Afternoons for Wednesday 6 September 2023

CRITTER T-SHIRTS ARE BACK

To celebrate all things Aotearoa native fauna and flora we have a new Critter of the Week t-shirt back for 2023.

The super talented Giselle Clarkson has designed a new image for the shirts and tote bags.

There is a cut off date for pre-orders so they arrive in time for Christmas deliveries to friends and loved ones.

Follow this link and place your order. Five dollars for each t-shirt and tote bag sold goes back to environmental volunteer groups around Aotearoa which are working hard to keep our unique critters safe from extinction.

Order your COTW 2023 t-shirts and or totes by clicking here.

1:15 VSA celebrates 60 years of services around the world

Volunteer Service Abroad, or as they're better known VSA, has been supporting the international development for 60 years.

Over that time they've developed partnerships across the Pacific, Timor-Leste and Cambodia and completed a laundry list of impactful volunteer assignments.

Some of their ongoing projects include working to improve dental services in Vanuatu and bringing digital skills and robotics to students in the Cook Islands.

To mark the occasion we speak to Grace Clark, who is currently at work in Samoa.

1:25 Plants for a new world, an ongoing project.

Dr Falk Kalamorz, is leading a programme an intriguing Plant & Food Research project called New Plants for a New World.

The idea is to test out whether grafting technologies will allow any imaginable combination of fruit and plant to successfully grow.

That means  one day we could see cherries, apples apricots and bananas all growing on the very same plant at the very same time.

Dr Kalamorz talks to Susie about what they're doing and why.

1:35 Air Force Lockheed Orion on the road to its next home

Last month Afternoons checked in with Brett Marshall about an historical aircraft making its way to its new home at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand.

The Lockheed P-3K2 Orion was retired after 54 years and would become the largest aircraft in the museum's collection.

There was a huge amount  of feedback from our listeners so we're following it up this week as it literally hits the road!  

David King, communications manager for the museum talks to Susie about the logistical challenge of moving a plane on the ground!

1:45 Musician reunited with rare guitar TWO years after it was stolen

Over the past two years Andrew Wilson has experienced love, loss, and rediscovery, and not in the way you might be thinking.

Andrew is the guitarist for Auckland band Die! Die! Die! and in 2021 he received a one-of-a-kind instrument crafted by a renowned French guitar maker.

However, their love affair was cut short after the guitar was stolen just three weeks later.

This week though, things turned around. Andrew shares his story with Susie.

2.12 Podcast Critic: Jemima Huston

Today Jemima talks to Susie about Hoaxed, a podcast that looks into claims of a satanic cult operating in the UK following shocking claims from two school children in 2014. She's also been listening to The Big Flop which is a fun tale of failed ventures.

2:25 Bookmarks with Dr Kerryn Palmer

For Bookmarks this week we talk Dr Kerryn Palmer.

She's not a medical doctor but rather has a PhD in devising theatre for and with young people.

Dr Palmer's also a freelance director, producer and teacher of drama.

She shares for us what she likes to read, watch and listen to when she's not helping to create the entertainment!

3:10 Karen Pinchin on how Amelia the bluefin tuna is helping to save her species

Her name is Amelia. She's  a bluefin who completely changed our understanding of  these magnificent  and valuable fish.  Like the famous aviator she's named for, Amelia crossed the Atlantic when no one thought it possible.  She was first tagged off the North East Coast of the US  in 2004, then 14 years later, she showed up in the seas near Portugal,  slaying the belief that tuna stay near the coasts where they're born. Journalist Karen Pinchin  looks at the science and politics of ocean-travelling tuna  and the humans trying to save the species from extinction in her new book,  Kings of Their Own Ocean: Tuna, Obsession, and The Future of Our Seas.

3:35 Stories from Our Changing World

Coming up on Our Changing World - the battle of the birds.

Representatives from Ireland and New Zealand nominate bird champions to go head-to-head. But which nation will be crowned the ultimate winner?

3:45 The Panel with Nalini Baruch and