We live in unusual times. It all gets a bit much some days. So each weekday we're bringing you a much-needed dose of positivity to remind you that there's inspiration, kindness and quirkiness out there too.

The female aardvark cub, born at the San Diego Zoo, is doing well and developing quickly, Associated Press reports.

She was born on May 10 and will nurse from her mother, Zola, for about six months, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said this week. It is the zoo’s first aardvark birth in nearly four decades.

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“She is very active and was using her sharp claws to dig like an adult aardvark just hours after her birth,” lead wildlife care specialist Cari Inserra said.

The long-eared, hairless cub has tripled her birth weight in just five weeks.

She does not have a name yet, and will remain out of view of zoo visitors for about two months as she bonds with her mother.

A family who experienced civil war and refugee camps in East Africa has won a house lottery in Australia, Nine News reports.

Esther Mboneye cried tears of joy when she first looked at her new home, with husband Aristede Nininahazwe and their 3-year-old daughter.

The A$3 million (NZ$3.33m) property is situated in the beautiful South Australian seaside suburb of Henley Beach and comes complete with a pool.

The prize also comes with a cheque for A$1m.

In a former tractor shed at the back of a Hawke’s Bay marae, women are living by the old adage it takes a village to raise a child.

Dr Aria Graham (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou, Tufuiopa Samoa) describes the “beautiful maternal experience” growing up over the road from Waipatu Marae in Hastings, surrounded by her aunties and nannies.

However, she later realised this was not an experience shared by all Māori women. Mothers in Aotearoa talk about feeling isolated and unsupported.

So Graham decided to create Mamia to ensure other māmā had the same opportunity she had.

After years of neglect, fresh shoots and historic roots are being fostered at a much-loved Tararua reserve.

On the back of a community agreement between Explore Pahīatua and the Department of Conservation, an open day has marked the beginning of a decade-long restoration project for native bush in Pahīatua.

Once a botanic garden for the town, Carnival Park gradually fell into disrepair throughout the 20th century.

By the 1980s there were calls for restoration, but little progress was made until five years ago, when members of the community pushed for a long-term plan.

The restoration is a huge task and will take many years, but with native bush starting to grow back, it forms a living museum of what the district used to look like.

Alexandra Baker and Craig Sullivan were travelling the South Island on a motorbike when they stopped at Marlborough’s Wairau Valley on State Highway 3.

The pair were heading from Reefton to catch the ferry in Picton and stopped at the Wairau Valley Tavern for a quick “bag of chips”.

But they were so impressed by the valley’s beauty, they decided to have a look at properties – and realised the tavern was for sale.

“It was hilarious,” Baker said. “We realised that it might be something we could afford.”

They ended up buying it, and then in April packed their lives into a 40-foot container, jumped on a ferry with their cars and trailers and moved to the Wairau Valley.