A guide to Rarotonga and the Cook Islands
15 May, 2021 06:00 PM
7 minutes to read
Ponu the legendary sea turtle in Ava avaroa Passage, Rarotonga. Photo / Charlotte Piho
NZ Herald
By: Jonathan Milne
The day miracle turtle Ponu returned to Rarotonga lagoon, Jonathan Milne and his family were fortunate enough to swim with her. There is a childlike excitement in freediver Charlotte Piho s voice as her head breaks the surface of the lagoon. It s Ponu, she s back!
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Ponu swam out into the ocean – and we all wondered if she d ever be seen again. I always hoped and thought she would come back into the passage, Piho says.
Local Focus: Apple growers on quarantine - nobody has been able to answer
14 May, 2021 01:02 AM
3 minutes to read
Industry asks why do essential workers from Covid-free nations face quarantine when Australian tourists do not?
Industry asks why do essential workers from Covid-free nations face quarantine when Australian tourists do not?
If it s good enough for the Aussies then why not RSE workers from Samoa?
That s the question New Zealand Apples & Pears business development manager Gary Jones wants people to keep asking.
Jones gave a briefing on the pipfruit industry on Thursday to Hastings District Council s Operations and Monitoring Committee.
He highlighted the inconsistency of allowing Australian tourists into New Zealand, when there are community cases of Covid in Australia, while limiting the arrival of much-needed Pacific Island workers who come from Covid-free nations.
Beehive Diaries: Simon Bridges confessions, MPs wayward texts
14 May, 2021 12:29 AM
3 minutes to read
National leader Judith Collins on the government s announcement for combatting gangs and organised crime. Video / Mark Mitchell
National leader Judith Collins on the government s announcement for combatting gangs and organised crime. Video / Mark Mitchell
This week, Minister Ayesha Verrall got into a slippery situation, Simon Bridges wrote enough words to make a book, and Herald journalists got some wayward texts.
Sunday: Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall in a slippery situation
Ayesha Verrall turned up at a cervical smear clinic in Lower Hutt for her first pre-Budget announcement: funding for self-testing for cervical cancer.
We don t have enough celebrities for all these reality shows
12 May, 2021 11:35 PM
5 minutes to read
By the end of this week s Masked Singer episodes, the panel will have guessed roughly 48 names.
By the end of this week s Masked Singer episodes, the panel will have guessed roughly 48 names.
The Spinoff
By: Sam Brooks
Opinion: The Masked Singer is the latest in a long line of shows drawing on our increasingly shallow pool of celebrities. How long before the well runs dry, asks Sam Brooks.
This story originally appeared on The Spinoff and has been republished with permission.
This week on The Masked Singer NZ, the first of 2021 s many celebrity-based reality shows, the judging panel had to guess the celebrity hiding beneath the Tūī costume. Rhys Darby guessed Judith Collins. James Roque guessed Kylie Minogue (bless him). Ladi6 briefly hedged her bets on Danielle Cormack, but went with Suzy Cato, as did fellow panellist Sharyn Casey.