Category Archives: New Zealand

SINGAPORE UFC senior vice president Dave Shaw has provided an update on the promotions international plans.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the UFC is yet to return to Canada, New Zealand and Australia, where theyve held numerous shows throughout the years.

Laws and restrictions have made it difficult for the octagon to return to those countries, but Shaw says its also a matter of a conflict of scheduling and finding the available slots for the UFC to host events.

We are actively trying to get back to regions and countries like Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Shaw told MMA Junkie. Countries we havent been to in a while that are very important markets for us, not only in terms of the partnerships that weve got, the content relationships that weve got, but also the number of athletes, and of course as you mentioned, some of the champions that we have.

Heres whats happening the world right now as COVID sort of eases a little bit and countries are opening up, is youve got this massive push towards live events. Youve got concerts, youve got exhibitions, youve got sporting events, and were no different. So the challenge for us is actually trying to find venues that are available when we need them to be available.

Canada has played host to some blockbuster pay-per-view events headlined by UFC Hall of Famer and former dual-champ Georges St-Pierre. Shaw said when the UFC return to Canada, itll be for another big show.

We want to get back first and foremost with a pay-per-view to Canada, Shaw said. I dont believe that July and August are the best times to come, its also really difficult to come in March, April, May when hockey playoffs are at sort of their fever pitch. So for us, weve got a few kind ofkey dates for pay-per-views in other regions around the world.

October historically weve been in Vegas, December weve been in Vegas, November weve been in New York, so trying to fit in a PPV in Canada or Australia, theres only so many times throughout the course of the year that we can actually get there and then you run into the problems that I just mentioned with availability. So were actively trying, were trying to get there as soon as possible.

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Senior VP Dave Shaw: UFC 'actively trying to get back' to Canada, New Zealand and Australia - MMA Junkie

There is a shamanistic mystery to the reading of a wicket. Many experienced players concede it is something they just arent good at, a mystical skill that never settled upon them, vaguely akin to the interpretation of tea leaves and the conjuring of visions from crystal balls. And Trent Bridge had produced a real puzzle.

The groundsman, knowing more about this wicket than most, warned before play that this would be a good toss to lose. With grass on the pitch and clouds in the sky the obvious decision was to bowl which is what Ben Stokes duly did but there was no devilry there at all. Englands new-look leadership turned out to be all motivation and no divination.

I think the toss is a really interesting thing in cricket you make a decision but you shouldnt expect things to happen, its just what you hope might happen, Jon Lewis, the England bowling coach, said. The most important thing was it was aggressive play: we were coming out to try and bowl New Zealand out. And I thought there was threat all day. I thought we could have easily bowled them out for 250 and wed be in a very different position.

A position different mainly by being completely untethered to reality, for all the chances England went on to miss. But Stokes decision was consistent with his very public intention to explore the wildest extremes of positivity.

Bowling always seems the more positive choice, while batting is necessarily reactive. Throw in the poor form of some members of New Zealands top order, the absence of the self-isolating Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls batting for the first time on the tour and bowling seemed a good idea whatever the state of the pitch.

For the Kiwis it proved, yes, a good toss to lose. If wed won the toss wed probably have bowled first, because it looked a bit green on top, Devon Conway said. But we changed our mindset to say, lets not think too much about the surface and just react to the bowling. The nature of the wicket wasnt as bad as what it looked and we tried to put pressure back on the bowlers.

This was swiftly achieved. The first 10 overs brought 25 careful runs and little evidence of any kind of pitch-related devilry; the next 10 yielded 51 and the first of several requests from England to change the ball. But then, in the space of two balls, the game changed. Stokes found Will Youngs edge and from second slip Zak Crawley dived to make a fine low catch, then Daryl Mitchell turned a very ordinary Jimmy Anderson delivery to Matt Potts at midwicket. Suddenly England had hope.

But these moments were to have consequences. Encouraged by that catch Crawley later dived across Joe Root only to drop Nicholls; perhaps discouraged by that moment he didnt move at all when Tom Blundell edged between him and Jonny Bairstow towards the end of the day. When youre stood in the slips and a chance comes, I dont think youve got time to think about whether youre confident, Lewis said. You dont really have time to ponder.

England finally got the ball moving after lunch, a period of great excitement and optimism that ended when Mitchell lifted a Jack Leach delivery into the stands, where it landed in someones pint of cider. It never swung again, and from 206-4 New Zealand scored another 112 runs without loss.

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We were quite shocked they didnt change the ball, said Conway. With all the protocols put in place these days we thought they might have looked to change it. After that it didnt swing as much. It was a funny passage of play. And one that not even the most talented pitch-reader could have seen coming.

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New Zealand make hay as England suffer from winning good toss to lose - The Guardian

Charlotte O'Leary died in a paragliding accident in France last week. Photo / Supplied

A French police report on the death of New Zealand paraglider Charlotte O'Leary in the French Alps has pointed to strong wind and poor weather as the cause.

Members at the local paragliding club decided not to fly because of the bad weather, the report said.

French news outlet Le Dauphine Libere reported O'Leary, 30, died shortly after take-off. She was flying solo.

Fellow paragliders alerted emergency services at 2.30pm after seeing a wing and body on the ground.

It is understood officers from mountain rescue organisation PGHM Jausiers attended immediately but O'Leary was already dead, the report said.

O'Leary, an experienced paraglider, was holidaying in Europe with her brother when the fatal accident happened last Thursday in Saint-Andr-les-Alpes.

The area, less than two hours from Nice, is one of the world's most acclaimed paragliding sites.

O'Leary, who studied medicine at the University of Otago and worked at Hauora Tairwhiti, previously Tairawhiti District Health, from 2017-19, had been living in Queenstown.

She had planned to return to New Zealand for the winter ski season at Coronet Peak and had taken a role as part of NZ Ski's medical team.

NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson said O'Leary was an experienced emergency doctor who was coming back for her second season with the mountain's medical rescue team.

"People are devastated," he said.

"Losing anyone in these circumstances is very tragic and she was a really talented and valuable member of the medical team.

"Our sympathies go to the family it's tragic."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the Herald it was helping O'Leary's family.

"We are aware of the death of a New Zealand citizen following a paragliding accident in France and are providing assistance to the family," a spokesman said.

When approached by the Herald, her family this week declined to comment.

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Bad weather to blame in NZ paraglider Charlotte O'Leary's death in France - New Zealand Herald

Soccer Football - 2018 World Cup Qualifying Playoffs - Peru v New Zealand - National Stadium, Lima, Peru - November 14, 2017. New Zealand player Winston Reid attends a press conference at National Stadium. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo

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June 10 (Reuters) - New Zealand are sweating on the fitness of Winston Reid ahead of next week's World Cup playoff against Costa Rica after the experienced defender missed Thursday's scoreless draw with Oman in a warm-up friendly.

Bill Tuiloma captained the team in Reid's absence as the All Whites took on the Omanis behind closed doors in Qatar, where they will meet Costa Rica next Tuesday with a spot at this year's World Cup finals on the line.

Reid was suffering from a groin issue, but coach Danny Hay said he was confident the 33-year-old former West Ham United centre back would be fit for the clash in Al Rayyan.

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"He's had more injuries probably than I've had warm dinners over the last couple of years, so he knows his body really well," Hay told reporters.

"The medical staff are confident as well. We'll just obviously wrap a little bit of cotton wool around him over the next couple of days and then start ramping it up towards matchday."

Hay made nine changes to the side that lost 1-0 to Peru in Barcelona last Sunday in their first warm-up for the intercontinental playoff.

Despite creating the majority of scoring chances at Doha's Education City Stadium, the New Zealanders were unable to find the net for the second successive match.

"It served its purpose. It was an opportunity to give players minutes and that's exactly what it did," Hay added.

"We come out of it injury-free which is the most important thing. We created a number of opportunities and probably should have been up two or three goals at half-time."

New Zealand have previously qualified twice for the World Cup finals, most recently in South Africa in 2010 when they went home unbeaten after drawing all three of their group matches.

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Reporting by Nick Mulvenneydit; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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New Zealand sweat on Reid fitness ahead of World Cup playoff - Reuters

Saturday, 11 June 2022, 5:43 amPress Release: Athletics New Zealand

A team of eight New Zealand athletes harvested three goldmedals, one silver and two bronze medals and posted twochampionship records and a national U20 record on amemorable day four of the Oceania Area Championships inMackay.

Leading the way was World U20Championship-bound middle-distance athlete James Harding,who earned a confidence boosting win to out-kick theopposition and snag the mens U20 1500m title in achampionship record time.

The New Zealand U20 milechampion and national U20 800m record-holder bided his timein a tactical race before unleashing a blistering burst ofspeed from the inside rail to claim gold in 3:59.73 finishing 0.07 clear of Aussie MitchelLangborne.

James, 18, who is hoping to complete themiddle-distance double tomorrow (Saturday) in the 800mtomorrow, said: I am pretty stoked, I didnt have thebest build up and Ive had a few shocking races but Imanaged to put it together today.

The first 100mwas 20 seconds, slower than I was expecting. I was upagainst some class Aussies, so to close out the last 300m in41 seconds and take out the championship record, Impleased with that.

I have some big plans fortomorrow running the 800m. Ive done both events (the 800mand 1500m) before at nationals so I feel like Im wellequipped to cope. Winning today is huge ahead of the worlds(U20s) in Colombia in five or six weeks time. A bigconfidence boost.

New Zealand secured a shot putdouble in the U20 age division as Liam Ngchok-Wulf andNatalia Rankin-Chi Tar earned top spot on thepodium.

The John Eden-coached pair enjoyed differingvictories with Liam elevating himself from fourth to goldwith a magical final put of 17.37m in the sixth round.Australia duo Jason Parmaxidis (17.26m) and Angus Alberts(17.25m) had to settle for silver and bronze. Kiwi Max Abbotplaced sixth with a best throw of 14.89m.

Liam said:I wanted to get one out in the first round and try andbuild but I couldnt get it until my last throw when Ijust had to go for it

It means a lot to me (to winthe Oceania title). Ive been working really hard for thisone. It will be my last U20 comp leading into the seniorsnext year.

By contrast Natalia Rankin-Chi Tar ledfrom the first round and was unsurpassed as she was crownedOceania champion with a dominant display.

The18-year-old Aucklander led from her first round throw of13.52m, extended her advantage out to 14.19m in round twobefore unleashing her best effort of 14.37m with her thirdattempt. As a measure of her dominance Australian silvermedallist Kaitlyn Coulter was almost a full metre down witha best of 13.40m.

A delighted Natalia, who has beenselected to compete for New Zealand in the World U20Championships in Cali, Colombia in August, said: It ispretty amazing, the atmosphere is cool and the girls that Icompeted against were really nice. I did see Liams lastthrow and it did motivate me. I think today has set me upreally well for World U20s, the distance wasnt great butIll take it.

With one mighty boom of her rightarm, Abbey Moody smashed through the 50m barrier for thefirst time to claim a breakthrough silver medal in thewomens U20 javelin.

The New Zealand U20 javelinchampion came into the competition with a PB of 46.90m but amonster 50.42m effort in round two rose her javelin statusto a whole new stratosphere.

Australian MackenzieMielczarek took gold with a championship record of54.64m.

Abbey, who originally hails from Picton but isbased in Canterbury, said: Honestly, coming in I did wantto PB. I hadnt been throwing well in the couple ofcompetitions previously but hearing that 50 meters felt likeeverything came together.

It was so exciting. Ijust felt like everyone was watching back home and I knowthe emotions they would be feeling. It is so exciting tothrow how I wanted.

Sionnan Murphy enjoyed a dreamcompetition by bettering her own womens U18/U19 and U20discus F37 record on three occasions, launching the 1kgimplement out to a best of 22.16m at the Oceania AreaChampionships in Mackay.

The 17-year-old Aucklander,who finished fourth overall in the Para womens discus,started the competition with a bang adding 20cm on to hernational record set at the Night of 5s meet in March with aneye-catching opener of 21.78m.

In round three, Sionnanfired the discus out to 22.14m to breach the 22m barrier forthe first time in her career before adding 2cm on to thismark with her sixth round effort.

Australian athletessnared the three medals in the competition led by SarahEdmiston F44 who hurled the discus out to 33.79 butnothing could contain the post-competition joy ofSionann.

I am really stoked with my overallperformance and it was a great way to end the competitionwith a 22.16m. It is a PB for me and a new national recordwhich is a bonus, I just hope I make New Zealandproud.

When asked about what contributed to herdream competition she adds: I prepared myself bettermentally and I was in a better headspace. I went into thecompetition determined not become frustrated and just havefun with a good positive attitude.

Tomorrow I havethe shot put and it feel like today has given me a lot moreconfidence.

Emma Ferguson claimed bronze in thewomens U20 1500m. The 17-year-old of Feilding MoaHarriers was a little way short of her absolute best but atime of 4:43.01 earned a bronze medal behind AustralianHayley Kitching who set a swift championship record of4:19.47.

New Zealand U20 100m silver medallist NadiaEvans added the Oceania U20 100m bronze medallist, stoppingthe clock in 12.17 (0.2)

The 17-year-old Aucklanderwas rewarded with precious metal in a high-class race won byAustralian Hayley Reynolds in a championship record of11.70.

headspace. I went into the competitiondetermined not become frustrated and just have fun with agood positive attitude.

Tomorrow I have the shotput and it feel like today has given me a lot moreconfidence.

Emma Ferguson claimed bronze in thewomens U20 1500m. The 17-year-old of Feilding MoaHarriers was a little way short of her absolute best but atime of 4:43.01 earned a bronze medal behind AustralianHayley Kitching who set a swift championship record of4:19.47.

New Zealand U20 100m silver medallist NadiaEvans added the Oceania U20 100m bronze medallist, stoppingthe clock in 12.17 (0.2)

The 17-year-old Aucklanderwas rewarded with precious metal in a high-class race won byAustralian Hayley Reynolds in a championship record of11.70.

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Forthe guide to when the Kiwis are competing on Saturday 10June go here

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New Zealand Toast Triple Gold In Mackay | Scoop News - Scoop

There isn't a way to ask this question without it coming across as slightly patronising but, on the evidence of at least two innings in this series and the body of work over the last couple of years, it's impossible not to ask: is Daryl Mitchell the most Kiwi player ever?

This isn't, rest assured, another paean to the plucky, lovable New Zealander underdog but, I mean, it's uncanny how many boxes Mitchell ticks. How, if you wrote up a pen profile of the Successful, Modern New Zealand Cricketer, if you didn't arrive at Daryl Mitchell, you'd have taken a very wrong turn somewhere.

There's the relatively late arrival onto the international scene at the age of 27, after 210 domestic games and eight seasons. All that time, away from the fierce and often debilitating glare of international cricket, developing quietly yet steadily, putting together a solid if unspectacular record before, boom, Daryl Mitchell is here, nice and ripe, more or less fully formed and winning international games.

Where on earth has he come from? How's he so good at this?

At various times in their modern history, every New Zealand cricketer has felt like they arrived with more than one skill. They did one thing really well and then they did everything else pretty well too. Mitchell bowls tidy medium-somethings, no doubt in preparation for that day somewhere down the line where he picks up a cheap Test five-fer, or defends 12 off the last over of a T20 where that might be the only over he's bowled in that tournament. It would be a very Kiwi thing to happen.

Mitchell gets low to reverse-sweep ... because it was the best optionGetty Images

Maximising. Squeezing the most out of himself. Except that this does sound patronising, that he is some limited athlete constantly straining to be more than the sum of his parts. He has bowled at the death in the Super Smash because he is obviously good at it, because he is an elite cricketer with skills to burn, who has grown up around an elite athletic environment.

He underplays himself nearly to the point of parody. If you thought you'd heard it all when it came to the modest, humble New Zealand cricketer, check this out, from an interview with the Daily Telegraph about his hundred at Lord's:

"I'll cherish that for the rest of my life," he said. "I've got a pic with my family that we'll frame. My place in the dressing room was just under the honours board with some of the greats of the game. I don't think I deserve to be there with them. But it's something I'll savour forever."

It goes without saying that he comes across as the kind of guy who'd be unruffled or unfazed in an earthquake. It also goes without saying that the two innings of note he's now played in this series have both come with New Zealand in different degrees of crisis: serious at Lord's, a milder one at Trent Bridge.

You know this script so well now it doesn't need pointing out that Mitchell would not even have played at Lord's if Henry Nicholls had been fit. Of course, he wouldn't. And yet here he is, their best batter so far. Because, Kiwi.

What has stood out, repeatedly since his debut but with growing clarity on this tour, is how uncomplicated he makes batting to be. Perhaps it is the contrast with this particular moment in the English game, with the overwrought and overthought handwringing about red-ball batting. Tied down as that is in details about techniques, like the guard batters are taking, or the mindset in playing spin, or to bigger-picture worries about the most opportune time to schedule the County Championship so that batters can learn to bat, or how the white-ball game is hacking away at red-ball batting.

Batting isn't easy, of course, and it can get very complicated. But it speaks to some essential difference in how cricket is run in both countries, even how cricket sits in those countries, that Mitchell was a makeshift T20 opener who won a semi-final against England's T20 specialists and has since scored runs against their Test specialists after playing in the IPL.

Sure, he had some luck at Trent Bridge. He should've been gone for three. But he played as if he didn't need luck in the first place, or that he was overly grateful having receiving it. He hit balls he felt he could to the boundary, he played out everything else. He has a decent record against spin so wasted no time in taking advantage when Jack Leach came on. He hit him over the top only because every time he did, it was the best option. He reverse-swept only because every time he did, it was the best option. When England went short, he didn't stop playing. He pulled and hooked whatever he could, even if he did get pinged late in the day, and he left what he couldn't reach.

Which says something about how this New Zealand side have become world Test champions. And which, in turn, leads us back to the question at the start. The problem is not that it is patronising as much as it shouldn't be phrased as a question in the first place. It should begin as the answer that, yes, Daryl Mitchell is completely representative of all that is the very best about New Zealand cricket and her cricketers.

Osman Samiuddin is a senior editor at ESPNcricinfo

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Underplayed to the point of parody, is Daryl Mitchell the uber-Kiwi? - ESPNcricinfo

New Zealand isn't the only country facing a shortage of nurses - can we compete when it comes to recruiting health staff from overseas?

Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi

When a teenage gunman shot dead 19 children and two adults at a school in Texas last month, Christchurch health workforcerecruiter Prudence Thomson was inundated with calls from the United States.

"It was pretty sad, I said to one of my recruiters, 'here we go, we're going to get some interest from the US'and sure enough we had some GPs, surgeons, nurses. It was just bing, bing, bing, 'hi I'm from the US'."

The recruitment process begins with a chat and sending through aCV.

"We ask what their motivation is to come to New Zealand. They say they want their kids to go to a school where they don't have active shooting drills and they don't have gun detectors on the door and I say, 'well, we would love to have you in New Zealand'."

Most of those initial approaches go nowhere, says Thomson, the founder of Accent Health Recruitment, one of a handful ofagencies in New Zealand specialising in hiring medical staff from offshore. She often gets a flurry of emails from countries where tragedies or disasters have happened.

"It's a kneejerk reaction."

Thomson's workload has soared as the workforce shortage grows and competition for internationally qualified nurses (IQNs) intensifies. New Zealand can't match other countries, likeAustralia, on salaries, but money isn't always the main drawcard, she says.

"I don't think I've had one nurse who's said they want to come here to earn a lot of money. They wouldgo to the Middle East."

But the process isn't helped by district health boards offering prospective employees different deals. For example, about half the nurses brought in from overseas don't have their flights paid for. Thomson hopesthiswill be streamlined under the new centralised health authority, Health NZ, so that all recruits are at least offered free flights and four weeks' accommodation.

Thomson is getting ready for a recruitment drive in Singapore where she will interview about 200 nurses, tell them about the culture of Aotearoa, and the relocation and registration process.

She explains what happens when the nurses arrive and the wraparound support they get, from welcome gifts of peanut slabsto help organising bank accounts.

The Detail also talks to Nurses Organisation president Anne Daniels about the urgent need for homegrown nurses, how to keep senior staff and offer potential recruits a wider range of opportunities to join the workforce.

Find out how to listen and subscribe toThe Detailhere.

You can also stay up-to-date by liking us onFacebookor following us onTwitter.

Photo: Newsroom/RNZ

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How hard is it to lure nurses to New Zealand? - RNZ

Not so long ago, most Kiwis could afford a house, writes a subscriber. Photo / George Novak

OPINIONAfter a terrifying encounter with a shirtless man yelling threats and obscenities at mothers with children in a Tauranga playground, Bay of Plenty Times columnist Sonya Bateson argued that addressing poverty can reduce crime and increase public safety.

Read the full column: Sonya Bateson: Anti-social behaviour in Tauranga has ramped up

Have your say by going to bayofplentytimes.co.nz and becoming a Premium subscriber.

It has been my experience that a major cause of anti-social behaviour is due to that person not having any faith in that society. That society has not given them a fair go so why should they behave by the norms of that society.

When I first arrived in NZ as a Pommie immigrant some 50 years ago, I was very impressed by the friendly, respectful behaviour of Kiwis. A very pleasant change from the major UK city I had come from.

If you research the stats on incomes you will notice that then, there was a very much smaller range in salaries from top to bottom. Houses were affordable for the majority of Kiwis.

This is not the same society it used to be. Very many simply cannot wait to get away, or to take what they believe should be accessible to them. Very sad to see the changes over the last 50 years, very few of which have been for the better.Alexander M

It happens all over the country, from Far North to deep South: steep rise in anti-social behavior, and crime. And all too often, no police in sight.

We seem to drift fast back into the Wild West, including guns blazing ... And nothing is being done, or even attempted, to counter the trend. Certainly not by the Government.Alexander G

Harsher penalties or treatment have little effect on crime rates. By far the most effective factor for reducing crime rates is the risk of detection, apprehension and risk (rather than severity) of law enforcement consequences.

Immediate consequences are more effective than delayed consequences.

In view of the many surveillance cameras that have cost us our privacy, it's difficult to understand why people are getting away with antisocial behaviour without being detected and apprehended.Hans L

More Police. More money thrown into the bottomless pit of welfare. More Freudian reflection. That's what this society is good for. And the results speak for themselves.Kevyn H

Where did that $1.9b for mental health go again?Kathryn M

If you Google it, you will find that the $1.9 billion was spread over 2019 to 2024 so it hasn't all been allocated yet.

There have been 234 new training positions made available this year for RNs to undertake specialist mental health training.

Part of the problem is the closing down of long-term mental health facilities since the 1960s, as they were found to be places of abuse rather than care, so we are left with community care that has never had sufficient funding or support to do the job properly.

There are some people who need to be in a safe and caring institutional setting but that is not how our mental health service operates now.Gina S

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Premium Debate: New Zealand has changed, and not for the better - Bay of Plenty Times

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The property in Aucklands Grey Lynn is not much bigger than your average car park.

Everything about this property is tiny, apart from the price it's expected to fetch.

Measuring just 33 square metres, a small packet of land in one of Aucklands most sought-after suburbs is likely to fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Nestled next to Grey Lynns shops and cafes, and a stones throw from one of the citys nightlife hotspots in Ponsonby, the land features a small heritage-protected, brick pump house so any building work needs to keep the protected structure intact.

READ MORE:* Faster, cheaper prefab house building scheme moves a step closer * The best city suburbs to be a renter

Owner Cameron Woodcock bought the property in 2017 for $268,000 with the dream of having a pocket-sized house and shop in the heart of Grey Lynn.

Since then he has spent a considerable sum getting architectural plans drawn up and consents for a three-storey development.

Supplied

A 33sqm property in Grey Lynn is up for sale.

Its basically ready to go with all the work weve already put into it, Woodcock said.

But now were moving down to Whanganui, and we just dont have time to devote to this.

So its on the market for a deadline sale, with all offers to be in by July 12.

STUFF

It may be a quiet housing market, but around 50 bids were received for this abandoned, rundown house in a prime parkside position in Remuera. It sold for $1.07 million.

Quite how much it will fetch is debatable. No valuers Stuff spoke to were able to put a price on it, as there are no similar properties to compare it with.

In June last year, Auckland Council assigned it a rateable value of $185,000, even though it had sold for $80,000 more four years earlier.

Theres also a lot of work to go into any future development, with no water or power connections.

Despite that, its expected to fetch hundreds of thousands, given the price it sold for five years ago as the market exploded and now comes with consents for development.

Supplied

Renderings of the proposed apartments for the small site on Tuarangi Rd, Grey Lynn.

Plans for the building show a three-storey apartment encapsulating the existing brick shed in a glass foyer.

Valuer Richard Vaughan said it was a chance for someone to get creative, or just go off the existing plans.

[Plans] can add value to a buyer who might not know what to do with a property like this, he said.

Its also a pretty affluent area, so someone might just want a convenient space to park their car.

Ray Whites Josh Powell, one of the real estate agents managing the sale, said it was a place for those looking for something quirky.

It will click with somebody, he said.

Its more for a dreamer and a creative soul who wants to do something not the norm.

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Is this Auckland property New Zealand's most valuable nugget of land? - Stuff

Tornadoes, heavy rain and snow are forecast to hit parts of New Zealand over the weekend.

MetService has issued 37 weather warnings for the country this weekend.

South Island can expect tornadoes on the coastal areas, heavy rains and snow, hail and strong wind gusts.

Some of the thunderstorms may be severe about Buller, Westland, and the Southern Alps bringing gusts greater than 110 km/h.

NWA warns that thunderstorms are moving from the west of the South Island to the lower North Island.

Wellington looks fine on Saturday, but on Sunday MetService issued warnings for thunderstorms, wind gusts and severe gales.

The wind gusts could damage trees, powerlines and cause driving hazards.

Aucklanders woke up to a fine day on Saturday, but rain should be back by the evening in the region as well.

In the South Island, the first heavy snow warning issued in the year meant the opening of the ski season in Cardrona.

Snow warnings are only issued when significant amounts of snow are expected to fall with at least 25 centimeters.

Up to 1.5 metres of snow are expected for the tops of the Southern Alps with the plateau showing heavier snow, according Weather Watch.

Hamilton and western Waikato expect downpours, squalls and thunderstorms coming off the Tasman sea, according Weather Watch.

Squalls, hail and thunderstorms are expected to hit mostly central areas (upper half of the South Island, lower half of the North Island).

The perfect combination to create them comes from a deep low/storm in the Southern Ocean which is dredging up Antarctic air - but before it reaches NZ it's curving around as a nor'wester and merging with milder airflows.

The weather is set to be on repeat until Tuesday, when a milder and calmer westerly flow from Australia covers most of New Zealand.

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Heavy rain, snow, tornados to hit parts of New Zealand over the weekend - Newshub