Pleased to Meet Him
“Flying Nun is as synonymous with indie rock in New Zealand as Chemikal Underground is in Glasgow or Creation Records is in London,” John Everhart writes in a web exclusive for American magazine Under the…
Tag Archives: Auckland
Made in New Zealand
“Visiting New Zealand with my 1-year-old daughter, and with nephews at home in America, I became obsessed with finding them something actually made in the country,” Meg Nesterov writes for Gadling. “I was impressed…
In Transit Amongst Spies
Auckland singer Gin Wigmore, 26, stars alongside James Bond star Daniel Craig in a new interactive television and digital ad campaign for Heineken and the latest 007 film, Skyfall. Wigmore wrote the ad’s theme song…
Instead of Adrenalin
New Zealand’s less extreme tourism activities provide the Gadling’s Meg Nesterov with plenty to do for a trip throughout the country in which she finds out “why Auckland is worth more than a stopover,…
It’s the Cat’s Whiskers
Auckland’s private Kristin School recently secured the rights to the world renowned musical CATS, spending $85,000 on its annual stage production. Executive principal and show producer Peter Clague said the big-budget show would rival…
Steeped in Melancholy
Former New Zealand-based author Kapka Kassabova’s latest “odyssey” Twelve Minutes of Love begins “in the enthusiastic, though limited, tango scene in Auckland” continuing across “three continents in search of the perfect dance (or ‘tangasm’).”…
Uncorking Auckland’s Potential
Mayor of the new Auckland Council Len Brown is profiled in a Monocle report called, “Ten Smart Govenors”, “a selection of inspiring local legislators.” “In just 18 months he has…
Climbing the City Ranks
Auckland rises four places to rank at nine in Monocle’s annual list of “Top 25 Liveable Cities”. “What a difference a Rugby World Cup and a new political structure makes,” the magazine writes. “Aucklanders…
Niccol Adapts Meyer Novel
New Zealand-born director Andrew Niccol, 48, has adapted Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s The Host, which stars The Lovely Bones’ actress Saoirse Ronan as Melanie Stryder, one of the last people fighting against an invading…
Solving the Jam
Auckland businesses have come out in favour of a surprising solution to finding the cash for mayor Len Brown’s $12bn transport improvements, Monocle correspondent Simon Farrell-Green explains: “A daily toll on the city’s motorway…
Super Image of Cosmic Lunar Event
Auckland photographer Simon Runting captured this once-a-year cosmic event which lit up the New Zealand night sky as the full moon passed at its closest point to Earth, making it appear 14 per cent…
Fitting Local Tastes
Auckland café and bar The Imperial Lane features in the Travel Edits section of Monocle’s May issue. “Since December last year the cobblestone passage of the historical Imperial Buildings has been home…
Stripes Under NZ lights
Early White Stripes footage from a concert the pair performed at Auckland’s Kings Arms Tavern in 2000 — some of the earliest footage of the band outside of the United States — will feature…
Up and Coming in Los Angeles
Auckland-born Celine Wallace is rapidly gaining notoriety as an up and coming actress in Los Angeles, where she performs regularly at The Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica as part of the LA Café…
Pinup For Road Trips
“I still haven’t gotten past being wowed by the greenness of the countryside,” Chicago Tribune reporter Phil Marty writes on day three of a four-day driving trip from Auckland southward. “This country…
Big British Hopes
I Am Giant, a four-piece band formerly of Auckland and now based in London, explain their reasons for relocation in an interview with The New Paper ahead of the group’s Singapore gig at Hard…
Welcome To New Zealand
New Zealander Dana Wensley returns home for a short visit from Canada where she claims to feeling like “an immigrant.” “In some ways, anyone who is not part of the indigenous Maori population will…
Phantom Restored In NZ
New Zealand has done wonders for the health of former Phantom of the Opera and Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em star Michael Crawford. Seventy-year-old Crawford said moving to New Zealand had cured him of the chronic…
Juke Joint Revelations
In the wake of her successful debut album Holy Smoke, Auckland-born songstress Gin Wigmore talks about the process which led to her second, the blues-inspired Gravel and Wine, a sophomore album high on sass with numbers…
Dave Takes Avalanche On Tour
Auckland folk band Avalanche City has signed to Roadrunner Records for distribution in North America, releasing the four-track Love Love Love EP on 3 April. Avalanche City is the brainchild of Dave Baxter, a singer songwriter…
Paradigm For The Future
Bronwen Evans, former Radio New Zealand economics correspondent and co-owner of Faasai Resort and Spa, an award winning eco-resort in Thailand, will be one of the international speakers at the inaugural IncrediblEdge…
CarboNZero Skateventure
Auckland trio Alan Carnaby, Troy Bilbrough and Guy Parsons spent five weeks from November to January skateboarding 1600km from Arequipa, Peru to La Serena, Chile to raise awareness about sustainable travel. They wound through…
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….
Memories Of Travel To The Sea
Auckland-born DJ and BBC Radio 1 presenter Zane Lowe describes his life in travel with the Independent. Lowe’s first holiday memory is driving to the Bay of Islands. “I remember being packed into my dad’s…
Reflecting Life Of The Beach
Piha’s Butler Beach House designed by Herbst Architects is the company’s “most ambitious project to date,” according to Monocle. “Herbst Architects is renowned in New Zealand for its signature remodeling of the classic Kiwi bach….
Globally Pumped
Les Mills International, which exports its exercise-to-music classes to 80 countries around the globe, is a finalist in the New Zealand International Business Awards for best business with revenue in the $10m to $50m…
Seaside Serenity
The historical naval village of Devonport, just across the harbour from the centre of Auckland, is the place to be for a gentle pace according to Julia Kirchner writing for Monsters & Critics. “While…
Lucretia Is Back For More
Auckland-born actress Lucy Lawless, 43, returns to the American small screen as Lucretia in Spartacus: Vengeance, and the writers were “really rude” to her this season she says. “They were really rude. Usually, they are…
Sami And Fraser Play Canada
Auckland-born actress Madeline Sami stars in Toa Fraser’s award-winning No. 2, a play the pair first collaborated on in 1999 and which is currently touring Canada. When No. 2 opened in Calgary’s Epcor Centre’s Engineered Theatre in…
Emphatic Win For Talented Teen
Auckland golf prodigy Lydia Ko has reinforced her ranking as the world’s best female amateur with an emphatic win in the Australian amateur championship at Woodlands in Melbourne. Ko, a gifted 14-year-old, beat Australian…
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…
Dreaming Of A Bach Life
New Zealanders and Australians could easily develop hospitality schools that would give Lausanne and Cornell a thumping reflects Monocle editor-in-chief Tyler Brûlé after his “most wonderful eight-day holiday.” “ are good at hosting, selling, serving…
Auckland’s Movie Coup
Filming begins in Auckland on Hollywood blockbuster, WWII political-thriller Emperor this month at Henderson’s Auckland Film Studios. Lost heartthrob Matthew Fox, 45, stars. Inspired by true events, Emperor is an epic story of love and understanding set amidst the uncertainties…
Spencer Drives The Thing
The glamorous 48.5m super yacht T6, custom built for New Zealand paper magnate John Spencer, creates a fuss wherever it goes, whether Monaco, the Caribbean or the hazardous North-West Passage in the Arctic. On…
Feel And Scale Of Earlier Times
“ downtown is dominated by 21st century high-rises, but neighbourhoods like Ponsonby retain the feel and scale of earlier times,” Allan Seiden writes for the Hawaii Reporter, “with galleries and boutiques to browse and eateries…
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…
Executive Eye For Detail
Auckland-raised executive chef Ryan Arboleda shares some two of his favourite recipes with the Bangkok Post: Slow cooked New Zealand lamb breast with shaved fennel and pureed peas and Tiramisu ‘Verrine’. Philippines-born Arboleda has worked…
Foo Fighters Make Earth Move
Auckland GeoNet scientists have said that the recent Foo Fighters concert at Western Springs caused geological vibrations on par with “volcanic tremors”. The vibrations emitted “a strong low signal,” geologists at GeoNet reported. “The…
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…
Big Crowds In The Bay
“At the close of 2010, members of Auckland rock combo The Naked and Famous were innocents abroad, wide-eyed New Zealanders who — thanks to sudden international interest in their debut Passive Me, Aggressive You — finally…
Moving On From Terrible
Naked and Famous guitarist and vocalist Thom Powers admits to have been part of several “terrible, terrible bands” in his time. “Everything that was terrible about ‘90s rock music — I did that,” the…
Physicality Earns Top Award
All Blacks loose forward Jerome Kaino, 28, was named New Zealand player of the year at the Steinlager Rugby Awards held in Auckland. Kaino played all but 55 seconds of New Zealand’s seven World…
Queens Street Firsts
Andrea Hewitt, 29, won the women’s event while Kris Gemmell beat compatriot Bevan Docherty in the men’s race as New Zealanders dominated their home leg of the ITU World Cup triathlon series in Auckland….
Xena Loves Geniuses
“You may know her as Xena from Xena: Warrior Princess and, more recently, Lucretia from Spartacus, but you may not expect that Lucy Lawless would fly all the way from New Zealand to California for TEDMED, a…
Korean Influx Boosts Coffers
Auckland is projected to be the new hot destination for Koreans in the upcoming months with Korean Air increasing capacity on Auckland flights by 30 per cent, injecting a potential $10 million in to…
Zen-like in the Name of Warhol
New Zealand artist Max Gimblett’s exhibition “The Sound of One Hand” brings to focus the world of Zen Buddhism and is on through 27 November as part of Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum’s…
Artists of the Week
Auckland folk-fusion hip-hop-electronic foursome Sola Rosa recently secured the coveted spot as MTV IGGY’s Artist of the Week, edging out the likes of Rocktigers, Los Hollywood, Dama Do Bling, and Scarab. Their victory is…
New Zealand Blanketed in Snow
August saw freezing cold and snow blanketing virtually all of the country, even typically mild cities such as Wellington and Auckland, which last saw accumulated snow 45 and 72 years ago, respectively. “What began…
Mighty Tree Falls
Former Governor General Sir Paul Reeves has died in Auckland, aged 78. Prime Minister John Key said New Zealand has lost one of its greatest statesmen. “Sir Paul’s contribution to New Zealand did not…
Cheap and Cheerful
Auckland is the seventh-cheapest tourist-friendly city in the world, cheaper than Marrakesh in Morocco, rated eighth. The website Tripadvisor has launched TripIndex, which compares the cost of 5 tourist cities around the world. The…
Huhu Animates the Edible
Auckland animation company Huhu Studios has signed a multi-million dollar deal to produce six all-new direct-to-video episodes of popular children’s show VeggieTales for America’s Big Idea Entertainment studio. Founder and CEO of Huhu Trevor…
Auckland’s Top Five
“ city’s charming, walkable neighbourhoods offer distinct architectural styles and settings, from the iconic clock tower at the University of Auckland, to the Victorian houses backing up to lush Albert Park, with its fig…
Schools of Thought
Auckland’s Macleans College was “a world apart” from Westmont Hilltop High School in the US for trainee teacher Leah Fuller who spent seven weeks on an internship at the Bucklands Beach high school. Many…
Cheeky Island Sentinels
The bohemian enclave of Waiheke Island has become a gallery-rich art destination; the Guardian’s Stephen Phelan’s first impressions are of bare bottoms, all brightly painted in tinges of lime green, lemon yellow, electric blue…
Xena’s Mt Albert Eco-Home
Lucy Lawless, star of television series Xena and Spartacus, is returning to her roots in Mt Albert, Auckland where she is converting a large part of her estate into what has been described as…
Auckland in the Spotlight
Food writer Simon Farrell-Green is the Guardian’s tour guide about Auckland ahead of the Rugby World Cup. Auckland’s life is “all in the suburbs” according to writer Rachel Dixon. Dixon is recommended Little &…
