Air New Zealand safety video - An Unexpected Briefing

Air New Zealand - Crazy About Rugby

Bare essentials of safety from Air New Zealand

Crowded House - Four seasons in one day

Last chance to see: the kakapo

Stephen Fry watches as wildlife co-presenter gets shagged by a rare parrot.

Last chance to see: the kiwi

Flight of the Conchords - Racism

Flight of the Conchords - Racism

Two cars, one night

While waiting for their parents, two boys and a girl meet in the carpark of a rural New Zealand pub. What at first seems to be a relationship based on rivalry soon develops into a close friendship as we learn that love can be found in the most unlikely of places. Nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.

Two Cars ,One Night

Pavement Christmas

Auckland City Mission, New Zealand, launched the 2005 Christmas Appeal with “Pavement”, a poignant TV ad featuring a young homeless Aucklander imagining his perfect Christmas day with the help of a piece of chalk.

The young man (Rangi Ngamoki, star of Two Cars, One Night) opens his eyes to the sounds of street traffic. “It’s time to get up for me”. His bed, pillow and sound system are all drawn in chalk. The boy gets dressed as he lies on the pavement, with bed, dresser and Christmas stocking drawn in chalk. “Christmas Day. I can’t wait to see what’s under the tree. Better wash my face and clean my teeth first. And we look in my wardrobe and find my favourite shirt.” We see that he has only one shirt. “Shh. Go quietly downstairs to the livingroom. Check out my presents.” The boy ’sneaks’ down stairs drawn in chalk. We see that the Christmas tree and all the presents are drawn in chalk. “Everyone else will be awake soon. They’re all mine! This one’s from Dad. Haven’t seen him in a long time. Playing my XBox.” Once again - it’s an imagined luxury. “Mmm I can smell the turkey. I wish it was Christmas every day.”

The voiceover is provided by Sam Neill: “One in five children are living in poverty. We’re on a mission to make Christmas happen - for every Auckland child.”

Always blow on the pie: Safer Communities Together

'Always blow on the pie': A traffic policeman's bizarre advice to a car thief which has become an internet hit

New Zealand hunts accidental millionaires

WELLINGTON (AFP) - New Zealand police said Thursday they had launched an international hunt for a couple who fled after reportedly having millions of dollars mistakenly paid into their bank account.
Reports said an Asian couple who ran a petrol station in the northern city of Rotorua had fled overseas after Westpac bank mistakenly deposited 10 million dollars (six million US) in their account.
Police and the bank refused to say how much money was withdrawn or give any details of the couple, but the bank said it was "pursuing vigorous criminal and civil action."
Rotorua police Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey said the bank had recovered some of the money.
"The individuals associated with this account are believed to have left New Zealand and police were working through Interpol to locate those individuals," he said.
A Westpac spokesman said human error was responsible for the windfall.

New Zealand talk at the EOI

New Zealand Talk Part 1

New Zealand Talk Part 2

New Zealand road signs

Click on the image to enlarge it.

New Zealand bird song

New Zealand icons

The Goodnight kiwi
Before 24 hour TV Goodnight Kiwi signalled the end of nightly broadcasts. The last airing of this animation was in 1994. Today the characters are regarded as icons of New Zealand culture.

New Zealand National Anthem sung by Benjamin McHugh at the
Telstra Stadium, Sydney on 13/08/2005.

E Ihoa Atua,
O nga Iwi matoura
Ata whaka rongona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau to atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa.

God of Nations at Thy feet,
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices we entreat,
God defend our free land.
Guard Pacific's triple star
From the shafts of strife and war,
Make her praises heard afar,
God defend New Zealand.


The All Blacks' Haka


L&P

Here is an old L&P commercial that was on TV for years. The words are as follows: It ain't famous for its Grand Prix; well, it ain't famous for its flashy department stores; man, it ain't famous for its stunning architecture; well, it's not famous for its cathedral; it ain't famous for its royal family; it ain't famous for its railway station; well, it ain't famous for its fine restaurants; but it is famous -- L&P, World Famous in New Zealand

New Zealand: The Maori

Lessons in Kiwi English

Click here to find out what 'bugger' means.

New Zealand commercial using the "mate" theme to combat drink driving. Tag-line: if you drink then drive, you're a bloody idiot.
He's calling the guy by his name (Dave) rather than mate because they're not mates anymore after the crash. "Mate" is a pretty common term when you're speaking to someone. It's actually more common than using a person's name a lot of the time so to go from "mate" to "Dave" shows how far he's been separated from his friends. He's not one of them anymore. He's just someone who killed their real mate.

A hilarious commercial from New Zealand that explains when togs (the kiwi word for swimsuits) begin to be considered undies (underwear).

New Zealand accent and vocabulary

One News report on how the New Zealand accent has changed noticeably over the last 30 years.

You have here what seems like an innocent word. English - you might think “Whak-a-papa”, something similar to that. However, here in New Zealand, well James, why don’t you help explain this, how do you say this word? “Whaka-papa” That is “Whak-a-papa”, there is a word on the other side. This is how to speak New Zealand 101. Okay, we have the letters “N” and “Zee”. However, when you are in New Zealand, James — “N-Zed”. Aah! Slight difference. If you are wearing something like flip-flops, Rick, what would you call those? “Jandals”. Now Sam, if you were to ask your pastor to pass you the pasta what would you say? “Pass the pasta, pastor”… I don’t think that’s right, Rick - “It’s pass the pastor, pasta”. Oh, alright! “That was pass the pasta, pastor.” “I am confused.” And if you were to put something in the back of your car what would you put it into.” “It’s in your boot mate” Here it is. “Whatever is in the back of your car, is in your boot mate.” Not the trunk, it’s the boot. What would you call a big, grizzly thing, that would growl at you and eat you. “A bear” What would you drink..? What drink has alcohol in it? “A beer”.. Did you hear any difference? “Uh-uh” And what is a soft fluffy toy that you would often give to small children. “It’s a bear”, “Teddy bear” They don’t say “e” like we do, they say “ay”. I’d love to have a teddy bear. Is there anything else you can think of? “Oh! She’ll be right mate.” Okay, what does “Oh! She’ll be right mate” mean?. “It means she will be right” So it’s like you are doing good, alright. “It means that women are always right.” Ohhhh! “It means it’s okay, it’s good” Good to know, thank you. “She’ll be right is just she’ll be right, don’t worry about her, no worries mate, no worries” What do you put at the end of any adjective to make it cool? “As” So say something. “Sweet as”, what if something is really weird. “Weird as” So everything just has “as” at the end of it. “Cool as”. Cool as… cheer bro. “Cheer bro” Kiora is to say hello. And what’s a resume called here? “CV - Curriculum vitae” If someone quits at a sport like Dan you might taunt him and call him what? “Piker” A Piker. ” A what?” Dan would be a piker. “I don’t even know where this is going from” This is coming from your trash talking. “I’d say a quitter”, I like it. “A buster”, “a what, butter?” “Bus-buster” And if there is any word that ends with ‘r’ like for instance if it is say… “Amber?” Amber, ‘aymber’. “Faster”, “Fayster”. Alright that’s it, Okay. And that’s how you speak New Zealand 101.

Click HERE for more Kiwi words and expressions with their equivalent definition.

New Zealand singers

Crowded House is a rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia and led by New Zealand musician and singer-songwriter Neil Finn. Finn is widely recognised as the primary songwriter and creative direction of the band.

Singer-songwriter Bic Runga, originally from Christchurch, now lives and performs her music around the world. Her first album Drive, released in 1998, won numerous awards and was then the biggest-selling music recording by a New Zealander.

Scribe is the stage name of New Zealand rapper Malo Luafutu. His debut album, The Crusader, was released in 2003 in New Zealand and has so far gone five times platinum in that country, achieving two number one singles.

Keith Lionel Urban (born in Whangarei, New Zealand) is a country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia.

Although Daniel and Natasha Bedingfield are British singers, they were born in New Zealand.

New Zealand films