Manawatu

Two Brits with a couple of bicycles are the ultimate rugby fans – Londoners Tom Hudson and Jodie Burton have cycled almost 28,000km through 28 countries to New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup tournament.

New Zealand’s rich rugby heritage has a new 21st century face with the reopening of the NZ Rugby Museum, in Palmerston North, today (11.08.11).

Rugby World Cup 2011 will be a chance to experience and relive New Zealand’s rich rugby heritage with a series of REAL New Zealand Festival nostalgic exhibitions and events surrounding the tournament.

Auckland is on 'Cloud' nine, Wellington’s launching a waka, Nelson’s taking a long Italian lunch, Bluff’s reserving the juiciest oysters, Westland’s celebrating whitebait, and wineries all over New Zealand are dusting off their vintage best.

An old black and white photo of the very first All Blacks test match in New Zealand has been discovered among a treasure trove of turn-of-the-century images in a Waikanae family estate.

Famous Kiwis have chipped in to help paint a picture of their country for prospective tourists, by exposing their favourite haunts in the latest edition of 'Lonely Planet'.

A low-budget New Zealand documentary film has sold out all three 1000-seat screenings at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival.

The small rural town of Kimbolton - in the North Island’s Manawatu region - is little known to many Kiwis let alone the international community, but now some local school children have put their home and New Zealand firmly on the world map.

Not all kiwi families have been affected by the recession – gloom and doom hasn’t reached New Zealand’s Ruahine Ranges where it’s been a bumper breeding season for eastern North Island brown kiwi.

The match schedule for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand has been announced in Auckland today (12.03.09) with 13 venues across the country chosen to host pool matches.