We Say, You Say: Beach Safety
Hi Auckland,
Do you know how to spot a rip?
A study conducted by Surf Lifesaving New Zealand at Muriwai Beach found that 78 per cent of beach goers could not identify a rip current.
One geomorphologist involved in the study spotted a "well-established" rip offshore and asked individuals at the beach to point it out.
The vast majority could not do so.
According to SLSNZ, around 80 per cent of rescues made were from people getting stuck in rips. They say that the easiest way to identify them is to spot calm strips of water that are flanked by breaking waves.
“They commonly occur in deeper channels that are cut between sandbars, which means waves don’t break as much in the rip current – this means that beachgoers often mistake them as the safest areas to swim because the water looks so calm when compared to the breaking waves either side.”
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Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑
Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.
We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
Want to read more? The Press has you covered!
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52.6% Human-centred experience and communication
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14.8% Critical thinking
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29.8% Resilience and adaptability
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2.8% Other - I will share below!
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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