Holiday Breakfast

New Zealand are tentatively the number one test cricket nation in the world for the first time.
The Black Caps have beaten Pakistan by 101 runs in the first test at Mt Maunganui.
Their test championship final hopes also remain alive.
The spectacle finished as all test matches should in an ideal world – fielders encroached around the bat in the final session on the final day desperately willing on the last wicket with 4.4 overs left.
Then Mitchell Santner leapt to take a one-handed caught-and-bowled to remove Naseem Shah to seal the win.
Pakistan, particularly through the gritty 165-run fifth-wicket stand between century-maker Fawad Alam and first-time captain Mohammad Rizwan with 60, had hung in the contest.
Eventually the Black Caps’ tenacity prevailed after setting an appropriate target as bait.
New Zealand’s unbeaten home record now extends to 16.

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Newstalk ZB is back with another edition of Hidden Spots on Summer Breakfast.
This is where we take you on a bit of a virtual road trip around the country - and give you tips on attractions you may not know about.
On State Highway 2, about 50 kilometres south of Gisborne, you will find the Morere Hot Springs.
Manager Lesley Rain Walker joins Tim Dower to talk about the attraction, and why you should visit next time your in the area!
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Much of the world is unravelling when Dame Anne Salmond picks up the phone at her eco-sanctuary outside Gisborne.
Covid-19 is ravaging dozens of countries, including many of the world's wealthiest. Some are in their third wave of mass death and chaos this year.
But the anthropologist, historian and TV host is upbeat as 2021 approaches.
Along with Professor Emeritus Sir Mason Durie, Salmond has been made a member of the Order of New Zealand, the highest tier in the country's royal honours system, where she'll join Richie McCaw, former prime ministers and Murray Halberg.
Sure, she's happy about a major New Year honour, but New Zealand's response to the pandemic has her in good spirits.
Aotearoa is one of few places where crowds can safely cheer fireworks or laser shows, and where the day after, the bleary-eyed can dance and sing together at festivals.
Salmond says the country should consider how it might share its lessons with the rest of the world.
She says our ability to temper a grab-it-all neoliberal philosophy is one reason New Zealand did well this year, whether assessing the epidemic or the economy.
"Since the 80s, we have had an economic cult of the individual. In New Zealand we went very strongly with that philosophy for a time and you see the effects of it in our current rates of inequality. But at the same time, we've always had this really strong value of the fair-go."
Salmond also credits the Māori concept of aroha.
"Aroha's a lovely concept because it's really about fellow-feeling, care for others. I think it's about looking after other people but also looking after other living systems and lifeforms."
She says that worldview benefits people not just during pandemics, but could help us tackle the ecological crisis the world and its 7.8 billion humans now confront.
For years, the University of Auckland Distinguished Professor of Maori Studies and Anthropology has earned accolades for her work on intercultural understanding.
She seems genuinely interested in how to make the country better, and in how learning te reo Māori can help us better understand the past, present and future.
Salmond says enthusiasm for learning te reo now is significant. It was a different story in the 1960s.
"When I was young and very fascinated by te reo and started to learn it ... it wasn't all that common for Pākehā to be interested in te reo or tikanga Māori or those things.
"In fact, it was regarded as pretty eccentric and not always a good thing."
Some bigots, she says, brashly disregard te reo despite knowing so little about it.
But Pākehā culture is not static, and views of our indigenous language have improved.
As Salmond and her neighbours in Tairāwhiti prepare for 2021's first rays of sun, she's hopeful New Zealand can learn from this wild, brutal year and build a better future.
"In so many ways when I think about the future, I am really optimistic about what we can do here in Aotearoa."

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Songwriter Dave Dobbyn reckons he's at a loss for words. It's not glamour at Rhythm and Vines or the frantic rockstar lifestyle that has him stumped.
He's just arrived from a motel by van, he's sober and, barely an hour before he's due to play, he chats on the phone from a house near the Gisborne festival stage.
It's the impending knighthood that has him in something of a pickle. Will his arm be sliced off in an archaic royal ceremony? Is he to be presented with a knightly warhorse to replace the van?
"I don't know what to say. It's all new territory. I'm not quite sure because I can't quite believe what I'm reading. So I have to have my wife interpret it."
Along with politician David Carter, broadcaster Ian Taylor and professor of reo and tikanga William Te Rangiua Temara, Dobbyn is to be a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
That's a long-winded way of saying you can now call him Sir Dave.
Dobbyn says his children responded to the news with hilarity and looks of disbelief.
"Then I started bossing them around — but it didn't work."
Dobbyn sounds like an old friend you bumped into after some years, or your favourite uncle, the one you only see once every few Christmases but who instantly disarms you with funny anecdotes.
He says tonight he'll be removed from the stage before 8pm like some "old bugger" the organisers don't want hanging around.
"They like to get us a cup of tea by 8 o'clock."
He jokes that he'll then be replaced with "doof-doof music" and crowds waving their hands in the air.
For some boozers, this month is No Remember December. Last year, Dobbyn stopped drinking during the alcohol-free cancer fundraising campaign called Dry July.
He stayed off the turps, and 15 months later says ditching alcohol was the best thing he's ever done.
"You can finish sentences and construct them better and stop beating up on yourself. I kind of hated who I was and how reactive I was and how unreasonable I was.
"I limited myself to beer — that was one way of trying to pretend I wasn't a drinker or an alcoholic. The whole circle of partying and hangovers and stuff, it just gets in the way of music."
Many New Zealanders likely have a favourite Dave Dobbyn song, even if they don't know they do.
Given his vast contribution over decades (with Th' Dudes, with DD Smash, with Herbs, and during his solo career), you might hate some of his songs but adore others.
Without Dobbyn, there'd be no Bliss, no Be Mine Tonight, no Loyal, no Slice of Heaven, no Devil You Know, no Whaling.
For 40 years, he's been entwined with some of New Zealand's most poignant and divisive moments.
He was blamed for inciting the 1984 Queen St riot, later cleared of wrongdoing.
Loyal was used in an early 2000s America's Cup campaign, where New Zealanders were urged to buy $10 car aerial flags of the same colour.
In 2004, he joined musicians to raise money for Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui's family.
After the Pike River tragedy, he recorded the tribute This Love with Orpheus Choir of Wellington and Wellington Young Voices in 2014.
Back at R&V, Dobbyn says songwriting drives him, as does the pursuit of happiness — in his words, creating something really great and making people happy. He says the same pursuit propels a craftsman making a special piece of furniture.
Wanting your creation to stand the test of time is one thing. But how do you know when you've nailed it? When Slice of Heaven was released in 1986, did he know how good it was?
Yes he did, Dobbyn says without hesitation. He could feel it.
Others could feel it too.
Da da da, bu bu, da da da, bu bu, da da da, bu bu, da da da da da.
Dobbyn says Slice of Heaven didn't fit any mould. It stood out. He says one radio host who had an egotistical grudge refused to play it for six weeks. The song was in trailers for box-office smash hit Footrot Flats, and huge...

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Ian Taylor says he could have ended up a washed-up rock singer if it wasn't for a meeting in 1989, which led him down the path to found his business Animation Research 30 years ago.
That meeting was with Otago University professor Geoff Wyvill who told Taylor the future was about going digital.
"I had no idea what he was talking about."
Wyvill gave Taylor his four top students and together they created a company that has revolutionised the viewing of golf, cricket, yachting, motor sport and baseball with 3D, data-driven graphics over live pictures from the Virtual Eye sports division.
"I wouldn't be here today if I hadn't met Geoff, this would never have happened."
Taylor attributes the team behind him for being made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and recognised for his services to broadcasting, business and the community.
"This would never have happened without those people."
Taylor, who describes himself as a story-teller, shared the good news with his team on Wednesday and says he wanted them to hear it from him first.
"It is just wonderful."
He will celebrate with a traditional BBQ, which he holds every New Year with friends and family in Wanaka. "We will just do what we did last year."
Taylor mulled over whether he wanted to be called "Sir" but said it came with accepting the honour.
"If you are going to say yes you have to respect the honour that it is. I'm very honoured to accept it."
But he says he has been Ian for the past 70 years and that's not likely to change.
"I imagine I will get a ribbing for a few weeks then it will go back to Ian."
Taylor was born in Northland's Kaeo in a house without power and brought up in the East Coast Raupunga community of Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngapuhi descent.
His path to success was far from straight-forward.
Taylor dropped out of a business degree at Victoria University in 1968 to join rock band Kal-Q-Lated Risk.
After four years with the band and a stint of compulsory army training at Waiouru, the jobless Taylor was drawn back to Dunedin. "When I had been in the Risk, we travelled all over the country and the best place we played in was Dunedin — the Ag Hall and Ocean Beach Hotel."
Taylor worked as a forklift driver at Speights Brewery. then as a presenter on the children's TV programme Play School while completing a law degree at Otago University. He was about to become a lawyer when he was offered a full-time job as a presenter on the children's magazine programme Spot On.
Taylor worked as a presenter, producer, writer and director for TVNZ between 1977 and 1989. He produced documentaries including Pieces of Eight, the inside story of the New Zealand Rowing Eight at the 1984 Olympic Games; Aramoana, a documentary told by those directly involved in the David Gray shootings; and Innocent Until, the inside story of the defence team for David Bain at his first trial.
In 1989 Taylor was offered a current affairs job in Wellington but couldn't bring himself to leave Dunedin. Instead, he formed Taylormade Productions, making regional television commercials and corporate videos.
When TVNZ closed its Dunedin studios, Taylor bought them with a $500,000 bank loan and made children's television shows.
Animation Research was founded when Taylor met Wyvill who ran the Computer Science Department and computer graphics laboratory at Otago University.
Taylormade Productions formed Animation Research with the university in one of the first attempts to turn academic intellectual property into a commercial activity, and then later Taylormade bought all the university shares.
The original students, Craig McNaughton, Paul Sharp and Stu Smith, are still working at Animation Research 30 years later.
Its first TV advertising images included the Bluebird water-skiing penguin, seagulls on a Cook Strait fast ferry, and gannets forming a koru.
This year the...

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Corrections say it's a waiting game until prisoners rioting at Waikeria Prison, find a resolution.
Rioting inmates have caused significant fire damage to a third of the top-jail's capacity over the past two days.
Seventeen remain non-compliant.
Corrections Association's Alan Whitley told Tim Dower it's too dangerous to send in any staff to defuse the situation.
"The prisoners on the roof have access to debris from the fire which could cause injuries if thrown down.
"You have to maintain the safety of the staff, the prisoners have chosen to do what they have done."
The Department of Corrections maintains no formal complaints have been filed.
Whitley says the prison is definitely past its used by date.
But he says it's what they're having to put up with until a new prison is built.
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Britain became the first country to authorize AstraZeneca’s inexpensive, easy-to-handle COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday, gaining another weapon against the virus amid a resurgence so severe that the government extended lockdowns to three-quarters of England’s population.
The country also changed course by deciding to dispense the first dose of its vaccines to as many people as possible right away, to give them at least some protection. Until now, authorities have been holding large amounts of vaccine in reserve, to make sure those who receive the first dose get the required second one on time.
The vaccine developed by the drugmaker and Oxford University could hold great appeal in less developed parts of the world because of its low cost and the fact that it can be kept in refrigerators rather than at the ultra-cold or freezer temperatures some other vaccines require.
“This wonderful news brings renewed hope at a time of rising infections and unprecedented pressure on health services in the U.K. and beyond. It is now critical that this hope can be shared by all nations," said Anna Marriot, health policy manager at the Oxfam aid agency.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the “fantastic achievement for British science, which will allow us to vaccinate more people and also vaccinate them more quickly.”
The change in British policy on administering the shots drove home concerns about a new, potentially more contagious variant that authorities blame for rising hospitalizations in the United Kingdom. The new variant has been found in several countries, including the U.S.
Because infections are spreading so rapidly in the U.K., officials are now recommending prioritizing delivering a first dose to as many people as possible for both of the vaccines authorized for use in the country: the AstraZeneca shot and another from Pfizer-BioNTech. Authorities say both protect people even after just one of the two recommended doses — and that increasing the time between doses might even have a benefit.
The U.K.’s chief medical officers say the second dose may be important for longer-term protection, but one official said that the country urgently needed “rapid and high levels of vaccine uptake.”
“This will allow the greatest number of eligible people to receive vaccine in the shortest time possible, and that will protect the greatest number of lives,” Wei Shen Lim, chair of the U.K.’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told reporters Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.K. have already received at least one shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the rollout of the AstraZeneca one will start Jan. 4. The government says everyone will get a second shot within 12 weeks of the first.
AstraZeneca noted that a pause of between four and 12 weeks between doses has been shown to be effective in trials.
“The immune response data show that as you have a longer gap between the two doses, you do see higher immune responses,” Oxford University’s Dr. Andrew Pollard, one of the leaders of the vaccine development team, told The Associated Press. “That’s not a surprise. That’s what we see with many vaccines.”
Pfizer responded to the new policy by saying that any “alternative” dosing regimens should be tracked by health authorities. It noted that two doses are needed for “maximum protection” against the disease, and that it has no data that shows protection from just one dose lasts longer than 21 days. The vaccine was tested with two doses, three weeks apart.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, which recommended the AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use, did not endorse one vaccine over the other. And it updated its guidance on the Pfizer vaccine, saying it could be given to pregnant and breastfeeding women. The agency added that only people with an allergy to its ingredients should avoid it, rather than people...

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Bug expert and Newstalk ZB contributor Ruud Kleinpaste joins Bruce Russell to explain what exactly the 'Mount Mauler' might be and why it keeps biting Mount Maunganui holidaymakers every summer.
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If you thought 2020 was a chance for Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck to slow down, you’d be wrong.
His latest project is to try detect signs of life out there in the universe. Beck's planning to launch a rocket to Venus in 2023 after assembling the world’s best planetary scientists to help.
He's also spent much of last year launching satellites off the east coast, including the first student build one.
Beck joined Tim Dower to reflect on a busy year ahead and the even bigger plans they have on the horizon.
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NewstalkZB is back with another edition of Hidden Spots on Summer Breakfast.
This is where we take you on a bit of a virtual road trip around the country - and give you tips on attractions you may not know about.
Today, the road trip takes us to Gisborne, where we find Eastwoodhill, the national arboretum of New Zealand.
Curator Martin Weaver joined Tim Dower to discuss what you can find there. 
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