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Love raspberries? We will give away free copies of the December 2025 issue to readers whose raspberry recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way enjoy raspberry (dessert, salad, jam main?!): mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by October 24, … View moreLove raspberries? We will give away free copies of the December 2025 issue to readers whose raspberry recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way enjoy raspberry (dessert, salad, jam main?!): mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by October 24, 2025.
Police are appealing for sightings of Rowena, 39, reported missing from Christchurch.
Rowena was reported missing to Police on 22 October, however was last heard from on 15 July 2025.
Police are now appealing for any sightings of Rowena or any information that may assist in locating her. If … View morePolice are appealing for sightings of Rowena, 39, reported missing from Christchurch.
Rowena was reported missing to Police on 22 October, however was last heard from on 15 July 2025.
Police are now appealing for any sightings of Rowena or any information that may assist in locating her. If you see Rowena, or have information that could assist in our enquiries, please contact us.
You can contact us at 105.police.govt.nz, clicking "Update Report" or by calling 105, referencing file 251022/9026.
Information can also be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
A trailblazing Māori scholar has finally received the recognition she deserves — nearly 100 years after her passing.
Mākereti Papakura, believed to be the first Indigenous woman to study at the University of Oxford, has been awarded a posthumous degree certificate.
Papakura sadly passed … View moreA trailblazing Māori scholar has finally received the recognition she deserves — nearly 100 years after her passing.
Mākereti Papakura, believed to be the first Indigenous woman to study at the University of Oxford, has been awarded a posthumous degree certificate.
Papakura sadly passed away in 1930, just weeks before she was due to present her thesis. Her research was later published as The Old-Time Māori — the first ethnographic study written by a Māori author.
We hope this brings a smile!
For two decades, Aotearoa’s favourite feathery showdown has crowned our top bird ... and the competition has never been fiercer.
Behind the fun is a serious mission. Many of New Zealand’s native species are in serious trouble. Bird of the Year raises awareness of their habitats, the threats … View moreFor two decades, Aotearoa’s favourite feathery showdown has crowned our top bird ... and the competition has never been fiercer.
Behind the fun is a serious mission. Many of New Zealand’s native species are in serious trouble. Bird of the Year raises awareness of their habitats, the threats they face, and how we can protect our feathered taonga. Important work that we love seeing!
Who was last year’s champ? 🏆 The Yellow-eyed penguin, one of the world’s rarest penguins. But this year, Neighbourly is keeping a close eye on another ocean wanderer: the Tītī (Cook’s petrel).
Who is getting your vote this year? 🐦💛
🗳 Voting closes: Sunday 28 September
🏅 Winner announced: Monday 29 September
We hope this brings a smile!
Summerset’s Nationwide Open Day is on Sunday 5 October. All 38 of our villages are open from 10am to 2pm.
“It’s only since I've been in my 30's that I've had proper conversations about being Māori. I started to question all of that stuff when I moved away.
I left New Zealand just before I turned 19. I went to Australia for a few years, to the UK for a couple of years, then back … View more“It’s only since I've been in my 30's that I've had proper conversations about being Māori. I started to question all of that stuff when I moved away.
I left New Zealand just before I turned 19. I went to Australia for a few years, to the UK for a couple of years, then back to Australia. People would ask me, ‘are you a native New Zealander?’ Or ‘Are you a Māori?’. I always thought that was really weird, because being Māori wasn't a positive thing growing up.
I came back to go to university in Wellington. I didn't do well at school so it was quite scary to be suddenly going to university. I decided I wouldn't work for my first year, but that also meant that I was going to be really hard up for cash.
I found out about this accommodation called Whānau House. It's subsidized by the marae at uni, the catch is that you have to help out at the marae. I didn't really know what I was signing up for. There were 14 people living there, a range of ages. All of them were North Island Māori and spoke te reo to some extent. Suddenly being Māori was everywhere in my life, and it shocked me into seeing everything that I'd been missing out on. I spent a lot of time at the marae, and started to learn about te ao Māori.
I moved to Germany and for the first time ever, I got homesick. I couldn't figure out why, I'd never felt homesick for New Zealand before. And then I got pregnant, and I just said, I've gotta go home. I can't do this over here. I don't want my son growing up without his culture the way that I did. I didn't live in Christchurch for a really long time when I finally did come back, I had a baby. I was a pretty different person.
I started learning te reo when Thomas was four months old. and then the pandemic hit. We were in lockdown and I was doing all my classes online.
There were words that Dad used that I didn't realize were Māori until I started learning, which I think is quite funny. The first one I realized was a Māori word was pōtae - hat. And I was like, I know that word. Dad used that word my whole life!
We finished our first year, and we made lots of friends and kept in touch over the summer, so we didn’t lose what we've learnt over the year. We started trying to meet up at a cafe or for games nights so that we could practice using our te reo outside of the class.
That’s how Kōrero ki Ōtautahi became what it is. Initially it was just a group of friends. It's about supporting speakers and learners so that they can take what they've learned and put it into practice. We need more support for the intermediate people to push them into being fluent, and being confident, to be able to use it in everyday situations.
The ideal for me would be to see Christchurch as a bilingual city; you can just walk into any space and choose either English or te reo Māori. There's plenty of places around the world that are bilingual, and people switch between the two just casually.
In order for te reo to not just survive, but to thrive, we need everybody on board, whether you be Māori, Pākehā, tauiwi.”
Celebrating Te Wiki o te reo Māori - 15–19 September 2025
After 50 years without a sighting, the rare and quirky sailback houndshark has finally been spotted again in Papua New Guinea!
Because it’s been seen so rarely, scientists still know very little about it. But its striking features are already sparking debate about whether it should be given … View moreAfter 50 years without a sighting, the rare and quirky sailback houndshark has finally been spotted again in Papua New Guinea!
Because it’s been seen so rarely, scientists still know very little about it. But its striking features are already sparking debate about whether it should be given special protection, and some have even argued it could become an icon species for Papua New Guinea.
At a time when we so often hear about species disappearing, the return of this little shark is a reminder that nature can surprise us ... and that there’s always reason to hope.
You can read more about the sailback shark here
We hope this brings a smile!
need a v heavy wool jacket to shorten sleeves. Anybody hav recommendation to do a really good job. Rangiora or further a field
Thought you were past your prime to become a rockstar? Don't sell yourself - or your health - short.
Research published this year has demonstrated that playing music helps keep dementia at bay - no matter how late in life the skill is picked up.
The basic idea behind this research is not… View moreThought you were past your prime to become a rockstar? Don't sell yourself - or your health - short.
Research published this year has demonstrated that playing music helps keep dementia at bay - no matter how late in life the skill is picked up.
The basic idea behind this research is not new - we know that 'cognitive reserve' (learning new things) plays a big role in delaying mental slowdown. But the reminder that "it is never too late" is welcome ...
We hope this news brings a smile!
Spring’s here, and with it comes warmer weather and lots of activity from our birds. It’s a great time to get outside—many birds are easier to spot as they build nests, raise their chicks, or return from their Arctic adventures 👀
Keen to do some backyard birdwatching? The Department of … View moreSpring’s here, and with it comes warmer weather and lots of activity from our birds. It’s a great time to get outside—many birds are easier to spot as they build nests, raise their chicks, or return from their Arctic adventures 👀
Keen to do some backyard birdwatching? The Department of Conservation have put together a nifty guide on how to plan and plant a garden that attracts native birds.
We hope this brings a smile!
“I'm pretty sure I've got an ADHD brain.
I've had my first three assessments, because I want to learn more about myself.
My whole life I've kind of been a generalist. I'm interested in everything. And marketing, it's a generalist kind of discipline. I probably… View more“I'm pretty sure I've got an ADHD brain.
I've had my first three assessments, because I want to learn more about myself.
My whole life I've kind of been a generalist. I'm interested in everything. And marketing, it's a generalist kind of discipline. I probably would have gone into something more artistic if I hadn't been steered towards things. My goal out of uni was always to find a company or organization whose values I aligned with and I was interested in. It's probably an ADHD thing, I struggle with work that I'm not invested in.
As a kid, I'd get told off for walking barefoot outside in the grass, because it was like, ‘oh, no, you're going to make the inside of the house dirty.’ I don't know if people who knew me when I was in school would actually recognize me now, because my interests are so different. As a kid, I did a lot of reading, drawing, did a lot of crafts, and had those things reinforced. ‘oh, Elissa doesn't like going outside, and she doesn't like sports’, that kind of thing. I think a lot of stuff has been masked or gone undetected because we were pushed as kids and given way more structure.
I've always lived in Christchurch, my parents are first gen immigrants from Malaysia, they moved here in 1988. I didn't really relate to people who were Chinese Malaysian, because they were growing up in a different culture to me. Going back to Malaysia as a kid for family things, we weren't really allowed out to explore by ourselves because we were told it wasn't safe.
I feel like I grew up in a very typical Asian household. You do good at school, you go to uni, you get a degree, get a good job, I was never given the space to be like, ‘What do I want to do?’
Aikido was the first thing that made me go, I actually enjoy movement. I was terrible at team sports. I started when I was 10 and I did Aikido for about 13 years. I was a third degree Black Belt and I was teaching some classes.
When I was like 21, 22 - It was a first relationship - I had a big breakup. I lost my sense of me, and maybe this is how I started to learn about myself more. I had to discover what I enjoyed doing, and had to think for myself again.
I did parkour for a bit. That didn't stick, I was pretty useless. I tried pole fitness. It was really fun, but too expensive. I started to discover that I like individual sports that you can do on your own and also with other people. That was when skating started to take over.”
- Elissa
Part 1 of 2
We will give away free copies of the November 2025 issue to readers whose strawberry recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way enjoy strawberry (dessert, salad, main?!): mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by September 15, 2025.
Needing some ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) to calm your nerves? Visit an artificial purr-engine!
Use the sliders on the site to change whether the purr is a sleepy purr or an excited purr.
We hope this link brings a smile!
We’ve hit a tipping point, where choosing clean energy is the smart choice, and not just because we want to reduce our carbon emissions 🌍⚡💸
Thanks to major tech improvements and mass production over the past decade, the cost of wind, solar, and other renewables has dropped fast. As a … View moreWe’ve hit a tipping point, where choosing clean energy is the smart choice, and not just because we want to reduce our carbon emissions 🌍⚡💸
Thanks to major tech improvements and mass production over the past decade, the cost of wind, solar, and other renewables has dropped fast. As a result, most new power capacity built around the world came from renewables, and every continent added more clean energy than fossil fuels.
Money — the ultimate decision-maker in politics and business — is finally lining up with climate action. A big win for the planet (and maybe our wallets?)
We hope this news brings a smile!
The only mainland Royal Albatross breeding colony in the world can be found at Dunedin's Taiaroa Head. The Albatross are largest (and arguably the prettiest) seabird and is a taonga species to Māori.
Keen to see a fluffy royal albatross live? Head to the Royal Cam - a 24-hour live stream … View moreThe only mainland Royal Albatross breeding colony in the world can be found at Dunedin's Taiaroa Head. The Albatross are largest (and arguably the prettiest) seabird and is a taonga species to Māori.
Keen to see a fluffy royal albatross live? Head to the Royal Cam - a 24-hour live stream of an albatross nest.
Why the live feed? Well, the royal albatross are slow-breeding birds, and lay only one egg every two years.
Currently the chick in the feed is in its post-guard period, and is left alone. The parents are only returning with food every few days. This little chick will be hitting a milestone really soon - it will finally take their first flight in September! Keep an eye on our little celebrity here.
We hope this link brings a smile!
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