Podcasts about South Island

Ever wanted to cycle the South Island of New Zealand?Rebecca Gross shares an honest update from her time bikepacking the South Island. It was a bikepacking trip shaped by relentless rain and freezing summer temperatures. This led to long days of riding chasing weather windows that would allow for side quests such as hiking around Mount Cook.  From Te Araroa sections and west coast gravel to the high mountains around Mount Cook, the final days of riding saw her and partner Javi ride into Paradise near Queenstown.A must listen if cycling in New Zealand on the South Island is on your own bucket list. Be sure to give Rebecca a follow via her instagram - @Rebecca_Grb EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/STR Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee  Support the showBuy me a coffee! I'm an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

It's going to be a chilly end to summer for the South Island as a cold snap brings low temperatures over the weekend. Metservice meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane spoke to Corin Dann.

Andrew and Shelby have returned from their trip to the South Island and they're ready to talk about it. They discuss all of the places they stopped at, as well as the Laneway Music Festival in Auckland. Before that, they Muppets Recast Marty Supreme! It's a fun time.

Business appears to be booming in most parts of the country. ABC's quarterly market report shows business sales are up 28 percent on this time last year, with average prices up three percent. It finds 507 completed sales over a 12 month period - a new historical high. ABS Business Managing Director Chris Small told Mike Hosking that there's a link between sales and the current state of the economy across the country. He says in line with the economy, the South Island is up 70 percent year on year in business sales, while Wellington is down 10 percent. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Business appears to be booming in most parts of the country. ABC's quarterly market report shows business sales are up 28 percent on this time last year, with average prices up three percent. It finds 507 completed sales over a 12 month period - a new historical high. ABS Business Managing Director Chris Small told Mike Hosking that there's a link between sales and the current state of the economy across the country. He says in line with the economy, the South Island is up 70 percent year on year in business sales, while Wellington is down 10 percent. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Canterbury has been hammered by heavy rain as the storm that caused havoc in the north swept along the South Island's east coast today, with more than 300 millimetres falling in some areas. A local state of emergency has now been declared for Banks Peninsula and State Highway 75 between Christchurch and Akaroa is still closed. People have been asked to conserve water on the peninsula and boil water notices are in place for Little River and Wainui. Samantha Gee reports.

The wild weather that caused chaos in the North Island has turned its attention South and Banks Peninsula seems to be bearing the brunt. A Local State of Emergency has been declared there but widespread flooding and gusts over 100km/h have been reported in Canterbury. We go to Wainui, a small settlement in Banks Peninsula where local resident Lawrence Smith is locate

New data shows wool sales are still up in the South Island. PGG Wrightson South Island auction manager Dave Burridge said exporter demand remains highly competitive - with the SWI lifting a further 47 cents. The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It has been a day of weather chaos at the bottom of the North Island with thousands of properties still without power. Planes, trains and ferries were also disrupted. Five areas remain under local states of emergency as heavy rain and strong wind warnings continue for the central and southern North Island and eastern South Island. In Wellington, Hutt Valley roads were closed to due to flooding with some schools also closed. Hutt City emergency operations centre controller John Kingsbury spoke to Lisa Owen.

The Bondi gunman has appeared on a video link for the first time in a Sydney court. Naveed Akram is being held in custody at Goulburn supermax prison and his lawyer says he's doing as well as can be expected.15 people were killed and dozens more were injured during the shooting in mid-December which took place while a Jewish event was being held at Bondi Beach.The Federal Treasury is considering changes to Australia's tobacco excise, after previously rejecting the idea that cutting the cost of cigarettes would solve the problem of the illegal tobacco trade.Experts are pushing for a freeze to the excise, which has grown by 60 per cent since 2020 and is due to rise again next month.They say the tax's effectiveness is waning and that freezing it will allow the government to catch up to the illegal market. A state of emergency is in place for a large area north of Wellington in New Zealand due to wild weather, with tens of thousands of people without electricity across the country's North Island.Authorities say 20 vehicles are stuck in a mud slide in Taihape, and that mass evacuations are underway. Air New Zealand has cancelled flights in and out of Wellington and Napier because of strong winds, and Cook Strait ferries, which sail between the North and South Islands, are not running today.Preparations are now underway, as the weather makes its way to the South Island.

Trade the Markets From Anywhere in the World  Podcast: Find out more about Blueberry Markets – Click Here Find out more about my Online Video Forex Course Book a Call with Andrew or one of his team now Click Here to Attend my Free Masterclass #623: Trade the Markets From Anywhere in the World In this video: 00:27 – On holiday in Christchurch. 00:41 – My trading day remains the same even when travelling. 01:45 – My trades today. 02:30 – Using limit orders to place trades when it suits you. 04:23 – Massive moves in the market. 05:05 – Get on my Masterclass 05:25 – Blueberry Markets as a Forex Broker. Would you like to trade and travel at the same time? There’s not many other opportunities that allow you to make money, carry on with your normal work, and travel. So let’s talk about that really important topic and more right now. Hey there Traders! This is Andrew here The Forex Trading Coach with video and podcast number 623. On holiday in Christchurch. I’m in Christchurch in the South Island here of New Zealand. Been here for a few days with my wife. We went to see a show last night. Caught up with one of our daughters who lives here, and we’re having a great time. Middle of summer. Absolutely beautiful here with the River Avon behind me. My trading day remains the same even when travelling. Now, with being here, trading has carried on exactly the same for me. I’ve just taken the daily chart trades today. It’s just turned 11:00 here, and my trading is exactly the same as if I were at home. And that is one of the beauties of being able to trade properly and to trade the way that we trade. I see so many different people on YouTube and different social media sites where they’re looking for this pattern to happen and they’re looking for this indicator to cross that one and they’re looking at, say, like 5 minute charts and 15 minute charts. And to me, it’s just not realistic. As someone that’s been trading for over 20 years and this year The Forex Trading Coach turned 17 years old, one of the things that I find that our clients love about what we do, and also for myself personally, about what we do, is it’s still thoroughly enjoyable and profitable, but we’re not spending all day looking at charts. My trades today. So right now, I’ve just looked at one daily chart and one 12 hour chart trades at the 5:00 pm New York change of day, which just happens to be 11:00 in the morning here at this time of year. And then that’s it. My trades are done. I will have a look at maybe 5 a.m. New York time, which is tonight. But for people that can’t make the 5 p.m. New York time, it doesn’t matter. Because the beauty of the way that we trade is we are using limit orders. And so you don’t need to be here at this particular time. And when you’re traveling, that is so important because obviously different time zones and you’ve got different events on and things like that. Using limit orders to place trades when it suits you. The way that we trade means that you can put your limit orders on when you get a chance and just leave the trade to do its thing. We have our maximum loss already controlled, so we know the worst that can happen. For me personally, it’s only half a 1% risk per trade, but it also means that if we have a profitable trade on the daily chart today, I’m going to make close to a 3 to 1 return. So in other words, half a percent risk, I will make a 1.5% gain on my account. Now, the beauty of that is you can do that. You can put that across to prop firms, whatever it is that you choose to do, whether it’s your personal account, live account, or prop firm account, and it’s just that one trade taken once a day. And that’s the beauty. For me to trade today, because of course I’d be taking the 12 hour chart trade as well, but I don’t have to place the trades right now. I’ve got hours and hours to place the trades. And so if you’re in Europe, you see how well the changeover of the new day is night time. Well, you can take those trades in the morning. It doesn’t matter. You can say, well, I’ve got work to do. I’ve got things with the family. Take the trades when you get a chance. And because, as mentioned, we use limit orders. And if we’re taking a sell trade where our sell limit is there, the market first needs to move up and that fills the sell limit order. And then we’re looking for the market to move down. Opposite with the buy trade is that we’re looking for the market to first move down. And then the daily chart or the 12 hour chart, you’ve got hours and hours before the market will do that on most occasions. So if you’d like to find out how we do this, how we travel and trade, last year in the US, and this year we’re looking at heading away as well in our winter. And so trading, as mentioned, carries on exactly the same. Massive moves in the market. There’s been some massive moves in the market again this week. So great opportunities to be taking advantage of those moves across the forex pairs, the metals, and the cryptos. We’ve seen huge moves. So it’s been a great week. And nothing better than trading just once or twice a day. Be on holiday, enjoy the great scenery here and the events on in Christchurch. And trading carries on exactly the same. So if you’d like to find out how we can do that and how we can help you to do exactly the same, whether you want to travel or just work or do other things at the same time, that doesn’t mean you’re committed to being glued in front of your charts all day long like so many other people and systems are. Get on my Masterclass Have a look at the link I’ll put here. Have a look at the masterclass that I’ve got here as well. If you’ve never been through the videos and podcasts just like this, the whole library is there, all 623 of them. Blueberry Markets as a Forex Broker. And if you’re out there looking for a really good broker, I can highly recommend Blueberry Markets. Of course, they're from Australia, but people from right around the world can trade through Blueberry Markets on their MT5 platform. I’ve just taken my trades today on the Blueberry account, and the spreads are exceptional and market execution is great. Everything about them is great. Their customer service is great. Withdrawing funds is super fast and efficient as well. So I've put a link to Blueberry Markets as well. And I’m off to enjoy the beautiful sights here in the middle of summer in Christchurch. And I’ll see you this time next week. Bye for now. Episode Title: #623: Trade the Markets From Anywhere in the World Find out more about Blueberry Markets – Click Here Find out more about my Online Video Forex Course Book a Call with Andrew or one of his team now Click Here to Attend my Free Masterclass

Isn't David Seymour the guy who got himself into government at the last election and then went and set up a new government department? But, despite the irony, I agree with him that we need fewer government departments and fewer Cabinet ministers. Previously, the ACT leader has described the public sector as "a big, complicated bureaucratic beast". There are the numbers to back that up. We have 82 cabinet portfolios, 28 ministers and 41 separate government departments and agencies. David Seymour thinks that's crazy and says ACT will campaign in this year's election on changing that. And, instead of having 41 government departments and agencies, he wants us to have no more than 30. As for cabinet ministers - at the moment there are 28, David Seymour thinks we need no more than 20. I remember Oliver Hartwich from the NZ Initiative think tank saying last year that we could get away with having as few as 15 cabinet ministers, instead of the 28 we have at the moment. But he thought that 20 was more realistic. As for government departments, they are monsters. They operate in silos. They compete with each other for funding. They don't talk to each other. That's why there's so much duplication. For example, do we need a Ministry of Education and an Education Review Office? I don't think so. Do we need a Ministry of Justice and a Department of Corrections? Possibly not. As for cabinet positions, do we need a mental health minister? Could that all be part of the health minister's job? And don't get me started on things like the Minister for the South Island or the Minister for Auckland that Labour brought in. So, I'm with David Seymour and I think we could do with fewer government departments and agencies. But it will never happen. Talking about having less government departments and less cabinet ministers is easy and politicians talk about it because they know it tends to go down well with people. But it will never happen. Because, whether people admit it or not, they still expect the government and its departments to fix everything. And, unless that changes, the government isn't going to get any smaller. And its list of departments isn't going to get any shorter. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: David Berger Hosts: Dave Homewood Recorded: 11th of February 2026 Released: 14th of February 2026 Duration: 1 hour 53 seconds In this Wings Over New Zealand Show “Flying Boat Month” episode Dave Homewood speaks with David Berger, who is an ex-pat British doctor who lives in Fernmount, NSW, in Australia, and works in Broome, in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. But he has a hangar at Omarama, Central Otago, and he spends a fair bit of time in this country flying his aeroplanes. He owns a Piper Super Cub, a Cessna 185 and his beloved Republic Seabee which he based here in Omarama. David talks about the history of the Seabee, and what it is like to fly. He also tells some fascinating stories of flying long distance trips around the world in the Cessna, etc. Quick Links: • Republic Seabee • Spencer Air Car • The Franklin Engine Company • SeaBear Aircraft • Honoria Glossop The music at the end of this episode is Wild Flower by Joachim Karud. David Berger and his Republic Seabee, which carried the name “Honoria Glossop” The Omarama hangar, with the Super Cub and the Seabee tucked up inside. David’s Super Cub VH-YUP on a gravel bar in the South Island of New Zealand David’s Cessna A185F N185MW, ‘Honey Bun 7’, seen here at Cameron Corner, Queensland in the Strzelecki Desert. David’s sons Tom and Ed and some locals refuel the Cessna at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands. This was a major base for RNZAF Hudsons and Venturas in WWII. Below are some of David’s videos of the Seabee operating from Lake Ohau And here is the Blue Horizons movie that David spoke about in the episode

What an incredible weekend of sport, with the T20 Cricket World Cup, Super Rugby Pacific, and SailGP sweeping into Auckland – more on that in a minute - some of the world's best trail runners hit Rotorua for the Tarawera Premier Ultra-trail Marathon and the Winter Olympics continues to provide stunning performances, triumphs and disappointments, scandals and feel good moments. I've been interested in the chat around the Winter Olympics over the last week. The Winter Olympic Games is often criticised for being filled with elite, niche sports that struggle to capture broad public appeal. Unlike the Summer edition, which features globally accessible competitions like athletics, swimming and football, the Winter Games is based on disciplines which require specific climates, facilities, and funding. Sports such as biathlon (cross-country skiing and shooting), snowboard cross (kind of BMX racing for snowboarders), and curling are unfamiliar to many viewers outside Europe and North America. They demand snow tracks, ice rinks, and mountain ranges - resources unavailable in much of the world. As a result, participation is concentrated among a relatively small group of nations, reinforcing the perception that these are rarefied pursuits rather than widely played global sports. But for me, this exclusivity underscores why these athletes deserve celebration. Winter Olympians dedicate their lives to mastering extraordinarily demanding disciplines under harsh conditions. They train for years in sub-zero temperatures and in many cases risk injury at high speeds as they refine their skills in sports where success is often decided by fractions of a second or points. The limited global infrastructure for many of these sports makes reaching elite level even more impressive; pathways are narrower, funding scarcer, and margins for error smaller. That they are largely broadcast on pay tv in New Zealand also fuels the idea these sports aren't hugely common. But uncommon or not, if you've been watching over the last week, surely you'll agree the camera work has been spectacular and the events have been incredible to watch. My whole family have become obsessed with ice dancing and figure skating - and there have been some serious controversies and sides taken during the week, even though none of us could get ourselves around an ice rink. And really, isn't all sport at the top-end of competition elite - or as we like to call it ‘high performance sport'? On the global stage, rugby is niche. So is netball. The America's Cup is an elite sport, and the coast to coast this weekend attracts a small number of super athletes who will traverse the South Island. Doesn't make their accomplishments any less impressive. The Olympics exists not merely to platform the most popular sports, but to honour excellence at the highest level. That some of those sports are not broadly accessible does not diminish the skill required to compete. In the last week we've seen human resilience, sportsmanship, courage, and technical mastery - all done in what can be very challenging environments. So niche or not, our Kiwi athletes and their fellow competitors represent the pinnacle of their disciplines - and that alone warrants recognition and celebration. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send a textSquealing Pig Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024Weird name, good wine!The vineyards are located in the Ataware Valley of southern Marlborough in the South Island of New ZealandMost vale priced wine (this was $13.99) from New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc, is a taste of Marlborough with vineyards selected from all over.This is a Sauvignon Blanc sourced from a particular terroir. Check it out, and it tastes great.Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.comor email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

A huge multisport event got underway this morning in the South Island the iconic Coast to Coast race. The race spans 243km beginning at Kumara Beach on the West Coast and finishes at New Brighton Beach in Christchurch. Hamish Elliot is competing at the event, he won in 2024 and was a runner up in 2025. Hamish joined D'Arcy to discuss the race. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send a textSteep grades, sharper ideas, and zero fluff—this conversation with Jackson Cole tracks a season where grit meets growth. We start with the highlights: a win at Cirque Series Alyeska, more Cirque podiums at Killington and Grand Targhee, a strong Rut 28K, and a proud top‑26 at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships short trail. Then we zoom out to what shaped it all: a two‑week, 1,100‑mile bikepacking trip across New Zealand's South Island that built deep aerobic strength and reconnected Jackson with the Southern Alps, from Aspiring and Aoraki's glaciated faces to the ridge‑rich basins of Arthur's Pass and Nelson Lakes.Jackson breaks down why low‑altitude alpine can still feel massive, how technical courses reward decision‑making as much as VO2, and what The GOAT race showed him about grit over turnover. We revisit his hard push on T‑Winot in the Tetons—route choice, switchback ethics, and the line between fourth‑class flow and fifth‑class traps—and unpack the honest realities of chasing the Grand Teton FKT: weeks of scouting, precise acclimatization, and respect for the gold standards already set.Worlds in Canfranc gets the spotlight it deserves: a steep, technical course that elevated skyrunners who are lesser known stateside, a New Zealand team that punched above its weight with minimal federation support, and a personal moment of pride that lingers longer than a ranking. From there, we look at the sport's fault lines and opportunities—brand money flowing into short trail, the need to keep true skyrunning alive in North America, the promise of Beast of Big Creek, and why governance, fair access, and year‑round anti‑doping have to catch up with the cash.We wrap with a living 2026 sketch: Mount Marathon in Seward, a possible return to Minotaur, Beast of Big Creek, and a decision tree that includes Whistler, Speedgoat, and a Skyrunner World Series run depending on support. If you care about real mountains, real talk, and a future where athletes can race hard without selling the soul of the sport, this one hits home.If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves steep trails, and leave a quick review so more mountain‑minded listeners can find us.Follow Jackson on IG - @jayrcoleeFollow James on IG - @jameslauriello Follow the Steep Stuff Podcast on IG - @steepstuff_pod

For those of us with PCT, post Covid trauma, I've just given it a name and an acronym, the news that Nicola Willis is launching an inquiry into the actions of the Reserve Bank during Covid is going to bring back some bad memories, but I guess that's what National's relying on. During the pandemic, you'll recall the Reserve Bank cut the Official Cash Rate to a record low and for the first time printed about $55 billion worth of digital money – $55 billion that was pumped into the economy to keep it afloat. Many other countries did that too. Most didn't do it to the same extent we did, but most countries, most Western economies did the same thing. But they, like we, found that there is a cost to free money. High inflation, massive increase in house prices, businesses struggling to pay the money back. Was the hangover worth it? That's what Finance Minister Nicola Willis wants to find out. “I think this is about the future. It's less for me about who was to blame and who we can tell was wrong. What it is about is saying, well, if you were doing it again, how would you prevent some of the overspending? How would you prevent some of the overuse of this money printing tool? How would you make sure you got it right? And so actually this is about the future and doing it better in the future. If we were to repeat the mistakes of Covid and just blindly ignore the lessons of history, I think that would be a major failure. “I fully acknowledge support for the economy was required. And so the question that we are asking is, well, the benefits that occurred because there was this money printing and this borrowing are known, but let's examine what the costs were and then do a weigh up of the benefits of the costs and ask ourselves, did we just maybe go a bit too far? And in future, how would we calibrate that better? And look, I think the idea that New Zealanders shouldn't have this information before the election is really wrong because actually it does have a bearing on the democratic process. It does have a bearing on the way that people position themselves for the future.” The timing is interesting. Reminding everyone of the Covid experience just before the election – who's that going to work for? You'd have to ask yourself. National promised during the last election campaign that they would order an independent review of the actions of the Reserve Bank and that review did not happen until now, and that's the start of the next election campaign. Willis says, oh come on, it's not about that. I was just really, really busy doing other stuff. I had a lot on my plate, I had a lot to deal with, which is true. I was updating the Reserve Bank's mandate to a sole focus on fighting inflation. I've had a lot on my plate. I'm only just getting round to it now. Still and all, I am not averse to an inquiry and I don't want it to be a witch hunt. And I think it would be really, really, really good to have a truly independent and dispassionate look at decisions made in the heat of the moment and weigh up whether you would make those same decisions next time. Obviously there'll be slightly different circumstances, but if people have to stay home and businesses have to shut down, how do you manage that? How do you manage that over the short term? How do you manage that over the long term? I would have really liked to have seen that happen with other decisions made during Covid, like having a long hard look at the way health and Covid health was prioritised over everything else. The decision makers at the time said the hospitals would have been overwhelmed and therefore all health would have suffered. You look now at the cancer waitlists and the deaths from people who weren't picked up while the hospitals were in shutdown mode and you say, okay, alright, so that happened, as a result this happened, was it worth it? I would love to see a dispassionate, cool, clear-headed look at the decisions that were made and bring into account everything that happened during that time and say was it worth it? I know we've had the Covid inquiries, but I don't really, I don't feel that we've had a clear, concise, dispassionate report. Yes, we would do this again. No, we wouldn't do that. Maybe we'd do this. I'd just like to see it set out a little bit more clearly, a blueprint, because what caused so much pain last time was the fudging and the decisions on the fly and not fully formed decisions. If you're able to get a really good analysis of the decisions made with a cost benefit factor weighed up, an emotional cost, personal cost, as well as the dollar figure, and if you broke it down to the Reserve Bank, to health, to employment, to housing, I think it would be really helpful for future generations to see, okay, they did that, let's not do that this time. It might look like a good idea, but ultimately the cost was just too great. When you look at the children and education and schooling, what was the cost there? It might have been worth it – that's what we might find. I might have to agree that for all my moaning and bitching and railing under the restrictions, they were the right decisions to make and I might have to accept that, but I don't really feel we've got a clear analysis of the decisions made and whether they were worth it. I mean, perhaps there has been and I just haven't been willing to hear them, but I can't recall seeing anything set out, laid out, simply, clearly, concisely, critically, and coolly. And that's what I'd really love to see. I bet there are some of you, probably in the South Island, who think, oh for God's sake, what a waste of bloody time. This again. And I don't blame you. I'd love to be in that position. I really would. So you might think it's a complete and utter waste of time. If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jaylen Rodwell and Haris Zeb of South Island United join Jon Nelson on SDH AM for a conversation that goes far beyond the touchline.Rodwell is making history as the first professional footballer to represent Niue, carrying the hopes of a nation still building its football future. Zeb, born in Pakistan and raised in Christchurch, speaks to the pride of representing his birth country internationally while helping bring professional football home to the South Island.Together, they share what it is like to live inside a brand new league at its very beginning. The travel, the intensity, the leadership demanded in a new professional environment, and the responsibility of being role models for communities that have rarely had this platform before.From cultural connection to competitive growth across Oceania, this is a window into OFC Pro as it takes its first steps, and the players helping define what it can become.

"If you're planning a road-trip in the South Island in the coming months, tack on a scenic foray with the Mid-Canterbury heartland. Easily reached within an hour from Christchurch, it's an understated, uncrowded region that handsomely rewards the eager explorer, headlined by its spectacular scenic high country and blissful sense of escapism. Fanning out from Ashburton and bounded by the silvery braids of the Rakaia and Rangitata rivers, Mid-Canterbury spans the extremes, from pancake-flat plains to serrated, sky-piercing peaks. The mountains rise up to meet you remarkably quickly, after driving west from Ashburton. Here's a round-up of some sure-fire favourites to add to your leisurely road- trip." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pack your bags and check your zero—The Huntsman is headed across the ditch. In this podcast exclusive, Chris breaks down the master plan for his upcoming departure to the South Island of New Zealand. From touching down in Nelson to the moment the rotors spin up with Helicopters Nelson, he dives deep into the logistics, the nerves, and the raw excitement of a trip that has been months in the making. This isn't just a casual hunt; it's a two-stage tactical insertion into some crazy terrain. Chris walks us through the strategy of splitting time between the high-octane action of a private station—targeting Fallow Bucks, Red Stags, Goats, and Pigs—and the grit of a public land ridge-top camp in pursuit of the elusive Chamois. In this episode, Chris discusses: The Kit: A detailed breakdown of the gear he's trusting to survive the unpredictable NZ elements. The Approach: How he plans to tackle two vastly different landscapes and the physical reality of mountain hunting. The Logistics: Navigating remote locations and the "heli-hopping" strategy required to get deep into the backcountry. The Production: Insights into the filming process, how many episodes are in the works, and when the footage is expected to drop. While Chris admits he has no idea exactly what the mountains have in store, he's ready for a hell of an adventure. Make sure to listen right to the finish—Chris drops a sneaky, exclusive preview regarding a massive project currently in the works for 2027 that you won't hear anywhere else. Links

Stats New Zealand released the labour market statistics yesterday while I was on air talking to my caller Troy, and the numbers were not good. KW: The unemployment rate is 5.4% in the December quarter, up 5.3 in September. So we'll discuss that with Liam Dann in a minute. There we go. T: Interesting in an election year, that will be interesting for sure. Interesting in an election year for sure, Troy. For a government that campaigned on fixing the economy, getting people back into work, the figures are a cold hard dose of reality. An unemployment rate of 5.4%, total unemployed 165,000 – that's 5,000 extra people without a job since the last quarter. 16,000 without a job since this time last year. The underutilisation figures made for pretty grim reading too. Underutilisation includes the unemployed, the underemployed, part time workers who are wanting more hours – they might have been looking for a full-time job, all they can get is a part time, but they'll take it while they keep looking. And the potential labour force, people who want to work but aren't actively seeking it. I don't quite understand those people, do they just expect somebody to come knocking on their door saying, you're it, you're perfect. 150,000 and a car, come on in"? I don't know how they expect to find work, but there we go. The number of underutilised people rose by 2,000 over the quarter, by roughly 52,000 to 71,000 over the past year depending on all sorts of metrics. What it does end up with is a record high of 409,000 people. So there's a lot of people doing it tough. The Finance Minister Nicola Willis says, just hold your nerve, we'll come right. “We have been waiting for an economic recovery and there is some impatience, but all of the signs are there.” Yes. Well, are they? To be fair, look at the alternative. If you don't like what the Coalition Government is doing, have a look at Labour, Greens, and Te Pāti Māori and think, could they do better? But that's of cold comfort to the thousands of Kiwis that have had to relocate, they've had to pivot, they've had to reevaluate to get themselves into work, to get food on the table, the rent paid, to look after the kids. Another caller yesterday who had rung me previously told me he'd applied for more than 200 jobs. He's bought himself a business. Others have moved themselves and their families into different regions. The figures don't show the Kiwis who moved to different countries, nearly 73,000 to Australia – imagine how grim the stats would have been otherwise. Now there are some people really who could have expected to lose their jobs. If you were one of the many, many thousands of people who took a job with the public service in Wellington in the last six months of '23, come on. When you've got Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon both saying the public service needs to be cut, if you took a job then really you couldn't have expected to keep it. It would have been luck if you did. But for others, the slowing down of the economy has had a dramatic effect on them. The youth, because people hold onto their jobs longer, people don't take on trainees, they don't, can't afford to take a risk with a newbie or an apprentice. The business just can't sustain that. People 50 to 60, they might have been laid off. They've got many, you know, 10, 15, 20 years left in them. Try telling that to a prospective employer. Tough. So I would love to hear from those of you who have been looking for jobs, who have found jobs, who have pivoted, like my caller yesterday who after 200 rejections thought, “you know what? I'll do it myself," and bought himself a business. Those who've gone seeking a job in another part of the country. In Canterbury the figures are better than the national average. It's a tale as we've heard before of two economies. South Island's doing fine, North Island not so much. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has launched a review into soaring home insurance costs - to take place over a six-month period. This investigation comes as AA Insurance moves to pause new home insurance offers across the South Island. NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny unpacked what we can expect from this deep dive. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has launched a review into soaring home insurance costs - to take place over a six-month period. This investigation comes as AA Insurance moves to pause new home insurance offers across the South Island. NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny unpacked what we can expect from this deep dive. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More people are reporting trouble getting insurance in some parts of the South Island. Major insurer AA Insurance has paused new home insurance policies in Westport and Canterbury's Woodend. Insurance Council chief executive Kris Faafoi spoke to Corin Dann.

This morning we spoke to Kris Faafoi as more people report trouble getting insurance in parts of the South Island; Are we losing the battle against the yellow-legged hornet? Biosecurity New Zealand joined us; We looked into what the government's changes to the driver's license process could mean for new drivers; Nicola Willis and Carmel Sepuloni joined us for the weekly political panel; And we took a look at the new social media network for AI bots. What could possibly go wrong?

Further lifts at the South Island wool auction in Christchurch indicate things are going well for New Zealand's wool sector. Wool has seen some notable increases this year, indicating wool is on the up as opposed to just seeing a short-term spike. The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hits $10K Race - we need a ride from Bluff up the South Island!! Matty vents about... glad wrap Group Therapy: Is it okay to stay friends with your friends ex? Top 99 of the 90s: PJ announces she's going phone free all day Thursday! What is lesson you just never learnt See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A world class museum on Canterbury's Banks Peninsula will mark 50 years of hosting the South Island's biggest and longest-running Waitangi Day commemorations on Friday. Keiller MacDuff reports.

A semi-retired specialist investigator has been called back to active duty after an intruder was discovered in a sanctuary off the coast of Rakiura, Stewart Island. Detector Gadget, a rodent sniffer dog is now patrolling Ulva Island, Te Wharawhara, after a young female rat was found in a trap there earlier this month. The island achieved predator free status in 1997 and is home to native species including the Stewart Island brown kiwi, tokoeka, the kaka, and South Island saddlebacks. Gadget's handler, Sandy King spoke to Lisa Owen.

An extra half hour of The Panel with Wallace Chapman, where to begin, he's joined by Nights fill in host Susana Lei'ataua. Then: Jane Young is the co-chair of Forest and Bird's Southern Otago branch and she joins Wallace to explain how the northern hoiho/yellow-eyed penguin are in trouble. The South Island and Rakiura/Stewart Island population has collapsed by 80 percent since 2008. Jan explains why and what can be done to save them.

The storm that lashed Canterbury, Otago and Southland with severe winds in October has resulted in the second-most claims for an event in rural insurer FMG's 120-year history. New Zealand's largest rural insurer has already paid out $20 million, but expects that figure to rise to about $50 million. The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's episode, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Carla. She lives in a small regional town in the South Island with her husband and their three children. Carla's story is about money, but it's also about health. I don't think I've spoken with someone with quite the mix of things going on that Carla has, but listening to such a wide variety of people share their money journeys on this podcast has given her the courage to make some big changes in her own life, because she knows that no two people manage money the same, and you do what works for you and your whānau. Her story is about stress. It's about values. And it's about what it can look like to protect your relationships, while also protecting yourself. Carla and I have been emailing back and forth for quite a few years now, and those emails tell a story I absolutely love to witness: the slow, steady progression of thought over time. It's like watching someone move from, “I should probably look at this,” to, “Oh wow, I'm actually doing this,” to, “This is now how I live.”

An extra half hour of The Panel with Wallace Chapman, where to begin, he's joined by Nights host Mark Leishman. Then: a little old train was chugging along at the bottom of the South Island yesterday, as it does every Sunday, these days. It's the K92 at the Waimea Plains Railway, which has been restored in bits over decades. And the volunteers bringing it back are hoping it will also bring some life to the tiny towns of Southland.

How do you breed sheep that thrive in wet coastal hill country without routine drenching? What traits actually matter when you're selecting for challenging conditions? This week on the podcast, Mark is chatting to Fred Gane, who runs Kaituna Ridges, an 800-hectare farm near Havelock and the Pelorus Sound in the South Island of New Zealand, alongside his wife Nikita.Kaituna Ridges comprises a mixed grazing operation that includes over 5,000 Romney sheep and 200 head of cattle, as well as a Romney stud. Fred breeds dual-purpose Romneys that thrive in their wet, coastal hill country conditions. They focus on targeted parasite management rather than routine drenching of adult sheep, maintaining pressure on structural traits and selecting for animals that perform consistently in their challenging conditions.Fred also discusses diversification through the family farm's multiple enterprises, including their wool brand, Kaituna Ridges, which adds value to the fibre they produce, alongside their tourism business, bringing visitors onto the farm and showcasing their operation.-For more information on our fundraising efforts for the 'Cure Brain Cancer Foundation' visit this link:https://fundraise.curebraincancer.org.au/fundraisers/markferguson/twentysix2000Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited. We help livestock farmers get the most out of the genetics they farm with. Get in touch with us if you would like to hear more about how we can help you do what you do best: info@nextgenagri.com.Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.Check out the MSD range HERE Check out Allflex products HERE Check out Heiniger's product range HERE Check out ProWay's product range HERE

In my Gum trees I have a good colony of Aussie Silk Moths, aka gum emperor moth caterpillars – they live and feed on gum trees (but also on liquidambar). Now's the time to look for them in the “wild” – in the South Island they occur all the way down to Canterbury (Lincoln and Banks Peninsula is as far south as they get). The smallest caterpillars are quite dark in colour – almost blackish and about 8mm long. As they grow (and shed their skins) they change their colours and cause distinct chewing marks on the lower gum leaves. In a few weeks they'll grow bigger and bigger until they end up being 12 centimetres long and absolutely gorgeous. If you think that daddy longlegs are fascinating, show the kids these caterpillars! The growing caterpillars move further and further upwards in the tree, often preferring the freshest leaves. In the meantime, caterpillar colours have become green and blue with stunning legs, feet, tubercles and nodes in orange and red, pretending to be “poisonous”. After about three weeks they'll spin a cocoon, brown and rather hard. Ironically this moth belongs to the silk moth family, but this Aussie silk is of rather inferior quality – not soft enough to make clothes from. The moths will spend most of their time in chrysalis/pupa/cocoon overwintering. What happens inside the cocoon is that remarkable phenomenon of “metamorphosis” – think of it as totally re-arranging the molecules (which made a caterpillar) and forming those into the shape of a moth. In November/December/January, the chrysalis opens and out comes this amazing brown and pink moth with eye spots. It's a big moth, with a 15 cm wingspan! These moths mate and the females lay whole strings of relatively large, creamy-white eggs on gum leaves – the eggs hatch in summer and that's where we are now! LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Warbirds Over Wanaka is bringing some of the world's most advanced fighter jets to the South Island this Easter - but not everyone will be cheering. Katie Todd reports.

Fonterra has new plans to expand. It's bringing its organics business to the South Island, inviting farmers to join, with certification and processing targeted for 2028. Around 100 farms are already involved in the North Island programme as global demand continues to grow – driven by the US, China, and Europe. Fonterra Co-operative Council Chair John Stevenson told Mike Hosking the key will be for Fonterra to grow at a rate where the demand doesn't get swamped. But, he says, it's a really good news story for their farmers down south. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Southland company is growing red seaweed as a supplement that's been shown to significantly reduce methane emissions in beef and dairy cattle. In our last summer science series episode, Cosmo Kentish-Barnes of the Country Life team heads to Bluff to learn more.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.Learn more: You can read Cosmo Kentish-Barnes' story about this topic, Red seaweed cuts methane emissions from cattle, scientists say.Cosmo signed off from the Country Life team earlier this year, after 17 years as the show's South Island producer. You can listen to his final episode.There are also pāua and whitebait farms operating out of the Ocean Beach Aquaculture Hub in Bluff. Kate Evans visited both ventures in a 2024 episode of Voice of Tangaroa, Fish out of water.Guest:Brent Jackson, production scientistGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Most Kiwis assume the cheapest suburbs are all tiny towns at the bottom of the South Island, but that's no longer true.In this episode, Ed and Andrew reveal the 10 cheapest suburbs in New Zealand, and compare them to the most expensive suburbs in the country.You'll learn:The cheapest suburbs in NZ revealed (including the new No.1)Where house prices are rising and falling the fastestThe suburb where prices have dropped $800,000 since the peakThis episode gives you a clear snapshot of New Zealand's most affordable markets – and what today's data reveals about where the property market is heading next.Don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠create your free Opes+ account and Wealth Plan here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.For more from Opes Partners:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the weekly Private Property newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

South Island United forward David Yoo drops by SDH AM to talk about the team's push to Match day 1 this weekend in the Oceania-positioned OCF Pro LeagueThe Christchurch, New Zealand native gets to play in his home town for his hometown club...

Send me a DM here (it doesn't let me respond), OR email me: imagineabetterworld2020@gmail.comToday I'm honored to have back on the show once again: Satanic ritual abuse, MK ULTRA and child trafficking survivor turned whistleblower, loving mother, writer and author of the book “Unplugged”, artist, jewelry and crafter maker, clothing designer, gardener, content creator, and my dear friend, Brooke Federline In case you're new here or if you need a refresher on Brooke's testimony - here is a short recap and a bit about what we will be talking about today: In the misty landscapes of New Zealand's North Island, where rolling hills meet endless skies, Brooke entered the world amid secrets that would define her extraordinary path. Born to parents entangled in a hidden web of cult influences, her early life was a mosaic of fragmented memories, veiled by amnesia – a protective shield forged in the fires of unimaginable trauma. From the outside, her childhood seemed ordinary: school days filled with fleeting friendships, high school marked by hidden struggles, and a quiet resilience that masked the storms within. Yet, beneath it all simmered a darkness – depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms that whispered of horrors she couldn't yet name.As a young woman in her 20s, Brooke sought escape, relocating to New Zealand's South Island amid escalating chaos she could scarcely recall. Relationships came and went, often imposed by unseen forces, including a coerced union laced with emotional and psychological abuse. She resisted marriage and motherhood, instinctively sensing the world's cruelties – a premonition rooted in buried truths about the world orchestrated by shadowy powers. But life persisted: after turning 30, she welcomed children into her life, a decision that would later bring forth her protective instincts against the very cycles she had endured.It was at university, pursuing psychology and criminal justice with dreams of forensics, that Brooke's world shattered – or rather, awakened. A lecture on the Power and Control Wheel, exposing the wrongs of psychological, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, ignited a seismic shift. "That's been my whole life," she realized, as her mind recoiled from the "normal" she had known. What followed was a breakthrough disguised as a breakdown: vivid "dreams" revealed as real events, dissociation surged like a tidal wave, and fragments of her psyche emerged – alters born from trauma, including echoes of Disney archetypes like Beauty and the Beast, unwitting imprints from mind control programming.Diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Brooke unraveled layers of her past - each memory holding pieces of a puzzle: child sex trafficking, Satanic ritual abuse, and MK ULTRA experiments...On today's episode, Brooke will be diving into healing and recovery with a discussion about breaking mind control, spiritual deliverance, the battle survivors face when getting free, and so much more. If you are new to meeting Brooke, I will have her playlist in the show notes for you to catchup on her previous episodes.BROOKE'S PLAYLIST ON 'THE IMAGINATION': https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoojlrL9wVRO2l0-s7Do42gYFNQF9t3diCONNECT WITH BROOKE:YouTube: @brookefederline3109 Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/nz/shop/LettherebeLight3Telegram: https://t.me/BrookeFederlineIG: https://www.instagram.com/brookefederline/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brookie4233CONNECT WITH EMMA: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@imaginationpodcastofficialEMAIL: imagineabetterworld2020@gmail.com OR standbysurvivors@protonmail.comMy Support the show

With special guest: RWR (Rob) McDonald… in conversation with Bill Kable This story can stand alone. But if you have read the first book in the series, The Nancys, you will be even keener to see what happens in Rob McDonald’s new book Nancy Business. For anyone who loves the British murder mysteries such as Frost, Inspector Linley, Taggart and all the others Nancy Business is a treat. But there are a few twists that you do not often find. The narrator and main character is a young girl in Otago a small town on the South Island of New Zealand whose father died about a year ago. Her name is Tippy Chan and with her uncle Pike and his boyfriend Devon they make a formidable team for solving a mysterious murder mystery. This is a modern family story and the relationships are explored with all the black comedy and snappy dialogue we might hope for. Given that the author is himself in a “rainbow family” he has special insights and we explore with Rob some of how this type of family compares with other families. Podcast (mp3)

Here’s the big invertebrate episode I’ve been promising people! Thanks to Sam, warbrlwatchr, Jayson, Richard from NC, Holly, Kabir, Stewie, Thaddeus, and Trech for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Does the Spiral Siphonophore Reign as the Longest Animal in the World? The common nawab butterfly: The common nawab caterpillar: A velvet worm: A giant siphonophore [photo by Catriona Munro, Stefan Siebert, Felipe Zapata, Mark Howison, Alejandro Damian-Serrano, Samuel H. Church, Freya E.Goetz, Philip R. Pugh, Steven H.D.Haddock, Casey W.Dunn – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790318300460#f0030]: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I'm your host, Kate Shaw. Hello to 2026! This is usually where I announce that I'm going to do a series of themed episodes throughout the coming year, and usually I forget all about it after a few months. This year I have a different announcement. After our nine-year anniversary next month, which is episode 470, instead of new episodes I'm going to be switching to old Patreon episodes. I closed the Patreon permanently at the end of December but all the best episodes will now run in the main feed until our ten-year anniversary in February 2027. That's episode 523, when we'll have a big new episode that will also be the very last one ever. I thought this was the best way to close out the podcast instead of just stopping one day. The only problem is the big list of suggestions. During January I'm going to cover as many suggestions as I possibly can. This week's episode is about invertebrates, and in the next few weeks we'll have an episode about mammals, one about reptiles and birds, and one about amphibians and fish, although I don't know what order they'll be in yet. Episode 470 will be about animals discovered in 2025, along with some corrections and updates. I hope no one is sad about the podcast ending! You have a whole year to get used to it, and the old episodes will remain forever on the website so you can listen whenever you like. All that out of the way, let's start 2026 right with a whole lot of invertebrates! Thanks to Sam, warbrlwatchr, Jayson, Richard from NC, Holly, Kabir, Stewie, Thaddeus, and Trech for their suggestions this week! Let's start with Trech's suggestion, a humble ant called the weaver ant. It's also called the green ant even though not all species are green, because a species found in Australia is partially green. Most species are red, brown, or yellowish, and they're found in parts of northern and western Australia, southern Asia, and on most islands in between the two areas, and in parts of central Africa. The weaver ant lives in trees in tropical areas, and gets the name weaver ant because of the way it makes its nest. The nests are made out of leaves, but the leaves are still growing on the tree. Worker ants grab the edge of a leaf in their mandibles, then pull the leaf toward another leaf or sometimes double the leaf over. Sometimes ants have to make a chain to reach another leaf, with each ant grabbing the next ant around the middle until the ant at the end of the chain can grab the edge of a leaf. While the leaf is being pulled into place alongside the edge of another leaf, or the opposite edge of the same leaf, other workers bring larvae from an established part of the nest. The larvae secrete silk to make cocoons, but a worker ant holds a larva at the edge of the leaf, taps its little head, and the larva secretes silk that the workers use to bind the leaf edges together. A single colony has multiple nests, often in more than one tree, and are constantly constructing new ones as the old leaves are damaged by weather or just die off naturally. The weaver ant mainly eats insects, which is good for the trees because many of the insects the ants kill and eat are ones that can damage trees. This is one reason why farmers in some places like seeing weaver ants, especially fruit farmers, and sometimes farmers will even buy a weaver ant colony starter pack to place in their trees deliberately. The farmer doesn't have to use pesticides, and the weaver ants even cause some fruit- and leaf-eating animals to stay away, because the ants can give a painful bite. People in many areas also eat the weaver ant larvae, which is considered a delicacy. Our next suggestion is by Holly, the zombie snail. I actually covered this in a Patreon episode, but I didn't schedule it for next year because I thought I'd used the information already in a regular episode, but now I can't find it. So let's talk about it now! In August of 2019, hikers in Taiwan came across a snail that looked like it was on its way to a rave. It had what looked like flashing neon decorations in its head, pulsing in green and orange. Strobing colors are just not something you'd expect to find on an animal, or if you did it would be a deep-sea animal. The situation is not good for the snail, let me tell you. It's due to a parasitic flatworm called the green-banded broodsac. The flatworm infects birds, but to get into the bird, first it has to get into a snail. To get into a snail, it has to be in a bird, though, because it lives in the cloaca of a bird and attaches its eggs to the bird's droppings. When a snail eats a yummy bird dropping, it also eats the eggs. The eggs hatch in the snail's body instead of being digested, where eventually they develop into sporocysts. That's a branched structure that spreads throughout the snail's body, including into its head and eyestalks. The sporocyst branches that are in the snail's eyestalks further develop into broodsacs, which look like little worms or caterpillars banded with green and orange or green and yellow, sometimes with black or brown bands too—it depends on the species. About the time the broodsacs are ready for the next stage of life, the parasite takes control of the snail's brain. The snail goes out in daylight and sits somewhere conspicuous, and its body, or sometimes just its head or eyestalks, becomes semi-translucent so that the broodsacs show through it. Then the broodsacs swell up and start to pulse. The colors and movement resemble a caterpillar enough that it attracts birds that eat caterpillars. A bird will fly up, grab what it thinks is a caterpillar, and eat it up. The broodsac develops into a mature flatworm in the bird's digestive system, and sticks itself to the walls of the cloaca with two suckers, and the whole process starts again. The snail gets the worst part of this bargain, naturally, but it doesn't necessarily die. It can survive for a year or more even with the parasite living in it, and it can still use its eyes. When it's bird time, the bird isn't interested in the snail itself. It just wants what it thinks is a caterpillar, and a lot of times it just snips the broodsac out of the snail's eyestalk without doing a lot of damage to the snail. If a bird doesn't show up right away, sometimes the broodsac will burst out of the eyestalk anyway. It can survive for up to an hour outside the snail and continues to pulsate, so it will sometimes still get eaten by a bird. Okay, that was disgusting. Let's move on quickly to the tiger beetle, suggested by both Sam and warblrwatchr. There are thousands of tiger beetle species known and they live all over the world, except for Antarctica. Because there are so many different species in so many different habitats, they don't all look the same, but many common species are reddish-orange with black stripes, which is where the name tiger beetle comes from. Others are plain black or gray, shiny blue, dark or pale brown, spotted, mottled, iridescent, bumpy, plain, bulky, or lightly built. They vary a lot, but one thing they all share are long legs. That's because the tiger beetle is famous for its running speed. Not all species can fly, but even in the ones that can, its wings are small and it can't fly far. But it can run so fast that scientists have discovered that its simple eyes can't gather enough photons for the brain to process an image of its surroundings while it runs. That's why the beetle will run extremely fast, then stop for a moment before running again. Its brain needs a moment to catch up. The tiger beetle eats insects and other small animals, which it runs after to catch. The fastest species known lives around the shores of Lake Eyre in South Australia, Rivacindela hudsoni. It grows around 20 mm long, and can run as much as 5.6 mph, or 9 km/hour, not that it's going to be running for an entire hour at a time. Still, that's incredibly fast for something with little teeny legs. Another insect that is really fast is called the common nawab, suggested by Jayson. It's a butterfly that lives in tropical forests and rainforests in South Asia and many islands. Its wings are mainly brown or black with a big yellow or greenish spot in the middle and some little white spots along the edges, and the hind wings have two little tails that look like spikes. It's really pretty and has a wingspan more than three inches across, or about 8.5 cm. The common nawab spends most of its time in the forest canopy, flying quickly from flower to flower. Females will travel long distances, but when a female is ready to lay her eggs, she returns to where she hatched. The male stays in his territory, and will chase away other common nawab males if they approach. The common nawab caterpillar is green with pale yellow stripes, and it has four horn-like projections on its head, which is why it's called the dragon-headed caterpillar. It's really awesome-looking and I put it on the list to cover years ago, then forgot it until Jayson recommended it. But it turns out there's not a lot known about the common nawab, so there's not a lot to say about it. Next, Richard from NC suggested the velvet worm. It's not a worm and it's not made of velvet, although its body is soft and velvety to the touch. It's long and fairly thin, sort of like a caterpillar in shape but with lots of stubby little legs. There are hundreds of species known in two families. Most species of velvet worm are found in South America and Australia. Some species of velvet worm can grow up to 8 and a half inches long, or 22 cm, but most are much smaller. The smallest lives in New Zealand on the South Island, and only grows up to 10 mm long, with 13 pairs of legs. The largest lives in Costa Rica in Central America and was only discovered in 2010. It has up to 41 pairs of legs, although males only have 34 pairs. Various species of velvet worm are different colors, although a lot of them are reddish, brown, or orangey-brown. Most species have simple eyes, although some have no eyes at all. Its legs are stubby, hollow, and very simple, with a pair of tiny chitin claws at the ends. The claws are retractable and help it climb around. It likes humid, dark places like mossy rocks, leaf litter, fallen logs, caves, and similar habitats. Some species are solitary but others live in social groups of closely related individuals. The velvet worm is an ambush predator, and it hunts in a really weird way. It's nocturnal and its eyes are not only very simple, but the velvet worm can't even see ahead of it because its eyes are behind a pair of fleshy antennae that it uses to feel its way delicately forward. It walks so softly on its little legs that the small insects and other invertebrates that it preys on often don't even notice it. When it comes across an animal, it uses its antennae to very carefully touch it and decide whether it's worth attacking. When it decides to attack, it squirts slime that acts like glue. It has a gland on either side of its head that squirts slime quite accurately. Once the prey is immobilized, the velvet worm may give smaller squirts of slime at dangerous parts, like the fangs of spiders. Then it punctures the body of its prey with its jaws and injects saliva, which kills the animal and starts to liquefy its insides. While the velvet worm is waiting for this to happen, it eats up its slime to reuse it, then sucks the liquid out of the prey. This can take a long time depending on the size of the animal—more than an hour. A huge number of invertebrates, including all insects and crustaceans, are arthropods, and velvet worms look like they should belong to the phylum Arthropoda. But arthropods always have jointed legs. Velvet worm legs don't have joints. Velvet worms aren't arthropods, although they're closely related. A modern-day velvet worm looks surprisingly like an animal that lived half a billion years ago, Antennacanthopodia, although it lived in the ocean and all velvet worms live on land. Scientists think that the velvet worm's closest living relative is a very small invertebrate called the tardigrade, or water bear, which is Stewie's suggestion. The water bear isn't a bear but a tiny eight-legged animal that barely ever grows larger than 1.5 millimeters. Some species are microscopic. There are about 1,300 known species of water bear and they all look pretty similar, like a plump eight-legged stuffed animal with a tubular mouth that looks a little like a pig's snout. It uses six of its fat little legs for walking and the hind two to cling to the moss and other plant material where it lives. Each leg has four to eight long hooked claws. Like the velvet worm, the tardigrade's legs don't have joints. They can bend wherever they want. Tardigrades have the reputation of being extremophiles, able to withstand incredible heat, cold, radiation, space, and anything else scientists can think of. In reality, it's just a little guy that mostly lives in moss and eats tiny animals or plant material. It is tough, and some species can indeed withstand extreme heat, cold, and so forth, but only for short amounts of time. The tardigrade's success is mainly due to its ability to suspend its metabolism, during which time the water in its body is replaced with a type of protein that protects its cells from damage. It retracts its legs and rearranges its internal organs so it can curl up into a teeny barrel shape, at which point it's called a tun. It needs a moist environment, and if its environment dries out too much, the water bear will automatically go into this suspended state, called cryptobiosis. When conditions improve, the tardigrade returns to normal. Another animal has a similar ability, and it's a suggestion by Thaddeus, the immortal jellyfish. It's barely more than 4 mm across as an adult, and lives throughout much of the world's oceans, especially where it's warm. It eats tiny food, including plankton and fish eggs, which it grabs with its tiny tentacles. Small as it is, the immortal jellyfish has stinging cells in its tentacles. It's mostly transparent, although its stomach is red and an adult jelly has up to 90 white tentacles. The immortal jellyfish starts life as a larva called a planula, which can swim, but when it finds a place it likes, it sticks itself to a rock or shell, or just onto the sea floor. There it develops into a polyp colony, and this colony buds new polyps that are clones of the original. These polyps swim away and grow into jellyfish, which spawn and develop eggs, and those eggs hatch into new planulae. Polyps can live for years, while adult jellies, called medusae, usually only live a few months. But if an adult immortal jellyfish is injured, starving, sick, or otherwise under stress, it can transform back into a polyp. It forms a new polyp colony and buds clones of itself that then grow into adult jellies. It's the only organism known that can revert to an earlier stage of life after reaching sexual maturity–but only an individual at the adult stage, called the medusa stage, can revert to an earlier stage of development, and an individual can only achieve the medusa stage once after it buds from the polyp colony. If it reverts to the polyp stage, it will remain a polyp until it eventually dies, so it's not really immortal but it's still very cool. All the animals we've talked about today have been quite small. Let's finish with a suggestion from Kabir, a deep-sea animal that's really big! It's the giant siphonophore, Praya dubia, which lives in cold ocean water around many parts of the world. It's one of the longest creatures known to exist, but it's not a single animal. Each siphonophore is a colony of tiny animals called zooids, all clones although they perform different functions so the whole colony can thrive. Some zooids help the colony swim, while others have tiny tentacles that grab prey, and others digest the food and disperse the nutrients to the zooids around it. Some siphonophores are small but some can grow quite large. The Portuguese man o' war, which looks like a floating jellyfish, is actually a type of siphonophore. Its stinging tentacles can be 100 feet long, or 30 m. Other siphonophores are long, transparent, gelatinous strings that float through the depths of the sea, and that's the kind the giant siphonophore is. The giant siphonophore can definitely grow longer than 160 feet, or 50 meters, and may grow considerably longer. Siphonophores are delicate, and if they get washed too close to shore or the surface, waves and currents can tear them into pieces. Other than that, and maybe the occasional whale or big fish swimming right through them and breaking them up, there's really no reason why a siphonophore can't just keep on growing and growing and growing… You can find Strange Animals Podcast at strangeanimalspodcast.blubrry.net. That's blueberry without any E's. If you have questions, comments, corrections, or suggestions, email us at strangeanimalspodcast@gmail.com. Thanks for listening!

Māori landowners at the top of the South Island will have more than 3-thousand hectares returned to them in a landmark agreement signed with the Crown. The customary landowners were promised one tenth of the 61,000 hectares sold in a deal with the New Zealand Company in the 1830s, but instead got less than 1200. In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that the government must honour the deal, but subsequent efforts to resolve the case outside court were unsuccessful. Samantha Gee has more.

The government is returning more than 3000 hectares to Maori in the top of the South Island, along with 420-million dollars in compensation. Attorney-General, Judith Collins spoke to Corin Dann.

Transpower says that allowing the major South Island hydro lakes to be drawn down further would leave the country exposed to rolling blackouts, in a worst-case scenario.