Good News: Stories that cheered us up for the week 21-27 October

A Kiwi juggler, an empowering marathon and a new cookbook about traditional Māori gathering and feasting are among this week's feel-good stories.

Kiwi juggler enjoys illustrious career

Mike Twist was around seven years old when he realised he could juggle. A basic three ball cascade felt as easy as breathing, so by his 20s he decided to make a career from it.

He's worked as a resident juggler at Rainbow's End, in nightclubs and on TV shows, including Xena: Warrior Princess, lived and juggled in Japan, and he's performed with the world famous Cirque du Soleil in the Dominican Republic.

At 54-years-old, Twist is believed to be New Zealand's oldest performing professional juggler - and he's showing no signs of slowing down - he's now based in Saigon's Cabana Club.

Unofficial Wellington hospo awards to 'change the narrative'

After the industry's annual Felix Wellington Hospitality Awards were pushed back a year, a group of Wellington restaurateur's have decided to throw their own celebration.

Dominique Fourie-McMillan says the new 'Welly Hospitality Awards' would give the sector what it deserved - acknowledgement of all the good things, "despite the doom and gloom".

"We want to change the narrative, focus on what's happening that's really amazing, instead of what's happening that's ... sad and scary."

Marathon empowers women refugees to take back charge

An Auckland marathon is empowering Afghani women who came to New Zealand after the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

It continues the legacy of the original history-making marathon in 2015.

That event was labelled "The Secret Marathon" because the details had to remain hidden until the last moment to prevent female participants being targeted says organiser Gul Hussain Baizada.

"When … we saw lots of girls coming out and they start running, this was a big shock for us as organisers, so then it encouraged us more and more to do [activities] for women."

Northland business has high hopes for Korean plant hwangchil

A new crop of plants never seen before in New Zealand are beginning to grow in former dairy paddocks near Kerikeri.

The hwangchill orchard - a Korean medicinal shrub - planted by Kerikeri resident Ilchi Lee is his first attempt at creating a new industry in Northland.

After Food Safety approval, he plans is to use the hwangchil in a range of food products.

He also plans to keep expanding the area planted in hwangchil, and create a "healing eco park" on the 119ha former dairy farm, encouraging more tourism in the area.

Christall Lowe celebrates Māori hospitality in new cookbook Kai Feast

Fielding food writer and photographer Christall Lowe is back with new cookbook; Kai Feast.

It's dedicated to her grandparents Don and Polly - "the epitome of manaakitanga" - for whom preparing kai was a love language.

"They would just watch on in adoration as we enjoyed it and they would try to give us more food until we couldn't eat anymore. It was their joy to feed and to awhi [care for] others," she says.

Kai Feast is full of recipes interwoven with stories of traditional Māori gathering and feasting, tips on cooking for crowd, and notes on foraging.

Disney to release Moana 2 and reo Māori adaptation on same day

For the first time, a reo Māori adaptation of a Disney film will be released at the same time as its English counterpart.

This means for some tamariki, they will only know the film in reo Māori, which is exciting for singer and Moana voice-over actress Jaedyn Randell.

"It's like quite heart-warming ... and I'm really grateful to be part of this kaupapa," she says.

Moana 2 and Moana 2 Reo Māori will be released in cinemas on 28 November.

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