A scene from the short film Silent Odyssey, shot in the Faroe Islands and screening in Kerikeri as part of a film festival focused on bikes. Photo / David Fletcher
Mud-splattered mountain bikers, lycra-clad road cyclists and bicycle fans of all forms are invited to a film festival focusing exclusively on bikes.
The Big Bike Film Night is a one-night festival featuring 12 short movies of various genres which is pedalling its way across the country and due to reach Northland in just under two weeks' time.
Curator Brett Cotter, of Taupō, described the event as a feast of films devoted to the bicycle and all who ride it.
This year's selection of Kiwi and international movies features everything from cycling the unforgiving but wildly beautiful Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic to Auckland's urban neighbourhoods and a bike-rafting expedition through New Zealand's West Coast wilderness.
One of the highlights, Being Unstoppable, shows what it takes to compete in Ironman New Zealand by following three first-timers in the gruelling event.
The festival was originally scheduled to hit Northland in April but the coronavirus had other ideas. Last week's drop to alert level 1 means it's back on track, Cotter said.
"We can't wait to present our 2020 line-up to Northland bike-film fans. We search for the very best cycling short movies from around the world that are stimulating and tell a story. Above all, this collection is a great reminder of why we love to ride with films that celebrate the fun, adventure and inspiration that cycling enables, whatever your ride is," he said.
The Big Bike Film Night will screen in Whangārei at the Capitaine Bougainville Theatre, at Forum North, from 7pm on June 30, and at Kerikeri's Cathay Cinemas from 7.30pm on July 1.
Go to www.bigbikefilmnight.nz for more information or to buy tickets. Door sales will be available on the night unless sold out prior.
If the previous item whetted your appetite for a night of bike movies, you may be in luck.
We have double tickets to give away to the Whangārei and Kerikeri screenings on June 30 and July 1, respectively.
If this sounds like you, send an email to baynews@northernadvocate.co.nz with your full name, address and contact phone number, and don't forget to tell us whether you want to go to the Whangārei or Kerikeri event (it's a long ride home if we send you to the wrong one).
Entries close at 5pm on Sunday. The winners will be drawn at random and notified next week so no amount of sweet-talking or bribery will help you. Well, not this time anyway.
The winners' names will be published in an upcoming edition of Bay News. Good luck and happy cycling.
A new road safety education campaign uses well-known Northland men to urge male drivers in the high-risk age group to think about what they're doing behind the wheel.
The campaign features 13 Northlanders known from various walks of life – including music, kapa haka, sport and emergency services – who are themselves in the target 29-59-year-old age bracket.
The idea is that hearing from men like these is more likely to encourage their peer group to consider their driving behaviour.
The new campaign is a continuation of the existing One Tear Too Many campaign visible throughout Northland on roadside billboards, in print media and on radio.
Far North REAP road safety educator Jodi Betts said deaths and serious injuries among men aged 29-59 continued to rise in Northland's road statistics.
Six of the 13 people who had died on Northland's roads so far this year were in that age bracket, she said.
"I want to thank the men who have agreed to participate in this campaign, as it's important that this message is delivered wider than via road safety educators alone," Betts said.
"It comes with emotion and sincerity, which we hope will reach an audience we may not have engaged with until now."
The Think - One Tear is Too Many campaign, which comprises three different messages and two videos, is being promoted via social media, radio advertising and print media by various Northland agencies and community groups.
The role models involved are TV fishing show host Matt Watson, musician Troy Kingi, radio presenter Toast Te Kani, Kaitaia firefighter Ross Beddows, cricket player Joey Yovich, Craig Hobson of Koru Service/Ngāi Takoto, Northland rugby players Rene Ranger, Ross Wright and Aorangi Stokes, Holli Rudolph of Road Safety Far North, Richard Hape from Far North REAP, Kaitaia youth worker/musician Damien Rice, and kapa haka legend Joby Hopa.
A three-year labour of love by a Kerikeri wildlife cameraman will finally hit TV screens this weekend.
The eight-part TV series Honey Wars, filmed and directed by Adam Jones, follows the Murray whānau of Kaitaia as they build up a business based on mānuka honey.
Jones said he met the Murrays, a ''hard-case, hard-working whānau of beekeepers'', shortly after he moved to Northland four years ago.
Their Tai Tokerau Honey was a Māori business success story with no outside corporate investment to sour relations.
''As soon as I walked in the door of their honey plant I knew there was a story waiting to be told. It had all the right elements for television, including the husband and wife team in Rob and Lonnie Murray,'' Jones said.
''As mānuka honey has become big business there is also hive theft, as well as competition from beekeepers and bees alike, hence the name Honey Wars.''
Jones said he didn't realise how long the road he embarked on with the Murrays would be. The series was the culmination of two summer beekeeping seasons of filming.
''People in Te Tai Tokerau know there are many great stories to be told here and I'm so pleased to be able to share them with the rest of New Zealand. It wasn't always easy but the end result is warm-hearted and real,'' he said.
Episode one screens at 8pm on Prime on Sunday, June 21. Before moving to Kerikeri, Jones worked at the world-renowned NHNZ film unit in Dunedin.
A Kawakawa mum distributing winter packs to kaumātua and kuia is calling for donations to help her complete the last deliveries.
Erika Kihau, founder of Kotahi Aroha/All For Heart, is planning to give away 50 packs of winter essentials to elderly residents in and around Kawakawa in the coming weeks.
Normally she fills 20 packs but she's upped the number this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Packs contain items such as soap, hand sanitiser, tissues, hats, blankets, paracetamol, gloves, ointment and soup, but she needs more hot water bottles, slippers and scarves.
You can check the charity's current needs and arrange donations via the Facebook page Kotahi Aroha - All for Heart or by calling Erika Kihau on 027 391 9699. Recipients can be nominated via the same page.
Each pack also contains a card made by the children of Kawakawa Primary School.
Donated items can be second-hand as long as they're in good condition.
St John has launched an online version of its popular mental health first aid course.
Until now, the course was only available for participation in a classroom setting. That wasn't possible during Covid-19 alert levels 3 and 4 so the St John first aid training team adapted it for online delivery.
Participants are taught how to understand the signs that someone may be struggling, how to talk to them, helpful things they can say and do, and how to support individuals in seeking help.
The course covers topics including anxiety, depression, problem gambling, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as suicide and self-harm.
"What's unique about the online course is that participants can learn at their own pace, whenever and wherever they like," spokeswoman Gabrielle Wildbore said.
"The new course is made up of easy-to-consume modules and can be completed online in about five hours and it includes the same high-quality content as the classroom-based course."
Visit stjohn.org.nz/mentalhealth to find out more and to make a booking. The course costs $195.
■ Email peter.degraaf@nzme.co.nz if you have a news item you'd like to see in Bay News.
Initial construction work on the next section is set to begin by the end of next year.