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NZ Herald
24-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Top family activities in Akaroa: Penguins, stargazing, and more
It's a very compact town, and you can walk almost anywhere within a few minutes. We wandered from our accommodation to where a friendly team packed us off in a van and out to the largest little penguin colony in New Zealand. The project is a labour of love for the local family, whose parents (themselves fourth-generation Banks Peninsula farmers) live on site and have published research papers on the population of birds that call their bay home. Their daughter, Joey, drove our van the 30 minutes or so from Akaroa to the colony, pausing for a family photo at the top of a misty mountain, then descending a steep valley towards the unnervingly blue waters of Flea Bay. Our kids were almost as excited to feed the boisterous sheep as they were to see the penguins, who will make a home wherever they find shelter, but benefit in particular from the dozens of wooden human-built 'houses' scattered helpfully about the hillside. This tour is less about showing off the birds to tourists and more about letting visitors tag along with a scientific survey. It was exciting for the kids to see Joey lift the roof off a house and check for tenants, and there is plenty of time for photos and a closer look. Some of the penguins are friendly, others more nervous – Joey entering these observations into her survey app before moving on to the next nest. As well as the penguins, Flea Bay is home to hundreds of sea lions. They're not usually all there at once but you'll be unlucky not to spot at least one on your visit – usually playing about in the shallow water. To get closer to these intriguing animals and the dolphins that occasionally visit the bay, book a kayaking sea safari through the same company and get out on the water. We returned to Akaroa in time for dinner, then trekked off to our evening entertainment. Local astronomer Luca Devescovi is campaigning hard to make Banks Peninsula a Dark Sky Reserve – an international designation that would recognise the natural lack of light pollution, alongside efforts locals are making to enhance the night sky by limiting artificial light sources. It's a labour of love for Luca, who learnt his trade at the famous Mount John University Observatory and now runs stargazing tours for visitors to Akaroa. It's a short drive from his ticketing office (right next to Pohatu Penguins in town) up to the observation area on a nearby hill, but sadly the cloud cover was too extensive on the night we visited so we got the indoors version – a clever piece of software that recreates the exact night sky in Luca's office, with the advantage that he can fast-forward and rewind time to show you different constellations of interest. Our children took loads of fun facts away from his presentation, including how to pick their own star signs out of the night sky, and how to find south no matter where you are or what time of year it is. We slept well that night and drove back to Christchurch in the morning. We heard great things about The Giant's House, a family-friendly garden of curiosities which has won numerous awards. We'll go next time, but as a family of foodies, we had a date at the Barry's Bay Cheese Factory, a fun early stop on the way back to the city. Their cheese has a lot of fans including some high-profile chefs who swear it's the best in the country; at the factory you can see it being made, try some samples and (best of all for those like us who love a bargain) take home some offcuts at a fraction of the usual price. Long-beloved as a romantic destination for couples, Akaroa has more than enough to keep a young family busy. We had a fast-paced 24 hours, but you could always do things a little slower by including some wine tasting and a couple of the fantastic local restaurants while you're there.
Time Out
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The biggest bouncy castle in the world is heading to Long Island next month
Ready to feel like a kid again? The world's largest bounce house—yes, a 24,000-square-foot inflatable playground—is bounding into Long Island next month, and it's bringing an entire festival of over-the-top fun with it. The Big Bounce America tour will set up shop at Broadway Commons in Hicksville from May 10 through June 1, offering four weekends of giant slides, ball pits, foam parties, obstacle courses, DJ sets and more. Tickets start at just $22 for a three-hour pass but, heads up: this event usually sells out fast, so snag your spot early. The star of the show is the World's Largest Bounce House, standing 32 feet tall and packed with everything from basketball hoops to oversized colorful characters. At its heart is a live DJ spinning tracks for games, dance-offs and general inflatable chaos, with special sessions for toddlers, families and even adults-only bounce parties. But that's just the start. Test your endurance on The Giant, a 900-foot-long inflatable obstacle course with 50 different challenges, or duke it out at Sport Slam, a bouncy arena packed with goals, hoops, nets and battle zones. Kids (and kids at heart) can also blast off at airSPACE, a space-themed zone featuring aliens, moon craters and a five-lane slide. New this year is OctoBlast, a deep-sea-themed inflatable foam party where you can dance under giant octopus tentacles to live DJ beats—because why not? As tour manager Noa Visnich puts it: 'We need more fun in the world—and what better way than with a 24,000 square foot bounce house?' We, of course, couldn't agree more.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Yahoo
New lead emerges in cold case mass murder mystery
A decades-old probe into a murderous gang rampage that mystified Belgium could be opened again to chase an unexplored lead, prosecutors said Tuesday. The cold case known as the "Crazy Killers of Brabant" revolves around two waves of deadly supermarket robberies carried out between 1982 and 1985, killing 28 people including children. The suspects were reportedly three men who covered themselves in face paint during the raids and became known for their ruthless attacks, the BBC reported. Some of the victims were tortured before being killed. The gang's members were dubbed the "The Giant," "The Killer" and "The Old Man," the BBC reported. Theories piled up over the years to explain the crime spree -- with the sums involved tiny, and money an unlikely motive. One seriously considered thesis was that it was a bid to destabilize the Belgian state by current or former law enforcement officers close to the far right. Yet the case was never cracked, with prosecutors declaring it closed in June last year. On Monday, however, an appeals court in the city of Mons sided with a civil party to the case who had asked for two additional witnesses to be heard. "The court accepted the request for these witnesses to be heard," a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office told AFP, confirming a report in Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. On November 9, 1985, when an attack on a grocery store in the Flemish city of Aalst left eight people dead, two brothers claimed to have seen six men in dark clothing fleeing the scene. The boys -- aged seven and 10 at the time -- said they happened to have jotted down the car's registration number, a hobby of theirs at the time. Their notebook was handed to investigators and logged in the case file, but the lead was not followed up and the brothers, now 47 and 50, were never questioned. Although the probe was closed last year, civil parties to the case still had the chance to request additional investigative steps -- which several have since done. "We don't want to give up," said Kristiaan Vandenbussche, a lawyer for relatives of victims of the Aalst attack who filed for the two brothers to be heard. No one has ever been convicted in the case despite multiple overlapping investigations, countless fingerprint and DNA searches, dozens of exhumations and even arrests leading to charges. In 2020, authorities released a new photo of a man who they said could be linked to the case, the BBC reported. In the picture, the unidentified man was seen posing with a shot gun in a wooded area. Vice President JD Vance's first interview | Face the Nation Rebuilding Paradise U.S. troops head to southern border as deportations continue
CBS News
28-01-2025
- CBS News
New lead emerges in cold case mass murder mystery: "We don't want to give up"
A decades-old probe into a murderous gang rampage that mystified Belgium could be opened again to chase an unexplored lead, prosecutors said Tuesday. The cold case known as the "Crazy Killers of Brabant" revolves around two waves of deadly supermarket robberies carried out between 1982 and 1985, killing 28 people including children. The suspects were reportedly three men who covered themselves in face paint during the raids and became known for their ruthless attacks, the BBC reported. Some of the victims were tortured before being killed. The gang's members were dubbed the "The Giant," "The Killer" and "The Old Man," the BBC reported. Theories piled up over the years to explain the crime spree -- with the sums involved tiny, and money an unlikely motive. One seriously considered thesis was that it was a bid to destabilize the Belgian state by current or former law enforcement officers close to the far right. Yet the case was never cracked, with prosecutors declaring it closed in June last year. On Monday, however, an appeals court in the city of Mons sided with a civil party to the case who had asked for two additional witnesses to be heard. "The court accepted the request for these witnesses to be heard," a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office told AFP, confirming a report in Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. On November 9, 1985, when an attack on a grocery store in the Flemish city of Aalst left eight people dead, two brothers claimed to have seen six men in dark clothing fleeing the scene. The boys -- aged seven and 10 at the time -- said they happened to have jotted down the car's registration number, a hobby of theirs at the time. Their notebook was handed to investigators and logged in the case file, but the lead was not followed up and the brothers, now 47 and 50, were never questioned. Although the probe was closed last year, civil parties to the case still had the chance to request additional investigative steps -- which several have since done. "We don't want to give up," said Kristiaan Vandenbussche, a lawyer for relatives of victims of the Aalst attack who filed for the two brothers to be heard. No one has ever been convicted in the case despite multiple overlapping investigations, countless fingerprint and DNA searches, dozens of exhumations and even arrests leading to charges. In 2020, authorities released a new photo of a man who they said could be linked to the case, the BBC reported. In the picture, the unidentified man was seen posing with a shot gun in a wooded area.
