Photo: RNZ
Top honour for Kiwi kayaking great, Eden Park gets green light, and a giant Secret Santa are among this week's feel-good stories from RNZ.
Carrington claims seventh Māori Sports Person honour
Photo: RNZ / Calvin Samuel
The sprint kayaking great won the women's honour at a ceremony last night following her deeds at the Paris Olympics - where she won three gold medals to take her career tally to eight golds. Late last month (October), she became the first New Zealander to win one of the highest honours in the Olympic movement, the Outstanding Sporting Career Award. A record number of Māori Olympians at Paris 2024 including 10 sportswomen who won gold medals.
Rock on! Concerts at Eden Park to double
Photo: Tom Grut
More big-name artists could be heading to Auckland now that Eden Park has been given the go-ahead to host more concerts. The stadium has been given permission by Auckland Council to host up to 12 concerts annually, double what is currently allowed. Since it began hosting concerts in 2021, the stadium had been limited to six acts a year.
Kiwi trio want to become first to walk a straight-line across NZ
From left, Alex Smith, Tane Tarlton and Ben Reeve. Photo: Supplied
Three Kiwi friends are taking on a social media trend of walking in a straight line from Northland's west to east coast for the Movember charity. Tane Tarlton, Ben Reeve and Alex Smith are attempting to pull off the feat for the first time in New Zealand, walking 60km from Dargaville's Baylys Beach to Whangārei's One Tree Point as part of the charity's annual men's health movement, which focuses on prevention, early intervention and health promotion
Pou washed away by Cyclone Gabrielle set to return home
The clean-up of the marae took months, but it still can not be used. Photo: Supplied / Tangoio Marae
A carved pou from Tangoio Marae north of Napier has washed ashore on the Mahia Peninsula - almost two years after it was washed away during Cyclone Gabrielle. The chairperson of Ngāti Kahungunu Bayden Barber said it will be a boost for the whānau of Tangoio even as they continued to wait for a plan to rebuild their marae. The pou was found by residents at Taylors Bay in Mahia on Monday - 87 kilometres away from Tangoio Marae.
'You do it for the kids': Wellington's massive Secret Santa mission
Photo: Unsplash
A Wellington community is banding together to provide children in need with Christmas presents in a giant version of Secret Santa. Volunteers for Hutt Community Secret Santa have 363 tamariki to provide gifts for, and so far they have matched all but 14 with their Secret Santa - a person providing the gift anonymously. Organiser Amy Doughty said the project started in 2018 through a community page on Facebook. "I got a handwritten letter from a six-year-old thanking me for giving presents to his siblings… and he called me Mrs Santa's helper. You do it for the kids," she says.
Remains of destroyed homes turned into sculpture
Photo: Supplied / Joss Hong
Muriwai residents are using salvaged materials from unliveable homes, wrecked by Cyclone Gabrielle to build a commemorative sculpture - marking the tragic events of almost two years ago. The Muriwai community was shattered with landslips during the cyclone, destroying homes and killing two volunteer firefighters. Every Saturday, the Muriwai surf club fills with locals who come together to make something beautiful - the workshops led by Kiwi artist Jeff Thompson.
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