Top Two
Two New Zealanders – Fred Hollows and Whakatane-born Lindy Chamberlain – make it into the list of top 100 influential Australians.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Catch That Pigeon Now
New Zealander Kent Robertson adds his two cents worth on the Trafalger Square pigeons: “I’ve been coming to London for 30 years and feeding the pigeons has always been a great treat.”
In Search of Lost Crime
How can a society heal itself? Some places, like New Zealand, opt for compensation for victims, a strategy that can be divisive. Europe prefers legal redress and Africa, Latin America and Asia favour commissions of inquiry….
Death Deluxe
John Bougan’s Auckland Memorial Park will provide anything “within reason, and within moral and legal bounds and the Building Act”. One customer has already requested a $150,000 building to house himself and his Rolls Royce.
Lakeside Limerick Learning
The University of Limerick is lending “expertise” to assist Ngati Tuwharetoa and the Taupo District Council in setting up the Lake Taupo University College.
Girl Power
Women leaders are where it’s at says the The Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasian leadership conference.
Diversionary Tactics
Victoria’s government is using New Zealand’s successful diversion scheme to “break the cycle of crime” for young offenders.
Better Late Then Never
“Perhaps we all have a conscience – it just takes some a little longer to find theirs,” said the manager of the Southland Gun Club after receiving anonymous restitution for a twenty-year old theft.
Pooch Smooch
New Zealand firefighter Trevor Hill has a new best friend – Oscar, the dog he revived with the canine kiss of life.
Private Giant
Dozens of giant squid have washed up on New Zealand beaches, but no one has yet sighted the monster alive.
Too Tricky Poneke
The King William’s College quiz is “fiendishly” difficult – but one question should be easy for Wellingtonians.
Coastal Edge
Victoria looks to follow New Zealand’s lead on marine reserves, seen as a “back-up” for species conservation, and a way of replenishing fishing stocks. Prince Charles supports a similar idea in the Bay if Biscay.
Big Job for McKinnon
“Turbulence in Zimbabwe, civil war in Sierra Leone, the violent overthrow of prime ministers in Fiji and the Solomons; the Commonwealth’s programme of improving the quality of democracy ran into political setbacks in 2000. On the other…
Midsumma Dream
New Zealander Nigel Higgins is the man in charge with making Midsumma, Melbourne’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender festival, the queen of events.
Extreme Edge of Life
Thermophile archaeons thrive at temperatures hot enough to boil the flesh off your bones. Layers of extremophile life form flourish in multi-coloured rings in Rotorua’s thermal springs.
Tax Miles
Is the New Zealand system of an odometer-based tax on diesel vehicles the best option for funding roads?
Royal Bird
“No one who has seen an albatross on the wing is ever likely to forget the experience,” says Prince Charles. New Zealand’s Chatham Island albatross is down to 4000 pairs.
Beating the Sheep
New Zealand’s legendary 20:1 sheep to human ratio is in decline, expected to fall to 10:1 by 2005.
Get out of the Water…
8 people, 21 of them in serious trouble, were rescued or ordered out of the water on a single day after unusual currents hit the Bay of Plenty.
Youth Voice
Wellington’s youth council is part of the international phenomenon of youth engagement, pushing youngsters into leadershipand decision making roles.
Law-man
The New Zealand state schooling system set Jolyon Maugham on the path to barrister-hood in London – a profession he describes as “a great intellectual challenge”.
Robber Robbie
That’s “my intellectual property on his shoulder,” says leading haka specialist Pita Sharples, referring to the tattoo sported by Brit singer Robbie Williams.
Burn Out
Earth hits the nadir of its orbit in summer – the mere 147 million kilometres between us and the sun mean New Zealanders face “extreme” ultra-violet levels.
Hunter Becomes Hunted
Diving for crayfish off the Coromandel, British diver Peter Fuller was hooked by a passing fisherman: “the idiot was rigged for marlin but caught me,” said Fuller, still nursing the hand he was hooked through.
Anzacs?
New Zealand voice in Sydney Bernard Lagan dissects the question of Federation with Australia: “It is unlikely that what modern New Zealanders most define themselves as – a nation of Pacific peoples – could have come…
Facelift, Mate?
Face peels and face-lifts are hot in rural New Zealand – sun-burned, nuggetty farmers are twice as likely as city-dwellers to put themselves under the plastic surgeon’s knife.
Demon Cricket
New Zealand giant wetas – also known as “demon crickets” – are among the most exotic animals at London Zoo.
Born Free
New Zealand organisation has succeeded in liberating Sonny the chimp, a former performer with Ridgeways Circus. He has been reunited with his brother Buddy in Zambia.
Never Say Die
One of Briton’s most popular MPs before being expelled from the Labour party for communist sympathies, New Zealand-born John Platt-Mills is still a practicing lawyer at 94. “Is there anything else he wants to achieve? ‘Yes, I’d…
Scots Bemused
“The strangeness of New Zealand is brought home to us the very first night of the tour. We’ve just bought our first round in a bar in Paihia, when this Maori guy rolls up to us…
Window Rescue
Christchurch window-cleaner Brent Harrington’s rescue provided a spectacle for 200 cheering tourist after his pulley-operated platform malfunctioned, stranding him outside the fifth floor of the BNZ.
Is That a Wallet in Your Sofa or Are You Just Pleased to See Me?
After 57 years apart US marine Chuck Herrler was reunited with his wallet, courtesy of Wellington woman Louise Alliston, who noticed a strange bulge in the arm of her second-hand sofa.
Federate or Die?
“It is likely that the New Zealand situation will become so critical in the early years of this century that support for political union will rise rapidly.”
Chathams Hungover
“We blew our budget last year and walked away with a huge headache, but we had a lot of fun,” says Chathams man Robin Preece, predicting a quiet New Year for the first place to see…
Roaring Fun
“In Australia and New Zealand, long ago, it was called a ‘bull roarer’ and used to scare away evil spirits; Native Americans made it hum during rain ceremonies; South American fisherman swirled it over rivers to…
Backwards Into the Future
“The past is not found in the days gone by, but in the days that sit in front of us,” says Moana Jackson, stating the Maori view of the past during the opening address…
Brain Gain
“We’ve made the decision to go home, and I urge other New Zealanders to do the same. Let’s stop helping the economy of a country where we’re not welcome,” says Phillipa Hawkes, packing to come home following…
Christmas in Auckland
“Then Christmas dinner – Polynesian style – got under way, accompanied by the sound of guitars and the laughter of girls, flowers in their hair, dancing the hula, the siva and the tamoure.”
Kiss Off
Don’t pick the mistletoe – it’s endangered, but you can take a chainsaw to the holly – a noxious weed.
Bombs Away
Foreign Minister Phil Goff has ruled out allowing high-level nuclear waste to travel through New Zealand waters.
Go Babies
Two babies per woman is the minimum for population stability – New Zealand, Iceland and the US are the only wealthy nations reproducing at or above replacement rate.
Wildlife Sting
Flora and fauna around the world are competing against introduced animals – New Zealand’s kaka is losing the battle over food sources to wasps, but island sanctuaries are a success story.
Lost Boys
Les Blanchard found his long-lost brother in New Zealand – now he searches for the lost families of others.
Fatter But Fitter
New Zealander’s average weight is increasing, but so is the general fitness of the population.
Privy Decision
Attorney-General Margaret Wilson flags the government’s intention to abolish the right of appeal to the British Privy Council, instead creating a highest right of appeal based in New Zealand.
Torture Campaigner
Nations that try to bury painful episodes in their history are destined to remain dysfunctional until the past is confronted, says New Zealand-born anti-apartheid activist Michael Lapsley.
Robbie Not Guilty
Too guilty to keep a Ferrari sports car, but OK with flying his New Zealand tattoo artist to Glasgow to create his tenth tattoo…
Nuclear Protest
ANZAC protest flotilla to confront Tasman-bound shipment of nuclear waste in early 2001.
It’s Shirley, Isn’t It?
The Shirley Convention 2001 is expecting “500 Shirleys from across Australia and New Zealand”.
