The Nelson Arts Festival team is up to full strength in readiness for what is predicted to be its biggest year ever, as Rugby World Cup 2011 and the South Island Masters Games visitors swell audience numbers.

Their bike might be small, but their dream was big – which is why four pupils from a small Manawatu country school came to Manfeild Park.

Budding rugby stars from 583 schools around New Zealand are ripping it up in regional Rippa Rugby qualifying tournaments to win the right to play in the two-day Rippa World Cup.

A campaign set up by The Palms to inject $100,000 into the Christchurch community has uncovered a vast range of services and groups affected by the February earthquake and in desperate need of practical financial assistance.

From Bangalore to Bangkok, events across the world will celebrate the value of forests. 

• Temperatures: Warmest May since records began in 1909. Temperatures more than 2°C above May average between Waikato and Christchurch, and in the Lakes District.

With 100 days until the first whistle in the Rugby World Cup a series of key preparation milestones have been checked-off says the Rugby World Cup Minister, Murray McCully.

New Zealand Sevens Captain DJ Forbes is among a handful of players returning home from Edinburgh where New Zealand was officially crowned the HSBC Sevens World Series champions.

Best Job in the World winner Ben Southall will kayak and sail a gruelling 1600km along Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in his latest epic adventure ‘The Best Expedition in the World’.

A 150 word story about a 1972 Holden Kingswood has scored aspiring writer James Francis first prize in the inaugural BNZ Literary Awards Short Short Story Award.