’s Whitcoulls Santa statue, which was built in 1960, is the world’s most unintentionally creepy Christmas ornament according to American humour website Cracked. Before a 2009 makeover, the statue had a sly winking left…
Courageous Man To The End
Nelson-born Jason Richards, V8 Supercar champion “to the last”, has died in Melbourne. He was 35. Peter Kogoy writes Richards’ obituary for The Australian: “His duel at the wheel of the Team BOC Commodore with…
Pupils Staying Strong
Students from Fendalton Open-Air School in Christchurch are the first group members — calling themselves Faultline Fiction — of the Guardian site to vividly recount what happened when earthquakes struck their city, changing their…
One Legendary Queen
Transgender icon Taumaranui-born Carmen Rupe has died in Sydney, aged 75. Carmen was born into a family of 13 and was known as Trevor Rupe for about the first 20 years of her life….
Festive Season Realities
A billboard outside Auckland’s Anglican St Matthew’s in the City of the Virgin Mary gasping as she examines a pregnancy testing kit has sparked fiery debate. Defending the poster, the vicar, the Rev Glynn…
After A Hard Day’s Travels
A Tauranga woman thought she was hallucinating when a clattering noise prompted her to run downstairs to the kitchen and check on the cats, where she found a baby seal, who then waddled into…
Unreal Festive Spirit
“After 14 attempts I am still unable to reconcile Christmas Day with the hot sunshine of the north-east New Zealand city of Gisborne,” Guardian reader John Darkin writes for the publication’s weekly series ‘Letter from.’ “The…
Planning Christmas Capers
Now living in Rotorua, Canadian Jill Campbell, from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, is looking for other Capers so they can to get together for a céilidh or a drink at the pub over Christmas….
Alleged Fraudster Arrested
A New Zealander has been arrested in Australia for alleged embezzling $16 million from Queensland Health. 36-year-old Hohepa Morehu-Barlow — also known as Joel Barlow — had been evading police since Thursday afternoon when…
Hope Yet For Happy Feet
New Zealand author and entrepreneur Gareth Morgan will join 12 scientists on a 30-day voyage to Antarctica early next year to raise awareness of the importance of the region, and as an “add-on” to…
More Penguins Return Home
A photograph of a blue penguin moving toward the sea after being released by wildlife workers in Tauranga is included in theGuardian’s ‘24 hours in pictures’ series for 9 December. The penguins were among those…
Streaking Star Trails
A long-exposure image of star trails streaking over Lake Tekapo features on the National Geographic website. The lake was one of the first sites designated as a Starlight Reserve as part of a UN-supported initiative to…
Observing Oceanic Responsibilities
New Zealand and Australia have signed a marine observation agreement, which is expected to result in improved knowledge of regional climate systems. New Zealand’s high commissioner Major-General Martyn Dunne and Australia’s Science Minister Kim…
Reporting From New Zealand
“For a small place, New Zealand generates a lot of news,” ABC New Zealand correspondent Dominque Schwartz tells Elizabeth Jackson. “Its population is less than that of Sydney, but this year alone there’ve been…
Great Barrier Phenomenon
American entomologist Mark Moffett, 53, claimed he discovered the largest weta of the species ever found. International publications, such as the Daily Mail, The Huffington Post and Telegraph, have declared Moffett’s find the world’s biggest insect in terms…
Challenging Classroom Prejudice
New Zealand-born teacher Suran Dickson, 34, felt moved enough to leave her job and launch Diversity Role Models, a charity which tackles the worrying incidence of homophobic bullying in British schools, where terms…
Magical Parrot Meetings
The rangers and scientists of the Kakapo Recovery program on Codfish Island are slowly but surely succeeding in their mission to “make more kakapo” by micromanaging the birds’ diet, mating, births, and fledging —…
New Zealand Least Corrupt
New Zealand is perceived as having the least corrupt government and public institutions in the world, topping the Corruption Perceptions Index 2011 survey. 178 countries were included in this year’s iteration of the annual survey,…
Alien Disappearance
Without any human intervention, the Argentine ant — the world’s most invasive species — is disappearing from New Zealand. The alien ant arrived in New Zealand in 1990 and has since marched across our…
Calling Australia Home
Almost one in five Maori — or 151,000 of the total population of 815,000 — now live outside New Zealand, with most — 140,000 — calling Australia home. An increasing number were born in…
Birds In Paradise
About an hour from downtown Wellington is Kapiti Island, one of New Zealand’s most successful nature reserves and a model for wildlife and flora conservation. Award-winning journalist Jill Robinson takes a day-trip there. “On…
Spellbound On Tiritiri Matangi
New Zealand bellbird, Anthornis melanura was the Guardian’s ‘Mystery Bird’ on 24 November. “This bird is named for its gorgeous song, which consists of three distinct sounds that resemble the chiming of distant bells,” evolutionary…
Man Of Masterpieces
Kerikeri resident Russell Garcia, an California-born arranger, composer and conductor who was an influential figure in the West Coast music scene during the 1950s and ‘60s and whose work in Hollywood included writing the…
Freedom For Little Blues
Forty-nine little blue penguins rescued from the Rena oil spill that occurred in October off the coast of Tauranga have been returned to the wild at Mt Maunganui beach. Most of them immediately ran…
Horse Whispering
An image of Hurricanes assistant coach Alama Ieremia working with his horse during a leadership programme run by Talkinghorses in Te Horo, is included in the Globe and Mail’s ‘Day in Photos’. The publication…
Rats Not Such Pests After All
Invasive rats are compensating for the loss of native pollinators in New Zealand, scientists report in a paper published in a Royal Society journal. “New Zealand offers a really interesting and rare opportunity to…
By Heck It’s Back
One of the world’s smallest and rarest marine dolphins, the Hector’s Dolphin, has been seen in Wellington Harbour, more than two years after the last sighting. The person who spotted the dolphin said it…
