Good News: Stories that cheered us up for the week 1-7 July

Lulu Sun's stunning Wimbledon success, a hangi start-up in Pātea, Zumba with a 'Pasifika twist' and a grocery store odyssey across Aotearoa are among this week's feel-good stories from RNZ.

A national taonga returns to Wellington

Since 2022, Capital Kiwi Project has released138 kiwi-nui (North Island brown kiwi) onto Terawhiti Station, on Wellington's southwest coast. The farm has more than 1000 traps - part of a "very intense" 24,000-hectare network of protection. Last year, two kiwi chicks were born on the property. They are Wellington's first wild-born birds in more than 150 years - demonstrating the project is absolutely worth it. With diligent pest management, kiwi can reestablish themselves in the wild, go on to find mates and breed. The team checks in with several birds fitted with transmitters.

Zumba with a 'Pasifika twist' helps ward off loneliness and diabetes

Every weekday at noon, 100 people gather in the Mangere, dressed in colourful hats and shirts for a free dance class. The Zumba classes started in 2013 and were part of a plan to encourage people to move in their older age and keep diabetes at bay. They're still going strong, a decade later. The music has a Pacific vibe with beats played loud and exercises spiced with an island flair. The oldest dancer is 89. As well as keeping the dancers fit and healthy, it also helps stave off loneliness and new friendships are nurtured.

Massey vet students get up close and personal with fake sheep

Dog vomit, fake blood and a full-size fake cow have won Massey's vet teachers an international prize for their work replacing live animals with models in the classroom. Animal testing is strictly regulated by law in Aotearoa, but animals used for science and teaching purposes are exempt from the Animal Welfare Act. However, Massey University veterinary teachers have been looking for creative alternative materials to create animal models for their classes. The Massey team eliminated the use of real sheep in a fundamental surgical teaching class.

Pātea hangi shop filling bellies with kai

Times may be tough in hospitality, but one start-up eatery in South Taranaki is bucking the trend, selling a selection of kai Māori alongside traditional fast food. The chefs create a steamed and smoked hangi, a boil-up with local bacon bones from the Pātea butcher and they also offer fry bread made with a secret recipe. The business started by locals Kushette Jelley and Leroy Thompson was not just about filling puku but was about bringing life back to the community, providing a place to come for a chat and share some kai.

Canterbury food banks benefit from hunters' surplus

Two hunters have dished out 40,000 meals across Canterbury through their not-for-profit organisation Hunters4Hope. Five hundred kilograms of venison mince have been donated to the Hope Community Trust over the past 18 months, sent out to 17 community groups and food banks. Steve Hill and Adam Kreisel came up with the idea after they found they were gathering too much meat after hunting together. Fridge freezers have been strategically set up around North Canterbury so other hunters can donate their surplus venison. This year their goal is five tonnes of meat donated.

Te Anau-born Sun stuns at Wimbledon

Lulu Sun, born in Te Anau, is through to the fourth round of the women's singles at Wimbledon - the first Kiwi to do so since Dame Ruia Morrison in 1959. Earlier in the week, she beat world number eight Qinwen Zheng in the first round and she was named to represent New Zealand in doubles at the Paris Olympics. Sun was the first Kiwi player to make a grand slam singles main draw in seven years, and her tiny home town is rallying behind our newest tennis star. Te Anau club president Greg Sheppard says she has always kept in touch; "We're sort of quite isolated here. But if you're willing and have the ability to put in the effort and the travel, then you can actually [make the dream happen]."

Four Square fan's odyssey around Aotearoa

This year marks 100 years since the first Four Square shop was founded - on 4 July, 1924. The chain started with businessman J Heaton Barker and began with a sketch describing a co-operative buying a group of local grocers that "would stand Four Square to all the winds that blew".

Cantabrian Louise Wynn has been visiting every store on an Aotearoa adventure, chatting with shop owners, making a purchase and keeping the receipt as a record of her odyssey. "The Four Square community are very good at supporting the community - they are very community-minded people."