September 2020

There’s an increasing divide between how Covid-19 related news and information is being reported by governments, health authorities and the mainstream media on one hand, and alternative media and independent expert commentators on the other. This is particularly the case on matters of science. The resultant public uncertainty is fuelling ever more polarised public viewpoints in…

When local foodie Suzanne Braks took over the running of both the Bombay and Papakura Autobahn restaurants on April 1st earlier this year, she could never have foreseen the snowball of events that a global pandemic would have on the business over the next month or two. Managing the businesses for many years, she took over to a business that was essentially unable to trade under a…

Auckland has just come out of another lockdown that has seen businesses closed, a return to bubbles and borders patrolled in a way that created a situation for some, more challenging than the level 4 lockdown. And, yet the numbers of community transmission remain higher than they were when we returned to the new normal early in the year. For the government, this is a huge risk…

Local builder Mike Wilson is the proud Stroud Homes franchisee for the South Auckland area. With 33 successful franchises in Australia and 6 in New Zealand, the Stroud Homes franchise is a name fast becoming associated with style, quality, attention to detail and trust. With a trusted builder like Mike at the helm of the team, who has over 16 years experiences in the building…

I’ve enjoyed 30 years of auditing the charities of NZ. The opportunity to meet people who passionately endeavour to improve the lives of those struggling with misfortune, is an everyday meeting with “Good Sorts”. I am equally amazed by New Zealander’s acceptance of the compassionate response to COVID-19, whereby the lives of the few vulnerable people mattered more than the…

Everyone at Navigation Homes is an expert at listening, from all the staff they employ in the office, through to the highly skilled and experienced contractors they use on site. Navigation Homes listen and deliver the building of your home to the highest standard, as well as being proud to call themselves local. Navigation Homes was founded in the Franklin region in 2007 by Aaron…

Auckland Zoo is celebrating the birth of its first baby rhino in 20 years – a healthy female delivered by first-time mum Jamila in a speedy one-hour labour 12 days ago. The much-anticipated birth of the southern white rhino calf on 14 August to mum Jamila and 30-year-old dad Zambezi follows a 16-month pregnancy - confirmed last April by faecal hormone testing of Jamila’s…

As I write this month, Auckland is again in a Level 3 lockdown, with all the frustrations and irritations of that situation. I myself got caught up in a huge traffic jam, which had four lanes of traffic (including the bus lane) at a total stand-still for more than an hour, because of a mad rush of people wanting to get tested for the virus – and I doubt if anybody in that traffic…

The headline for this article is a double entendre, which I’m pointing out just in case anyone was thinking about getting offended. It’s Tick-The-Box time coming up again shortly in New Zealand, and where some folks may still not be completely au fait with the vagaries of the MMP voting system – whilst others, being more nerdy in a political sense, are better up with the play –…

Many local businesses have adapted to a new normal over the last few months, and one standout has been the virtual reality options that are attached to the Golden Homes Show Home on the corner of McPherson and Karaka roads. Whilst you may not be able to attend the show home physically, or even if restrictions allow don’t feel comfortable doing so, you can wander around it from…

Earlier this summer, the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee set about crunching data on more than 40,000 genes from 17,000 genetic samples in an effort to better understand COVID-19. Summit is the second-fastest computer in the world, but the process – which involved analyzing 2.5 billion genetic combinations – still took more than a week. When Summit was…

As I’m standing in my kitchen looking at the groove worn into the floor from my endless trips to the fridge, I’m suddenly reminded that Spring is only days away. And this is great news, because at the end of a spring day, everyone should smell like sweat … from the effects of a workout. And there’s that feeling of anticipation, a countdown to warm welcoming days with bounties…

A Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads and Fathers out there from the Papakura Business Association – we hope you have a fantastic day! Welcome to New Businesses into Papakura We welcome Bullseye Accounting who have opened up on the Great South Road. And Memory Layne who have opened up in O’Shannessey Street. Our Wonderful Businesses and Business Owners Check out pages 16 & 17…

In October 1986 a young Bohemian farmer from Puhoi, Allan Titford, entered into a contract to buy two adjoining, gently contoured freehold title farms at Maunganui Bluff, on Northland's west coast. Never in his wildest dreams did Allan Titford expect to face years of death threats, assaults, police brutality, two houses on his property razed to the ground and eventually being…

If, as many predict, we will have to learn to live with Covid-19 for some years, we need to get our border issues sorted out. No, I’m not talking about our international border. I’m talking about the one down the road here on the edge of Auckland. I’m talking about the borders you get when you lockdown a region or a city; the border that divides people who live in one zone and…

In late 2017, while on our second date, Topher and I had the idea to drive the planet. That evening we shook hands to agree that “one day” we would follow through with our big plan. In March the following year we arrived in Vancouver to pick up our Jeep Wrangler “Gunther”. On the 18th of April 2018 Gunther, Topher and I began one of the longest overland expeditions ever…

Within six minutes of arriving at the hospital Princess Diana was dead. That places her time of death very close to the time Dr Jean-Marc Martino relinquished control to Dr Bruno Riou. In other words, Martino was in control of Diana’s care for 1 hour and 26 minutes and she died 6 minutes after he passed on control. This puts the spotlight more closely on the mystery period of 5…