The Weekend for Saturday 11 January 2020

 

8:09 Preserving our history with the National Library's digital archive   

Collecting the web - how's that for an impossible sounding task.

It's one the National Library has set a team involved in web harvesting, collecting online material from websites to blogs and social media posts and even emails before they disappear into the cyber ether.

Steve Knight and Jessica Moran gather online material that is a record of the social, cultural, and political expression of New Zealanders but there are tricky issues like sites promoting hate and other offensive material. 

They look at gathering tweets and other social media in the way the library used to collect famous people's journals and letters. 

08:30 Mt Maunganui surf lifesavers Kent Jarman and Adriana Bird 

Six people drowned during the holiday period.

And while not all died on our beaches, some did despite all the years of safety messages and all the dedicated work of hundreds of volunteer lifeguards.

While the official Christmas and New Year holiday season is over, their work is not. 

Today in our lifesavers series we're go to the popular beach area of Mt Maunganui, with surf lifeguards Kent Jarman, and Adriana Bird. 

08:40 Photographer Stuart Macdonald discovers a different side of New Zealand 

For the past ten years photographer Stuart Macdonald has traveled around the country on his trusty motorbike, taking pictures of New Zealand that aren't traditional picture-postcard fare.

He aims to capture the country in a truthful, but slightly different way - taking photos of remote areas, hidden treasures, and less-visited areas. 

Long drops and abandoned buildings are among the treasures he's photographed along the way.

09:05 Charlotte Yates - putting Katherine Mansfield's words to music 

First she had fellow musicians put the poetry of James K Baxter, Hone Tuwhare and  Whiti Ihimarea to music, now Charlotte Yates has enlisted 12 of the country's top names to do the same for Katherine Mansfield's work.

There's jazz and pop through to soul to alt country, with artists including Lawrence Arabia, Anna Coddington, Julia Deans and The Bats.

09:30 Sarah O'Neil on how to help your brassicas grow 

Sarah the Gardener, aka writer and blogger Sarah O'Neil, has three books to her name and gardens on a windswept area of land on Auckland's West Coast.

Today Sarah O'Neil is sharing her practical tips on brassicas, a genus of plants in the mustard family including broccoli,  brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower through to  bok choy and daikon.

09:45 Gillian Candler's Nature Heroes - conservation for kids 

Gillian Candler is a writer who takes her love of nature and conservation to create children's books that teach kids about native wildlife, and how to help protect it. 

She's released a new book - Nature Heroes. 

It takes some of New Zealand's most dedicated conservationists and tells their story, from the 'grandfather' of conservation, Richard Henry, to children in schools now, taking up the mantle. 

Alongside their stories, are activities for the next generation of nature lovers to engage with the natural world.  

Laura Dooney went to Pukerua Bay, on Wellington's Kapiti Coast, to meet Gillian, and watch young Gabriel Hay, 10, Fred Hay, 8 and their friends Holly and Ryan Flanagan, 8 and 10 respectively - look for and discover sea creatures in the rock pools.

10:05 Olympic hopeful Julia Ratcliffe 

We're talking to some of our Olympic hopefuls over the summer and today it's the turn of 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games gold medal winner, hammer thrower Julia Ratcliffe.

Four years earlier she'd won the silver medal.

Now she has her heart set on an Olympics medal at Tokyo this year.

10:30 Summer music from around the world

Musicologist Jared Mackley-Crump talks summer songs from around the world, bringing a global taste of summer, from as far away as South Africa - to Cameroon and India. 

11:04 Restoring native plants with the Kaipātiki Project 

Over the summer we've been around the country looking at all kinds of community conservation initiatives.

Today we're in Auckland to find out  about the  Kaipātiki Project that for 21 years has inspired people to restore New Zealand's native plants, birds, bugs and fish. 

This not for profit organisation is based in north Auckland, there's a thriving native plant nursery and they encourage ecosystem restoration initiatives, including planting and weeding days, stream care and pest control management.

11:20  Meet the booksellers - Kim Pittar from Muir's Bookshop, Gisborne 

We go to the main street of Gisborne to speak to Kim Pittar at Muir's Bookshop 

11:30 Travel - Nepal Safari in the Chitwan and Bardia National Parks 

Nepal rivals India when it comes to wildlife, though it's neighbour has been in the safari business for much longer and has a much bigger profile.

Lynn Freeman went on safari in Nepal in August, with the help of a grant from the Asia New Zealand Foundation. 

 

Music played in this show

Artist:     Cat Stevens 
Track: The Wind 
Time played: 8.57 

Artist: Tiny Ruins 
Track: Stars, False, Fading 
Time played: 8.40 

Artist: David Bowie 
Track: Changes 
Time Played: 9.43 

Artist: The Black Seeds 
Track: Cool Me Down 
Time Played: 11.25 

Artist: Ladi 6 
Track: Ikarus 
Time Played: 11.40