08:09 Australia fires update -  East Gippsland Shire Councillor, Mark Reeves and Rebekah Holt - Correspondent 

Fires burning on the eastern coast of Australia are expected to get worse today - with officials saying it is expected to be a very dangerous day. 

Temperatures are expected to get hotter than 40 degrees in parts of south east Australia, with hot winds increasing the fire danger. 

Thousands of people have been evacuated from north-east and East Gippsland parts of the state of Victoria, and from the south coast of neighbouring New South Wales. 

Emergency fire warnings have been declared in both states. 

Eleven people have been killed since Monday - nine in New South Wales and two in Victoria - 28 people are also missing there. 

East Gippsland  is one of the worst hit areas in Victoria.

East Gippsland Shire Councillor, Mark Reeves talks to Lynn Freeman about his community, and is followed by journalist Rebekah Holt. 

Smoke and flames rise from burning trees as bushfires hit the area around the town of Nowra in New South Wales on December 31, 2019.

Smoke and flames rise from burning trees as bushfires hit the area around the town of Nowra in New South Wales on December 31, 2019. Photo: Saeed Khan / AFP

08.25 MetService - Weekend weather 

We cross to the MetService to get the latest on today's weather, and how the weekend is looking. 

08.30 Bill Morris - Wildlife filmmaker  

If you watched the first season of Wildlife Rescue New Zealand about the work of the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital and others it works with to save native birds, you'll have seen the camera work of Bill Morris.

For more than a decade Bill's worked for NHNZ and other companies,   filming the seabirds and sea lions of New Zealand's sub Antarctic Islands for TVNZs Our Big Blue Backyard through to monkeys in Sri Lanka for Animal Planet.

08.45 Stuart Farquhar - rescue helicopter pilot 

Our series on lifesavers continues with the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue's  senior rescue pilot and operations manager Stuart Farquhar. Over his 20 years on the job, Stuart Farquhar has no shortage of stories about callouts that resulted in lives being saved.

But he's also witnessed many fatalities over the years in a vast area that includes a lot of challenging terrain and conditions for helicopter pilots.   

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Photo: supplied

09.09 Hamish Coney - Collector 

Thunderbirds, Gerry and Silvia Anderson's popular futuristic puppet sci-fi puppet TV series only had two series, on air from 1964 to 1966. The Dinky die-cast merchandise based on the characters and the vehicles were just as popular - and still are with collectors. As well as Thunderbirds craft models were cast for other Anderson shows like Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 and Space 1999. 

Aucklander Hamish Coney talks to Lynn Freeman about his collection. 

09.25 Heather Hapeta - Gardening in the city 

Travel writer Heather Hapeta has an allotment at Tanera Park in Wellington, within an organic garden there. For an apartment dweller like herself, the gardens give her a chance to get some fresh air, while growing her own food. 

She and The Weekend producer Laura Dooney took a stroll up into Tanera Gardens, to have a look at what Heather's growing. 

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Photo: RNZ Laura Dooney

09:40 Haydn Jack - Designer 

Coming up with a new  management system for type 1 diabetics  is one of the big goals of young award winning Auckland designer Haydn Jack.

He graduated from AUT in 2016 and has already taken out six New Zealand Best Design Awards including a gold last year and has two runner up titles in the prestigious international Dyson Design awards.

Haydn is currently working for the Blender design company and has worked on projects for the Agriculture, Healthcare, Biosecurity and Construction industries.

10:07 Jessie Smith - Tokyo Olympics hopeful

Over the summer we're profiling some of our Olympic hopefuls in less well known sports. Today it's the turn of BMX rider Jessie Smith, whose mentor and sponsor is London Olympic BMX silver medallist, Sarah Walker.

Jessie has claimed world and national titles in the sport including taking out the junior elite women's UCI BMX World Championship title in Belgium last July.

She talks to Lynn Freeman about BMX riding, and trying to get a spot at the Toyko Olympics.

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Photo: bmx.net

10.30 Music Feature - Gordie Tentrees 

A Canadian troubadour who's performed 750 concerts in 11 countries in just four years,  is making is first trip to New Zealand to perform at the Auckland Folk Festival.

Gordie Tentrees thinks of himself as a road poet as much as a musician who plays half a dozen instruments - often several of them at the same time. 

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Photo: Oliver Tamagnini

11:04 Lynn Freeman - Bear spotting in Finland 

Lynn Freeman went to the forest in northern Finland last May, camera in hand, and hit out in a wooden hut, waiting for brown bears, wolves and wolverines to go by. 

It turned into a roller coaster of emotions, from sheer delight at the family of three bear cubs and their protective mother,  to concern for the cubs' welfare following the arrival of a wolf.

11:30 High school students harness the power of the sun 

Students at New Plymouth Girls' High School researching sustainable energy generation have found that solar panels become less efficient once the temperature goes over 25 degrees....the opposite of what they'd expected.

Sustainability's a real focus at the school.

Students Breanna Camden and Jessica Frost  monitored solar panels and wind turbines on the school grounds and have won several awards for the project.

11:40 Paul Forrest - Creating a kaleidoscope of butterflies 

Wellington artist Paul Forrest is aiming to create a kaleidoscope of butterflies around the country. 

From the backyard of his home in Newtown, Paul makes huge but incredibly lifelike butterflies destined for a life either inside or outside.

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Photo: RNZ Laura Dooney

11.50  - Booksellers 

We continue our book journey around the country - this time crossing live to Louise Ward from Wardini Books in Hawke's Bay. 

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Photo: supplied