新西兰英语 654 Mount Tongariro erupts after more than a century

On Monday 6 August 2012, the North Island volcano, Mt Tongariro, erupted during the night. It had been dormant for over a century. During the previous month there had been a number of earthquakes below it, but the eruption was still a surprise. Becau

新西兰英语 656 Gold Medals for NZ Rowers

New Zealand has now won three gold medals in the rowing. Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan won the double sculls then the next day Hamish Bond and Eric Murray won the pairs. This was followed just 45 minutes later by Mahe Drysdale who won the single s

新西兰英语 657 Charter Schools

The Minister of Education, Hekia Parata, and the Associate Minister of Education, John Banks, announced there will be some charter schools. These will be called Partnership Schools or Kura Hourua. The first school could begin in 2014. The reason for

新西兰英语 148 Social networking

Social networking websites such as Facebook and Bebo are growing in popularity with many New Zealanders now having a profile page. Users of social networking sites can create profile pages that include details such as age, hometown, job and hobbies.

新西兰英语 267 Volcano in Iceland affects New Zealand to

While the Iceland volcano has brought flights to and from parts of Europe to a stop, even New Zealand is affected. First, AirNZ has cancelled all flights to Los Angeles, Shanghai and Vancouver because these flights continue to the UK. AirNZ flies to

新西兰英语 281 Rugby Union apology

On Friday, the New Zealand Rugby Union apologised to New Zealand for not allowing Maori All Blacks to play in South Africa in the past. Also on Friday, the South African Rugby Union apologised to New Zealand and to the South African black people who

新西兰英语 204 Erebus Crash – An apology from Air NZ

Nearly 30 years ago, 257 people lost their lives in the worst plane crash that Air New Zealand has ever had. The plane hit Mt Erebus in Antarctica and everyone was killed. Today, the CEO of Air NZ, Rob Fife, showed a new sculpture outside the Air New

新西兰英语 30 Apology

On Wednesday this week, the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, apologised to soldiers who served in the Vietnam War between 1964 and 1972. She apologised for the way they were treated when they returned from the war and for the pain and suffering they expe

新西兰英语 272 Alcohol Laws

The government will probably make some big changes to our alcohol laws very soon. On Monday, the Law Commission gave a report to the government. The report recommended 153 changes to the laws on alcohol. The government will probably change some of th

新西兰英语 315 Which stores can sell alcohol?

A High Court decision this week means that only supermarkets and bottle stores can sell alcohol. Supermarkets have been allowed to sell beer and wine since 2000. In 2001, some small convenience stores applied to the Liquor Licensing Authority (LLA) f

新西兰英语 13 New Zealand becoming more multi-cultural

The new Race Relations Report 2007 shows that New Zealand is becoming more multi-cultural and we are also feeling more comfortable about immigrants from different ethnic backgrounds. Maoris represent about 15% of the population, Asians nearly 7% and

新西兰英语 388 Clean-up in Queensland

Water levels dropped quickly after the terrible floods last week, leaving thick layers of smelly mud. About 50,000 volunteers are helping to clean up. They bring spades, brooms, buckets and rubbish bags. They scrape mud off the floor with a spade or

新西兰英语 248 Creative New Zealand

Creative New Zealand wants to make changes. At the moment, Creative New Zealand has four organisations: the Arts Council, the Arts Board, Te Waka Toi, and the Pacific Arts Committee. Together these organisations have 55 staff including 28 directors.

新西兰英语 175 Mud slip closes railway line

The railway line from Wairarapa to Wellington was closed at about 6.20pm last Thursday night after a train crashed into a mud slip just north of Upper Hutt. The slip was caused by heavy rain that also closed roads around the Wellington region. Around

新西兰英语 322 Register to vote

Local body elections will be held from 17th September to 9th October this year. You can vote if you are a New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident, are 18 years old or older, and have lived in New Zealand continuously for at least one year. To rec

新西兰英语 208 Coldest October in 64 Years

We have just had the coldest October since 1945, says NIWA, the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere. The average temperature was 10.6 degrees C, which is about 2 degrees below the usual average. We had more southerly winds than usual. The sout

新西兰英语 375 Christmas is coming

Christmas is just over two weeks away. New Zealand is a busy place at this time of year. School is nearly finished for the year. Most senior high school students have already finished their NCEA exams. Other high school students finish today or tomor

新西兰英语 125 Congratulations to Helen Clark

Helen Clarks position as Head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was announced yesterday. This position is number three in the United Nations. Helen Clark was one of 10 people on a short list. She was chosen because of her excellent q

新西兰英语 263 New Zealand Trampoline Wins US Award

The Springfree Trampoline won the US Childrens Product of the Year Award this year. Springfree was designed by Professor Keith Alexander of Canterbury University Mechanical Engineering department. He designed it because he wanted a safe trampoline fo

新西兰英语 278 Heritage buildings

A heritage building is a building that is important to our history so we want to save it. It is usually a beautiful building. When a change is needed to that building for its use today, there can be a problem of how to keep its heritage value. Many c