RNZ: Saturday Morning

It's the fourth and final day of Fieldays and a momentous occasion for all lawn mower racing fans.

The 2026 Super Rugby Aupiki kicks off today and so are the Pacific Semis. Sky Sports' Taylah Johnson joins us live from Eden Park.

A new study has revealed that Wellington's 1-in-100-year coastal floods have become roughly a twice-per-year occurrence. 

You could say that Peter MacNab is to caving what Neil Armstrong is to the moon. 

Therapy using psychedelic substances and music to heal and improve mental well-being is a controversial practice. Music and the Mystical Experience, screening at this year's Doc Edge festival, follows New Zealand musician and sound engineer, Michael Sutherland as he creates six hours of soundscapes specifically designed to enhance the healing experience. Michael and director, Isabel Corfiatis talk to Susie about what happens when art and neuroscience converge.

Formed in 1977, Dire Straits was one of the big bands of the 80s and early 90s with global hits like Money for Nothing and Walk of Life. 

We have kick-off! But amongst the hype ... the favourites ... the All Whites ... the ball ... and the heat ... who gives a second thought to the grass? 

If you're a fan of the BBC series Riot Women then you'll love The NaNaz because they are the real thing. 

President Trump has been accused of politicising commemorations for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Fa'anana Efeso Collins was a Matai, Green MP and Community Leader. This week the findings of a coronial inquiry into his sudden death were released. 

Cooking and food waste regular, Del Holland joins Mihingarangi with three budget supper ideas using prawns.

While creepy crawlies aren't everyone's cup of tea, rodents are much less appealing and on Australia's remote Lord Howe Island, a pest eradication programme has got rid of the rats and mice. In their place, insects and lizards are flourishing - and it's all based on role-modelling from New Zealand. Maxim Adams is lead researcher at the University of Sydney. He speaks to Susie about how they did it.

Dr Buzz Burrell answers the most common questions he gets from older patients in his clinic. 

Researchers at the University of Canterbury are helping communities visualise the risk of flooding using virtual reality.

When Laura Guckian was first handed her newborn son, she expected to feel a surge of love - but she didn't. Instead, Laura felt frightened and alone. 

Award-winning photojournalist Andrew Cornaga is the director of Photosport New Zealand, has twice been named New Zealand Sports Journalist of the Year and is currently exhibiting his football photographs as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography. Andrew is about to head off to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Over the next month, he'll be following Darren Bazeley's All Whites who play three group games in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Andrew speaks to Mihingarangi about the art of capturing sports on film, his expectations for the upcoming tournament - and what he thinks about the hype surrounding Tim Payne.

A zoom call with Oscar winning director Chloé Zhao convinced Irish British novelist Maggie O'Farrell to agree to a film adaptation of her novel Hamnet.

For many, having too much to do and too little time to do it in, is an everyday occurrence. 

The great grandson of J. R. R. Tolkien, Royd Tolkien, has a special connection to New Zealand but not just because of its role as Middle-earth. 

It's day two of auditions at the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards in Gore. Jenny Mitchell won the senior competition in 2017. She's back this year as both a showcase performer and volunteer helping out on stage - because that's just what you do! A highlight of the Tussock Country festival, Gold Guitars launched her country music career - one that has taken her to Tamworth and Nashville. Now based in Melbourne, Jenny was mentored by Dame Jools Topp who sadly passed away earlier this week. Jenny talks to Susie about her audition picks so far and how Jools shaped her as both a musician and a person.

Poet, performer and award-winning author, Tusiata Avia has forged her own path as a Pasifika voice on themes like racism and identity delivered with humour, honesty and courage. The 2026 International Institute of Modern Letters Writer in Residence for the Academy of New Zealand Literature, her latest work is called Giving Birth to My Father. A collection of poems, it is an exploration and expression of grief and acceptance. She speaks to Susie about loss, life - and getting into trouble.

Our regular gardening expert Hannah Zwartz is back with more advice for the green and not so green fingered amongst us! Today she talks to Susie about why we prune in June and she has her top tips for planting - size, spacing and why sprinkling seed is a good alternative to mulch.

Being ordinary or doing ordinary things isn't usually something people aspire to - but Dr Nadine Levy says we should. 

Sam Cox turned his obsession with doodling into a global art sensation. But at one point he believed he really was his alter ego, Mr Doodle.

Most of us have a song at some time or another we just can't get out of our head. It's called an earworm - and you can get rid of them!   

After decades of conflict, it's hard to imagine a peaceful Middle East. But Maoz Inon, an Israeli and Aziz Abu Sarah, a Palestinian believe it is possible. 

Concerned that their dairy farm was both financially and environmentally unsustainable, the Hogg family decided to return to their organic roots. Sam Hogg led the farm's conversion to permaculture - and increased their profits by a staggering 500%. He talks to Susie Ferguson about how he did it!

Would you date an artificial intelligence companion? James Muldoon did. 

The Doubtful Sounds choir is all about making beautiful noise. Directed by RNZ's very own Bryan Crump, the award-winning community choir performs live for Saturday Morning.

It's a massive night tonight for footy fans, with Auckland FC facing off against Sydney FC in the A-League Grand Final at Go Media Stadium. CEO Nick Becker speaks about the club's explosive rise in just two seasons as momentum builds to the main event.

Our resident reader Kate de Goldi is back with her latest picks - an American novel The Gossip Columnist's Daughter by Peter Ormer and a New Zealand picture book You Can't Pat a Fish by Ruth Paul. Kate's a novelist, Arts Foundation Laureate and the Te Awhi Rito Reading Ambassador. She talks to Susie Ferguson about why these are must haves for any bedside table.

Rachael King is one of New Zealand's best-known children's authors and former Director of the WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival. Her work combines Scottish folklore with New Zealand sensibilities. Rachael's novel Secrets at Red Rocks has been adapted into the Emmy award-winning TV series, filmed in Wellington. She's back with her latest offering Song of the Saltings - a folk horror for young adult readers. Rachael speaks with Susie Ferguson about where her ideas come from - and her turn as a contestant on the new season of The Traitors reality TV show.

How good is your travel etiquette? Lonely Planet's Jessica Lockhart, the Destination Editor for Oceania, shares her top tips - and also how travellers in the Pacific are responding to the global fuel crisis.

Around one out of every ten women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. But it wasn't the news Lindsay Bartels was expecting to get at the age of twenty-six. Faced with her own mortality and the impact cancer treatment could have on her fertility, Lindsay had to deal with yet another revelation. She tested positive for the BRCA 1 gene meaning her risk of cancer was higher and this could be passed onto any children she might have. Lindsay, who shares her experience in her memoir Imogen in Waiting, speaks to Mihingarangi about the choices she had to make - including one that wasn't as clear cut as she expected.

Jonathan Creek star and resident QI panelist, Alan Davies is coming to New Zealand in July with a brand-new standup show Think Ahead. In the show, Alan speaks about some confronting experiences, including sexual abuse by his father. It's a decade since Alan's been behind the stand-up mic. He speaks to Susie about why he's back now, after so long.

The number of suspected Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has breached the 600 mark. But the World Health Organisation fears the disease was spreading in the community for up to two months before being detected. The WHO's Head of Emergency Preparedness for Africa is Dr Dick Chamla. He explains to Mihingarangi Forbes that the outbreak is evolving extremely fast in an area of the DRC where parts of ground zero - Ituri province - are run by militia.

Christine Dawood's husband and 19- year-old son died on board the doomed Titan submersible. Today she refuses to blame anyone for the tragedy. She tells Susie Ferguson the whole story.

With high rates of youth unemployment and ongoing global uncertainty over oil prices, the country is braced for what is likely to be a challenging Budget later this month.

What's the worst career advice you've ever received? 

One of Ireland's best loved writers, Roddy Doyle is in NZ for the Auckland Writer's Festival. He pops into the studio to speak with Susie ahead of his first appearance this afternoon. From his breakthrough novel The Commitments, which was adapted into a major film, to his Booker Prize-winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, Roddy brings working class Ireland to life. Last year he crossed over from Booker Prize winner to Chair of the Booker Prize Judges. His latest book is Life Without Children.

Five years ago San Diego-based housewife Jen Sherman changed her family of four's diet completely. She swapped ultra processed foods for health benefits, which include more energy and weight loss, a reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes and other serious health conditions in the long-term. Jen stocked up on fish, meat, cheese and fruit and started making graphs and keeping spreadsheets to chart progress and money spent. She writes about her progress on Substack and talks to Susie about the power of individual choice to make a difference.

Kate Bowler wants us to stop trying to be happy. She's a Duke University professor, bestselling author and host of one of America's most loved podcasts on grief, faith, and meaning. After being diagnosed with stage four cancer at just 35 years old, Kate began questioning the cultural obsession with positivity, success and the idea that everything happens for a reason. Her new book Joyful Anyway explores a different possibility - that joy isn't something we achieve once life is perfect but something that can exist alongside grief, uncertainty and disappointment. She speaks with Mihingarangi about how we can all find joy.