When Kiwi shot-put champion Valerie Adams won the gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, she looked skyward in memory of her mother, Lilika, who had died when she was a teenager.

New Zealand is the homeland of star Hollywood actors, including Russell Crowe, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin, Temuera Morrison, Cliff Curtis and Keisha Castle-Hughes.

New Zealander Anna Paquin has been extraordinarily successfully since her Academy Award-winning performance in Jane Campion's 'The Piano' (1993).

With the 2010 wedding season in full swing and Valentine's Day looming, New Zealand's tourism industry is flush with romance.

Ladyhawke – aka Pip Brown – was New Zealand's hottest musical export in 2009.

Some key moments in Aotearoa - New Zealand's Maori history from Polynesian migrations and British colonisation to the modern renaissance of Maori language.

A young New Zealand artist who produced her first national masterpiece at the age of eight, is a costume maker behind the hugely successful 3D blockbuster, Avatar - now the world’s #2 movie of all time.

Call it a ‘barbie’, barbeque, barbecue or BBQ – the act of cooking outside is an essential slice of the New Zealand culture and culinary experience epitomising the easy New Zealand lifestyle.

A new four-day walking track through the Waitakere Ranges west of Auckland has been named after one of New Zealand’s greatest adventurers, Sir Edmund Hillary.

Over the last couple of decades, New Zealand has undergone a coffee revolution as many Kiwis have become connoisseurs of their favoured black beverage.