Summer Weekends Podcast Options

9:30 AM.Author and art historian Lucinda Hawksley didn't know that her great great great grandfather was extremely famous until she was at school. She thought Charles Dickens was just someone she was related… Read more Audio

9:09 AM.Which plants make happy bedfellows and which don't? Cook and gardener Annabel Langbein talks about good combinations of plants - like tomatoes and basil, beans and corn, and beans and potatoes, and… Read more Audio

8:50 AM.Hastings resident Andrew Austin is the editor of local newspaper the Hawkes Bay Today. Water contamination has and continues to steal the headlines there. Read more Audio

8:44 AM.The Weekend heads 45 minutes into the future and about 8 hundred kilometres east now. To the most easterly part of New Zealand in fact... to the Chatham Islands, where a hoped-for runway extension… Read more Audio

8:12 AM.Over the next 18 months Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft will oversee the latest shake up for the ministry responsible for the wellbeing of children and more broadly families.

The… Read more Audio

11:45 AM.Summer is a great time to be heading to outdoor concerts and taking some sun and sounds. The Reuben Bradley Sextet is a jazz group that is taking their show on the road with shows in the Nelson… Read more Audio

11:33 AM.It's almost daunting - so far there are almost 5 million pages of New Zealand historical documents to be explored, online and for free, on the National Library's Papers Past website.

There are… Read more Audio

11:20 AM.Musician James Pinker is on The Weekend to note a band he hasn't been in for thirty plus years. He was the drummer for seminal Auckland post-punk band The Features, who have had their music collected… Read more Audio

11:06 AM.Last year, shortly after visiting New Zealand, Taiwanese political activist and civic hacker Audrey Tang was appointed as a Cabinet Minister with special responsibility for solving communication… Read more Audio

10:45 AM.One of the most notable fashion movements to come out of Japan is an uber feminine take on 19th century clothing called the Lolita style. The main version of Lolita is often very light colours like… Read more Audio, Gallery

10:33 AM.In the UK, Jay Blades has established himself as a go to upcycler of classic British furniture - brands like Echol are a particular favourite. Sturdy, unfussy and out of fashion - until Jay gets his… Read more Audio

10:10 AM.For a young person making the decision to dedicate themselves to a high performance sport it's an exciting and hugely challenging time. Young athletes may be putting everything else on hold. A big ask… Read more Audio, Gallery

9:35 AM.Shaun D Wilson plays Joint Jukebox with a pair of friends willing to spin the tunes that define their relationship - for good or for bad. The pop pickers on this occasion are Melbourne… Read more Audio

9:25 AM.The Banded Dotterels who've made their home in Kaikoura have had a rough time of it in the last few years, despite having some dedicated guardian angels trying to save them. The little shore bird with… Read more Audio, Gallery

9:07 AM.For 20 years editor and journalist Barbara Fountain has raised important health issues and got our doctors talking to each other through the publication New Zealand Doctor. That dedication to… Read more Audio

8:50 AM.For the second in The Weekend's series of regional spotlights around New Zealand we're heading south to Fiordland. Te Anau in fact, where we can speak to Advocate South editor Kirsty Macnicol. Read more Audio

8:30 AM.Smoking now gets more expensive with a 10% increased in the tax on tobacco There'll be 10% rises  on January the first, each year until 2020. It's estimated 15% of adult New Zealanders smoke daily… Read more Audio, Gallery

8:15 AM.In the second in the series of Commissioner interviews The Weekend is looking at how drones, oversharing on Facebook, robots, our internet surfing habits...past crimes even impact on our privacy.

The… Read more Audio

11:45 AM.Luke Bird is used to singing national anthems in massive stadia across the world. Now down the line from The Weekend's little Auckland booth he's talking about his life, his favourite and least… Read more Audio

11:38 AM.Leftovers are part and parcel of this time of year, the big Christmas dinner and New Year party food. The amount of food we waste as a nation, let alone the planet, is mind-boggling. We can start by… Read more Audio

11:06 AM.Shaun D Wilson travels around Japan, from Tokyo to Sapporo in the north and back again - all via rail. In Tokyo, after struggling to find his hostel, Shaun visits Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, a… Read more Audio, Gallery

10:43 AM.There'll be slipping, slopping and slapping on hats around the country at the moment, that's a safety slogan that's lasted over decades. But these days we know even this isn't it enough to protect us… Read more Audio

10:26 AM.Children with wistful eyes and empty pockets used to hang around a kayak rental boatshed in Eastbourne in Wellington. Now, thanks to a new project called Everyone's Adventure, there's a very good… Read more Audio