Summer Times for Thursday 5 January 2023

09.08 Coromandel bears brunt of wild weather

It's been a wet and stormy night in many parts of the Upper North Island. Coromandel seems to have borne the brunt of the wild weather - power is out to several hundred homes, and heavy rain has brought down slips and flooded roads. Residents and holidaymakers are being advised to stay put. Coromandel Civil Defence Controller Garry Towler joins us for an update.

09.20 Whopping sea temps as severe marine heatwave hits 

A severe marine heatwave is due to peak today with sea surface temperatures around the bottom of the South Island and Stewart Island expected to be a whopping four degrees or more above average. The abnormally high temperatures can have a devastating effect on sea life. MetService oceanographer Dr Joao de Souza is tracking marine heatwaves as part of the Moana Project and joins Anna with the latest update on marine heatwave conditions.

09.35 Beware of cyber crime

Cyber crime is an increasing threat in New Zealand and with summer sales still underway the public is being urged to take extra care. Last year CERT NZ  reported a jump in cyber fraud in the three months to the end of September with almost nine million dollars drained from the accounts of unsuspecting victims. Matthew Evetts is the director of security at Datacom. How do we best protect ourselves from cyber criminals? 

09.40 Central Otago's soapbox stargazer

Professor Brian Boyle is a retired astrophysicist and Nobel Prize winner, who's passion for astronomy has led him to build his own private observatory in his backyard. But when he's not stargazing at home he can often be found on the streets of Queenstown giving impromptu public lectures on the stars and the importance of preserving Aotearoa's dark skies. He talks to Anna about our summer night sky.

10.10 Life's a bus 

After being trapped for hours on the 22nd floor of a hotel following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, Andy Cleverley decided life had to change. Chucking in his corporate life, he bought an old school bus, converted it into an off-grid motorhome and set off travelling the country with his young family. Documenting everything along the way he created Bus Life NZ - followed by over 46,000 people and viewed by millions.  Now he's done it all again with a second bus and a second YouTube season.

10.30 Walking to the moon and back

Last year a group of New Zealanders collectively walked to the moon and back over three times.  .
'Walk 12-hundred kilometres' is the country's largest and fastest growing walking network and challenges people to walk 1200 kilometres in a year. Challenge founder and Wilderness magazine editor Alistair Hall tells Anna all about it.

10.45 Museum stop: Coromandel School of Mines and Historical Museum

Today we're stopping in the small town of Coromandel and the local museumhoused in the historic School of Mines building. The museum traces the history of gold mining and kauri logging and their impact on the region. Jenny James joins Anna to talk about the museum's attractions and treasures.

11.08 On the road with paediatrician Dr Jin Russell

Today we are on a summer roadtrip with Auckland paediatrician Dr Jin Russell. Through her research and work at Starship Hospital, Dr Russell has an intimate working knowledge of the health system and is a regular commentator on the Covid pandemic, child poverty and health inequality.

11.35 Designer hideaways

Author Catherine Foster takes a look at 20 of Aotearoa's most unique and thoughtfully designed holiday homes in her new book Small Holiday Houses. It features homes in a variety of locations across the country from coast to bush to mountain tops, talking about design challenges and featuring beautiful images from top photographers.

11:45 60th National Surfing Champs start this weekend

Since 1963 the National Surfing Championships have been held around New Zealand in spots like Mount Maunganui, Gisborne, Dunedin and Taranaki and on Sunday it will start at Piha west of Auckland  The categories include juniors, open men's and women's, all the way through to the over-60s. Ben Kennings is the Chief Executive of Surfing New Zealand and says this year they've had more than 400 entries.

Urban Jumble Daily Quiz 

We've come up with a daily quiz to test both your word and geographical skill. Every day we're giving you three words. Within each word are letters which spell out a New Zealand town or city. Each letter can only be used once. While some words may have more than one answer, the correct answer must be the town or city we're thinking of. So have a pen and paper and a map at hand and have a go. 

Words and solutions for January 5

Ornament - Marton

Nosedived - Seddon

Bystander - Naseby