Nine To Noon

Paul Ward first appeared on Nine to Noon in 2018 when he outlined an ambitious plan to reintroduce wild kiwi to Wellington within five years. Four years later, 13 North Island brown have been released into a predator-free area on the hills above Makara. This follows the setting and monitoring of 4500 traps across the 23,000 hectares. Paul tells Kathryn the Capital Kiwi project wants Wellingtonians from Owhiro Bay to Karori and Ohariu falling to sleep to the sound of kiwi calling.

He is on board a National Geographic expedition cruise to the sub Antarctic islands.

Charly Houtos is our champion junior dog handler. The 18 year old from Christchurch is getting ready to represent New Zealand at the world's biggest dog show, Crufts. Charly mainly shows cavaliers, rottweilers and samoyeds, and Tobi her Japanese Shiba Inu, who may be her favourite. It could be argued Charly is the real star of the show. She's severely allergic to dogs!

This year Gore elected the country's youngest ever mayor, when Ben Bell, aged 23, won the mayoralty by just 8 votes. Ben Bell edged out the six-term incumbent, Tracy Hicks. Despite his youth, Ben has a varied background, with previous jobs in the Horizons Regional Council, and has started several successful businesses.

The adventuring began a few years ago when Brad Ryan realised his Ohio based Grandmother, Joy Ryan had never seen a mountain. A plan was hatched for them to visit all 63 US national parks. Now aged 92, Joy and grandson Brad have almost completed the mission. You can follow their journey on instragram @grandmajoysroadtrip

A free roast meal over a chat about mental health is on offer for all-male flats of Canterbury University students by the not-for-profit group Lads Without Labels. The student-led initiative was launched a couple of years ago to support young men's emotional and physical well-being.

Chris is along with the favourite things he's watched this year, his top 10.

Family dynamics, dealing with in-laws, persuasion fatigue and sheer exhaustion can make for stressful holidays for many. Psychologist Sarb Johal says it can help to prepare like a professional athlete for "game day", anticipating triggers and preparing strategies. He shares his tips for coping with the festive season.

Technology journalist Bill Bennett takes a look at some of the biggest technology stories of the year : The sale of Twitter to Elon Musk, Meta, Amazon and other big tech companies laying off thousands of people. Bill says the international stories are downbeat, the local ones are much more positive. They include 2degrees merging with Vocus, and the second stage of the UFB fibre project completed this month, meaning 87 per cent of the population can get fibre broadband.

Cynthia Morahan reviews Greedy Cat's Christmas by Joy Cowley, published by The CopyPress