Holiday Breakfast

If you're looking for a new challenge for 2021, this one might give you some inspiration.
Frances Cook is the host of the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books personal finance podcast.
And this year, she set herself a challenge to go for a whole year without buying new clothes - only secondhand.
Cook told Tim Dower that normally people are told that the easiest places to save money is on food, transport and housing. 
She says that this time last year, she began to think that clothing may be an area you can save more money on. 
Cook says that her campaign struck a chord with people, as they are all looking for ways to save money without losing out on what we enjoy. 
"I'm a big believer is there is always a way to have your cake and eat it too."
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Questions are being raised around why not a single case of wage subsidy fraud has been referred for prosecution.
This is despite the Government receiving close to five thousand complaints related to the system being gamed.
Of the complaints - 942 were referred for investigation, with 387 of those so far resolved.
Tax researcher Michael Goussmet told Tim Dower it's unclear what "resolved" means.
"Of those 387 that were resolved, exactly how were they resolved?
"Did those organisations basically say 'we made a genuine mistake and we paid the money back', or what?"
Speaking to the NZ Herald, according to Finance Minister Grant Robertson, this is good news.
Although he wouldn't comment on the fact there have been no prosecutions, he said he considers that half a billion dollars being paid back was "a success".
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Police are horrified the holiday road toll is already at eight only halfway through the toll period.
It began at 4pm on Christmas Eve and doesn't end for another week - 6am on Tuesday.
Tamaki Makaurau Road Policing Manager Inspector Scott Webb says the messaging can sound like a broken record.
But he told Tim Dower it really does come down to the basics.
"People not wearing their restraints. There's alcohol, there's distractions, and there's speed. Those are main causal factors."
Crashes yesterday saw two people die in separate crashes - one at Dairy Flat, north of Auckland and the other on Nikau Road, near Palmerston North. 
Two people died in a crash Monday between a truck and a motorcycle on the Oreti River Bridge, in Southland.

A man died at the scene, and a woman later died in Dunedin Hospital.
It follows four deaths in Auckland in two separate crashes, one on Christmas Day, the other on Boxing Day.

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Two churches in Wollongong are among the latest venues added to the NSW COVID-19 alert list.
Health authorities said on Tuesday a number of venues in the city of Wollongong, its inner western suburb of Figtree and Sydney’s Mona Vale have been visited by confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Sydney remains on alert with three new cases of COVID-19 revealed on Tuesday, all linked to the growing northern beaches cluster.
But a case diagnosed in a Wollongong resident after the 8pm reporting period has authorities seriously concerned.
The Wollongong person has recently visited Sydney, and the other two cases are from Sydney’s north and the inner west, but none have been linked.
“I am not ruling out they are linked to the Avalon cluster … the case from Wollongong had been in Sydney, but until those links are established all of us in Greater Sydney must be on high alert,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said health authorities were only alerted to the new cases outside of Sydney early on Tuesday morning.
The three cases recorded before 8pm are already in isolation. There’s also been a dramatic drop in testing numbers despite the Premier’s constant pleas for a higher turnout.

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Far North Mayor John Carter says the fire in Ahipara, which forced the evacuation of about 100 houses last night, is a warning about just how dry Northland is.
"This is a warning to us. Fortunately we've got away without loss of life, loss of property or injury, but every resident and every visitor to Northland has a responsibility to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again. It's a massive warning."
The fire, which was now largely under control, led to the evacuation of residents.
Six helicopters were up at first light to try and control the blaze that was burning through a block of land measuring one square kilometre, according to Fire and Emergency NZ northern shift manager Kaisey Cook. Forty firefighters were fighting the fire on the ground.
By 8am, just two helicopters were flying, but firefighters were keeping a wary eye on the wind, which was starting to pick up.
Charred scrub, marking the furthest reach of the fire, descends the hills behind Ahipara to within a few metres of one home off Foreshore Rd. Two other baches had an extremely close call.

A view of the fire at Ahipara taken last night. Photo / Chad Cottle
According to Carter no properties were thought to have been destroyed overnight and no one was injured.
Phelan Pirrie is a Muriwai firefighter who was holidaying in a caravan on his section in Ahipara. He had brought his firefighting gear just in case he'd be able to help out but didn't expect anything on this scale.
"The flames were 10m-plus high. When the scrub gets to a certain temperature it goes white-hot and explodes. The sound is like a jet engine. We had a few small fire tornadoes going on too. It was insane."
Evacuations began yesterday, when some locals were warned they had 10 minutes to leave their homes. Residents were taken to two emergency welfare centres at a nearby marae and rugby club.
By the time Tessa Pohio and her family evacuated their home at Ahipara, there was ash falling around the house and flames along the top of the ridgeline.
Firefighters had warned them earlier that they wouldn't have much time to leave if evacuations were needed.
"The kids were scared but for us it was exciting, we all went down to the beach to watch," Pohio said.
But it "got serious" when a firefighter told them: "You're not being evacuated right now, but if you do, you'll have only 10 minutes to get out."
About 20 minutes later they got the word to leave.
They had to leave dinner behind - crayfish, kahawai and two legs of lamb half-done on the barbecue.
They spent the night at Roma Marae.
For 9-year-old Macie Abley-Marsh, the fire was exciting at first.
"But when they told us to evacuate I started getting scared."
The fire started at about 5.45pm in Ahipara Gumfields Historic Reserve and quickly spread through dry scrub despite the best efforts of multiple crews and six helicopters.
Residents reported seeing flames as high as 40m as the blaze crept through scrub and towards homes.
Mayor Carter said evacuation centres were set up, one at the Ahipara Rugby Club and another at Roma Marae, where evacuees spent the night.
About 20 adults and 10 children, some in PJs and clutching cuddly toys, were at Ahipara Rugby Club at 10.30pm on Tuesday.
A band of volunteers, many associated with the club, prepared food for evacuees, while members of Te Rarawa, the local iwi, headed to the club with fruit and vegetables from their market gardens.

Around 40 homes have been evacuated in Ahipara as a fire burns on a nearby ridgeline. Photo / Rachel Ward
Carter said when helicopters were stood down last night, when it became too dark for them to work, the fire was still spreading.
As the flames pushed towards the village, there was a risk homes could be destroyed.
By Tuesday night, the fire had grown to 2km wide in size, he said.
On Tuesday afternoon, Dave Clark, who...

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French fashion designer Pierre Cardin possessed a wildly inventive artistic sensibility tempered by a stiff dose of business sense. He had no problem acknowledging that he earned more from a pair of stockings than from a haute-couture gown with a six-figure price tag.
Cardin, who died Tuesday at age 98, was the ultimate entrepreneurial designer. He understood the importance his exclusive haute couture shows played in stoking consumer desire and became an early pioneer of licensing. His name emblazoned hundreds of products, from accessories to home goods.
"The numbers don't lie," Cardin said in a 1970 French television interview. "I earn more from the sale of a necktie than from the sale of a million-franc dress. It's counterintuitive, but the accounts prove it. In the end, it's all about the numbers."
The French Academy of Fine Arts announced Cardin's death in a tweet. He had been among its illustrious members since 1992. The academy did not give a cause of death or say where the designer died.
Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, who made his debut in Cardin's maison, paid tribute to his mentor on Twitter: "Thank you Mister Cardin to have opened for me the doors of fashion and made my dream possible."
Along with fellow Frenchman Andre Courreges and Spain's Paco Rabanne, two other Paris-based designers known for their avant-garde Space Age styles, Cardin revolutionized fashion starting in the early 1950s.
At a time when other Paris labels were obsessed with flattering the female form, Cardin's designs cast the wearer as a sort of glorified hanger, there to showcase the sharp shapes and graphic patterns of the clothes. Created for neither pragmatists nor wallflowers, his designs were all about making a big entrance — sometimes very literally.
Gowns and bodysuits in fluorescent spandex were fitted with plastic hoops that stood away from the body at the waist, elbows, wrists and knees. Bubble dresses and capes enveloped their wearers in oversized spheres of fabric. Toques were shaped like flying saucers; bucket hats sheathed the models' entire head, with cutout windshields at the eyes.
"Fashion is always ridiculous, seen from before or after. But in the moment, it's marvelous," Cardin said in the 1970 interview.
A quote on his label's website summed up his philosophy: "The clothing I prefer is the one I create for a life that does not yet exist, the world of tomorrow."
Cardin's name embossed thousands of products, from wristwatches to bed sheets. In the brand's heyday, goods bearing his fancy cursive signature were sold at some 100,000 outlets worldwide.
That number dwindled dramatically in later years, as Cardin products were increasingly regarded as cheaply made and his clothing designs — which, decades later, remained virtually unchanged from its '60s-era styles — felt dated.
A savvy businessman, Cardin used his fabulous wealth to snap up top-notch properties in Paris, including the belle epoque restaurant Maxim's, which he also frequented. His flagship store, located next to the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris, continues to showcase eye-catching designs.
Cardin was born on July 7, 1922, in a small town near Venice, Italy, to a modest, working-class family. When he was a child, the family moved to Saint Etienne in central France, where Cardin was schooled and became an apprentice to a tailor at age 14.
Cardin later embraced a status as a self-made man, saying in the 1970 TV interview that going it alone "makes you see life in a much more real way and forces you to take decisions and to be courageous.
"It's much more difficult to enter a dark woods alone than when you already know the way through," he said.
After moving to Paris, he worked as an assistant in the House of Paquin starting in 1945 and also helped design costumes for the likes of filmmaker Jean Cocteau. He was involved in creating the costumes for the director's 1946 hit, "Beauty and...

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If you've ever seen an animal make an appearance in a New Zealand ad, chances are that they were trained by Mark Vette.
For years, Vette has been one of the country's top animal behaviouralists, working on projects as small as local ads to ones as massive as the Lord of the Rings series.
Lockdown put a dampener on some of his projects, but Vette pivoted, launching a virtual puppy school to help dogs socialise even when their owners couldn't.
He joined Tim Dower to discuss his lengthy career, including his lockdown project, and what you need to know about raising pets. 
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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 has taken us to Tauranga where we find Blue Ocean Charters, which offers a range of activities.
That includes trips to the beautiful Mayor Island.
Owner of Blue Ocean Charters Raewyn Ensor joined Tim Dower to discuss what you can discover on one of these tours.
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The UK has become the latest country to leave us in their dust when it comes to tackling junk food and obesity.
Supermarkets in England are to be barred from displaying unhealthy food and drinks at checkouts, or using them in buy one, get one free offers, as part of a proposed government crackdown on obesity.
It won't take effect until 2022, and will be subject to a consultation process first.
Auckland University Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health Boyd Swinburn told Tim Dower New Zealand should be doing this already.
"We've got the second highest rate of childhood obesity in the OECD, the third highest rate for adults, we've being doing basically nothing for the last four Government terms."
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It's a case of too little, too late for organisers of Rhythm and Vines when it comes to drug testing.
The Government passed legislation earlier this month allowing people to test what's in their pills at a festival, without being prosecuted.
But it won't be in place at Rhythm and Vines this year.
Event director Hamish Pinkham told Tim Dower they want to get the systems right as it will become an important part of the events ecosystem.
He says this year they're working closely with authorities, and people who are feeling unwell should communicate with health authorities on site.
"In terms of the general testing, that's something we're going to be implementing in 2021, and we're looking forward to being part of that conversation."
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