Aotearoa NZ
“In some ways I believe I epitomise the average New Zealander: I have modest abilities, I combine these with a good deal of determination, and I rather like to succeed.”
Hundreds of sheep scramble through Te Kūiti
Te Kūiti has opened its main street to welcome a herd of hundreds of sheep running the gauntlet, for its annual Great New Zealand Muster festival. The event promised musicians, arts and crafts stalls, food and activities for children, as well as the main spectacle, with its flock of hoofed festival-goers running along crowds of cheering on-lookers.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 29.03.2025
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Womad visitors invited to try ancient Māori martial art
Visitors to Womad in New Plymouth this weekend are being offered the opportunity to try their hand at the ancient Māori martial art of mau rākau. Hosted at Te Paepae - the cultural heartbeat of the festival - groups of about 20 at a time are being encouraged to connect with te ao Māori through games and drills with the traditional Māori weapon.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 14.03.2025
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Ancient worm-like creature that shoots slime crowned 'Bug of the Year'
The New Zealand velvet worm or ngāokeoke has been crowned bug of the year for 2025. The ancient gummy-looking worm, covered in velvety blue colouration and orange spots, is estimated to have been around in Aotearoa for 500 million years. In that time it's become a lethal predator of the forest floor with a hunting method that involves shooting sticky slime from its head that dissolves prey into soup.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 21.02.2025
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
What you need to know about Te Matatini 2025 - the 'Olympics of Kapa Haka'
t's one of biggest events on the calendar for te ao Māori and Te Matatini is back in 2025 bringing the best of haka and waiata from around Aotearoa and Australia. New Plymouth/Ngāmotu and the people of Te Kāhui Maunga (Taranaki/Whanganui) will play hosts to the festival this year. Te Matatini - the 'Olympics of Kapa Haka' - is the biennial Māori performing arts competition.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 17.02.2025
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Tangi for Dame Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi: 'Stay strong together'
Dame Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi, a founder and champion of the Kōhanga Reo movement, is to be laid to rest on Friday morning at Rāhui marae in Tikitiki, near East Cape. Thousands of people visited Te Poho o Rawiri Marae in Gisborne this week to pay their respects to a very special kuia. Her efforts to empower Māori families will bring long-term benefits to Aotearoa, he said.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 07.02.2025
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Waitangi reflections: What are the hopes for future of Aotearoa?
As the sun rose over Te Whare Rūnanga, the air filled with waiata, kōrero, and the sound of paddles cutting through the moana - thousands gathered at Waitangi, each carrying their own hopes and aspirations for the future of Aotearoa. From Tangata Whenua to Tangata Tiriti, from seasoned attendees to first-time visitors, their visions for Aotearoa share a common theme - kotahitanga.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 06.02.2025
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Getting 'the best of three worlds' as a Māori-Chinese person in New Zealand
Danny Karatea-Goddard celebrates the new year three times a year - on 1 January, Matariki and the Lunar New Year. Karatea-Goddard's mother was the first to be born in New Zealand in his mixed Māori-Chinese heritage family. His great-grandfathers came from China to the south-west town of Milton, Dunedin, just as the mine rush era was ending. They ended up becoming merchants.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 02.02.2025
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Centenarian's lessons from a lifetime of farming
High up on the Kaikōura Peninsula, with panoramic views of snowcapped mountains, lush farmland and sparkling ocean, lives a remarkable woman whose life stretches across more than a century. Jill McKenzie has packed an awful lot of living into her 101 years. These days, you'll still find her zipping around town in her trusty car, Bluebell, or whipping up a batch of cheese scones in the kitchen - and she's always happy to sit down with a cup of tea.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 26.01.2025
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
What do our favourite baby names say about us?
"What's in a name?" wrote William Shakespeare at the end of the 16th century in the play Romeo and Juliet. Four hundred years later, the answer to that question is A LOT. Modern-day parents obsess over their child's name more than previous generations, according to baby-naming consultant Sonya Prior, AKA TikTok's BBNamer.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 09.01.2025
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Young Kiwis head to Antarctica: 'You can't really imagine yourself in these places'
A fledgling group of young voyagers is set to embark on the "trip of a lifetime" to Antarctica for a month-long journey in the new year. During their expedition, they will survey areas previously traversed by the likes of explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Captain Robert Falcon Scott, in a bid to keep alive Antarctica's cultural heritage for the next generations.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 28.11.2024
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Native Nations: Indigenous Tourism
The winner of this year's Toroa ā-uta, Toroa ā-tai Māori Tourism Award at the New Zealand Tourism Awards Nadine Toe Toe has recently returned from a cross-cultural exchange where she led a group of rangatahi to Australia and Canada to learn about indigenous tourism.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 09.11.2024
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Parihaka: Remembering a legacy of peaceful resistance
Tuesday marks 143 years since the invasion of Parihaka, the once-thriving Taranaki settlement led by Māori rangatira, Te Whiti-o-Rongomai (Taranaki, Te Ātiawa) and Tohu Kākahi (Taranaki, Ngāti Ruanui). This small papakāinga, now a powerful symbol of passive resistance, was the site of Aotearoa's first recorded non-violent stand against colonial violence and land confiscation. Māori communities will be be remembering Parihaka.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 05.11.2024
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Children key to changing farm safety attitudes
Children key to changing farm safety attitudes. Drawing on her own personal experience of loss, Bremner has written two children's books featuring farm safety, along with leading the 'think brain safe' campaign. This involved visiting rural schools where local farmers, police, and agents teach children safety modules. Examples include learning weight distribution on trailers, knowing the difference between farm chemicals, how to handle livestock and basic first aid training.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 31.10.2024
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Should teenagers be pushed to do activities they aren't really into?
Fifteen is the age many young people lose interest in after-school sports and activities, studies show. Because of the brain benefits these experiences deliver, clinical psychologist Kathryn Berkett urges parents to encourage their teens to push through potential boredom and discomfort. "That's literally the most important thing for our brain - learning how to push through tolerable stress experiences," she told RNZ's Nine to Noon.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 01.11.2024
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.
Michael Belgrave: telling the whole history
From early Polynesian navigators to missionaries, colonists and migrants, Massey University historian Professor Michael Belgrave has published the first major national history of Aoteaora New Zealand in 20 years. Becoming Aotearoa: A New History of New Zealand is a big and bold book taking March 2019 as the starting point to examine how tangata whenua and migrants have together built an open, liberal society based on a series of social contracts. Frayed though they may sometimes be, Belgrave tells Mihi and Susie these contracts have created a country that is distinct.
Click for more information
Source. rnz.co.nz, 02.11.2024
It is recommended to return to the CDK website after reading linked news articles.