It's the flags you see first. WOMAD, held annually at Taranaki's beautiful Brooklands Park, is littered with them.

In the high-stakes game of oil exploration New Zealand is frontier country.

Here's more to add to your gig diary - though you'd be in a fairly unique demographic if you were after tickets to all of this lot.

Chris Liddell writes on the future of philanthropy and how we can get involved.

Paige Hareb, New Zealand's top woman pro-surfer has joined forces with Subaru of New Zealand in a car deal.

World music worked hard for its place in the sun, says pioneer Simon Emerson. By Paula Yeoman.

One person has been arrested and four remain on a ship which Greenpeace boarded to prevent it from being unloaded in New Plymouth.

Alison Shanks has stood on the dais to receive world championship and Commonwealth Games gold medals. But she remembers just as vividly standing at the helm of the Spirit of New Zealand.

X marks the spot for eager youngsters in our treasure trove of fossil shellfish and dinosaur bones, writes Alex Tully.

An 8-year-old girl lost her mother and was seriously injured when a freight train hit the family's ute, flinging it 20 metres.

When rhododendron and world music festivals are the main drawcards to Taranaki, you could be forgiven for thinking the region has traded its wild west coast image for an altogether more hippy vibe.