Photo: RNZ
Welcome back to RNZ's new weekly round up of Good News, where we'll be sharing some of the most uplifting recent stories featured on our website by RNZ reporters and partners.
Here's what caught our eye this week:
Helen Clark the cat and his Coromandel humans
Helen Clark is tired from a busy day exploring his town Coromandel. Photo: Supplied
A ginger rescue cat, originally found on the side of the road in Australia, named Helen Clark is delighting his Coromandel community on the daily.
Locals and residents alike can find Helen snoozing in the GPs office, on chairs and under tables in the Weta Cafe, curled up in prams, mobility scooters and around pot plants. He plays a massive role in the community and is known as Mayor Helen. There's a Facebook page dedicated to him called 'Where's Helen Clark?'
Wellington Pasifika Festival a huge success
Tane Tuvalu celebrate their culture at the Wellington Pasifika Festival 2024. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Tiana Haxton
Representatives from Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia showcased their crafts, cuisine, and captivating performances to a crowd of more than 15,000 people.
With sights, sounds, and flavours evoking the essence of the Pacific, the festival holds significant importance in preserving cultural ties to participant's homelands.
A new generation of first-time performers took to the stage as well, sharing their Pacific cultures with the wider Wellington community.
Kahukura red admiral butterfly named NZ's Bug of the Year
Kahukura and ongaonga. Photo: Greer Sanger
Twenty bugs were vying to be New Zealand's favourite, with 11 of the 20 nominees listed as at-risk, endangered or declining.
The competition - run by the Entomological Society of New Zealand - was created to give bugs the same kind of publicity seen in the popular Bird of the Year race and they achieved their goal with more than 17,000 people voting for their favourite insect.
Tiny school's win in fight to protect students from 'appalling behaviour'
Rotorua Seventh-Day Adventist School principal Lanea Strickland. Photo: LDR/Andrew Warner
Rotorua's 'smallest school' has won a battle to prevent a nearby motel, previously used for emergency housing, being built higher in Rotorua Lakes Council's Plan Change 9.
Seventh-Day Adventist school had found human poo, drug paraphernalia and sanitary pads on its grounds. They shared their concerns for the privacy of vulnerable children with the Council.
Principal Lanea Strickland said the changes made for a positive future and the school is now flourishing.
Expedition set afloat in unexplored areas off South Island
The Ocean Census - Bounty Trough team Photo: Supplied / Niwa
A team of Kiwi scientists will spend 21 days investigating the Bounty Trough system, at depths down to 5000 metres.
The trip is led by the Ocean census alliance, an international group that aims to discover 100,000 new species across the global ocean in the next decade. Bounty Trough is one of the world's least explored deep ocean ecosystems. Although it's estimated that between 1-2 million species inhabit our ocean, a staggering 75-90 percent remain undiscovered, making this mission crucial for marine biodiversity understanding.
Gisborne honours those who went above and beyond during Cyclone Gabrielle
Hans van Kregten (left) and Meredith Stewart with Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz accepting on behalf of the Tairāwhiti Multicultural Council. Photo: RNZ / Kate Green
More than 50 Gisborne residents, groups and businesses who went above and beyond during the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle a year ago have been honoured in a ceremony.
Among them, a pilot who turned her small plane into a school bus, a woman who held classes in her carport for the children of Te Karaka for seven weeks, and countless community-minded neighbours who shovelled silt and housed the displaced.
