New Zealand. Aotearoa. The Land Down Under. Land of the Long White Cloud. Home to hobbits, the All Blacks rugby team, where good coffee is easy to find, and the wine isn’t half bad either. This roundup of ten odd news brings you the quirkiest headlines the Kiwi islands have ever produced.
Ten Odd News Roundup
10 Shrek The Sheep
Shrek the sheep vaulted into global fame back in 2004 thanks to his massive wool coat. He managed to dodge shearers for six years, nesting in caves amid the rugged foothills of Central Otago on the South Island. Merino sheep typically get shorn each year, so when Shrek was finally caught his fleece was truly colossal. “He looked like some biblical creature,” said his owner, John Perriam, of Bendigo Hill station.
His fleece tipped the scales at roughly 27 kilograms (60 pounds), enough wool to tailor suits for twenty large men. Shrek was instantly crowned a national celebrity and was shorn live on television. The fleece was auctioned to raise money for children’s medical charities. Josie Spillane of Cure Kids reported that over the years Shrek helped raise more than NZ$ 150,000 (US$ 104,400) for the charity, which funds research into life‑threatening childhood illnesses.
Shrek passed away in 2011 at the age of sixteen, which is a respectable lifespan for a Merino.
9 Blow On The Pie
Dubbed the food‑safety tip that reverberated worldwide, police dog handler Guy Baldwin went viral in 2009 for delivering a quirky culinary warning to a suspected car thief. The clip was filmed in the early hours for the reality crime series Police Ten 7. Baldwin stopped a teenager who claimed he was out at 3 am because he was hungry and intended to buy a hot pie from a nearby service station.
With dead‑pan seriousness, Baldwin asked the bewildered teen, “It’s three o’clock in the morning, and you’re buying a pie from the BP station. What must you always do?” The teen had no answer. Baldwin replied, “That pie has been in the warming drawer for probably about 12 hours; it’ll be thermonuclear. You must always blow on the pie… Always blow on the pie, safer communities together, okay.”
You heard it here, folks. Always blow on the pie.
8 Road Flock
This story blends sheep and police in a spectacularly odd way. In 2016, four people driving a stolen Honda Integra led police on a 90‑minute chase through Shrek the sheep’s neighbourhood in Central Otago. Earlier attempts to halt the car with road spikes failed, and it was a herd of about 150 sheep being driven down the road that finally forced the vehicle to stop.
Fortunately, neither the sheep nor the farm dogs were injured as the car halted without even trying to plow through the flock. A farm worker was moving the herd, seemingly unfazed by the drama unfolding behind him while two men and two juveniles were taken into custody.
It later emerged that the flock belonged to a Queenstown police officer. “I don’t know if the local officer trained the sheep or not, but they sure did a good job in stopping that car,” a journalist on the scene remarked.
7 Thomas The Blind Bisexual Goose
In 2018, a blind, bisexual goose named Thomas was commemorated and laid to rest beside his swan partner of nearly two decades. A plaque memorialized their love story with the verses:
“Here lies Thomas, the great‑hearted goose,
Nestled near Henry, in their final roost.
Here where they raised young and found sanctuary,
Somewhere above us, great souls fly free.”
The tale spanned species and genders. Thomas and Henry the swan spent 18 years together before a third swan, Henrietta, joined them. The trio raised 68 cygnets before Henry died in 2009. Henrietta then left with another swan, leaving Thomas “heartbroken and crying for his friend.”
Thomas later fathered ten goslings, which were stolen by another goose named George, who raised them as his own—earning Thomas the reputation of a victim of avian betrayal. After losing his sight, Thomas was re‑homed to a bird sanctuary, where he spent his final years munching corn and helping raise orphaned baby swans. A staff member described him as “a gentleman; he was kind to every other bird he bumped into, literally.” When the plaque was unveiled, local Waikanae resident Mik Peryer said, “this is the end, the love story is over.” He added that the story resonated because Thomas was gay.
6 Dug The Faux Spud
When Hamilton couple Colin and Donna Craig‑Brown uncovered a colossal tuber in their vegetable patch weighing an astonishing 7.9 kilograms (17 pounds), they were convinced it would shatter the Guinness World Record for the heaviest potato.
Nicknamed “Dug the Spud,” the specimen was more than 2.8 kilograms (6 pounds) heavier than the standing record set in England in 2011. After seven months and a genetic test, the couple received disheartening news: “Sadly, the specimen is not a potato and is, in fact, the tuber of a type of gourd. For this reason we unfortunately have to disqualify the application,” a Guinness representative explained.
It turned out Dug was a gourd‑type tuber, a swollen underground stem rather than a true potato. The DNA test confirmed its identity. Colin reflected, “It looked like a tater, it tasted like a tater, it grew like a tater. So I figured it’s a tater.” Dug now resides in the couple’s freezer. “I say g’day to him every time I pull out some sausages. He’s a cool character,” Colin added.
5 The World’s Loneliest Tree
A solitary Sitka spruce stands on New Zealand’s windswept, inhospitable sub‑Antarctic Campbell Island, far from any other tree. The spruce, native to the northern hemisphere, finds itself more than 247 kilometers (170 miles) away from its nearest neighbour on the Auckland Islands, earning the title of the world’s loneliest tree.
Unlike Dug the “pretender” spud, this modest‑looking tree holds an official world‑record because of its isolation. Previously, the record belonged to the Tree of Ténéré, a famed acacia in Niger’s Sahara Desert, which was about 402 kilometers (250 miles) from any other tree until it was allegedly felled by a drunk Libyan truck driver in 1973.
The 9‑meter‑tall (30‑foot), roughly 100‑year‑old spruce is thought to have been planted around the turn of the 20th century by New Zealand’s then‑governor, Lord Ranfurly, during a bird‑collecting expedition for the British Museum. He likely hoped to turn the island into a productive forestry site.
Harsh climate and physical damage have trapped the spruce in a juvenile state, preventing it from producing pinecones and seeds, so it will probably remain a lone sentinel at the world’s southern edge.
4 Zoologist Shagged By World’s Rarest Parrot
The kakapo, a large, nocturnal, flightless parrot endemic to New Zealand, is critically endangered. In the mid‑1990s the species hovered near extinction with only about 50 individuals remaining. Thanks to intensive conservation, by June 2020 a total of 210 birds were known, all equipped with radio transmitters and under close management.
The most famous kakapo is a young male named Sirocco, who skyrocketed to fame in 2009 after an X‑rated encounter with zoologist Mark Carwardine during the BBC documentary series Last Chance to See. While filming with comedian Stephen Fry, Sirocco energetically attempted to mate with Carwardine’s head, prompting Fry to quip that they were witnessing someone being “shagged by a rare parrot.”
Hand‑raised due to respiratory issues, Sirocco imprinted on humans and seemed to shun mating with his own species. The bold encounter was just one of many. Former Prime Minister John Key dubbed him the nation’s “official spokesbird for conservation.” Since then Sirocco has toured the country, visited Parliament, and promotes wildlife conservation through his official Twitter and Facebook accounts.
3 Spaghetti Vandalism On Mount Victoria
In March 2018, a group of jogging students stumbled upon a bizarre sight at Wellington’s Mt. Victoria lookout—a massive dump of freshly cooked pasta.
Students Jack Anderson, Elleana Dumper (ironically named), Tobias Leman, and Flynn Beeman were out for an early‑morning run when they discovered the noodles piled atop Summit Rock, just before 9 am. Wellington City Council confirmed they had received numerous reports about the mysterious pasta vandalism.
“Our contact centre logged the incident after it left a bad taste in our mouths, and the cleaning crew was dispatched to deal with spaghetti junction,” a council spokeswoman said. “Public health advised against anyone eating spaghetti on the rocks.” Local park rangers noted the incident was a welcome change from the usual dumping of cars, TVs, and fridges they normally clean up. The source of the pasta—sauce??—remains a mystery.
2 Pole‑Dancing Prostitutes Destroy Street Signs
In 2012, Auckland’s largest city saw accusations that prostitutes were destroying street signs by dancing and swinging from roadside poles to attract clients.
Local resident Donna Lee explained the practice, saying, “The poles are part of their soliciting equipment, and they often snap them. Some of the prostitutes are big, strong people.” She claimed more than 40 signs had been bent or broken over an 18‑month period.
Mayor Len Brown remarked, “There is no doubt that the street sex trade is enjoying its unrestricted use of public space and is possibly the only industry in New Zealand to enjoy such status.” He noted other industries must obtain licences, while street prostitution faces no such constraints.
Residents hoped the attention would pressure the government to let Auckland Council outlaw sex workers from certain areas. A spokesperson for the Prostitutes Collective warned that banning them would be counter‑productive: “They’ll be fined, can’t pay, go to court, then return to the streets to work off the fines—it will clog up our justice system.”
1 Bess The Boar
Also in 2018, emergency services in the Waikato town of Waihi used KFC fries and warm bread rolls to corral a massive pig that had gone rogue.
The hefty hog, estimated at about 150 kilograms (331 pounds), trotted down the main street while police gave chase. Constable Harley North recounted, “We got into a pursuit with a pig.” He could not determine how the animal escaped, suspecting it might have been a pet that broke free.
Using tasty bribes, officers eventually herded the pig into a makeshift pen at a local church. “The pig was left to contemplate its sinful behaviour,” North said. Later, a “tall, dark stranger” escorted the pig, identified as a brazen boar named Bess. A week later Bess escaped again, was found munching an orange tree, and was coaxed back home by an embarrassed owner with a bucket of treats.
Police considered fitting Bess with an ankle bracelet and imposing a strict curfew after the incident.