Auckland / Tāmaki Makaurau is New Zealand's largest city and the main commercial hub of the country. Auckland has always been regarded as "different"; it has always been a contested place, a crossroads. In 2009, just before Auckland was to become the Super City, we asked some of the city's best informed and outspoken residents to help us tell the story of the place. The result is a rich and at times contradictory composite of views which yet add up to something deeply informative and memorable.
On the wild west coast of Auckland in New Zealand we follow one man's enforced isolation. Pacing the beach, he wonders if those dear to him will ever be seen again.
On Christmas Eve, a nameless little girl reads 'The Monster's Christmas' storybook to her teddy bear, as something sneaks around in the trees outside her window. She hears a noise in the other room, and thinking that it's Father Christmas, she goes to investigate. She finds one of the monsters, who has come seeking help to defeat an evil witch that has stolen all the monsters' voices.
This Traveltalk series short visit to New Zealand starts in Auckland, a bustling, modern city. Next is Christchurch, home of Canterbury University, where rowing teams participate in a regatta. Nearby is Lake Wakatipu, which inspires artists to put their impressions on canvas. We then visit Rotorua, a city famous for its geysers, hot springs, bubbling mud pools, and other geothermal activity. At Ferry Springs there is lots of trout for fishing. Later, a group of natives performs a canoe dance.
A 23-year-old revisits the family car he grew up with to experience the thrill of childhood again...
In 1966 a group of determined young men defied the New Zealand government and launched a pirate radio station aboard a ship in the Hauraki Gulf.
In the turbulence of Auckland, Ska (Hunter) is a streetwise 19 year old, whose father is a drunkard and whose older sister works at a high-class massage parlour. When he decide to “rescue” her, he is thrown out. With some friends, he take revenge by trashing the place, but the reply results in Ska's best friend being killed. The massage parlour boss is also a crooked concert promoter, so Ska, and his gang, “hijack” a concert which incites the audience to riot.
When Kirk, a top roller-blader, discovers that he has bone cancer in his leg, his pleasant affluent life is shattered. Even though amputation provides the best chance for survival; to him, losing skating means the end of life. His friends cannot cope with his condition, but his hospital isolation is relieved by Marty - a street kid survivor who was found dying of leukemia. Marty bullies, taunts, and challenges Kirk, until he begins to climb out of his depression. Marty seems afraid of nothing and, knowing she will die, wants to experience everything.
‘The Legend of Baron To’a’ tells the story of Fritz, a Tongan entrepreneur who returns to his old neighbourhood and inadvertently causes the theft of his late father’s valued pro wrestling title belt by some ruthless gangsters led by ‘man-mountain’ Tahu. When negotiation and diplomacy fail to get it back, he is forced to embrace his father’s legacy to reclaim the title.
Sam works on the tolls and likes to listen. He overhears more than he bargains for and becomes embroiled in a mishmash of corruption and blackmail. Anna is a hooker who specializes in throwing tomatoes at ageing weirdos. Sam and Anna's paths cross as he works to expose shady maneuvrings by the CEO of Infacorp, who is out to land a contract to build a tunnel under Auckland harbour.
Coming of age tale told through the eyes of 'Tu', an ambitious young man from Auckland who dreams of being a professional hip-hop dancer.
Timothy and his family is expecting a French-Canadian male exchange student, that turns out to be an attractive girl, to which Timothy proceeds to make a fool of himself, trying to impress. When Michelle becomes ill from drinking spiked punch at a party, Timothy notices a tattoo while helping her to bed. He foolishly tells a friend about the tattoo, who proceeds to tell the whole school, which does not go down well with Michelle.
A matriarch organizes a feast with her family, in which she will name her successor. The heart has gone out of Nanna Maria's family. There are no parties — they don't even fight anymore...
Turei, a talented young musician, dreams of his band winning the audition to be the support act for Bob Marley’s 1979 concert in Auckland. Part of a Māori family of contract potato pickers in Pukekohe, Turei’s desperate ambition clashes with his whanau’s traditional values, leading to an emotional showdown and powerful change.
Teenage twins battle dark forces hidden beneath Auckland's volcanoes.
Meet best friends Michael, Albert, Stanley and Sefa; the ladies' man, the good boy, the weird one and the party boy. They're staring down the barrel of their thirtieth birthdays, but still act as if they're sixteen; they get drunk, they chase the wrong women and they have a remarkable record of misbehaving and causing chaos at every wedding they attend. But now Michael's younger brother Sione is getting married, and everything is about to change. Sione is their boy, the kid they used to look after, who grew up while they were still partying. And to ensure his big day isn't spoiled by his boys and their idiot antics, Sione has issued an ultimatum; the guys all have to bring dates to the wedding. And not just any dates; real girlfriends, someone they've made a commitment to. They have one month. So just how hard can it be to get a date for your best boy's wedding?
Five years have passed and Jake has turned his back on his family. He's still up to his usual tricks in McClutchy's Bar, unaware, as he downs his latest opponent, that his eldest son, Nig, has died in a gang fight. The uncomfortable family reunion at Nig's funeral sparks a confrontation with second son, Sonny, and sets Jake and Sonny on a downward spiral.
First-year acting student Stanley mines his girlfriend's family scandal as material for the end-of-year show at drama school. The result is a moral minefield.
Ivan is the fierce patriarch of a family of Croatian refugees living in Auckland during the Yugoslav wars. Nina is his daughter, ready to live on her own, despite his angry objections. Eddie is the Maori she takes as her lover. Nina works at the restaurant where Eddie cooks. For a price, she agrees to marry another restaurant employee, a Chinese man, so that he can establish permanent residency. The money gives her the independence she needs to leave her parents' house and move in with Eddie. Complications arise when Eddie realizes the depth of her father's fury and the strength of Nina's family ties.