Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
country punched well above its weight at the 2012 London Olympics. Claiming six gold
medals, Team NZ gave traditional rival and sporting giant Australia a run for its money
as it only managed to win one more. Other Kiwi sporting stars making their mark around
the globe include young golfing sensation Lydia Koh, NBA rookie Steve Adams,
IndyCar speedster Scott Dixon, and Valerie Adams: the greatest female shot-putter the
world has ever seen.
While Sir Peter Jackson holds his position as a heavyweight in cinema with his block-
busting adaptations of
The Hobbit,
another major player has thrown his hat into the ring.
Canadian director James Cameron has set up a rural home base near Wellington, and will
create the
Avatar
sequels in the capital, bringing substantial investment and cementing
NZ's reputation as a world-class film-making destination.
Pop pundits are also taking note of new Kiwi stars, with Grammy Award-winning
Lorde (she of
Pure Heroine
, one of
Rolling Stone
's albums of 2013) and Kimbra (of
Goyte's 2012 smash-hit
Somebody That I Used to Know
) making huge impressions.
Pages are also being turned on the international literary scene, as evidenced by Cantabri-
an Eleanor Catton. Her voluminous historical novel
The Luminaries
claimed one of the
world's most coveted publishing accolades, the Man Booker Prize, in 2013, only the
second New Zealander to do so.
