Afternoons

1:15 Hanukkah 101 

At this time of year, it's easy to forget that not everyone in New Zealand celebrates Christmas.

Hundreds of thousands of New Zealander don't observe the religious holiday. 

This year, December the 25th holds special significance for the Jewish community - it's the first day of Hanukkah.

Joining me now is Abby Bachhalter. Abby is part of the lay leadership team at Temple Sinai - the Progressive Jewish Congregation in Wellington.

1:25 Planes, planes and planes

The 77th model flying national champs at the end of this month. Jesse talks to Kevin Botherway, the president of Model Flying New Zealand about the competition and what people can expect from this display of tiny aeronautics. 

1:35 3 million creepy crawlies

Here in Aotearoa, and on Afternoons in fact, we love our critters.

And that passion for insects, bugs and plants is backed up by the fact that we've logged nearly three million observations on the citizen science platform iNaturalist..

The website, which has been running in New Zealand since 2012, brings together curious members of the public with expert identifiers to track populations of thousands of species. This has led to new sightings of native species, and important discoveries of invasive species.

Jon Sullivan is an ecologist based at Lincoln University and is one of the founders of iNaturalist.

1:45 Freaky Friday

Stories from New Zealanders and their experiences of the supernatural.

2:10 Film Review: Anora and Better Man.

Dominic Corry is in for the last film review of the year.  He reviews Cannes winner Anora and Robbie Williams biopic-with-CGI-monkey Better Man.

2:20 NZ Live: Racing

To close out 2024 Jesse is joined by Racing. 

They are a four-piece based in Tamaki Makaurau, and they're currently building up to the release of their third studio album. 

They've just wrapped up an eight-stop tour around the country, which came fresh off their win of the Tūī for Best Rock Artist at this year's Aotearoa Music Awards. 

3:08 Food: Racks of Lamb with Parsley Shallot Crumble

Julie Biuso brings us a scrumptious and beyond belief celebratory meal. The buttery crust flakes off as you slice the lamb – make sure you spoon it on top of the sliced lamb before serving. Get the recipe here.

3:16 Music 101: Charlotte Ryan

Charlotte Ryan, host of Music 101 here on RNZ each Saturday afternoon from 1pm talks about what's happening on the music scene over the weekend, what's coming up on her show tomorrow and because Friday is new music day - she'll pick us a track to play.

3:35 Critter of the Week: Brown tree frog / whistling tree frog

This week on critter Ellen Rykers is talking about an Australian frog that made itself at home in Aotearoa in the nineteenth century. In 1975, Mr W. Perkins caught some brown tree frogs (also known as whistling tree frogs) in Tasmania and released them down a drain in Māwhera Greymouth. They now live throughout the country, and you can hear them croaking at night anywhere from roadside ditches and dunelands to alpine tarns.

3:45 The pre-Panel

Wallace Chapman and producer Tom Riste-Smith join Jesse to preview tonight's instalment of The Panel