Archives – Page 2 – Great Barrier Island News

Culture - Aotea Green

Bush Tracks: Victoria – The Exponents (1982)

By the time Victoria hit radios in 1982, New Zealand had changed. The Springbok Tour protests had torn through the streets. The land marches had shaken Parliament. Muldoon’s grip was tightening, the economy was buckling, and the old British affectations…

Comvita founder credits Barrier’s Les Blackwell for putting him on path to honey empire

The founder of $250 million New Zealand honey giant Comvita has credited Great Barrier Island’s Les Blackwell as the starting point of his journey into beekeeping and natural health – a path that would eventually lead to one of the…

Community News

Search Widens for Missing Barrier Sailor

Barrier Yacht/ Skipper Disappearance Enters Third Month.

Venus and Starlink Satellites. Photo / Mike Lewinski / Creative Commons

Sun’s Fury Sends Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellites Plummeting to Earth, NASA Warns

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are dropping out of the sky faster than expected — and it’s the sun’s fault. According to NASA scientists, powerful solar storms are heating Earth’s upper atmosphere and creating extra drag on satellites in low orbit.…

Huntly Gets $150m Battery Upgrade – But Coal Isn’t Going Anywhere

Genesis Energy has announced a $150 million investment in grid-scale battery storage at its Huntly Power Station — a move that confirms the coal- and gas-fired plant will remain in operation for the foreseeable future. “Most people said to me…

EV Uptick in NZ, But Sales Still Well Below Peak

There was a flicker of life in New Zealand’s electric vehicle market last month — but it’s a long way from the glory days of the Clean Car Discount boom. Fully electric vehicles made up 5.5% of new vehicle sales…

Locals guide stranded whale back to sea off Aotea’s south coast in a powerful moment of community and care.

Community News

Locals Usher Stranded Whale Back to Sea

Locals Rally to Guide Whale Back to Sea A dramatic rescue unfolded off the island’s southern coast earlier this month when a whale became stranded in shallow waters. Locals including Barney Scott formed a human chain to guide the whale…

The AT520-AI is a solar-powered, fully automated trap that uses artificial intelligence, camera sensors, and mesh networking to identify and kill pest species with zero by-catch.

Tech - Aotea Green

This Kiwi-built AI trap identifies, targets and kills pests — with a photo to prove it

A New Zealand-designed pest trap powered by artificial intelligence, solar energy, and long-range wireless networking is being hailed as a breakthrough in pest control technology — one that could render mass poison drops obsolete. The AT520-AI combines an automatic resetting…

Nurdles scattered along a shoreline. These plastic pellets are often found embedded in seaweed or sand. Photo / hockadilly / Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Plastic Pellets Wash Into Hauraki Gulf

Hundreds of thousands of plastic pellets — known as nurdles — have washed up on beaches across the Hauraki Gulf, including Oneroa Beach on Waiheke Island and the northern shore of Motuihe. The pellets are used in the manufacture of…

Tech - Aotea Green

New Battery Tech Could Store Power and Remove Carbon

Photo / Sweetie Khatun By Daniel Commandeur, University of Surrey; Mahsa Masoudi, University of Surrey, and Siddharth Gadkari, University of Surrey