新西兰英语 183 No public shares for Fonterra

Dairy farmers have voted not to allow Fonterra to list shares on the sharemarket. Fonterra is owned by dairy farmers in a co-operative. The company controls 92% of all the milk produced in New Zealand. The Fonterra Board needs more money to expand th

新西兰英语 24 Waihopai Protesters

On Wednesday, 3 protesters entered the Waihopai spy base and caused damage to a large globe covering a satellite dish. The director says that the damage could be as much as $1 million. Waihopai is near Blenheim in the north of the South Island. It ha

新西兰英语 37 Winter Solstice

Yesterday was the winter solstice, the time when the sun is furthest away from us. The sun rises around 7.30 am in Auckland and 8.20 am in Dunedin because it is further south. In Auckland the sun sets at 11 minutes past 5, and in Wellington, Christch

新西兰英语 41 New Zealand Olympic Team

Its exactly a month today until the Olympic Games begin. From August 8th till the 24th, over 10,000 athletes will compete in 28 sports, mostly in Beijing. For New Zealand, it will be 100 years since we first sent athletes to an Olympic Games. Three N

新西兰英语 42 TVNZ Charter

This week the National Party made another statement about what they plan to do if they win the elections. They said they will keep TVNZ as public TV, but will get rid of the Charter because it is not working. The Charter was brought in by the Labour

新西兰英语 56 Paralympics 2008

The 2008 Beijing Paralympics opened Saturday night Beijing time, early Sunday morning New Zealand time. These Games will last 11 days, until September 17th. There are more than 4,000 athletes involved in 20 different sports. Paralympic athletes have

新西兰英语 48 Olympic Games

The Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games was a most exciting event. It was full of breath-taking surprises like fireworks, and the opening welcome by 2008 Chinese drummers. Then there were fairies floating on wires, a giant spinning globe, c

新西兰英语 45 The Weather – again

Once again, New Zealand has suffered from a low pressure system coming from northern Australia. Again a sub-tropical storm hit Northland first and has created havoc. Streams and rivers broke their banks, flooding low-lying land. Highway One was close

新西兰英语 232 Whaling protest in Antarctica

A protest boat, with a crew of six people, was damaged by a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters yesterday. The boat, the Ady Gil, is registered in New Zealand but is part of a protest group the Sea Shepherd which has an Australian captain. The

新西兰英语 277 Air NZ and Virgin Blue

Air NZ and Virgin Blue airlines may become partners to fly across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. First, however, the Transport Ministers in both countries have to agree. In 2002, Air NZ and Qantas had talks about becoming partners.

新西兰英语 271 ANZAC Day Tragedy

Three air force men were killed and one was seriously injured when their helicopter crashed early yesterday morning near Wellington. They were on their way to the ANZAC service in Wellington. The plan was for three air force Iroquois helicopters to f

新西兰英语 178 Mortgage sales

More people are losing their houses because they cannot pay their mortgage. If they miss payments, the bank becomes the owner and will sell the house. Now there are about 250 mortgage sales every month. Last year there were less than 100 each month.

新西兰英语 373 The future of coal mining

At the moment, workers at the Pike River Coal mine are using a jet machine to pump CO2 into the mine to put out the fire. Then they will put a cover over the entrance. When the mine is cool and all poisonous gases have gone, rescuers will enter the m

新西兰英语 196 Gold and Oil Mining

The government will consider mining in some areas where there are national parks. The Minister for Energy and Resources, Gerry Brownlee, said that New Zealand is a country which is rich in minerals. In 2008, we exported $2 billion worth of coal, meta

新西兰英语 412 Houses will be demolished

The Prime Minister said that possibly 10,000 houses will have to be demolished after the earthquake. The Head of Civil Defence thought the number was probably only 2,000. Time will tell. The important message from the Prime Minister is that the gover

新西兰英语 378 Pansy Wong, MP, resigns

Listen to Nov 13th 2010 to hear about Pansy Wong resigning as Cabinet Minister. Pansy Wong has resigned from Parliament. She will not return in the new year. She has been an MP since 1996 when she became the first Asian MP in New Zealand. At that tim

新西兰英语 176 Maori Language Week

This is Maori Language week, from July 27th to August 2nd. Every year, for the last 30 years, we have celebrated Maori Language week. This is the time to learn Te Reo Maori. You can learn 100 Maori words from the website: www.koreromaori.co.nz Maori

新西兰英语 341 Godwits return to New Zealand

Every year, in mid-September, about 100,000 bar-tailed godwits return to New Zealand from Alaska. This godwit is a sea bird about 40cm in height. It wades on long legs in the mudflats at low tides on some beaches and eats insects, crabs and small pla

新西兰英语 321 Mt Hutt closed overnight

Last night Mt Hutt skifield was closed and about 1300 skiers had to spend the night on the floor of the lodge on the mountain. There is no sleeping accommodation on the mountain. Yesterday morning, the ski field opened as usual to skiers but by aroun

新西兰英语 177 Wealthy migrants wanted in New Zealand

At the end of July, the Department of Immigration said they will now allow wealthy migrants to live in New Zealand. There is no English requirement. There is no maximum age. Now retired people who cannot speak English can move to New Zealand if they