Russia

By GUY WILLIAMS When Brent and Paula Te Kawa put out the feelers for a Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) instructor for their new Queenstown academy, they got a flood of high-calibre applicants from overseas. So they were surprised when the strongest application...

By PHILIP CHANDLER It might seem far-fetched someone who’s been described as ‘‘one of the finest violinists in the world’’ should play in a disused cheese factory. But that’s what’s happening this Sunday when Russian-born Natalia Lomeiko performs in the Thomas...

By PHILIP CHANDLER Queenstown tennis pro Ben McLachlan and a veteran South African player have won a doubles tournament in Germany’s Cologne on their team debut. In the final last Sunday, McLachlan, 28 and Raven Klaasen, 38, beat the pairing of...

By PHILIP CHANDLER Queenstown's Turn Up the Music school has been gifted a rare German-made violin thought to date from the late 1800s. Auckland-based Natasha Beckman, who handed it over month, says it was played by her Wellington-based great-grandmother in the...

By PHILIP CHANDLER A TV doco this Easter Sunday depicts a fundraising climb of Africa's most famous mountain to mark a Queenstown-based charity's 15th anniversary. In Mountain of Hope - screening on TVNZ 1 at 8.15am and TVNZ 1+1 at 9.30am...

Amazingly, in the so-called adventure capital of the world, two of the most adventurous locals are over 70 years old. Philip Chandler talks to Diana and Dick Hubbard about their latest 34,000km motorcycle ride, and learns how they almost...